Here is a map of brands in Second Life (click the pic for a larger image):

Did you know the above brands were in Second Life? Other than a handful of brands that have graced the page sof NY Times, Wall Street Journal, etc - most have gone unnoticed, and continue to go unnoticed because most brands aren’t harnessing the virtual worlds strategically. A virtual world campaign is more than just ‘build’ - it’s also: position, market, be contextually relevant, easy to find, etc.

Great find by Mark Wallace… here is some previous ranting about Second Life that I posted a while ago

I do not know why I waited so long to post this (knew about this a week or so ago), but the Dave Matthews Band released their summer tour dates.  I just got back from seeing them in Las Vegas this past weekend (MGM Garden Arena) and the shows were good.  The setlists were a bit disjointed, but I have a feeling they are going to have a great tour this summer, and get ready for some new songs.

Dave Matthews had a good time on the stage in Las Vegas talking about how each song was about “love, drugs, and death.”  (think, When The World Ends or Tripping Billies)

There is only one date for Saratoga Springs this summer which is a bit disappointing as they usually play 2 nights and I was actually hoping for a 3rd to be added on.  So… which shows are you going to this summer?  Tour dates are here.

Another exciting summer with the boys.

I’ve been on both sides of the fence when it comes to raising capital, and neither side is any easier than the other.  On the capital raising side, you’ve got investors giving you ridiculous reasons why they may or may not invest, and on the investor side, you’re looking for that deal that is going to give you a solid return and be ‘the one,’ which is never easy to find.

One thing that we’ve all heard or said (entrepreneur or investor) is:

“It’s been done before”
“It’s never been done before”

Seth Godin points this out on his blog and actually struck a nice chord in my mind.  I’ve certainly given both of these excuses before as an angel investor, and on the other side of the fence, I’ve received these responses when raising capital.  At the end of the day, most things in this world have been done before, and nothing is really new.  The ‘new’ things are essentially the same icecream, just with different sprinkles or hot fudge (as an analogy).  Be prepared to defend what you’re entrepreneering as whether it has or has not been done before is irrelevant.

This is my first recorded podcast ever, and is of our event yesterevening - Apple Inc. If you are an Apple fan or marketing/media guru, you’ll probably take some liking to this podcast. The full story behind this podcast is here.

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If you’re in New York and want to partake in intelligent digitial media and technology conversations, feel free to sign up at darrenSalon.org.

As quick as it came is as quick as it went. The 8 of us broke new ground this evening and completed the first ever WineTable which is part of the darrenSalon Series. The event, focused solely on Apple Inc., was comprised of Tracy, Caroline, David, Abby, Matthew, Philip and Andrew and lasted for about an hour and thirty seven minutes.

There were some underlying questions that I asked before we got started and they were:
• Do you own a Macintosh Computer?
• Do you own an iPod?
• What type of company is Apple?
• Would you buy Apple stock?
• Who are their competitors?
• Are they overextending themselves?
• Where have they failed?
• What happens post-Steve Jobs?

These were not the only questions that were brought up during the conversation, but they helped guide our dialogue for the event. A large early focus was on the iPod – as everyone has owned one in the past (or currently owns one), but no one in the room has purchased the U2 iPod or another co-branded one. It was largely agreed upon that Apple is more than hardware and software, but it’s a brand that can be transcended into other areas… possibly even cars. Currently, Apple is trying to integrate and make their devices interoperable and we found this a major step in the right direction towards becoming a holistic, 360 degree company.

Apple was compared to HBO quite frequently in our WineTable. When looking at consumer mindshare and habits – we own many Apple products, and they take up a lot of our time. Abby pointed out that we wake up with Apple, we utilize Apple on our way to work, we use a Macintosh at work, and we use iTV when we get home. Apple is prominent in our life and we pay a bit extra for it. The analogy to HBO is that it costs a bit more (much like Apple) but we tend to consumer it more than other channels. If you have HBO, you tend to watch many shows such as Sopranos, Entourage, and Rome (amongst others).

David had a nice quote stating, “Apple is playing chess while everyone else is playing checkers.” This may be very correct as they are slowly putting their ecosystem of devices and software together. We all pretty much agreed that the .mac service was worthless to us but we’re not all in their target audience.

Towards the end, we talked quite a bit about Steve Jobs and what Apple would look like post-uber CEO. Some of us agreed that within the next year, they would put a successor in place (or start the search) as there is a lot attention surrounding the options scandal and his increased involvement with both Disney/Pixar. Each of us participants was asked to talk about where Apple would be 365 days from now, and for the most part, we agreed on the successor – but people also said that they would focus on the wireless spectrum, gaming, and one of their products would fail.

Overall, the evening was fantastic, lots of great conversation from vastly different people. I thank everyone who came out to make the first WineTable a success, and look forward to many others coming down the pipeline. The next WineTable is about Virtual Worlds and will be taking place in mid-April. You can learn more about it here.

You can listen to the Official WineTable #1 Recap - m4a file (playable in iTunes - need to find a good player for this blog, any thoughts?)

** I was all excited after talking to Tracy last night and went out today to purchase a digital audio recorder so that I could podcast this event. After quickly buying a recorder and an external microphone, I set them up and started recording the event. After the event was over, I realized that I didn’t turn the microphone on. So, nonetheless, we do not have the in-session podcast, but I posted a recap above.

I’m focusing on getting ready for tonight’s innaugural WineTable, which focuses solely on Apple Inc.  For those of you who do not know what a WineTable is, it’s part of darrenSalon which launched early this month to stimulate intelligent digital media and technology conversations here in New York City.

Why is the topic of conversation tonight focused around Apple Inc.?  The simple answer is because I’ve been a loyal and devout Apple/Macintosh fan for most of my life and even wrote a significant academic paper around the 1984 advertising campaign that shook the world.  I am looking to foster conversation about where we feel the company is headed and why… but these are only guestimates and assumptions, but hopefully we can foster debate and come up with some good ideas.

I will be taking notes during this evening and there is a chance we will be digitally recording it as well for audio podcasts for those who want to listen in.  To learn more about darrenSalon and WineTable’s head over to the official site, and to to take part in the next WineTable which is about Virtual Worlds, sign up over here (make sure you’re registered on darrenSalon.org).

To learn the difference between darrenSalon and a WineTable, read the official FAQ- located here.

I’m currently doing some marketing research for an upcoming project and need some input from you. I have put together a quick survey and look forward to receiving your anonymous data. I do not have a really cool offer such as fill out the survey and get $500 cash, but if you do fill it out and let me know (honesty goes a long way), I’ll buy you a drink next time we’re out (nextNY event, darrenSalon, PaidContent mixer, etc).

If you do chose to fill out the survey (takes 3 minutes as it’s only 10 questions), I thank you ahead of time!!

Again, the link is here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=194623555425

I’m currently advising a company called Million Milestones Inc., which is run by my former college housemate Ryan Dahlstrom (who is currently one of my best friends). One of Million Milestones services is 4anAgent.com, an online real-estate platform that allows people looking to sell/rent their house work with agents on their terms (disrupting the whole real estate industry).

Ryan who is new to the blogosphere (welcome!) has posted a nice tidbit about milestone charts. It’s my belief that any product or service, whether it’s in early stages or later stages should have milestones associated with it. Guy Kawasaki in his latest book, Art of the Start, talks about the MAT plan - Milestones, Assumptions and Timelines. Ryan and Guy are dead on - without a milestone plan, how can you motivate your team and get things accomplished in a timely fashion… the milestone chart is most crucial because it keeps you executing.

Take a peak at Ryan’s post….

It’s been a while since I have posted about Second Life. Here are some new stats from Dr. Jim Purbrick of Linden Lab (Second Life) which were released at the ITV Conference.

* 41% are female
* Median age is 33
* 68% international (as opposed to being US only)
* 10% of residents are from the UK
* 54% active residents are European
* SL is 6.5 times the size of Manhattan
* Approaching 5m members
* 116 residents earn $5000+ a month
* $5m a month exchanged
* 12m user hours per month

My brother, Kenny (Facebook / Website) is going to be graduating University this coming May and as most college seniors are tasked, he needs to find a job. Kenny isn’t 100% sure which field he wants to go into but I’ve had him meet with senior level executives in a few different industries (advertising, technology, venture capital, and finance) to see which interests him. Nonetheless, he is still trying to find a place to start his career as he hasn’t started the formal interview process but has some good opportunities in front of him.

While trying to figure out where Kenny should work, I have found a great resource from BusinessWeek. The article is entitled, “Best Places to Launch a Career” and it ranks the Top 50 places to work in 2006 after undergraduate school. I’ve only posted the top 10, but be sure to check out the full list with all of the ranking details.

1. Walt Disney
2. Lockheed Martin
3. Deloitte & Touche USA, LLP
4. Goldman, Sachs & Co
5. Enterprise Rent-A-Car
6. U.S Department of State
7. Raytheon
8. General Electric
9. JP Morgan Investment Bank
10. Abbott Laboratories

My advice to many graduating seniors is to work at the best company that you personally find remarkable and if you want to go the entrepreneurship or startup route, get your experience in a big organization and then take the jump. There is a lot you can learn at a big organization that transfers to startups, as well, as the contacts and networks that you have access to.