February 2010 Archives

If you are not familiar with TED talks you are missing out. While I have never had the privilege to attend in person, the opportunity to watch the talks--which are posted online--is available to everyone, and something I take advantage of. Many great and provocative new concepts have come from TED, from the touch screen concept of the iPhone, to Al Gore's discussion of global warming. Whether you agree with the presenters is irrelevant--it's about thinking about things differently. Beyond the amazing talks, content and information, it is also great to see people who really take to heart Nancy Duarte and Garr Reynolds' advice about presenting information in a useful and interesting way.

There has been much controversy about how TED is expensive and does not invite or make it accessible for everyone. Who cares? What comes out of TED is well worth this exclusivity and to some extent maybe even makes it possible. Even Robert Scoble has recently changed his mind about TED.

Now that we are past the long introduction, back to the topic that Jamie Oliver is talking about: our food supply. Our food supply--laced with preservatives and ingredients we don't know how to pronounce--and our lack of education is killing us, and our children. For the first time in history we are seeing a reduction in life expectancy. People are finally starting to talk about this, from movies like Food Inc to books like UltraMetabolism that focus on real and unprocessed foods. You might think these chemicals and processed foods are simply no big deal, but I urge you to take a closer look at how these additives make you feel versus what it's like to eat a diet filled with whole and unprocessed food.

Please watch this talk and pass it along to everyone you know. Forget about health care reform and the billions that will be spent on it, let's fix the fixable stuff now.

With the advent of so many awesome resources for entrepreneurs, there's no lack of advice out there for the smart and enterprising entrepreneur. But after you've heard from the thought leaders, advisors, board members, family, friends and maybe even the person you sit next to on the plane, what do you DO with all of it, and how do you even know if you should take advice? I like to tell people that entrepreneurship isn't one-size-fits-all. You've got to find what works for you after a lot of hard lessons and figure out what you'll do with the information. Here are a few tips to get you going.

• Listen, listen and keep listening
  No matter what you think you know, you should continue to listen to what others have to say. You don't have to follow all of their advice (or any of it), but hearing what they have to say expands your mind and forces you to think differently--and that's what will clear the way for your next "big idea."
• Filter
  As any successful entrepreneur knows, you must filter the sources of advice you seek. It might be helpful to think of all of the advice you get as belonging to separate categories. If you're really conscientious, you can file the good information you receive into groups like, "start-up phase," "hiring," "getting focused," and so on. When you want to return to these areas later, you can do so easily. It just creates a reservoir of information you can return to again and again.
• Look for advice from people who have actual experience
  It seems like a no-brainer--look for advice about entrepreneurship from actual entrepreneurs--but nowadays, a lot of people pass themselves off as "experts" in subjects about which they've no first-hand knowledge. Many "experts" on entrepreneurship gather their "data" from other people's anecdotes and experiences. That's not what you need. The best advice comes from real life personal experience, plain and simple.
• Have passion, but also rock-solid core values
  No matter what, you must follow your passion and core values. This is to say that no matter what advice you receive about running your business, ask yourself, "Does this fit with my core values? How so?" Not everyone's advice will work for you or take into account your particular passion. So don't think there is only one way to do things--there isn't. Even if you get advice from one of your personal entrepreneur icons, always ask yourself if it fits with what you're trying to achieve. As I've said, entrepreneurship isn't one-size-fits-all.

Every entrepreneur should listen to all the advice out there, filter it and then select what best matches your passion and values. Never forget valuable, experienced-based advice. Seek out mentors and surround yourself with people that have been there and done that.

We often hear about how tough the airline industry is and how so many of the large U.S. carriers struggle with everything from union issues to a drop in travel. However, the more I fly, the more it is clear to me that the worst airlines might in fact be impacted by all those issues, but what they really struggle with is a culture of mediocrity, which creates inefficient and ineffective processes.

What finally convinced me was what should have been a simple non-stop flight from Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) to Boston Logan (BOS). I was scheduled to leave at 8:10am Saturday morning, but the night before as I had finished meetings early, I tried to take a late flight out of Dallas, which was nowhere near full. However, instead of putting me on this flight and filling a seat for a reasonable price, AA would only put me on $1000, even three hours before it was scheduled to leave (and not full). I went to sleep thinking, "That's kind of silly, I would have paid a little more to change--maybe not $1000, but a reasonable amount. And the seat was available so it would have been efficient for them to fill it, and it would've made me a happy customer."

At 4:23am on Saturday morning, I got a call from an automated AA system saying my flight was cancelled, and I would have to fly through Washington, DC, back to Boston. Half-asleep, I pressed a button to talk to an operator, and was informed my flight was cancelled because of "equipment failure." Luckily, I was able to get on a 6:40am flight non-stop to Boston, but I had little time to get ready and get to the airport. So I got dressed, packed, and made my way downstairs to get a cab to the airport, 30 minutes away.

As both an entrepreneur and unhappy traveler, at this point, the questions start to pop up in my head:

• Why not put a passenger on an empty flight a few hours before it is set to take off, maybe even make $150-250 extra? If the seat's just going to remain empty anyways, it's a good move.
• Why schedule two daily flights at 6:40am and 8:10am, rather than splitting the difference and running just one?

The last question was answered for me when I got on the plane. One of the flight attendants was talking to a passenger and said that almost every day AA will cancel one of the two morning flights depending on which is "less empty." The interesting thing is the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) specifically forbids airlines from doing this-- by law, they must fly scheduled routes unless there is something called "equipment failure." So what does AA do? They file "equipment failure" each time they cancel a morning flight with fewer passengers.

The aforementioned scheme does not work well for anyone, American Airlines, employees (flight attendants) and passengers (me). For the flight attendant who told us about the "equipment failure" scheme, it means that she's got to drive to DFW wondering which route she'll be flying, and if she'll get paid for both flights, or if AA will cancel one and she'll take home less pay. For passengers such as myself, we get the inconvenience of being held at the mercy of AA and other airlines that use deceptive practices, flout the FAA, and basically just do whatever they want.

This is all just a perfect example of the inefficiencies built into the airline industry, and the culture of mediocrity by everyone in it. End result? The airline industry lost many billions of dollars last year, flight attendants are not happy, passengers are not happy, and flights fly mostly empty. How is it possible in a world where there is so much innovation that we've settled for this poor excuse for an airline industry?

In case you've been living under a rock, there has been a lot of talk recently about Conan O'Brien and the fate of The Tonight Show, which he began hosting in May of 2009, just 8 months ago, and was abruptly pulled from by NBC due to supposed loss of viewership last week. Conan delivered his final show on Friday, January 22nd, and in the wake of his departure, many wondered whether NBC was right to pull the rug out from under Conan and throw Jay Leno back into his old time slot. After all, both Jay Leno and his predecessor, Johnny Carson, had been given the opportunity to develop their viewership over more than eight months, and managed to build large and loyal followings as time wore on. Many asked, Why wasn't Conan given the same chance to build a larger group of followers? The simple answer is "money."

Although what NBC did was ill-conceived at best, I can honestly say that I am relieved that he's no longer the host of The Tonight Show. Why? Because, at the end of the day, I do not care what network he is on and while I would prefer he were on earlier, late is fine, too. Now, I know at this point, he's not going to be on earlier or later (his contract with NBC doesn't permit him to host a new show until September 2010), but this gives him some time to think about his next move. Personally, what I would like is to be able to watch the funny Conan (not the white-washed, diluted Conan they created for mass appeal) as well as Triumph the Insult Dog, the "TwitterTracker" skit, or any of his other skits, anytime I want.

Do I think NBC did the right thing? It depends on their goals. Clearly if they need ratings and advertising dollars today, Leno had a larger audience, however, if they want a long term player that would draw more and more of a younger audience (as their mainstay, older audience goes to bed earlier and earlier), Conan is the clear winner. With my limited knowledge or experience about television I would have gone for the longer term play with Conan and a dedicated, growing and younger fan base (increasingly hard to target, but they spend a lot, which means advertising dollars in the end) compared with Leno, the figurehead for what I consider an aging audience that were not all that outspoken when he left, either.

The better question is what should Conan do with the $33M+ payoff he got to leave NBC?

My answer? Conan should sign with an online only network, start an online only network, or syndicate his show via one of the available online distribution channels.

It is clear that Conan has a vocal and committed fan base that is online, as demonstrated by Facebook campaigns like "I'm with COCO" as well as monopolizing Twitter with mentions and appearing as one of the top trending topics for days on end. He should capitalize on this online-savvy segment and provide content in the way they want to consume it, with iTunes downloads, Hulu and Boxee viewing.

With the $33M+ that Conan has, he could also create his own online network. He would have a long runway as the audience ramped up, but even if he did not want to create his own network, he could take advantage of Revision3's offer to have his show and monetize it, or the infrastructure that Boxee recently announced that allows content owners to collect payments.

Either way, as a Conan fan, I am here to say, "I'm with Coco" and I want to see him again, wherever he appears. It would be an added bonus to see him embrace the new content delivery mechanisms ahead of the curve (something that NBC is still unable to wrap its collective head around), which will only become more popular as time progresses.

Team Coco.