Craziest thing I ever did. . .
July 18, 2008
I was an undergrad at the University of Texas during the first Gulf War and I decided that I would enlist in the United States Marine Corps (MCRD San Diego, MOS 0331). Wow, what was I thinking. Perhaps the most amazing experience of my life, an experience I think any young man (and certain women) would benefit from. What was the craziest thing you ever did?
Many famous Americans, such as the composer John Philip Sousa who directed the U.S. Marines band for 13 years, have served in the Marine Corps. Tom Monaghan, the founder of Domino’s Pizza, is a Marine. In politics, Senator Zell Miller, pundit James Carville, Secretary of the Navy and U.S. Senator Jim Webb and military analysts Anthony Zinni, Joseph Hoar and Bernard E. Trainor are Marines. Donald P. Bellisario the creator of Quantum Leap, Magnum P.I., JAG and N.C.I.S. is a veteran Marine. Baseball Hall of Famers Tom Seaver, Ted Williams, Rod Carew, Roberto Clemente, Eddie Collins, and Bill Veeck all served in the Marines. Professional boxers Leon Spinks and Barney Ross both served in the Marines, and so did former heavyweight champions Gene Tunney & Ken Norton. Six astronauts, including Senator John Glenn, Charles F. Bolden, Jr. and Fred Haise, are Marine aviators. Several have succeeded in the entertainment industry, including actors Steve McQueen, Tyrone Power, Don Adams, Gene Hackman, Harvey Keitel, Lee Marvin and Drew Carey, talk show host Steve Wilkos, rock and roll singers The Everly Brothers, former Ramones member Christopher Joseph Ward (C. J. Ramone), and reggae musician Orville Burrell (Shaggy). R. Lee Ermey and comedian Jonathan Winters were both drill instructors prior to their renown.
Solution for American
July 16, 2008
Earlier this week I vented about my experience on an American flight this weekend. I think it was my most commented on post in the history of my blog (very sad in many respects). Anyway, I have decided to offer an alternative solution to American. Why not segregate passengers from one another. The seats located below do not take up additional room, but offer passengers enough segregation that larger passengers won’t intrude into other passengers seat. So my message to American ~ fix your problem! Don’t make it mine.
Dallas iPhone Status (SOLD OUT!)
July 16, 2008
Despite what the Apple website says (i.e. that North Park has all three models of the 3G), they don’t have any iPhones. I gave in and showed up at the North Park Apple store to see if I could get the iPhone and was surprised to see a line. The line, to my surprise, wasn’t for the iPhone, but for a little card that says you are on the waiting list for an iPhone when then arrive. I guess the problem for the North Park store was that Apple thinks (or thought) that they had plenty of phones and as a result didn’t ship any to the store last night. Ouch.
My follow through. . .
July 15, 2008
This evening I got an IM from a local ‘deal guy’ who was annoyed that I didn’t send him a business plan I promised to send him last Monday. I completely forgot to forward the plan to him. For this I am sorry, but I am as busy as a dog. If I owe you something PLEASE email and call me - DO NOT TAKE OFFENSE IF I FORGET. I know this is sort of ridiculous, but it is the reality of my current workload.
Of course it might make sense to put my workload in context. I get between 10 and 20 business plans or executive summaries each week - I read most of them. I blog extensively (more than 14 posts a week on average). I read blogs extensively (my reader has more than 700+). This past week I talked to more than 25 angel-type investors all located in the Dallas area. I managed the build out of our new office expansion at the INFOMART. I am involved with more than five startups. I have a 6 year old and a 6 month old. I officially have too much going on, but for some reason I am still happy to help an entrepreneur here, a startup there and even a ‘deal guy’ who I think might be interested in a business plan I received. I will continue to provide as much assistance in the community as possible, but if you absolutely, positively need something from me ~ please don’t sit quietly on the sidelines waiting for me to remember, kick my butt. I reserve the right to explain that I don’t have the time to help, but at least I have a fighting chance of helping. Hope this makes sense.
The Simple Path by Stephen Harvill
July 15, 2008
I will be out of the office for much of the day attended Steve Harvill’s seminar called The Simple Path. I talked about the program previously, I will talk more about it after I finish.
Dry Powder. . .
July 15, 2008
On Friday a friend of mine asked for advice on what sort of companies he should look to acquire. I suggested that he hold onto his cash until the current ’storm’ cleared. Today you may be aware that the DOLLAR HAS DROPPED TO A RECORD LOW. President Bush will be going on television today at 10:20am in an attempt to calm investors and restore confidence in our banks. My advice? Keep calm, but stay liquid.
Online video WILL be big?
July 14, 2008
I think May 2008 will be seen as the month when online video BECAME big. Comscore is reporting that Americans (i.e. just us) watched 12 billion videos online in May. Really? Wonder how this number affects productivity? When will the Federal Reserve begin tracking our internet usage and factoring that number into our countries productivity numbers?
Airline Seats ~ when sharing isn’t fun! (Updated)
July 14, 2008
Update 2: American Airlines responded to my written complaint about this matter, what are your thoughts about their response:
Dear Mr. Muse:
I can appreciate how uncomfortable it was to be seated next to such a large
individual. While I’m sure you can understand the need for sensitivity in trying to
resolve such problems, I am sorry we were not able to do more to prevent your
disappointing ride.While a refund is not in order since travel was ultimately provided, if you happen to
find yourself in a similar situation in the future, please feel free to move to any
available seat once the seat belt sign has been turned off in flight. I’m sure both
you and your neighbor will have a more comfortable flight as a result.It is unfortunate that you did not enjoy your flight as much as you should have.
Still, I hope you will fly with us again soon. We look forward to the opportunity to
provide you with a more pleasant trip.Sincerely,
Jan DeLancey
Customer Relations
American Airlines
Update: I didn’t write this post to ridicule the over-sized passenger. Both Tina and Jason were offended by my post indicating “You’ve officially lost a great deal of respect from me, Alex. In fact, I think you just lost all of it.” I post in four categories: Startups, Venture Capital, Politics and Personal. This post was personal and was almost completely focused on American Airlines and their lack of a policy regarding ‘customers of size’. I apologize for anyone who was offended. I highly recommend if you want to avoid my personal opinions read just my ‘startup‘ posts.
I make it a policy to fly business class on American Airlines, but every now and then I get stuck with a coach seat. Coming home from Vegas this weekend I was able to get out early to attend a dinner party my wife was hosting (you better believe I was getting hom early) but only by trading my first class seat for a coach seat on American Airlines. I paid TOP dollar for this seat and I was expecting to enjoy every bit of it; however, it didn’t turn out that way. I had to SHARE it with a rather large man (he needed a seat belt extender). When he sat down his legs slid under the arm rest and his stomach rolled over the top. He held his arms up, but when he put his arms down he was literally in my seat between 10-20%. I was in direct contact with his legs, stomach, arms and shoulders for 3+ hours. The human body is around 98 degrees - so it was like sitting next to a heater. It was a nightmare. Of course, I felt horrible for the guy. If I was uncomfortable (and I was), I couldn’t imagine how uncomfortable it must be for him (in life, not just the plane).
Here is my position. The airlines should either a) require larger than average people (i.e. if you need a seat belt extender it is a good chance you are larger than average) to buy two seats or a business class seat or b) provide a second seat or business class seat at no extra charge. As a passenger who paid full price for his seat I shouldn’t have to subsidize (i.e. by sharing my seat) the cost of the larger than average person, but of course I did. American Airlines didn’t pay anything extra for the guy. The larger than average guy didn’t pay anything extra. I was stuck with 100% of the cost - i.e. in my own discomfort. Why should I bear the burden? Where is my discount? American Airlines (and you other airlines) fix this. You are charging me for luggage, you don’t provide meals - surely you can get away with charging for extra large people. But at the very least, don’t sell me a seat that you can’t provide me. Please, stop the madness! FYI - the picture below doesn’t do the situation justice - i.e. you can’t see how far into my seat he gets when he lifts his leg and lowers his arms:
Line Etiquette: is Scoble a cutter?
July 12, 2008
Question: is it okay to save a space in line for someone (i.e. someone who has not yet arrived at a venue) when you are buying a 3G iPhone? Assume there are a thousand people in line and your friend ’saved’ a space for you and when you arrive several hours later they allow you into the ’space’ they saved for you. Is this acceptable line etiquette or is it cutting?
Here are my thoughts:
a. if both parties the ’spot saver’ and the ’spot taker’ were on-site when they claimed both spots and one leaves for a brief period of time to 1) go to the bathroom, 2) to get food, 3) run a short errand then I believe it is acceptable. It usually is smart to mention this fact to the people immediately behind you (i.e. hey I am going to get some drinks, you guys want any?).
b. if the ’spot saver’ is a directly family member of the ’spot taker’ it is acceptable. You should embrace and kiss to make it obvious to the people immediately behind you that you are related by blood or marraige.
c. if the ’spot saver’ is a friend of an A-List Blogger and the ’spot taker’ is Robert Scoble it is unacceptable to save a space in line if the conditions detailed in section a were not met.
Note to Robert Scoble, just because you did it last year (i.e. you saved spaces in line for Winer and Gillmor, you can’t just cut ahead of people who had been waiting in line before you arrived. Next time send your son to save your spot - don’t be a cutter! Of course, I have been guilty of a little line ‘cutting’ myself, but that being said I am not a member of the A-List.
Doing the same thing and expecting different results . . .
July 9, 2008
In business and in life we are presented with solid ideas, that with proper execution can be very successful. However, in many cases we can see those ideas squandered if we leave the execution to those who do not ‘own’ our ideas. Here is a real life example where I didn’t (couldn’t really) follow through on the execution of my idea and as a result it failed. The idea wasn’t a failure, but the execution was. I guess this is why many of us think an idea without execution is worthless.
Last month I wrote (vented) about my idea for an ACH promotion at our church, going so far as publishing the letter I wrote to our committee and our pastor here. To bring you up to speed, our committee was looking for ways to make our income more predictable. Today, we generate enough funds, but the timing of those funds significantly impacts our ability to best use them. Without the ability to predict the timing of payments we are not able to take advantage of outreach or missionary opportunties that might present themselves throughout the year. My idea was to convince at least half of the congregation to automate a percentage of their giving, enough to fund the general budget (i.e. not the capital budget) each month. I noted that we have had an ACH giving option for years; however, only 25 families participated. I suspected that this had to do with the fact that very few people were aware of the program as it was only briefly mentioned in a flier.
I outlined my idea for execution in a letter, but after all was said and done the committee decided to send a flier out as an insert in the weekly newsletter. Even the words of Albert Einstein, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” could sway the majority. The result? Two new signups. Was the ACH idea a failure? We will likely never know, but it is clear the execution certainly was. Of course I predicted this back in June:
The stewardship committee is formed as a democracy and as a result the committee reached a consensus that we send out a notice in the weekly newsletter requesting that people sign up for ACH. Ug, nightmare! I wonder how successful the program will be? About the same as it always has been. Do you run your business like this? You need gaming changing ideas, but you also need the ability to execute on those ideas. If you try to achieve consensus you won’t experience change - i.e. you won’t achieve success. Live in a democracy, run a dictatorship!
Of course if the church was MY business I wouldn’t stand by and observe ~ if you allow others to sqander your ideas you lose the right to complain (note to self).
Would you believe there are startup blogs in. . .
July 9, 2008
Colorado Startup Blog authored by David Cohen, South Carolina Startup Blog authored by Adam Steinberg, North Carolina Startup Blog authored by Marc DeWalle, Kentucky Startup Blog authored by Richard Stump, Ukraine Startup Blog authored by Alex Ryabtsev, Philippines Startup Blog authored by Ruben Canlas and Caribbean Startup Blog authored by Ingrid Riley. With the exception of David’s Colorado blog, all of these startup blogs are new. If you are interested, take a minute to visit each of them and make a few comments. They could really use the encouragement!
Microsoft offering hosted Exchange for $3/user/month
July 8, 2008
It is a dark day indeed for companies who provided hosted Exchange and related Microsoft products. According to Mary Jo Foley, Microsoft announced today that it will begin offering hosted Exchange and Sharepoint for $3/user/month. For an additional $12/user/month customers can add instant messaging and presence as well as other related services.
For years we considered offering hosted Microsoft applications at Architel, but we could never make the numbers work. Unfortunately companies like HostNet and Aztec have built million dollar businesses on a model that IMHO wasn’t terribly profitable to begin. Now with Microsoft as a DIRECT competitor selling below a hosted providers costs I don’t know how they are going to last long term. Hopefully they can gracefully transition to more profitable MSP models.
Ikea sucks? 491,000 links can’t be wrong, right?
July 6, 2008
Type, ‘Ikea sucks’ into Google and see what sort of results you find. This afternoon I was one of the hundreds of thousands of ‘haters’, until I started to think that maybe Ikea wasn’t designed for me in mind. Here is my story:
I spent two hours winding my way through our local Ikea megastore just outside of Dallas this afternoon. We are expanding our offices and according to the building our new space will be ready next week (I am not holding my breath). Anyway, I decided to grab a few desks, chairs, shelves, filing cabinets and couches to fill up the space. Ug, I am not a big shopper, so a two hour investment of time filling out a little form with 40 stacking chairs, 10 club chairs, 16 desks, 6 shelves, 16 filing cabinets, 4 storage cabinets, 8 end tables, 4 couches and assorted other stuff was a complete nightmare for me. But, I finally finished and asked one of the attendents for help. This is where it got ugly.
I figured that Ikea would have some sort of arrangement to allow me to buy the stuff and shedule a delivery. Nope. I would have to hand pick all items and carry them to the checkout area myself. I thought the Ikea attendent was kidding. Really? The cart wouldn’t hold a single couch, much less four. Where would I gather the stuff? Much of it came in more than one flat box (up-to 8 boxes in some cases). Really? Couldn’t you find someone to help me? Surely there is a policy when someone is buying tens of thousands of dollars worth of stuff. Nope.
I was irked and left after I was told there were no managers on duty (they were in a managers meeting). As I drove home, completely annoyed I realized that Ikea wasn’t wrong, they just weren’t trying to sell to me. Ikea counts on quantity. They want lots of small transactions. Transactions where the buyer selects the items he wants without help, finds the items in the warehouse without help and carries the items out the door to his car without help. If they can move the majority of their merchandise that way they make money by saving the cost of dealing with someone like me. Someone who couldn’t possibly pick and carry all of the items I wanted to buy.
Moral of the story? Sometimes the customer isn’t always right for the store. Ikea isn’t right for me and as a result I won’t try to do my bulk shopping there anymore. However, I did waste a lot of time selecting all of the stuff for our new space so my Mom has agreed to go in by herself and convince them to pick and carry my list for me. I bet she will be successful. Thankfully, I won’t have to go back!!!
Voicemail is dead. . .
July 5, 2008
Mike Arrington is suggesting, “Think Before you Voicemail.” I have to agree. Quit leaving me voice messages. If you need me to call you, just email, text me or IM me. I have consolidated all of voicemail into one box, but even then it takes FOREVER to listen to the 30-50 messages I get in a day. More and more frequently it is getting so full it won’t accept new messages. If you need to reach me, feel free to call, but when you don’t get me it is always best to send me a message via email, text or IM. But if you must, I still check voicemail about once a day (sometimes every 24 hours).
Coffee or Lunch?
July 1, 2008
David Cohen wrote a post titled, “Coffee or Lunch” that resonated with me. I get calls, emails, IMs on a daily basis from people who want to meet. If you are an entrepreneur in Dallas I want to meet you, but asking me to join you for coffee or lunch doesn’t usually work for me.
First, I don’t drink coffee (literally never had a cup in my entire life). Second, lunch might be the perfect venue for our meeting and sometimes I will suggest it, but in general it doesn’t work for me. Usually I go to lunch with CEOs from our companies to talk about what is going on and what we need to do. This is REALLY valuable time for us and if we bring you along we won’t be able to get anything done.
The best way to meet is for you to come by our office. We have a Starbucks and a cafeteria downstairs so you can pick up your or lunch if you must and hang out with us. The best thing is to touch base with me a week before and we can pencil in a date and then give me a call an hour or so before you come to make sure nothing crazy has come up. Lets keep it casual. You can always just drop by, but don’t be offended if I can’t meet (assuming you didn’t schedule it before hand). Our new space is almost finished so there should be plenty of ‘hang-out’ space.
Where:
1950 Stemmons Freeway, Suite 2022 (I-35 and Oak Lawn)
Dallas, Texas 75207
214.550.2000 Main
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