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Why Hollywood is so great

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I used to hate Hollywood. The boob jobs, botox, name dropping, $2K on a dress, plastic Hollywood is not my style. But my sister lives in LA and she gave me an interesting perspective on Hollywood once. She said Hollywood is the only place ON EARTH where the impossible is completely possible. Think about it for a moment. If you have a weird deviant fantasy about pubescent turtles, that talk, and are ninja masters nonetheless, and you can make a ton of money on that idea – what other industry in the world supports such insanity? Of course!!! Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! Why didn’t I think of that?!?!?

Anyway, I came across this video on YouTube. You’ll need about 10 minutes to see both the first video (which will explain the second video) and the second. But this is so weird that I’m truly entertained. Thank you Hollywood.

The original video:

The response:

Missing your flight over 1 extra gram of lithium in that battery pack

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Because taking off your shoes, belt, coat, and your computer out of it’s case isn’t hassle enough in the airport security lines, the TSA has issued new regulations concerning the type, quantity, and volume of batteries you can carry or check at the airport.

Here’s a quick overview:

  • You can’t check spare batteries anymore (like for your camera, computer, cell phone, whatever), but you can check batteries that are installed in the device.
  • You can carry on as many batteries as you like, as long as they contain less than 8 grams of lithium each.  HUH?  To figure out how much lithium is in those batteries, you’ll need to multiply the voltage by the mAh, then divide by 1000.  That will give you watt hours.  As long as your less than 100 watt hours, you’re okay.
  • Alkaline or Nickel batteries aren’t a concern.

Don’t forget to pack your calculator since you’ll be doing math while waiting for that long security line.  Just make sure the battery is less than 100 watt hours!

Since gas was briefly over $100 a barrel yesterday, and the security at the airports is getting RIDICULOUS, I’m voting to increase spending on R&D for a transporter.  Star Trek had it right!

Language on a construction site

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Warning – this posting is R rated.

As I sit here and drink wine with my husband and his best friend, both home builders on construction sites all day long, it has been brought to my attention why they guys on a construction site talk the way they talk.

Look at the kind of words that they deal with on a minute by minute basis:

stiff
caulk
hammer
pound
screw
drill
nail
wood
Dike (wire cutters)
Upskirt (a long stick with a mirror on the end of it so the guys can see in hard to reach places)
“fill the crack/seam with caulk”
“your caulk is dripping”
“Suck it in” (talking about pulling 2 boards close together)
“Oil the wood, then caulk it” – self explanatory
“Drive it deeper” (referring to nails, screws)
“Do you want the top or bottom?”  (trying to figure out who goes up the ladder and who stays on the ground)
“Blow the tools” (they use compressed air to blow the saw dust off the tools)
So of COURSE men on a construction site hoot and holler at women when the walk by!

Map where Congress spends your tax dollar

Nicole Glaros3 Comments

Now you can see where Uncle Sam is spending your money, as plotted on a map! The Sunlight Foundation released a downloadable Google Earth layer that plots what it says are some 1,500 earmarks attached to a proposed U.S. House of Representatives defense spending bill. The Foundation describes its mission as promoting political transparency through use of Internet technologies.

Interesting indeed. If you don’t have Google Earth, it’s a free program you can downoad here.  Thanks to Quinn Buchanan for bringing this to my attention, and to News.com for reporting the story.
Google Earth Tax Dollars

Fred Wilson’s “A Lead Investor”

Nicole Glaros1 Comment

Thank you to Fred Wilson who posted an insightful blog on the definition of a “lead investor”.  If you are looking for capital, this is a must read.

Working with the startup world, I can tell you that 90% of angel investors are bandwagon junkies.  Most of them will only invest when someone else already has.  So if you’re looking for capital, focus all of your efforts on a champion.  Someone that will sing your song as loud as you.  Once that champion investor is found, you will get your capital.   But this person is 1 in 10 (or 50 maybe, or even more).

This isn’t a bad thing by the way.  Most investors have an area of expertise.  If they only invested in their area of expertise, think how limited they would be in where they could invest.  Good investors will be leads in areas they know, love, and understand, and can be a great resource for other investors with little to no knowledge of the area.

So, if you’re looking for capital, find investors with a deep knowledge of your area, and you’re most of the way to finding your champion/lead investor, and the capital you need for your company.

And, as always, if you’re looking for capital, ask for advice.  If you’re looking for advice, ask for money.

Gmail going IMAP?

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Just heard a rumor that Google’s gmail is going IMAP!

For those that aren’t already on gmail, it’s time to seriously check it out. I’m in the process now of switching all of my mail accounts over to gmail. The 2 major differences that I use, as compared to yahoo, is the ‘labels’ feature instead of folders. Since one email can exist with multiple labels, it makes organization a snap. Plus, emails are grouped by conversation as opposed to date – keeping them all together in one spot. A few other features include the ability to POP or forward without having a premium account (although I would be happy to pay for this), and you can use keyboard shortcuts to save time.

Since Google is going IMAP, it makes the decision to fully switch over a no-brainer. Now my lables can match up with my folders in outlook, meaning I’m always in sync no matter where I am. Yet because it hasn’t been rolled out to everyone, I’m very curious as to how this will work given an email can exist with multiple labels in gmail, but not in multiple folders in Outlook.

I’ve also moved TWO of my companies over to Google Apps, since it has a feature that will handle your email using your own custom domain, for free! (Although I am paying for this for a few added features). Easy to administer, took about 5 minutes to set up, and works in an interface I’m used to.

Yet another reason I’m voting Google For President.

Attention Entrepreneurs – 100% of a taco stand or 5% of the next billion dollar company?

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I had drinks last night with a good friend and we got to discussing the pain most entrepreneurs feel in giving up equity in their company. In fact, back in my days at CTEK I clearly remember an instance with a bioscience entrepreneur. He had a patent on a fabulous technology. World changing technology. Next billion dollar company technology. Everyone around this company was chomping at the bit to invest, except for one major problem; the entrepreneur was a bit of a loose canon. I remember sitting around the table with about 15 angels who were ready to invest close to $3M in capital, a very large sum for independent investors in Colorado. There was the usual negotiation on valuation, whereby the higher valuation (favored by the entrepreneur) meant he would keep more of his company, while the investors wanted a lower valuation (they would own more).

In a moment of frustration, and clearly the moment his fate was sealed, the entrepreneur said “I’m not bending on this point because I am GOD. This is my company, my technology, my product. Do it my way or get out.”

Know what happened to this particular entrepreneur? Nothing. He needed funding to get him to the next stage, couldn’t get it, and his company died. Now, I’m not saying you should always listen to investors. They have their own best interest at heart usually, which is protecting their investment. Nor am I suggesting this entrepreneur is the norm. But getting investment capital always comes with a high price tag. If you don’t like it, get a loan, or bootstrap (a FABULOUS option). But investment capital can frequently accelerate success for many companies. So you can either own 100% of a taco stand, or 5% of a huge company.

To Lumberg: Your TPS reports suck *ss…

Nicole Glaros1 Comment

According to a study out of the University of East Anglia, swearing at work is a good thing.  The study found regular use of profanity to express and reinforce solidarity among staff, letting them express their feelings, such as frustration, and develop social relationships, according to researchers at the UEA.

Wonder if HR is going to get that memo?

What struck me more was the comments from the announcement on Slashdot.  If you’ve got 10 minutes, prepare for a good chuckle.

Automate early-stage fundings – a challenge

Nicole Glaros1 Comment

One of the organizations I work with just finished a Series A financing.  This is the first time I’ve been on the receiving end of the money – my past lives have all had views from the investing end of the cash.

The one thing that has struck me during this process is how intensive the process really is.  I am downright shocked and dismayed at the amount of resources a company uses in order to raise capital.  The CEO’s cycles are on fundraising almost full time, in addition to myself, and the COO.  This isn’t to mention the dollars spent on attorneys fees, and the cycles from our board members and advisors.  I bet if we sat down and tracked the number of hours spent (excluding the opportunity loss from not focusing on things like sales) and added in all attorneys fees, it would be so disgustingly not worth the raise.  In fact, I think if investors had any idea how much of a company’s resources went into fundraising as opposed to growing sales, launching product, gaining market, etc, they might not even invest under a certain dollar amount.  I wonder what the magic investment number is to make this process worth it.

One thing that strikes me is that software could be used to somewhat automate this process, thereby DRASTICALLY reducing the adminstrative burden of a capital raise.  Letters to investors, responses to letters, signatures, deposits, stock certificates, phone calls, faxes, etc all could benefit from automation.  What a great product that would be.