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<title>I'm There for You Baby</title>
<managingEditor>info@imthereforyoubaby.com</managingEditor>
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<title>The Gullible and Bernie Madoff</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=101</link>
<enclosure url='http://imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=101' />
<pubDate>Thursday, January 08, 2009 9:18:37 AM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Like many of us, I have been both mesmerized and appalled by the Bernie Madoff scandal. The numbers are staggering – $50 billion gone up in smoke. The names who have been hurt range from the very famous to the nobodies – but the underlying question remains – how did it happen that no one figured it out?  And even more to the point, what human factor allows and even encourages one to engage in this kind of investment?

Stephen Greenspan, a psychologist, has analyzed some of the behaviors in his recent article in the Wall Street Journal. Herewith are some of his thoughts (intertwined with a few of mine). 

Situations: Greenspan contends that every gullible act occurs when an individual is presented with a social challenge that he has to solve -- and the Madoff story is replete with social feedback pressures --- it was a hard club to get into, Bernie was not accessible, and you could only invest if you knew somebody or were approved by him personally or else you had to go through feeder funds – i.e. access was limited. My <b>Baby Billionaire Rule #215 </b>(with appropriate reference to my personal idol Groucho Marx) is this:  <i>Any club that would have me as a member, I don’t want to join.</i>

If it is that hard to get into, then count me out. But we all have the human nature to want to belong and to want to say yes and to be part of something private, special, limited and closed to the hoi polloi. This explains all kinds of clubs, from golf to eating  – from investments to tailors and even doctors. When the door is closed, we want to get in even more than before.

So, the question is: Why is it so special that I am willing to suspend disbelief – and especially in the financial world, there is the perception that “the big shots are getting a special deal, and I want some of that also. I want to be special too.” So <b>Baby Billionaire Rule #217</b> is: <i>Beware of doors that only open with a secret knock.</i>

Greenspan talks about cognition and how it impacts gullibility – and gullible acts are increased by intuition, impulsivity and non-reflective actions. It is amazing that smart people can act so dumb…..and the answer is simple --  because the decision feels good…..feelings are deceptive….smart people often suspend their skeptical faculties when their gut trumps their brains.

If you are ignorant in a certain area, do not assume you can overcome that by trusting other “smarter” people. At some level, the people hurt by Madoff were culpable as well – they were greedy in a benign way – they looked at the other members of the club and they trusted. So <b>Baby Billionaire Rule #311</b> is: <i>Trust is only earned in a deeply personal way – it cannot be garnered and granted by someone else.</i>

Personality:  If you are like most of us, you want to say “yes” more than you say no -- it is easier to say yes and go along for the ride – after all, what can happen ---  saying no is a learned response….and in the case of your financial well-being, it is wise to practice your “unloved” quotient from time to time.  So remember <b>Baby Billionaire Rule # 210</b>:  <i>A movie studio executive would be right 84% of the time if he said no to every film project that came across his desk --- don’t bet against the macro.</i>

Emotion:  The emotion to watch out for is two fold – one is obvious and that one is greed….and here is a story I tell often. When I am offered a fabulous deal, I always wonder: why did he call me?  If it were so fabulous, why did I get called?  Was I his best friend, was I the first call he made, did he owe me one, do I bring something unique to the table that is important to the deal – in other words, what makes me so special that I get this opportunity and if I can’t think of at least two really good reasons – then the obvious conclusion is – why me? 

And so <b>Baby Billionaire Rule  #225 </b>is: <i>If you look in the mirror and see yourself as opposed to Brad Pitt, then pass the deal or get a new mirror. And finally the best rule of all from the Easter bunny – don’t put all your eggs in one basket.</i>

<i>January 4, 2009</i>
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<title>"D" Stands for Dissention in Decision Making</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=100</link>
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<pubDate>Wednesday, November 28, 2007 3:39:38 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[When companies, teams or groups make decisions do they encourage, listen to, and even follow the dissenting dialogues that might arise?

When one of your team pipes up in the back that maybe x and y should be considered – after the CEO, the leader, the “head dog” on the sled, says we are doing a and b…how does one make sure that the head dog and the other members of the sled – actually listen to the small dog in the back of the room?

So first let’s look at a few examples of what it costs when you do not listen….

Top of the list – George W. Bush, August 2001, when the report comes in that says some people are going to fly a plane into some tall buildings – he did not think much of that dissent.

Dare I continue to pick on W. … the dissent said there were no WMD’s, but Joe Wilson was shitcanned…..yet we pressed on…..and we will be pressing in that sand for quite some time.

Ok – I’m a democrat but there is enough blame in this area to go around…..take John F. Kennedy and the Bay of Pigs...his invasion plan was a disaster...there were dissenters, but they could not be heard above the war drums.
How about 1996 on Mt. Everest when several professional climbers died in part because the junior members of the team did not speak about certaint safety rules that were being ignored…just read Jon Krakauer’s book Into Thin Air.

Let’s take a peek at NASA back in 2003 – the shuttle launch of Columbia when the foam broke off and damaged the thermal protection system. It was a known problem…..NASA knew about foam shedding and the damage it would cause, but engineers, fearing for their jobs and the reputation of NASA, looked the other way.  Their dissents were not registered by the top brass and Columbia disintegrated upon re-entry.

Researchers at Harvard Business School found when they studied this phenomenon that “the propensity to maintain a silence, at both the personal and organizational level, is widespread and problematic” in both the public and private sectors.

But the issue is not only in the negative….it also turns up in large organizations with respect to good ideas.  People are afraid to speak up unless they are sure that the idea is good and will be well received.

This is anathema in any high performing company – it is the CEO’s job to make sure that dumb ideas at least see the light of day. If he doesn’t, he is operating in a windowless room, but if he encourages it, he gets a chance to find the one in thirty really good idea.  You know – it’s the “kiss the frog, find the prince” rule, right?

The fear is at the lower levels, where the “sherpas” are reluctant to speak up for fear that the supervisors will look down on them, criticize them, think them stupid, or even fire them.

Here is how the researchers described it –“the potential costs for speaking out are clear and immediate; the potential benefit, however, is unclear and certainly long range.”

So shut up and get back to work…

More examples…

New Coke was doomed to failure - they ignored market research that said no one was going to like it.

General Motors – it took years before they believed the research that said people wanted more fuel efficient small cars.

You know the old mantras –
Don’t rock the boat
You get along by going along…

How is it possible in 2007 – in a flat word that is changing at hyper speed that these old shibboleths still exist?

And so we come to Baby Billionaire Rule # 307 – candor must be rewarded and incentives must be in place to encourage it.”

As I always say – “It’s what you don’t know that you don’t know that will kill you.”

And it is inconceivable to me today that corporations allow this kind of fear to still exist.  New thoughts, and more accurately dissent – disagreeing with the old man in the corner office – must be promoted.

I am not suggesting you pipe bomb the old man--there is a coherent and rational way to present dissent-- but the atmosphere in the corporation must allow it to breathe and blossom.

Leaders with preconceived notions – dare I mention W. and Iraq again –who   are bound and determined to carry through on their ideas – regardless of the dissent, are demonstrating a costly behavior – whether in the government or in a little company.

Just because you think you know what is best for the company doesn’t mean you actually do know what is best.  That is why you have employees instead of deaf, dumb and blind robots.

Robert S. McNamara – Vietnam era Secretary of Defense put it this way,
“Controversial issues do not surface because it is threatening to organizational harmony as well as to individual careers.”

The domino theory was never given a full hearing – and so we had Vietnam. Nice job, Bob.

Listen to these words from Alfred Sloan 1922 president of General Motors,
“Gentlemen, I take it we are all in complete agreement on the subject here…” (the heads all nodded, then Sloan continued) “…then I propose we postpone further discussion of this matter until our next meeting to allow ourselves time to develop disagreement and perhaps a better understanding of what the decision is all about.”

How can you not love that guy?

If you want good decision making, contention is essential.  Or said another way – Take a good look at the elephant in the room and if you can’t find it, then go to the pet store and get one and bring it into the board room.  For the price of a large bag of peanuts, you will be better for it.

Promote the mavericks and reward intelligent dissent – otherwise you will lose the creative vital edge in a company.

Make your senior team learn to hold paradoxical points of view….tolerate and embrace ambiguity. If you only rely on the past, you will always see 20-20, but you won’t see the cliff you are driving off right in front of you.

The smartest guys in the room need to listen better, be humble and remember that decisions are never better for silence.
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<title>Solar Power is our "Moon" Shot</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=99</link>
<enclosure url='http://imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=99' />
<pubDate>Thursday, November 01, 2007 4:00:47 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[I recently attended Solar Power 2007, the largest solar energy event ever held in the United States. Five years ago, 800 people came, and this year, there were over 9,000 at the Long Beach Convention Center which was picked because they have a large solar installation. The enormous increase in the number of attendees indicates the amount of potential that companies and investors see in solar. I am one of those people. 

The first keynote speaker was Ray Lane, one of the managing partners of Kleiner Perkins, one of the premier venture capital firms in the world, and the second was Ted Turner, the founder of CNN and a winner of the America’s Cup.

Lane’s message was “Global warming. It’s game over by 2050 if we don’t deal with them.” He contended that the problems will be so big by then that they will be irreversible. Quoting one of his partners Gene Kleiner, Lane said, “There is a time when panic is the appropriate response.” Kleiner Perkins has allocated several hundred million dollars to solar power investments, and Lane noted that there is no shortage of energy because all you have to do is look up and see the sun. 

The Holy Grail of course is making more efficient solar cells that can produce power at prices equal to the grid, and all of a sudden solar becomes a real business. Kleiner Perkins’ plan is to invest in companies that make solar cells and those that store the electricity. Lane told the audience that 100 square miles of land covered with mirrors called concentrators could produce 100% of the power needed in the US. That certainly seems reasonable.

In conclusion, Lane said, “The bottom line is solar power is our generation’s moon shot,” making an analogy to President Kennedy’s call to action more than 40 years ago. That time our nation succeeded. I agree with Lane that solar power can be our moon shot and that it represents the largest economic opportunity of the 21st century.

Next I heard Ted Turner, and he’s an extraordinary fellow. He said solar power is a “no brainer” and is the greatest business opportunity ever in the history of mankind.  Turner concluded with three compelling observations.
1.  Never build another coal burning plant
2.  The US doesn’t have any enemies except the ones it makes.
3.  You can’t expect someone who can’t run a baseball team to run a country.
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<title>Subprime Had Its Prime</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=98</link>
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<pubDate>Tuesday, October 09, 2007 1:22:51 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[I have a view on the subprime mess that is slightly contrary.

While I know that it is a serious issue and that people’s lives are being thrown into turmoil, I am going to suggest that the mess has several participants and the question for the entrepreneur is, can you profit here and, if so, how?

First, the fault, Dear Brutus, lies in ourselves…the borrower did not understand the terms and conditions.

I just finished trying to buy life insurance.  I have the benefit of being reasonably smart and have a cadre of smart advisors, but I can swear to you that the insurance business is not a business…it is a racket...and it is damn near impenetrable. I have been on the problem for 6 weeks...two brokers…two companies…and I cannot get a straight answer.

The reason I mention this is because the mortgage business, for most people, is equally opaque. What the borrower wants is the house.  He or she wants it now….and will worry about the reset of the rates when that happens.

Nobody reads the fine print…the agent, broker, etc. told me that everything would be ok.  So the first entrepreneur rule is:  read the damn fine print.  Yes, read it!  Get a magnifying glass, ask questions…even stupid questions…it is your responsibility.

I have to tell you that I know lawyers who have closed giant multi-million dollar financings and the CEO has never read the docs.  They rely on the lawyer or someone else… or maybe no one reads them.

Second on the guilty party list is the broker or agent.  The compensation system rewards crookery, scammery and high pressure tactics.  The broker is long gone when the loan blows up….he sells it, you sign, he gets paid, then he is “adios vaminose” and on his way to Hawaii.  Reward unintended consequences when you design compensation packages for the salesmen in your company.

Number 3 – Wall Street.  The packagers--they bundle the mortgages, slice and dice and rate them, and then they sell them to someone else who doesn’t know the broker, doesn’t know the borrower and doesn’t know the real estate.

So when the “plaintiff cry” from the homeowner says, “Hey, gimme a break…a little time,” the guy that owns the loan doesn’t know the borrower from nobody.
The owner of the mortgage is not the local banker who knows your family….it is First United Interstate Global American Financial Advisory Hedge Fund Corporation…so basically, you are a dead man.

Now to the point of the rant... making subprime loans put millions of people into homes and that is a good thing.  As a percentage, the number of defaults is small compared to all the subprime loans made.

So, it is a mixed bag…there was awesome greed, no controls, wrong-headed compensation, and a “take the money and run” mentality which is sickening to me.

But it is also true that Betty and Bob got their first home.

Regarding the last point…if, not when, Betty and Bob lose the house in foreclosure, do not think you are going to steal it and get rich. Here is the reason:  there are ads today in the paper for eight different seminars on how to make money in the coming real estate foreclosure mess.  If it were so easy, they would not be giving a seminar – they would be doing it.  Stop and think --- if eight guys in Sunday’s paper are pitching crap, do you think the horsehoe is possibly rigged?

The little guy has no business tangling with the monster on the Midway or Wall Street.

Focus on your business, grow your customers, create value, and make your mortgage payment each month.  Do not touch the fire and brimstone...you will get burned.
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<title>Great Teams Win Super Bowls </title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=97</link>
<enclosure url='http://imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=97' />
<pubDate>Thursday, September 20, 2007 10:09:45 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Currently, I’m running a tiny technology company based in San Diego, and we’re in desperate need of a particular skill set. We advertised on Craig’s List and got one spectacular resume. We had the candidate meet our technical team on the east coast, and they said that he has everything that we’re looking for.

I checked his references, and we had an initial conversation about compensation that is probably going to be less than he earned in his prior position. Let’s call this gentleman Mr. Tolstoy since he’s from Russia, like the technical founder of the company.

The references turned out to be medium, and I then had another conversation with him and I said: “Why don’t you do a couple of days of work with the technical team so that we can make sure that this is a good fit.” It’s easy since he’s 30 minutes away, he’s unemployed, and I agreed to pay him for the two days. 

<b>He has the skill sets, but…..</b>
After the two days, the technical team said that he definitely has the skill sets. So we agreed to hire him as a consultant at a salary that was higher than we pay anyone in the company. I discussed this with the technical team and the chairman of the board.  This was a joint decision because we really needed his skill sets. We wrote up a consulting agreement clearly delineating his compensation and a modest stock option grant, and he sent it back with two changes.  

First, he broke down the compensation into an hourly wage to the penny, and he wanted the consulting agreement to terminate at the end of four months. This is clearly a very precise guy.  So the questions I asked myself were: “Will this guy fit into the corporate culture of a start up where people don’t look at the clock? Should we hire him because we are so desperate for his skill sets?”

<b>Arguing with the CEO</b>
At the end of his email, he said to call him if I had any questions. I called and told him that I was a little troubled that he figured this out on an hourly basis, which led to an argument and I had to stop. Here’s a guy who has never worked for us, he’s never met me in person and he’s already arguing with the CEO. So I said I’d have to think about this, and I’d get back to him. Next, I talked with the rest of the team and concluded that this behavior doesn’t work for us and we’re moving on. So we’re still looking for a person with these skill sets and it does somewhat delay us.

<b>Don't try to fit a square peg into a round hole</b>
Building a team is the key to creating a successful start up—pick the people who will fit into the culture. The CEO’s most important job is hiring well and being the visionary and model for the culture that you want in your company.

There are great players, but what wins Super Bowls are great teams.
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<title>I Hate the Airlines</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=96</link>
<enclosure url='http://imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=96' />
<pubDate>Thursday, September 20, 2007 9:46:21 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[This definitely has been the summer of our discontent. I’m not including Larry Craig, Karl Rove, Iraq, Scooter Libby or even W. What pushes my button and spins my bottle are the airlines. We all have stories of missed connections, lost luggage and dirty airplanes. Instead of ranting about miserable conditions, I decided to turn to my favorite economist James Surowiecki to see if I could understand how an industry could be so lousy at its job and still be in business and make record profits.

In a recent article in The New Yorker, Surowiecki takes us back to 1999. After a run of bad service the airlines went to Congress and promised that they would improve, and they passed the <b>“Customers First” </b>initiative. So here it is eight years later, and it would be more accurate to call this initiative <b>“Customers Last.”</b> Now here’s the conundrum. The airlines say that the lousy customer experiences lie beyond their control. They say the problems are due to bad weather, too many flights, and more corporate jets. But the facts are that the airlines have cut over 100,000 workers, 17% of their work force over the last six years. So how can you provide good customer service when you have an increasing number of customers and have fewer workers? At the same time, the airlines also cut flights and wages. 

So now they fly 80% full all the time instead of 65% which they did seven years ago-- which is why you’re sitting in the middle seat all the time. Because planes are expensive so they own less of them, and the ones that they own are flying more often and connections are closer together. So here you go. If one little thing goes wrong in Dallas at 6:30 a.m. it has a ripple effect which sends American Airlines schedule into the crapper for the next 24 hours.
.
This is the law of <b>unintended consequences squared</b>. The airlines say you want me to be profitable but unfortunately you the customer will be miserable, and there is no alternative if you have to if you’re in Detroit and need to be in Phoenix.

So here’s where the entrepreneurial mind set contemplates possibilities. <b>Will people pay for better service, newer planes, better customer assistance at the gates, and shorter lines and I believe the answer is YES. </b>Look at Jet Blue and at the high end, Eos and Virgin. Except that they too are subject to same weather and the same air traffic controllers and so some things are out of their control.

The problem is that the <b>lousy airlines are not penalized </b>because the consumer says “Hey, I’m trapped. What’s the difference?” And if the airlines add more planes to have better customer service that creates more traffic which leads to more delays.
So what we see is the following: The system is broken but there is absolutely <b>no incentive to fix it. </b>It’s not like if you build a better mouse trap they will come.
The mice are coming through the line and taking off their belts and their shoes. The mice have no choice. It doesn’t matter what kind of mouse trap you have. 

<b>This is an opportunity for the entrepreneurial spirit. There must be a better way, and for our sakes, I hope that he or she finds it.</b>
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<title>Unmentorable Mentees</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=95</link>
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<pubDate>Tuesday, September 11, 2007 12:14:47 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[I’ve been a little wound up. I’m not in the “biz” of giving advice, but I try to be polite. A friend of a friend has a friend who is starting a business, and they invited me to lunch, which I ended up paying for.  I listen to the pitch. He wants to create a franchised air taxi service and he wants to raise $10 million. He has some software and other stuff. 

I asked: Do you have customers? 
He said: No 
I asked: Do you have revenue? 
He said: No 
I asked: For $10 million, what do I get? 
He replied: You get 40 percent of the company. 
I said: That means you’ve put a $12 million pre-money valuation on a company which has two people—you and your friend-- no customers and no revenue.

The guy didn’t blink.

I said, “What you have is a software package which might be of value to air taxi services,” and asked whether he’d thought of licensing the software.  I gave him some options other than raising $10 million and creating a brand.

He’s been at it for a year and has raised $300,000…not a great track record.
I said, “It feels like it could be a software company. You could license it to air taxi services and generate some revenue.”  He remarked that other people have said the same thing.

“But they’re wrong,” he contended. Listen, other people have said this—but he’s not budging. Then he added, “I’ll be the first to market.” And I’m thinking of the hundreds of times that I’ve heard this from people who end up with arrows in their back.

So, I picked up the tab for lunch and all the while I’m thinking this guy is not listening and he’s not mentorable. You can’t raise $10 million from angels with no customers and no revenue.

Then at 2 p.m., another guy showed up, and he explained a new business for which he’s trying to raise $1 million. His concept was that people would pay 99 cents on their cell phones to vote on a video. I turned to one of my associates and asked, “Would you pay for this?” And he said, “Why would I vote on my phone when the video is on the internet and I can vote for free.”

It’s difficult at best to start a company and make it successful. You need all the components of the Baby’s Book on Becoming a Billionaire, and you need some luck. I spent the day talking with people whose ideas were not well thought out.
It shows how hard it is to create a viable, sustainable business…. and if you ask for mentoring, be prepared to listen.
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<title>Are You Honking?</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=94</link>
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<pubDate>Friday, August 17, 2007 12:34:33 AM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[CEO entrepreneurs are often asked, “What keeps you up at night?” I have decided that is a stupid question--take an Ambien and go to bed because nothing should  keep you up at night…you need your sleep.

But what keeps me up every waking minute is an incredible sense of urgency.  The single most dominant characteristic of great leaders and great entrepreneurs is an abiding, overwhelming, constant sense of urgency...the need for speed and for focus.

Another way of looking at urgency is to match it with a sense of impatience.  I abhor long emails...tell it to me in less than ½ page...more than that is a waste of bits and bytes.  There is a need to compress--to look at the single core issue.

So here is a problem we are solving at the Quan -- it has to do with a sequence of when we need certain things to arrive. It’s a simple problem in supply chain, but the key element is not when they will arrive, but when and <i>in what order</i> they are needed.

What is most important in a conversation is to keep the participants on point and to figure out a decision tree....what needs to happen first, then second, etc.  And then, of course, the discussion includes “if this, then that....if this doesn’t happen, then…”

Sounds simple, but I suggest that it is not.

I am in a hurry – and I want all my troops to be in a hurry also.  I think time matters deeply.

Now this can express itself in less than charming ways at times.....for example, I have a tendency to honk my horn when people in front of me in the car are either too slow or too stupid.  Honking in California can get you shot at – and I know this, but my wiring is such that I am in a hurry to get where I am going.

While I am not proud of this behavior on the road (and I have modified it) – I do think that figuratively honking in your business is a good characteristic.

A honk is a polite way of saying -- let’s go, get focused, get in the game. 

So that leads to Baby Billionaire Rule # 288 – if you honk on the freeways of southern California, you stand a good chance of getting killed…if you don’t honk at the slow drivers in your company, you also stand a good chance of getting killed.

My view is this – honk early and honk often – just don’t do it behind a large truck on the freeway with a gun rack in the window.
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<title>Money Magazine's Matrimonial Mire</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=93</link>
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<pubDate>Wednesday, August 08, 2007 4:43:43 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[As you know there are at least a dozen magazines devoted to money and entrepreneurship, and one of them – Money Magazine (July issue) -- has sunk to a new low.

Their lead article, displayed on the cover of the magazine, is called Getting Rich in America. Inside there are 10 stories about start-ups and founders that have become successful -- honorable and decent stuff because the Entrepreneur’s Guide to the Galaxy is all about allowing people to become the architects of their own visions.

Here are a few of Money Magazine’s pearls of wisdom...and they are not bad…

1.  Prepare as much as you can while you are on someone else’s payroll -- I would add the phrase “within reason.”

2.  Work two jobs.

3.  Plan to survive on your new non-salary.

4.  Sell your family on the idea…you will need their emotional and maybe their financial support.

5.  Hang on to your health benefits as long as you can.

6.  It’s not who you know, it’s how well you keep in touch with them.

7.  Do what makes you happy -- as long as there is a market for it.

8.  Pick the right partner.

…and so it goes.

Up to a point, the BABY would concur with much of what the magazine says.

But then the magazine sinks into the gutter and promotes the worst kind of stereotypical sexist drivel --the next article is called “How to Marry a Billionaire.”

It begins…

<i>Work hard, take risks, maybe build your own business. That's the traditional route to financial success. Of course, there's another highly traditional path to acquiring wealth that isn't talked about quite as much these days: Marry money. 
Real money. As in not a mere millionaire (a dime a dozen these days) but an honest-to-goodness billionaire - make that 10 figures after the dollar sign, please. </i>


Pleeese.  How can a mainstream financial help magazine promote this kind of sexist crap?

It goes on to suggest the following rules for snagging Mr. Moneybags:

Drive a Lexus or a Prius, hang out where billionaires congregate -- ski chalets, private clubs, their yachts (of course, you can’t get to those places, but Money Magazine appears clueless about that) -- read Art News and the Chronicle of Philanthropy.  Even better, read Alpha, the magazine for hedge fund managers.

It goes on -- study the obituaries…look for prominent heirs left behind. Get a personal trainer or make friends with a golf pro (this is absolutely insane).

And lastly, it says, you need to dress the part. You need a Kelly bag, Christian Louboutin pumps and a Blackberry Pearl.  If you happen to have an MBA from an Ivy school it helps…but I think Harvard MBA women have a goal to become billionaires themselves, not marrying them.

Lastly, it tells the searcher to go to lots of charity events... I guess that means either pay the fee to go or work the room as a hooker. It also says Google is the gold diggers best friend.

I hate this – I HATE this…..

It totally undermines smart women who can make it on their own.  It plays to the silicone bimbo, and I don’t think guys who are in the “multi-multi” category are as dumb as they look. 

Do you think rich men ever consider – even for a moment – that the woman sidled up to them at the bar might just be thinking about money first and their charming, witty personalities second?

How dumb do you think these billionaires are?

It goes on – you can hire a professional to search out your prey. Join Millionaires Club123.com and Patti Stanger will charge women clients nothing.  On the other hand, men pay up to $150,000 to find suitable women.

They point out that there are 964 billionaires in the entire world and that most of them are married. My suspicion is that many of them got married before they became billionaires.  And, if they married later, has Money Magazine never heard of a pre-nup?

Further, only 38 women are on the list of billionaires. So you can see that this article is all about long legs and big tits and not about thinning hair lines and mid-gut paunches.

I am a big fan of women and I believe they should be empowered. I am also a big fan of romance, love and sex.

But the idea that a mainstream rag would promote this seriously – as an entrepreneurial  technique for getting rich -- is a major insult to every smart, motivated, capable woman out there.

So this leads to Baby Billionaire Rule # 22 ---
The species known as Genus Billionairus Maleus is not as dumbus as you thinkus.  So become the person you can become and along the way, if you happen to fall in love and he or she happens to have $50 or $50 million in the bank, great.

And, there is the famous rule of inverse effort and pure motives…namely, if you are looking for it, you probably won’t find it.
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<title>Get a Real Virtual Life</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=92</link>
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<pubDate>Friday, August 03, 2007 8:04:59 AM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Posted from the <a href="http://alwayson.goingon.com/permalink/post/12264">Stanford Innovation Summit</a>

Co-presented by <a href="http://alwayson.goingon.com">AlwaysOn</a> and the <a href="http://stvp.stanford.edu">Stanford Technology Ventures Program</a>

August 2, 2007

BB: OK, Neil and I know about Second Life, and our question is: Why are people willing to pay real money to buy something that only exists online?

Neil:  BB, The motivation for this is simple. The people doing this have never worked at a job that pays money. These must be trust fund babies for whom money has no value beyond the acquisition of chatchaks. I mean if you can be absolutely sure that no one who works at Wal-Mart or Macy’s – you know regular people-- none of them are on Second Life buying virtual crap.  They are living in a real life trying to feed their families with real food paid for by real money earned by spending real hours at a real job.

BB, your birthday present is a 12 carat diamond ring. Unfortunately you have to go to Second Life to get it, and then you can put it on your virtual fingers.

BB: Neil—I’ll see you in divorce court in real life.

Seriously, we realize that virtual worlds are becoming a big business. Philip Rosedale, the founder of Second Life, told the Stanford Innovation Summit audience that sales of virtual products are running $30 million a month.  Most of these revenues are being generated by individual entrepreneurs who set up stores on Second Life. And of course since no one has to actually manufacture anything, the gross margins are 100 percent. 

How will these virtual communities generate revenues in the long-term? Rosedale and a terrific panel suggested the following ways:
•  Taxes on product sales from individual stores—We guess that you can’t escape taxes even in a Virtual World.
•  Fees charged to companies and other large groups that want to hold virtual meetings—An executive from IBM said that holding meetings in a virtual world is much more interesting than a regular conference call.
•  Dollars from their own products—Think Second Life tee shirts, hats, mouse pads, etc.

Right now, I’m thinking about designing my Avatar on Second Life—Should she look like Michelle Pfeiffer or Susan Sarandon?

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<title>VC Forecast:  Partly Cloudy, Chance of Showers</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=91</link>
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<pubDate>Friday, August 03, 2007 7:59:18 AM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[We spent the day at the <a href="http://alwayson.goingon.com/permalink/post/12264">Stanford Innovation Summit</a> -- which is a 2-day event where approximately 100 start-up companies (each with 3-4 people in tow) rub shoulders with and beg for money from another 50 - 75 venture capital / angel investors.  Then, to round out the group, there are another 50 from the media and another 150 “wanna-be”, could have been, once were and now aren't, etc.
 
All in all, about 1000 people descended on the Alumni Center at Stanford where "Always On"  staged this conference.
 
Lots of it was interesting...attendees included Second Life, virtual worlds, new media, old media trying to be new media and social networking galore.  As for being “LinkedIn” or linked together or linked at all, I gotta tell you…for me personally, I have no interest in having that many friends.  I do not want to share with them my opinions about the movie last night or the restaurant two nights ago or anything else about my sex life, my family life, my work life.
 
But then, I am 58 years old and in new media dog years that makes me 1247 -- about the same as Methuselah......
 
Remember, there are people who spend real American dollars buying virtual crap on Second Life that does not exist.  I DEFINITELY want some of that.
 
There was one panel that was bone crushing. It was called "VC's - are you happy?" It was staggering in terms of the clarity of numbers. In the hall, there were 100 companies, 92% of which were in some kind of media--mobile media on the cell phone, social media on the network, mixed media in the virtual worlds--and what the VC's were telling the crowd was this:
 
1.  It will not be easy to get an exit.  If you think you will build it and flip it for a quick $20M profit in less than 12 months, you are crazy.  Only a very few will get funded by a top tier VC.
 
2.  Cut your burn rate. Financings will be few and far between, and the VC will take more than a few pounds of flesh.
 
3.  There cannot be 100 winners. It’s like musical chairs, not everyone in the hall gets to sit down.
 
I looked around at all the young, eager, bright and brilliant faces, and what I could see was this--  they were nodding, they “got” the message, but they were absolutely sure that the VC's on the podium were talking about THE OTHER GUY.  They were going to make it -- it was the other 99 in the room that were going to be dead meat.
 
4.  The numbers are terrible. The only ones getting rich are the VC's and Rupert Murdoch....the limited partners are getting single digit returns, and on top of all that, the top 10 VC firms account for over 50% of all venture capital profit. In other words, it is Benchmark and Kleiner that make money and the other 239 firms in the valley live off fees and hang on.
 
5.  How many social networking sites does the world really need? How many applications do you need on your phone? Are you going to watch a full-length movie on your cell phone?
 
6.  At the end of the day, the VC's were happy. Some were into clean tech -- the new hot space -- a few recently had big exits and were thinking about upgrading to a G-5 citation, and for the rest, the fees were always good.
 
But, for the audience...they were reminded to cut the burn rate, have a business model that makes money, don't think You Tube will happen twice in one decade, and be paranoid.
 
I will bet you that all of them went to the cocktail party that night still convinced that the world of Silicon Valley would always be the Promised Land, that milk and honey would follow close behind all those bits and bytes, and they would be rewarded for their brilliance…in fact, just being brilliant was enough. They had “buzz” and somehow they could hook up, post a video, link with a friend in a virtual world, and tell them how the deal would have worked if only ----------------
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<title>Change is changing faster</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=90</link>
<enclosure url='http://imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=90' />
<pubDate>Thursday, August 02, 2007 10:16:03 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Posted from the <a href="http://alwayson.goingon.com/permalink/post/12264">Stanford Innovation Summit</a>

August 2, 2007 
Co-presented by <a href="http://alwayson.goingon.com">AlwaysOn</a> and the <a href="http://stvp.stanford.edu">Stanford Technology Ventures Program</a>

Silicon Valley is back. At the Stanford Innovation Summit, we were amazed to see 1,000-plus entrepreneurs, technologists, venture capitalists, bankers, attorneys and others who were assembled to talk about the latest developments in digital media. The room was full of energy, intensity, and lots of conversations about money. 

We know how hard it is to build and grow a successful technology company, and venture capitalists often say that the odds are only one in 10 of hitting it big. Each entrepreneur has to believe that he or she can be that one in 10 and that optimism is what fuels innovation and new industries.

We were particularly impressed with venture capitalist Joe Schoendorf, a member of our age group and a partner with Accel Partners, one of the most respected VC firms in Silicon Valley. Joe has been in Silicon Valley for 40 years so he has seen and survived several booms and busts. 

He talked about “The Global Shift: Everything is Changing.” His key message: The amount of disruption taking place now is unprecedented. The big companies of today will go away and will be replaced by new ones that we haven’t yet heard of. As an example, he cited the computer industry. Twenty years ago, IBM and DEC (how many of you remember that name?) were the market leaders. Today, IBM has transformed itself into a services company, and the computer industry leaders are Dell and Hewlett-Packard.
For those of you in technology, get used to moving even faster. “Fundamental change is increasing at an increasing rate. Moore’s Law is not going away,” Schoendorf said, referring to Gordon Moore’s famous theory which refers to the rapidly continuing growth in the power of computing.

Some statistics that got our attention:
•   Today’s college graduate will have 10-14 jobs by the time that he or she is 38.
•   One out of 8 couples who married in 2006 met online.
•   China is the #1 English speaking country inn the world
•   It took two decades to sell the 1st billion cell phones, then only 1,400 days to sell the next billion and about 1,000 to sell the 3rd billion.


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<title>CEOs Who Ride the Golden Bungee</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=89</link>
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<pubDate>Wednesday, July 25, 2007 4:04:25 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[I continue to be sickened by corporate greed and excess.  The most recent person to be installed in the BABY’s Corporate Hall of Shame is Ron Zarella, the CEO of Bausch and Lomb.  Along with accounting problems and product recalls of Renu (as well as 400 lawsuits from consumers who assert that their vision has been permanently harmed), he oversaw a 90% drop in earnings between 2004-2006.  Then having run the company almost into the ground, he agreed to sell it to a private equity bail-out firm and the net result gives Zarella a $40 million payday.

What used to be a “golden parachute” has now become -- in the words of Pat McGurn, a corporate governance guru -- a “golden bungee jump.”  Like the parachute, it bestows largesse in the form of increased options, perks, etc. on the CEO when the deal initially gets done.  Then, as the company springs back to life going from private to feeding fat at the public trough, the CEO gets an even more generous reward on the rebound.

The classic “heads I win, tails you lose”...

For my money, the bungee cord could just break at the bottom and let the S.O.B. go down in flames.  

Here’s another quick one that angers me…Martin Armstrong, creator of Princeton Notes -  a $3 billion dollar Ponzi scheme, is finally going to jail for 5 years and ordered to repay $80 million in restitution.  Investors, by the way, lost $700 million.

And I’m not done – I am STILL angry…

I resist politics, but I am revolted by the current assault of our Supreme Court on women, blacks and the disadvantaged.  Where is the compassion of our civilization?

We have a huge trade deficit – $800 billion along with a sinking dollar…

We sell off pieces of our country to foreigners to raise money so we can indulge our thirst for oil and foreign goods – from Mercedes to Sony to Bolivian tin…

We have a Medi-care disaster that will take over $20 trillion to fund for the next 50 years.  Do we care nothing for generations to follow us?...

We have people around the world who hate us…

And we have the specter of increased inflation and stagnating wages…

And health care – I won’t even go there…

It is a dark and gloomy horizon, but we cannot simply wallow in the slough of despond.  We need to take some action.
 
And that leads to Baby Billionaire Rule # 119 – Paul Simon was right about building the bridge over troubled waters — and the steel that will allow you to do it is your savings…..start saving now.

It is the nest egg – no matter how small -- that will give you the chance to take a leap and be the architect of your own vision.

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<title>Kahneman and the Art of Executive Decision Making</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=88</link>
<enclosure url='http://imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=88' />
<pubDate>Thursday, July 19, 2007 4:22:03 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Today we are going to revisit my favorite Nobel Laureate – Daniel Kahneman.  He won the Nobel Prize in 2002 for his seminal work on risk analysis--what is called “prospect theory”--which is simply economic speak for the concept of “what are my prospects if I take a particular course of action.”

So what interests me today is why executives make so many mistakes.  In other words, getting it right is harder than it looks. When analyzing a large group of executive decision makers, Kahneman finds that they get it wrong more often than not.  And, he posits that they make a classic mistake – they are overly optimistic… “people assign a much higher probability to the truth of their opinions than is warranted.”

Sort of  “if I believe it, then it is probably true”….except that often it is not.

“All of us have a natural inclination to exaggerate our talents – and when we do this, we amplify the tendency to misperceive the cause of events…..The typical pattern is for people to take credit for positive outcomes and to attribute negative outcomes to external factors, no matter what their true cause.”

So Kahneman elaborates --- mergers, he points out, tend to occur when the economy is expanding.  At such times, executives can over-attribute their companies’ strong performance to their own actions and abilities rather than to the buoyant economy.  Consequently many M &amp; A decisions may be the result of hubris.  Hubris is a Greek word that stands for exaggerated self pride or self confidence….which often results in fatal retribution…..what I call “tempting the gods”…..

The way this expresses itself in contemporary mergers and acquisitions is the belief by executives that with proper planning and their superior management skills, they can actually make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.
And as we well know, the statistical results of the mergers undertaken in the last three years have been more than 50% unfavorable--the classic one, of course, was in 2000 with Time Warner and AOL-- the outcome cost shareholders $99 billion.

One obvious way to improve your decision making is to analyze your mistakes systematically – key words here are “analyze” and “systematically”--but that doesn’t usually happen.  Executives don’t like to be second guessed and this kind of analysis can be threatening – which explains why big shots don’t do it much.

But you are entrenauts starting and working at small and medium companies and decision making is critical.  So perhaps we can learn something from our tendency to equate good outcomes with our own genius and to assume the other guy is a rat or an idiot when the decisions do not work out as well. The task is to develop a better more rational way of thinking – and one way to improve our decision making is to slow it down.

Here is an example….a bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total….the bat costs $1 more than the ball….how much does the ball cost…..?

Almost everyone feels the temptation to answer 10 cents….but of course upon closer review the correct answer is 5 cents…..5 cents for the ball and $1.05 for the bat…..total is $1.10.

We think we know the answer immediately and we answer quickly…yet it is so obvious.

The baseball question is not a trick question…rather it points out the pathological mistakes and the persistent miscalculations that smart people make when they are making up their minds.

Now let me go further in exploring this issue of decision making.  One of the reasons we answer quickly is that we are uncomfortable with taking too much time to find the right answer.  Now this same sense of being uncomfortable is also expressed when big decisions need to be made and the answer is not obvious.  When one finds oneself with fundamentally opposing models, the first impulse is to determine quickly which is right and, by process of elimination, which is wrong but this leads to increased errors. When the issue is not easily resolved, the best leaders and decision makers have the predisposition and the capacity to hold in their heads two opposing ideas and then, without extreme panic, they are able to creatively resolve the differences between the two ideas. Instead of picking one or the other, they find a third solution….a new solution…..not originally on the table that melds the best of the first two.

And this new solution is often superior to either of the others.

This ability to live in a space of unresolvedness --- without discomfort or the need to release the tension --- and take the unresolvedness to craft a new solution is the mark of a true leader --- what I like to call a “big thinker.”

This process which combines consideration of the various competing ideas and then the synthesis of them….is called “integrative thinking.”

This is a $5 word….but a million dollar concept.

So I leave our entrenautical listeners with the four stages of integrative successful decision making:
1.	Determine salience--which means you have to decide which factors or data are relevant--and for this, keep as many on the table for as long as possible.  Too quickly eliminating some of the factors may be costly later.

2.	Analyze causality…what is really the force behind the data?…what is the true cause? Again, keep as many factors on the table for as long as possible.  Common business practice drives to linear simplistic solutions but learn to live with the tangled web.

3.	Envision the decision architecture…this is a fancy phrase for the good old decision tree.  If I choose to go to a movie, then what movie, at what theater at what time, etc.  Of those decisions, which decision needs to be made first?  The trick here is to see the whole tree, but also to hold the various elements in suspension so that you can move them around and see them in various configurations. The analogy is that the architect does not design a kitchen and then a bathroom and then dining room….he designs a house.

4.	Lastly achieve resolution. The best integrative thinkers welcome complexity…they revel in the messy problem and they do not accept the conventional solution.  They mix and match until the winning concept emerges.

And  that leads to Baby Billionaire Rule # 302:  When confronted with meager and unattractive alternatives, do not settle for the best available bad choice…any way you cut it, it’s still a bad choice.  At that point go back to the drawing board and get some fresh crayons.
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<title>Over Featured, Under Functioning</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=87</link>
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<pubDate>Tuesday, July 03, 2007 3:29:31 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Today the BABY wants to focus on one aspect of technology; namely, does technology make our life easier or harder?

Now the obvious answer is “yes,” but there is one aspect to technology which makes me crazy…namely “feature creep.” What this refers to is the trend for devices and services to give me more than I could ever want.

You see, the model says that in order to sell more of product “X,” you have to innovate. Usually innovation means adding more features, more bells, more whistles, more functionality --- and often those bells and whistles are sort of useless and meaningless to all but a very small segment of the population.

We find ourselves with digital cameras that have a hundred features we cannot program, book-length manuals written such that you need a PhD in math to understand them, and dashboard and sound systems in your car that are worthy of the space shuttle.

BMW tried iDrive – a feature that would give consumers unprecedented control of navigation, temperature and entertainment…but only Werner von Braun could work it.  It has been described as “arguably the biggest corporate disaster since new Coke.”

I have a radio in my T-bird that gives me six different ways to adjust the speakers for sound -- from symphony hall to a rock concert to an intimate jazz club.  I listen to talk radio on NPR or sports so I never have adjusted it and I wouldn’t know how if I wanted to.

This spiral of complexity costs consumers time and money; product returns in the U.S. cost $100 billion a year. A study by Elke Ouden from Philips Electronics found that at least half of the returned products have nothing wrong with them--the consumer just couldn’t figure out how to work the damn thing -- so he sent it back.

This feature creep problem stems from the fact that the program manager (that is the guy in a company who is charged with listening to what the customer really wants in the product) doesn’t listen.
Instead, he wanders down the hall and the tech genius says, “How about if I make a cell phone that can wake you up in the morning, start the coffee and then call the boss and tell him you are sick so you can take the day off – wouldn’t that be cool?”

More options can easily make a product less useable….

Look at Microsoft Word 2003 – it has 31 toolbars and more than 1,500 commands --  I’m lucky if I can find the key for indenting a paragraph.

Now, here’s the fishhook….the consumer who claims he wants usability really gets jazzed on features -- even if he will never, ever use them. In other words, the program manager is listening to a consumer who is lying to him; he says he wants features, but then he complains that he can’t figure the damn thing out.

In a study, more than 65% of consumers when confronted with three identical devices picked the one that had the most features.  People are not good at predicting what will make them happy…I dare not go too far here…but think about the women in Playboy Magazine and then think about who you are happily married to.

My hat is off to Apple for the iPod and maybe he can do it again with the new iPhone…Steve Jobs is very smart and I would never bet against him.  But as you think about your own entrepreneurial adventure, remember these words from my favorite Wisdom of Crowds author, James Surowiecki who says, “the strange truth about feature creep is that even when you give consumers what they want, they can still end up hating you for it.”

Which leads to Baby Billionaire Rule # 152 ---
Don’t be afraid to embrace the mantra – less can often be more--except in the case of Parmesan cheese on Caesar salad.
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<title>Title Inflation</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=86</link>
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<pubDate>Wednesday, June 27, 2007 4:29:40 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Today we are going to take a look at inflation… not grade inflation at the university, not market inflation at the Fed, and not inflation of your tires… this inflation is title inflation.  What has the world come to when the person who answers the phone is now known as Chief Reception Officer? 

Everyone has heard of the CEO, the CFO, the COO and the CMO (chief marketing officer), but how many of you have heard of chief talent officer, chief innovation officer, chief reputation officer, chief  apology officer, chief geek officer…I mean give me a freakin’ break…it sounds to me like all these companies have are chiefs and no Indians.

Why is this happening?  Two reasons – organizations are getting flatter and, as such, there is less hierarchy.  If there is less hierarchy, there is less chance to climb the corporate ladder…and if there is no ladder, how the hell are you going to climb up it?

The second reason there is title inflation is because of ego and because it costs so little.   “If you aren’t giving me a substantial raise, then at least give me some respect… give me a bigger title.”

I also find that this attitude seems most prevalent in big companies as opposed to smaller, more entrepreneurial, adventures.  “Betty, I can’t give you a raise, you know things have been tight here at Amalgamated Widget, but I can promote you to Chief Widget Spinner.”

This whole title thing strikes me as total bullshit.  My business card at my first software company did not say Chief Executive Officer--it said “Room Worker”--because I figured my major job was to work the room.  I wore four hats and, in fact, everyone in the company wore multiple hats; no job was too small for the founders to do.

One of the ways we pooh-pooh this phenomenon today in my current company, Quanlight, is to give people really great titles.

So our head of business development has a card that reads “Chief World-wide Global Strategic Reality Advisor.”

What does he do?  Anything and everything.  He does biz dev, power point presentations, private placement memorandums, runs the numbers and then picks up lunch at the Cheese Shop.  And, he is very well paid and has a ton of stock.  He would work with no title, just a “hey you,” if I gave him another 25,000 shares.

Betsy Stevenson, a professor of business at Wharton, puts it this way: “One way companies compete in the marketplace is to give key employees a little more money and a lot more title because it will help on their resumes down the road.”

Peter Cappelli, also at Wharton, says “People are looking for functional recognition (that is Wharton speak for a bigger title) so they can move on if they have to…” If they have to --- that is so corporate.

I hate the idea that any of my team has one foot in and one foot out.  If you are on my team and you are looking, then fine with me, here’s “goodbye, pal and really start looking….don’t do it on my time.”

Title inflation is what I call, “all hat and no cattle.”  I want players with substance who will fiercely compete and win and who care nothing about the title.  What they want is responsibility and the chance to excel.

My favorite football coach is Joe Paterno, top dog for 41 years at Penn State.  Penn State is usually in the top 20 teams in the nation and Paterno is the only coach to have won all four major bowl games, the Rose, Orange, Fiesta and Sugar.

Take a look at his players – they only have numbers on their jerseys...no names.  You gotta love it--in an age of self and ego, he fields a team of no names.

Now, there are certain kinds of companies where the title thing really works…think Apple – Guy Kawasaki who worked at Apple was on our show and he was known as “Chief Evangelist.”  Jerry Yang and David Filo were known as “Chief Yahoos.”  These titles are tongue in cheek – they are mocking the corporate hierarchy.

But there are also titles today that are different and they send a unique message about the company and they reflect different and important concerns.  So Chief Diversity Officer says this company cares about women and minorities.  The same might be true of the Chief Learning Officer title.

But my world is the world of the small start-up and in that environment, if you are worried about a title, you should not be in that company.

One of the risks of title inflation in a larger company is that it comes with increased expectations.  If you are CMO – chief marketing officer-- and revenue doesn’t increase rapidly enough, you are going to be COD –“chief out the door.”

One of the advantages of the start-up from the employee’s perspective is that while there is real risk, there is also real opportunity to learn a variety of skills.  By taking on multiple jobs, you get a much broader view of the organization.

So the trade-off as an entrepreneur is this – I have less job security – not because of my skill sets per se, but I simply recognize that this adventure could go broke.  But the myriad of benefits you do get being your own boss and the architect of your own vision more than make up for the risks.  The good news is you can pick any title you want…Chief Entrenaut, perhaps.

It is not just at the C- level jobs that inflation has occurred.  For example, at a bank, everyone, except the receptionist, is a vice president -- and she is an assistant vice president.  At a bank the titles are a joke.

Same is true of the president title….now companies have three or four presidents.  And, being president just isn’t what it used to be -- just ask George W. Bush.

One last observation from Betsey Stevenson at Wharton – she wonders if the same students who pushed for A’s in school and caused creeping grade inflation are the same ones who want the big titles.  She goes on to find in her study that the most recent job entrants into corporate America are “significantly more spoiled and self absorbed than their predecessors.”  In her view, “We have fielded an increasingly self absorbed and narcissistic generation.”

The entrepreneur doesn’t hire those guys…they can work for the investment banks or Procter and Gamble.  The entrepreneur needs to motivate employees and fuel their passions with the enormity and excitement of the challenge rewarding them with ownership, authority, flexibility, independence, and an environment that supports the team’s cause.

There used to be a famous advertising slogan – “A title on the door rates a Bigelow on the floor…” (Bigelow was a brand name of fancy carpet).  Not any more – today all you have is work stations, which brings me to Baby Billionaire Rule # 291 – Since there are no doors on cubicles never trade stock or cash for a bigger business card.
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<title>Getting Technical with Technorati </title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=85</link>
<enclosure url='http://imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=85' />
<pubDate>Tuesday, June 26, 2007 12:30:23 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[The Baby Blog meets Technorati...
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<title>Doctors and Entrepreneurs Think a Lot Alike</title>
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<pubDate>Wednesday, June 20, 2007 1:39:36 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[What’s on my mind today is the difference between how managers think and how managers should think.  In other words, how can managers learn to be better managers?  For that we turn to a book about doctor called How Doctors Think by Jerome Groopman.  I think we can find some common themes that might be useful.

As you know I teach a class at San Diego State University in entrepreneurship.  One of the first slides of the first class is one that simply says “it’s magic” --- what that means is that dissecting the art of entrepreneurship is not easily quantified and, even more importantly, finding the words to describe it is extremely difficult.

If you ask an artist how they create a painting, I suspect that their answer would not translate into you or I being able to do it.  They might be able to use English words, but they would fail in getting to the essence of it.

The same seems to be true of great managers and entrepreneurs--they use the same words, but results differ widely.

So there is this book called How Doctors Think – and one of the most significant chapters is on why doctors make mistakes, sometimes tragic mistakes.

The study shows that doctor mistakes often occur because of miscommunication--the failure to say “I did not understand you, please say that again” or too heavy a reliance on pattern recognition, “I have seen that rash 20 times before.”

Now I believe that pattern recognition is critical in achieving success in a young company.  It is part of the “been there, done that” skill set of a talented CEO.  But too heavy of a reliance on that, or too quickly seeing the pattern, can have disastrous results in medicine, especially if you misread the pattern.

The book goes on to talk about doctors too quickly reaching a diagnosis.  Perhaps this happens because of too heavy a reliance on first impressions or biases or preconceptions or availability – i.e. too easy of a solution.  Groopman goes on to say that the diagnostic process can also be compromised by both positive and negative feelings toward the patient.  In this case, think about how your feelings towards certain employees color your decision making process.

Putting it bluntly, the research shows that doctors are more patient and charming when diagnosing people who are not seriously ill, troublesome or chronic in their complaints.  They spend more time with these people and getting things right takes time…something that many doctors complain about not having enough of.

Now substitute the word “manager” for the word “doctor” and you begin to see some of the problems that transcend into the business management environment.

The author, Groopman, goes on to say, “How a doctor thinks can be first discerned by how he speaks and how he listens……”

Key word here is “listens.”

The doctor proceeds with questions designed to be open-ended and the best doctors are the ones who can say, “I know you hurt, but I do not know yet what the problem is.”  In other words, those who are willing to be fallible (“human”), able to say “I do not have the answer,” willing to keep probing, and when necessary, willing to refer the patient to someone more qualified.

It seems to me that great managers need to develop this skill...the willingness to accept uncertainty for a period of time.

Baby Billionaire Rule #32 says that entrepreneurs need to not only tolerate ambiguity, they need to embrace it.

Now think about solving your business problems…do you have a tendency to make the evidence fit the framework? Do you ignore facts that you cannot comprehend?

Doctors often work alone…without the support of colleagues…they are expected to know the answer.  The same is true about entrepreneurs, CEO’s and upper level managers.  There are time crunches and, after all, you are earning a hundred thousand dollars plus per year and you are expected to know the answer.

What do you want most from your physician is to first listen, then give the answer.  But time presses hard and the ability to pause is not often given to the doctor; the same is true of the entrepreneur or business owner.  But, to get the decision right, it may indeed require this pause.

For myself, what I have developed is a system that allows simple decisions that I am positive about to be made in real time. But when I recognize that a decision may have significant impacts, I have learned to step back and I actually say to myself, “I need to get this one right….this one is more important than the others” and so I apply different tools, timing, support systems, etc.

Managers can and should do that, and the same is true for doctors.  If you have the flu, the doc prescribes Sudafed or an antibiotic.  But if you have a cerebral aneurism, time slows down for that decision.  He needs to get that one right or you are dead.  

Most of us do not make life and death business decisions, but some are clearly more significant than others.  A good diagnosis is critical for both the doctor and the entrepreneur.  It is the issue of properly assessing symptoms—for example, a slow network is a symptom—and fixing it may require several disciplines.  I harken here to one part of the Hippocratic oath:  “First, do no harm.”  In the case of the network, it might be “First, do not make it worse.” For myself, I struggle with the desire for speed--but not all decisions need to be made fast or in real time.
 
One of the issues the book frames is that managers are less objective than they really think they are.  We think we listen and assess and then reach a decision, but in truth, if we aren’t careful, we have a tendency to jump to the conclusion because it fits our biases and tendencies.  It plays to our strengths.  The crux of the issue for doctors and entrepreneurs is that both fall into old patterns much more easily and quickly than the facts might dictate.

So remember Baby Billionaire Rule #53-- Ask open ended questions.  If you want confirmation, go to church--if you want information, listen.

The book makes another point -- when the patient sees the doctor, he is probably sick.  But if the good manager waits for a sickness to appear, he has probably waited too long.

Pro-active, preventive medicine works best in both cases…give up smoking, cut back on red meat, and exercise regularly.  Now, find those equivalents in your own company.

Doctors need to make decisions quickly, but their decision making process will be exponentially better if they get all the information from the patient.  The corollary to this is the entrepreneur’s job is to get all the information from his employees--to have a system in place that not only encourages, but rewards telling the “boss” everything.  Without full disclosure, the odds of making the right diagnosis for the company decrease dramatically.

So I have to close with a doctor joke:  the auto mechanic says to the heart doctor, “Look, Doc, I treat this engine, I take out its heart, I fix the valves, I put it back together and when I’m done, it works just like new.  How come I earn so little compared to you when we are basically doing the same work?”
The surgeon smiled and whispered to the mechanic, “Try doing it with the engine running.”

And so we come to Baby Billionaire Rule # 281 --- When diagnosing the disease, don’t reach for the first bottle on the shelf…it could be rat poison with the wrong label.
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<title>King vs. Rich</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=83</link>
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<pubDate>Friday, June 15, 2007 8:56:48 AM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Today I’m interested in a classic dilemma for all entrepreneurs – as the founding CEO, when is it time for you to stay or go?

And to explore this a bit we turn to Noam Wasserman, a Harvard professor who has written a paper called – “Founder CEO Succession and the Paradox of Entrepreneurial Success.”

What we see often in the start-up technology world is that the founding CEO is replaced early on by the “professional” CEO.  It is a paradox--the VC funds the company built by the founder and then almost immediately brings in his own CEO to replace the founder who often moves to a CTO position or an evangelist role or sometimes just retires to a board of director’s role.

Wasserman’s data shows that the number of CEOs who go the distance is extremely low; the Bill Gates and the Larry Ellisons are the absolute exception, not the rule.

It can be a deeply disappointing period for the CEO whose passion and drive get the company to a certain point and then, before he gets to kiss the girl or score the touchdown or carry the banner across the line, he is demoted and sent packing so that the professional CEO can take the company to what is euphemistically called “the next level.”

I have personal awareness of this experience--I was replaced as CEO in my first company by what I thought then and still think today was a second rate hack, but the VC’s wanted to do it.  As it ended up, I was the one who made the final deal to sell the company and I made the most money, but I hated to be benched.  I believed I could hit the fastball and there was no need to bring in a journeyman player.

I thought I had done a good job--and in fact I had done a good job.  I was bound to be replaced and here is Wasserman’s reasoning:  when the founder CEO does badly, he is always replaced (that makes sense), but when the founder CEO does well, he is also replaced.

In the early life of a company, it is the CEO who created the technology or built the first product who is the right person to lead the company to a baseline initial development.  This is the equivalent of “getting on base”--he puts the ball in play.  However, when the first milestone of the product (ie. first customer or working validated technology) is reached, the chances that the CEO will be replaced increase exponentially according to Wasserman.

Here is the reason -- in the beginning the task is daunting, but it is linear.  It is singular and easily definable.  In the case of my current chip company, Quanlight,  it is “get the damn thing built, make sure it lights up , doesn’t explode and does what we claim it will do,” and then get one customer.

But when you have done that, Wasserman goes on to posit that the challenges within the company change dramatically, and the person who was best suited to lead the company at the beginning is no longer the best person going forward.  The product has to be sold, distribution has to be secured, partnerships need to be formed, and financial issues are more complex.  This often requires a different skill set from what the founder CEO can do and that is a painful realization.

It is precisely the founder’s success in getting to that point that has increased the need to replace him at that point…and it is usually at this time that professional money – aka the infamous VC’s – is brought in.

When the VC money comes in, you the founder are almost always on the way out.  At one level, this is nuts--the VC invests in a company because of you and the first thing they do after they invest is shit-can you.  

This leads to a famous test administered by Silicon Valley VCs…the Baby has discussed this in the past. It is called “the rich vs. king” test.

It is the conundrum of “does the entrenaut need to control the company or does he want to be successful – which is nothing more than polite speak for being rich.

Do you want to hit a homerun in a losing cause or do you want to hit a single and the team wins the game?

Here is the dilemma:  if you want control, don’t raise VC money.  But if you want to grow a much bigger company, you have to raise outside money and in so doing, you have to cede control.  If you want to remain king, you give up the chance to grow a real company.

It is a thorny issue – one that the Baby has seen up close and personal--but I will tell you what has happened now that I am on to my fourth technology company as CEO.  I planned going in to be replaced, and frankly at this point in my career, I am looking forward to it.  I know that my skills are terrific for $0 to $10 million in revenue, but after that, the company will need someone else.  I have a tendency to get bored-- I love stalking the wild beast, killing it with my bare hands, but making  steaks out of it, flash-freezing them and distributing them to the restaurants of the world is not my gig.

So I guess I will take the “king vs. rich” test and settle for being prince (besides, the Baby does not look good in a crown)…I look better in a baseball cap.

Which leads to Baby Billionaire Rule # 55—when given a chance to be king or rich, pick rich.  You can always buy one of those European kingdoms on the cheap on ebay…complete with a crest of arms and a moat.
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<title>BOGO for Billions</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=82</link>
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<pubDate>Thursday, June 07, 2007 1:17:38 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[I am interested today in green tech – that is the catch phrase that connotes entrepreneurial investment in technologies that will reduce our dependence on foreign oil, improve global warming and generally make our country more environmentally responsible since we have finally realized that we cannot treat this planet as our personal garbage can for the next 100 years without significant adverse repercussions.

And today I want to call your attention to one man who made something small, simple and wonderful, and with it, changed the lives of thousands of very poor people in Fugnido, Ethiopia and ultimately all over Africa. It is the small steps that each of us take that will ultimately triumph over the largest problems.

As you know I have my little LED company and we recently spun out a small solar company that uses the novel material science that we have developed.  So, I am keenly interested in things solar.

Well, here is the story that warms and, yes, lights up my heart…

Meet Mark Bent, entrepreneur and visionary, who literally is lighting the way.  Mark is a Houston oil man, former marine and navy pilot, and former U.S. diplomat.  His website is  bogolight.com; “bogo” stands for buy one, get one.  It is a simple concept, if you buy one of his solar powered flashlights for $25, he will send a second solar flashlight free to the villages in Africa, where indeed they have lots and lots of sunshine and very little electricity. (An efficient solar cell really rocks their world).

His mission statement:  “to provide light to people in developing countries using the latest scientific advances in solar technology…”

How he does it:  you buy one, he gives a second one free to a non-profit that distributes it to the developing world.

Marketing: the internet.  You cannot buy the lights in any store; they can only be bought on the website…no bricks, no mortar, no Costco, no Wal-mart.

The technology can recharge three AAA batteries for use up to 1000 nights before the batteries wear out.  The batteries costs 80 cents and it was developed in conjunction with the Department of Energy, several American universities, and even NASA got in the act.

Mark Bent has worked with major corporate benefactors – Exxon and Mobil (each gave $50,000).  For sure there is some irony there, but we will leave that for the political commentators. Together they have distributed over 30,000 flashlights to United Nations refugee camps, African aid charities and directly in the country.

Listen to Mark’s words….

“If you are an environmentalist, you think about it in terms of discarded batteries, and coal and kerosene smoke.  If you are a feminist, you think of it in terms of security for women, and preventing sexual abuse and violence. If you are an educator, you think about it in terms of helping children and adults study at night.”

To that I would add a thought from the Jewish prayer book….there is a prayer that says “light is the symbol of the divine in man…” 

Bent invested $250,000 and with solar technology and powerful LEDs, he is  now in the process of changing the world.

Think about what it would be like if we did not have light at night – it is a luxury we take for granted.  Here is the crusher number --- 2 billion people on this planet do not have affordable access to light.  Big number, big market.  Take heed, entrenauts, solar is going to rock the world.

And finally do not forget Tom Friedman’s, The World is Flat.  Where are the flashlights manufactured? China, of course.

And so we come to Baby Billionaire Rule # 39 which honors my favorite song writer, Bob Dylan, who once said, “The times they are a changin’.”]]></description>
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<title>Brains and Bucks</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=81</link>
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<pubDate>Thursday, June 07, 2007 12:54:06 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[As listeners know, our show focuses on technology and entrepreneurship --- and I am an unabashed geek-o-phile.  I love geniuses and technology and I am in awe of it, at least in part because I am incapable of doing it myself.

My skills are more intangible.  I can’t write code and I can’t make anything with the word “nano” in it.  I barely can get email from my computer, and voicemail off my cell phone is sometimes a challenge….

So I began to think about the correlation between rich and smart. Do you have to be a genius to get rich?

In an information technology age, the conventional wisdom is that you have to be brilliant to get rich…..think Bill Gates,  Larry Ellison, Warren Buffet and the Google boys to name just a few.

Well, folks…good news…there is still hope for you and me.

You don’t have to be smart to be rich it seems.  As a matter of fact, it turns out that there is zero correlation between rich and smart.

There is a new book out called Richistan written by Robert Frank.  Robert is a research scientist at Ohio State. He confesses on page one that he is not rich, but he wanted to study them.  It turns out that the wealthy are not any more likely to have higher IQ’s than the general population.

Now, look, being smart is not a bad thing (it can’t really hurt you unless you end up studying Sanskrit in a closet in Budapest), but being smart is not all it is cracked up to be.

So Frank conducted interviews from 1979 to 2004….a 25-year period, and here is what he found:

•  Intelligence is not a factor for explaining wealth; 
•  Those with low intelligence should not believe they are handicapped; and
•  Those with high intelligence should not believe they have an advantage.

So guess what, folks? What does turn out to be the factor for wealth is not brains, but passion, drive, discipline, endurance, and creativity.  No mention of IQ in that list.

Don’t we all know people who are brilliant and not rich?

Now there is one slight fish hook in the study.  Frank’s definition of “rich” may not be the same as yours or mine today.  Remember, he did the survey over a 25-year period and back in 1985, $500,000 was not chicken feed.  Today it buys a median priced house in San Diego.

So there may be some statistical nuances, but still Frank goes on to say that there is actually a disconnect between wealth and income as it relates to IQ.

Wealth and income are fundamentally different measures.  Think of the books today about the Millionaire Next Door and Rich Dad, Poor Dad.  Getting wealthy today may be more about saving and investing wisely than about raw brainpower.

There may be some correlation as to smarts and income…each point of IQ  is associated with approximately $450 more income per year…but wealth is different.

And finally here is Frank’s conclusion –

“Smart people are just as likely as others to make bad financial decisions with their money, taking on too much debt or too much risk.  Smart people don’t manage their money any better than the less smart it seems.”

So folks, it seems that the entrepreneurial spirit will do more for your net worth than your IQ.

But don’t give up on school totally --- take a moment to read Shakespeare; he was no financial dummy. In one play, “Merchant of Venice,” he says, “Neither a lender nor a borrower be” -- not bad advice even 400 years later.

And so we come to Baby Billionaire Rule # 107 ---You don’t have to be smart to be rich --- the entrenaut has a better chance at wealth than the brainac.
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<title>Never Nix Negotiation</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=80</link>
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<pubDate>Thursday, May 31, 2007 4:25:27 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Once again it is time to revisit the Baby’s Book on negotiating strategies --

I remind you gently…negotiating is like riding a bike – almost everyone can do it at some level--and then there is Lance Armstrong.  So today we are going to do some heavy pedaling and see if we can get the upper hand on Heartbreak Hill.

Let’s review one key point before we press on…persuaders give reasons, negotiators give concessions.

This is a critical principle.  You all know times when someone keeps telling you the reason that he wants something.  Your answer should be, “I got your reasons--I even understand your reasons-- but I don’t feel your reasons.  For me to feel dude, you need to give me concessions.  My feeling button is tied to your concession button.”

Remember the reason the United Nations works so badly is because you have 192 countries who are giving reasons.  They are in the business of hearing themselves talk eloquently about their needs and their reasons “why” but very few, if any, of these countries give concessions.

For a concession to work it needs to be both meaningful and offered at the right time.  Save the diamond necklace for when you have been a really bad boy and need some big time forgiveness...don’t just lob it in along with the oatmeal for breakfast.

Once you have made a concession, you need to do two things.  First, wait and make sure that the other side really knows in their gut that they got something.  Then the next step is to keep making concessions, but less and less.  The first concession needs to be the biggest -- then they start to dramatically diminish both in amount and in frequency.

Make ‘em work for them....no freebies.

But by the same token, don’t be stingy.  Remember, you only have the cards you have; don’t confuse deuces with queens.

If you really need something, you have to give something of equal or greater perceived value (key word here is perceived). Listening carefully is the rule here because perception is more important than reality at this point.

The next step in the Baby’s Book on negotiating is don’t be afraid to say those magic words “You know, that just doesn’t work for me.”  Then, after you say them, shut up and say nothing.  Eventually the other side will say something and then you can say, “Well, I understand, but can you make me an offer?”

Those are the second set of magic words—“Make me an offer.”

Unless you are Tony Soprano, in which case the first offer is best accepted as offered.

Lastly, there is no substitute, absolutely no substitute, for doing the leg work…getting in the car or on the plane and logging the miles.

So here is a personal story from my adventures with Quanlight, my little red LED chip company.

The company needed to build a special type of reactor and it turned out there are none in the world at this time.  So we went looking for a company that could make one and we found it in Assar, Germany.  (Naturally, you figure if the Germans can build Porsche, BMW and Mercedes, they can build a simple vertical gradient freeze gallium phosphide crucible).

So my partner and I got on a plane and schlepped 15,000 miles for a two-day series of meetings to make the deal which we successfully concluded with a signed contract.  We both hate to travel, but there was no way to achieve this result using the phone, the fax, the internet, Microsoft Meeting Manager, or video conferencing.

Sometimes you just have to get on the bike and do the miles.  So remember this -- sometimes there is no other way but meeting face to face…you need to “press the flesh.”

The next principle is to keep the climate positive.  The climate is precious and one of the best ways to keep the group in tow is through humor…unless, of course, there is a language barrier, as we had in Germany.   We found the next best way to keep the climate pleasant was to negotiate in a beer stube…lots of beer will compensate for the subtle nuances of a double entendre.  Remember people want to do business with people they like so make it easy to be liked.

Next we come to the killer deal point…the one where the other guy says, “This is non-negotiable.”  Yeah, and I’m the Pope.  Trust me, everything is negotiable.  It is only limited by the size of the “if”… “Sure you can have that, if I get this.”

Remember, it never ever hurts to ask and then ask again.  Always remember the concession principle…

So we have a problem in our German deal--we want a very specialized way of working with the geniuses where we hire the various researchers.  Their answer is “that is not the way we do it” -- and your answer needs to be something along the lines of “Well, I understand you have never done it that way (key point is ‘I understand’), but let’s see if it might work.”

I’m telling him “I understand, I empathize, I’m there for you baby,” but I’m also telling him, “Look pal, we’re not going to ever get there if we have to do it the way you’ve always done it, because that’s not going to work for us” …which of course brings us back to “Make me an offer.”

Next principle – identify the decision makers.  Who really has the power?  Don’t ask the secretary to approve what only the CFO can approve.  Seems obvious you say, but I can tell you, the hardest part of a complex negotiation is to get the right people at the right time with the right authority at the right table with the right stuff…and to keep them there long enough to close. And, don’t be afraid to look the person across the table in the eye and say, “Just curious, Mr. Jones, but are you authorized to approve this transaction?”

So today we have added a few simple principles to the Baby’s Book on Becoming a Billionaire.

1.  Negotiators don’t give reasons, they give concessions…
2.  Don’t be afraid to ask – remember you don’t know what you don’t know…
3.  Nothing is ever wrong with – “Make me an offer” and then shut up and let the other guy talk…
4.  A pleasant climate works better than a can of McLube.
5.  Identify the decision makers……don’t ask the busboy to select the wine.
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<title>The Value of Networks</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=79</link>
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<pubDate>Wednesday, May 16, 2007 12:10:38 AM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[On my mind today is Baby Billionaire Rule #2 which says networking is a profession – become a professional at it.

And no less a heavy weight than Robert Metcalf, the inventor of Ethernet and the founder of 3Com has weighed in on this subject in the May 7 issue of Forbes Magazine.  He is the man who explained that the value of the network is equal to the number of connections on the network squared.

This principle works great for routers that link thousands of computers together, but what interested me the most is Metcalf’s use of the word “value.”  It is not just that computers and people are linked together, but that this linkage creates real value.

This idea of linkage, of course, has been multiplied by websites such as Friendster and Linked In.  These sites take advantage of Metcalf’s principle: connect people you might know with people who want to know you and want to know who you know…then by knowing someone you know they hope they will get a chance to know the people you already know…as well as get to know someone they didn’t really know who might know someone they didn’t know they needed to know.

A classically efficient internet way to “work the room.”

But the underlying premise here is a subtle one:  the network effect is not very valuable until the network becomes a certain size because it is exponential and not arithmetic.  You need a certain threshold of computers to be linked together and, by the same token, you need a certain number of people in your network to make it work effectively.

It works with three people, but not very well.  With 30 people it begins to rock and with 300 people it is super dynamic.

So let’s go back to the concept again of value, and let’s look at My Space.  Meet two guys in Los Angeles who decided to feed the homeless. They went to the supermarket and bought some meat, beans, rice and tortillas and actually made burritos and distributed them to the homeless.  Then they got a few of their friends to chip in some money, made more burritos and distributed them to even more people.

Then they did the magic thing.  They made a page on My Space telling the world about the burrito project without spending one cent on advertising. They collected 4,800 users and the burrito project now has branches in two dozen other cities including Charlotte, Phoenix, Detroit, Denver and reaching globally to Mexico City and Damascus (there it is called the Falafel Project).

This is unbelievable.  Do you think the boys in Washington, D.C. could have figured this out?  Talk about efficient and effective!  It is the power of the network, of shared goals, of entrepreneurial focus… all in the pursuit of doing good.

So we have looked at the power of the network.  Now let’s look at how one creates a network or, in the case of looking for a job, how does one use the network and why is it so hard for some people?

I’ll tell you why --- because it is damn scary!

When I was 13 or 14 , my mother made me go to Cotillion…..Cotillion is a midwestern, upper middle class wasp fantasy where uncomfortable young boys and girls get dressed up and stand on opposite sides of a large room while some pencil neck plays songs – remember this is long before digital downloads, iPods or DJ’s.  This was just a guy with a record player and we were supposed to walk across the room and ask some girl to dance.  The chaperones were going to make sure we didn’t touch a breast – even by accident --- or dance cheek to cheek.  When the gruesome hour was over, you could have some punch and finally be picked up by your parents so you could go home and barf.

Well --- I suffered like all the rest…

However, what I learned 40 years later is this:  the girls wanted to dance.….they wanted to be touched…..and in a few years, they wanted to be kissed and then in a few years, yup, they wanted sex.

Yes, they wanted it too...not just the boys, but the girls.  It is just that no one told us boys…no one clued us in.

Humans are the most intensely social primates.  We like to get together and schmooze and interact and network--we LIKE it—it’s not a chore, it’s a pleasure.  When we are on the outside of the circle looking in, we need to remember that everyone needs alliances--when I add you to my network, I am stronger.  So it is not like you are imposing on me – you are potentially becoming an ally.

Now what people say is, “Intense networking is so fake. ”  I pretend to be interested in you, but all I really want is a job….so why am I faking it?

You are not faking it-- you are acting, but not with false lines.  Rather,  you are exposing yourself -- like a really good actor who finds the truth in a character and reveals it.  Your success at networking is a direct result of how well you act, find and reveal yourself.

And now the dirty secret:  people like to bond.  It’s not always with the goal of getting something (often they just want to commiserate), and women do this better than men by a whopping large margin.

Think of quilting bees, breast cancer survivors and Athena.

What is it that makes women so much more capable of supportive networking than men?

The bottom line is that networking works whether it is a large group of computers or a large group of people. Think of the rating system at Netflix and the power of Craig’s List.

The human need for a connection drives the network and makes it marvelous.  If you feel phony the next time you start to work the room….remember Baby Billionaire Rule #77 --- the need and the desire to connect is universal.

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<title>Creative Destruction</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=78</link>
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<pubDate>Wednesday, May 16, 2007 12:05:43 AM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Today I want to talk about the concept of creative destruction.

Creative destruction is what happens when old technologies and industries are replaced by new ones.  It is this life cycle that should give hope and spirit to every entrepreneur because it means that there are always changes.  And if you can create something new, and in so doing, destroy something old or obsolete, you can get very rich, my friend.

You know what the expression “crying wolf” means – crying wolf is telling us that global warming is destroying our planet (except that this cry is the truth), and in raising the alarm, you also create the seeds for its solution.

One of the most famous venture capitalists was a man named Joseph Schumpeter, an Austrian economist who taught at Harvard in the 1940’s and coined the phrase “creative destruction” to describe what he viewed as the engine of capitalism.

Don’t get me wrong… I love capitalism.  Capitalism creates fortunes when unexpected innovations destroy existing markets.  Innovation is a form of creative destruction and it is a proven fact that most businesses fail primarily because of their lack of innovation.

What I like is the duality of creating something that by its creation destroys something else.  Think “horse and buggy” and then think “car”…think “typewriter” and then think “computer word processor”….think “phonograph record” and then think “iPod.”

It was Schumpeter who first realized that innovation and entrepreneurship has a dark, violent, even nasty side.

Do you want to be an investor in a pay telephone booth business?  There used to be one on every corner, but now they only exist in jails…gone like the dinosaur.

There are real winners and losers and every successful innovation is a destroyer.  Men and women lose jobs when industries are replaced with new technologies.  And we, as a society, need to be compassionate, but the double-edge sword remains sharp.  The changes which are the most disruptive are often the most liberating.

Think big pharma and the cost of health care…and then think of the rural family doctor and HMO’s…

Think of your father’s mutual funds… and then think of today’s hedge fund managers.  Think of mergers and acquisitions...and then think of private equity.

Think of the old movie house and the double feature… and then think of digital downloads.

Think of big airlines like Pan Am… and then think of Jet Blue.

Think of General Motors… and then think of Toyota, now the number one car company in the world.

When new technologies are needed, they will appear. One example of this is the crying need for clean tech. Our water, air, electricity and oil crises are a call to arms and once again fortunes will be made in these areas. There will be winners and losers, but the net effect will be better for our society and the world.

As Schumpeter said, “The pursuit of innovation is the moral equivalent of war.”

So here is Baby Billionaire Rule # 91:
The great problems of today need the warriors of tomorrow and their weapons will be their brains, their passion and their novel solutions.
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<title>Wild and Crooked</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=77</link>
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<pubDate>Wednesday, May 02, 2007 12:48:04 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[I’m There for You Baby once again revisits the Corporate Hall of Shame...upon whose walls hang pictures of people who were definitely not “there for you baby.”

First up on the wall of the Hall today is Joe Francis. Joe is the founder of that intellectually uplifting, cinemagraphically brilliant, and morally valuable video DVD genre commonly known as “Girls Gone Wild.”

Yes, Joe sells videos of topless young women…and he sells a lot of them.

But he did not make the Hall because of a bit of erotica or even smut...no, Joe made the Hall because he appears to be “rich gone wild.”  He has been indicted on federal income tax evasion charges.

Francis makes an estimated $29 million a year from videos of young women exposing their breasts, but it seems that wasn’t enough...so he chiseled on his income tax deductions.

What strikes me is that the Joe Francis story highlights the issue of how much is enough.  I think back on Debi Akin who was on our show recently. When she was asked why she didn’t expand and open other restaurants, she said having one very successful restaurant – DZ Akin’s - was enough.  She is a wonderful example of having a centered life and making choices that honor values other than money.

So now let’s turn to our second inductee into the Hall this week --  David Stockman.....

In 1981, David was budget director in the Reagan White House.  He was fired from his post back then for selling the public a false sense of a rosy economy while  privately knowing that the shit was about to hit the fan.

And, it appears Mr. Stockman may have done it again.  It seems that Stockman never met a deal that could not be improved by borrowing a little more against it.  First, it was against the gross national product of the United States, and now it is an auto parts company.

He has been indicted for defrauding investors and banks this time -- while serving as chairman of Collins and Aikman, an auto parts manufacturer that collapsed into bankruptcy only days after David resigned.

Does the phrase “rats and a sinking ship” ring any bells?

Stockman is accused of issuing fraudulent financial statements in order to raise capital; he is charged with conspiracy, bank fraud, securities fraud, wire fraud and obstruction of justice.

Not bad for a guy who was once trusted with running the budget for the United States.

Stockman was already wealthy (over $100 million net worth), but he wanted just a little bit more.  So he inflated earnings at Collins and Aikman so that he could borrow some more money to prop up his failing company.  To pump up the revenue, he used phony rebate schemes.

The loss at Collins Aikman is approximately $1.6 billion.

What happened is that Stockman had a private equity fund.  They bought Collins and Aikman, layered a lot of debt on the company, took huge fees and salaries (more than $44 million), and then when it got lousy, David raced to the bank one last time, jiggered the financials and borrowed $75 million to prop up the company. Then when the light at the end of tunnel was really the train, and not the sunshine he so desperately hoped for, he resigned.  Five days later the company filed for Chapter 11.

Nice work if you can get it.  Another example of  “Heads I win, tails you lose...”

The BABY is outraged at this kind of fraud, chicanery, crookery and bad faith.  When is enough “enough”?

Any society that values its members by “who has the most toys” is a sad example of serving any kind of higher purpose.  Where is the outrage at behavior that sinks great companies and causes thousands of people to lose their jobs?

And so we have Baby Billionaire Rule # 83 --- To quote Bob Dylan – “Everybody has to serve somebody” and if all you serve is yourself...you have served no one.
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<item>
<title>Not all bad...not all good</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=76</link>
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<pubDate>Wednesday, May 02, 2007 12:45:52 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[I grant that there have been abuses, that lenders were predatory, that people got loans who shouldn’t have and that applications were fraudulent – one loan was actually funded to a Mr. “M. Mouse.”  This was a perfect storm...you had greedy lenders, but you also had over ambition and overconfidence on the part of the borrowers.

So let’s see what really happened and…is it all bad?

And for that we once again call upon our favorite economist, James Surowiecki, who makes the following observation:  after running the numbers, he finds that 90% of  borrowers are making their payments on time and living in the houses they bought.  Only 10% are in default so one can argue that the rise in homeownership has been well served by the sub prime loan market.  Surowiekci argues that there have been vastly more winners than losers.

He is not in favor of government regulation because he says that “while some borrowers will continue to make bad bets, it may be better than their never having had the chance to make any bet at all...”

Reminds me of the most famous poem of Alfred Lord Tennyson -- “tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.”

Next, let’s revisit one of BABY’s previous rants -- Second Life  -- which, as you know, is the website that allows you to live a virtual life in a virtual world using real American dollars.  My listeners know well that I think this is insane...it is hard enough to live well in this world,  running to a virtual world is a total escape.

And now the FBI has decided to join the fracas......they are investigating whether the casinos in Second Life are legal.

You gotta love this.....J. Edgar Hoover’s hard-boiled, gun-toting, tough guys --  the guys who put Al Capone and John Dillinger out of business -- are now investigating a virtual casino in a virtual world that uses real money to pay off virtual bets.  The G-men have traded in their glocks for a laptop and a mouse.

I’m thinking J. Edgar would be rolling over in his panty hose.

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<item>
<title>Shattering the Age Barrier</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=75</link>
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<pubDate>Wednesday, May 02, 2007 12:37:47 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[First I want to honor the world’s oldest entrenaut.  This is a man who is already a billionaire, but still loves the game and simply cannot sit on the sidelines.  He builds, flips and at times he has dismantled companies, but in the end, his spirit is indomitable and his thrill and lust for “figuring it out” is undiminished.

That man is Kirk Kerkorian.  He has made billions on investments in Hollywood, Las Vegas and Detroit and now he has his eye on Chrysler. Kirk will be 90 years old on June 1, 2007, and for his upcoming birthday, he decided that he wanted to own a car company so he just offered $4.5 billion for struggling American auto maker, Chrysler.

It doesn’t matter if he wins or loses...I’m There for You Baby applauds his spirit...and I say, “Dear God, may I still be alive and with enough marbles left that I can still do deals at 90!”

You can be an entrenaut at any age.

Look at 96 year old Harry Bernstein. By the time he was 24, he had published a short story in a prestigious magazine—and then nothing for more than 70 years.  Now his memoir—The Invisible Wall—has been published to great critical acclaim. The book is about his early childhood in England where he and his family lived in poverty.  When Harry was 12, his family moved to the United States.

When asked by the New York Times why he wrote his memoir, Bernstein said the motivation was the death of his wife, Ruby, after 67 years of marriage.

“It was a terrible thing for me because it never occurred to either one of us that it would not last forever. There was so much emptiness, especially at nighttime, and you had to find something to fill in that gap. I was looking for a home.”

Further, he said that he wasn’t ready to write the book until he was 90.
And Harry isn’t done—he’s now working on another memoir—called The Dream—about his family’s first years in the United States.

So entrenauts, remember Rule #18—You can be a entrenaut at any age. Age is a state of mind not a barrier.]]></description>
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<item>
<title>Detroit's Newest Entrenauts</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=74</link>
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<pubDate>Friday, April 27, 2007 2:24:43 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Let’s look at Detroit – where in the past few months, 60,000 workers from GM and 55,000 workers from Ford are being downsized.  They are being given lump sum offers to leave the company…a nice way of saying “you’re fired.”  And those jobs are not coming back.

The era of working for a big corporation and getting a safe pension and a gold watch after 35 years is gone. But what is going to happen is that some of those workers are going to take that lump sum and start their own little businesses…and create jobs…they’re going to become entrenauts and take control of their lives.

The auto worker was the blue collar aristocracy of America, but now that time has passed.  Look at history --- big steel is gone, coal is gone, ship building is gone…

And what is replacing them is technology --- and businesses that serve a customer need.

And so what we have is a wrenching dislocation of a generation, but a clear message to its children….it will be education and marketable skills that will replace the union job and the safe pension.

Listen to Leann Bies, who took her lump sum payout from GM.  She has learned to be an electrician in her spare time and while she was at GM, she went to night school to take business courses and now she is going to start a small business with her electrician skills.  She is a refugee from GM and another example of a woman entrenaut.  She did not sit passively by. She stood up and took control of her life and figured out a new chapter for herself.

Earlier in the show we talked about immigrant entrepreneurs and at the end of the day, the issue of immigration and the dramatic increase in technology and knowledge workers is going to shape this century.

Remember Baby Billionaire Rule # 101 – It’s what you don’t know that you don’t know that will kill you.

But what we know for sure is that we can no longer close our borders or our doors to the future. There will continue to be intense competition for limited resources and the only way to triumph is with education, drive, passion and the willingness to become an entrenaut…. the architect of your own vision.

If you have any doubts, just ask the 100,000 Detroit auto workers-- and introduce them to the 830 competitors in the San Diego Science Fair who represent the wonderful diversity of this country and whose passion and energy can hopefully create new industries and new jobs to keep us competitive.
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<title>Immigrants:  Welcome to America!</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=73</link>
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<pubDate>Friday, April 27, 2007 12:47:24 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Recently I was on KPBS and the topic was “Immigrant Entrepreneurs”-- the impact they have on our economy and why this group is so visible, especially in technology.

The answer is multi-layered…at one level, what I see is that the immigrant entrepreneur comes to America with an absolutely fierce desire to achieve.

Let’s be clear at the beginning….I am not talking about illegal immigrants who cross the border from Mexico to work at Burger King.  I am talking about legal immigrants, many on student visas, who come to America for our education and our opportunities.

The best and brightest are coming to America because it is still the land of the greatest freedom to create economic security and innovation.  We are seeing an  influx from Japan, China, Korea, India, Russia, Israel and everywhere else.

They come to our universities, they get the world’s best education, and they go on to either work at technology companies or they start their own companies.

Some quick statistics…..550,000 new businesses are started every month….and more than 50% of them are started by women and more than 20% of them are started by immigrants.  Some become companies like Google, started by Sergei Brin, a Russian immigrant; and some are like Network Car, started by Diego Borrego, son of migrant farm workers in Mexico.  Google employs 4,000 people, Network Car employs 80--but both entrepreneurs share one common characteristic:  the desire to achieve.

Not all immigrants are technology workers…some are mom and pop dry cleaners, ethnic restaurants, landscape companies, architecture firms, etc. 
For example, take Del Gado travel, a travel agency with almost a billion dollars in revenue. Think of Manuel Miranda, a Colombian immigrant,  who started an ethnic food business selling arepas – Colombian flatbreads (like a flat bagel) – from the back of his truck and now has a company with 16 employees producing 10 million arepas a year.  Lowell Hawthorne, a Jamaican-born chef who created a Caribbean bakery in the Bronx with 130 employees.

These immigrants are shaped by their youth, by their parents, and by their circumstances in less advantaged countries and they come to America to – as the BABY would say – take control of their own life and be the architect of their own vision.

And folks, this is going to keep happening.  So we need to not only get used to it, but learn how to survive in a different world...a world as Tom Friedman says, that is flat and getting flatter.

In other words, we can no longer think of ourselves as an entitled nation…we can no longer stand above the fray because they are bringing the fray right to our front doors.

The difference between immigrants today and the immigrants of 50 years ago may be somewhat different in skills…..there was no internet then, so while it is easy to think of Yahoo, started by Jerry Yang…and ebay by Pierre Omidyar …think also of Columbia pictures, started by Harry Cohn,  son of Hungarian immigrants; and Jack Warner, a Canadian-Polish-Jewish immigrant, who started Warner Bros. The movie business was started by the influx of Hollywood immigrant Jews.

When you think of high technology you can think of 500 companies that were started by immigrants. We have had several of these entrepreneurs as guests on our show:

Dimitry Shapiro – Veoh – from Russia
Andreas Roell – Geary Interactive – from Germany
Ivor Royston-- Forward Ventures, from England

The message to us all is simple…the era of protectionism is gone and with it the attitude of “I was born here and I am entitled” is gone with it.

And this dislocation of native born Americans will continue as we place higher and higher value on information technology and outsourcing.

It is not a wave that can be turned back and no finger in the dyke will stop the tsunami….

But the issue is not immigration per se.  In my view, it is education.  It is the immigrant passion for education and, in particular, math and science.

The Greater San Diego Science and Engineering Fair was just completed – there were 830 entries--and the San Diego Union-Tribune recently published the names of all the winners in the multitude of categories.  When you read the names, you know the truth and you can see the future…..there are a large number of names that you cannot pronounce and you know that many were not native born Americans:  Alcantara, Srirangam, Yang, Castano, Chen, Bozette, Lio, Maldanado…

I have made my point.

Math and science --- our country needs to acknowledge that when you combine passion, drive and the pursuit of knowledge with a kind of skill set and knowledge that has high value, you are creating a hot bed of immigrant technology entrepreneurs who are going to create great things…and create a large number of jobs.

This is not a rant about America losing jobs overseas….yes, some of that will happen….but what also is happening is an incredible increase in jobs being created here in America.

The dark side of this story is that as a country we do not make it simple for these immigrant entrepreneurs to easily become citizens. It is nuts…..we educate the best and brightest from around the world and then we limit their visas and make becoming a citizen a political lottery and a bureaucratic puzzle.

Take my little chip company….founded by Vladimir Odnoblyudov who came from St. Petersburg, Russia to get his PhD at UCSD and worked here first on a student visa, and now on another kind of visa.  Meanwhile, I’m trying hard to expedite his getting his green card and it will then be another few years before he becomes a citizen.

In the meantime we have invested $5 million in the technology and now employ 11 people.

America cannot fear innovation from immigrants, it needs to embrace it…welcome these technology entrepreneurs.

Remember Baby Rule # 20—If a really big wave is coming, putting a finger in the dyke does nothing nor does building a bigger wall. The lesson to be learned is how to surf the big wave and ride it all the way to your successful safe landing.
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<title>Lighting and LEDing the Way</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=72</link>
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<pubDate>Thursday, April 19, 2007 4:44:42 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[As you know, from time to time, the BABY revisits one of our favorite segments….the “I wish I’d thought of that idea” idea… and today we are going to visit two of them.

First, let’s take a look at the Transport……the Transport is an egg-shaped fiberglass vessel – think cocoon – outfitted with speakers and soft LED lights.  The inventor, Alberto Frias, calls it a “perceptual pod.”  

Frias, an architect by training who lives in Las Vegas,  had his spiritual epiphany in the New Mexico desert where he saw the light.  It was a hot sunny day, the sun was beating down on Alberto, and he saw the light…..not exactly a UFO, but he says, he was in a trance.

If you ask me, he was suffering from a bit of sun stroke….

The Transport does not take you anywhere in real time…it is like a bean bag with a plywood floor….but it does transport you into a virtual world of bright LED lights synchronized to music.

Still – the reason I am down with this crazy domed shell is that it uses LED lights…and my little chip company, Quanlight makes LED lights.  So bring it on, Alberto.

The Transport is like the 2007 version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. I say that if people want their pods to come with cushions, sub woofers  and a waterbed ….and they use LED lights as well….then I’m there for you baby!

The drawback is you can’t get any work done in the pod. You crawl into it through a hole in the top dome…..sort of like entering a submarine….and then you zen out.

The first buyer was a couple from Florida…$12,000 dollars for a chance to be transported to nowhere-ville.  But what do you expect from Floridians? They’re retired and most of them have been in the sun too long anyway.

Frias says his target markets are hotels and spas, especially in Las Vegas where after dropping a big wad at the table, you can enter the Transport and remember that you do not take a hit on 17.

Why does everyone seem to want to return to the womb? What ever happened to facing reality – as opposed to hiding from it?

I have another “idea” idea today – and lo and behold this one involves LED lights also.  This “idea” idea is actually pretty clever. It is a padlock – named appropriately the “G.L.O.” (glow), made by Master Lock, the world’s oldest lock company. Master Lock was founded in 1921 by inventor Harry Soref and today they dominate almost 70% of the basic padlock and dead bolt market.

Their idea is brilliant in its simplicity. The G.L.O. is a combination padlock--the kind that kids have used to lock their lockers at school for the past 50 years--except that the rim of the lock is convex and beveled so you can spin it with one hand…great if you are carrying books or holding hands with your girlfriend.

And when you spin the dial, the LEDs inside light up and you can see the numbers more easily. It is easy to see in the dark, so you do not need to carry a flashlight to unlock the gate on the back 40.

And 30% of Master Lock’s retail sales are provided by students.

Master Lock listened to their customers and combined two disparate technologies--the desire to open a locker with one hand and the desire to have a bright LED light so you can see the numbers more easily – just like a cellphone key pad.

The G.L.O. is Master Lock’s answer to the iPod. It goes to show that great design triumphs cost.  The G.L.O. sells for twice what the standard padlock sells for and they are currently sold out.

Now if Master Lock can figure out how to get a small screen into the lock, then the student can download videos while he is putting his books away.  And, if I get lucky, my little LED company, Quanlight, might have two new markets…transport pods and padlocks.  Maybe I can spin this into an increase in pre-money valuation for the next financing round.



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<title>Jokers Wild</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=71</link>
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<pubDate>Thursday, April 12, 2007 11:41:45 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[As you know, every few weeks the BABY inducts new members into the I’m There for You Baby’s Corporate Hall of Shame.  To get into this prestigious group, candidates need to exhibit those certain characteristics which bring to mind the excesses of greed and chicanery.  In particular, the words miscreant, crook, conniver, self-aggrandizing immoralist and criminal often apply… as well as the overriding attitude that suggests that the commonly accepted rules of civilized legal behavior do not apply to them.  And today, we have a few new members to welcome to the Baby’s hall of shame.

The deal in question is called myCFO.com.  This was a .com fantasy in 1999 which was formed to provide rich people a full menu of financial services. A CFO is shorthand for a chief financial officer--that is, someone in a company who is responsible for the money and for acting legally and honorably in a fiduciary role with respect to his bosses, namely the shareholders in the corporation.

At least that is what it is supposed to be…

Well, myCFO.com was going to help its clients shield hundreds of millions of dollars from taxes. Shield is an interesting choice of words--it can be translated loosely as “avoid”--as in avoid taxes on the millions in gains that the rich in Silicon Valley were making in 1999 and 2000.  You remember those years I’m sure, when everyone with a computer science degree was a paper billionaire.

Well, myCFO only did one deal--a tax shelter scheme and it seems that the internal revenue service thinks it was a bogus deal at that.  The IRS has filed a court document that says they are conducting an “ongoing criminal investigation involving various former employees of myCFO.com.”

The financial backers and board members of myCFO were Silicon Valley royalty.  They included Jim Clark, co-founder of Netscape; John Chambers, of Cisco Systems; Tom Jermoluk, former chairman of excite@home; John Doerr, rainmaker partner of Kleiner Perkins;  and Larry Sonsini-- famous lawyer to the stars. You may remember him as he was lately in the news because of his role in the HP scandal involving Chairman Patricia Dunn.

Well, you know the Baby’s Billionaire Rule # 172:  Nothing good comes from excess.

Tax shelters in 2000 were a thriving business and the people who signed up for these shelters---- which later turned out to be scams and shams--- were some of the big boys of the Valley. 

Let’s look at one deal done by myCFO.  Tom Jermoluk paid a fee of $2.4 million and “presto chango” he ended up with losses to offset $50 million in revenue.

My kind of deal….heads I win, tails you lose…..except this time the coin ended up on its edge, and edge, everyone loses

Of course, everyone involved has denied any wrong doing, but come on folks, how does $2.4 million in fees generate $50 million in losses.  It doesn’t pass the smell test.

No one will speak on the record. Everyone mentioned above has declined an interview and the only people talking are their lawyers at 700 bucks an hour.

The details are arcane and obscure, but if someone comes up to you and offers you a custom adjustable rate debt structure (CARDS for short), run the other way fast.

It involved some foreign banks, some swaps, some swips and some swoops… and lo and behold, the rich get richer. Except this time, the swoop got stuffed--goal tending was called--no basket.  Pay your taxes.

Everyone is denying everything, but in essence folks, the CARDS deal hinges on something simple.

Quoting the IRS, “An artificial loss lacking economic substance is not allowable.”  That sounds like something these geniuses should have learned in a first year MBA class.John Doerr and Jim Clark were on the board and they should have known better.

Didn’t anyone ask “is this kosher?”

Even though there were lawyer letters that said “don’t worry” they should have worried.

Baby Billionaire Rule # 106 says if your behavior smells like shit, it is shit….

One client of myCFO claimed a tax deduction greater than his entire net worth. Didn’t anyone wonder about this strategy? Was reality suspended? Is it time for the Jefferson Airplane and Alice in Wonderland?

myCFO was driven by big fees and big egos who thought that the system should, could and would be gamed for their personal benefit.

In a statement to the IRS, one of the foreign banks that profited admitted  “the transactions were prearranged by the promoters—and had no purpose other than generating tax benefits for the clients involved….”

And so Baby inducts myCFO.com and all the promoters, directors and con men associated with it.  It bespeaks arrogance of the highest order, because it takes the position that the rich are different than you and me.

F. Scott Fitzgerald said it first and tragically he is usually right.

But in this case, it turns out the big boys are going to all pay back taxes, penalties, fines, and some will serve hard time in prison.  The wheels of justice grind slowly, but they do indeed grind fine. All I can say about the CARDS scheme is – it just wasn’t in the cards.
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<title>Compete with That?</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=70</link>
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<pubDate>Thursday, April 05, 2007 3:44:21 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Today the BABY is going into an arcane subject --- one which might make your eyes glaze over, but which in fact plays a significant role in the creation of technology companies, and which when well understood, can be either a benefit or a significant drag on the entrepreneur.

I am talking about non-compete clauses.

What is a non-compete clause? It is an agreement that many employees sign at the beginning of their job which essentially says that if you leave the company, you cannot just go to work for a competitor. You are barred from competing against your first employer.

We see this often in technology companies where the value of the intellectual property is significant …..and also where there are what I call “star inventors” – the guys whose ideas, brains, patents and technology form the basis for the entire company.

But that is only one area. You can see it in something simple and mundane…for example, you go to work for a bagel company...you learn to make great bagels and a competing bialy company wants to hire you away.

Interesting situation…in California, you can probably go down the road and start boiling and baking bialys…..in Massachusetts, you would be blocked…..in Connecticut, you can do your bagel thing and in Florida, no way.  Ironically, it is geography that seems to define non-competes….specifically the courts in California are reluctant to enforce them.

Part of what has made Silicon Valley the center of innovation in America is not only the culture, but also the mobility…..geniuses can go from company to company selling their brains to the highest bidder.

But the employer or purchaser does have some recourse…you can’t steal trade secrets.  You can take your brains across the street, but if you take any code, secrets, products, or proprietary material owned by the company, they have a strong case to forbid you from doing so.

However, to complicate the matter, let me give you a different example. You sell your company to Joe’s Bialys – a giant concern. Joe gives you 9 million dollars and says you cannot go into the bagel or bialy business for 24 months and not within a 24 mile radius. That is enforceable…you received significant compensation and Joe is entitled to make sure you don’t just go down the street and open a competing store.

It is a thorny area – for more on this topic, listen to our legal eagle expert, Amy Wintersheimer to parse out a few more of the nuances.
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<title>With Purpose Comes Results--Part II</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=69</link>
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<pubDate>Thursday, April 05, 2007 3:43:12 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Let’s meet another entrenaut...a man with purpose and remember the part about heroism...this guy did not think small. This story is about Philo T. Farnsworth, the man who invented television.

My passion for this story comes from a play that I saw recently called Simply Farnsworth. It was written by Aaron Sorkin, creator of The West Wing and currently on television as the producer-creator of Studio 60.

But the story of Philo is not fiction….there really was a guy and he really did invent television.

Philo, it seems, was the classic boy genius. Born in 1906, he grew up on a farm in Beaver, Utah where he worked as a sharecropper. When his family moved into a house with electricity--something that Philo had not had before-- he became highly intrigued and began to learn everything he could about physics and chemistry.

In 1926 at the age of 20, he began to work on inventing a television, making something called an image dissector. He thought of himself as an inventor…and I think the word “inventor” today is being replaced by the word entrenaut. Farnsworth considered himself to be an adventurer – exploring the unknown. Entrepreneurs today do much the same thing.

They go where no man has gone before --- or they go where others have tread but failed, and they go there with a distinct purpose-- the purpose to transform.

We don’t use the word inventor today as much as we use the word entrepreneur. The difference is that in the first half of the century, the inventor usually worked for a big corporation which owned their intellectual property. Whereas, in the later part of this century and certainly the last 25 years, people who create want to own their ideas...they raise money and start companies…unlike back in 1926 when Philo T. Farnsworth got worked over by David Sarnoff at RCA……Radio Corporation of America.

I will not tell you the full tale of the play Simply Farnsworth --- but it is filled with bittersweet humor and a healthy dose of tragedy.

Because while Philo was brilliant, he was also naïve. When pitted against the corporate wiles of David Sarnoff, CEO of RCA, Philo was no match and Sarnoff took him to the cleaners, essentially stealing his patent. The patent thievery hinges on a moment when Philo showed his invention to another inventor, a Russian, Vladimir Zworykin, who was working on solving the same problem, but couldn’t. However, when Vladimir visited Farnsworth’s lab, he found the clue and went on to create the actual working prototype. Then by falsifying a prior patent claim, Zworykin, who worked for Sarnoff and RCA, was able to step ahead of Farnsworth.

What is interesting here is that in the scientific spirit of cooperation, which we have discussed here on BABY – studies show that collaboration is the most effective way to create. Yet, it is exactly this open spirit of Farnsworth that allowed him to be taken advantage of. Were it not for the shared scientific work of Farnsworth and Zworykin, it is possible that neither alone, would have succeeded in actually making the television work.

In the play, the last line belongs to Sarnoff who says that Farnsworth was an adventurer --- and the last image is that of the launch of Apollo 11.

Being an entrenaut is not easy, it is not safe… it comes with risks and sometime rewards… but not always. Farnsworth died broke and alone…

But the chance at a “rocket ride” is thrilling and whether blasting off into space or into the science of cathode ray tubes, if you are a true entrenaut, nothing can match the high you get. And, the world and all mankind are better off for you having made the journey…..

And that brings me to Baby Billionaire Rule # 38 –

The chance at greatness always entails risks. Take them, because in the end, nobody remembers whether it was Zworykin or Farnsworth --- what they remember is watching their television as a man walked on the moon.
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<title>With Purpose Comes Results--Part I</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=68</link>
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<pubDate>Thursday, April 05, 2007 3:42:13 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Today we are going to visit the stories of two interesting men – 

Lou Groen and Philo T. Farnsworth –

These men were entrenauts long before the word became popular and their stories are revealing. Both of these men exhibited what I call a commitment to purpose--to tranformational purpose – which is another way of saying they were highly focused and that there was a clear connection between their efforts and their results.

Transformational purpose is like having a goal and putting it on steroids.

This phrase comes from a recent book, appropriately called "Purpose" by Niko Mourkogiannis. In it he lists four kinds of purpose – what he calls the starting points for transformation…and here they are:

1.  Discovery – the challenge of adventure and the lifeblood of the entrepreneur;
2.  Excellence – high standards are set and met….not diminished by short cuts;
3.  Altruism -- where the primary purpose is to serve the customer…meet a need…and assume that profit will follow (think Nordstroms);
4.  And finally heroism…make no small plans…think big and bold and change the world (Bill Gates or Mohammad Yunus). 

Those are big words and even bigger ideas, so I am going to tell two stories to illuminate a few of them.

First, Lou Groen –

It was 1962 and Lou Groen was desperate to save his floundering hamburger stand…..the first McDonalds in the Cincinnati area.

His problem --- his clientele in the neighborhood was predominately Roman Catholic and most of them did not eat meat on Friday nor did they eat meat during the 40 days of Lent --- not good if your main product is a hamburger.

Lou’s solution was ingenious and changed an entire industry, but it was not original.

Lou noticed that a restaurant in the area called Frisch’s was serving a fish sandwich on Fridays and was getting all the business. So Lou created the Filet–o–Fish Sandwich, made up his own special tartar sauce and waltzed up to headquarters to see Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonalds.

Ray at first was skeptical…so they made a wager. Ray invented a Hula Sandwich --a bun with a pineapple slice-- and Lou cooked up the fish sandwich. They agreed to put them both on the menu and whoever sold more would win…creating a new product.

Lou sold 350 fish sandwiches…Ray sold 9 Hula’s.  Game over….

Lou’s fish sandwich was the first addition to the standard McDonald’s menu. Ray Kroc commented later that Lou exemplified the McDonalds philosophy…that you can succeed if you believe in your brand, treat your people right and give back to your community.

Kroc, a billionaire several times over, did not have a “Secret”---he had a purpose --- and so did Lou Groen.

I love stories about the little guy who triumphs. Lou Groen didn’t watch an infomercial, or buy a DVD or channel his mind or chant a mantra. He just looked in the paper, and saw two franchise opportunities for sale: one was for 15 cent hamburgers and one was for Osborne’s Chicken Delight. Since they would be eating a lot of their own cooking, he asked his wife which one she preferred…she picked hamburgers.

When Lou cashed out he had 43 McDonalds hamburger stands……

Which brings me to Baby Billionaire Rule # 87 -  You can wish all you want --- but only purpose will bring real results. Ouija boards, channeling, psychics and The Secret can never replace the other big four -- Discovery, Excellence, Altruism, and Heroism.
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<title>Hide or Seek?  Finding solutions to problems</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=67</link>
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<pubDate>Thursday, March 29, 2007 4:00:05 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[The BABY had an interesting experience lately...a young man came to me with a technical problem and I suggested that perhaps it could be solved by a friend of mine.  The young man declined my offer because he was afraid the other person would steal his idea in some way.  I see this paranoia and incredible resistance to expose a problem to a group of problem solvers as being a decidedly poor way to embrace entrepreneurship.

To quote James Surowiecki, “There is wisdom in crowds”….now admittedly, he was referring to large groups and how they rationalize answers effectively, but the wisdom of small crowds especially small, highly-skilled crowds is critical to problem solving. It may not take a village, but it sure as hell takes a small tribe.

And, sure enough, along comes a paper from some Harvard researchers that proves the value of openness and free information sharing amongst scientists. (If you are a software guy, think “open source”). What the authors prove is that the disclosure of a problem to a large group of outside solvers is an effective means of solving hard problems.

What I see in the young people who come into my office is a distinct lack of both trust and understanding of how information gets created and then monetized.  Think of Wikipedia……an entire business created by its own outside users.  This concept of user generated content is well known today in the Web 2.0 milieu.

But what the paper suggests is that solving technical problems works equally as well as creating when you have a large group of domain experts. The skill set that I am promoting here is an easy one to grasp – openness and collaboration --- but it seems to not be an easy one to truly embrace and execute.  Especially in the scientific community, there is a very strong bias to not share data or ideas…and yet big scientific solutions build on the network of previous information.

No man is an island….and no one person can solve the whole problem. What the paper suggests is that if you broadcast the problem to a large group of scientific solvers in other countries and other disciplines, the data shows that 62% of the time a solution was achieved within one standard deviation.

And here is the crusher --- the further the problem was from the solver’s field of expertise, the more likely they were to solve it.

You wouldn’t think that, would you? In fact, if you used your intuition alone –ie. “How could someone not closely associated with the field, solve the problem?”-- you would be wrong.

And so, we come back to the entrepreneurial principle of not always listening to your gut when the facts tell you to listen to your head.  Now I am not going to discount the value of proprietary information, but at the same time, the skill the entrepreneur needs to develop is how to build a team where there is collaboration from a wide array of solvers, and where only a few of them are formally employees of the firm...where people choose to solve, but not because they are being paid in a traditional way.

The most counter-intuitive finding in the study is that the greater the distance between the solver’s field of expertise and the problem, the more likely they were to successfully solve it. What this shows is the enormous value of a fresh set of eyes….of outsider eyes…..from distant fields who see problems with fresh eyes and apply novel solutions that are well known to them in their field but are not usually associated with the problem field.

Now, I don’t want to get too technical with you folks --- but this study scientifically proves what the BABY has always suspected…namely that really smart people can often solve problems that are not directly related to their core expertise or experience.

What it says is that sometimes you can take your smarts from a car repair shop and apply it to a delivery problem at a fast food restaurant…and it explains why non technical people can sometimes see more clearly what has stumped the scientist.

The idea of collaboration is an old one…..but the idea of offering a problem to a group of solvers – in particular, solvers who are not experts in the direct field of the problem is a unique one and, so far, the results seem to indicate that these solvers add great value.

That brings us to Baby Billionaire Rule # 39:

When you are stumped, don’t be afraid to ask your Uncle Harry – even though he wouldn’t know an LED chip from a carburetor, he might still be able to change a spark plug that might just solve your problem.
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<title>Don't go for the TiE...go for the Win!</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=66</link>
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<pubDate>Wednesday, March 21, 2007 2:47:10 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[This entrepreneur thing is not as easy as it looks….I went to a dinner conference the other night sponsored by TiE – which stands for The Indus Entrepreneurs. TiE is a global not-for-profit network of entrepreneurs dedicated to fostering entrepreneurship through mentoring, networking and education – it has 11,000 members in nine countries and it holds to a basic belief that wealth creation and giving back to society are invaluable human endeavors.

This is a group that I gladly belong to.

It is, of course, Indian-centric, but they are very inviting of us white, middle-class, middle-aged folks…so the crowd was large and quite diverse and they had all come to hear three local venture capitalists talk about the state of their businesses.

We shall call them Leo, Beau and Peter…

Here are a few statistics that I thought were interesting:
•	The average fund size of the group that they manage is $250 million……that is the size of the fund that they are investing from……it may be fund 2 or 3 whatever.
•	They invest this money over 3 + years and each deal averages about $8 – 10 million invested from their fund over the life of the deal. So that means they can do about 24 deals over 3 years...because you have to reserve funds for future investment and of course you have to pay out fees to keep the VC’s in food, clothing and jet planes.
•	On average there are three to four general partners so that means that each partner is expected to do about one to two deals per year…that would be eight deals per year or 24 deals in total over three years.

Stay with me now…the math is going to get really interesting…

Of course the boys on the dais then talked about management teams, size of market, good ideas, great technology, barriers to entry, solid business plans etc….all true and right things, but stuff that you have heard here before on BABY --- no brain surgery yet.

And then they took a question from the floor, “How many deals do you look at?”

Hang on now…

As a group, here is how they get to their eight deals per year. The three partners and one to two associates look at about 800 deals a year. They meet with or take pitches from about 200 of these deals…they do serious due diligence on 20 of these deals…and they invest in eight of them.

That is 1% of what comes in to the office…..8 deals divided by 4 partners is 2 deals per year per partner…from 800 submissions.

And now here comes the crusher…even after all that, they only get it right about 15% of the time. “Get it right” means invest in a real winner that makes it all the way to IPO or major acquisition….and the time frame for that is about four to six years.

So here is the scorecard, they look at 800, they pick 8 per year…..they do 24 deals total from the fund and 2 of those are big winners….8 are modest winners….8 are breakeven and 6 are total wipeouts…..

That means they only really hit for a triple or homerun on two deals from 2400 submissions – (that is 800 ideas per year times three years).

So my comment is – dudes, you are getting paid a lot of money for a pretty mediocre scorecard.  Now here is the math for the investor in the fund: when all is said and done, if the fund is in the first quartile….not average, but above average…the return to the investor is about a 16% IRR, the S&amp;P has averaged about 9%.

So why do people do it? Because everyone thinks that there is another Google or YouTube out there….

Now let’s look at it from the entrepreneurs perspective….getting rejected by a group of guys who bat about 0.162 should not be too depressing. These guys would not make a double-A baseball team…..can’t hit, can’t field, can’t run…..gimme a break.

And here is the crusher, the one that made me jump out of my seat, run up on stage and yell to the crowd “I’m There for You Baby….”

If you take a look at the top 20 public technology companies….you know, Microsoft, Oracle, Sap, Google, etc…..and you look at how much money they raised from VC’s --- you will find that the total they raised was less than $30 million in venture capital for a group of companies with a market capitalization of over $200 billion .

In other words, they went to “genius investors” and they got turned down….they found the money elsewhere.

That should give all of us hope…..

I have my little chip company and we went to eight VC’s over a seven-month period and got turned down by all of them. Essentially they said, “Nice team, nice technology, unproven, drop dead…”

You know the BABY’s theory on revenge as the great motivator….

So we raised $3 million from private angel investors and as we were about to close, one small VC came to us and said they wanted in the deal. We made room….but we did not change the terms, the conditions, the pre money….nada….it was a “take it or leave it” deal. They took it and we didn’t take very much money from them either.

What the TiE VC panel told us was wonderful…..you can build big companies without VC’s…..that VC’s need you as much or more than you need them….that their model is good for them and only ok for the investor….and that when you strip away all the bunts, sacrifice flies and hit by a pitched ball, their real batting average is pretty mediocre.

So Entrenauts, take heart...rejection may only be a bump on the road to validation (not always, I know) lousy ideas and lousy teams are still lousy.
But remember, I’m There for You Baby wants to mobilize a  standing army of Entrenauts…..entrepreneurs who have the right stuff and who have the courage and brains to figure it out – when “Houston, we have a problem” shows up….

If your heart is true and your purpose strong – and if it is a hell of a good idea, you will find the way to triumph.

And finally, remember the immortal words of Willie Mays --- “It only takes one.”

And Mays, arguably one of the greatest baseball players of all time, struck out 1526 times on his way to the Hall of Fame….

So today for all you baseball afficionados, we immortalize Willie Mays, the “say hey” kid, who always wanted to play two with Baby Billionaire Rule # 112 --- “It only takes one.”
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<title>It's No Secret</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=65</link>
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<pubDate>Wednesday, March 21, 2007 2:41:34 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[I have begun to wonder about the get rich quick mentality in America today.
On BABY, we have often profiled schemes and scams and I am always amazed that people fall for them.  It pains me to read that Joe Blow gave his life savings to some guy in a rented Jaguar who promised him 10% per month income by investing long in bull sperm futures and shorting cow dung puts.  It is nuts!

But it reflects a milieu that is troubling…..and at the top of the list today is the DVD called The Secret.

Called the biggest thing to hit the new age movement since harmonic convergence, it is essentially a one trick pony that tells people that the power of positive thinking will improve one’s health, wealth and love life.

Now for sure entrepreneurs know about the power of positive thinking – but thinking alone won’t cut it.  The Secret principle, called “the law of attraction,” holds that the universe will make your wishes come true if only you really truly believe in them.

Again, the entrepreneur knows about believing-- in himself, in the product, in the value of the service -- but The Secret video seems to imply that all you have to do is wish upon a star.  The movie’s premise --- ask, believe and you will receive.

This is nuts--what is not nuts is the sales figure--1.5 million of these videos have been sold at a retail price of $34.95.

It reminds me of a character on television when I was growing up called Reverend Ike…..Ike would work himself up into a lather and chant and bellow and exhort his parishioners to “see yourself in a Cadillac, imagine yourself behind the wheel of that fine yellow Cadillac because you belong behind the wheel of that fine Cadillac and if you see yourself behind the wheel of that fine Cadillac….that fine Cadillac shall be yours.”

Ike was a piece of work --- and it was entertainment.  And maybe it was uplifting for a few moments, but nobody actually left that church and drove home in their Cadillac.

The creator of this phenomenon, The Secret, is Rhonda Byrne, an Australian documentary film producer turned spiritual entrepreneur. I love that – she calls herself a spiritual entrepreneur – it has such a nice sound to it…sort of like snake oil salesman.

The movie teaches that if you keep saying it the way you want it to be, the universe will line up and give you exactly what you want…whether it is a parking spot or a good table at Nobu.

But the dark underlying ache behind the success of this video is a simple one:  everyone of us is desperately seeking fulfillment--economic, social and psychological.  And the lie in the message is that those benefits can be obtained by chanting in the airport or wishing upon a star or believing that the earth is flat.  What is missing is some commitment to purpose – to transformational purpose.

I turn to a recent book, called Purpose by Niko Mourkogiannis – he lists four kinds of purpose…starting points for transformation…and I think they contrast nicely with The Secret.

Niko says that truly transformational purpose can be found in 

1.  Discovery – the challenge of adventure and the lifeblood of the entrepreneur

2.  Excellence – high standards are set and met….not diminished by short cuts

3.  Altruism --- where the primary purpose is to  serve the customer…meet a need…and assume that profit will follow (think Nordstroms)

4.  And finally, Heroism…make no small plans…think big and bold and change the world – Bill Gates or Mohammad Yunus 

Those are big words and even bigger ideas… 

Which brings me to Baby Billionaire Rule # 82 -  you can wish all you want --- but only purpose will bring real results…..Ouija boards, channeling, psychics and The Secret can never replace the other big four --- Discovery, Excellence, Altruism, and Heroism.
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<title>Help Wanted:  Ultimate Successor</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=64</link>
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<pubDate>Thursday, March 15, 2007 4:51:14 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[It’s time to revisit one of our most requested features on I’m There for You Baby -- the Billionaire Update.  What is going on in the worlds of the mega wealthy? Are they really worried about global warming or are they worried about Paris and Britney?

And today we revisit one of our favorites, Warren Buffet……still the second richest man in the world.

Warren has just published the annual report for Berkshire Hathaway, a small $130 billion company that he manages.  In it he addresses a problem that most of us only think about tangentially, namely picking a successor…..who will take over our enterprise after we are gone?

In some businesses that usually falls to the first born son, even though he may be a dolt….sometimes you promote the second lieutenant who has faithfully served you for lo these many years.

But not Warren --- not the man who fiercely believes that each generation should earn its own stripes and not trade on the wealth or success of the last generation.

Believe me this is not good news for all the trust fund babies who are members of the lucky sperm club….passing wealth from generation to generation, irrespective of competence, is not a principle that old Warren embraces.

And to back up his words, he gave less than $10 million to each of his three children….the rest, approximately 99.12% of his net worth, he gave to charity.  All you psycho analysts in the audience, how would you like to have a patient who wants to work through why his father who claimed to love him, only left as his inheritance .88% of his net worth……giving the rest away to foundations? He gave it to charity with the express stipulation that it had to be used up, gone, finished, spent within 10 years.

No hanging around with a century old legacy for Warren….he is in this world and of this world.  He piled up his $50 billion plus or minus and 10 years after he is gone, the charitable foundations are required to liquidate.
No monuments, no ozymandias for Warren….whatever eternity holds for him, he is not taking any of it with  him…either real dollars or psychic. Unlike the Nobel Prize which has been funded since 1901,Warren is hitting the eject button, then doing a 10 year float down, and then finito…..legacy, sschmegacy!

You gotta love a guy who has such wonderful disregard for the trappings of fame and fortune…

But here is the kicker, Entrenauts…Warren wants you…yes, it is true…Warren has put out a want ad in the annual report. He wants to hire his replacement.  He is accepting resumes…no high priced head hunter to find his successor…not Warren…he posted the job on the equivalent of Monster.com. Here is the job description in the annual report:

Wanted --- an individual (see, he is gender neutral) who is genetically programmed to recognize and avoid serious risks.

Here is the exact quote --

“Over time, markets will do extraordinary, even bizarre things, but a single big mistake could wipe out a string of successes…we therefore need someone genetically programmed to recognize and avoid serious risks, including those never before encountered…certain perils that lurk in investment strategies cannot be spotted by the use of the models commonly employed today by financial institutions.”

I love the idea of “genetically programmed” … this argues for what Baby has often called the DNA of entrepreneurship…the great leaders have it in their blood…it is in their being…it is not a learned skill.

And as for all you quants from Stanford, Wharton and Harvard…or you trading jockeys from Goldman, Lehman and Morgan  -- note well that he says, “what worked in the past will not work in the future.”

So take your program trading models and shove ‘em,..

Also, take heed, all you members of the lucky sperm club…the boys and girls of the trust fund model…no room at the inn for you!

Warren, ever the most amazing man in business, has decided to not give his wealth to his children, nor is he promoting the new CEO from within…he eschews nepotism and fiercely rewards excellence and achievement.

He is a huge believer in the egalitarian principle that each generation earns its own way.

And here are a few other tidbits from the Berkshire Hathaway annual report…this stuff is pure gold…

Story # 1 --- 

Paul Andrews Jr., 64 years old, who owned 80% of TTL, a $1.3 billion  distributor of electronic components, was thinking about succession – he rejected private equity buys who would load the company with debt and flip it….and he rejected a strategic buyer who would sell off divisions and uproot hundreds of associates…..so he called Warren Buffett. They met on the morning of  Nov. 15th 2006 and made the deal before lunch……some scrambled eggs and $2.7 billion later, Paul Jr. was back on his plane to Fort Worth, Texas….

How can you not love that story?

Story # 2 

In Baby’s continuing theme of searching out big ideas, let me share another Buffett story that he actually put in the annual report…..

“An elderly man crashes his grocery cart into that of a much younger man while they were shopping. He apologizes and says that he got lost while looking for his wife.  Funny you should say that, says the younger man, I have lost my wife too and am looking for her….let’s look for them  both together.  The older man asks the younger man for a description of his wife…she is a gorgeous blonde, with a body that would cause a bishop to go through a stained glass window and she’s wearing tight white shorts….how about yours?”

The senior citizen wasted no words – forget her, we’ll look for yours.”

And so that brings us to Baby Billionaire Rule # 212 – 
Entrenauts  --- help wanted signs appear everywhere and the gorgeous blonde is won, not by birthright, but by skill and daring.
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<title>From the Halls of Shame to the Halls of Fame</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=63</link>
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<pubDate>Thursday, March 08, 2007 10:33:38 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[As you know, I’m There for You Baby has recently instituted its Corporate Hall of Shame,  and we award the recipients –the rattle.

Like the electronic ankle bracelets that track the movements of convicted felons, the rattle is “worn” on the wrist by our winners ….after all, what baby ever had a rattle on his ankle?

Our rattle is a battery-operated device with a ring and a ball at the end which is secured to the wrist of the winner.  Every 22 seconds, it shakes uncontrollably with a loud whine sounding much like a baby crying at 102 decibles.

The rattle is sort of like the Nobel Prize for unconscionable, dishonest, stupid, deceitful or greedy behavior  ---  and while the most recent winners have been individuals, today marks a new first. Today we award the BABY’s rattle to Newsweek.

Newsweek was started in 1933 by Thomas Martyn, then it was taken over by Malcolm Muir, and finally it was bought by the Washington Post in 1961. Its circulation is over 4 million and it is considered one of the three most influential newsweeklies of our time.

And so it is with some degree of humility that I award the rattle to Newsweek for putting on its cover Paris Hilton and Britany Spears……with the salacious title across their breasts being “Girls Gone Wild.” 

In a world beset by strife, famine, Iraq, Iran, nuclear tension, global warming, poverty and a Bush administration that fiddles while Rome burns, are you telling me that the only way to sell magazines is to put these two women in a partial state of undress on the cover?  Newsweek is not People or Us or Cosmo --- or is it ?

Newsweek – your behavior is dishonest and devious….under the guise of discussing the moral state of our young people, you essentially glorify the  uniquely American concept of being famous for doing nothing other than being famous.

You have sunk to the bottom of the barrel, Newsweek, and for promoting sleaze and sex under the guise of news and commentary, we here at BABY give you the rattle.


The time is right for a revolution, and in this case, a non violent one. It is time for people, young and old to stand up and take control of their lives and be the architect of their own visions.

We are forming a new cadre of self-empowered individuals… a new group of entrepreneurs, a new spirit in America, a new way of thinking……and to do this we need a new word…..

The word entrepreneur just doesn’t do it --- here’s why:  
1.   It is hard to pronounce unless you studied French in high school....and no entrepreneur wants to be reminded of John Kerry.
 
2.   It is a French word.....that literally means an in between taker "someone who gets in between a supplier and a market” .....which is not really a good description of what an entrepreneur is … and since there was not a word for it, we needed to make one up. 
 
Often people think of entrepreneurs as larger than life.....as charismatic individuals in the mold of the test pilots from Top Gun.....like Chuck Yeager who broke the sound barrier.  But a recent study points out the following: while a winning personality may help in getting more compensation for the CEO, it does not have any bearing on the success or failure of the company.
 
The University of Pittsburgh studied 128 CEOs hoping to find the correlation between charismatic leadership and corporate success. Here is a quote from the study, "It’s very clear that in the long term there is not a relationship between charisma and performance." So this gives hope to all of us who can never be Steve Jobs or Bill Clinton or Sir Richard Branson.
 
In fact, the study found that the correlation between corporate success and the charisma quotient of the CEO was approximately zero. What they found was that the whole thing is ass backward.
 
People tend to attribute charisma to successful people --- whether or not they really are.  To quote from a Harvard Business School study "the factors for corporate performance are very complicated and the relationship between the CEO and stock price or corporate success is statistically a nebulous one." 
 
In other words, just because the stock went up doesn't mean that the dude in the corner office is brilliant, charismatic and a great leader....it is unlikely that he is a total dolt, but it is quite possible that he is only just doing his job. It might just be that he is pretty good, but he doesn't walk on water.
 
So you can count on BABY to continue to attack the absolutely crazy levels of compensation that CEOs command today.....America has embraced the cult of the CEO as demi god in the late 1990's and I thought it had peaked in 2000 after the tech crash. But the truth is, the ratio of CEO pay as compared to rank and file pay has increased 167% over the past 3 years.....in other words, we seem to have drifted back to overpaying and looking the other way.

We need a new way and we need a new word – a word to define a new generation of people who will fight for what is right and will create what is needed.

And so BABY has created and trademarked this new word and will stand for what it is – Entrenaut. Entrenaut is a merging of the words -- entrepreneur and astronaut -- and it implies, we hope, bold, disciplined, daring and adventurous vision and courage, laced with a soupcon (I could not resist a bit of French) of the right stuff......with all due respect and acknowledgement to Tom Wolfe.

So going forward, the BABY is going to lead an army of entrenauts , men and women, across this land in an effort to remake our country…and to specifically remake it in the mold of an entrenautical society…a society emboldened by self-determination and imbued with both the desire and the means to achieve personal, social, and economic freedom.

To be an entrenaut is to lead men and women in the pursuit of human excellence….

So.....have faith all you entrenauts who are not the most charismatic fellows in the hall......your American Idol quotient will have damn little, if any, impact on your success as an entrenaut executing on your dream.
 
The best example I can think of today is Craig Newmark of craigslist. He is fabulously successful with a wonderful web site which he built to suit himself -- not to get rich and not to self aggrandize his personal image.

He founded it in 1995 in San Francisco…today it is in 450 cities all over the world….it operates with a staff of 23…and it serves over 5 billion page views a month. If you have ever looked for an apartment, a roommate or an old 1967 McMartin guitar, you know about craigslist.  Craig is an example of how one person with a small personal vision changed the world…and how we interact with it.  And so, we welcome and admit our first member of the Entrenauts Hall of Fame-- Craig Newmark.
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<item>
<title>Corporate Hall of Shame</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=62</link>
<enclosure url='http://imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=62' />
<pubDate>Friday, March 02, 2007 8:51:04 AM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[The BABY can no longer stand the most recent excesses of corporate America.  This country has endured an extended period of greed and corruption in the executive suite starting back in the mid 90’s, rising to a crescendo with Enron and Worldcom….and reaching its Everest in the past year with the compensation and severance packages of a group of CEO’s that are at such heights that external oxygen tanks are required for the mere stockholder to be able to breathe.

And so the BABY herewith today – is making a call to arms……I am throwing down the gauntlet and standing up for all the little people – both shareholders and employees -- who have been royally screwed by their CEO’s and by the boards of directors that have rolled over like lap dogs in the corporate boardroom.

It is an unholy cabal and the BABY is calling for an end to this kind of thievery, crookery, excess, revolting, disgusting display of self dealing.

And so the BABY has formed the Corporate Hall of Shame……

Each week, I’m There for You Baby is going to be there for you by calling attention to one new member of the Hall who so richly deserves to be enshrined in its hallowed halls.

So allow me to introduce the initial freshman class for this prestigious award…..

Jeffrey Skilling – jailed for his role in the Enron scandal.

Sanjay Kumar – former CEO of computer associates….sentenced to 12 years in jail for stealing his company blind.

David Wittig – former CEO of Westar Energy got an 18 year sentence for looting millions from the corporate treasury.

Stuart Wolff – founder and CEO of Homestore  - an online real estate concern – 15 years in the slammer – insider trading….

Robert Nardelli – shit-canned by his board at Home Depot…walks out with $200 million….

John Kanas – former CEO of North Fork Bancorporation upon its sale to Capital One was awarded a small bonus of $135 million…..

And finally Hank McKinnell-- former CEO of Pfizer who walked out of his job with almost $200 million of severance. 

Allow me to detail some of the particulars of Mr. McKinnell’s take --- and thus make clear to my listeners why Hank is this week’s featured player in the Hall of Shame.

Pfizer is a large drug company that has suffered mightily under old Hank’s leadership…..when McKinnell started, the stock was 46….and after 4 years of his steady hand, the stock is now 25….in other words, $137 billion of Pfizer stock value evaporated under his watch.

Yes kids, the BABY spoke correctly….that number was $137 billion that Henry pissed away…..about 1/3 of what George Bush has spent in Iraq……

But Henry’s severance package is a lot better than Dubya’s…..

Here are the numbers that the board of directors of Pfizer gave to Mr. McKinnell after they sacked him. Remember he was fired, that is why he gets severance...he gets paid because he did a lousy job.

Don’t you love America.….in a foreign country they would hang the son of a bitch….and here, we send him packing with so much stuff he needs a Brink’s truck to haul it away.

Ok – the numbers….

McKinnell got:

1.	A lifetime pension of $6.6 million

2.	$78 million in deferered compensation

3.	$18.3 million in performance based stock options...performance based…even though his performance sucked.

4.	$12 million in actual severance.

5.	$5.8 million in vested stock grants

6.	And a $2.15 million bonus…..a bonus…..a bonus….

But that is not the end – no sir, when you have a chance to rape and pillage, why leave any village standing….McKinnell (to borrow liberally from Apocalypse Now) is the kind of guy who loves the smell of napalm in the morning….

He tacked on $576,000 in medical and dental payments….I hope the shit heel’s teeth fall out …

And finally, the board gave him $305,000 that represents the value of his unused vacation days.

Maybe if he had taken more vacation, the company would not have fared so poorly…..but think about  it, after taking almost $200 million in severance and other bonuses, Hank simply had to dip one more time to get the last $305,000 for his unused vacation days.

I ask you….what is wrong in America? How do we allow this? What does this say to the vast majority of hard working men and women who do not have a roll over board of directors and cronies to pad their fall?

Remember, McKinnell is not being paid like Jack Welch of GE because he did a great job; he is being paid off because he was incompetent.

Incompetence nets $200 million.  You do a good job and you get a gold watch.

Here is a quote from the New York Times --- “that Mr. McKinnell forced his shareholders to pay $305,644 for his unused days off after draining them of $137 billion is downright stupefying and odious.”

There is no Baby Billionaire Rule for this excess…..  It boggles the mind and I, for one, have only revulsion for a board of directors that approved this deal.

And so it is with a clear conscience,  sure that I have made the right decision, that I award this week’s hall of shame medal to Hank McKinnell…..

Heads I win, tails you lose…….that is my kind of coin….

Which brings me to Rule #202—
If your business behavior and personal ethics smell like shit, they are shit. 
The BABY will no longer tolerate this kind of outrageous behavior and I intend to create a roll call for those who have been entrusted to act with integrity and leadership and concern for employees as well as shareholders and  who have taken that oath and seen it as nothing more than an insider ticket to a private table in the wood paneled dining room of the executive suite where the menu serves up the lemon butter braised chance to rape, pillage, steal and lie your way to a souffle of obscene riches --- with the added perk that you get to send the bill to someone else.
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<title>Accidental Innovation</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=61</link>
<enclosure url='http://imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=61' />
<pubDate>Wednesday, February 14, 2007 3:25:36 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[I’m There for You Baby celebrates entrepreneurship and innovation……so today I am going to explore what Robert Austin calls the “accidental innovator.”

As you know I teach at San Diego State University in the MBA program. My course is on entrepreneurship and new venture creation and the first slide of the first deck of the first day says “It’s magic” … and the class wants their money back.  But the truth is, creation and innovation have a large component of magic and of luck…..and the trick, if you will, is to be available to the magic and see it when it is right before your eyes.

So Mr. Austin, a Harvard Business School professor, writes more eloquently than I on this subject. He says, “Many important discoveries come from fortuitous accidents…..many major inventions are associated with stories about spillage, breakage and other unexpected outcomes…..”

Take Alexander Fleming’s discovery of Penicillin. 
He left a Petrie dish uncovered for a few days and as if by magic, a single penicillum notatum spore dropped onto that plate and “voila” he found penicillin. Fleming said, “That same mold might have dropped on any of my other culture plates and there would have been nothing special.”  Call it magic or luck….doesn’t matter, it changed the world.

He goes on – Daguerre – the man who discovered photographic printing by accident when the mercury vapors from a shattered thermometer developed an exposed plate into a photograph.

What is key in these two stories is not the accident itself, but the ability of the scientiest/inventor to see the value in the accident and then to build upon it.

The power of the accidental can be amazing….especially when you find something that you are not at all looking for…..scientists were looking for a new ulcer drug and discovered instead an artificial sweetener – aspartame (aka Nutrasweet).

Quickly, here is his list of other accidental innovations.
Anesthesia
Cellophane
Dynamite
Ivory soap
Rayon
Smallpox vaccine
Teflon
And, of course, Viagra which was originally meant for patients suffering from heart disease.

I personally think you need to allow for the possibility of accidents….you need to allow for the slightly disorganized unpredictable nature of innovation.  You can stimulate it by not too closely managing it.  I know this sounds a bit Zenny, but I know this to be true…. 

My first software company developed software for email at public kiosks, but the breakthrough that made our company was when a young programmer was flying home from a trip and came into my office the next day and said that his night in the hotel was miserable because the dial up connection in his room was so slow that on the plane ride back, he wondered if we could take our software and put it in a hotel room.

And we did just that -- you know the little jack in the wall in the room? That uses our software...it saved our company from going broke and we were able to sell the company. Now the software is in over 200,000 rooms.

Not quite an accident, but we were lucky….and to our credit as a company, we were open to the new idea…..what Louis Pasteur called the “prepared mind” which is another way of saying you can cultivate an ability to notice the value in accidents and unexpected outcomes.

Business managers teach this mantra --- “if you don’t know where you are going, any map will do” and so they set agendas and lay out clear plans with clear goals and clear benchmarks and deadlines and outcomes.

But my truth is that it is ok to NOT know exactly where you are going, because if you know where you are going, the chance of seeing anything else along the side of the road is very slim.  And it is usually when you are least expecting something…when you are wandering a bit… when you are, as my son says, “hanging”… it is then that you sometimes see the light bulb turn on.

Artists improvise all the time….painters, sculptors, film editors, photographers, etc.  I think this is a good quality that translates to entrepreneurship and innovation -- if we can more readily allow for a bit more improvisation and accidents to happen, then who knows what we will get? It is exactly this “who knows?” that is the wonder and the magic of discovery.

And so that leads to Baby’s Billionaire Rule # 33 --- innovation is not a recipe in a book -- so if you break an egg, don’t clean it up, scramble it.

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<item>
<title>Innovative Dreams...and Disasters</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=60</link>
<enclosure url='http://imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=60' />
<pubDate>Wednesday, February 14, 2007 3:23:19 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[As you know the BABY celebrates innovation in all its various manifestations and today we feature once again the “I wish I’d thought of that idea” Idea.  And today, we focus on a few of these…..

First, the box--or more specifically, the steel container box—you know the cargo container that is about 40 feet long and 8.5 feet high with a pair of doors at one end and wooden floor….sort of like a truck trailer without wheels.

The container box ranks with the telephone and the jet plane in the way it has transformed business and productivity.  It was 50 years ago in April 1956 that this idea sprung forth when a converted oil tanker ship set sail from Newark, NJ to Houston laden with 58 converted truck bodies filled with cargo….never before had such a voyage taken place.  The story of the container cargo box is detailed in a book by Marc Levinson, called what else… “the box.”

What the BABY loves about this story is the idea is so blessedly simple….it is not high tech, it is not biotech, it is not ethanol or solar or string theory….it is simply an idea that met a need and changed the world.

And the simple change was this.  Prior to the box, it was brute strength of the dockworkers to unload a ship.  With the advent of the box and a crane it became horsepower not manpower…..today it takes about 15 hours to unload 886 containers;  prior to the box, it took 2 weeks.  Productivity is dramatically increased and so it goes.

There was only one downside – what we call “unintended consequences.”  Now that we have about 15 million containers coming in and out of approximately 72 ports every year -- and subsequent to 9-11 – we have the interesting problem of trying to know what is in each of them; opening each one by hand and looking inside is not the answer.

So the next big thing – the “idea” idea – will be a way to monitor the cargo container industry with a wireless sensor network.  But in the meantime, be thankful because the shipping cost of your $2500 flat screen is less than $14 because of ----- the box.

The second “I wish I’d thought of that idea” Idea is a picture of a pair of eyes.  At Newcastle University there is a coffee station which operates on the honor system and the woman running the station began to notice that there was less and less honor among more and more thieves (i.e. she was losing her shirt on the coffee program).

Everyone knows about the coffee jar and the honor system…..Fortune 100 companies have almost gone bankrupt on the losses in this department.

This woman was a Fortune 23,000 so she could not afford to hire another person to watch the coffee drinkers, but she instinctively understood basic human psychology. If no one is watching, the tendency is to try to get away with murder…or at least a free cup of coffee.

So she installed a pair of eyes… just a photograph of a pair of eyes, sort of her version of Bogie’s in Casablanca “Here’s looking at you kid…..” and she found out that three times as much money was collected as before.

So what can I say, – the “eyes” have it.

Now the question is, would this work on real criminals?  Imagine a bank where the vault is protected by a pair of eyes.

And finally a different take on human nature. It seems that the New York Marriott Marquis has installed an elevator without buttons…..it cost $11 million and it figures out where you want to go and who wants to go there and you don’t have to push any floor buttons. As a matter of fact, it is not that you don’t have to….it is that you can’t ….there are no buttons in the elevator.

You push a keypad next to the elevator before you get in…..and the elevator does the rest. It tells you which elevator in the bank to get into and it takes you there at its own damn good speed.  It even factors in weight and the capacity of the car.

Bottom line:  people hate it.  They may have to scrap it, because people want to get into an elevator and push the button for the floor they want. They do not trust the Miconic 10 (that’s the name of the gizmo) to really know when and where to take them. People basically like control and they like the sense of control they get when they make the simple demand by pushing the button…..effectively telling the elevator, “Take me where I want to go – now!”

It has been an unmitigated disaster. People don’t know what elevator to get into and some customers riding up and down for days, even weeks, unable to get off on any floor. I mean, what if you tell it floor 9 and when you get into the elevator, you change your mind? No luck.

This is the classic example of too much technology and not enough understanding of human behavior.  The BABY and the rest of you…we like to push the buttons. It is a clear feeling of power --- of man’s mind over machine.

Our coffee lady put out a $3 photograph of a pair of eyes….and the boys at Marriott spent $11 million convinced they could change human behavior.

Which leads to Baby Billionaire Rule # 26: Sometimes low-tech is all the tech you need…..

And Rule # 27: Human behavior has evolved – in spite of what George Bush thinks – over the past 6,000 years.  Don’t build a product that depends for its success on changing it – unless, of course, it is called iPod.
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<item>
<title>Persistence, Passion...and Playfulness</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=59</link>
<enclosure url='http://imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=59' />
<pubDate>Thursday, February 08, 2007 1:57:00 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[One of the key characteristics of the entrepreneur is persistence…..this is variously described in terms such as focus, discipline, drive, passion, etc., but sometimes persistence also requires a sense of humor.

Sometimes in negotiations you can get there if you have a slightly outrageous sense of humor. It doesn’t always work, but on many occasions I have been successful by making the other person laugh or at least smile….sometimes with self-deprecation and sometimes with a healthy sense of disrespect for the rules we are all asked at various times to follow even when they are nuts.

So herewith a story that gave me hope that sometimes in the darkest hour, a well reasoned and slightly outrageous perspective can win the day….

This is a letter that an attorney in New Orleans wrote to the FHA – the Federal Housing Administration.  As you know, New Orleans has a rich history of passing houses from family to family over many generations…..

A New Orleans lawyer sought an FHA loan for his client….and was told the loan would be granted if he could prove satisfactory title to the land….the lawyer found title records back to 1803 to validate the ownership chain of title for this loan….

This is the reply from the FHA – “Upon review of your client’s loan application, we note that the request is supported by an abstract of title – but it only goes back to 1803…before final approval can be accorded, it will be necessary to clear title back to its origin….”

So the lawyer, annoyed but nonplussed, wrote back the following,

“Your letter regarding case number 189156 has been received.  I note that you wish to have title extended further than the 194 years covered by the present application….I politely point out that Louisiana was purchased from France in 1803, the year of origin identified in our application.

For the edification of uninformed bureaucrats the title to the land prior to U.S. ownership was obtained from France which had acquired it by right of conquest from Spain…they came into possession of Spain by right of discovery made in the year 1492 by a sea captain named Christopher Columbus…..Queen Isabella who financed Mr. Columbus and who was almost as careful about titles as the FHA took the precaution of securing the blessing of the pope before she sold her jewels to finance the expedition…..now, as you know, the pope is an emissary of Jesus Christ, son of God…and God, as it is commonly agreed, created the world…..and therefore it is safe to assume that God also created Louisiana…..God therefore would be the owner of origin and his origin dates back to the beginning of time, the world as we know it and by extension this would include the FHA…..I hope you find God’s original claim to be satisfactory….now may we have our damn loan?”

And of course, the loan was approved….

When facing intractable bureaucracy and the  other guy is being a jerk, don’t tell him directly he is a jerk ….that gets you nowhere…..instead apply humor and give him a way to undo his jerkiness……I mean even people who act jerky don’t really want to be that way.

It may be circumstances beyond their control – maybe the devil made me do it……but the light touch often is the right touch.

And so that brings us to the Baby’s Billionaire Rule # 105:  Once a jerk does not mean always a jerk.

My favorite maxim is when reason fails to move the ball….just pick it up and leave ‘em laughing.

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<item>
<title>How do we define "enough"?</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=58</link>
<enclosure url='http://imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=58' />
<pubDate>Thursday, February 08, 2007 1:53:08 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Today is potpourri day ---- I take the best of the worst and the worst of the best and I make bouillabaisse.  So here we go – I’m throwing everything in – shells and all…

First, let’s take a quick look at the Billionaire Update which leads us to revisit Baby Billionaire Rule # 172:  Nothing, absolutely nothing good, can come from excess. 

If you mix excess with schadenfreude, here’s what you get….

Stephen Schwarzman is the  billionaire co-founder of the Blackstone Group --a very, very, very big private equity buy out shop--and he is giving a 60th birthday party for himself…..New York fancy, all the trimmings, musical headliners like Rod Stewart…and the room in which he is giving this soiree is 35,000 square feet.

But what I like is not the lavish excess….what I like is the line struck by Saul Steinberg, another billionaire, when he turned 50 in 1989 and his wife threw a similar multi million dollar bash.

He said to his wife words that would turn out to be prophetic…

“Honey, if this moment were a stock, I would short it.”

In the ensuing 10 years, he had a stroke, his daughter got divorced, his company went bankrupt and in 2000 he had to sell his most prize asset-- the coop at 740 Park Avenue…..and he sold it to none other than Stephen Schwarzman.

That’s what comes from tempting the gods……beware excess my fellow entrepreneurs……it reeks of bad karma and hubris which is a fancy Greek word for acting like a jerk and thumbing your nose at the gods…….which usually ends in getting what you deserve.

Next, let’s revisit one of the baby’s favorite topics…..greed, corruption, and egregious self-dealing ------

The case in point is Caremark, a large pharmaceutical benefits manager…..that is geek speak for a company that exists solely to try like hell to make sure your pharmacy claim gets denied (they make money when they don’t have to reimburse you for your prescription medicine).
It is a complicated story but the essence is that Caremark wanted to sell itself to CVS --CVS offered 48 bucks a share--essentially the current market price.  They agreed to give lots of perks to the CEO, Mr. Crawford and then make him chairman of the merged company.  They sweetened every one of his pots and his total take approached $50 million.

Then another bidder came along and offered $5 billion more for the company…..a 23% premium to the current price….but the Caremark board turned the offer down primarily because the second company was unwilling to give Mr. Crawford all the goodies.

The question is – what happened to the shareholders….you know the dumb sons of bitches who own the stock of the company…..in an effort to line his own pockets, Mr. Crawford turned down a demonstrably better offer for the shareholders, because it was not as good for him personally.

Remember the board of company exists to serve its shareholders….that is their fiduciary obligation.

Enough said --- the BABY absolutely goes ballistic at this kind of story.  What happened to our country that this behavior has become the norm?

My mother told me that you cannot have two sets of table manners….. “you are how you eat.”

And so I offer Baby Billionaire Rule # 106:  There is no excuse for blatant outrageous self –dealing…..if your business behavior smells like shit, it is shit --- 


On  a previous show, the baby unloaded on Second Life, the website that uses real money in an imaginary world.  I still don’t get it…..I want to live in this world in real time….not in some virtual internet time warp fantasy.

Anyway, when the BABY opined on second life several weeks ago they had 1 million residents -- now they just passed 2 million residents--and they claim that 850,000 real U.S. dollars are changing hands every 24 hours.

Where the hell is Charlie Ponzi when you need him?

And I am going to finish up with a web site called Like.com…..this site allows users to browse through and select items in the wardrobes of about 20 celebrities – you know Scarlett Johannsen, Jessica Simpson. etc.

So that you can buy exactly or similar jewelry, shoes, handbags and watches that they were wearing…..

What is happening in this world? We have 2 million people living in a virtual world using real money and we have another group of people in the real world wanting to dress like someone else.

Doesn’t anyone want to just be themselves in this world?

The true entrepreneur creates his own reality – he or she gets no satisfaction living in someone else’s.
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<item>
<title>Being happy being competent...</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=57</link>
<enclosure url='http://imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=57' />
<pubDate>Thursday, February 01, 2007 3:33:39 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Today, my thoughts turn to happiness --- my daughter calls to tell me that her courses in her Ph.D. program interest her and she is thinking about using the word “happy” in reference to her own demeanor. Like her dad, the concept of happiness is one that occasionally requires intense psychiatric analysis.  And, my son called to tell me he has a 3.96 average at Wharton and is excited about his classes and a new girl friend.

So I got to thinking about money, happiness and entrepreneurship….
First, let me offer some thoughts from one of our favorite contributors, Jim Anderson, Chief Editor for investment strategy at Silicon Valley Bank.
Jim offers the following --- he says capitalism has shown its ability to consistently deliver increased wealth, but asks, “Can it also deliver happiness?”
He has formulated a concept called Hedonic Utility…..it comes from hedonism – the pursuit of pleasure and utility – namely, how much does the event matter to you?
He gives an example.  Which gives you more hedonic utility – spending an hour playing catch with your son or listening to your boss in an hour sales review?….that one is easy of course….

Hedonic Utility is measured in total hedons of pleasure minus dolors of pain….(not dollars)

But it gets trickier when you try to correlate hedons of pleasure with money…… and of course what we find unfortunately is that once basic needs are met, money does not move the needle much on the happiness hedon scale.

In other words, in spite of what we all think, owning the fractional interest in Net Jets is not really going to get you there – you might avoid taking off your shoes, but it will not dramatically increase your hedons of pleasure….commensurate with the cost.

And the conclusion one comes to ---  courtesy of my 10 years in the movie business in Hollywood --- is that for many of us, it is not enough that we do well….it is also a requirement that we do better than our peers. In the truest Hollywood paradigm –

You want your movie to make millions and the other guy’s to fail……there does not seem to be room for two winners……

So, let’s take that concept and extend it to entrepreneurship --- and a key behavior of successful entrepreneurs I believe is collaboration…..

The awareness and even desire to have room for more than one winner – even in your space…

The VC’s will tell you that in any given segment (network security, mobile devices), there are always 2 winners…there is always a first and a second…..

But rarely a third ------ this concept of winning as a zero sum game was made famous by Jack Welch – who said that the central idea for GE was to be first or second in every sector….third place was for losers….

And David Mamet said it best, in the play Glengarry, Glen Ross  - Alec Baldwin, the sales manager, says:

“First prize is a Cadillac Eldorado, second prize is a set of steak knives and third prize is -- you’re fired.”

And that is really how American business thinks…..scorched earth and win one for the gipper…..…but is there a different way to think about your competitors?

James Surowiecki writing in the New Yorker suggests that we look at Nintendo…..

The battle to control the living room is being waged by two behemoths –   last man standing -- Sony and Microsoft…..and in third place, way back is little old Nintendo……once a mighty morphin ranger, and now reduced to water boy on the sidelines of the national championship game.

Except that is not how it is playing out –

Play Station 3 vs. XBox 360 – a war to the death……

Nintendo on the other hand has developed the Wii – strange name, short on power, no bells, no whistles….it does one thing really well – it is very good for playing games.

Key concept – it does one thing really well. It will not win the war of the living room….but it will sit on the coffee table hiding in plain sight.

Nintendo makes money at its business ---– unlike Sony which is losing $240 every time it sells a play station for $600 ….

It focuses on doing one thing really well – making games. The Wii is the game where you swing the controller and hit a tennis ball…..it works so well, some gamers are complaining of tennis elbow……get one of these in the hands of Roger Federer.

Nintendo is in 3rd place but flourishing…..a novel concept but in fact a common one.

The correlation between being first in market share and first in profitability is not a clear one at all….Honda makes more money than GM…..

In fact a study on market share by Scott Armstrong and Kesten Green shows the following :

“Companies that adopt what they call ‘competitor oriented objectives’ – namely crush the other son of a bitch into dust – actually end up hurting their profitability…..”

In other words, focusing on the other guy instead of your own core competency does not usually lead to success……and concentrating on market share as the primary driver of your business  does not correlate directly to profitability ---

There are two take-aways from all this…..

Happiness, in spite of the Beatles song, is not a warm gun – it is the increase in one’s hedonic utility --- in my case, my children’s current well being and good attitudes give me more pleasure than taking two shots off my golf handicap.

But the greatest pleasure I get is growing my little chip company…..and if we achieve success it will not be by being number one in market share, but by filling a unique need in the red led market segment.

There is room for those of us who finish third or even fourth --- and we get to laugh all the way to the bank as well….sometimes louder than the guy in first place….

Which leads to baby billionaire rules 97 and 98 --- 

97 says – Maximize hedonic utility – and money ain’t the answer…

And 98 says – Focus on core competencies, not the competition……the bronze medal winner still stands on the podium….
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<title>Entrepreneurship...when success isn't a factor of heredity or nationality</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=56</link>
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<pubDate>Thursday, January 25, 2007 2:44:38 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[As you know the baby has ranted often on the subject of corporate chicanery and malfeasance….it is a rich pool that we have fished in often….and it seems to be bottomless.

Most recently, Steve Jobs was chastised for backdating options……now I think Steve Jobs is brilliant, but he is not above the law…..but when commerce meets ethics, you know who wins….and in this case none other than Al Gore “certified” that no laws have been broken….and then 10 days later the iPhone was announced and the stock jumped 7% in one day.  iPhone v. backdating options for a guy who already is on the Forbes 400.  I don’t know…personally it makes me crazy.

But for those of us not floated by the golden parachute, let me offer some interesting and possibly sobering thoughts about who rises to power in American business…..and who will rise to power in the next decade…..as you may surmise, they are not the same.

A book recently published by Harvard Business School Press and written by Anthony Mayo, Nitin Nohria and Laura Singleton talks about who succeeds.  It will come as no surprise that race, gender and social network – aka family – were more important than brains in getting ahead.....the Horatio Alger story is a great one, but they point out that he had an important and influential benefactor.  Being born as an insider increases the odds in your favor – but not winning the ovarian lottery does not doom one to the second class forever.  In fact, the study shows that entrepreneurship is the most favored path to overcoming the bias towards white, protestant men from industrialized centers.

The study supports this sentence – “when doors were closed, outsiders created their own paths.”

This is the theme that I’m There for You Baby stands upon.....when access to traditional paths of success are blocked unfairly, founding a company that addresses the needs of a core constituency was often the only choice for success in business.

Remember Baby Billionaire Rule # 100: Entrepreneurs do not do it for fame or fortune --- they do it for revenge.”  More on revenge later in the show…

Let me give you some statistics that will frighten some and encourage others....

1.  Researchers at Duke University estimate that 25% of technology and engineering companies started in the last 10 years had at least one senior exec – President or CEO or CTO – born outside the United States. In the next decade, the percentage will rise to 50%.

2.  In a recent survey,  50% of Americans believe the next tech mogul – think Bill Gates here – will come from China or Japan.....13% thought he/she would come from India and only 20% thought this person would have been born in America.

3.  The number of young people who are now university educated in engineering and sciences – in developing countries – is double that of the developed world.

Just look at my little LED chip company….the founder PhD is Russian, his professor is Chinese….the key technical team works in New Hampshire, with two key members from China….….the software team works in Switzerland…..the chief scientist lives in Russia…..the two scientific advisors live in Wisconsin and New Jersey…..we communicate by email and video conference and we operate our business as Bill Gates wrote in his book “at the speed of light”…..

Entrepreneurship in the 21st century must be global to thrive and survive.

The era when all your employees were in one building in one city is dead, gone, over….never to return……
 
Which leads to Baby Billionaire Rule # 31 --- embrace Tom Friedman - the world is flat and getting flatter faster.
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<title>Pieces of the puzzle:  Negotiation and Intuition</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=55</link>
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<pubDate>Thursday, January 25, 2007 2:24:05 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[As you know, one of the key elements of this entrepreneur thing is the concept of learning to negotiate well…..how do you get what you need or what you want?

Negotiation seems to be one of those things like riding a bike – everyone knows they can do it – except that only a very, very few of us do it at the level of Lance Armstrong.

And to complicate the negotiation puzzle, you need to add in the concept of intuition….because while negotiation is a skill that I think can be learned…..learning to be great at it, combines a plethora of other art forms --  like psychology, intuition, deception, mystery, and misdirection --- coupled with feel good, win-win and getting to yes.  Countless books have been written on the subject, and today the baby is going to take his whack at illuminating the concept….

I am interested in two ideas today……one is what I call the barrel theory of negotiation, and the other is the risk of using intuition.

Over time I have developed a simple model for negotiation – it is called the barrel theory – and it has two elements:

A.  Place opponent over a barrel…..now this is not as difficult as it may seem…..there are multiple techniques one can use that lead to a point in the negotiation where your adversary should see that the best outcome is “a”……key word here is “should”……in other words, he should see that the best solution given how you have assembled the chess pieces is to pick the box marked  “a.”

B.  But as I indicated, the barrel theory has two elements……one is place opponent over barrel…..the other is get opponent to look down and see the barrel.

This is by far the more difficult task….because it assumes rational behavior…..it assumes that your opponent will look down, see that he is over a barrel and that his options are limited, and then being rational, he will select the most advantageous outcome from his point of view.

I said from his point of view…….

This is where the phrase “he has his head up his ass” comes from.

If his point of view is skewed or irrational, then after having worked hard to arrange the pieces so the opponent is clearly over the barrel ---- he goes and screws things up by not looking down……if his head is up his ass, he will be looking up…..and not see what you see.

So folks, once again I refer you to Daniel Kahneman, my favorite Nobel Prize winner, who did the pioneering research on why people act irrationally --- people do not like to admit facts that may be adverse to their image or point of view.

 While the Baby tends to be a-political on this show, I cannot help but point out that our current president sometimes is reluctant to see reality --- at least as it is perceived by a majority of the populace……instead of being merely irrational, his behavior borders on the delusional.

And you will meet delusional people in your entrepreneurial efforts…..my experience has taught me over time and bitterly that if I suspect the other guy across the table is either irrational, delusional, overly stubborn, heavily invested in ego, etc.  then I try to pick another road….or another person.

I do not believe that I can move the immoveable object simply by sheer force of logic, intellect or charisma….

So if the barrel theory doesn’t work – how about intuition? It turns out that studies show that as a group we entrepreneurs trust our intuition more than we trust hard evidence. We like to go with our gut…..we say, “I know, I know, but I feel like I can make it, do it, build it – whatever”…..in spite of a sheaf of hard cold facts that clearly dispute that point of view.

To explain why individuals do not always think rationally we turn to Dr. Keith Stanovich from the University of Toronto and Dr. Richard West from James Madison University…

They suggest that there are two ways of thinking…..system 1 and system 2….

1.  Is intuitive, quick decisive
2.  Is slower, more conscious and more logical

Mostly we use numero uno…..so here are some thoughts on how and when to use numero duo – with the expectation of better outcomes…

1.  Make a list….identify in advance the critical decision…..e.g. in my little chip company we have identified a need for a certain kind of scientist…we have marked this as a key critical hire….and so the process for this decision is different than we use in another area.

2.  Time pressure…….the use of deadlines to artificially bend the negotiation table --- I remember in 1989 I went to Japan for a big real estate deal……when asked when my plane home was, I told them a date that was actually 24 hours earlier than I really had.  As the time for my “flight” approached, they became tougher in the negotiation…..then I said – “no problemo, I will stay over another day so we can resolve this”……and in fact we did……time is malleable…..my favorite Einstein quote –“time slows down as speed increases….”

3.  You don’t have to eat the whole burrito in one sitting…..you will be less intuitive and more logical if you break your deal making into sessions….enforced patience is a good technique. Even if you are rolling along, say that you have to break for lunch or go jogging – whatever…. “we will reconvene later.”  It’s no different than half time in a football game……

4.  And lastly, the killer for intuition vs. logic……look from the outside in. Entrepreneurs are given to the overconfidence bias…..they simply are true believers……the studies show that entrepreneurs’ own opinion of their chance of success is often around 75% -- when in fact, historically only about 1/3 of new businesses survive 5 years…..in other words, all of us have to look down and see the barrel a bit more frequently.

I believe in the gut – I have used it frequently and with much success, but the odds favor rational thinking – and so the Baby Billionaire Rule # 122 is a simple one ---
Trust your gut especially when it lines up with your brain……otherwise, check the barrel twice, and if it is filled with alligators and sting rays and piranha then maybe finding a rational way to get off that barrel is a really good idea….

I’m Neil Senturia and the only barrel I want to be in is the one they use to make Jack Daniels.
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<title>"You're fired...but we'll pay you forever!"</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=54</link>
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<pubDate>Thursday, January 18, 2007 4:19:04 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[As you know “I’m There for You Baby” stands strongly against greed, corruption and corporate malfeasance and we have spoken often on the subject.

But the most recent example of this compels the BABY to raise its voice in a wild petulant scream that wonders how the hell they get away with it….

To wit – the case of  Hank McKinnel…..the former CEO of Pfizer……Pfizer is a large drug company that has suffered mightily under old Hank’s leadership…..when McKinnel started the stock was $46….and after 4 years of his steady hand, the stock is now $25….in other words, 137 billion dollars of Pfizer stock value evaporated under his watch.

Yes, kids, the BABY spoke correctly….that number was 137 billion that Henry pissed away…..about 1/3 of what George Bush has spent in Iraq.

But Henry’s severance package is a lot better than Dubya’s.

Here are the numbers that the Board of Directors of Pfizer gave to Mr. McKinnel after they sacked him….remember he was fired, that is why he gets severance…..he gets paid because he did a lousy job.

Don’t you love America.….in  a foreign country they would hang the son of a bitch….and here, we send him packing with so much stuff he needs a Brinks truck to haul it away.

Ok – the numbers….

McKinnel got:

1.	Lifetime pension of 6.6 million dollars

2.	78 million dollars in deferred compensation…..

3.	18.3 million dollars in performance based stock options….performance based…..even though his performance sucked.

4.	12 million dollars in actual severance.

5.	5.8 million dollars in vested stock grants

6.	And a 2.15 million dollar bonus…..a bonus…..a bonus….
But that is not the end – no sir, when you have a chance to rape and pillage, why leave any village standing….McKinnel (to borrow liberal from Apocalypse now) is the kind of guy who loves the smell of napalm in the morning.

He tacked on 576,000 dollars in medical and dental payments….I hope the shit heel’s teeth fall out ….

And finally, the board gave him 305,000 dollars that represents the value of his unused vacation days.

Maybe if he had taken more vacation, the company would not have fared so poorly…..but think about  it, after taking almost 200 million in severance and other bonuses, Hank simply had to dip one more time to get the last 305,000 for his unused vacation days.

I ask you….what the fuck is wrong in America? How do we allow this…..what does this say to the vast majority of hard working men and women who do not have a roll over board of directors and cronies to pad their fall.

Remember, McKinnel is not being paid like Jack Welch of GE because he did a great job….he is being paid off because he was incompetent.

Incompetence nets 200 million…..you do a good job and you get a gold watch.

Here is a quote from the New York Times --- “that Mr. McKinnel forced his shareholders to pay $305,644 for his unused days off after draining them of $137 billion is downright stupefying and odious.”

There is no Baby Billionaire rule for this excess…..  It boggles the mind and I for one have only revulsion for a board of directors that approved this deal.
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<title>Creative Customer gets Service</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=53</link>
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<pubDate>Thursday, January 18, 2007 4:03:47 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Here’s a story about how one person made a large corporation pay attention to the issue of customer service….all of us have sat on hold with large corporations trying to get satisfaction over a  promise unmet or unkept….for example, trying to get your laptop fixed.

All of us have sworn over the phone at one time or another that if blah blah isn’t fixed, I'm going to sue you…..

But one man, Pat Dori, put his money where his mouth was and found a way to successfully navigate the backwaters of a very large corporation.

The Dell Computer company….

Pat spent 5 months and 19 documented phone calls trying to get dell to fix his new laptop…..

Then he decided to sue…..but how he did it is what makes the story brilliant – and celebrates the entrepreneurial mind….

Instead of sending his lawsuit to the corporate headquarters in Texas, he filed his papers at a Dell shopping mall kiosk.

Lawsuits require answers --- even from big corporations….usually a complete denial, etc….but in this case, not unsurprisingly, no one from Dell responded.  No one showed up on the date assigned and when Mr. Dori showed up in court he got a default judgement against Dell for 3000 dollars….and a ruling that if judgement was not paid, the bailiffs could close the kiosk and seize the contents to satisfy his judgement…..

Dell immediately settled and Mr. Dori got a new laptop and an undisclosed sum of money…..

So for sticking it to the corporation in such a clever manner – trading on the fact that they would ignore the kiosk just like they had ignored his last 19 phone calls, Mr. Dori gets a signed and embossed certificate that states  Baby Billionaire  Rule # 91 – “ if you get their money first, it is highly likely that you will get their attention next.”

I’m Neil Senturia and I love the entrepreneurial spirit – it reminds me of a great line from Robert McNamara during the Vietnam war “If you have them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow…”


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<title>Excessive Excess</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=52</link>
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<pubDate>Thursday, January 18, 2007 3:59:51 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[I’ll tell you what’s on the Baby’s mind today…..
Excess ---- you know – over the top, too damn much, gimme a break, outlandish, hyper, arrogant excess……

And I am concerned that in shining the spotlight on excess and holding it up as something to be desired, the media are focused on the wrong things and are sending the wrong message to the wrong people at the wrong time……sort of the converse of Jim Collins whose book Good to Great celebrated the key to greatness as putting the right people in the right seats on the right bus going in the right direction at the right time….

And what has me wound is ---

1.  Hedge funds in Greenwich, Connecticut – I am sick to death of reading about parties with wines that cost $8,000 per bottle and mansions that cost $20M plus and birthday parties where the kids arrive by helicopter  and individual trader bonuses that each exceed the gross domestic national product of the 25 smallest countries in the world.

What are we celebrating other than greed and excess…..and Baby’s Billionaire Rule # 172 says “nothing – absolutely nothing good can come from excess.”

2.  VIP bottle service……I don’t understand how rational normal people with SAT scores greater than 950 can feel decent about going out to a bar where they pay $300 for a bottle of booze that retails in the store for $39 and actually sells wholesale for $19.95…..I am referring to any of 23 vodkas that are currently on display at the Y Bar in NYC as well as the Stingaree here in downtown San Diego…..I mean ok…..it’s true you are getting glasses and ice and a waitress with a push up bra and a short skirt...and I admit, the bottle is gorgeous and it has LED lights inside and maybe  the etching on the bottle was carved by a vestal virgin, but – gimme a break……doesn’t anybody do the math? Does a 600% mark up make you feel exclusive or more likely feel like a schmuck? If you amortize the olives, it works out to about $63.48 per pimento…….I don’t get it……VIP exclusive hip ---- what are the values VIP bottle service promotes --- if you ask me, we are raising a generation of drinkers who are mathematically illiterate and will be perfect fodder for the next Ponzi scheme that comes along…..and it'll be exclusive --- only the shallow, inept and inane will be invited in.

3.  Power tables……this is a feature in the WSJ that shows famous restaurants and their floor plans….and then it shows you who gets to eat at which table….again, I don’t get it…..why is this in the paper? So that the rest of us poor slobs who can’t get in anyway at least know where we cant sit? I don’t understand the fascination with where the power table is…..what I want to know is, “Where is the kitchen?” and “Where is the men’s room?”  Any restaurant / club that charges me $3,000 for the privilege of going there so that I can be advised that I do not have enough juice to sit at a power table, but oh by the way, they are delighted to sit me in Siberia and take my credit card for their prix fixed dinner for 2 at $195 each……I don’t want to join…..it is Groucho Marx redux. 

The issue is simple……we celebrate the wrong things and in so doing, we exacerbate not only the divide between the haves and have nots….but we set up a value system that in my humble opinion is rotten to the core.

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<title>Chicken Entrepreneur: taking it one step at a time</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=51</link>
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<pubDate>Wednesday, January 17, 2007 7:43:34 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[
First, you may remember, we had a caller who wanted to know if he should dump his job and dive head first into his first business venture…..and the advice we gave him was go for the double straddle.  Keep the day job, he has children and a mortgage and start by dipping your toes in, then up to your ankles, then your knees and then dive in.

Well, I found out what this is called…….I call it rational entrepreneurial behavior but CNN Money calls it the “chicken entrepreneur” -- same as our concept…..but I tell you I do not like the connotation of the word chicken…..being cautious and logical – using your current job to fill in gaps in your network, your knowledge as well as your income is not chicken. 

Now from time to time, the Baby likes to call attention to and celebrate the “I wish I had that idea” idea --- but with this one, I’m going to have to hold my nose.  Here it is folks….. Doody calls…….that’s doody as in dog poop……it seems in Richmond, Virginia, an entrepreneur named Jacob d’Aniello has founded a company that comes to your house and picks up the dog droppings from your yard……

Talk about outsourcing.  It’s for sure, the guys in India aren’t doing this.
The dog poop collection industry is a disparate group of over 300 little mom and pop companies that do a combined total revenue of over 20 million dollars…..America has for sure gone to the dogs when we are hiring somebody else to pick up the poop.

But it does show that opportunity can often be found in the strangest of places.

I never cease to be amazed by the creativity of the human mind…..which leads to Baby’s Billionare rule # 412:  One’s reality is only limited by one’s imagination.

So there you have it-- the why does the chicken cross the road entrepreneur, and the modern version of the 1773 play she stoops to conquer poop.
Crazy stuff --- but  in the end, they all  still reflect Baby’s big themes-- taking control of your life and being the architect of your own vision.


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<title>Mark Cuban's Corner</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=50</link>
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<pubDate>Thursday, January 11, 2007 2:25:07 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[It is that time of year again when every magazine, periodical, newspaper, TV news network, and cable news program reviews the year that was…..and from the BABY’s perspective it was indeed a hell of a year.

But remembering that we are a program about entrepreneurship, about taking control of your life and about being the architect of your own vision, I thought that rather than look back, I would like to look forward and celebrate one of my all time favorite entrepreneurs ---Mark Cuban -- and see what he is thinking about for 2007.

It is hard not to love a guy who buys his jet airplane online without ever seeing it – who buys the Dallas Mavericks and then sits courtside so he can attack the NBA officials for bonehead calls,  and then also attacks the NBA owners for greed and stupidity.  He is sort of an everyman who hit the big time with perfect timing – the $5.7 billion dollar sale of his company Broadcom to Yahoo in April 2000……30 days before the market began its descent into hell……and then he did the all time brilliant move -- he hedged all his stock.  This guy is no dope….


Cuban is like ...the golfer John Daly without the drugs, alcohol and four wives.

Like Daley, people love Mark Cuban’s authenticity ----they accept his bombast and ego as a small price to pay for his clarity, truth, honesty, vision…and, above all, his unwavering willingness to write a personal check for what he believes in. In the past five years he has not only bought a basketball team, but also invested in high def television, co-founded two movie production companies, bought a chain of movie theaters, a film distribution company and founded a new company near and dear to the BABY’s heart --  Sharesleuth.com – an internet site devoted solely to investigating corporate malfeasance.

I love that part of being an entrepreneur or in my own tiny way, a venture capitalist – or in another lifetime call it a gambler ---- the willingness to write a check. It is always easy to ask someone else for the dough, but there is no substitute for being personally on the line..it keeps you very, very focused. I remember one of our guests, Leo Spiegel’s line about taking a mortgage on his mother’s house to finance his first company --- it gave him “a clear awareness that if he failed, mom was going to be sleeping in a tent.”

That kind of pressure can be very valuable ---- it definitely keeps your mind in the game and your senses on red alert…..personally, I like the pressure…not everyone does… but if it doesn’t count, anyone can make the jump shot…..Michael Jordan makes it with one second on the clock for the championship……

I think it is that kind of high that best defines the thrill of entrepreneurship……

And so courtesy of Esquire Magazine, let’s go back to Mark Cuban and take a look at some of his thoughts on the next big thing for 2007…..

For openers, he says “Whenever I see people doing something the way it has always been done, the way it is supposed to be, following the same old trends, well that’s just a big red flag for me to go look somewhere else.”

He goes on to say, “when you’ve got 10,000 people trying to do the same  thing (think YouTube or MySpace) then why would you want to be the 10,001 …”

Cuban is adamant about his own vision --- “if everyone else is doing it, then I don’t want to do it…I’d rather just throw it up against the wall and take some chances.”

And his theme remains constant –  in talking about an idea and a start–up, he says, “The minute someone says to me I have an idea, but I don’t have the connections or the money, I know they’re a failure….because if you are prepared and you know what it takes, then it is not a risk….you just have to figure out how to get there….there is always a way to get there.”

Cuban says the same thing five different ways, but his single theme is compelling…….what people love about Mark Cuban is his consistency and his intolerance of fraud and deception – whether it is personal or corporate ……he walks the walk --- it is the difference between being a leader and a follower.

He remarks on both the power and the danger of the internet…..there are countless discussion groups on the net --- but the risk is that in a very small targeted group, you may become a hero to a community of only three other participants…..that begins to radically skew one’s perception of influence.  According to the Blog Herald there are currently 60 million blogs ---- it seems that we have  parsed opinions and niche marketing so finely that we run the clear risk of  having a lot of people with nothing new or important to say ---  I am, therefore I blog --- may become Descartes’  curse.   

At least with Cuban, that is not a risk -- I personally love the guy  ---  I know his faults – they have been well-researched and written about --- but in the end, I can take a little jerkiness if I get authenticity and passion in exchange…..that seems like a fair trade off to me.
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<title>Going Global...Thankfully</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=41</link>
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<pubDate>Thursday, January 04, 2007 5:07:25 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[The Baby has been reading some poetry of late and I have re-discovered a William Wordsworth sonnet…..called the world is too much with us….written about 200 years ago…. 

Allow me to read a few lines... 

"...the world is too much with us; late and soon, getting and spending, we lay waste our powers..." 

I am dismayed by the state of affairs -- we often do a feature called the crook of the week….but lately I have more crooks than I have weeks for. 

Most recently Sanjay Kumar, 44, the former CEO of computer associates, was found guilty of securities fraud and obstruction of justice and sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined 8 million dollars. 

Sanjay invented the 35 day month so he could close deals in the next month but book the revenues in the previous month thus inflating his actual revenue --- a clever way to cook the books – but if you keep making 35 day months, after a while you run out of years. Unless you can rework the solar calendar, eventually – lights out….which is exactly what happened to Sanjay. 

But what depresses me is not one more crook, but the mixed message we as a country send about immigrants. 

On the same news day that Sanjay was being sent to the slammer, there was a full page ad taken out by the USC Viterbi School to honor Ming Hsieh who has just given an enormous gift to the engineering school. 

First, Andy Viterbi. Andy was born in Bergamo, Italy to Jewish parents and then emigrated with them in 1939 just ahead of the Nazis to the United States……a simple tale….hard working, smart, went to MIT and then was the inventor of the Viterbi algorithm used for correcting error codes in cell phones. He then hooked up with Irwin Jacobs and the two of them started a small company called QUALCOMM which had revenues last year of more than $5 billion dollars 

Andy made the Forbes 400 again this year and is an enormously generous philanthropist having endowed and named the USC Viterbi School of Engineering. 

And now there is an endowed department of electrical engineering in that school, named in honor of Ming Hsieh --- 

Ming’s story is a simple one also. He was born in Guangzhou, China, educated in China and then immigrated to the united states in 1978. For the middle 10 years during his childhood, he was not allowed to attend school due to government persecution of his family ….and so he learned electrical engineering from his father as they built a crude power system for the village where they were forced to live. 

When he was 24, he came to America and transferred to the University of Southern California. The rest of the story is classic….he was smart, he worked like a dog and he founded cogent systems, a biometric finger print technology and became wealthy – he is also on the Forbes 400 -- and then in October, 2006, he gave 35 million dollars to the Viterbi School of Engineering-- this money will go to educate a new generation of engineers ------ many of whom will be immigrants. 

I recently attended a lecture by Mike Milken, a famous financier and philanthropist – and his theme was a simple one: over the next 25 years, the economies of the world will change and china will be number 1 in GDP, not America. Our population in America will change and native born white Americans will be a distinct minority….less than 22%. 

BB – I was on a plane 3 weeks ago and I sat next to a man who worked at Google. I asked him what was the limiting factor to Google’s growth and he shot right back to me – human capital. Google cannot find enough people with the skills they need. They look world-wide, when they find 6 people in Helsinki with the talent, they open an office there and they do the same in Bangalore and Bangladesh. Wherever there is the requisite talent, they seek it out and they open an office there. They do not ask everyone to move to Mountain View, California. 

Folks – the world is flat and the competition for human capital knows no racial, ethnic or gender barrier. 

And ladies and gentlemen, it is time to get over it…..competition is global….the world is changing – and in my view changing for the better. No 700 mile wall is going to keep people out nor should it. America desperately needs the kind of passion, devotion and diligence that the immigrant population brings with them….whether India, China, Mexico, Korea or Russia……and I could name the whole world, because the best and brightest from all of those countries are going to come to America to seek their entrepreneurial fortunes. 

It will cause increased competition for resources, but at the same time it will elevate the playing field…..the quality of the game will be better and as a country we will benefit. 

At this moment, more than 17 CEO’s of the fortune 500 are foreign born immigrants. 

Baby recognizes that the illegal alien debate is a nuanced one ….but in the main, in the core values that America offers, we will suffer as a country if we wall out the brains, the passion, the drive, the innovation that has come and will continue to come from the wave of immigration that will continue to desire a place at the American table. 

And so, it leads to Baby Billionaire rule, #20 --- 

If a really big wave is coming, putting a finger in the dyke does nothing (nor does building a bigger wall). The lesson to be learned is how to surf the big wave and ride it all the way to your own successful and safe landing. 

The good news folks are you do not need to learn how to speak Mandarin, because by 2025, 89% of the Chinese who are now in school will speak English. They are taking the game to us and you better learn to love egg rolls and play pai gow. It is happening now –-and it is not a bad thing-- you can’t put your head in the sand and wish it away. 

What I want for Chanukah are Spanish language tapes……so I can work the room in Baja. 

Quiero conocer a todols los presentes which is Spanish for. 
“I want to get to know everyone here.” 



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<item>
<title>Risk - Do you take it or manage it?</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=40</link>
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<pubDate>Thursday, December 21, 2006 1:22:33 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[I have been doing a lot of thinking lately on the subject of risk….what it means, how to measure it, how to mitigate it, when to embrace it and when to shy away from it. 

I had this discussion with my class and a good proportion of the group said entrepreneurs are risk takers….and I countered that no they were not; in fact they were risk managers. Risk cannot be avoided, but it can be managed. And then I got to thinking about what is risk – how do you quantify it? 

Time Magazine recently ran a piece on why we worry about things we shouldn’t --- and they quoted a raft of statistics that prove that as a group we adult Americans get it wrong most of the time. We are more worried about e-coli than the morning heart attack….”We agonize over avian flu – which to date has killed precisely no one – but we resist getting our annual flu shot.” We screen little old ladies at the airport but we do not screen all the baggage in the hold of the airplane and we let thousands of containers enter our ports uninspected. And, of course, the list of our risk miscalculations goes on and on.. 

Nearly twice as many Americans commit suicide each year as are murdered and more than 10 times as many die from falling out of bed as die from lightning strikes, but we worry more about murder and lightning. 

So, as you can see, we don’t do a really great job of measuring risk on a mathematical level so the next question is, "How do we measure risk on a psychological level?" 

Paul Slovic, professor of psychology at the University of Oregon writes “Our perception of risk lives largely in our feelings, so most of the time we are reacting in an intuitive and automatic way” -- even though Dr. Slovic goes on to say that it is not the best way to manage risk. 

Now the risks that I have just mentioned are physical threats ---death, pain, cancer, car crash, etc…… what I want to look at are the risks to your business plan, the risks in your business judgment. 

As you know BB, one of my favorite writers is Daniel Kahneman, who won the Nobel prize in economics for his work on how people act. And his seminal premise is “People tend to act in their own perceived best self interest.” The problem, of course, is the word "perceived"…truth is, our perceptions often stink. 

Listen to dr. Cass Sunstein from the University of Chicago…he says “The more we dread, the more anxious we get, and thus the less precisely we calculate the actual odds of the event happening.” He calls this “probability neglect.” 

The way I characterize this is Baby’s Billionaire rule # 91 – it’s what you don’t know that you don’t know that will kill you.

I am running this little chip company right now and we are hot--we have action, VCs, strategic partners, everybody wants a piece of this sure-fire absolute winner. What I do is wake up every morning at 3 am, go to the bathroom and throw up --- worrying about what it is that I have not thought of…..what I have overlooked….what have I neglected….what risk I have not seen coming. 

Andy grove said it best…..”Only the paranoid survive.” But the hard part is knowing when the paranoia is appropriate and when in fact, you are just plain nuts...and then figuring out how to calculate what risks you can take. 

I learned chess when I was a kid – don’t get me wrong, I was never very good --- but it teaches you that each move has enormous ramifications 4 –5 –6 moves later…..in simple math 6 moves produces 720 potential variations or outcomes. 

Risk is another word for taking chances…..and not all people see it the same way….one of my most trusted assistants likes to skydive…..not my cup of tea…..another member of my team likes roller coasters……no way….the problem of thrill seeking versus risk management is probably less lethal in real life than it is in business. 

I have a favorite saying BB – more money is lost through neurotic behavior than is lost through bad business decisions. 

I believe that risk assessment and risk management are a true business strategy. There is a new book called risk intelligence, written by David Apgar who is a former Mckinsey consultant. What Apgar focuses on are “learnable risks” (not random risks)….the kind of risks that can kill your business. They involve customers, technologies, marketing strategies, supplier relationships, etc. 

He comes to the same conclusion that many students of entrepreneurship come to – it is a function of what Dr. Jeff Timmons from Babson calls the 50,000 chunks of knowledge. 

It turns out that increased risk intelligence is most predictive when you have the greatest set of training sets…..or said another way, the most experience and the best pattern recognition. For example, you have seen that configuration of the chess board 500 times and you know what the next 10 most advantageous moves will be. 

Apgar goes on to say “risk intelligence demands eternal vigilance.” 

I’m Neil Senturia and I work every day at trying to know what I don’t know….which is deeply different than trying to know what can’t be known. 




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<title>Mexican Sandwich?</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=39</link>
<enclosure url='http://imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=39' />
<pubDate>Thursday, December 14, 2006 4:14:30 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[It seems that Panera bread has a clause in its lease at the mall that prohibits the white city shopping center in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts from renting to another sandwich shop. And, since Gdoba Mexican Grill wants to locate in the same mall, Panera says that a burrito is a sandwich. 

The judge has ruled in the case – and in his words, the difference comes down to two slices of bread vs. A tortilla. 

And the winner is Gdoba…. 

Judge Locke, citing Webster’s Dictionary, wrote in his decision - a sandwich is not commonly understood to include burritos, tacos or quesadillas. Panera argued that a tortilla is bread and that when filled with rice and beans, it becomes a sandwich. Voila! 

You gotta love lawyers. Qdoba brought in experts from the USDA as well as famous culinary chefs. Panera brought in language experts to parse the definition of sandwich, going back to English history and the famous earl of sandwich who started this whole stupid argument. 

Observers in the courtroom had a sense of how the ruling might go, when they spotted the judge during his lunch break wolfing down two fish tacos in his chambers….. 

In the court of public opinion, how would you decide? 


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<title>Friendless...The Friendster Flop</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=38</link>
<enclosure url='http://imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=38' />
<pubDate>Thursday, December 07, 2006 3:02:14 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Today I want to tell a story about entrepreneurship and the risk one runs when you overlook the most basic of principles – namely customer service or in the case of the particular website in question – does the damn thing work?



So here is the story of Friendster.....with appropriate acknowledgement to Gary Rivlin of the New York Times who has chronicled this tale of arrogance, greed, stupidity and hubris....the four horsemen of the apocalypse when it comes to what is affectionately called web.2.0. 



Friendster, in case you are not young, hip and plugged in, is a website that links people in what is known as social networking....creating a site where users could browse profiles posted by friends and then friends of friends in search of dates and playmates etc.. 



It was started by Jonathan Abrams in 2002 and one year after he launched he was offered 30 million dollars in Google stock to sell the site to the Google (remember this was 2002). 



If he had taken the money, it would have done two things – aligned his website with a marketing powerhouse and it would have made him indecently rich, but it would not have done is make him famous in the valley....Silicon Valley where lots of people sell for 30 million – and maybe, just maybe Friendster was the billion dollar payoff......and Abrams wanted to grab the brass ring, not just wear a gold ring. 



Remember the baby always asks....do you want to be king or do you want to be rich? 



So Abrams was wined and dined by the biggest of the big in the VC world and he fell under their spell. Russ Sigelman from Kleiner Perkins, arguably the most famous venture firm in the world, offered to put up 10 million dollars and grow Friendster into the next Yahoo. 



The fatal flaw in this deal will prove to be a combination of overreaching coupled with the simplest of lessons to be learned.....the website didn’t work. 



The case of Friendster’s fall from grace has attracted much discussion and analysis, even to the point where it is used by a Harvard Business School professor in a case study.....professor Piskorski says “It is a power story, it is a status story...it is an ego story.. ...they had talent and they had connections but somehow they managed to piss it all away..." 



The site was started for a simple reason – Jonathan Abrams wanted to meet girls. 



And in the beginning , March 2003, Friendster was the hottest site on the Internet. It had 3 million registered users in 5 months. He was so hot that he had a guest appearance on Jimmey Kimmel Live. 



Now you have to understand Silicon Valley.....being on late night television was better than a Porsche 911.....because everyone could buy a Porsche. 



Like Lear and Hamlet and Macbeth, Mr. Abrams had a tragic flaw.....he was arrogant....and he was very interested in the social scene, beautiful models and private clubs. 



But the website didn’t really work....it was slow.....it was clunky..... 



Can you hear the echo from all the previous entrepreneurs who walked on that road – make sure the customer experience is a good one.....make sure the website works! 



He had a nice little company when he started, but the sirens of the valley kept singing to him. They kept whispering that you could be big, really big....like Netscape or Yahoo or Google...... 



So he took the VC money and built a board of directors of the "who’s who" of Silicon Valley.....all monsters, killers who had taken little ideas and made them really big......but in this case, they were all white guys in their 50’s: all guys who didn’t social network, all guys who didn’t use the site, all guys who were totally wrong for the customer that Abrams was seeking to attract.



So what we have here is a classic example of a young entrepreneur who gets pushed around and ultimately pushed out by big shots who have been there and done that and therefore know more than he does – except that they had not been there done that – because this whole social network thing is driven by young people for young people and old farts like me BB, we simply do not get it. 



The dynamic of these social networking sites is fluid and amorphous and depends a great deal on buzz, synchronicity and momentum. 



If you upset the flow, the whole thing comes tumbling down. And oh, by the way, the website needs to work. 



And so we come to the denouement of the story.....Abrams continued to be pressured to grow fast, move into China, Japan and Germany....maybe add VOIP to the site.....increase advertising ....but while the fancy board debated the latest move from Yahoo or Google, the website continued to be very, very slow. 



It was easy for the board to plot strategy and contemplate the millions to be reaped, but the boys in the back room had a site that didn’t really work. 



And one thing about the social networking community – they are impatient and speed is everything.....in other words, lack of speed kills. 



Eventually, as is always the case, the board fired Abrams....he was out – his baby had been taken away from him and he was on virtual VC welfare. He was an owner but no longer a doer, no longer a decision maker......he was dead man walking. 



The company then went through 4 more CEO’s in 18 months......and then the competitors arrived.....like Myspace and You Tube. 



And then comes the infamous crash and burn.....Friendster had picked a closed system...users at Friendster could view only profiles of those on a relatively short chain of acquaintances......by contrast Myspace was the wild wild west ....the inmates ruled the prison and both the guards and the convicts liked it that way. 



Today, Myspace has 50 times more visitors than Friendster.....Friendster has twice almost run out of money...and is being kept alive by the two VC’s who lured Abrams into the deal in the first place.....and when the VC’s tried to sell Friendster – hoping to cash in like You Tube when it sold for 1.6 billion dollars to Rupert Murdoch.....they found to their dismay that they could not even get 20 million dollars for it, having already put more than that into the deal. 



There was a moment in time when Abrams could have sold (the stock he was offered in Google would have been worth slightly less than 1 billion dollars today) but he would only have been rich....he would not have been king.....he wore the crown for a while, but it was a very expensive reign. 



Friendster is a great story of dreams denied by arrogance, greed, not knowing your customer, believing the gold plated resumes of the investors instead of the users....and finally, the pain of seeing a potentially multi billion dollar company reduced to rubble – because after all is said and done the site didn’t work. It was a lousy, slow experience. 



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<title>A dying wish...designer coffins</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=37</link>
<enclosure url='http://imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=37' />
<pubDate>Thursday, December 07, 2006 10:24:48 AM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[The second idea of the week….a truly entrepreneurial product inspired by the death of a loved one….. 

Let’s meet one Andreas Spiegel, who lives in Cologne, Germany--- well, Andreas’ father died in 2000 and when the son went looking for a coffin he was disappointed to find that there were no contemporary designs…..coffins have been pretty much the same for the last 4-5 thousand years….. 

Andreas’ own words: “I did not feel there was anything appropriate for my father who was a design- and art- loving guy.”

Wood and metal have been the basic materials of choice for coffins – but they do not lend themselves to more adventurous shapes……think of a kayak instead of a rectangular box…..there was no swoop in the coffins of the past….. 

So Andreas took an irrefutably large market ------- everyone dies --- and married it to a contemporary design and voila --- he created the cocoon……a semi void – invasion of the body snatchers pod, with appropriate psychological invocations to life and death and rebirth – and made it out of a natural resin so that it would decompose in 10 – 15 years…..you know dust to dust etc….. 

And thus an entrepreneurial adventure was born……. 

And so once again Baby celebrates the brainstorm, the stroke of lightning, the epiphany, the clear vision --- which as so often is the case springs from a real world problem that someone is trying to solve….. 

Dad would not be happy in the old pine box…..so have you got something from Roche Bobois or design within reach…... 

From a business perspective the leap of faith the entrepreneur makes at this point is that the solution for one will translate into the solution for many…... 

So far the jury is out…. 

Andreas has sold about 100 of them…mostly in Germany… they cost approximately 3500 dollars and you can get one from his website – www.uono.de. Unfortunately getting one to the United States takes 3 weeks, so you need to do a bit of advance planning here in anticipation of a death….. 

But that is merely a minor problem for the supply chain management gurus…... 

You gotta love it --- finally high style has come to the funeral business…. 

Live fast, die young and leave a beautiful corpse – and in this case, a really beautiful coffin….. 

BB – that brings us to Baby’s billionaire rule 82 --- just because it’s a business that people are dying to get into – doesn’t necessarily mean that you will have a lot of paying customers… 

I’m Neil Senturia and if I’m going to roll over in my grave, this is definitely the way to do it…..

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<title>Fueling the fires</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=36</link>
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<pubDate>Thursday, December 07, 2006 10:24:25 AM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Every once in a while, Baby checks in with the billionaire update……what are the fellows with the really big money really like?

Well today, we feature Philip Anschutz, billionaire out of Denver. Phil is number 66 on the Forbes 400 weighing in with just a bit under 6 billion dollars. 

He grew up in Kansas – and graduated from the University of Kansas with a degree in business…. 

No, folks, he does not have an MBA from Harvard…..he has no MBA from anywhere……but what he did have was good genes….as in his dad and grandad….seems dad invested in ranches in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming when land was cheap and now it is dear….. 

And his granddad started the Farmers State Bank in Russell, Kansas…..and you all know that banking, done right, is a license to print money….I was going to say a license to steal but some of baby’s sponsors are banks…… 

At any rate, young Phil, a devout Christian, met his wife Nancy when he was 16, married her a few years later and they are still together….. 

Here we have baby billionaire rule no. 402 – divorce can be detrimental to the accumulation of wealth……and bitter divorce is the equivalent of taking dollar bills and putting them in the shredding machine to make packing material so you can send your ex the old Spode dishes she wants back because aunt Tilly brought them over from mother Russia --- 

So, Phil is an intensely private individual – Baby called him but he did not feel inclined to give an interview….. 

Some of his deals are legendary…..herewith a few courtesy of Wikipedia and the LA Times…. 

1. On October 9, 1967 one of Phil’s oil wells blew up – he was 27 at the time and he awoke in the middle of the night, got on an airplane and flew to the oil field…..what he saw was oil spewing all over the drilling rig……while his crew tried to cap it, he raced around the town of Gillete, Wyoming where his well was and started buying up leases…….his quote: “I had a lot of concern as to how I was going to pay for the leases I had just bought, since at the time I did not have any money.” 

So, after a few days, Phil flew back home to Denver, only to find when he got there that a spark from a pump truck had ignited his well and there was one very large fire raging out of control…….. 

Phil called Red Adair, the legendary oil well firefighter and convinced him to take the case…..and then he flew back to the well…. 

Now the story gets really good – I mean you do not become a billionaire buying t-bills and working for the man….and you don’t become one by following all the rules all the time…..young Phil was the master of carpe diem….and so he did some carpe-ing…. 

It seems he had a partner, one Jeff Hawkes, Phil wanted to buy him out…….so they had a meeting – while the fire is raging --- I mean you have this image of two guys drinking whiskey trying to make a deal while in the background Red Adair is dropping water and foam on an oil fire and trying to blow the thing out…… 

the deal was simple….Phil would bear all the risks of paying Red Adair – no mean risk – it could have been millions – and in exchange Jeff would give his 1/8 interest back to Phil…. 

This is what the baby calls seizing the moment and seeing what could be-- rather than what is….. 

While Red Adair was battling the fire – which took almost 2 weeks, Phil went around and raised money to pay for the leases he had acquired ….and then fortune smiled again…..Universal was making a movie with John Wayne called Hellfighers about putting out oil fires…..so he made a deal with Universal to give him 100,000 dollars to film the fire…… 

You gotta love this guy…..a well blows up, instead of worrying about capping it, he goes around buying more leases while the oil is spewing everywhere. Then the well explodes and there is a fire….he uses the fire to buy out his partners, raises money to pay for the leases and then sells rights to universal to film the fire which Red Adair is trying like hell to put out. I mean this guy sold the onion, the skin, the juice and the smell……awesome….. 

But here are Anschutz’s own words –“I subsequently made a lot of money off the oil…….and there is always a point that if you go forward you win….sometimes you win it all….but if go back, you lose everything and that was that point for me.” 

Phil played hard ball in his business dealings…..they say that he was mostly fair, but he has had more than his share of litigation……it is tough to pile up a billion without a fair amount of sharp elbows…. 

Still -there are other stories that define Phil Anschutz…..he has given away millions to charity, he has built stadiums and bought and sold sports teams…… 

Phil Anschutz made two more fortunes-- one in railroads and one in telecom….those stories for another day….. 

But for now, the baby billionaire book rule today is no. 387 --- where some people see disaster, the entrepreneur can sometimes see opportunity and to quote Anschutz, “there is always a point where if you go forward, you win.” 

I’m Neil Senturia --- and I’ll be back right after I put out this grease fire in my kitchen…


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<title>Caffeine cuts the fat</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=35</link>
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<pubDate>Thursday, December 07, 2006 10:24:04 AM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[I’m there for you baby scours the world looking for the I wish I had thought of that idea idea…… 

First up is Palmer’s cellulite reducing caffeinated panty hose…..yes, you too can have thinner thighs in seven days by wrapping your legs in saturated coffee caffeine panty hose…… 

The panty hose is impregnated with caffeine and your body heat activates the fabric ---- 

Ssure enough, it seems that caffeine works well on the appearance of cellulite…..the product’s sole distributor is www.tightsplease.com in England……the price – 50 bucks for 3 pairs…..I wonder if the decaffeinated version makes your thighs bigger…… 

So there you have it -- one more nail in the coffin of people’s desire to get good benefits without any effort….

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<title>Berried by the boss</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=34</link>
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<pubDate>Thursday, December 07, 2006 10:23:41 AM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[We have a slowing economy….we have a corporate culture of greed and corruption…..we have a diminishing middle class and a rise in the gap between rich and poor ---- 

We are a country in search of a new entrepreneurial spirit --- a spirit enhanced and enabled by the rise of technology……we are a wired world and we are a flat world and we have to compete in a global environment…. 

No longer will there be the cushy pensions of general motors negotiated by short sighted union leaders waiting to comfort the soft landing when you retire with a gold watch…..as a matter of fact, we will be lucky if there is even a general motors in 10 years……Toyota has already eaten their lunch and is now preparing to eat their dinner as well…. 

And so as the American worker seeks to improve his personal lot in life – along comes a new roadblock – this one erected by none other than the pencil neck legal eagles of the litigation species…. 

Here we go BB --- 

You know that the Blackberry patent infringement case was recently settled for 612 million dollars, and don’t get me started on patent trolls --- but more to the point – it is the Blackberry and the PDA and the cell phone and the laptop that have raised the efficiency of American workers…and that has contributed to the increase in corporate profits which are currently being enjoyed by the Fortune 500… 

And it is true that there have been many articles discussing the fact that many workers are wired up – available 24 -7 …..these devices allow the worker to be more effective and more efficient… 

But litigation looms --- “It is naïve to think that giving a Blackberry or PDA or cell phone to a non-exempt employee won’t lend itself to them saying they are doing work after hours” – said Jeremy Roth, an employment attorney in San Diego with the office of little Mendelson….. 

In other words, the lawyers want to make sure that the non-exempt worker --- who has access to these devices – gets paid for overtime…….in theory – if they are on call 24 – 7…then they should be paid for 24 hours per day…. 

Gimmmmmmmme a break…… 

First, let me explain the issue carefully….a non exempt worker is an hourly worker….an exempt employee is a salaried worker who does not qualify for overtime….he is not paid hourly…. 

But consider the argument…..if you are an hourly worker and you want to increase your output….efficiency, effectiveness – in other words, if you want to do a good job for your employer --- then you shoould have access to the exact tools that will make you a better employee and in theory help you rise through the ranks to be come an exempt employee…..not an hourly wage worker…. 

In other words, in an effort to better yourself, you expose your employer to a lawsuit – and in fact there is now a case where a work claims that the Blackberry made me do it….24-7…. 

I teach entrepreneurs and I invest in young companies – and the single most important quality I look for – the absolute key component in the founder is both the desire and the ability to walk through walls….. 

Entrepreneurs do not count hours…… 

Listen to Roth --- “Doing work and responding to work questions off hours – those are work hours no different than taking a call at home or stopping into the office at night….” 

So --now managers are being encouraged to tell their hourly workers to turn off their Blackberrys and phones and PDA as well turn off their brains when they leave work. 

How the fuck can America compete in the global economy when we fear litigation over being crushed to death by the Chinese, the Japanese, the Germans, the Indians, the Koreans…. 

I assure you – there is no lawyer in any of those countries filing a class action lawsuit against employers who are providing equipment designed to improve output and efficiency…. 

Have we finally become a country run by the lawyers…….which as a single group have contributed dubiously to the success of this country. Washington did not have a lawyer when he was crossing the Delaware advising him that 

a. The rowers get a 10 minute break every hour 

b. If he pees or throws a sandwich into the water, he may be liable to the epa for pollution 

c. If the boat is not us coast guard approved, he could be liable for people drowning 

d. If he does not get across by 5 pm, he owes the boys overtime…… 

What has happened to this country….. 

The solution advanced by the legal eagles is a simple one --- tell the worker to never check his email or phone or even think about work after he punches out on the time clock… 

as the lawyer notes – there is nothing wrong with someone working at home at night --- but if they are, you need to pay them…. 

So, if you build a culture that will walk through walls to win, where people are focused on the goal, where yes, there is the 24-7 mentality……then you are likely to be the recipient of the Crackberry addiction lawsuit…. 

I am not a slave driver….I get it…..but the dark, rotten part of this legal sham is the it is the hourly workers who want the technology to advance….who want to make their mark….who want to go from non-exempt to exempt…. 

The legal argument that 24-7 is an abuse of an employee is a ruse……yes, there may be cases where it needs to be curbed.…..and no one is really on call 24-7…….but the truth is – I see it as another way for the legal tort litigation community – under the guise of class action protection of the little guy – are really simply looking for another way to sap the creative, vibrant, entrepreneurial desire to get ahead ----and in the process extract millions in settlements and fees from the American economy….. Which leads to Baby billionaire rule # 129 -- 

Life is 24-7 and the entrepreneurial mind set is never rewarded on an hourly basis --- 

I’m Neil Senturia --- and I come from the Vince Lombardi school of creating value…… 


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<title>Baron Von Busted</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=33</link>
<enclosure url='http://imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=33' />
<pubDate>Thursday, December 07, 2006 10:23:18 AM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Today we revisit one of our most beloved features – the crook of the week…….it has been a good week or two my dear…..and so today we look at two crooks….. 

Our cup runneth over with crooks it seems… 

Let’s meet Conrad Moffat Black, Baron Black of Cross Harbour --- first off folks, the baby has a simple rule of thumb….don’t do business with people who have lord or baron as their first name --- and equally beware if your business dealings are with someone who is a third or fourth……a junior might be OK….but Bob Smith III is a sure recipe for trouble….. 

So back to black…..it seems the Baron was born into a wealthy Canadian family….and of course, in clear violation of Baby’s rule of know when enough is enough, he managed to parlay his station in life into becoming the chief executive of Hollinger international – which owned a shitload of stuff including 40 newspapers…..he and his wife Barbara were society doyennes…..big shots….had it all --- we have heard this story more than once…. 

Then Baron Black – got afflicted with black heart’s disease….now black lung disease is what miners get – but black heart’s disease is when you get confused and you think you need more --- and more….. 

The Baron is accused of stealing 62 million from his worker’s pension fund over the past 20 years…. 

And in December of 2005, the feds sued him for 92 million that he stole using money laundering and wire fraud….. 

And in total the sec and the US attorney and his former company Hollinger together are seeking 1.5 billion from Lord Tubby as he is known to his pals….. 

At the moment, however, the baron is awaiting trial and living in his mansion in Toronto….he has sold the jet, the three extra houses, the art, the Rolls Royces --- in other words, the Baron is not as baronial as he once was…..and his two top lieutenants have made a deal with the prosecutors to testify against him….which pretty much insures that he is looking at going from the mansion to the slammer sometime in the next couple of years… 

Baby ‘s billionaire rule on this one is no. 98 --- with regards to peerage, it’s ok’s to do business with sirs – like Sir John Elton or Sir Paul Mc Cartney or Sir Laurence Olivier…...but beware of Baron’s, kings and emperors… 

But I promised you two crooks and two it shall be --- 

The other is a more modest version ---it is the former vice chairman of Wal Mart stores….one Thomas M. Coughlin – who has pleaded guilty to stealing money, merchandise and gift cards from his employer….. 

Grab your ankles folks….the vice chairman of Wal Mart was stealing gift cards --------- what was this guy thinking --- I mean he is pulling down 1 million a year in salary and he is stealing happy birthday cards from the aisles….. 

He is accused of stealing in excess of 500,000 dollars worth of merchandise over 7 years…..how many gift cards can you send in one year……? 

This is a guy who should be shopping at Saks or Neiman Marcus and he is stealing from Wal Mart……how many pair of cheap jeans can one guy wear….. 

He ought to be prosecuted for bad taste instead of thievery….. 

Now here we go folks….another ankle grabber……now Mr. Coughlin has apologized……I love it – that’s my favorite….like guilty with an explanation….says he is sorry…..shit yes.….sorry he got caught….. 

And then to avoid prison, his doc tells the court that he has pulmonary hypertension, diabetes and sleep apnea…..let me tell you when bubba comes calling, that’s when you really get hypertension….. 

He not only stole gift cards, but he also admitted defrauding his employer for the care of his hunting dogs, snake skin boots, leasing a private hunting area, upgrades to his pickup truck……I have no idea what that was – maybe mag wheels on the old Ford 250….and an ice cooler….. 

This guy is stealing a cooler so he can go out in his boots in his pickup with his hunting dog and shoot something…. 

Where is Dick Cheney when you need him…. 

P.S. his paycheck last year was 1.03 million and he got 3 million in bonus stock options….and his net worth was in excess of 20 million in Wal Mart stock….. 

What can I say – this guy was the vice chairman of a Fortune 500 company.…..and now he is serving 27 months of house detention plus has to pay back 411,000 dollars…... 

But his real disease isn’t diabetes or pulmonary whatever --- his real disease is the old ----- he didn’t have enough disease……..the he needed more disease… 

And folks, there is no cure for that one…. 

This is Dr. Senturia, take two Aspirin and call me in the morning ….

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<title>Any college will do</title>
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<pubDate>Thursday, December 07, 2006 10:22:57 AM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Well, BB, this week the Baby has been thinking about college……as you know, we just got back from your fifth college reunion as a graduate of the Harvard business school --- ok, my dove….maybe it wasn’t your fifth…..maybe I had just had a fifth to drink and it was really your 30th….but no matter…..the fact is that you got in and you got out…..and here you are happily married and successful. The question is – how important is graduate business school? Do entrepreneurs need to get an MBA and what is the correlation, if any, between entrepreneurship, graduate MBAs and the Ivy League as predictions of future success…. 



And so, some interesting statistics and stories have emerged in the past few weeks…… 



A recent lead article in the Wall Street Journal announces “any college will do” and what the study shows is that getting to the corner office has more to do with leadership talent and a drive for success – what I call relentless pursuit – than it does with having an undergraduate degree from a prestigious university…. 



It goes on -- most CEOs of the biggest corporations did not attend an Ivy League school…or even a highly prestigious one….they mostly went to state universities, both big and small --- or to lesser known smaller private universities….. 



Going to Harvard, Yale, Princeton, or Penn does not really grease the skids to the chief executive slot --- herewith some examples… CEO Lee Scott of Wal mart went to Pittsburgh State University in Kansas……don’t ask me about the name confusion….maybe Dorothy doesn’t really know Kansas from Pittsburgh ---- Intel – a 118 billion dollar company, has a COO from the University of san Francisco….and Costco CEO James Sinegal went to san Diego state university….. 



I teach at SDSU --- and the question I ask myself – if a future Jim Sinegal is in my class, will I know it…. 



Here is some more comfort for those of us who aspire but did not achieve in academia……to quote Warren Buffet, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, and second richest person in the world - who himself graduated from the university of Nebraska at Lincoln……says “ I don’t care where someone went to school and that never caused me to hire anyone or buy a business.” 



Which only goes to confirm the baby billionaire rule no. 112 --- grand passion will take you further than good grades….” 



Buffet goes on to say that what counts most in CEOs is the person’s capacity to seize opportunities……and to form teams and mix with students from diverse backgrounds….. 



Take a look at Bill Green, CEO of Accenture, who attended Dean - a two year community college – where he says teachers were available and he learned to think analytically and work with people…. 



Real regular stuff and now Green heads a company with 135,000 employees…….I could go on and on….the lesson is a simple one…. 



Now, let’s take a look at the graduate level – the infamous MBA….. 



First, let’s revisit Mr. Buffet’s resume….after completing college in Nebraska, at his father’s urging, he applied to Harvard business school -- and was promptly turned down as being too young…. 



Next, what I would like to focus on is how recruiters view the various top business schools…..recruiters, as you know….those are the guys who come to the campus and actually offer you a job…… 



Michigan was number one….recruiters talk about a strong commitment to ethics and corporate social responsibility at Michigan …. 



Then there is Dartmouth ---- followed by Carnegie Mellon – but no Wharton or Stanford or Harvard yet….in fact they rank 7th, 14th and 18th respectively…. 



And why do the top academic schools rank lower from the recruiters standpoint – quote “While recognizing the brainpower of the students and faculty at those top 3 schools, nonetheless recruiters complain that they often find graduates there to be more arrogant and less collegial than MBAs from other schools.” 



The recruiters --- remember those are the guys who actually do the hiring – picked their top schools based on how they value the student’s interpersonal and communication skills…teamwork orientation, personal ethics and integrity, and work ethic…. 



Well there you have it……the entrepreneur’s guide to the galaxy does not necessarily run through the super nova of the prestigious schools alone….. 



There are many paths to success, to the corner office and to greatness….. 



So -if you happen to miss the big dipper or the north star, non problemas…..you can always hitch a ride on algenib in perseus ….or the crab nebula… 



I’m Neil Senturia, and when it comes to a ride through the galaxy, I want to eat a Milky Way, avoid the black hole and take a ride on the Big Bang Theory…..


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<title>Mr. &amp; Mrs. Buffetts' no frills wedding</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=31</link>
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<pubDate>Thursday, December 07, 2006 10:22:33 AM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[As you know one of the Baby’s features is the billionaire update and today we have a small one – with interesting implications….. 

It seems that Mr. Warren Buffett, America’s second wealthiest man, has decided to get married…..for the second time…. 

Now, let’s pause a moment and recall a recent best selling book which is called the millionaire next door – its premise is a simple one --- save your money, don’t buy too many luxury items, live frugally and if you happened to buy Google when it went public, all will work out just fine…. 

But its key theme is frugality……if you are one of the Joneses, what’s the point of trying to keep up with yourself…. 

And so we have Mr. Buffett, 60, marrying his long time companion, Astrid Menks…… 

Now pay close attention all of you red state neo con moral majority American values church loving souls --- old Warren has been having a relationship with Ms. Menks for 20 years…..yes, that’s right – even during his marriage to his first wife, Ms. Susan Buffett – she died in 2004, but this relationship with Ms. Menks was not some sordid affair in cheap motels…..nor was it a sordid affair at the four seasons….Ms. Buffett thought it was just fine with her….she knew and approved of the relationship…. 

Now let me point out that during the last 20 years of Buffett’s bliss --- married in name, but not romantically involved with his wife – his company, Berkshire Hathaway has had one of its best periods….averaging over 19% annual rates of return……. 

Investors all over the world – now hear this --- the guy was really happy --- and he made several billion dollars for himself and his investors….. 

Before we analyze the Buffett wedding, let’s think back on two of the more colorful characters in the past year and how they celebrated one of life’s big events…. 

..like Ken Lay who spent 2 million of company money on his wife’s Roman Bacchanal birthday party ….or the wedding of my favorite character – the Donald…..the Trumpster dropped over 1 million on his wedding to Melanie Knauss, not including a 1.5 million dollar Graff wedding ring…..the centerpieces used over 10,000 flowers and cost $1000 a piece … 

So back to good old Warren…..while he gives off the image of a homespun fellow – he weighs in against corporate greed, fat paychecks for CEOs and is in favor of the old buy and hold syndrome…. 

But in his personal life, he is certainly a bit less conventional….his first wife, Susan, left the family home in Omaha in the 1970’s after raising the 3 children and she moved to San Francisco….. 

The three of them met when Susan was singing at a local restaurant and Ms. Menks was the hostess…..Susan was the one who introduced Astrid to Warren and encouraged her to take care of him…… 

You gotta love America……there in the heartland, Omaha, Nebraska, the greatest investor in history was having his own Peyton place moment…… 

Here is why he is a billionaire – and also the secret to a long successful relationship --- just like the one I have with the BB --- 

They are both known for their frugality…..he hunts for bargain stocks…..she shops in thrift stores for her clothing….. 

And so Warren decided to tie the knot as follows…… 

He bought a ring for Astrid from Borsheims Fine Jewelry in Omaha – no Harry Winston for our boy --- and of course Borsheims is owned by Berkshire Hathaway….. 

Warren did get the employee discount on the ring…..they had a 15 minutes ceremony with a local judge and then went to celebrate by having dinner at the Bonefish Grill …. 

Folks, you gotta love this story……an iconoclastic investor in an unconventional relationship with his wife and lover couple with an abiding affirmation in the value of personal frugality…. 

It’s for sure that Astrid Menks didn’t marry him for his money….after all, he had just given 40 billion to the bill and Melinda gates foundation…. 

The only question unanswered is whether or not they had a pre- nup…. 

But either way, this leads us to the Baby billionaire rule # 102 ---a happy investor is a happy investor…..but beyond that, you’re on your own….. 

So BB--- did you marry me for my money?

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<title>"I wish I had thought of that idea" idea: Hot Wheels for wheelchairs</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=30</link>
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<pubDate>Thursday, December 07, 2006 10:22:14 AM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[One of the regular features of I’m there for you baby is the section known as the I wish I had thought of that idea idea…..and today the idea that baby is going to think about is wheelchairs and cars….. 

Or more accurately, I am going to introduce you to a simply brilliant idea developed by Kenguru in Hungary…..and I am going to show you its relation to what is known as the long tail market – a concept first written about by Chris Anderson, an editor at Wired Magazine….. 

First the idea --- if you are disabled and use a wheelchair you are very familiar with the half dozen devices that attach to your car to store the chair or lift you up into the car…these include the auto chair, the Milford person lift, the Caroni system etc……but all of these take as a given the modification of the basic American car structure……you know 4 wheels, 4 doors and a front and a back…. 

But the boys in Hungary had a new idea…..instead of thinking about the chair, they decided to think about the car…. 

And they came up with the Kenguru which looks like this --- imagine any car and now cut it in half…..and then make a simple ramp so that the wheel chair and driver can simply wheel themselves up into position in front of the steering wheel and then imagine that the back of the car closes up neatly just like you were loading a c- 130 transport plane……. 

The car’s interior space has no front seat…just a space built to house the driver’s own wheelchair…he locks into place and the controls are operated with a simple joystick. 

When the driver and his chair are comfortably in position, the back of the car flops down and off you go….. 

In addition, it is environmentally respectful…it is an electric car and gets 35 miles to a charge and goes up to about 30 mph…..not suitable for the freeway, buy imagine the mobility and independence it affords the wheelchair bound person…..and at a reasonable price-- $12,500. 

The key word there being independence….. 

It is not an SUV designed for taking an entire family to the beach….it is a one person car for someone in a wheelchair…… 

What is brilliant is that the device starts by thinking about the wheelchair and its driver not about the car……in other words, they modified the car to fit the driver….not the other way around….. 

That is a characteristic of the entrepreneur ……being willing to think about something in a totally different way…. In addition, what is impressive about this idea is how it relates to what is called the long tail….. 

The long tail says that there is a market not only for the product or service that is consumed by millions of people….but in fact there is also a market for the very small number of people who might want something obscure --- and the premise rests on, of course, the web……if you can make available a download of a song or a video that only 21 people want to listen to or see --- you can still make money – as long as your cost to provide this is low…..the Internet and the download work perfectly for media…. 

The question to ponder is this --- is there such a thing as long tail manufacturing? In other words, is there a way to reach a comparatively small market – the disabled in wheelchairs – in a way that is responsive to their needs and still cost effective….. 

We can explore long tail on another segment…..but for today, the baby says bravo to the Kenguru – which is clearly this weeks I wish I had thought of that idea idea……. 

What do you think BB…?


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<title>Did you hear me? Is God turning high tech?</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=29</link>
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<pubDate>Thursday, December 07, 2006 10:21:48 AM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[BB --- as you know the next big digital tsunami being discussed is the delivery of content onto your cell phone…. 

The cell phone revolution claims that your phone will be your connection to the entire world……you can download ring tones, check stocks, send email, buy junk on the Internet, watch stupid clips from stupid television shows and generally use your cell phone like a pc….. 

So what’s next --- 

BB – OK, I’ll bite – what’s next? 

God on your cell phone……yes, folks, someone has figured out that in our harried, busy, no time for religion, neo con, religious right and left world ---- what Americans need is god on the cell phone…. 

And Christopher Chisholm, a TV exec turned Evangelist, is here to meet the demand --- he has started faith mobile…..which for 5.95 per month will send you a daily Bible verse to your phone……sort of Godcasts to go….pick a topic and the almighty will fire a few words down to you…… 

No need to go to church….no need to actually read the bible, no need to wear nice clothes on Sunday or if you are Jewish make that Saturday……nope….all you need is Verizon or Cingular and he is there for you baby….. 

The daily word from on high……digital spirituality…. 

I am afraid I am sounding like a luddite….are we reduced to god on the iPod…. 

Barbara – …..but is nothing sacred?

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<title>'Musseling' customers brings them back</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=28</link>
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<pubDate>Thursday, December 07, 2006 10:21:21 AM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[For those of you who follow I’m there for you baby regularly, you know that the Baby is pretty wound on the subject of customer service which is rule no. 289 in the Baby’s book on becoming a billionaire…..and a few weeks ago I told a story – the moral of which was painfully simple….a local sports club lost out on 14,000 dollars because they insisted on charging 25 dollars for a duplicate admission card….



Well, we got emails and blogs on this – which has prompted me to tell a follow up story….



Me and the baby sitter went to dinner recently…this is a restaurant we eat at often – called Gemelli Italian Grill near Balboa Park…..we love the restaurant and the owner, Vince Busaclachi has never served us a bad meal……



Well the odds finally caught up a little….I ordered mussels, they weren’t very good and didn’t seem fresh…..I ate one and politely – key word here is politely --- sent them back – and told them no big deal, I did not need them to replace the order….just let it slide…. 



The waiter came back in 2 minutes and said that he understood what I said, but that the chef was deeply disturbed…..and insisted….insisted on making another batch as well as taking it off the bill….. 



The second serving of mussels was perfect….the baby sitter and I ate them all…..and the item did not appear on the bill…. 



We left a giant tip and assured the owner on the way out that we would be back frequently….. 



Simple story, customer service….nothing unique ---- one extra order of mussels at a cost to the restaurant of about 5 dollars…..assures that we will be back 15 more times, spending 100 dollars each time for dinner and wine…. 



Sometimes customer service is nothing more than simple math…. 



I’m Neil Senturia, and this is I’m There for You Baby, the Entrepreneur’s Guide to the Galaxy….

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<title>Get real: Madison Avenue can't fool you</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=27</link>
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<pubDate>Thursday, December 07, 2006 4:11:58 AM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[I’m Neil Senturia, the host of I’m There for You Baby and I am wound up on the subject of reality television, reality adventures and reality product placements…. 

Because none of them are reality at all…..they are all fake…f-a-k-e --- FAKE

The media and Madison Avenue want to try to convince you that they should be the architect of your vision rather than you—yourself. 

And that you the consumer are so fucking dumb that you think that by wearing Angelina Jolie’s underwear– if she wears any – you are going to get admitted to the most private dance clubs or whatever Ms. Jolie does when she is not doing nothing….. 

Do they really believe that we are that stupid? 

The latest two entries in this totally misplaced allocation of resources is Ford and Jaguar…. 

Ford is running ads with a picture of Taylor Hicks smiling – Mr. Hicks is this year’s winner of American Idol…..and the assumption is that if you buy a Ford, you will be an American Idol also…? 

What are they smoking….how absolutely brainless do they think the American buying public is…..it is an insult…..what the hell does Mr. Hicks know about cars….this guy never even owned a car until he won…..he rode the bus ! 

And now he is an expert on performance, mileage and duel overhead turbo camshafts….give me a break… 

And as if one stupid car company is not enough, today we find that Jaguar has a new reality based ad…..they gave a fancy XK car to one Nico Bossi.…..no, this guy is not a good fellow…this guy is just handsome….he is 27 years old a native of Rome who is good looking and is sort of a fake jet setter who goes around Manhattan eating at the restaurants you can’t get into at which a meal for two is 800 dollars…..or he is dancing at clubs you can’t get into and having bottle service with Veuve at 600 per bottle……and the ads always show the car in the background….. 

So the deal is we think this is reality --- and that we can have this reality if we buy the car……who the fuck wants that reality….? 

The plan Ford has is called reality product placement……Jaguar gives him the car for free….and Mr. Bossi goes about his jet set lifestyle in it…. 

If he was such a jet setter, he would have a driver…….where the hell do you park a Jaguar in Soho……the parking tickets cost more than the champagne…. 

The Jaguar ad focuses on the word “gorgeous.” They say gorgeous makes effort look effortless….” 

Give me a break…..I’m There for You Baby is about taking control of your life…..not about fantasy football……no effort is effortless…..and thus we come to baby billionaire book rule no. 192. Maximum effort properly applied equals results ---- effort is not effortless….effort is effort….. 

Jaguar goes on to say that their campaign is “about people seeing nico and the car and wanting to be part of that.” 

If you want to be part of that – get a job or even better, start your own company……but Jaguar pleeeeeeese ----- haven’t we had enough of the beautiful people who do nothing – with their seemingly unlimited amounts of time and money……what are you selling --- ? 

You and Nico are selling crap….you are selling the decline and fall of the Roman empire……you are selling false dreams and lies….you are giving hypodermics to recovering addicts….. 

Jaguar goes on to say that its quintessential buyer is a gray haired white man who belongs to a country club and who remembers the brand from the glory days ------- 

That man does not exist any more….he is irrelevant…welcome to the new America where innovators will eat your lunch, where passion will take you further than good grades….where excellence trumps the old school tie….where performance is the only merit that counts.… 

Mr. Bossi and his custom shirts, his 14 dollar martinis, his Valentino suit, and his 400 dollar sun glasses is an anachronism…..he is a dinosaur…… 

Jaguar has bet on the wrong horse ---- that market is small and dying……. 

The new world order will belong to the innovator…..and she will drive a hybrid that gets 40 miles to the gallon and make her own decisions about her life style without being influenced by someone else’s imagined invented fantastical un-reality…..because the only reality that matters is your own… 

I’m Neil Senturia and I have never owned a Jaguar and never will……
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<title>Billionaire update: Warren Buffet loses his ego to win results</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=26</link>
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<pubDate>Thursday, December 07, 2006 4:10:26 AM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[I’m There for You Baby celebrates entrepreneurship and being the architect of your own vision for your life…. 

And today we have the billionaire update…..and the billionaire this week is none other than Warren Buffett who recently gave away a small charitable gift of 31 billion dollars…. 

As many of you know, warren is the second richest man in the world…….and the gift is indeed sizeable….actually it is gargantuan….. 



But what is more remarkable than the gift is who he gave it to ---- 

Namely Bill Gates, who is the first richest person in the world….. 

You absolutely have to love Warren’s logic….listen to his own words….”I have learned to adapt to other managers.” 

The world’s most successful stock picker has been betting on other managers for the past 38 years and has piled over 40 billion for himself and if you were the beneficiary of having owned his company stock, Berkshire Hathaway over the past 25 years, you too would be able to be charitable and give some money away….the compounded rate of return for Berkshire is over 17 % per year over that time period…. 

And what Warren did was pick the best manager he could find – Bill Gates, who runs his own charitable foundation that is currently worth about 30 billion – combining the two fortunes makes the largest charitable foundation in the world and in history….more than Ford, Rockefeller, Getty combined……..in other words, really big….. 

But let’s not get lost in the bigness….let’s focus on the message…..the message that Warren sends is that results are more important than ego…. 

There are no Buffett buildings, labs, universities or libraries……the money will go to cure the top 20 diseases…..it will absolutely change the world – in ways that no building can ever do…. 

Further Buffett readily and candidly admits that he is not very good at giving money away --- it is not something he does well – so he turned to someone who does it better than he does…..in choosing Gates, his quote was this “ You can give it away better than I can.” 

This simple act supports the Baby Billionaire Rule No. 71 which says, when you build a team, build it with people who do other things than you do and who do them better than you ever could….. 

The timing of this event has some ironies as well…..at the same time, our congress has been debating the estate tax and the bush administration’s desire to do away with it …. 

Well, I guess if everyone was motivated by good deeds and a desire to give back, then an estate tax probably isn’t necessary but for those of us who need to be prodded a bit, it seems that keeping that tax in some form is a good idea….. 

It makes a clear statement that merit and performance should trump inheritance alone as a means of advancing in our society….. 

What I find fascinating and endearing about Mr. Buffett is his modesty ---- he did not want to name anything……not even the foundation – it will remain the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation…… 

Warren says, “There is more than one way to get to heaven…but this is a great way.” 

And so the Baby ends today with a poem called Ozymandias by Percy Blythe Shelley written in 1818--- it starts: 

I met a traveler from an antique land who said two vast and trunkless legs of stone stand in the desert…and goes on to recount the shattered visage and ruins that remain from the once proud statue of Ozymandias. The inscription says: 

my name is Ozymandias, king of kings….look on my works ye might and despair --- 

but nothing remains of old Ozy except cracked stones and a lonely desert ….. 

I’m There for You Baby applauds Warren Buffett and suggests that there is a lesson for all of us – about generosity, about picking great managers and about remembering that sic transit Gloria Mundi…..which was one of my father’s favorite sayings….it means thus passes away the glory of the world….. 

We all know in our minds that the worldly things do not last……Buffett reminds us to know that in our hearts as well…. 

I’m Neil Senturia…….. 

That concludes our show for today. 


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<title>Time is running out? Hardly...</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=25</link>
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<pubDate>Thursday, December 07, 2006 4:09:42 AM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Hello, I’m Neil Senturia, the host of I’m There for You Baby, the Entrepreneur’s Guide to the Galaxy… 

So today the Baby wants to explore marketing --- which is a big word for getting people to buy into and then buy some stuff that they don’t need that they don’t want, that they can’t afford, that may or may not work and which they will put in the drawer and in 2 years when they move, they will wonder why they bought it in the first place….. 

Except sometimes you actually want to buy something and then the problem is --- how much should you actually pay for it….. 

Now anyone who has been awake in the last decade knows that there are multiple web sites that are designed to search the internet and tell you the best price at more than 1289 different stores or sites…… 

But in the case of one particular item, that is not he case…..namely renewing your subscription to a magazine. 

Now, admittedly, Baby is a bit neurotic and currently subscribes to over 19 different weekly magazines and 7 daily newspapers and 13 monthly magazines. 

Now here is the way the subscription business works…..first some nice little girl scout comes to the door….or some homeless person, or some Evangelical non profit decent hardworking clean cut man or woman and you in a moment of weakness sign up for a few magazines, because they promise that this is the lowest price and that 89% of the money you give them is going to a worthy cause like save the whales or feed the children…..so I am down with that and have taken that hook more than once…. 

So far, so good….but then 3 months after the first issues come on what is supposed to be a year’s subscription, you start getting renewal notices.…and the prices they offer are even lower than what you signed up- for…. 

Now I don’t mind that some nice charity made a few bucks on me…..what I object to is you can’t tell when the subscription expires…. 

And the notices tell you that this is your last issue……sign up now and save 93% off the cover price of the magazine…….I mean if they saved me any more money they would just send me the magazine for free…. 

And so Baby tried a test….. 

I subscribe to Time Magazine….and have for years…..and apparently at some point I either signed or forgot to sign some thing and have subscribed in perpetuity according to the most recent missive I received from Time Inc…. 

It says quote: when you enrolled in Time’s automatic renewal program” whoa…..when did I do this….how did this happen…automatic renewal for life…..I will be in my grave and some dude from Time Inc is going to come looking for his money 6 years after my kids have said the Kaddish and started to spend the inheritance…. 

This has to stop…. 

The note goes on to say….. 

“Since Time never received cancellation instructions, however, the records reflect that you still haven’t made a payment for your current service term and then in bold letters in big print it says….$39.76 is due….. 

Fat chance…… 

So I decide to call up……herein we have rule 112 in the Baby’s Becoming a Billionaire Book ……rule 112 says that after beating your brains in on the web site or trying to get an automated answer to a question that the automator doesn’t have in the database….in other words, when all else fails, call up on the phone….use Alexander Graham Bells’ device…or Skype if you must….but go for personnel and personal interaction….. 

And so I call the 800 number and get a nice man in the Indian call center – whom I ask if he is in India and he answers by telling me that he works for Time Magazine……I know that dude, but I’m curious….just where are we outsourcing our customer service……well anyway, we finally get down to brass tacks or in this case Bindaloo curry and I say ….look, 39 bucks is too much, I am going to offer to pay 29 dollars…will you take that….? 

The answer is no…..you owe us 39.76…..I say ok….let me explore this a bit more……we go around on this a bit more, but he has his script that he reads from -- and the answer is no way…..sometimes I have to interrupt the pitch because the script is not following the question…..I ask what is the weather and the answer is that this call may be recorded to improve customer service….you could improve customer service by listening to the customer….. 

Now the kicker, 4 days later I get a notice in the mail from Time Inc…..it say if I renew right now, they will start a year’s subscription for only 19.95….. 

I am down with that, but I have two problems….I am already getting multiple copies of Time and I can’t figure out when the current subscription actually ends…. 

So I call up again….I get the call center….I say, your last offer was 19.95 and that is too much money, so I am going to offer you 9.95….. 

The guy says “Let me check with my manager” – sounds like the used car ploy……I wait and the guy comes back and says that it is ok….they will bill me 9.95 and I get a year’s subscription to time…..so I ask if I have any back payments owing……no he says….when does my subscription end I ask….he says in another 19 months….so it seems I have already paid for 19 months – and the original dunning notice for 39.95 might have been in error….and now if I agree to 9.95, the will add another year onto the remaining 19 months and I am good to go….. 

By the way, the notice points out to me that I am saving 191.50 over the cover price of 201.45….. 

So I say let me think about it…… 

And then the topper…..6 days later I get a notice that I can have another year of time for 7.95 – it is marked the professional courtesy rate --- and that is a savings of 193.85 over the cover price….. 

If I wait another week or two, they will pay me to read the magazine. 

So this is marketing in America in 2006……if I had been dumb enough to agree to the first letter, I would have paid 39.76 (how they arrive at this odd number of cents is beyond me)…..but by waiting 2 weeks, I am now getting it for 7.95….. 

Believe me this does not inspire trust in Time Magazine……what if they had one price – and they showed you how many weeks or months you really had left and when they said, it was your last issue, it really was your last issue……wouldn’t that make a lot more sense…. 

Now I am of the opinion that everything is negotiable…..so when I got the renewal for new York magazine, I called up and the bill went from 52.34 down to 11.21 ….. 

This is nuts……the first note from Time, signed by one Nina Matula said that the very moment that payment is received, your account will be credited paid in full in bold type and your subscription will be reinstated….even though I had 19 months left on the current one…. 

Is this marketing – or this chicanery, crookery and generally preying on the fact that most people can’t read the small print on the mailing sticker of the magazine…..and can’t decipher the code to see what reality is…….. 

From now on, when I get a renewal notice in the mail I throw it in the trash…..I figure if I wait a few weeks, they will either drop the price or start sending it to me on “a free trial subscription.” 

What this tells me is that the truth in lending laws needs to be extended to the magazine subscription business….. 

And it also tells me that print media is not exactly a growing business……when the Internet can give you real time info for free….it is hard to justify paying for information that is 7 -10 days old……. 

So ---- the next time you guys want the Baby to sign up for something – send me your best and final offer first……otherwise I am on to your marketing tricks and if you are not careful, you will be paying all of us to read your rag….and then watch what happens to your ad rates….. 

I’m Neil Senturia and if you subscribe to I’m There for You Baby, for the low low cost of 3.76 cents, we will give you 17 years free and throw in a bonus of a Baby mouse pad….


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<title>Plastic policies: never underestimate the 'return' on customer service</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=24</link>
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<pubDate>Thursday, December 07, 2006 4:04:19 AM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Welcome. 

Baby believes in taking control of your own life and being the architect of your own vision…..and usually the next question that follows is – yeah, sounds great Neil….but don’t gives me that bullshit about vision, tell me how to make a few million dollars --- 

well, ok dudes, here we go….lesson no. 289 in the Baby’s Book of Becoming a Billionaire…… 

No. 289 is the lesson called customer service…..and why it is important….ok, so you say, yeah, yeah customer service and what is say back to you is – yeah yeah, customer service is absolutely critical and is not easy to do well and needs to be practiced 24x7 and makes all the difference in the world and do not pooh pooh it because it is why Nordstrom is the number one clothing retailer in the world while the May company and 5 other large department store chains went out of business….. 

So here we go, lesson 289 ---- a real world story….. 



The facts are as follows….. 

The Baby and the Babysitter own three cars…..a 2000 Lexus, a 2005 red BMW convertible which the baby sitter drives, and a 2001 T-bird convertible which the Baby bought to avoid the mid life crisis that leads to the mid-life divorce which leads to being broke once again --- which I would like to assiduously avoid……rule 319 is that time slows down as speed increases….that is Albert Einstein – but what it really means is that if you lose 50% of your assets in your mid-fifties, it will take you until your mid nineties to earn it back……you do not have the same benefit of time…. 

But, I digress…. 

Back to the cars….. 

Factoid number two – 

I work out at the La Jolla sports club, the one at the Hyatt Aventine Hotel complex…..nice place with good equipment and attractive customers……careful there of course, because that could lead you back to the mid life thing…..but anyway…. 

The infamous third car, the T-bird was lent to my secretary for a year – she is young, attractive, has red hair and a young daughter and she needed a convertible for a year…….so the Baby could not deny her….. 

Which means that the little plastic card that gets you into the sports club, each time you go there, that card resided in the old Lexus which was just fine……. 

When my lovely assistant returned the T-bird to the Baby – I decided to drive it to the sports club with the top down to work out ---- and lo and behold I found that I did not have a second plastic card to show…… 

But, and this is an important fact, before I went to the club, I got the old card from the other car to take with me…..I wanted to be sure they knew that I was a member…. 

So, I went to the front desk and I showed the first card and then I asked if I could get a second plastic card so that I could keep it in the second car, so that I would not have to think about switching cards and cars in order to keep the Baby in fighting trim…. 

And the nice lady behind the counter said that she could get me a new card, but that it would cost 25 dollars…. 

Are you kidding me – 25 dollars for a piece of plastic…. 

Whereupon she took a piece of paper and read to me…..sir, it says right here: “There is a 25 dollar charge for lost or stolen cards.” 

Well, I said, that is no problem….because as you can see my card is not lost of stolen….all I want is a duplicate…… 

See, I have one card….I want a second one so that I can keep it in my second car…. 

She said, that will cost 25 dollars…….that is the charge for a lost or stolen cards…..I repeated that the card was not stolen or lost, you chucklehead….it is right here in my hand …..all I want is a duplicate --- 

She looked at me and then looked at the paper and then she said, she had no policy on duplicates…..and that I could go upstairs to membership and make my request…… 

OK --- now the Baby is thinking --- principle no. 197 in the Baby’s Billionaire Book is -- in order to be an entrepreneurial organization it is important to push decision making down to the lowest levels in order to solve problems for the customer in as immediate way as possible….that is why stores like REI can make exchanges and adjustments right at the cash register….. 

What is the point of having employees if you do not empower them to solve problems….if that is your mindset, it would be cheaper to hire robots…. 

So --- armed with my not lost and not stolen card, I went up stairs to see membership….whereupon I found another nice young lady who explained to me that it would cost 25 dollars to get me another card.,…..and I pointed out to her that my card was not lost or stolen….it was in my right there in my hand. 

At this point the Baby was getting a bit testy……I could see that this organization needed some renovation and some motivation, whereupon I asked for her manager…….the manager of course was not in…….I pointed out to her that if I could not get a duplicate card for a modest fee…let’s say 1 dollar for the cost of the plastic --- then I would resign from the club.….. 

She pointed out to me that the reason they charged 25 dollars was to prevent people from getting extra cards and then selling them on eBay…..I pointed out that I was not going to do that….and she pointed out that how could she be sure… 

Now, before we go further --- we need to analyze the economics of this transaction…. 

I have been a member of the sports club for 16 years…..let’s do some math here folks….it cost 500 dollars to join I think….and the dues are 70 bucks a month approximately. So you have 16 years times 12 months times 70 dollars……I will make it easy for you – that comes to 13,440 dollars that I have paid them…. 

And I politely pointed out to the lady that by being so rigid, she is putting at risk the likelihood of receiving another 14,000 in exchange for getting 25 dollars for a piece of plastic…. 

She pointed out to me that she was not authorized to make that decision and that she would have her manager call me in the morning….that was 11 days ago….no call yet from the La Jolla Sports Club … 

I even wrote down on the piece of paper my name, phone number and my intense desire to resolve this amicably otherwise I am outta here….. 

Which it turns out is Baby Book lesson no. 81 --- there is always always a competitor coming around the bend….and in this case the competitor is another health club opening up in 4 months also in La Jolla…… 

and it might just be a bit more convenient…… 

Now, here is the core of the story……if the lady had said, non problemas, we can print you another card….give us a buck and enjoy your workout, the likelihood of my going to look for a competitor would have been zero….. Remember it is much much easier to keep a customer than it is to acquire one….. 

Here was an organization that had a culture that pushed all the big decisions (like should we go this old man another card ) up to the senior management…..who, as is sometimes the case with senior management, never called back because they did not think it was a serious enough issue…. 

They have all these computers….they could look up the Baby’s file….see that he has paid 14,000 and say, hey give the old man a card and a free massage to thank him for loyal allegiance after all these years…. 

So ---- there you have the Baby’s Billionaire Book lesson of the week…..number 289 – customer service…..you cannot possibly ever underestimate how important it is…. 

End of story ---- I cancelled my wife and step daughter’s membership two days ago….and I have cancelled mine effective end of the month--- when I will move to another club while I wait for the fancy one to open in the late fall…. 

14,000 dollars gone because no one was authorized to make a duplicate card…..because duplicate was not a category in the book…there was lost, there was stolen….but there was no checkmark for duplicate…. 

And therein is the story of customer service……. 

Lesson no. 132 next week……why you absolutely have to go to the meetings that you know will be a waste of time…. 

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<title>Trump in a Bottle?</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=23</link>
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<pubDate>Thursday, November 30, 2006 11:06:34 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[It seems the Donald, a well known teetotaler, has added his name to a new vodka --- packaged in a gold bottle, it is called – what else? – Trump vodka….. 

Ok, the big guy is practicing a well known entrepreneurial principle – namely brand extension…..but the question I would ask is, “Who would buy a vodka from a man who claims to have never had a drink in his life?” The Donald has been quoted “I am not a drinker and I’m proud not to be a drinker,” so does it seem perfectly obvious that this would be a guy you would buy booze from? It’s like buying a Ferrari from a guy named Enzo after he claims that he only rides the bus. 

The Donald has the requisite drinks named after him….Trump and tonic….a Trumpitini……. 

But what is fascinating is that the Donald is not the only celebrity that has decided that vodka is the booze for branding….there is Ed McMahon…..his is called McMahon perfect……also Jimi Hendrix….even though he is dead you can drink Hendrix electric vodka….Jay Z and Damon dash have a vodka…. And the list goes on. 

I don’t get it….there are 447 vodka brands registered for sale in New York state alone….447! So of course you need some celebrity stardust to stand apart….. “Association with icons is a rich and fertile field” says j. Patrick Kenny, CEO of Drinks America. 

But how can you trust the Donald to get you blasted on your ass when he has never had a martini in his life……this fame thing is a strange brew…..and I suspect that getting drunk on self-promotion is more intoxicating and more dangerous than 3 shots of his 150 proof vodka. 

]]></description>
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<title>Are you rotting?</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=22</link>
<enclosure url='http://imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=22' />
<pubDate>Friday, November 24, 2006 9:10:50 AM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Like everything else, businesses go through growth spurts. How can you be sure that your business is really growing...and not rotting?]]></description>
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<title>The "Perfect" Plan</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=21</link>
<enclosure url='http://imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=21' />
<pubDate>Thursday, October 19, 2006 4:28:53 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[What is the most common mistake in preparing a business plan?  We know that angel investors and venture capitalists are becoming increasingly diligent in reviewing business opportunities.  We also know that money is "out there."  What does it take to get a piece of the pie?]]></description>
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<title>Entrepreneurial "gut" instincts?</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=20</link>
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<pubDate>Friday, October 06, 2006 12:19:16 AM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Have you ever had an experience where your gut said one thing and your mind said another? ]]></description>
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<title>Riches to rags</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=19</link>
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<pubDate>Thursday, September 28, 2006 7:45:14 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[A recent story tells of a baron who is accused of stealing $62 million from his workers' pension fund over the past 20 years.  Why would a privileged person resort to stealing?  Imagine the resources and networks he would have at his fingertips...why would he not venture into something legal?  ]]></description>
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<title>The slacker syndrome</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=18</link>
<enclosure url='http://imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=18' />
<pubDate>Monday, September 11, 2006 11:10:10 AM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[A recent New York Times article discusses a trend that the author calls the "slacker syndrome." It profiles an electrial engineer at Xerox who is relaxing in a coffee shop as he waits for a job commensurate with his self-esteem. Hey, I say, how much looking can you do at Starbucks? What happened to Horatio Alger and walking to school in the snow? 

The article also profiles a former steel worker who now sleeps nine hours a day, reads 2-3 books a week, writes Amazon reviews, practices the piano and writes short western novels while he and his wife live off of her work as a seamstress and their savings which are almost gone. 

What the hell is happening in America? Doesn't anybody care? Or is the world so fucked up that the average Joe has thrown in the towel?]]></description>
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<title>Entrepreneurship is not a one-stop shopping trip</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=17</link>
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<pubDate>Sunday, September 03, 2006 6:19:39 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[I have begun to see the proliferation of scams, programs, DVDs, books and seminars that promise that you can get rich in just two easy weekends or 12 minutes a day. Entrepreneurship has entered the fad diet. People don't want to get rich. They want to get rich quick, and they want it easy. But Rule #73 in the Baby's Book on Becoming a Billionaire says: The noble and achievable goal of being the architect of your own vision and of living an entrepreneurial life are not things that come quickly over one weekend.]]></description>
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<title>The milkman is the ultimate entrepreneur</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=16</link>
<enclosure url='http://imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=16' />
<pubDate>Thursday, August 31, 2006 11:00:16 AM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[My milkman is Doug Axtel, and his father was a milkman. He is the one friendly face on the street where few of us know each other. His day is simple. He gets up at 5 a.m., gets the refrigerated truck started-- it's 16 years old-- picks up the milk from the Alta Dena distribution center, and 11 hours later, he is back at home-- tired, hungry and ready for bed. He does this six days a week and on Sunday, he does the bookkeeping and paperwork. No vacation. And during the school year, he has a bunch of schools and works 70 hours a week. Most importantly, Doug loves his work. I celebrate Doug as the ultimate entrepreneur-- a man who is following his passion and is in control of his life.]]></description>
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<title>Should you get an MBA?</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=15</link>
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<pubDate>Tuesday, August 15, 2006 9:54:39 AM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[A listener who is starting a technology consulting business recently asked whether he should get an MBA. This person had already been the co-founder of a successful software company where he was one of the chief developers, and he is an avid reader of the Harvard Business Review and other business and management books. We advised him that he most likely did not need an MBA but that he should continue to enhance his management and leadership skills through classes, books and seminars. In addition, we said that he should add people to his team who complement his skill sets. ]]></description>
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<title>Super-rich don't pay their fair share of taxes</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=14</link>
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<pubDate>Friday, August 11, 2006 11:15:06 AM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[The big boys have loopholes inside the loopholes, according to a recent New York Times story. Now when I talk about the rich folks, I mean the billionaires who can afford the scams and schemes to set up offshore and underwater trusts. My question is: why is it so terrible to pay taxes for the privilige of living in America? What is so bad about paying taxes to support the very government that caters to you? And the darker sentence is: why do we allow them to get away with it? Let me know what you think.]]></description>
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<title>Failing Forward Fast </title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=13</link>
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<pubDate>Wednesday, July 26, 2006 9:36:18 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[I recently met a fellow from Chicago who said that he had started a company and that it had failed and he had been stigmatized. I found this disappointing and even a bit frightening because failure is not an option. It is a certainty. The mind set that this guy experienced in Chicago is NOT true in technology towns like San Diego and Austin where failure is viewed as part of your growth and experience-- something that makes you a better entrepreneur.
What do you think?]]></description>
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<title>I am WTFU about reality product placement</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=12</link>
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<pubDate>Thursday, July 20, 2006 10:20:11 AM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Ford is running ads with a picture of Taylor Hicks, this year's American Idol winner, and the assumption is that if you buy a Ford, you will be an American Idol also? What are they smoking? How absolutely brainless do they think the American buying public is? And as if one stupid car company is not enough, Jaguar has a new reality based ad. They gave a fancy XX car to one Nico Bossi who is a 27 year old fake jet setter. Jaguar says that their campaign is about people seeing Nicco and the car and wanting to be part of that. Jaguar also says that their buyer is a gray haired whit eman who belongs to a Country Club and remembers the brand from the glory days. Get REAL Jaguar! This man is irrelevant. The new world order will belong to the innovator, and SHE will drive a hybrid that gets 40 miles to the gallon  and make her own decisions about her life style without being influenced by someone else's.]]></description>
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<title>Entrepreneurship can't be taught</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=11</link>
<enclosure url='http://imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=11' />
<pubDate>Friday, May 26, 2006 5:51:44 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[I am an adjunct professor in the MBA program at San Diego State University where I teach new venture creation-- entrepreneurship for the 21st century. The first slide of the first day says "No." I tell the students it's magic at which point they're outraged, and they start to walk out of the class.

What I tell them as file back into their seats is that what can be taught are the principles of entrepreneurship-- not the genetic disposition or the entrepreneurial DNA-- that unquantifiable something that propels some people to success. But what can be taught is how to think strategically, how to write a business plan, how to assess a market, how to create a team, how to finance a company.

What are your thoughts?]]></description>
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<title>Is America losing its edge on producing "successful" crooks?</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=10</link>
<enclosure url='http://imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=10' />
<pubDate>Monday, May 01, 2006 11:11:50 AM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[Opening a brothel across the street from a police department...falling into a manhole after stealing its cover...selling God's house for a BMW...when does "taking control of one's life" become "out of control?"]]></description>
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<title>The Trump Watch: Can he be a bigger jerk?</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=9</link>
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<pubDate>Tuesday, April 04, 2006 3:54:43 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[The Trumpet has outdone himself. Now he's going into the travel business with a web site called Go Trump. Does this man have no shame? Is there nothing that the Donald cannot package and sell to someone? Is there no end to personal aggrandizement? Let me know what you think.

]]></description>
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<title>Revenge Drives Entrepreneurs</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=8</link>
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<pubDate>Tuesday, March 21, 2006 8:12:05 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[I am often asked what drives entrepreneurs, and my view on this is quite simple. It is not fame or fortune. It is revenge-- the desire to show your music teacher, our mother, your ex-wife, or your Uncle Harry that you are not the total piece of shit they think you are. What do you think drives entrepreneurs?]]></description>
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<title>Grand Passion Will Take You Further Than Good Grades</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=7</link>
<enclosure url='http://imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=7' />
<pubDate>Tuesday, February 28, 2006 7:33:36 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[I don't think any employer is really going to look at your GPA and give out a job based on a 3.87 vs. a 3.25. The real world doesn't work that way. 

And if you are engaging in an entrepreneurial adventure, you probably are not auditioning for a job anyway, so no one is ever going to know that you got a C+ in applied semantics or Peruvian basket weaving.

This emphasis on and dependence on grades seems all wrong headed and frankly ass backwards.

What do you think?


]]></description>
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<title>Greed and Entrepreneurship</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=6</link>
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<pubDate>Tuesday, February 21, 2006 6:43:30 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[When does entrepreneurship and a reasonable pursuit of profit butt up against raging capitalist greed and taking unfair advantage of another person’s pain? The product is Avastin, a drug originally used to combat colon cancer and which has now been found to be effective in the treatment of breast and lung cancer. Genentech wants to charge $100,000 per year for treatment—double what they charge for colon cancer. I come down on the side of humanity and say this is unconscionable. What do you think?]]></description>
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<title>Welcome to The Baby Blog</title>
<link>http://www.imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=5</link>
<enclosure url='http://imthereforyoubaby.com/blogs/PostDetails.aspx?PostId=5' />
<pubDate>Tuesday, February 21, 2006 6:40:56 PM</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[I believe that people can re-invent themselves constantly. There is no longer a single act where you work for the corporation for 40 years, get the gold watch, buy the houseboat and drop dead. I'm There For You Baby is about entrepreneurship and also about work and how you can make work self-fulfilling. Please share your stories.
-Neil Senturia]]></description>
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