Changing the world, one birthday at a time

Don’t get me wrong – we are truly blessed. We have many friend, and so do our kids, and when our kids have birthdays everyone is generous enough to give them gifts. Now, each gift travels from China all the way to us (over 10,000km or 6200 miles), packed massively with plastics and cardboard. So massively packed that I managed to fill our 96 gallon trash bin! from two days worth of birthday packaging.

Let’s do the eco math for a second. Each gift was manufactured in China in a factory, then loaded on a trick and driven to the shipping plant, from the shipping plant to the docks from the docks to the ship, then traveled to the US, unpacked in the US, driven by trucks to the distribution center, then on trucks again to the facility then by trucks again to the shopping outlet, then by an SUV to the parent of my kid’s friend, then driven to my house, where my kids will unpack it and the packaging will then be dumped into my recycling bin, and on Friday, the garbage truck will come to pick it again and start the long process of sending these 100 pounds of packaging materials to the recycling center.

Here’s what we will do to make a difference:

1) On the next birthday, we will give the birthday boy/ girl a small budget. Take him/ her to the toys store to pick a birthday gift.

2) Then, we will ask the birthday boy/ girl to choose a charity fund. Ella, my 6½ years old LOVES monkeys, she will probably choose the WWF

3) Next, we will send invitations (eVites) to the party and ask parents not to buy toys or gifts. Instead, parents may choose to donate to the charity of choice.

4) Last but not least, the Goodie Bag. The bag typically contains a small toy (also shipped from China), and we plan to replace it with a note that a donation that we will make behalf of the friend, to the charity of choice.

How simple is that?

Android and the City of Angels Half Marathon

I was thinking of Google's Android as I was running through the beautiful course of the City of Angels Half Marathon. On one hand, Android is a well needed and promising successor of the rusty-but-trusty J2ME. On the other hand, I am surprised to see that Android was released without an indication about the business model to back it up.

As a technologist, I can see why Android is so exciting and refreshing. Yet, I am old enough to know that without a business model that provides revenue share for carriers, the chance of Android making it are slim. I find it hard to believe that US carriers will be satisfied with the cents they make on the data plan, while Google is making the big bucks on the advertisement side. In fact, most US mobile web traffic today is an on-deck, in-portal traffic. Why should carriers open the walled gardens and loose a major stronghold?

Are we there yet?

Are we there yet? I will be asking this question for the 21 kilometers that make the lovely Santa Barbara Half Marathon. Don't worry, according to the web site "...Aid stations will provide both water and energy drinks at 2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10 and 12 mile points..."

Amazon - The Start-Up Project

I will be presneting at the Amazon Start-Up Project in L.A. (http://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=332775011)
Looking forward to seeing you there!

SUNSET PARK DUPLEX

SUNSET PARK DUPLEX OWNER/USER: Live in one unit rent out the other. 2 Bedroom unit will be vacant at close of escrow. Located near Santa Monica Beaches, Pier, Promenade, Schools, Parks, Farmers Market and much more INVESTOR/DEVELOPER: R2 Lot - Over 6200 sq ft Add another unit or teardown and rebuild 3 (check with the city for redevelopment options).

Listing Type: For Sale

Property Type: Multi Family

Company Name: Keller Williams

Property MLS ID: 07-195365

bedrooms: 3

bathrooms: 2

Square Footage: 1540

Year: 1939

Location: 1507 Maple St Santa Monica, CA, 90405,

My picture on Joe's iPhone

Joe selected this picture as my profile picture on his iPhone.

It quite accurately reflects my mood when I have to call him ...

Just kidding - kudos to Joe for getting us on EC2 and hacking the Version field out of our life (Hibernate-battled code monkeys will get my last remark)

For the rest of you, wondering what am I up too, wait 1 week and we will announce...

Should Google buy RIM (BlackBerry)?

Reading through Jeff Pulver's last post, I asked myself what would be the next possible mobile-focused acquisition for Google? Well, here's my suggestion to Larry and Sergey - buy RIM. Why RIM you ask?

1. Carrier Headlock - Most carriers today use business practices that were invented somewhere in the 80s by the Von Erich family. If Google is to release a new device, they would have to wrestle with carriers. Instead, they can buy RIM and enjoy a product that is already supported by existing carriers, and enjoys a good reputation.
2. Enterprise Reach - BlackBerry is by far the best phone for enterprise clients, and it is nicely integrated with server software to plug-in to existing enterprise applications. With Google's offering in this market - the BlackBerry can be an interesting play.
3. Build vs Buy- While Google is trying to get into the mobile market, I doubt the necessity of building a new hardware, especially given Google's track in developing and selling their appliance .
4. Java - With Google's Java APIs in place and support for numerous open-source project, the BlackBerry is a perfect, java friendly phone. It opens the way for Google to offer a widget-oriented alternative to J2ME.

Moderately priced at $54.13B, who can resist such a deal?

Freedom is not free

Freedom is not free. In fact, freedom is one of the most expensive social products ever produced or consumed by mankind. Freedom takes a forged society that soundly believes in the values of equality, compassion, education and trust. Six years ago, we were all struck by a vicious attack by those who dismiss these fundamental values we embrace. As the towers collapsed, the rumble shook our deepest beliefs in god, man, good and evil.

As I take a moment today to reflect on the events of that terrible day, I do not ask myself any political or religious questions. I do not look for blame, mistakes, conspiracies or heroes. I only look deep in, and try to imagine the world six years from now. I ask myself, am I doing anything today to change tomorrow? Am I resolved to pay the price, so that my children will continue to nurture and develop this thing we all call Freedom?

I had no choice

Jeff Pulver asks today "If you are an Entrepreneur, How did YOU become one?" . My answer is simple - I had no other choice. The desire to innovate, to lead and to take the risk was in me since I can remember myself.
I am an avid technologist, but I know that I will not be able to madly fall in love with WHAT I do, unless I can risk it all and lead one great idea to market.

Risk is not for everyone, and not everyone agrees on what is risky, as apparent daily on the horse tracks. But for those of us who are willing to take the plunge, accomplishment can be addictive.

What does the 'Network' in Networking stands for and why you should have a beer

I just came back from a great networking event where I met Jeff Pulver. If business cards are packets, and people are network cards, then Jeff is the router or the backbone of that social network of insane entrepreneurs we all call web 2.0

For those of you who never 'networked' let me describe the scene. You are standing in a big room with 100 - 300 other people. You are waring slacks and a nice shirt, along with a name tag. In your right hand, you are holding a beer (very important). You approach a group of people and look at their cards. If they are of interest to you, you go for the pitch. If not, you smile, raise your beer and kindly say you are going for a refill.

The pitch is the most important exchange. You have 30-45 seconds to introduce yourself, your vision, your solution. Then, you have to LISTEN, in the next 15-25 seconds your listener will give you his 2 cents. And these 2 cents are worth it ALL. If your listener is interested, you will learn why he thinks you are cool. If your listener is not, he will smile gently and raise his beer, saying he is going for a refill.

So how do you pitch yourself in 45 seconds - no one knows for sure. Here is my take: introduce yourself, state your vision and your main point of differentiation. E.g. "Hi, I am Shuki Lehavi, CEO of Gumiyo.com. We are a mobile commerce solution, focused
on connecting buyers and sellers, anytime, anywhere. In essence if eBay is for buying from your PC then Gumiyo is for shopping from your phone."
Now pause, and LOOK at your audience - are they reaching for their beers or are they interested to hear more? if they are interested, the next question thrown at you is the most important question - it will establish trust. Trust in you and your idea. In my case, such question could be: "so, how do you make money"? or, "so, are you up and running yet?".

One more thing to remember - learn to deal with rejection. Not everyone is interested in your stuff, and if they are not interested and have not yet reached for their beer, just change the subject, be a nice guy and let them pitch you. After all, you still have your beer...


Shuki

Competition is a lie – yes, I can prove it

Yes, I dare say – competition is a myth, a lie, an urban legend. If your job description demands innovation (e.g. a developer, a manager, a CEO) and you have spent even one hour looking at the ‘competition’ I deem you lazy, immature and irresponsible.

If you think that I forgot to take my pills (again), I promise that in three paragraphs from now, you will smack your forehead and say ‘this shouting monkey has a point!’ Ready? Here we go: Let’s bring the tech world back to the basics, there is a simple axiom: every company makes a product or a service, which is then sold to consumers. Products differ in shape, color, price or other attributes. At the point of purchase, the consumer makes a selection to buy a product or use a service.

That’s it! As simple as that – if you want to be successful, understand the choice your user is making, make the product/ service that satisfies the client’s need and collect the fee. Every employee at Gumiyo knows that I always ask one and only one question: WHY? Why should our users use this?! I reject answers such as ‘because it’s fast’, ‘because it’s cool’, ‘because we are the first ones to...’ and any other answer that involves HOW we do things. Instead, I ask that they explain what exactly is a specific end-user looking for (e.g. a real estate agent is looking to sell more houses) and WHY should that user use Gumiyo to satisfy that need (e.g. because we can connect him with buyers).

Let’s go back to the competition for a sec. If you ‘compete’ with another company, this means that at the point of making the purchase, the buyer sees your product as equal to the other products. In other words, the buyer cannot tell that your product will deliver a specific, meaningful, value. My dear reader, you should be flogged or egged, you have either developed the wrong product or have no real message/ benefit that resonates with your target audience. In other words – you don’t know what you are doing.

Here comes the sad part – you start looking at the ‘competition’, which is usually one formidable player and a flock of lazy copy cats all circling inside what you define as the boundaries of your market. Instead of focusing on WHO should be your client, and WHY should they use your product, you delegate the innovation to others and pursue a features parity race-for-destruction that will cause you to copy features from your ‘competitors’. Let me remind you your VC oath, you swore to bring an amazing product to life! A product that is unique and answers a specific need. If you (and your VC) did your homework right, then you have already defined a target market and you just need to stick to your vision and win your mission.

Ergo, if you spent even an hour looking at the competition, asking how their product works and what features do they have - then you are irresponsible. Instead, keep focused on your targeted audience, on your organization mission and deliver that value you were commissioned to deliver. Instead of looking at HOW others are doing things, focus on WHY should the buyers use your product. And when you find out WHY, you will see that you are totally alone in the field and no one else delivers this same value. Do your soul searching, talk to your users, get a dog or go surfing – but please do not waste your time on the competition, it’s simply a misconception. You see? For energetic, hard working individuals – there is really no such thing as competition, only yet-to-be-dazzled buyers.

He who dares wins!

Shuki

Five questions to ask before you join a startup

So, you decided to join a startup?! Congratulations - you are officially insane. Before you embark on a red-bull-soaked-counterstrike-entrenched-mind-blowing-code-twisting rush, challenge your decision with these five simple questions. If even one of the answers is making you feel uneasy - go find another startup or make your own!

Chances are, you will dismiss my remarks below and think that I am old-school or just senile. You are 100% correct, I am old-school and senile and I guarantee that you will recall these questions about a year from now as you seep a cold beer with your friends and explain what-went-wrong.

Here are the questions to ask the team, and yourself:

1) WHO will be using the product?
Can you spot your target users? What is the exact profile (age, socio-economic, geographical location, technical skills etc.) of the average user?
As a founder/ early member of the team you need to intimately know the target user or be that targeted user. Startups that have no focused view of their users, end up creating generic products that are equally offensive and completely useless to all users. In 5 minutes, find 20 people you know who will be using the product.

2) WHY should the end user use the product?
Now that you know WHO the user is, explain WHY should the user use the product. Look through the eyes of the user, forget about the technology and the cool factor. Ask what actual benefit will this user get? For example, if the user is a sales person, how many more deals in a month will that user close? From #1 above, talk to the 20 people you know and ask them if they agree with the value proposition. Do they think they will close X more deals per month if they use the product?

3) HOW MUCH is the end user expected to pay? Every company must make money and be profitable in order to survive. Now that you know who your users are, and what are they getting from using the product, as how much will they be willing to pay for it.
This painful, yet simple, sanity check is the best antidote you can take against startup delusion syndrome.
Talk to those users from #1 and #2 above, if they agree with the delivered value, ask them if they would pay the asking price.

Now that you know the benefit/ value (#2 above), the asking price (#3 above) and the market size (#1 above) you can estimate how much money the company is worth. This is very simple: (number of expected users in the first year X $ collected per user per year X 10) – $2 Million = what the company is worth. This is a very rough estimate but try it and you will see that it works.

4) WHAT is the chance of the company to sell out or to make profit?Your shares/ stock options are only worth something if the company is sold. This is often referred to as the exit strategy. Can you be sure that the company will be sold? If so WHY would it be sold and WHO will buy it? Please don’t say Google will buy us… it makes me sick. Just tell me why should Google buy you and not just compete with you…
In many ways, if your company is not worth much (see #3 above), no one will buy it.

5) In the long term, WHERE do I fit in?This last question is never asked, and often is the biggest cause of dissatisfaction. You have to know if you are joining the startup for you current skills, or if you are a part of the long term plan. Come to think of it – what is the long term plan? Will you be hiring your boss or will you be interviewing for your position within 6 months.


One last thing – he who dares, wins! Good luck!

Shuki