Seth Godin, the critically acclaimed marketer, blog guru, and business writer is coming to NYC on May 29 to talk about his new book, The Dip. I just reserved my spot at the Helen Mills Theatre and wondering who else is going? The price is $50 and it includes 5 copies of the book… talk about viral marketing (passing the book along).

Winners quit fast, quit often, and quit without guilt-until they commit to beating the right Dip for the right reasons. In fact, winners seek out the Dip. They realize that the bigger the barrier, the bigger the reward for getting past it. If you can become number one in your niche, you’ll get more than your fair share of profits, glory, and long-term security. (taken from the editorial review from Amazon.com)

Are you going to the talk? Would love to meetup with anyone who is- and maybe grab lunch afterwards?

As some of you may know, I am currently moving my primary residence out of the Upper East Side and over to Westchester County and the move has officially started.  The actual day of the move is tomorrow but we’re packing, packaging, taping, bubble wrapping, breaking, laughing, and getting ready for the big day.   Lets just say some things haven’t gone as smoothly as I would have liked, but all in all, we’re in good shape.

With that said, I will not be posting until late Sunday night (earliest) or into next week.  I wanted to list a bunch of links that I find really interesting on the web and maybe one or two will educate or entertain you.

• Dave Matthews Band summer tour dates - if you’re going to the Hartfor, CT shows, do let me know!
• Confirm Today - if you want to find out how much you’re losting per missed meeting, check this link out.  It’s a teaser for what the larger product/service is.
• Own a consumer facing web business?  - my buddies are looking for respondents, if you have some time, certainly check it out
• Apple’s 1984:  The Introduction of Macintosh in the Cultural History of Personal Computers
• List of the most expensive movies ever made
• HOT female gamers - wow, I’d embarass myself playing these girls
• Team Fortress 2 - the game needs no introduction… I’m psyched

Signing off for the weekend….

I’m happy to announce that WineTable #2 was successfully pulled-off in the East Village and we had a great conversation surrounding the Virtual Worlds.  Just like last time, I digitally recorded the event and will make it available within the next two or so weeks to anyone who wants to listen.  Topics that we touched upon ranged from the technology underlying virtual worlds to avatars to advertising (and much more).

In attendance were folks from MTV, JWT, Columbia, Rho Ventures, DigiElement, and more.  It seemed to really focus on virtual worlds in general and how the definition is always being stretched in a few directions.  After all, isn’t World of Warcraft a virtual world?

I brought Webkinz and Club Penguin to counterbalance all of the chatter surrounding Second Life.   These are virtual worlds that are surging among the pre-teen market and my soon-to-be-nieces surely have jumped on that bandwaggon.

While we all acknowledged that brands are jumping into Second Life, we all agreed that brands must work their way into the virtual world only if they add value and if it is done with active promotion.  It’s not enough to have “if we build it, they will come” scenarios.

The next WineTable (May 23, 2007) is for founders of startups here in NYC.  If you’re a founder (or deal with founders- venture capitalists, analysts, lawyers, accountants, etc) of a company and want to get together with 7 other likeminded individuals to talk about the trials and tribulations of incubating here in NYC, be sure to sign up.  The WineTable in June 2007 is all about the Music Industry and how it’s changing.  That should be fascinating as well…..

Would love to hear any feedback from the event… thanks to David, Aleks, Doug, Rachel, Shehzad, and Jeff for joining and making this event very special!  Also, to Cheni and Joe for providing the amazing space! 

Tim Arango, a writer for Fortune recently wrote an article entitled, “The record label as venture capital firm.”   Personally, I do not think that Arango came close to tying the relationship even remotely together… essentially, he just spoke about how the music business is down 21.2% and that Warner Music Group under Edgar Bronfman Jr.’s control is about to acquire Front Line Management, a premier management firm (think Aerosmith to Christina Aguilera).

The most significant similarity between both industries (venture capital and music) is deal flow.  In venture capital, it comes in the form of companies looking to give up equity interest in their organization to take on a round of capital financing.  In the music world, artist and repertoire (A&R) representatives are tasked with finding bands looking to give up a portion of their rights in order to have the label back them.  VC’s and A&R reps act similiar in this manner… it’s all about finding deal flow.

After the deal flow has kicked in, we come to ‘courting.’  Wining and dining your potentials, offering free advice and introductions, and making everyone feel special.  This is a commonality between both industries… Then, once everyone feels special and wanted, the VCs and A&R/labels drop the bomb… the term sheet.

The term sheet is the official document that outlines the deal structure.  High power music lawyers and business lawyers negotiate this… as both companies and bands are usually clueless and need this dwindled down to laymans terminology.  Companies give up X% of their business for Y amount of dollars, and bands give up certain %s and make their money back on royalties and so forth.  Again, a striking similiarity.

 The last similarity that I’ll point out is the ‘portfolio’ effect.  This is where you look at the portfolio of the record label or venture capital firm and see which companies may have a strategic fit with yours, and you ‘tour’ with them.  If I’m a breaking act on one of WMG’s labels, I’ll tour with a complimentary/more prominent act to help build my fanbase.  In the VC world, introductions will be made to these companies and hopefully, a biz dev deal will be made and all constituents will be happy.

This was a more in-depth look at how venture capital and the music business are intertwined… more to come in the future.  I am very interested in this area as I originally posted about this back in February 2006.

Back on March 26, I posted about needing respondants for a survey I had put online.  We have gotten quite a few respondants but want more for statistical relevance.  It’s simple and takes less than 2 minutes, so feel free to fill it out… I really appreciate it.  I’ll be releasing the data in the coming weeks and it’s already fascinating.  The data is being used for…

Confirm Today in its alpha stage shows you [as a business professional] how much money you lose for each botched meeting you setup.  Time is money right?  As a sales professional, venture capitalist, lawyer, doctor, accountant, media planner, etc, you’ve accidently missed meetings or were on the other side of the table, where the person you were meeting with never showed up.  Not only is it frustrating but it adds up dollars and cents over time… and is costly.

Take a peak at the alpha website and fill out the analysis… calculate what a missed meeting costs you and where your industry falls on the scale.  Note:  this is all done anonymously and we do not collect any personally identifiable information.

What is the future of Confirm Today?  Hang tight

Snap Preview crowdsourced in the form of a contest over the past few months to find out how to make their product better.  Genius.  Ask the users.  Anyway, my friend Jonah Keegan won first price ($2500 + tee shirt).  Congrats Jonah!

Here is a snippet of his winning entry:

1st Prize ($2500 + Snap T-Shirt)
Title: SnapMap
Contestant: arsblog
Idea: Snap adds value by reducing the frictions of web navigation. Visual previews of link landing pages are attention optimizers that increase the efficiency of a user’s content consumption. I believe Snap’s success will be directly correlated to the degree in which they can further optimize the “attention allocation” of users. Most blogs have more content for which metadata would be useful than just links. When a certain other search engine detects place information (addresses, place names) in search or in one of their apps, it provides one-click mapping to geo-locate that place. I propose a mapping feature for Snap. Double-click on addresses or place names on snap-enabled web pages and get geographic information without leaving the page. Another friction point removed, and another user intention instance captured by Snap for potential conversion to search or other use of the service.

I’ve been working with Jonah over the past few months on a project that he’s got brewing which is fascinating.  Jonah plans on reinvesting the $2500 into the Web 2.0 space and is looking for a HTML designer to do a 3-page wireframe and/or a LAMP coder with a yen for XML.

If you are interested in getting in contact with Jonah, you can reach him here:   http://arsblog.com/blog/contact/

I do not know what chapter I’m on in my life, but it’s probably safe to assume that a new one will begin tomorrow (Friday). I can only hope that the book is an epic, with many more chapters to come, but as we close out this section, it’s been nothing short of amazing.

I’ve broken my life down into two parts: school and post-school. Though I’m only a few years post-school, I have had a heck of a rollercoaster ride and learned quite a bit. During my school years, I was fortunate to meet an amazing group of guys and spent a lot of time with them growing up… essentially, I had 10 brothers that I played sport (hockey, tennis, etc) and got in trouble with (corn, sombrero, tequila). While in school, I also launched my first venture and got a taste of the business world.

I was never an A+ student in school; heck, the only classes I had with my best friends were study hall and lunch… they were all in high honors (even though they didn’t study!) and I was right below them (and I did study!). I guess the business world came to me early because my grades certainly weren’t going to get me far. If I was going to make it in this world, I thought, I must make it happen myself.

So I did…and boy did I learn fast. There were nights that I would go sleepless, days that I’d be on top of the world, and I experienced business the hard way… the only way… and learned a lot.

Post-college, I jumped directly into the business world by co-founding what is today, IGA Worldwide. While working with a world class team to build out our organization, I’ve learned a lot both personally and in business context. Whilst my days are filled with in-game advertising, I’ve spent many a night with different startups and projects around Manhattan. The early stage entrepreneurial atmosphere is thriving (contrary to what some may think) and I’ve met some incredible people who have amazing ideas, unbelievable drive, and a passion to get things accomplished.

My personal life has changed a lot in the past year as well. A trip to Las Vegas has resulted with my now fiancé Sherri, who some of you have been fortunate to meet. Needless to say, I’m ecstatic about her and the life lessons we’re embarking on everyday we wake up.

Officially, my new chapter starts tomorrow when Sherri and I receive the keys to our new home in Westchester County…. after 4 ½ months of searching and lawyer negotiating. For those of you who aren’t native New Yorkers, it’s about 22 miles north of Manhattan in the ‘burbs (suburbs).

My whole life has revolved around inspiration. To me, I derive inspiration wherever I am at that particular moment… can be from the colors in the forest I’m staring at, the baby in the stroller being pushed down 3^rd Ave, the beautiful clothing on a nicely dressed woman, watching Ari say something ridiculous on Entourage, etc.

Tomorrow, a whole new chapter of inspiration will begin and I have no idea where it’s going to lead me. I started my first business while I lived in Westchester County (before I moved out of my folks home) and now I’m back, a few towns over and a few businesses later.

With only the two of us sharing our new home, it is probably going to echo from one room to another. We have earmarked a room on the top floor as our office, but most likely to be called, the Inspiration Room. Sherri and I have decided that this room will be different from all other rooms in the house (color, look/feel) and will be our think-tank, war room, idea furnace, laboratory, etc.

I am excited as ever to get this room finished and organized. After April 27 (our official move-day), most of the blog postings you will be reading will be written from this room… and who knows what the new chapter in my life will bring to this blog.

With the move and the wedding, it’s certainly a busy time in my life… I’ve also managed to release projects such as the not-for-profit darrenSalon and the upcoming entrepreneurial office space endeavor… and a few more in the pipeline.

The last 25 years have inspired me to inspire others, ignite businesses, friendships, and passion. The new [inspirational] chapter begins tomorrow and I’m looking forward to it…

Wow, talk about an overwhelming response. Everyone from Om Malik to Rags Gupta to Cafe Bricolage picked up on my blog posting about new entrepreneurial space here in Manhattan and there has been incredible interest from folks who want to reserve their space early (to garauntee themselves a spot) to people who want to help fund/promote/collaborate on the project. Needless to say, if you contacted me within the last 24 hours and I haven’t gotten back to you yet, hang tight, as I’m still going through my email and trying to get back to everyone. Tomorrow evening is when I’ll be doing most of the reach-out.

Yesterday, upon my update of the original posting, I alluded to a FAQ that would be launched regarding this endeavor. I am going to postpone that FAQ until this coming week as I’m going to have a few more details hashed out. However, of the details I can release now, here they are:

1. The space is not named yet, but I’ve got a working name that is in use
2. There is a chance that there will be multiple locations across Manhattan and Brooklyn
3. There will be a membership fee and a screening process
4. We are open to companies in the technology and digital media space
5. There will be a monthly lecture series that may tie into darrenSalon or other conversations
6. Members of this program will be getting more than space, but will be getting an entire support network (more to come)
7. This will be an extremely flexible program and even if you have office space elsewhere, this may be beneficial to you
8. The price isn’t going to be rock bottom cheap, nor, expensive - it will be fair and for early stage entrepreneurs
9. More to come… stay tuned this week

I am so excited to see the entrepreneurial scene thriving here in Manhattan… it is certainly here, lets harness it and collaborate with each other for the future.

I have been trying to figure out what is needed within New York City to accommodate early stage entrepreneurs/companies. When talking to early stage folks, they lack a place to work with a creative atmosphere. Most of the time, we work out of our homes and do not have the tools at our disposal to really harness early stage creation such as white boards, break-out space, etc. In NYC, space is at a premium, so tiny studios, 1 bedrooms, or the corner office at our accountant/lawyer suffices.

I am in the process of securing space here in Manhattan for entrepreneurs/early stage companies who want a communal atmosphere that fosters creativity and execution. The space will be equipped with cubicles, couches, white boards, desks, etc - all in an open formation, that a participating ‘member’ would have access to, 24/7. Internet access would be included as well thru a private WIFI network. The space is meant for collaboration and work, not really a cafe/hang-out space. Everyone participating would be working on a project (or in a team that is working on a single project) and could ideally help each other out in different capacities (marketing, technology, operations, hr, etc). Ideally, an ecosystem would evolve within this space.

To keep membership within this ecosystem, a nominal monthly fee would be charged of $200-250/pp. To cancel, you would have to give 30 days notice. The price would cover the space and all the amenities and would weed out the less serious folks. We would allow 25-30 people as members at any given time and would create a directory of members to everyone can learn about each other for networking possibilities. Each month, we would host a different workshop such as business plan writing, raising capital, marketing, technology roadmaping, etc - and would bring in outside speakers to the group. It would be free for members of this ecosystem, but would cost a nominal fee for outsiders.

The space is located in the financial district (easily accessible via Subway) and is meant for technology/marketing/digital media/publishing companies.

If you are interested in helping me launch this OR signing up yourself or your company, please contact me. I am looking to launch this space in June 2007 but need at least 20 people to sign up. I figure I can do this with 5 companies of 4 people, or 20 single person companies. I look forward to hearing from you!

Feel free to promote this post as I’d like this to reach as many entrepreneurs in NYC as possible.

*** Update 2:15pm EST ***

There has been overwhelming demand for this and I’m stoked. Lots of questions have been raised and I’m going to take a stab at creating a FAQ portion of this project. Stay tuned as I’ll be posting this later today or early tomorrow morning.

For those nextNY members out there who know Nate’s fantastic Cafe Bricolage concept, this is not competitive, but rather complimentary. Nate wrote a great post about this at his new site, cafebricolage.com and we are trying to find synergies between us. Over at Y Combinator, there is a great conversation going on about this regarding the NY scene. Any NY’ers want to chime in?

BusinessWeek just released their Future of Marketing piece and they highlight quite a few areas. Without stealing all of their thunder, I want to show one area in particular:

True or False: Generating press and buzz is the most important part of building a brand.

What I want to ask is why there is a 21% difference in expecations between agency/client? If generating press and buzz is so important, this typically doesn’t happen with brand advertising… and isn’t that where the largest budgets exist?

My thoughts with buzz/viral marketing are exactly aligned with the quote from Linda Cornelius, managing director at Ogilvy & Mather, “If buzz translates to trial and sales, then that’s great. But you know you don’t want to be just a flash in the pan…”