The interesting thing about this blog is that it's like Seinfeld...it's about nothing really. Whatever is on my mind I can post. The power of publishing. A lot of blogs cut and paste from other blogs and then comment. Others borrow from YouTube (I've even done this a few times) to add punch and some cool rich media. So after a year, and dozens and dozens of postings on a variety of topics (original mid you), I feel like I am getting closer to becoming more of a specialist blogger.
So here's my short list:
#1. Bitch about how cruel the venture capital industry is an how cruel the venture process is was considered. But, that whole industry is screwed up enough with many, many venting sites. I have a lot of experience and have a lot to say about this and even have a prediction. Perhaps a few more generic blogs will occur before I transition to a SBFC (specialist blogger first class), but the teaser blog has a name...Googdaq the new market for Web 2.0 companies.
#2. The new record industry. Boy, I have great access to a lot of insiders and even invested in a start up digital media company. This is still a possibility.
#3. Restaurants. I love this industry but no one in the restaurant industry reads, so probably not a good blog concept.
#4. Becoming 50. That's an on-trend topic with a lot of curious potential readers. I have a lot of ideas, since I'm 50 and all. Things like dealing with aging parents, adult children, feeling like you're old, dealing with aches, pains, stiffness, poor eyesight, sense of confusion on career, looking for a new career, a job, feeling lonely, retirement, money, etc. Lot's of issues, lot's of information.
#5. Life lessons geared to the 18-25 year olds demographic. They are so dumb about everything except how to communicate on multiple levels using two thumbs. They can't balance a check book, cook dinner or clean a house...I could go on, and on and on...perhaps this is why this could be a good blog, blah, blah, blah. Maybe parents will visit my life lessons blog and get tips on how to related and educate and maybe kids will too. Maybe we can send the blog via SMS so they'll get it, read it and pass it on. Maybe...
I have four or five others on the short list, but these are the top 5. Well, the other is about nothing, like my current blog. Just random thoughts, original prose on things that matter to me at the moment. What do you think? What's your recommendation, 1,2,3,4,5 or give me an idea.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
The Record Companies Just Don't Get It...Still
I have a new definition for dumb...record companies. How can an entire industry chase the same mechanical rabbit around the track year after year? Amazing how much they are still in denial about the new age of music and the forces of change that are obvious to millions of consumers and the musicians they used to depend on to earn a living. They have a single focus, now that virtually everything is outsourced and consumers have changed the way they purchase and discover new music...the catalog.
I was watching Willy Wonka the other day, the remake directed by Tim Burton (what a strange guy he is). The mom was making the best of a cabbage in a watery soup. My mind wandered to the record industry making the best of their catalog. This is their only remaining asset (surly earned fairly and squarely from every musician) and they are squeezing every last drop, because there isn't any more soup after its gone. How many compilations can we buy? How many ways can they combine the greatest hits of an old band in odd months in odd years? Creativity they have. Brains are what is missing.
I met yesterday with an industry veteran who agrees. "I see dumb people". Really, the folks in the industry are fine, it's management that can't see what everyone else sees.
So here's the deal; the record industry business model is broken, everyone knows this. The top entertainment attorneys, the top record industry chief marketing officers, the top record producers, the top talent managers, the top bands, even the starter bands. The top record executives are still expecting this Internet fad-thing to go away.
So, here's my prediction from the Bailiwick crystal Ball. Ready....stay tuned.
I was watching Willy Wonka the other day, the remake directed by Tim Burton (what a strange guy he is). The mom was making the best of a cabbage in a watery soup. My mind wandered to the record industry making the best of their catalog. This is their only remaining asset (surly earned fairly and squarely from every musician) and they are squeezing every last drop, because there isn't any more soup after its gone. How many compilations can we buy? How many ways can they combine the greatest hits of an old band in odd months in odd years? Creativity they have. Brains are what is missing.
I met yesterday with an industry veteran who agrees. "I see dumb people". Really, the folks in the industry are fine, it's management that can't see what everyone else sees.
So here's the deal; the record industry business model is broken, everyone knows this. The top entertainment attorneys, the top record industry chief marketing officers, the top record producers, the top talent managers, the top bands, even the starter bands. The top record executives are still expecting this Internet fad-thing to go away.
So, here's my prediction from the Bailiwick crystal Ball. Ready....stay tuned.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Conti Estate Winery
Great fun, attitude and fabulous wines at affordable prices. I encourage you to visit them in Fair Play, Eldorado Hills County; about an hour from Sacramento.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Rush: The Larger Bowl
This is a hit song...no doubt! Awesome tour and album. I believe that Snakes and Arrows is the best Rush album yet.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
The Restaurant Addiction
I love this business, I love the industry, the people working in the business, the food, beverage and creativity. I have since I started working as a busser in Hawaii when I was 22. But I left it and pursued another career. Then in that career, specialized in the restaurant industry. Then, left that career and developed some restaurants, worked with some world- class operators, celebrities, celebrity chefs and some goofballs too. Well, that's it, my 30 year career in a paragraph.
Here's what I love about business. There is something called The Great Equalizer out there. It's a mysterious force. You can't see it. Can't buy it and in many cases, you really don't know about it until after it's become part of your life. It balances over-thinking and over-tinkering and really amazes me, particularly in the restaurant industry. Why? Here's why...
Business case #1: Smart, savvy, restaurant executive, WTF, from a public company leaves with fully vested stock options worth $5 million and intends to start a restaurant company.
In any event, he does this very entrepreneurial thing and spends months sourcing real estate, orders demographic studies, conducts focus groups, hires a consultant to write the business plan, generate a financial model and design a restaurant concept. WTF then invests $1.5 million of his own capital and $1.0 million from a landlord and opens his first independent restaurant. No corporate services to support, no national purchase contracts, no net. WTF works like a dog, calls all his former operator employees for advice and at the end of the year, has put in another $350,000, borrowed another $150,000 and is still barely at breakeven. Ugh.
Business case #2: Goofball, a former flea market vendor travels to Cabo San Lucas on vacation and sees a small restaurant and bar near the ocean with lines out the door. Goofball plants himself on a bar stool and drinks beers, eats food, talks with the bartender, customers and the hostess. Goes back to the hotel room, gets his laptop out and builds a spread on what this little shack was doing in revenue. Wow, says Goofball! I could do this, he says.
The next day, he takes a camera and completes his due diligence, including stealing a menu. Back to the states he goes. Six months later, Goofball is raising money from friends and family, hocking his condo and sets his sites on leasing a shack; and I mean a shack near the water in Laguna Beach. Burgers and beers to start...and the lines are out the door.
WTF did all the right things, and for the most part, so did Goofball. They just approached the market and built a business case differently. The Great Equalizer is a force to be embraced because start ups succeed and fail for any number of reasons. How many times have you said or heard, "man, they are successful in spite of themselves". Next time, remember they are successful because of the great force called The Equalizer.
Here's what I love about business. There is something called The Great Equalizer out there. It's a mysterious force. You can't see it. Can't buy it and in many cases, you really don't know about it until after it's become part of your life. It balances over-thinking and over-tinkering and really amazes me, particularly in the restaurant industry. Why? Here's why...
Business case #1: Smart, savvy, restaurant executive, WTF, from a public company leaves with fully vested stock options worth $5 million and intends to start a restaurant company.
In any event, he does this very entrepreneurial thing and spends months sourcing real estate, orders demographic studies, conducts focus groups, hires a consultant to write the business plan, generate a financial model and design a restaurant concept. WTF then invests $1.5 million of his own capital and $1.0 million from a landlord and opens his first independent restaurant. No corporate services to support, no national purchase contracts, no net. WTF works like a dog, calls all his former operator employees for advice and at the end of the year, has put in another $350,000, borrowed another $150,000 and is still barely at breakeven. Ugh.
Business case #2: Goofball, a former flea market vendor travels to Cabo San Lucas on vacation and sees a small restaurant and bar near the ocean with lines out the door. Goofball plants himself on a bar stool and drinks beers, eats food, talks with the bartender, customers and the hostess. Goes back to the hotel room, gets his laptop out and builds a spread on what this little shack was doing in revenue. Wow, says Goofball! I could do this, he says.
The next day, he takes a camera and completes his due diligence, including stealing a menu. Back to the states he goes. Six months later, Goofball is raising money from friends and family, hocking his condo and sets his sites on leasing a shack; and I mean a shack near the water in Laguna Beach. Burgers and beers to start...and the lines are out the door.
WTF did all the right things, and for the most part, so did Goofball. They just approached the market and built a business case differently. The Great Equalizer is a force to be embraced because start ups succeed and fail for any number of reasons. How many times have you said or heard, "man, they are successful in spite of themselves". Next time, remember they are successful because of the great force called The Equalizer.
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