Disqus - Latest Comments for earwood

Re: Today Can Be Special

earwood — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:40:23 -0000

Leigh - Agreed, each day is worth a lot and I love that you remembered the "iceberg". :)

Re: Today Can Be Special

earwood — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:57:49 -0000

Kevin - I appreciate that. Great people make great business, so come join us! :)

Re: Today Can Be Special

earwood — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:56:26 -0000

Deryl - Thanks! Tuesday sounds like a great reason, right?

Re: First Round Capital, NYC, and Our “Born Again” Startup

earwood — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 09:43:12 -0000

Congratulations Charlie! Sounds like everyone wins on this deal.

Re: Asus Eee PC 1000HE Netbook Review: Benefits Galore

printer3 — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 01:06:45 -0000

don't you think he gave a fair review about the product? it's really nice, wish I had one.

Re: New Private Investment: Member Minded

earwood — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 14:56:43 -0000

Mark - Andy's politely saying I'm not short on words, which is very true. Our Member Minded team is excited about Andy's involvement. It's a great fit.

Re: Doing Less Not More (Get in free)

earwood — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 10:09:03 -0000

Thanks Deryl. I'm really looking forward to this one. The crowd will be sizable so the networking will be great, I just have keep up my end of the deal.

Re: How to Wow For Less than $3.00

earwood — Fri, 29 May 2009 12:33:50 -0000

Gregg - I'm not a AL junkie, but here's the best pitch I can give... sites like Yelp or City Search allow anonymous reviews (i.e. - your username could be gwstar19 and I wouldn't really know who you are. AL at least posts who I am so a user can see that I actually live in Louisville.

Another BIG selling point to me is... paying money keeps out trolls and hinders those gaming the system. While a business could buy 10 friends a membership to go say nice things, I believe most won't because it look so odd in the context of Angie's List.

I prefer to ask folks that I know for a referral, but I think Angie's List is the next best step if you can't find a person you know.

Todd

Re: Asus Eee PC 1000HE Netbook Review: Benefits Galore

earwood — Tue, 26 May 2009 21:54:05 -0000

Mike - Thank you very much for the update and I'm happy to hear OsX worked (especially with wifi). How come the Verizon card was a headache? I thought that would be easy and please keep me updated with your progress.

Thanks!

Re: Asus Eee PC 1000HE Netbook Review: Benefits Galore

mike wong — Tue, 26 May 2009 10:13:59 -0000

Todd,
I finally got one too! The Asus 1000HE is an awesome little machine. But, I got bored with XP in about 15 minutes. So, I loaded OsX on it! It took me all weekend but figured out that Denebi 1.4 is missing APCI_fix (or its a buggy version) so I had to find 1.3 to complete the installation properly. Also, I found a wireless driver on the RaLink support site so I didn't even need to change my wifi card, nor did I need to flash my bios (except for the latest stock Asus bios update). My only hardware change was an upgrade to 2Gb of memory. As for OsX installation, I found a few good guides, albeit none of them were exactly cook book instructions. I did managed to install a 3g usb modem from Verzion which impress my girlfriend. :-) My plans for this machine include checking email, web the surfing, light software development (Xcode, Realbasic) and watching movies when we travel. Although - development will primarily be testing - because, I have 44 year old eyes so my close vision needs correction. (The rest of me is still young!)
I used Clonezilla to backup my eeePC's Xp and subsequent OsX install. Next for me is to upgrade to 10.5.7.
Thanks for your review and I'll keep you updated if you want.
-Mike Wong-
PS- xbench shows 46 - close to my mac mini score.

Re: Asus Eee PC 1000HE Netbook Review: Benefits Galore

earwood — Fri, 08 May 2009 11:25:50 -0000

I haven't installed osX86 yet. Still playing with XP for now.

Re: How Do You Create Urgency?

earwood — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 11:25:11 -0000

Leigh - Great one! Definitely another way to turn the discussion is opportunity cost or damage. Love it.

Re: How Do You Create Urgency?

earwood — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 10:16:10 -0000

Matt - Thanks for the comment. I agree deadlines many times (just like sales offers) do seem arbitrary. Motivation or understanding of a larger picture could definitely help.

Re: The Business Effects of 9/11

earwood — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 08:37:39 -0000

Of course, I'm glad to give credit. Thanks for commenting.

Re: Zappos’ Amazing Return Policy

earwood — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 10:54:39 -0000

Deryl - I agree. It's really hard NOT to like Zappos. I'm just impressed that they don't have to play the cheapest, "always on sale" game.

Re: The great depression….

earwood — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 10:49:18 -0000

Someeccards are getting funnier by the day. This is a great one.

Re: » Top 5 Overused Business Cliches | Todd Earwood

earwood — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 22:11:53 -0000

Bill - I think you're speaking startup blasphemy with the first couple and I love the "its the economy" one. We all know it's terrible, but it seems many have found their scapegoat. :)

Re: » Top 5 Overused Business Cliches | Todd Earwood

earwood — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 11:28:37 -0000

I haven't heard "wrestle the bull", but I'm guilty of saying CMS (not the full name). Does that count as the same?

Re: » Top 5 Overused Business Cliches | Todd Earwood

earwood — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 16:06:04 -0000

Mark - I'm guilty of using the word leverage, but I haven't been leveraging our synergies. :)

Re: » Top 5 Overused Business Cliches | Todd Earwood

earwood — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 16:05:25 -0000

Katy - I love your list. How in the world did I forget "out of the box"??? Possibly worse than synergy!

Re: Don’t Pick Gene

earwood — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 11:05:19 -0000

Since I don't know who you are or your background, I have to make some assumptions.. 1) you haven't owned a business, 2) you've never worked with a quality salesperson and 3) you work in the scientific/tech area. I agree that some salespeople just talk, but I know many others that provide real value to the company. Obviously without sales, a great idea from any source never reaches the market. Overall, I just view it as the team approach. HR, Accounting, IT and Sales have to work together or no one has a job.

As for your point about giving revenue, I'm unclear on why an employee would get a large amount of revenue? The shareholders of the company won't find that prudent as they've taken the risk for the company. I don't see it as an issue of confidence at all.

If I work for someone and they pay my salary and benefits, I really don't have much risk. I believe those who join in the risk should share in the reward. That's not to say, an employee shouldn't receive monetary compensation for innovation or a quality idea, but if I save the company $250,0000 with an idea, do I deserve half of that amount? I believe the answer is no as I'm still going to get paid each pay period while the shareholders may not get a return on their investment (i.e. - risk).

I agree that to make it big, you must do it on your own. But that extends to folks far beyond the scientific area. It's just a trade-off, being on your own is super hard and I think it's even hard starting by yourself.

Lastly, I'd ask you type your real name. My blog isn't to be controversial and I'm not attempting to garner large amounts of traffic, but when there's a discussion I think all folks involved would prefer to know we're talking with a real person. I don't like making assumptions about people, but I don't know how to reply to you without some context.

Re: Don’t Pick Gene

Thomas Powell — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 23:10:43 -0000

Another thought--off of the 4x10 concept:

Encourage your employees to work less than 40 hours. Perhaps way less. You have to be genuine in this and let them know you are genuine. Completely break the 8-to-5 pattern entirely. I've been in a strict clock-watching environment before. Team members end up working (more like "wasting") 7:59-5:01 and stabbing the backs of those who don't cover those specific hours.

Instead, pay for accomplishments. If someone is an all-star who completes projects in 30 hour work weeks, allow them outperform *or* meet expectations at their discretion. Of course, meeting expectations earns no merit increase--but then again, inflation-indexed pay increases are not merit increases, either. I think of the musing from the mythical man month that good programmers are 5-10 times as productive as mediocre ones--which I can easily believe. Those "mediocre" employees will get 85% of the pay of their "good" counterparts, and will probably last almost as long as their counterparts in the organization.

Re: Don’t Pick Gene

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 15:46:41 -0000

I would add that management who doesn't extraordinarily reward and be open to (and proceed forward with) the ideas of individuals that work for them are to blame: in a sense they are green houses for growing this type of complacency.

There are the rare few get to follow and be rewarded substantially for their ideas (monetarily or otherwise). I don't hold the employee responsible. Its true that some employees just want to work, and what's wrong with that? As an economy, we can't have a workforce where everyone wants to do something other than what they are told (someone has to follow orders and walk the path that they are told to walk). But there are a few who want more, having management who have the intelligence to see, proceed with, and raise the visibility of (that individual) is what I would want as a business owner. One good idea does not guarantee the survival of a business (or rarely), new ideas from the anti-Gene types are what a company needs (but few have figured out that they need to reward the anti-Gene for the idea, not a penance of a bonus).

Re: Don’t Pick Gene

earwood — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 13:52:05 -0000

Thomas - you make several great points and I think you've just given me another post on how the business creates more Gene-types. My favorites are not firing people and structured bonuses are demotivating.

I think to avoid becoming a Gene, a business has to personalize our work structure (why not four 10-hour days?), environment (why always in the office?) and match upward growth opps or financial incentives to us individually.

Re: Don’t Pick Gene

earwood — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 13:09:22 -0000

I'm not sure giving up cash motivates Gene, does it? Not everyone is motivated by money.