Nonconforming Mind

"My own motivation for working out is mostly to postpone my death at least until my wife is old..."

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 00:04:00 +0100

“My own motivation for working out is mostly to postpone my death at least until my wife is old enough that she can’t remarry anyone that would sexually threaten me when I watch them fucking from Heaven.”

- Josh Friedman - This quote is from the irreverently titled but imminently hilarious blog post Sledgehammer & Whore!

PingTag (aka fun with BizCards & QR codes)

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 16:28:00 +0100

Last night I spent some time playing around with PingTags which was put together by the guys at SquarePush. They have developed a nice little interstitial app that links a QR code on your business card with your Linkedin profile.

The service is still in beta but I think it has some neat potential. Especially around analytics. Geolocation is already there but it would be cool to add in features such as tagging, reverse lookups, event information & actions.

Go ahead and try it now with your iPhone/Android/WinMo/etc.

PingTags - Your LinkedIn Profile on Your Mobile Through QR (robert.sanzalone.com)
ShareSquare introduces mobile-optimized QR code, on business cards (whattheythink.com)

: Flavors.me

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 19:43:25 +0100

: Flavors.me:

Playing around with Flavors.me

Who Wants to be a Tech Star! Absolutely brilliant video put...

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 09:03:17 +0100

Who Wants to be a Tech Star!

Absolutely brilliant video put together by Terry Kawaja from GCA Savvian

Ireland is a mysterious and magical place...

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 20:59:36 +0100

Everytime I think I’m getting close to figuring out this place it throws me for a loop!

I passed my Irish Drivers test on April 1st (no kidding!) and finally got around to heading to the motor vehicle department on May 3rd to submit the application for my full license. As expected they took my money and told me it would be mailed out before the end of the week. Great!

Two weeks ago I realised I hadn’t received my license yet so I called the local Ballymun office and was told it was mailed out on May 10th and I should have received it by now. They went on to explain that I would have to go into a Garda station and file a form D800 to report a Lost or Stolen license, prior to them replacing mine.

Ok fine! Work has been busy lately so I haven’t had a chance to stop at the Garda station yet.

Now wouldn’t you know it…I get home today and there is a rectagular envolope from the motor vehicle office postmarked May 10th and inside was a freshly issued Irish drivers license. The envelope was in pristine condition with a perfectly typed address.

Why it took a full five weeks for my drivers license to travel a mere 12km is beyond me…I’ve come to accept that Ireland really is a mysterious and magical place beyond mere mortal comprehension. The best I can do is just sit back and marvel at this amazing place I call home!

Thinking of applying to an accelerator programme?

Fri, 11 Jun 2010 03:25:34 +0100

Here is a rough timeline of some of the top programmes along with a few local Irish ones…

David Logan on tribal Leadership...

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 23:00:19 +0100

I missed this TED talk by David Logan on tribal leadership. I like it because it dives a bit deeper about the actualisation of tribes.

I am scared shitless...

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 22:55:19 +0100

Jason Cohen founder of Smart Bear Software recently penned a refreshingly honest blog post titled “Why I Feel Like a Fraud!” which freakishly chronicles my frame of mind over the past few months.

Perhaps Andy Wibbels sums it up best…

“If I don’t feel like a fraud at least once a day then I’m not reaching far enough. If you aren’t scared shitless then why bother?”

This is hilarious…in preparing a future blog post I did a...

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 21:22:15 +0100

This is hilarious…in preparing a future blog post I did a google search on “entrepreneur scared shitless” and up popped a sponsored ad for the IrishInvestmentNetwork!

Rise {or return} of the Artisanal VC

Tue, 01 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0100

I was just watching this video of @gigaom interviewing @bfeld on the changing dynamics of startup investing and was struck by Brad’s comment that “it’s back to basics.” In other words smaller (right-sized) funds absent much of the irrational exuberance of the 90’s.

What strikes is that I am starting to hear about more and more VC’s (and funds) returning to their roots, adopting a more “artisanal” approach to the business. Sure there will always be a place for the mass-producing Walmarts of VC (Sequoia, Oak, NEA, DFJ) but at the early stage things have become much more dynamic with the rise of Super Angels like @davidcohen and @davemcclure and programmes such as Ycombinator & TechStars.

What are Artisanal VC’s:

Artisan VC’s were the dominant investors & builders of great business before the bubble. They understood the ecosystem, before people were talking about the ecosystem. They took pride in the businesses they built rather than just the absolute IRR or return multiple on their portfolio. While there is no formula for an artisanal VC they generally seem to have a common entrepreneurial background.

If you want to get a feel for what an Artisanal VC is just watch this deliciously tempting video…

So why would you want to choose an Artisanal VC…quite simply they are like Ben van Leeuwen:

Passionate
Authentic
Honest
Down-to-earth
Direct
Fun
Inventive
Risk-taking
Intensely Knowledgeable about their Area of Expertise

Here is my first stab at a woefully inadequate list of several folks I would consider Artisanal VC’s. I know there are folks I am forgetting (or don’t know about)…so please toss them in the comments so I can add them to the list.

Artisanal VC’s:

BTW: If anyone wants to buy artisanalVC.com or artisanVC.com give me a shout! ;-)

Jack Dorsey on the 3 Keys to Twitter's Success...

Tue, 18 May 2010 21:30:00 +0100

Jack Dorsey, the original creator and Co-founder of Twitter, gave a presentation at the 99% Conference about the keys to Twitter’s success. I think Jack’s first three ideas…

Draw: get your idea out of your head and share it
Luck: assess when the time (and the market) is right to execute your idea
Iterate: take in the feedback, be a rigorous editor, and refine your idea.

…are fairly straight forward…but his fourth (starts around 14.22) is probably the hardest for entrepreneurs to grasp (at least I know it is for myself!)

Draw It Out, and Other Tips for Success from Twitter Co-founder Jack Dorsey (readwriteweb.com)
Thursday Morning Man: Jack Dorsey! (pinkbananaworld.com)
Mobile credit card processor Inner Fence looks to take on Square (techflash.com)
The Importance Of “Editing” Your Customers (businessinsider.com)

“Alien”, “Minority Report”, “Blade...

Tue, 11 May 2010 09:13:53 +0100

“Alien”, “Minority Report”, “Blade Runner”…it’s amazing how accurate movies are at predicting future technologies (or are they just good at initiating a self-fulfilling loop!)

Blitzen Trapper is a great mashup of modern day folk &...

Tue, 11 May 2010 08:52:49 +0100

Blitzen Trapper is a great mashup of modern day folk & rock…this is Lady on the Water

Blitzen Trapper Announces New Album, MP3, Tour (pastemagazine.com)
How They Became… Blitzen Trapper (spin.com)

In the spirit of Startup Weekend how about a little...

Mon, 10 May 2010 23:39:20 +0100

In the spirit of Startup Weekend how about a little frenetic Santigold vs. Switch and FreQ Nasty singing Creator!

Startup Weekend, Universities & Commercialisation...

Mon, 10 May 2010 23:30:29 +0100

Image via CrunchBase

This past weekend I had a blast attending the Dublin Startup Weekend graciously organised by @seanrmurphy (who originally had the idea to make this happen!) For folks not familiar with the model you throw 50-100 eclectic people (developers, designers, MBA’s, artists) into a big room on a Friday evening, start-off with a few pints (we are in Dublin after all), open the mic for anyone to pitch an idea, then let the crowd self-select into teams. By the end of the night teams have formed and the next two days are spent feverishly building a prototype, demo, app, product, etc. so as not to appear like an utter fool in front of the judges on Sunday night.

Some observations from the event…

1) It’s pointless to spend too much time arguing over how to divide up a hypothetical fixed-pie of yet-to-be-created IP with a yet-to-be-determined value.

2) Contraints are brilliant!

3) Fear of embarrassment is almost as big of a motivator as constraints!

4) The model does a great job of overcoming the activation energy for new projects.

5) Free-riders happen!

Over the next few weeks we will be actively playing around with the model a bit and seeing if we can massage it into a form that works to lower the barriers for new ideas coming out of Irish Universities, in particular the ICT CSETS. I think academic researchers as well as TTO staff could benefit a good deal by looking beyond standard practices and exploring ways to engage these alternative models of commercialisation. If you have any ideas or would like to hear more about what we’re doing give me a shout.

Startup Weekend Dublin & Paris (techme2.eu)
Irish Techies & Entreprenuers - Dublin Startup Weekend (sluggerotoole.com)

MBA Humor Never Gets Old...

Thu, 06 May 2010 23:49:00 +0100

Pop, folk, soaring melodies and emotionally intelligent...

Thu, 06 May 2010 23:40:21 +0100

Pop, folk, soaring melodies and emotionally intelligent lyrics…really like the sound of The Guggenheim Grotto! This one is called Her Beautiful Ideas

Audio

Wed, 05 May 2010 23:40:36 +0100

The coolest VC in the game @bfeld talking about how TechStars works...

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 10:29:22 +0100

The coolest VC in the game @bfeld talking about how TechStars works...

The Poetry of Reality - Another brilliant video from John...

Tue, 20 Apr 2010 22:06:58 +0100

The Poetry of Reality - Another brilliant video from John Boswell at Symphony of Science