D.Roman

I'm a design thinker. I blog about tech, startups, entrepreneurship and have a tendency to get a bit philosophical at times. But of course, should you decide to believe how I opted to describe myself without knowing me, I could tell you anything because truth is, you're forming a conjecture without firm evidence. I appreciate the trust, but I'd much prefer we make some sort of attempt to preclude speculation, which in this instance is only possible if you got to know me. var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-24403683-1']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })();

[droman89-blog]

Creating is the most intimate form of expression. The idea of embracing vulnerability and willingly subjecting yourself to judgement, for the sake of adding value to the lives of others, is in a sense sacrificial. It's fucking beautiful. Here's to the creators. 🍺

[droman89-blog]

A car traveling 60 MPH on the highway appears to be moving slow. A car traveling 60 MPH in a residential area appears to be flying. Think about that for a moment. Think of all the variables in play here. Technically the car is traveling at the same speed. Your perspective is being framed by an expectation, based on what is deemed to be acceptable or not which was established with the underlying intent of, judging from past precedent, being in the best interest for the majority of humanity. Which then in turn guides our emotions and how we react to these relevant instances. THIS BLOWS MY MIND. EVERYTHING IS CULTURE. EVERYTHING IS WHAT WE MAKE IT.

[droman89-blog]

The first set of headphones every made were worn over your head and rested on your ears. I bet you if these headphones were the first version to ever be released they would not have succeeded like they have today. When you create a new product category, you're asking the consumer to break routine and embrace a new behavior. In doing this, form is very critical. Without data and an uneducated public, the concept of resting something over your ears isn't as daunting as plugging something into your ears, so close to your brain. Not only that, but traditional headphones resemble ear warmers which most consumers were already accustomed to wearing or seeing others wear. I believe form is the most critical component for mass adoption. Once adopted and value is demonstrated, the consumer is more willing to embrace alternative forms and functions now that breaking routine seems worthwhile. Hence, earbud headphones. This goes to show how innovation is a process of iteration. What is right is often times daunting to most consumers at first. Form can properly address this and create a sense of comfort by familiarity. Familiarity encourages exploration. Exploration increases discovery. You capitalize on that by leveraging functions that re-define the experience by adding value. Innovation is not only sneaky, but fickle and thrives off the foolishness of the consumer.

[droman89-blog]

I just want to expand on what Stephen A. is trying to say here.

We've become a world so caught up on political correctness, that it's become counter-productive as we drift further away from reality.  It dates back to the beginning of time - it's an eternal survival instinct - we obtain knowledge so that we can better decipher how to handle instances that we are exposed to throughout our lives. We do this so that we can live better lives - to provide and protect for our loved ones.  I don't want to refer to it as judging because that has developed a negative connotation - so I'm coining a new term, "process of association" Everything, and by everything I mean e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g requires a decision to be made. When you make a facial expression a decision is being made. When you choose to wear mismatching socks, a decision is being made. When you're 20 minutes late to a meeting an accumulation of decisions were probably made. These decisions give indication to the characteristics of an individual.  As you mature, your characteristic set settles - and everything you do, wear, say, associate yourself with is representative of not just yourself - but in sadly most cases others who choose to make similar decisions.  This is how stereotypes are formed - stereotypes are bad, I absolutely hate them, but you're naive if you don't acknowledge how prevalent they are in our world.  Going back to the hoodie example used in this video - many crimes that you see caught on camera involve a hoodie. They are used by criminals because you're able to hide your face and become less identifiable. That is a decision. Why would someone wish to hide their face to become less identifiable? By doing so you lose trust. The prejudice is not towards the color of skin, but the article of clothing you've selected along with other decisions that contribute to create a negative connotation.  As humans we act accordingly and avoid these negative connotations as a survival instinct. From a young age we develop a moral compass to differentiate the bad from good in the world. We're taught the consequences of each and are disciplined or rewarded depending on our actions. Whether we progress or not in this world as we mature is entirely dependent on how we react to and handle everything we are exposed to on a daily basis.  So I'll end by saying if you don't want to be judged - then don't be stereotypical.  The only way people will EVER stop judging is when it no longer becomes efficient.  This is a very sad reality of the world we live in.  Instead of accepting the role of a victim, find purpose through inflicting change.  Educate yourself, lead an honorable life, accomplish your goals.  NOW you can wear a hoodie proudly, while driving a BMW and shattering stereotypes simultaneously. 

[droman89-blog]

Finally got around to watching her. When you interpret the underlining meaning in a not so literal sense, something dawned on me. Through technology I've been able to make connections that I never would have been able to. Through technology I've been able to express myself in a manner that I never would have. Through technology I've been able to see the world through a perspective that i never would have. Through technology I've been able to grasp onto a greater understanding of my loved ones, creating stronger relationships then I ever would have. Technology to me doesn't exist in the form of a female, but I fell in love because it has done for me what I'd expect falling in love with a woman would do. Make me a better human being. That being depicted in a literal sense was something that was wild for me to see - and think about. The writing in the movie was absolutely superb and it was directed on a world class level. Point being - the first sex scene with Samantha. About midway through the screen became black. In that moment it felt like the director was attempting to depict the perspective of Samantha. As a viewer I let the director take my mind there and for that split moment felt as if I had just morphed into an extremely advanced form of artificial intelligence. I imagined this is what a computer must feel like when a disc is ejected from the hard drive. LOL! All joked aside though - what an incredible movie. From a user experience perspective within the operating system - I love how it was executed. The interaction with the technology seemed very natural to me and realistic. I loved the idea of having an earpiece as the liaison between yourself and your digital realm. The interaction between the connected devices was well executed as well. I don't think we will see people falling in love with operating systems anytime soon, but I will say that from a user experience perspective, I think Spike Jonze was spot of in terms of how we will engage with our devices and how they will interact with each other. Absolutely brilliant. Watch it ASAP if you haven't already.

[droman89-blog]

I've been using this gel for about a year now. I've recently decided to myself that it was no longer providing for me what I had desired to get from it - it's intended purposes no longer meet my expectations. So I've decided I'm going to the store today, purchasing another product and giving that a shot. I broke up with my gel. Effortlessly. And then it dawned on me that the reason I broke up with it effortlessly was because it didn't possess feelings. If it did of course, that would make it human. But it's not - it's a piece of plastic and some chemicals mixed together to create a substance. But if it was human, if it did have feelings this would have been a harder decision for me. Inflicting pain on others, creating hardship in their lives doesn't make me feel good. So would I hold on selfishly to protect myself from remorse or would I have held on to protect their feelings? Then it dawned on me that the latter would mean I'm still in love. Thank you gel, for showing me the meaning of love. You've provided a life lesson for me that goes way beyond your $17.49 price tag.

[droman89-blog]

I was in the mood for a frank, so I went to Ben's. I of course requested mustard. As I proceeded to peel back the aluminum foil I though to myself, "oh man, the mustard is going to be all over the place!" To my very pleasant surprise, I learned that they apply the mustard on the side of the bun first to prevent what I feared from happening. This to me indicates that they are a company that pays attention to what they're doing and that is something that I have an incredible appreciation for so I wanted to give Ben's a shout out. Everyone give Ben's a round of applause! PS The fork and knife is for the knish I'm bout to down, not the frank.

[droman89-blog]

You're a tee shirt and jeans kind of guy. If you find sometime, maybe you'll shave once every other week, but it's not priority. You see someone clean cut, in a buttoned up, tucked in shirt and tie looking like they stepped right off of wall street. From a superficial perspective you clearly have differing beliefs.

They have headphones on and you're sitting next to them on the train. You can just barely identify what they're listening to. If you're familiar with what they're listening to and are a fan, your impression of that person is likely to change in a more positive view. If you aren't familiar with what they're listening to your impression of the artist is likely to have a more negative outlook, if that person listening is demonstrating themselves to have differing beliefs than you.

Is this right on any level? No. A lot of people miss out on A LOT of really good shit because of the impression they have of others who have already embraced something -- which is why it's so important to try our hardest to not be biased and remain openminded. But, that is the reality of the world we live in. It's a survival instinct. The more quickly we are able to make an assumption or reach a judgement, the quicker we can act based upon that. But, in the process we develop a weaker understanding as everything is perceived based upon what we think we know, but really don't.

It is a habit that is flawed at an unfathomable extent.

[droman89-blog]

We've come a long way in such a short amount of time.

[linxspiration]

Oh those were the days.

[parislemon]

They were.

[droman89-blog]

Weapon of Mass Creation

Most tech folks will tell themselves anything they need to, to convince themselves in the greater good of what they’re building. And that is good to a certain extent. But, my fear is that by refraining to accept the reality of the situation will result in the ramifications from what we create to be mishandled.

The reality is, over the next decade, technology is going to eradicate significantly more jobs than it creates; more jobs than you can fathom.

As a tech enthusiast, it’s easy to get caught up in the world that we create in our minds. To believe that everyone in the world is an early adopter of technology and every consumer is so eager to try what we build and listen to what we believe is the solution to what we deemed a problem. But the truth is, early adopters are a rare breed of individuals and our mindset is so far detached from reality.

As I observe the way many organizations operate, it is becoming increasingly clear to me that the incumbent generation of entrepreneurs and executives have yet to fully grasp the power of technology and the benefits of efficiency that it produces. As a result, most organizations are bloated and will continue to be until the right people within the company come to realize how lean their company can be ran to sustain operations.

Eventually, that is going to happen. The amount of money that is being unnecessarily spent will one day cease. I believe this will prove to be for the greater good but it’s unfortunate that for humanity to enjoy the long term benefits, significant short term sacrifices and potential suffering will be dumped on those not properly prepared to no longer receive a paycheck.

This is an unavoidable situation.

It is important that as a leader, the problem is acknowledged now and eyes are fixed on the long term vision so that the situation can be properly executed and the inevitable short term sacrifices one day prove to be advantageous for the greater whole. I’d hate to see such sacrifice go for naught.

As organizations begin to run lean and operate efficiently, will result in higher profit margins and growing revenues. As this happens, we face the following options:

1. Inflation will continue on an upward trajectory and the increase in profits will be distributed amongst the top. The middle class will continue to shrink, but at an accelerated rate and economic inequality will widen, creating a gap so wide, warranting class warfare at an extent that we’re yet to witness in our lifetime.

2. Inflation will continue in an upward trajectory and the increase in profits will be distributed in a socially conscious manner. Although this heavily relies upon subjectivity, i’d hope that the belief in a vision and trust in one another will lead to those responsible for making such decisions, doing so with as little influence of greed as possible.

3. Inflation will become stagnant, possibly reshape to a downward trajectory. Savings will trickle into the pockets of the public that will be spent in ways that will create new industries, revitalize certain existing industries and create jobs.

4. Inflation will become stagnant, possibly reshape to a downward trajectory. Savings will trickle into the bank accounts of the public and sit stagnant. The banks will siphon this money to wall street, which will makes it’s way back up to the top.

5. We can do nothing. Innovation will decelerate. Humanity will cease to grow and no longer move forward. A culture that teaches us to settle will thrive and we will refrain from pushing ourselves. Our grandchildren will not dare to explore and in the process develop an inability to find themselves.

Personally, my vote is for option 2.

The utopian in me tends to believe that all this money will be siphoned into things that matter and generate sustainable value.

I imagine a world where the benefits of the private sector, merge with the merits of socialism.

I imagine a world where wealth will be re-distributed through capitalism.

Our brightest minds are going to be educators because they will be paid accordingly.

War will be waged on ignorance.  Intellect will free the mind, creating a spiritually empowered ecosystem of consciousness that society will run on and thrives off of doing the right thing.

Ok, i’m back on earth now.

But seriously, the quickly piercing needle of technology has just barely broke the surface. Once the concerns of privacy are properly addressed there will be no turning back.

In the moment, change always seems slow, until it slaps us in the face. Now is the time to act before the sobering thought of how quickly everything happened settles. What you feel around your neck can be an anaconda bracing to squeeze or a pillow waiting for you to rest your head and take the most effective power nap you’ll ever experience.

There is nothing that will stop technology from integrating into the fabric of society and ultimately our lives.

I don't know how this is all going to work out, but I do know empathy will be the most critical component as our society completes it’s digital transition. The more empathetic we are, the more proportionate value will disperse itself during these times of significant change.

The history of our existence indicates that efficient solutions will prevail.

So in the meantime, it is in the best interest of the consumer to embrace the technology. The quicker we embrace it, the faster we’ll learn how to properly adapt.

And as for the technologists, you are the modern politician.

Hold yourself accountable.

Don’t be stereotypical.

[droman89-blog]

I love these e-mails Jawbone has been sending their users.

I believe we're going to see more brands adopt a similar approach and maybe even go as far as hiring journalists to research and create compelling content.

There are more merits than just acquiring users when you work to earn attention organically.

Not only are you creating content that will encourage consumers to talk about your brand, but you're also developing a more profound understanding of the industry from perspectives that may have otherwise been looked over. Insights that will reflect in the quality of the product.

I like this.

[droman89-blog]

Every object in the physical world that we see and touch is the manifestation of problems, thoughts, and collaboration. You see a door knob and I see adversity, creativity, experimentation, failure, determination, will, hope, desire, care, love, empathy, success. That is what a product represents. Think about that for a moment and try to understand the parallels between life and what we create. Our work, everything that we do is the result of a process that is formed through experiences that develop our knowledge set. That experience summed up in its purest form is life. Life is what we know. Through our hands, we create things that somehow manage to inherit the characteristics of the influence that life has had on ourselves. Our products are listening, observing, learning and adjusting to their environment just like you and I. At the deepest level, everything is the same and that's because everything is ultimately influenced by the same thing -- life. If I'm going to create a product, it is my obligation to make sure it properly represents the beauty of life and positively influences the consumers interpretation of what it means to live -- because that's what will continue to push us forward and that's what matters most.

[droman89-blog]

What's going to happen with the JOBS act and the recently lifted General Solicitation ban?

A ton of investors are unfortunately (for them -- fortunately for entrepreneurs) going to learn the hard way that startup investing is not a very desirable asset class.

Maybe in the short term traditional VC’s will be impacted, but in the long term they have nothing to worry about. Why?

1) Instigated by hype, we’re going to see a ton of investors with zero understanding of how this stuff works dump cash into startups. They’re all going to have unreasonable expectations for every single one of their investments and 99% of them are going to have a bad experience and never want to do it again.

Even if they are fortunate to see a return, it will take many painstakingly, excruciating years and that’s not even the worst part. An investment they are ever so fortunate enough to see a return on, probably won’t be their first. Which means there will be countless other bad investments before receiving an update email that provides sufficient reason to smile.

Most of these investors, my guess is, won’t have the cash flow or stomach to sustain these loses.

2) The best founders capable of executing on a world class level know there is smart and dumb money. Being fortunate enough to be presented with the option, means they’re able to secure meetings with traditional VC’s. Any logically minded founder is going to take money from investors that make the most sense and provide value to the company beyond monetary means.

So who is this going to benefit most?

1) Founders that don’t have a chance securing meetings with traditional VC’s. Instead these entrepreneurs will be better suited evaluating their product and going after local, non traditional investors that are likely to see the value in what they are building. These people are probably much more accessible and will probably find much more intrigue as such deals may seem foreign to them -- so they invest to momentarily spice up their life.

2) Ironically -- traditional VC’s. They are going to experience a lighter inbox and see much less inquiries from aspiring entrepreneurs they likely would have never invested in anyways, in comparison to the quality of their current deal flow.

And the founders that are capable of executing on a world class level but DON’T have access to traditional VC’s are so few and far between that it’s not even worth it for traditional VC’s to invest the time in locating these deals.

So there you have it.

An influx of cash from investors that will run once they’ve realized what they’ve gotten themselves into. An influx that may force some sort of pivot in the strategy for traditional VC’s that will revert right back to their old ways once all the scared money is gone.

The JOBS act -- a step in the right direction, but most certainly not as influential as the hype suggests.

[droman89-blog]

Best shaving products -- Harry's. American designed & German engineered. If you couldn't already tell -- I love products. Every product, from its purpose to functionality, from the selection of materials to its form, from the design to its price, tells a story. That story is then marketed to create a brand of which we, by choice, associate by approval as means of self expression to help us tell our own story. If you ask me, that is crazy interesting shit if you really think about it.

[droman89-blog]

The Quantified Dog

I recently heard of this startup, Whistle. They are after the data your dog generates with the intentions of mining insights by plotting trends based on the data left behind.

I’m yet to play around with the product, but I’m very much so familiar with the current “quantified self” craze, being that I am a participant myself and am supportive of the concept. So I wanted to talk about it because I believe it presents massive opportunities if done right that will ultimately have a positive influence by changing many of our behaviors that we’d consider bad habits.  

The entire quantified self space is doing a good job building interest and collecting data. But where they are failing miserably is interpreting that data and communicating it back to the user in meaningful ways that provide a better overall experience.

Having used Jawbone UP for 6 months now, I haven’t really got any more value out of it beyond knowing how many hours I slept and how many steps I took (which is cool in itself, to me). I sync it once daily and I check my stats. Would I care to know how many steps my dog took daily? Not really. By itself, It’s a novel concept that will wear very quickly and it’s likely that most dog owners, unless nerdy, wouldn’t purchase such a product as they’re probably aware the novelty will wear in advance.

I watch their product video and all I get out of it is, ok, this product collects my dogs data. The possibility of becoming part of a community to help graph every dog and create a rich dataset to discover insights that will hopefully lead to more in depth understanding of a particular breed sounds much more appealing to me.

The product needs to provide more value beyond collecting data and execution should not be about emphasizing data collection but rather data communication and the meaningful ways it can be interpreted.

I believe users would find much more enjoyment and find greater intrigue in these products if they are engaged with them -- and that’s where many of these startups lack.

THEY’RE FAILING TO CREATE AN ENGAGED COMMUNITY.

And it’s a shame because greater engagement would mean more inputted data -- therefore more plotted trends.

After a while the algorithms should develop a good understanding of the dog. It knows how much steps it takes on average, how much sleep on average, it should also begin to develop a good idea of it’s pace of movement and be able to determine abnormalities. That is where the true value lies in a product such as this. Being able to then receive a notification and be alerted when something seems wrong and then being able to plug into an entire community of dog owners with the same breed who may have experienced similar issues in the past.

Once alerted that it’s detected your dog is moving more sluggish than typical is a point at which a user would be willing to input additional data to develop a better idea as to why. And then once why has an answer i’m sure that user would be willing to input even more data to assist other dog owners of that breed.

And overtime between collaboration of the dogs, owners and vets a rich dataset is developed that will yield greater value.

I think a dog owner would invest $99 to not only have to rely on self judgement but also on analytical data and trends that’ll pick up and notify you when something is wrong and that’s really the value a product such as this can provide. Comfort in knowing that the least possible time will pass before you sense something may be wrong so that proper care can be taken and then be able to connect with owners that could relate and provide insights based on their experiences, as well as provide a sense of self gratitude in knowing that you are contributing to a data set with the intentions of bettering the breed.

I don’t care if my dog made a daily step goal and definitely have no interest in announcing that on facebook. I do care if my dog is sick and would without a doubt want to connect with breed owners that can most closely relate with the matter.

There’s a slight nuance there that if understood shouldn’t seem so subtle.

At the moment quantified self can not solely rely on data collected by a computer, it will require human input in order to optimize the user experience and meet consumer expectations which is possible with a clearly marketed vision and a properly executed product with the necessary feature sets that encourage engagement.

I think we’ve learned this already -- pinpoint the optimal technologies necessary to create a platform for a particular purpose (which Whistle has executed well), encourage engagement through feature sets and people will share and will continue to for as long as you create value in exchange and continue to successfully execute.

The concept of “quantified self” isn’t novel -- we need to stop making it out to be.

[droman89-blog]

Founding Teams

To build a solid founding team the founder needs to solely recruit individuals that they're comfortable giving complete control over what they were brought on to do. In order to give someone complete control of something you need to not only know what you are not good at, but be able to identify that talent in others so that their contribution can be optimized. "A jack of all trades is the master at none." Know what you aren't good at, find people who are the BEST at that and GTF OUT OF THE WAY! That is how you will create a ridiculously strong bond within a team as the reliance on one another is encouraged this way because everyone knows their role, respects each other, takes accountability and makes their contribution in a self-governed manner, doing what they know how to do best therefore will feel a great sense of fulfillment as they should find great enjoyment in what they do. That is how you lead a world class team that will go on to accomplish incredible things and change the world.