Tim Bauer’s Running Thoughts

Ready for some Silicon Vally drama?

It started normal enough. I figured, as much as I read TechCrunch and its Friendfeed activity stream, it made sense to listen to a spiel from their founder Mike Arrington at Startup School. Figured the guy had to have some notable perspective. Then I noticed Arrington duking it out with some guy over twitter on ‘defamation’ over, I believe, this blog (notes from that 2 minute spiel at the bottom of my notes). Watching that video (2 minutes of snippets from a 26 minute talk) … didn’t put him in the best light. I was now doubly curious on what he actually said in the real presentation … and what nuggets did he pass along. So I fired up the presentation and got to running.

As usual my raw notes are below, but here are the thoughts that jumped out at me as I ran (i.e. jogged) along.

Solid (1) insight (2) honesty and (3) humility. Not what I expected based on the commentary from a few sources (i.e. Valleywag) … but hey … that is what some blogs deal in I guess (hype).

Keep up the good work Mike.

** START OF RAW SCRIBBLE TAKEN WHILE RUNNING **

9:21 AM
4/26/2008, 9:22 AM
http://omnisio.com/startupschool08/mike-arrington
……………○ 4/26/2008, 9:24 AM
……………○ Funny – Mac froze
……………○ SXSW .. Reference .. Journalist got pressure from dev audience on how to do a startup
……………○ 4/26/2008, 9:26 AM
……………○ Still problems w/ rig
……………○ Reads the onion everyday …
…………………………§ Story of writer going from there to cards
…………………………§ Has a good story worth his telling
…………………………§ Whats your companies story
……………○ 4/26/2008, 9:27 AM
……………○ Slides are finally up
……………○ They write stories they don’t want written
…………………………§ Google acquiring youtube in 3 days … was their break story
…………………………§ Share news about competitors … if you can do it ethically
…………………………§ Helps you directly (via traffic)
……………○ 4/26/2008, 9:29 AM
……………○ Purple cows / Innovators Delima
…………………………§ Cows – We see em all the time … stop and stare at purple
…………………………§ One time trick … then you need a blue cow
……………○ Popula site
…………………………§ Event site in germany
…………………………§ Random videos …
…………………………§ Popula.de worked in germany (not seen before) would of failed in US
……………○ Purple cow
…………………………§ 1 800 free 411 … took 6% of share
…………………………§ Briticanna
……………○ Mobile social networking
…………………………§ Disrupts facebook
…………………………§ Facebook weakness is protecting data
……………○ Training class w/ dog
…………………………§ He doesn’t want you to be background noise
…………………………§ Single impact … intro … that is interesting
……………○ Be part of the conversation however
…………………………§ Twitter
…………………………§ Each dev should have personal and company blog
……………○ Blogger linkbacks influence how they see you
…………………………§ Influences how they decide to write about people
……………○ 4/26/2008, 9:34 AM
……………○ Digg reference how it was a good chunk of traffic
…………………………§ Also reddit mentioned
……………○ His twitter is spking in 08
…………………………§ Provides significant traffic via engagement traffic
…………………………§ 90% activity sharing what is going on (Research)
……………○ Criticisms
…………………………§ Don’t be nervous
…………………………§ Supportive of startups
…………………………§ Embrace criticism .. Not trolls
…………………………§ Example … In 06 he trashed a company … ning … 97 comments … he was wrong … inflammatory headline used … started conversation w/ company … now a good relationship w/ that company … so they practiced embracing critic (him)
……………○ Challenge
…………………………§ Nice place to be … less trolls … mostly experimentation
…………………………§ Not afraid of ideas in public
…………………………§ The valley is about that
…………………………§ Yosi Vardi (quote of T. Roosevelt)
………………………………………□ Not the critic that counts … credit to man in the arena
…………………………§ Are you part of the community … in the turning point
…………………………§ So how do you interact w/ the model
……………○ Q&A
…………………………§ A lot of power … power corrupts … how do you not get corrupted
………………………………………□ Genuinely loves startup and entrepreneurs … they are his rock stars
………………………………………□ So if he maintains that focus he will do well
………………………………………□ Question is does it show it in his writing … it doesn’t in his view … so he is trying to stay true
…………………………§ Phone-my-Phone … Efficient crank calling tool
………………………………………□ Branded as “efficient crank calling tool” … how turn around mislabelling
………………………………………□ He thinks you are a special case … since the story is not a purple cow w/o that angle
………………………………………□ Other companies … make it regardless … might be negative from them … other press might see the diaglogue
………………………………………□ Best thing is to embrace and discuss
…………………………§ 2005 hang in his backyard, beyond that vision, what is techcrunch going
………………………………………□ What happens when niche isn’t niche
………………………………………□ Slashdot, digg … not readable comments
………………………………………□ He might want to spawn a new focus blog
………………………………………□ 90% of startups used to be covered … that focus
………………………………………□ Focus on CNET is the business model for now … unless he spins off
…………………………§ PR Firm … when hire … who is good … better to talk to founder or PR Face Person
………………………………………□ Get inbound requests you can’t handle … due to volume
………………………………………□ Use Twitter, Blog
………………………………………□ Goto events
………………………………………□ Look for right story, right time
…………………………§ Comment on nomadism … employees work from wherever … no central office
………………………………………□ He has no idea how building other stuff (not articles) is better done w/ dispersed teams
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*** NOTES FROM THE REMIX ***
*************************
………………………………………4/27/2008, 11:15 AM
………………………………………Remix By ValleyWag (2:30)
……………………………………………………® 4/27/2008, 11:16 AM
……………………………………………………® Show clutter debacle
……………………………………………………® Cussing
……………………………………………………® Leaking a story
……………………………………………………® News about competitors … give to them …
……………………………………………………® Don’t pull our leash … yank every now and then
……………………………………………………® Mention and link to writers
……………………………………………………® Don’t be a troll if you need them
……………………………………………………® If you link back you it influences us
…………………………………………………………………◊ Repeat 3 times
……………………………………………………® Criticism .. Embrace criticism
……………………………………………………® Avoid trolls
…………………………………………………………………◊ Repeat 3 times
……………………………………………………® Inflammatory headlines
…………………………………………………………………◊ Repeat lines
……………………………………………………® Blow smoke up each others ass
……………………………………………………® Snarky comments … cool kids
……………………………………………………® Look at this point … creating stuff
……………………………………………………® 99% will fail
……………………………………………………® Fail greatly
……………………………………………………® You are a loser

** END RAW SCRIBBLE TAKEN WHILE RUNNING **