I Was Robbed

I was robbed Saturday night...

Coming off the weekend of my 20 year high school reunion I realized I could have won the door prize for "Most Unusual Profession". Amid a roomful of attorneys, accountants, teachers and a dentist, my old buddy Jarrett Seal won for being part of the Tampa Police Bomb Squad. I'm proud of Jarrett and glad he does the dangerous stuff instead of me, but that's not too unusual -- every city must have a bomb squad nowadays, right? Everybody applauded when they heard the job "Bomb Squad", but had they announced "Venture Capitalist" the room would have fallen silent, puzzled (with one guy in the back clapping until he realized he was alone).

This post isn't about the prize (OK, it is a little bit) and it's not about whether my high school pumps out the digerati, it's about realizing what a small group of knuckleheads play in this sandbox we call venture-backed technology startups. Google is a monster VC success and a household word, yet they only have about 6,000 employees, or .002% of the US population. You say that's just one company, OK, consider that the NVCA reports 700 venture capital firms in the US. Assuming most of those are small with maybe an average of 4-5 VCs each, we're talking an entire industry of 3000 VCs -- half the size of Google. That means you'd have to attend a lot of high school class reunions before finding a pair of VCs squaring off for an old-school breakdance battle.

It's also a pretty insulated sandbox -- we (tech entrepreneurs and VCs) spend much of our non-customer time chatting with other tech startup folks, advisors, board members or investors. There is nothing profound about this weekend's experience, but it does remind me that we continue charting unknown territory and spending time where few others go.

Entrepreneurs, by their nature, are typically pioneers choosing the path less trodden. VCs, either as entrepreneurs themselves or of a like-mind, actively look for spaces and opportunities others don't see or appreciate. For those of you who have chosen the startup life, you have my appreciation and respect -- it's not an easy path. However, if you want a trophy, you'll have to wait for your next high school reunion and raise your hand when the door prizes start!

Stupid Italy Pix

Well, after an extended break I'm back in the US, back in the US, back in the US of A. An anniversary trip to Italy (and reading Caesar's biography) was just what the doctor ordered for pending world domination, er, building more great companies.

When I wasn't saving the leaning tower of Pisa, I noticed some pretty interesting signs in Italy. I've included a couple below and hope a reader can chime in with explanations -- seriously.

This one was in the back window of a car darting in and out of traffic -- nothing unusual for Rome.

This one was on walls, buses and billboards throughout Italy.

Your Face, My Blog, What a Concept

With all the primary hype about Social Networks, and the secondary gripe about their transient nature, I've been waiting for an approach that infiltrates the whole net instead of the next hip domain like Friendster, FaceBook, MySpace, [insert next kewl name here]...

Imagine social networks you never leave and are with you throughout your surfing experience, showing friends that bought the same webcam you're researching, visiting the same travel destination sites you're using to plan a trip, or just hanging out at the same blogs you do. Although I see potential for a client-based (remember ThirdVoice) uber-social network that delivers a social network layer on top of everything you visit, the first logical step from site-based approaches is integrating code/APIs across popular sites. I think we'll see more of this in the next generation of social network mashups, but early javascript approaches are already appearing.

Take MyBlogLog Communities for example, which launched beta in the last month or so. You can see my "Recent Readers" table on the left that shows community members who surfed by recently. If your picture isn't in that table, you need to click and get with the program. This community overlay to blogging is overdue and should provide some cool new ways to explore the blogosphere. I've already found some interesting sites just by learning other blog communities my readers have joined. As this grows, I could see even smarter tables that filter based upon readers in your personal network -- making interacting at a blog more personal and meaningful than just ranting to the world.

Then, if that personal network started showing up on other sites, not just blogs, I'd have a platform for more surfing value. If I was researching trips to Italy and saw that a friend was doing the same, I've got an immediate resource to compare notes with. Heck, if I was about to buy a car and saw that a few local friends were considering the same purchase, we might be able to leverage some buying power.

As usual, the possibilities are endless. It's simply a matter of programming (and site adoption), right?

Anyway, check out MyBlogLog, signup for their Communities beta and if you've got your own blog try out their link tracking services.