I saw this one and had to post a link to it. It’s a great list of rocks to look out for when putting together a startup.
http://foundersblock.com/anecdotes/why-startups-fail-an-analysis-of-failure-post-mortems/
“Why Startups Fail”
Feb 7
Just saw a trailer for “Buried” on the Zune marketplace (OK, I don’t get to see many movies in the theater these days.) Wondering about the premise today when cell phone localization is making such leaps and bounds. How fast does that movie go into the “Suitcase Cell Phone” nostalgia movie bin – assuming it’s not there already.
“Where are you calling from?” becomes “I see you’re getting a “94”signal off of cell tower 451 and a “41” off of 447. We’ll have EMS there in less than 10 minutes to dig you out.
Movies become rather shorter unless they have a few more plot twists. “EMS here, we found a MicroCell relay at that location – we need a packet trace on the VOIP traffic from address <xxxx>”
I had several people ask me about our Windows Phone 7 Developer Bootcamp series – well, we have one coming up in Dallas and I promised to post the registration. Well here it is! Dallas, TX I’ll have the information for the rest of the local boot camps as they get a bit closer
Generation Gap
Jul 23
OK, been quiet for just TOO long. Wanted to post a quick observation to break the silence. I’m an old Geek. (If you’ve met me you know I can’t lie about that.) But I do try to keep up with ideas (and hopefully get ahead of a few.) But something’s been bothering me and it’s a very SOCIAL not Technical thing.
I’m still used to having my username assigned.
Gen Today is used to generating their own username.
THIS IS KEY.
If you’re a corporation – you’re used to on-boarding people (Spellchecker wanted the hyphen, I’ve never seen it in real life) and part of that process is generating a user ID that more than likely permeates through the organization. Sometimes two or three or a dozen. You expect people to have this as their primary, most of their waking life identity. Their identity is key to their day job, and anything they do outside of that MUST be separate.
If you’re an independent you expect to have control over your ID and anything that may be pre-generated becomes a task and something that you’re just going to have to deal with, but like waste disposal, do it as quickly and efficiently as you can to get back to the real stuff. If you don’t have this – unfortunately you don’t really succeed as an independent, you end up on someone’s staff.
If you’re of my generation – your “True Name” may be something supplemented an alias you don’t hang your hat on in public. It’s your RPG/Shadow/Ghost name. “Mr Slippery” isn’t a name for someone that has an office address. Something you say what you think with (hopefully) little hope of reprisal. If you don’t have one then traditionally you may have been a “Lurker.” Someone that hears much, says little and stays in the wings of the theater.
But that’s changing. More startup companies and business are identifying either both online and offline as the same thing, or identifying with their online identity first. You can pick your friends, but you can’t pick your given name, so to some extent that’s not as surprising as it might be.
I find this VERY interesting.
Got the word from Brandon Satrom that IASA Austin is having an OpenSpace event June 17-19. All you going to TechEd will be back in time, and Doc List will be organizing. Set your calendars and alarm clocks and don’t be shy about signing up, from my experiences during the last event here in Austin, it’s going to be a great chance to learn and network!
If you’ve been following the path of the Microsoft Micro Framework (and maybe talked with us at the ‘08 Austin Maker Faire) then you know that things have moved forward and open sourced a LOT. Well, today we just announced that the beta for .Net Micro Framework 4.1 has opened up on http://connect.microsoft.com. Take a look! Some very cutting edge stuff going on there!
OData with Doug Purdy
May 6
Just a heads up on some good content – tomorrow (Friday, May 7th) Doug Purdy is going to be presenting on OData in our Architect Innovation Cafe, 2-3pm central. If you haven’t had a chance to take a look at OData or just want to hear more about it and make sure you’ve got the latest info, this would be a great chance.
You can register for the webcast at http://bit.ly/OData_Guide
SharePress
Apr 1
Use SharePoint, but also like all the work that communities around WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla are doing? Guess what, there’s an answer. SharePress. I could write it up, but it’s already been one over at http://weblogs.asp.net/bsimser/archive/2010/04/01/introducing-sharepress.aspx?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+bsimser+%28Fear+and+Loathing%29 –
The Twin Cities HackFactory is looking to raise some funding and is raffling off a CupCake 3d printer. I wanted to help spread the word both because the giveaway is so cool, and it’s a great program to support.
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/03/win_a_makerbot_cupcake.html
