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ENTREPRENEURS - How to tell an ANGEL from an ASSHOLE and other tips!

Recent events reminded me of an interview David Kirkpatrick did last year with Jim Breyer and Sean Parker and initially prompted me to write the following status update on my FB timeline:

"JAN SIMMONDS - ...has learnt over many years that it takes a rare and brave talent to spot and nurture real talent and most feed in their wake. If you want to do big things you need to be in the boat... The trick is not getting weighed down by those trying to hitch a free ride..."

Now Jim and Sean are two people anyone would confirm are truly 'in the boat' and whom I greatly admire, but their views in this instance are in my opinion slightly misguided.  I initially perceived them as arrogant, but now find myself thinking that actually they simply weren't putting their finger on the real problem. You see I don't think there is any real issue with glut of funding; after all any money finding its way to drive innovation is a good thing. Not just in SV but all over. But too much of it is in the hands of people who haven't a clue what they are doing. In my boat analogy, the bottom feeders are muddying the waters so badly you can't see the good stuff anymore. I'm watching good people blow millions on people who so aren't entrepreneurs on the one hand and on the other I see a corporate environment so stuffed to the rafters with professional ass lickers it's almost scary the billions lost in shuffling the blame for the lack of innovation backwards and forwards.  I simply marvel at some people's ability to make a whole career out of achieving absolutely nothing whilst being paid more per month than most of the people who actually do provide some function, earn in a year. I wish I had the lack of self respect to be one of them but I just can't seem to make myself sufficiently bland.

But to me this whole subject is totally about entrepreneurs and how they need to be able to differentiate between those who are there to lift them up and those whose whole existence is geared to holding them down. (Ass lickers hate entrepreneurs because they make them look inadequate, so when they stumble across one they tend to keep them out of harm's way. Only successful entrepreneurs and M&A guys like and understand good entrepreneurs!)

In both Sean and Jim's case their early involvement in Facebook is already the stuff of legends, but both are still foraging into new worlds and still seemingly get off, not on the money, but on the 'explorer' in them which prefers uncharted territory. Jim has his sights set on Korea and China and Sean is looking at the next legacy business to disrupt. But I'm not here to blow sunshine up their asses, rather to request they correct their assertions in the hope they can leave a cleaner wake in their path next time. Don't focus on the funding; the more money for entrepreneurs the better. Instead gun for the idiots who squander it on copycat businesses or ex bankers who think they're suddenly entrepreneurs. Get rid of the bottom feeders and the ass lickers en masse. Clear the path to the money straight to the entrepreneurs and in the care of those who know how to utilise it. But don't stop the flow of cash...

In my music biz days, (I was a Manager who clawed my way up from the back of a van to representing even some all time great acts), there would always be a handful of A&R guys and girls who took the risks and defined the trends. For every one of them were ten who simply kept their jobs in big labels by making sure they were seen at the gigs those guys were at and trying to sign the acts they knew the former wanted. The net result was that those acts they did sign never stood a chance because their A&R reps were bottom feeders not boat drivers. For the artists and Managers like me, before we got in the boat, it was very easy to see the A&R guys at one of the big labels as the holy grail. We'd spend thousands we didn't have pandering to requests for new demos, different drummers and pretend we weren't borderline destitute. We'd sell the promise on to patient frends and family who bailed us out again and again. Everyone would live off the imminent recording contract for a while and in some cases it came. But most often we were dealing with very well paid employees who had created an art form of surfing in the wake of those who had gone before them. They weren't the guys who'd signed the Spice Girls or acts like the Rolling Stones et al before them. No these were the bottom feeders whose skill was not in spotting the talent of the future, but in keeping their jobs. Sometimes they would sign an act that had value, by sniffing in the shadows of the innovators and grabbing opportunities from under their nose. And I had my share of those too. But we weren't really in the boat, because that was typically driven by someone way up the food chain. Most importantly, we kidded ourselves we were afloat but were simply now,  firmly at the mercy of somebody whose main ambition was to keep their job.

It isn't lost on me by the way, that the above describes most corporate life, at least to those with ambition constantly thwarted by jobsworths whose very existence blocks your light from shining; and by all means read this as a metaphor for that and forgive me from making it industry specific. Likewise, I should be clear I have deep admiration for people who work in any companies, including mine, whose role is to keep the boat running and whose expectations are driven simply by wanting to do that to the best of their ability. This piece just isn't about you, but reading it may help you do that even better, if only in recognising that your job security will always be better in one of the boats and not with the bottom feeders.

So having spend the past ten years repeating the same mistakes in the media and technology worlds (The Adjustment Bureau seems to see this as a necessary process for me!) I have come to some conclusions that I hope entrepreneurs will resonate with and benefit from. Likewise, I hope that next time Sean Parker, Jim Breyer and a host of similar 'explorers' are interviewed on this matter, they may take these observations under consideration and rather than mistakenly giving the impression they are greedy and looking to narrow the competition, they may say what needed saying instead and fire all the people who are just feeding their egos and giving false hope to entrepreneurs. Three strikes and send them packing perhaps? Just lose the bullshitters and jobsworths giving the industry a bad name.

For me, perhaps my own epiphany is to call time on all the pseudo investor pricks, wannabe Steve Jobs (who just so never will be) and guardian angels looking for a free ride who have got in my way over the years and slap myself across the face for not learning fast enough to walk on by when they've appeared. Similarly, if it were only me they've caused misery and distress that's one thing, but as most true entrepreneurs will know, there are a bunch of people you do want in your own boats. That crew of family, friends and employees who supported you without expectation because they love or respect you and whose reward is simply seeing you shine at your brightest. Well these bastards are screwing them too and that just isn't right.

My tips for getting in the boat based on my experience:

Angels

Beware false angels! If there is a glut of anything, it is the pseudo Angel Investors and Venture Catalysts. They come in all manner of disguises and the vast majority are nothing of the sort. Rather they are professional hitchhikers unable to innovate themselves, who lurk in the shadows of the start up world and keep as many of the glimmers (that's you btw, before you get your wings) as close at hand as possible, usually by saying they can bridge both worlds. If they aren't giving you cash immediately, then stop kidding yourself and dump them as fast as possible. I know it is very easy to be enticed by promises of money (more than a few weeks is a lie), impressed by apparent connections that are loose at best and I've wasted literally years and tens of thousands buying into such people's bullshit.

A proper Angel Investor has a pedigree, has done it countless times before and knows you have value in about thirty seconds of meeting you. A proper Angel will hand over money immediately after his gut has given him or her the right tingle. In some cases a so called Venture Catalyst can make that difference. You only have to look at Sean Parker and Zuck to confirm that. But do they really have the access and the contacts? (The mysteriously reliable 80:20 rule would strongly suggest they don't.) Don't waste a second on them without qualifying it first and ask yourself this: 'Are they commited to me 100%?'; 'have they done this before?'; 'are they actually paying my bills?' and 'can someone in the boat vouch for them?'. Remember, you are the entrepreneur on their knees. Always borrowed up to the hilt and on the verge of falling into the abyss.

A genuine angel will give you wings and change your life. (Most of them have known that pain and want the joy of watching you too take your first real flight. That's the perk of their success; helping others like them soar and become fellow angels.) Everyone else is a waste of your time and if we didn't keep feeding them, they'd shrivel away back under a rock.

Sure you may be one wannabe angel's first success, but then for that privilege they should be paying you more. If you find yourself following their lead and/ or they haven't parted with cash, you are suffering from illusions. They have clipped your wings and are keeping you in their shadow so you can't get to the opportunities direct or without carrying them with you. (And I stress CARRYING) They are not Angels, they are a disease, they are the cancerous ones, who kill the vast majority of entrepreneurs (and talent across the corporate world, perhaps even our whole economy...). Useless in their own value, they are the slave traders of todays age. If you haven't seen their money (tangible benefit, kindness or generosity or all of the above) within a few days of that first contact. Move on! If a real Angel doesn't show, keep looking and iterating until they do. These are the bottom feeders I wish Sean and Jim had berated... and for the reasons described.

Your First Round

So you are up and running but need more cash! To borrow and bend a famous line from Winston Churchill, 'ask not what you can do for your VC, but what your VC can do for you'. That is to say, if you're finding yourself doing all the running, what you have isn't good enough and you may be knocking on a bottom feeder's door. If your vision is of value, then you are the one in demand not them. If you aren't in a position to be asking what they can do for you and judging on their ability to deliver, then they are the one in demand and you are at risk of ending up trapped in the wake. Maybe you are dealing with the next shining star in that organisation... (they of course exist too!) Reassure yourself by asking for their investment to be endorsed by an explorer. Then you know you aren't buried under the radar.

Most importantly, if your business isn't charting new ground and your investment is from a firm who just wants to be in well trodden space, then don't kid yourself you are an entrepreneur. You're at best just a pretender to being one pending acquisition by someone in the boat. So learn how to be a great employee and save yourself the heartache.

Who to trust!

In my experience, I would say that everyone is a blood sucking bastard until proven otherwise. VC's won't sign NDA's and actually that makes sense. But sending out your business plan to Angels, Businesses and VC's en masse without significant traction in iteration is plain stupid. (Yes I've done that one too.) I have a long list of well known industry people and businesses I've sent my plans to way too early. (In cases five years too early) And all I've actually done is educate some asshole who was able to draw on his subconscious to compliment an investment years later. (In some cases that's way too generous and in others the jury is out on whether they'll ever acknowledge my contributions!) That's the problem with entrepreneurs you see; your great idea will turn up sooner or later. You may even have spawned it. Don't send out business plans until you are ready and never unsolicited.

In the old days I used to get over 1000 demos a week in my office from wannabe musicians. I never ever signed one of them. If we started hearing a buzz on an act, we'd catalogue those demos and they'd get on the shelf. But the acts I signed I invariably found myself, mostly because they represented what I believed in. They rarely were the ones who came looking for me. Great VC's are the same in my opinion and you are far less likely to get shafted if they've approached you for the plan. If they haven't asked for it, then don't send it. EVER! Don't trust a VC unless they've come looking for you and made it absolutely clear why they are interested in you. The explorers actually in the boat may have some buffers around them and in some cases some bottom feeders who are getting away with it, but they clearly value both theirs and the firms' reputation. If you have their ear, they'll be able to absolutely explain why they want to invest in you and will probably have been watching you for some time, often longer than you think. Finally if they are the only VC interested then you need to know if they are so far ahead of the bottom feeders you are in great hands or your business is just a pawn in a wider strategy. Probably only you and your gut can answer that one. But certainly contemplate it before signing.

So that's my humble opinion. I'm not arrogant, but I'm usually right and have a host of examples to substantiate all the above. From catalysing or directly contributing to the core drivers of some of the most significant investments of the moment (You know who you are!), these are the lessons I've learnt. But like you, I'm still an entrepreneur walking along the edge of the abyss and hoping for an angel to give me a fucking big pair of wings. I've ignored all the advice above until now, so if in the near future, you see me flying by or I am indeed one day your angel; I promise not to steal from you, put you in a box or waste your precious time. No I shall just revel in watching you soar, because I'm one of the few who know how much you've been hurting along the way.

To those who've wasted my time and money, stolen my ideas and caused me heartache; I'd like to thank you for the valuable lessons and to offer my condolences for never having been blessed with originality. It must feel awful being slightly inadequate, perpetually average and I just don't know how you sleep at nights.

@johnbattelle's 'Digital Nirvana' and my 'Hurdles' to achieving it!

This is inspired by a great post by John here, which is one of several I have seen recently that describe scenes some of us have been predicting possible for some time and to which this was my reply, now edited, but in the original comments. (Thanks John - read his 'Searchblog' it's great always!) For those of us not trapped by greed and business models that never made sense in the first place, the consumer is King and always will be. So how do we set them free? My humble starter as follows:-

3 BIG Hurdles To John Battelle's Internet Nirvana

1).

Respect:-

You've cited the potential assumption that brands are 'publishers of content'. Actually in a social world, my view is that brands are the subject of the conversation, not the owners of it, however much the platforms and brands themselves are deluding themselves and/ or us to the contrary. The graph owns the conversation and the graph is made up of hundreds of millions of people still trying to define their digital homes in an environment where the same respect, ownership and privacy afforded their physical ones is being ignored.  Current business models presume the platforms and the advertisers own the graph, a colonial right to enter those homes by stealth, digital rape or force and so that model needs to flip 180 degrees. The Customer is always right and the emphasis in my opinion should be for brands to work out how to earn our respect, such that they become increasingly part of our conversation. You are right about the end game, but note the subtle difference in the journey. Respect cannot be taken, it has to be earnt and that works both ways.

2).

Trust:-

If I suddenly woke up one morning with a hangover from hell and in the middle of some saharan desert and there was just a stall selling Coca Cola, I would feel perfectly happy opening a bottle, safe in the knowledge that it would taste as I expected and not cause me any harm. I would suggest that the majority of internet users do not currently trust any of the main platform providers. (Some of whom, have been so abhorrently flagrant in their abuses of what trust we have vested that I'm not sure they deserve a resolution) I am also staggered for instance that Coca Cola would risk the brand value earned over generations by aligning themselves anywhere near those organisations in their current guise. However, I do think that if the business models of social networks were flipped 180 degrees and replicated the principles of one's physical homes, villages and towns, based on common interest instead of location, then the creation of content, value and aspiration would both allow for monetisation through underpinning that with a digital currency and likewise encourage a new age of global optimism and sharing. (It would also make Hyperlocal make sense of course and either make AoL's investment in Patch an embarassing mistake or help them redefine it into a content creation facility that has true value.)

The battle is for a Digital democracy vs the Digital Socialism/ Dictatorship path we are following. I don't 'like' anything on Facebook because I see that as offering the world a free camera into my own home. I think everyone else is starting to realise that they are all naive entrants to a Truman Show world where all the upside is in the hands of a few people who are repeatedly proving they cannot be trusted. Once we establish that our digital homes are ours to trade and our content is our currency, then some of us who enjoy creating and contributing might like to open up and deliver the advertisers wet dream. (The fabulous, but poor, train loving photographer in Chicago, might like the idea of a few cents from every person that enjoys his images and articles about trains) If consumers could trust the platforms and the latter weren't fuelled by a misguided business model and valuation driven greed, then perhaps the trust they require could start to be achieved. In the meantime, they, the media and politicians who are increasingly beholded to the dark machine are all losing our trust and just because 700m users have proven we all like to be connected, it doesn't mean the wheels of the machines they inhabit are really turning in a sustainable way or that you can treat brand loyalty as irrelevant or hide behind 'failing forwards fast'.

What if for example, the big brands who have entered the black hole of 'creepy social 1.0' on faith alone came to realise that a few million 'likes' is totally meaningless and even counter productive if the platform suffers a catastrophic viral rebellion based on a trigger we haven't yet seen signs of, or that in fact their long-standing cache has suddenly started to spiral downwards and out of control. (See Aspiration below) A new entrant into the market could turn up like Facebook did and with the benefit of hindsight, do it better, faster and with a more tangible consumer tie-in maybe; or perhaps one privacy abuse too many that touches a global and political nerve, brings the whole house tumbling down or at least sets all the world's decent politicians to unite in protecting their once held personal democratic values, they are themselves apparently now treating with the same contempt, the platforms are treating us.

3).

Aspiration:-

Because we have a three way mexican stand-off between Apple, Google and Microsoft effectively dominating the world's digital engine rooms with companies like Facebook, Twitter etc. using their supply of fuel (social graph) to try and arrest a position at a higher level with the aforementioned or looking to create a new ship of their own on the one hand. And media conglomerates, who blinked and misssed them leaving port on the other; I believe your nirvana is fundamentally screwed until the final battle is fought and won. Traditionally, power has always resided with the world's most successful brands; Coca Cola, Ford, Disney, BBC, Time Warner, Viacom, CBS, Fiat, GE, Wal-Mart etc. etc. Now we are seeing the ever so subtle pressure developing which was the inevitable result of the fact that one or more of the big three is supporting the digital fibre of those businesses and as we know, the bigger the reliance, the larger the control. Collectively though, they all should be reminded that they are only in existence as a result of human aspiration. The founding entrepreneur's aspiration to change the world and the consumer's aspiration to want to be better. Social networks are destroying aspiration in my opinion and as brands succumb to 'the light' like flies to a UV lamp and in pursuit of short-term gain, they are no longer standing out from the crowd and increasingly, where once people looked up to them, the new flat environments simply force people to look across. How long before the only brands with any 'reluctant' reverance are the ones controlling the platforms and once glorious names are merely categories within a super-brand like Skynet or AGM?

My background for most of my career was as a Manager of some not so well known and some iconic Artistes/ Producers and I watch in horror as I see kids think the only route to fame nowadays is by getting their tits done or queuing in line for a TV show, where a back catalog song is milked for yet more life and money and a dumbed down public pays to choose it's fodder for the coming year until we start all over. All routes via traditional sweat, A&R and truly lasting global talent all but closed off. Will kids aspire to a viral hit on YouTube and being 'liked' on Facebook if they're still working the checkout at Wal-Mart and how will any of us be able to find talent outside of the machine if the only place it is distributed is within it and dominated by the big three and the media companies they can bring into line around or beneath them.

In a world of so much noise, there is only so much human capacity for infinite choice and we need to have places where real talent can reach us honestly and organically. I think there is a gaping hole on the internet for a platform where technology meets media and that would provide the absolute safety valve we need to prevent the big brands dying in the social vortex and the three 'Mexicans' carving up the world between them and killing the oxygen supply to everyone that doesn't comply. Aspiration only works when the top of the mountain is worth attaining.

The absence of a truly elegant environment on the internet where brands are revered instead of made to look ordinary and where kids can believe that however they express themselves creatively, they may achieve heights unparalleled in history, is becoming a critical necessity to preserve and encourage respect, trust and aspiration. The best way of persuading them has always been and will always be to buy music, art etc. and watch people get really rich. Facebook are currently focused on everyone knowing how rich they are getting on our content not encouraging a platform where the content we create is ours to share, trade and benefit from. Why should we create value for Facebook? Personally, I think it's time for Mark to go and Sheryl to take over leading up to and after the IPO, when the beneficiaries of the business done right should be the pension funds of our children. At the moment Mark can still claim rightfully the creation of the world's biggest change since the internet itself and even perhaps be forgiven for some of the ways he got there. But as an ongoing role model and safe guardian? No, certainly not... Facebook could provide a democratic mechanism to help the world discover talent, but trying to build, control and retain the media 'head' within their 'long-tail' technology platform is both an oxymoron and for reasons people can explore by visiting my blog, potentially also tresspassing on my IPR.

Always appreciate more followers and RT's etc. on http://www.twitter.com/famebook for those that think my humble ramblings are worthwhile!

Google's Big Problem is Sex not Social...

Recent Answer to a Quora Question -

What should Google do to completely overhaul its social strategy?

Google's biggest problem isn't social, it is sex! - Great sex starts of course with trust, but also that simple attraction factor and I highlight the word simple.

So much of what Google does frustrates me, because in many ways they are at least aesthetically becoming the lesser of many evils, especially in terms of their inherent two way financial relationship with users and the presumption of ownership of one's digital identity. (Demand Media gets heavily criticized, but again has a genuinely two way mechanism and is also in its infancy imho.)

The problem is, they can't seem to turn me on. I use iGoogle to create my snapshot stream of news and it's great functionally, but totally mundane in look and feel. I simply wouldn't use any of Google's hosted products for any personal or business activity because as far as I'm aware there isn't any strong enough protection I can buy over the counter to make me feel safe enough and to be honest in the absence of that lustful, churning desire in my tummy to progress the relationship, I see little point.

Thousands of genius minds at the Plex is great, but they are so clearly not representative of the other 99.9% of the rest of us and how we like things and in my opinion they ought to be hiring more stupid people to help convert the back end awesome breadth of technology into front windows that we don't have to work so hard to buy into, can totally trust and benefit from and that have us begging for more. If I were Google, I would also have a whole department focused on how to make Jonathan Ive an offer he couldn't refuse to join them or to find an alternative person. (I would do it for slightly less if you are interested ;-)

I think Joe Greenstein's answer sums up things pretty well otherwise, but I'm skeptical that any are achievable, unless the leadership stops treating their slide as a technical or product failing, rather a blindness to the fact that whilst they may have everything else in abundance, they've never actually had 'it'. The latter being the one thing that would reverse current trends and realize their long held ambitions.

Microsoft has a little bit of it, Apple definitely has it, Facebook used to have it but to the consumer none of them have the whole package and they certainly don't trust any of them, especially the current incumbent. Some are starting to look the part, but there's always this nagging worry that you could decide to get intimate and then have your heart broken when you realize you were just another notch on the digital bedpost or worse!

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Afterthoughts... (Please go wild with your comments ;-)

Extending the analogy:-

If Apple is a love affair, Google is asexual and Microsoft is a teenage crush, then what do you call Facebook and others who keep on cheating on you and who, if any, would the 'digital you' actually marry?

US | Innovation vs. Popularity - What matters most?

I had a 'Called Out Comment' to an article on Forbes by Haydn Shaughnessy the other day and thought I'd repost it to my blog. (Why Facebook Town Hall Shows Obama is Missing the Point on Innovation) I watch with admiration as guys like Steve Case champion innovation with Start Up America and as an entrepreneur have always wanted to build a business in the US; but what value is all that effort if you erode the trust of your foreign markets by turning a convenient blind eye to increasing abuses of digital power or at least allow the implication that your are beholden to those abuses for re-election? Anyway my comment with great sadness was:

"America’s innovation is reliant on sustaining a demand from the global market. On current balance and with Obama stating at Facebook that he doesn’t want bright Chinese kids building the next Intel in China, but coming to the US to build it I believe that innovation isn’t your problem, rather your global public image is what really needs massive investment. Given that Facebook state that 70% of their users are outside the US and they show little or no respect for their rights as digital persona or their privacy, Apple are now found to be stalking every iPhone and iPad owner and Google also not squeeky clean, then it does look a bit like brand US and screw the rest of you whatever the moral cost.

I recognize that innovation is at the heart of growth, but when 70% of users wake up and realize that they are feeding an attitude of domination not free market globalization and integration, then they and the rest of your world markets are going to start ‘unfriending’ you at a staggering rate.

I love America, but what Facebook, Google and now Apple are doing would, in the days of a free media and unfettered journalists, be the stuff of Pulitzers and ‘….gates’ and for your President to stand next to them and imply his endorsement because he’s beholden to the machinery for re-election makes many of us around the world both anxious about the future and very disappointed with brand US. And rest assured we will also innovate twice as hard against it!"

America as the 'beacon of the free world' used to have a nice ring to it, but the light for me is fading... 

Lest my faith is suddenly restored, you can follow me on Twitter or sign up for alerts using the appropriate links.

 

Why Facebook Town Hall Shows Obama is Missing the Point on Innovation

Zuck to Blodget - "You can't handle the truth?"

Prompted by the fact that nearly 800,000 people have read this refreshingly 'against the grain' article by Henry Blodget - "The Guy Who Says He Owns 50% Of Facebook Just Filed A Boatload Of New Evidence -- And It's Breathtaking" (Linked to my take on it in the comments) this amusing image also came into my mind and I thought I'd share it...

Taken from 'A Few Good Men'...

Zuck: *You want answers?*
Blodget: *I want the truth!*
Zuck: *You can't handle the truth!*
[pauses]
Zuck: Son, we live in a world that has privacy walls, and those walls have to be destroyed by stealth. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Obama? I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You weep for Privacy, and you curse the facebookers. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. That Privacy's death, while tragic, is the only way we can make money with our current business model. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, makes that possible. You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you like connecting with people. We use words like fail forward, opt out, plunder. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent building our valuation. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a global population who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the connectivity that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a keyboard, and hack away. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to.
Blodget: Did you steal people's ideas and trample over our privacy?
Zuck: I did the job I...
Blodget: *Did you steal people's ideas and trample over our privacy?*

to be continued... (Fill in Zuck's answer via the comments below):

Zuck: ..............................................

*Note: This is my own personal opinion and does not imply statements or comments actually made. I don't hate Facebook, I just think their business model is all wrong and believe their actions on many things are reprehensible and in the absence of evidence to the contrary just don't trust them or the press who are becoming beholden to them. If you read the comments on any articles relating to Facebook, it would seem to me that roughly 60-80% of their users don't either. That's a shame when it's our content which is underpinning it! To that end, I make no apology for poking a little fun at them above!

Social Media is Not Social... Yet! - UPDATED VERSION

What's the difference between going to a party with old and new friends and visiting a nightclub? With the former, you get to be surrounded by a bunch of people you feel good about around a common theme and with no commercial backdrop whatsoever. Maybe during the fun, you create something of value; a new connection, a business idea, a deep romance or the discovery of a new food or drink you like. Noone has an agenda for you other than the host hoping you have a great time and his or her pay off is that they will get a subsequent invitation where you invite them to enjoy some of the same. That's what we call social isn't it?

When you go to a club, you are greeted at the door by bouncers who judge if you fit in, pay your entrance fee and enter an environment designed to entice your wallet towards that drink with the highest mark up. You may be in a social group of course, but the chances are it will be just a handful of your friends and rather than being yourself, you will likely adapt your persona to fit into the style of that particular club. The girl you fancy across the dancefloor is seeing the 'you' which you think might get you laid, but probably not the person that was at the party the week before! Sure it's fun and part of the mix, but it's not 'social'; it's called 'entertainment'.

I've just read this post by a great guy called Jonathan Salem Baskin on Adage and whilst much of what he says I agree with, overall I think he's missing the point. Facebook, Twitter et al are nightclubs in my analogy and popular though they may be; they aren't social, they're entertainment... or at least that, in my opinion, is how brands should treat them.

The idea that as a brand, you can engage with people and be part of their real life conversations  'socially' in a nightclub is of course ludicrous. You simply have an audience and you are selling your wares to that audience. Sure a 'happy hour' on cocktails always works and people will talk about it throughout their groups, but noone gives a shit about the sponsor really and the advertising around the building is no more or less an inconvenience than the ones in the American Idol ad breaks which just go with the territory. The owners of the club (Facebook, Twitter etc.) may be the hottest dudes around, but they're misleading you if they try and tell you they have some special stewardship which gives them direct access to your personal choices. The only way that could happen would be to bug the toilets and monitor the conversations of girls renewing their make up, but that would be a disgusting breach of civil liberties wouldn't it?

So to some fundamental root problems that need to be addressed...

Remember; YOUR home is YOUR castle and you are the king of that and your personal identity and you choose how to portray both. You choose who to let in and what you want them to see when you are there and the brands on display are ones you've selected, not someone else. The B&O TV, Jimmy Choo shoes and Prada handbag speak to who you are or want to be... you're not sponsored to like them, you just do. Likewise, you know you can say what you want in there and it is private. There's no risk of it being used to define you by any third party and when friends come over you may barter some of your value; the cakes you made, a dress that doesn't fit or theatre tickets you can't use. If you recommend a plumber, you do so honestly and get the same value back when you need something. That's social interaction and unless as a brand you are in at that level, then stop kidding yourself that you are engaging socially with your customers. It's just bullshit!

Now let's say you as an individual really own your 'digital' you. Not as a joint venture, but 100% and you want to replicate your 'social' life online. The start point has to be the ability to own your own home or lease it in a way that ensures everything that happens behind the front door is yours first and foremost. Some people rent their 'castles, some buy them and some live with their parents but have their own bedroom with the same rules applying; and you can pay for that privilege in numerous ways which is of course your perogative and down to your own circumstances.

Regardless of the way you pay, it's still YOUR place. If you are a social person and lots of people value your choices, then any benefit to be had for influencing your friend's choices within that place must rightfully be yours. Celebrities not only get paid for endorsing brands, they rarely pay for the brands themselves. Why shouldn't you deserve the same proportionate benefit however small? Similarly, everyone has an area of expertise nowadays, whether it's just being a mum or say as an awesome specialist photographer with a passion for trains. If I said that millions of train lovers or mums might pay you a few cents for your expertise if you allowed them into your digital home, then would you open up and be motivated to share 'socially'? I bet you would. Likewise if I offered you a selection of brands that you could choose, which you felt best reflected your personality and the likely choices of your friends and gave you the majority share of revenue for some elegant adverts adjacent to your digital home; would you spend some time to make that look as nice as you would your kitchen or dining room. I think so.

Your Facebook, Twitter, Google etc. profiles aren't social. They're just entertainment. Until you own your own home within those environments, you wouldn't and shouldn't really open up the real you to anyone. There are moves to trick you into installing mikes into your living room on an opt out basis and you should be well aware of that. If you like stuff on Facebook and RT brand messages for free, in my opinion you're a mug. Save that for when you meet in person, where you are still in charge and own the lion's share of your own value creation or until a platform which respects you as an individual and the sanctity of your own home comes along!

To brands; I understand the challenges, but if you want to stand out from the crowd, you shouldn't be dumbing yourself to a level playing field and being complicit in raping targeting data from people, will do you no favours in the long run. You're the guys who are paying the bills and if you treat the digital individual and their digital homes with respect, they will eventually welcome you in... and in a way which is meaningful.

Social media isn't social yet. It will become social though in my view. As my telephone as a utility enables me to work, socialise, be entertained and play so social networking platforms are equally a utility, but the conversation and content will always be mine and needs to happen within my own space, built on ground I can trust. It doesn't exist yet, but when it does, the next challenge will be fuelling aspiration and where you go if you really do stand out from the crowd. I'll leave you to guess who that landlord will be!

In the meantime and in the world of 'digital land', I want to own my own home and when I do, you're all invited to a party! ......and that by the way, is when we really know we are 'friends' and the supposed ambition becomes a reality and not just a smokescreen! ;-)

(BTW if you are a leading global brand, give me a call... our first few in are more than just Clients and Friends, they are major Partners.)

Saving Aspiration - Time for a new musical uprising?

Prompted by a Quora question below:

How will music labels make money, if at all, over the next five years?

As a manager for much of my career, who started literally in the back of a van with one act to working fifteen years later with some iconic names, I can say with some confidence that the big problem for the industry today is not the method of delivery and new ways to monetize this long tail model; it is the destruction of aspiration which has not been properly appreciated yet. Kids playing air guitar in their bedroom dream of being rockstars, living in mansions and ruling the world of popular culture. They don't dream of a viral hit on YouTube or Facebook, whilst they still pack the shelves at the mall and the former take the lions share of the meagre spoils of their effort. The idea that their page on Facebook will ever stand out from the crowd is of course an oxymoron by definition and if their only route is via a TV show and phone votes, then their music can never be considered a new wave, it will always be a sanitised and manufactured career based on back catalogue covers as a measure of their ability and not a great route for break out artists who are doing something original and creating their own momentum.

Artists need a head to the global long tail business of today to aspire to and it doesn't exist (yet - ;-), rather in the current evolution, the old ones are being destroyed & those 'mountains' are being flattened, to crowd level by those that would control the income stream via phone votes and social control systems.

We need a new break out wave of popular culture like Punk or Hip Hop which transcends all the current business mechanisms out there, driven by the consumer and on the back of which the industry re-aligns itself and does what art is supposed to do; which is to reflect the mood of generations not just line the pockets of those who think the chicken came before the egg, but the artists themselves and our cultures in general.

Do you really want your musical choice in the future to be chosen by phone vote and based on an architected selection of acts whose life expectancy will be in single digits in terms of albums if that? Fast food, fast music... what next? You may like the occasional Maccy D's, but what if that's all you could eat?

Personally I have faith that popular uprising in music is timeless and I would love to see an artist or band take off, that acts as an antidote to the current status quo and rather than see millions of people waste their dwindling money on phone voting, lotteries and virtual goods, they buy that artists' material directly and watch him/ her or them get rich. That is the only way you truly know you made that artist happen and make aspiration for future musicians mean anything.

If you think I'm wrong, then ask yourself which artists of today will be remembered by your great grand children. In my opinion they will still talk about The Beatles, Elvis, Marilyn Monroe etc. etc. but not many of this generation I venture. #saveaspiration - all roads lead to Famebook of course ;-)

Google Vs. Facebook - Response to Michael Arrington's TC Articles!

See Original Article here! & Follow Up Article here!

...Apart from thinking that Facebook like cigarette co's should have a Govt. health warning words to the effect of 'what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, unless we decide to change our TOS's and use that information we now have on you'; I think it's ironic that the overwhelming majority of people commenting on tech publications like TC are negative on Facebook and ambivalent at worst on Google. This seems to be increasingly at odds with the publications themselves who seem to me at least to slant in the opposite direction. Is the rising prevalence of FB Connect pure coincidence?

Perhaps Facebook are playing neatly into Google's hand, because when push comes to shove the deal was we built our 'private' digital identity on Facebook's free platform in return for having adverts adjacent to our data. The subsequent and abhorrent 'opt out' rape of our privacy and implied ransom of our own data by Facebook's lack of an export function, has done nothing to create any brand loyalty and it seems to me Google has the aesthetic higher moral ground with the all important users. Should they overcome the simplicity, style, integrity, portability, longevity and privacy issues in a new social product under wraps or support/ invest in another start up version, I think the latent bad feeling Facebook seems so complacent about, could be catastrophic.

A persons' digital identity is their currency not Facebook's or Google's or any other providers either. Continued reliance on a business model or political ideology which trys to sustain a value out of ransoming that asset is both morally suspect in my view and simply not logical in the long term. The old adage that if you love people set them free, rings bells with me especially and I've been saying for some time (see blogs) that if each individual controlled their own digital identity, got paid for the ads on their pages and on a user-generated basis chose what categories those adverts should be to suit their social graph and to ensure maximum relevance, then noone would have to rape your privacy to achieve that by stealth and under the spurious excuse of 'failing forward fast'. Everyone would share freely and the social graph would be trustworthy and free in the spirit of the internet. I also think a platform provider like Facebook would increase revenues tenfold and the Kirkpatrick assertions of altruism might start to be believable. Everything else is just further evidence to the contrary.

Plus afterthoughts:

If I were Facebook and not forsaking the above, I would really question the Microsoft like approach to its corporate reputation. Even at its most greedy or arrogant, the prospect of Linux or Apple for most people was too much of a hurdle, but in Facebook's case, if a viable alternative arrives, Google or otherwise, you're really only talking about a refresh of your contact lists somewhere else. I keep a note of all my email addresses anyway, but if you don't, then as sites like Foursquare etc. demonstrate, the people most keen on communciating with you socially, will follow you werever you go.

I'm not frightened of sharing stuff and would love to embrace the social graph more freely. But it's my stuff and if anyone is going to make money from it, it's me. Likewise, it's noone's place but a parents to decide what private information their child, may have uploaded to the internet based on one set of privacy principles, should or should not be shared without notice by the host to that information. If you as the host abuse that trust then I look at you as I would any abuser, with a certain contempt and anger. If you don't understand that, then you really need to learn to, if you want me to respect you or your brand because in the abscence of that I just assume you don't care and certainly won't encourage my child anywhere near your platform.

If you genuinely just want the world to be more friendly and connected and that is your core philosophy, I guess it's time to prove it. Don't hold my digital identity and social graph to ransom, whoever you are! It's mine, not yours...and always will be!

Increasing Brand Value Through Honour - A Case Study (DFJ Esprit)

A while back I was reading one of my favourite European blogs THE EQUITY KICKER and Nic, the Writer and Partner at DFJ Esprit was asking for some ideas for taglines for their new website. I had a few moments so I gave it some thought and ventured a few modest ideas to the pot. Others too responded with their ideas and to be honest I thought nothing of it afterwards. I'm often generous with ideas and as long as they don't compromise my own ring-fenced business ideas and asset value, enjoy keeping my creative brain alive by contributing to other people's projects.

On many occasions, I've come up with book titles, song titles, band names, movie titles and they've ended up in lights without so much as a mention or note of appreciation. Every time that happens, I mentally write off the people or companies concerned and look at both their ethics and simple good manners with a sense of resigned disappointment but comfort myself that they have lost any opportunity for further value and at least I will go to my grave knowing I've always been original and have never had to 'steal a line'. In some cases especially where that omnipresent spectre of corporate passing off goes unabated, I know myself and many like me (and increasingly these days), look at some big brands with a sour taste in our mouths and the impression that if they can steal the smallest thing, then the overall company integrity must be suspect.

Sometimes though one stumbles across an honourable person and all the negatives described above are transformed to opposite effect. (At the risk of being seen to seek mileage for my efforts which I can honestly say I'm not, I am though seizing the opportunity to demonstrate the point to those individuals and corporations who've benefited from my contributions in the past without so much of a thank you, or worse, lied about the origin of those assets.) So here's my big up for Nic;

Nic Brisbourne is a gentleman and no we haven't even met in person yet. His blog is impartial, engaging and erudite. He publically crowdsourced his call to action for the strapline from the outset, kept his followers up to date and didn't attempt, like Governments tend to, bury the bad news. Some months later, Nic sent me a note asking for my address without explanation and within a couple of days a very nice present indeed arrived at my door, with a note thanking me for my coming up with DFJ Esprit's new tagline of 'fuelling global ambition'. I'm an old fashioned sentimentalist and I was genuinely touched. Now that action alone 'had me at hello', but I have just noted today that Nic also posted a new blog post thanking the contributors to his website and namechecked me as well which he similarly didn't have to do.

And so I find myself, not only further warmed to Nic as an individual, but with a massive feel good factor for DFJ, both in Europe and as part of the wider network. It's the little things that count and this one little thing has prompted me to break my blogging drought and perhaps further contribute to their ongoing success by sharing that good will.

Maybe in this age of increased sharing, one of the eventual net benefits is the ironic fact that the ability for corporations or some of the people who work there, or individuals with a lack of moral fibre, to plagarise without being called to account is diminishing to the benefit of those that originate ideas in the first place. In Nic's case I contributed without expectation, in others more close to my own ambitions, my ideas are just those and have a price or are just not for sale. Either way and without implying we have any other connection currently, I would prefer to be surrounded by the Nic's and DFJ's of this world than the alternatives and to my fellow morally intact entrepreneurs and potential investors into DFJ, both with 'global ambitions' I hope this strikes a cord!

To Nic, I hope this is not presumptuous and put more simply, 'it was my very great pleasure!'.

Response to: Will Facebook Be Tomorrow’s Google, and Google Tomorrow’s Microsoft? - Bindu Reddy

Response to article:

Will Facebook Be Tomorrow’s Google, and Google Tomorrow’s Microsoft?

Bindu this is a nice piece, but I think it isn't timed well for maximum credibility. A bit like doing a human interest piece at the moment on how environmentally considerate BP is deep down

Personally, I also don't buy the advertising thing. To me that advert you've cited actually makes Sony look cheap to me. Show me the same product within an elegant print environment like Vanity Fair or Vogue and I still feel good about it. But Sony alongside cheap adverts for obscure stuff does them no favours imho. The trick is getting brands as part of the 'conversation' but here's where FB are coming unstuck... Firstly, they can't own the conversation and manipulate it, they just provide the platform for where it takes place. Secondly and more importantly, I also passionately believe that for any sophisticated and established brand they have to consider one fundamental problem with this new world order; namely:- 'if they want to stand out from the crowd, they can't become part of it!'

Robert Scoble has recently highlighted the issue too and effectively echoed what I've been saying for some time; that Facebook is a Chris Anderson 'Long Tail' or the 80% of the 80:20 rule. The rich and elegant 'HEAD' or 20% is actually outside the platform and is the place where trad media finally converges properly online. This hasn't happened yet, which is why people like Martin Sorrel at WPP still have a certain disdain for Social Networking in it's current guise. (and he's the guy really writing the big cheques...)

Facebook have created a PR catastrophe recently on privacy and if it weren't for their scale, I think it would have been one of the all time great own goals. They still could prevail as you suggest, but certainly not on the current path they are travelling and probably not unless they eat some humble pie too.

I see Facebook's only route being to accept that it has become inadvertantly another ubiquitious utility like the telephone which carries our private conversations in a new fashion. We would no more expect adverts in our telephone calls than we aren't actually irritated by Facebook ones now and more importantly, we would certainly be incandescent if telephone networks started making our conversations public without permission so as to allow publishers to sell to us during our calls. So Facebook should in my view work to a freemium model and work with the owners of the conversation, perhaps by sharing revenues, then maybe we would be more inclined to open up. Sticking FB flags on content territory and privacy without asking and on the assumption you can then remove them if you want is colonisation of our data and privacy and inherently immoral. I would myself pay a modest fee for an advert free arena to connect socially with people I like. If you then think of them as say a service provider/ ISP, they would have 500 million potential monthly billable Clients and wouldn't need to p**s people off. If they want to utilise my private data from there then they can treat me with some respect and negotiate accordingly...

I assume though at the end of the day, Facebook is ruthlessly tunnel visioned on a sale to Microsoft or IPO and Mark Z is by all accounts only concerned with us DF's if we get in the way of that goal.

Read more: http://techcrunch.com/2010/05/15/facebook-google/#idc-cover#ixzz0o3C5WidC