A COVID-19 Response for Those WFH

A COVID-19 Response for Those WFH
SendShare+1Share on LinkedInStumbleUponTweet

I visited my favorite Pioneer Square Teriyaki place two days ago around noon.  Normally there would be a long line of customers waiting to order at the counter and roughly 40 people eating lunch. I saw less than a handful.

COVID-19 is already having a profound impact on our local businesses and non-tech workforce in Seattle.

Workplace closures have left Seattle devoid of people who normally would be eating at restaurants and buying from local stores. After seeing a 90% drop in his business over recent weeks, Tom Douglas announced he would temporarily close 12 of his 13 restaurants and lay

Continue reading

Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? Part Trois

Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? Part Trois
SendShare+1Share on LinkedInStumbleUponTweet

I have come to love participating in Career Day at West Mercer Elementary. The third, fourth and fifth-grade students were at it again this year, coming up with startup ideas unfiltered by the societal baggage that kills creativity for most of us as soon as we hit adulthood.

Like in past years, as part of my three sessions, I explained what a venture investor does, laid out the criteria we use to make investments (team, product, market, business model and timing) and asked each of the students to pitch a startup concept (their own “$1,000,000,000 idea”). Elementary school students like

Continue reading

Lessons in Entrepreneurship, Seahawks Style

Lessons in Entrepreneurship, Seahawks Style
SendShare+1Share on LinkedInStumbleUponTweet

In that miracle masquerading as the NFC Championship game last Sunday, the Seattle Seahawks taught entrepreneurs and all of us in the startup world five of the most important lessons about starting and building successful companies.

1. Nothing ever goes as planned.

For the first three-and-a-half quarters, nothing worked for the Seahawks. Quarterback Russell Wilson had thrown four interceptions and couldn’t run the ball. Penalties killed every promising drive. The Seahawks were down 16-0 at half and 19-7 late in the fourth quarter, and it wasn’t that close.

Every startup leader knows the feeling. Your product breaks in unexpected ways at unexpected times. You lose customers

Continue reading

Spare5 Harnesses the Collective Power of Everyone

Spare5 Harnesses the Collective Power of Everyone
SendShare+1Share on LinkedInStumbleUponTweet

“Man is still the most extraordinary computer of all.” –John F. Kennedy

Most experts who wax about the ongoing mobile revolution focus on the growing power and functionality of our smartphones. I have always believed the more important change has less to do with our increasing access to these new brains and more to do with ones we already have.

Human beings have so many talents and insights that in a feature phone world were difficult to expose. Today, anyone with a smartphone can produce high-quality, specialized work 24 hours per day. As an example, I am writing this post on

Continue reading

Stop Spending Time with People Looking for Reasons to Say No

Stop Spending Time with People Looking for Reasons to Say No
SendShare+1Share on LinkedInStumbleUponTweet

“Um, excuse me, I … I think you forgot my bread.” “Bread, two dollars extra.” “Two dollars? But everyone in front of me got free bread.” “You want bread?” “Yes, please.” “Three dollars!” “What?” “No soup for you!” — George and the Soup Nazi, in “The Soup Nazi,” Seinfeld

I spend far too much time trying to convince people to say “yes,” especially people who are looking for reasons to say “no.” I think of myself as a pretty good salesperson, but I don’t think I have ever convinced someone to change his or her mind

Continue reading

Best Product Nominee: The Dirty Diaper

Best Product Nominee: The Dirty Diaper
SendShare+1Share on LinkedInStumbleUponTweet

I love great products.

Not just tech products, either. Game of Thrones is a great product, which is why I feel the need to blab on and on about it until I nauseate those who haven’t gotten hooked yet.

With summer approaching, I feel the need to share with you another truly great product: the Dirty Diaper.  The Dirty Diaper is the result of roasting a marshmallow with chocolate shoved into it.  Done correctly, you are treated to a toasted marshmallow with hot melted chocolate inside.  Think new-and-improved cousin to the s’more, sans graham cracker.

I can’t take credit for this revolutionary dessert.

Continue reading

To Protect Legitimate Interests, Seattle Should Cap All Forms of Innovation Immediately

To Protect Legitimate Interests, Seattle Should Cap All Forms of Innovation Immediately
SendShare+1Share on LinkedInStumbleUponTweet

In a 9-0 decision Monday, the Seattle City Council voted to cap the number of UberX, Sidecar and Lyft drivers on our streets — to protect the legitimate interests of taxi companies and the revenue they create for our city.

So, I thought we should come up with 10 other important limits that we as a city can and should place on new technology-based business models. Here they are:

To protect the legitimate interests of the U.S. Postal Service and keep the price of stamps reasonable for our citizens, the City should … Continue reading

Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? Part Two

SendShare+1Share on LinkedInStumbleUponTweet

Sequels are rarely better than the original. But there are exceptions. Being a sucker for happy endings, I liked Rocky II more than the Oscar-winning original. Speaking of great sequels, I was back at West Mercer Elementary this morning for Career Day, meeting with third, fourth and fifth graders and listening to their startup ideas.

My session was entitled “Your Billion-Dollar Idea.” Like last year, I explained what a venture capitalist does, laid out the criteria we use to make investments (team, product, market, business model and timing) and gave each student the opportunity to pitch

Continue reading

A “Breaking Bad” Guide to Entrepreneurship

A “Breaking Bad” Guide to Entrepreneurship
SendShare+1Share on LinkedInStumbleUponTweet

I just binge-watched all six seasons of Breaking Bad. If you haven’t downloaded the AMC show (but plan to soon), prepare yourself for experiencing someone else’s mid-life crisis, with healthy doses of terminal illness, murder, infidelity and drug-dealing thrown in to keep it interesting. Spending time with chemistry-teacher-turned-meth-kingpin Walter White, his family and the surrounding characters is exhausting and engrossing at the same time. The characters (and Walt especially) are more complex than any you have spent time with on the TV screen.

Instead of reviewing the show, as others have done far better than I could, I

Continue reading

Pole Dancing and Self-Censorship

Pole Dancing and Self-Censorship
SendShare+1Share on LinkedInStumbleUponTweet

“You better check yo self before you wreck yo self.” –Ice Cube, “Check Yo Self”

I was snooping through my son’s middle school yearbook recently when I came across a disturbing inscription from a fellow classmate.  This preteen had taken up an entire page to draw a schematic of a strip club, replete with a stick figure woman doing a pole dance and another stick figure woman giving a lap dance to a stick figure man.  How do I know that he intended it to be a lap dance?  Mercifully, he handwrote “lap dance” with an arrow pointing to the stick

Continue reading