So a friend of mine asked me to learn a song (this one) on guitar and play it at his wedding this past weekend, along with two of his other friends; one of keyboard, one on vocals. I was nervous because I'm more of a drummer than a guitarist, but I think we pulled it off and it sounded good. If someone sends me video or audio I'll put it up... but here are the pics:
This week we launched a very simple new product. It's called BritePic, and it's an easy way to add interactivity (zoom, sharing, captions, etc.) to your pictures. You can also optionally add advertising to your pictures to make money, if you want.
I just watched your "Death metal office drumming" video on YouTube. Excellent drumming! My friends have been praising the video. My question is... are you involved with a serious death metal band?
Death metal office drumming:
Charly 32 years old Sonora, Mexico
Charly,
I haven't been in a real death metal band since high school, 1993. But here's a clip!
Why isn't there a site that tracks business people and entrepreneurs as if they were movie stars?
I mean like the real dirt on business folks -- who they're dating, what they're eating or doing in their free time, etc. Like paparazzi/tabloid type stuff.
I think a lot of people would find this entertaining. Some people are political junkies, celebrity junkies, where's the site for the business junkies?
Mike Washington, DC
Mike,
That is an awesome idea. So good in fact, that I pitched almost the same thing to a magazine publisher many years ago. I was going to call the magazine "Dirt," make it really sensational, and write about business gossip, white collar crime, and so on.
I ended up not doing it (and writing my book instead..more $ and less work), but I still think it's a really great idea for a business blog.
Valleywag is almost exactly that (you can even read pud gossip), but limited to Silicon Valley gossip only. There's definitely room for a more mainstream version. Build it!
Pud
ps- if anyone knows any sites that already do this, leave them in the comments.
Is it in monetary gain and the accumulation of crap? Or the satisfaction of doing what you love and reaching your goals? Is it the positive change or difference you make in the world? Maybe it's none of the above, or all.
What is it?
Jack, 31 years old Winnipeg
Jack,
The closer your reality is to your expectations, the more successful you are.
In other words, if you expect to wake up tomorrow morning with a model by your side and a billion in the bank, you'll be very unhappy and unsuccessful.
But if you wake up in the morning and realize you're doing even just a little better than you thought you would, you'll be damn proud of yourself. :)
I recently created a business plan for an Internet company with some college roommates. I received a rough quote from a web development firm that the website will cost roughly $500,000.
As someone who doesn't just have $500K just lying around, how should I acquire this type of capital? I know a little about venture capital and angel investors, but I'm not really sure where to begin.
Help!
Best Regards, Elliot 20 years old Boston, MA
Elliot,
There's one obvious problem here.
You said that you "and some college roommates" came up with the plan. Do any of you know how to program? If not, you need to find a business partner who does. In fact, you can probably drop your other partners.
And since your new business partner (the programmer, who you may or may not already know, but you need him) will be doing most of the work initially, it may be fair to give him more equity.
Build the site. Then get traffic & a little momentum, show growth, and make a little $. THEN come back and ask me how to raise money -- you'll be in a much better position.
This past weekend I took part in what was supposed to be a simple April Fools gag. But through a series of coincidental circumstances and odd timing, it came together into what some are calling the best tech April fools joke of 2007.
I don't know if it was the best, but it certainly had to be the most elaborate.
Here's the story.
Michael Arrington of mega-blog, Techcrunch, came up with the idea of announcing that Techcrunch had acquired Fuckedcompany. Techcrunch is the best-known site announcing new "Web 2.0" companies, while FC chronicled the fall of "Web 1.0." The joke being that Web 2.0 is "officially" over.
We discussed it and Michael thought it would be more believable if I corroborated the story on FC and Pud.com. Sounded fun, so I made a white version of the site with a new logo in the Techcrunch font and posted the story here.
But then the weird part. Two months earlier I was contacted by a man named James Martin, asking if I was interested in selling Fuckedcompany and some of my other popular-but-neglected properties. I said "sure" and signed an agreement with him, but then hadn't heard much since.
Anyway, this past weekend it all came together. Apparently James had been busy, contacting people about buying the sites, and getting some press for it. Here's the first article, on Wired.com. It was posted on March 29, two days before the Techcrunch/FC announcement.
Then other press start to pick up on the "FC is for sale" story. Then the day before the joke was supposed to go live, another popular Silicon Valley blog, Valleywag, reports that FC would be the perfect acquisition for Techcrunch.
The FC acquisition story goes live on Techcrunch. We were going to issue a real press release to the business wires, but then the joke was getting so much press that a release would be overkill.
Many people were confused... if this were an April fools joke, how did we get Wired, Valleywag, and others to play along days before the joke? And with everyone saying FC and Techcrunch should belong together anyway, is it really that funny?
Anyway, odd timing, sort of a clusterfuck, but nobody got hurt. Except maybe all the people who fell for it.
Pud is an expert in many things including money, sex, business, arts, music, food, fashion, technology, nightlife, travel -- almost everything except sports.
