The Internet Guy Blog

Thoughts, ideas and observations from a Dad, entreprenuer, self proclaimed tech geek and aspiring scratch golfer.

[joelawright]

Dear Yahoo!

Dear Yahoo!,

I wanted to write and tell you that first and foremost I am rooting for you. As a former employee I still bleed purple. I give you credit for many of the things I have learned and accomplished in my career. It’s because of this that I feel it incumbent upon those of us who were blessed to have been a part of the company at its pinnacle to express our opinions. So, here are a few of mine.

Where is your fight? In 2001 following the dot come implosion and as we started to pick up the pieces and rebuild we had something that you simply don’t now, belief. We had belief in our leadership, product, vision, our ability to execute but more importantly belief in ourselves. We knew that if we had to go head to head with AOL, MSN or anyone for that matter that we would win, period.

I don’t know many people that work inside the purple halls any longer but from what I hear moral is not in a good place. People work for a paycheck, for health benefits and vacation days. We didn’t think about vacation and we certainly didn’t think about our pay periods. We thought about defining our industry.  We knew that if we accomplished this goal that we could change the media landscape. As a byproduct of our work we would benefit from increases in share price and great compensation.

Product strategy is something that also completely baffles me. You still have a massive and loyal audience. However, if time has shown us anything it wont last forever in your current state. You must deliver a world-class product that becomes invaluable in the lives of your users. If you don’t they will leave. We all know that is the reality of your business if it continues on its current trajectory.

Your product doesn’t have to be brand new but rather leverage what you're already do really well. You have massive amount of data. Use it so you can give something to brands that few can deliver, meaningful insights on their customers. Revitalize the home page to serve as a gateway to the great content and build communication and commerce products that become part of the fabric of your users lives.  Rekindle the entrepreneurial spirit that once existing in the product ranks to encourage innovation.  Dont sustain, build.

Another tremendous asset that you have at your disposal is cash. Alibaba made you rich. Use this to grow the business by acquiring assets that are fundamental to the online experience. Those things include mobile, social, content, communications and commerce. There are other companies that are looking to get acquired and others still who are in a similar position to yours. They are the incumbents in our industry that have to merge, sell or acquire to see growth. Do something big. The alternative is becoming irrelevant.

I would also explore every competitive option. What did we learn from the AOL/Verizon deal this week? I believe it illustrated the value of technology, access to consumers, creating multi-screen platforms and innovation. As my old mentor Peter Guber used to say, “Be proactive in your own rescue.” Look to join forces with Comcast, Amazon, eBay, Apple, or dare I even say Microsoft. Doing nothing is like conceding defeat.

Look for some boomerangs and get them to come back. Winning is an attitude and its like being fast. You either are or you aren’t. It’s impossible to learn but businesses need it like we need oxygen to breathe. I bet that there are tons of former Yahoo!’s from the glory days that would love to come back.  Many of which have gone on to become CEO's and leaders in our industry.  Just give them a reason and responsibilities that would justify the risk in coming home.

As I stated at the beginning, I am rooting for you. I want to see you win. I want to see a huge turnaround that people reference as a success story in the future. I know it can be done and I know Yahoo! can do it. People love what the company stands for, love the yodel and love many of the services you provide. Stop chasing others and look forward rather than backwards or sideways. You can’t go anywhere if you are standing still.

[joelawright]

Unicorns Are Awesome, Unless You Pick the Wrong One!

I keep reading in the trades about valuations and the notion that the market has too many unicorns.  That is, start-ups that have $1B plus valuations with little to no revenue.  This includes companies like SnapChat, Pinterest and others who have raised massive amounts of equity financing solely on the basis of user growth and potential revenue.

The funny thing about unicorns is that they all sound great.  Huge executive teams, massive user growth, tons of cash and what appears from the outside to be a bullet proof plan on how to execute.  In some cases this adds up to massive success like with Facebook, Tumblr and others.  However, in many instances it equates to massive failure.  Determining which bucket your unicorn falls into is the hard part.

I worked back in the day at what was by many accounts a unicorn, a company called Ning.  They had a great executive team, a rock star in Marc Andreessen, huge user growth (at least that is the story they told) and had raised tons of cash.  If I recall correctly the last round raised at a $750M valuation put us at $150M into the business.

I don't think anyone would argue that the idea behind Ning was spot on.  The notion of creating your own social network based on things you care about is and was a great idea.  However, there were some fundamental problems with that business that simply weren't being addressed.  The problems in large part can be blamed for what most would consider a big miss from an exit standpoint.  Remember, Ning had a huge advantage over platforms like Tumblr which saw a $1B plus exit when acquired by Yahoo.  They had tons of cash, really strong engineering, a strong idea and a massive PR machine behind it.  Of course having Marc as chairman also helps.

As head of business development and revenue for the company I had great insight into the opportunity and the challenges.  I can also tell you exactly how we missed and how others can learn from our mistakes.

“A good hockey player plays where the puck is.  A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.”

- Wayne Gretzky

This is a quote that I love in the context of business.  In the case of Ning, this was really applicable.  We had a strong idea but didn't see where the business was going, mobile.  We were building product experiences based on a desktop user.  Social is fundamentally mobile and when we designed our products and technology we didn't address how we could scale beyond a PC experience. 

We certainly tried to pivot and create a new product that could support both but we were so far down our existing path that it would have required a complete overhaul.  That was something that unfortunately just wasn't going to happen.  We were so singularly focused on people building Ning networks that we didn't focus on what our real job was, building an experience that became a part of peoples daily life.

The fact of that matter was we saw tons of people creating networks but our churn was huge.  Reason for that was simple, being a content creator is hard and basically a full time job.  Without great content on your social network users will visit once and that is it.  This is what has made Facebook so successful is that your content stream is people and things you self select as being important in your life.  This can be sports teams, family, friends, business colleagues, publishers or media companies.  We put 100% of the responsibility on the individual network creator, that is a burden that was simply too challenging for most to tackle in a scalable and repeatable way.

The second major issue was strategy.  We build a product and encouraged celebrities, musicians and other notable personalities to create their own networks.  We were very successful in this area.  However, what we didn't plan on was how to effectively monetize this technology in a way that would support our business.  Our network creators loved it because they out of pocket expense was around $50 per month.  A very cool and scalable solution for them but it left us standing in the rain from a monetization perspective. 

What we should have done was either competitively price our product just under an enterprise SaaS offering or made it free and control the environment like Facebook.  Had we gone the route of charging a fair month service fee we could have scaled the business.  Or we could have gone free and actually controlled the environment to monetize via advertising and other premium services.  In our case we started with a super cheap subscription model and it was impossible to pivot and convince our large network creators to let us help them monetize or to charge them more.  The backlash would have been so big that it just wouldn't have worked.  People would have left (which they ultimately did anyway) and used Tumblr, WordPress and Facebook as their solution.

The third major issue we had was oversight.  The board was made up of Marc and Gina.  In theory this sounds great, if the board members are active in managing the company day to day.  In our case Gina was CEO and Marc was Chairman.  Its worth noting that Marc is one of the greatest visionaries that I have ever had the pleasure of spending time with.  The challenge was he was starting Andreessen Horowitz, raising capital and doing deals was his primary focus.  That left the day to day management to Gina.  She is also a wicked smart entrepreneur but running a company of our size and with our burn rate requires a skilled operator or a very involved board.  We didn't have either of those really necessary ingredients.  As a result we hired people at a rate that wasn't sustainable, we had a massive burn rate and largely were operating like a company that was hugely profitable.  This is very applicable to the unicorns of today that are spending like drunken sailors.  Run your business like its your money.  Invest in areas that will help you grow even if its beyond what revenue will support but be diligent in managing how you grow.  But hiring simply to hire for a product that has fundamental challenges which haven't been solved for is irresponsible.

The fourth major challenge we had which I have addressed at a high level was monetization.  By the time we tried to create a media model it was simply too late.  Our large Ning networks which had big traffic and usage were either ad free environments or were controlled by people that weren't interested in sharing the revenue.  The free Ning networks we actually could monetize had major challenges with inappropriate content.  Needless to say, monetizing these in any way other than remnant AdSense or via other networks was impossible.  It proved to be challenging to even monetize that way.  We were constantly getting notices from Google and others that they were pulling ads due to the huge volume of UGC that was in violation of their terms of service.  You can fill in the blank, P**N.

Finally and I think this is the most important issue we faced was culture.  It was a constant battle between the executive team and Gina to pick a plan.  She had a vision that she was trying to execute against but was unwilling to relinquish control to other executives who were experts in their fields.  As a result we would bring in highly skilled and sought after people to run teams who would get frustrated and quit.  A revolving door in terms of talent at a high growth company like Ning equates to death.  There was a  lack of trust and clarity around what was truly important.  This is why for any start-up and particularly a unicorn making great hires and have a cohesive executive team is really, really critical.  The setbacks from making poor hiring decisions or people leaving can be huge and in some cases you cant recover.

I look back at my experience with Ning with gratitude.  I learned a ton in a very short period of time.  I learned a lot about myself, I learned a lot about running a business, decision making and the importance of building a strong culture.  While the end result was not what any of us were looking for it was valuable nonetheless.  I now take all of these key learning's and apply them everyday to how I manage and run my start-up #HASHOFF.  Its a daily grind to stay focused on the big picture while not losing sight of managing cash, strategy, execution and people.  However, its a requirement that you be able to do all of these things if you have any hope of being successful.

I wish all the unicorns out there nothing but success.  Innovation in our industry changes the world and the way in which consumers connect, share and consume.  I love Snapchat, Pinterest and many of the products that are called unicorns today.  I am cheering for all of them to be wildly successful.  Their success will drive future innovation in our industry for years to come.

[joelawright]

Red light #NYC

[joelawright]

Beautiful day in #NYC

[joelawright]

#NYC I love this place! #HASHOFF business #lunch.

[joelawright]

#NYC #boom #HASHOFF love this town.

[joelawright]

At The Cannibal in #NYC #beer #HASHOFF

[joelawright]

#HASHOFF HQ. Snowy day in #Denver.

[joelawright]

Dear Hollywood, Get Over Yourself

For those of you who know me please dont read this, you have heard this rant before.  For those of you who kinda know me feel free to continue reading.

I worked in Hollywood (or Hollyweird as I like to call it) for a number of years.  My last notable stint was as an agent running the digital practice for a big agency.  I wont name names because honestly who cares.  However, on the day after the Academy Awards which is the dumbest night of the year I find myself compelled to drop some knowledge.  Not because I am smarter than any of you, I just worked in the belly of the beast and have insight that most dont nor do you really want.  So here are a few things that I think you may or may not find interesting.

The acceptance speeches at the Academy Awards are all bullshit.  Dont forget these self righteous douchebags are all actors!  They dont care about us the moviegoer, they certainly dont care about each other and they really dont care about the Academy.  Its nothing more than an audition for upcoming projects and the award simply represents a major increase in base pay.

Enjoy the limelight while you can because Hollywood is a fickle town.  I remember one unnamed actress who went from the TV screen on a hit show called Gray's Anatomy to becoming a full fledged movie star.  She was making $15 million against 5% of gross which is a big deal in Hollywood.  However, she was a giant pain in the ass for everyone she worked with and she picked shit projects.  Now she is number 25 on her agents list of actors in her gender and age range.  What does that mean, 24 people see the project before she does and thus she is an outcast.  I hope you didnt spend all of your money on frivolous garbage, you might need it.

Most of them are complete idiots.  Thank God they have agents, managers, lawyers and accountants.  The are largely spoiled children who have lost total grip with reality.  We think about kids, family, our jobs and day to day life.  They think about why they only make $115,000 an episode and how much they hate TMZ.

When you read about a celebrity who is in the hospital for an unnamed illness please know they really arent sick.  Its called REHAB!!  There is another unnamed actor I used to represent who was supposed to be in NY to shoot a film back in 2008.  We get a call from an irate director on a Monday morning saying, "Where the fuck in your client?  We start production in 10 minutes and we have no idea where she is."  Well it turns out she was locked in a room at the Bel Air Hotel with a pound of blow and three guys for a number of days having a drug infused orgy rather than catching her flight. 

What happens next, we drive over to pick her up.  Take her home to get cleaned up and then over to Cedars because she is "sick".  We spin it in the media that she has some made up illness and that she is near death.  We sneak her off to rehab in the middle of the night to try and dry her out.  Moral to the story if you see a celeb who is apparently sick.  Dont feel sorry for them, its most likely a complete fabrication of the truth.

Most of them are the exact opposite of what you seen on the screen.  In interviews they seem so grateful and appreciative of what they have.  The reality of the situation is they are all angry and bitter.  They want more, they cant understand why someone else is getting the job they should have.  They constantly get pissed about everything and rather than realize they play an active role they blame everyone else around them.

As an example, I used to work with another high profile comedic actor.  I brought him a deal with Motorola back in the day for two days work for $500K.  I called him up and walked him through the offer.  I heard a click on the other end of the line.  Naively i thought we got disconnected.  So I called back and said, "Hey sorry about that, think we got disconnected."  He then replies, "No we didnt I hung up on you. He continues to say,  "Call me back when you have six zeros.  I dont have time for this shit.  By the time I pay you and all the other clowns what do I take home $300K, it bullshit Wright." and then click.  He hung up again.

I could go on and on with stories like these.  The reason I share them is we need to stop celebrating these clowns.  They arent worth the energy.  They arent humanitarians and they arent changing the world.  They are entertainers, they are here to amuse us.  Once you realize they dont like you and they dont care what you think they just want our eyeballs so they can make money the better off you will be.  Enjoy the TV shows and movies but lets stop celebrating people that dont deserve it.  Lets celebrate teachers, volunteers, academics and people that do change the world for the better.  After all, the best and worst dressed at the awards last night is completely meaningless when you put it all in perspective.

[joelawright]

Why Sales People Are Always Necessary

The big trend these days is for technology companies to drastically reduce direct sales organization and building programmatic offerings.  While I am a huge proponent of RTB and automation, I believe sales is and always will be necessary in organizations.

If you really think about any business from startup to large enterprise, everyone is in sales.  From the CEO to a low level employee.  We feel passion for who we work for and what we do.  As a by product we want to share our professional story.  Its these relationships that drive sentiment toward a brand but more importantly deals.

If you think about some of the largest and most note worthy transactions inside of your organizations they all stem from relationships.  People connection with people who believe they can create value for one another.  With the highly cluttered technology landscape and many companies offering very similar things how do you cut through the clutter?  With great sales people. 

I will be the first to tell you that sales and persuasion in general is an art and one that not everyone is well suited for.  When done at a high level its something that is the life blood of an organization.  My old mentor used to tell me, "Be proactive in your own rescue."  While this can be partially done through technology it is an endeavor that has to be done through real meaningful relationships.

Yes, some products lend themselves to being a self serve offering.  Yes, we all hate calls from salespeople that you dont know and you really arent interested in what they are pitching.  Yes, listening to countless numbers of pitches from companies claiming to have a "seamless" or "turnkey" solution is totally annoying.  But, when done correctly and with a product that is totally legit a sales leader is a huge advantage.

If history has shown us anything its that we tend to repeat mistakes of the past.  I have seen this movie before where sales not being necessary is the trend.  However, it always leads right back to the same ending.  Where sales becomes critical for long term success.

I guess we shall see as this particular remake of an old film is played out.  Time will will tell.

[joelawright]

The NFL Draft & VC's

As some of you may know I co-founded a social technology and media company in 2014.  You can check it out at www.hashoff.com.  We raised our seed round with some really interesting guys (ask me if you're curious) and have been working feverishly to build great #product and sign new #customers for the last 100 days. 

Good news is we are off to an amazing start.  Gone from 3 initial customers to over 25 since mid-September.  Not bad for a little #startup with five employees.  Based on our initial success we have decided its time to accelerate.  We have big plans on the RTB front and plan to build a DSP platform.  We just need to raise #capital in order to do that.  This is where I get to my analogy between the #NFL draft and #VC's.

We have met with some amazing individuals in the venture community and it has been tremendous on many levels.  They bring a wealth of knowledge, ideas, feedback (both good and bad) and tremendous #relationships.  It has been equally impressive to see how they think about making money.

The best way I would characterize it is how similar it is to picking players in each round of the draft.

First Round - find the stud.  A quarterback or impact player that is so sought after that if your number is called and they are still on the board you HAVE to pick them.  In the VC community this is late stage venture deals for companies that have massive valuations, huge momentum and potential for a billion dollar plus exit.  This would be a WhatsApp or Instagram type of opportunity.

Second Round - Impact players.  These are players that have massive potential at positions that are important to the team but not an impact player like a quarterback.  Example would be an amazing running back, tight end or corner back.  They can play immediately and plug a hole that is needed to win.  In the VC world this an A or B round of financing in a company that could be the next BuzzFeed or Snapchat.  Huge upside potential but early stage not completely realized.  Still needs some nurturing but you believe strongly will have a meaningful exit.

Third Round - Round out the team.  These are the player that definitely have potential but are in areas that aren't critical to win today but could have a long term impact.  Cost less, maybe not as great an upside but if you pick right can add a lot of value.  This is someone like a place kicker another skilled player where there are an abundance of options. 

For a VC this is an organization that has created a very interesting business, product or idea but will be a likely exit but perhaps in the $100-$300 million range.  Most teams that are winning don't focus here except to fill the roster with backups.  They spend their picks on impact players that can help win now.  Oddly enough however, this is where the bulk of the action is.  For every Facebook type of opportunity there are hundreds of companies that can do $10-50 million in revenue.  They just don't get as much traction with the big boys.  With a win now philosophy you cant see the return necessary to make the investment or it doesn't match the criteria you are looking for in the fund you have raised.

Its been a great process thus far.  I of course would like to believe we are a second round company.  We are sitting on something that could be really, really big.  I of course am the co-founder so of course I am going to believe we fit here.  Even if we arent I am still going to work my tail off to prove we are.  This assumes we get capitalized correctly, execute, build killer products and hire amazing people.  There are of course hundred of other things as well but that would be a really long blog post.

I love being an #entrepreneur.  Its challenging, fun, thought provoking and a highly #creative process.  The best part is the amazing people you get to meet who know how hard it is and really want to help.  For those of you who fall in this category I say thank you.  It has been a great ride thus far and one that I hope will continue for a long time.

[joelawright]

Decision Making

This will be a quick post as I was just sitting here thinking about how we all make decisions.

Throughout our lives and careers we all choose to take right turns and left turns.  In some cases we make great decisions and other cases decisions that lead to dead ends.  Most of these are decisions where we make conscious choices to pick "A" or "B". 

There is another category of decision making that is possibly the most treacherous mainly because of the "I didnt know" factor.  That is making decisions which at the time seemed right and lead to success.  But you missed the boat on something far more meaningful.  These are the decisions that at least I have regretted the most.  Often times making an "I didnt know" decision comes at early stages in your career where you are blinded by ambition and an unquenchable thirst to succeed.

Now these decisions arent all bad and in my case they have lead to really great experiences.  Its just ironic that the "I didnt know" decisions are the ones that often haunt you the most.  Why are they ironic?  Well, because you didnt actually make a decision to go right or left.  Rather you realize that you could have in fact made a decision but you didnt.  Its that indecision or lack of intuition that bothers me the most.

I guess the good thing is that with age you are able to see the forest through the trees far more effectively than when you were young.  There are a laundry list of things that I wish I could go back and change, but I cant.  All I can do now is focus on what I have learned and apply that to myself and those who ask me for advice on occasion.

[joelawright]

Starting A New Company is Hard but Awesome

Starting a new company is really, really hard.  OK, this is fairly intuitive statement, I get it.  But it really means something in the context of being an entrepreneur.  Gone are the days of big expense accounts, fancy travel and not to mention the luxury of being able to name drop the big brand you used to work for to get meetings with top brass at clients and agencies.

As I think about the last number of months from inception, to development and launch at my new company #HASHOFF here are a few things that I have learned.

Product - this is an obvious one but the most complicated.  Coming up with a good idea that can translate into a commercially viable product is HARD.  This is particularly the case in a digital ecosystem that is cluttered with ideas and start-ups.  In our case I give my partner Tom a ton of credit.  He saw a marketplace opportunity around #hashtag usage that was ripe for disruption.  That's right I used that completely overused term, #disruption.

The #hashtag has exploded on the scene as a way in which people create, organize, search, share and discover great content across social channels.  We have developed a way in which we can make the process for brands far easier to determine how to best leverage this data.  The notion of indexing and then giving brands a platform to amplify based on #hashtags that people care about is a big idea.  Of course I am little biased but based on initial marketplace feedback, most people agree with us.

Now the hard part on product, building it.  Taking a business persons idea and translating that into a product and technology vision is not an easy process.  There are all sorts of challenges that have to be addressed from infrastructure, scalability, product modifications, enhancements, monetization and many more.  It certainly helps our cause that we have had extensive experience in working with great product and technology organizations but is still #hard!

Raising Capital - While you read tons of press about companies receiving massive rounds of capital at astronomical valuations raising capital is still very difficult.  This is especially true for pre-revenue companies.  Convincing people to give you their hard earned money for an idea that has a 10% chance of success is no easy task.  In our case, we actually had real revenue and case studies because we self funded early development and operations.  You would think that this would make the process easy, truth be told it didn't.  While we were able to close our initial angel round in less than 60 days, I would say we are the exception rather than the rule. 

As we evaluated the way in which we wanted to capitalize the business to scale operations we decided to go the angel route vs professional money.  The reason being is we had the luxury of great relationships with some entrepreneurs that saw and shared our vision for what we are building.  It also helps that we have had some operational experience and great commercial relationships.  However, even with these advantages we heard a few "no" answers which are always tough to take.  The primary reason for this answer wasn't because they didn't believe in our idea, but rather they wanted to see real meaningful revenue.  The irony in this situation is that once you have real revenue raising capital because far less of a challenge.  Leaves me to wonder if the venture capital community is really for new ventures or if its just simply a new Bank of America.  Show us that you can make money and we will consider giving you some.  Good news is, we are off to the races and well on our way to doing exactly that.

Hiring Core Team - One of the most challenging things to do as an early stage company is bringing on an outstanding group as your core team.  In our case we were really lucky that we were able to convince people we have worked with in the past that we have a hugely viable idea.  That said, the reason this is so critical for #entrepreneurs is that your first hiring decisions create the culture for your company. 

I can tell you from experience that making the wrong hiring decisions can set you back in a big way and in some cases be catastrophic for your business.  In one of my start-ups I brought on someone who was at the time one of my closest friends.  Hell, the guy was my witness when I married my wife.  What I didn't know and couldn't have predicted is that I had something he wanted desperately, relationships.  He had an agenda that wasn't consistent with the vision we had as an organization and it became terminal cancer for me, the team and ultimately the business.  The wrong hiring decision early on can destroy a company.

Sales - This is the part of the business that most technology entrepreneurs really under value.  Most believe that if you have an amazing idea for a product or service that everyone will get it and that it will sell itself.  This couldn't be further from the truth.

There are hundreds of start-ups that in some way are similar to one another.  All of which believe they have found a way to #disrupt the same marketplace.  The difference between winners and losers in most cases is #sales. 

Think about this for a second.  If you were a great sales person working for a big established brand and making lots of money would you leave that to make less, work more and have an unpredictable future.  In most cases the answer is a resounding NO.  The people that you are more often than not able to hire aren't as good, aren't as connected and frankly cant sell like the rock stars at industry leaders.  Those that do join an early stage company that is able to rise to the top (you know who you are) are in most cases just plain lucky.  Right place at the right time.  If people could really pick start-ups then you could gamble on it in Vegas.  Can you imagine going to the Wynn or Aria and seeing a vast array of technology companies you could bet on?  Oh wait, that is called Sand Hill Road in Palo Alto.

Sales is tied with product as the single most important part of what you as an #entrepreneur can do early on.  Its the difference between calling on mid level managers and people who really don't have juice and going straight to a CMO.  Friends buy from friends and if you have a track record of delivering outstanding results for past partners they will continue to bet on you.  In sales you always get what you pay for.

Execution - Now this is also unbelievably difficult for people to grasp as it seems so easy for people inside of organizations with lots of resources.  Delivering on the vision and what you sold is really hard.  Its like one CMO told me years ago, "Don't tell me about the customer you sold a deal to, tell me about the customer you sold two deals to."  Truer words could not be spoken.

This is the reason we decided we needed to raised capital was speed.  We had a solid initial product, vision for where we were going and great brands that were willing to bet on us.  The last thing in the world we can afford to do is screw up on the execution side.  Strong support and account management teams are the front line to the health of your business.  They are the people responsible for delivering on the vision and promises that you made to your customers.  As my old CMO friend pointed out, its the difference between selling a deal and having a customer.

I love what I do and who I do it with.  This has been the most rewarding thing I have done in my career to date.  Mainly because success or failure is driven by the decisions my partner and I make.  That is scary at times but also invigorating.  Its been great to work in a chaotic and constantly changing environment.  Its been fantastic to meet other #entrepreneurs who have risked everything to chase a dream.  Belief is a powerful thing and in this case I believe in our product, our vision, our team and what I believe will be an amazing end result.  A company that we can look back on at some point and be extremely proud of.

[joelawright]

Dealing with Grief: A Guide for Toyota Employees Moving to Texas

First of all let me pass along my condolences.  Yes, you are moving from sunny Southern California to Dallas.  I am sorry for your loss.

  On the brighter side, things could always be worse.  You could be moving to Kansas.  Trust me I know, I grew up there.  Go Jayhawks!

  In all seriousness I felt it was my duty to pass along some words of advice as you start to plan the next phase of your career and family life.  As someone who moved from LA almost four years ago I can give as sound advice as anyone on the subject.  So here is my list of the good, the bad and the ugly.

  Lets start with the silver linings and then we can get on to the bad stuff.  Living in California means taxation without representation.  Yes, it goes against the constitution but its completely accurate.  You pay massive amounts of tax to live in lovely SoCal but get virtually nothing back for what you pay out.  The public schools are atrocious, the highways in constant state of disrepair and the traffic is just plain awful. 

  Here in Texas, we don’t pay any state income tax.  YEE HAW.  This means you will have more to pay for things you cant possibly think about in California.  Things like retirement, saving for your kid’s education and buying a new Prius.  That is right, you can actually buy a Prius in Texas for less than MSRP!  Once again, YEE HAW.  Another great thing to look forward to is how cheap the cost of living is.  You wont be forced to live in a 1,500 square foot bungalow anymore.  You can move to Plano or Frisco and buy an estate for half of what you paid for your little hut in SoCal.  You will now be able to afford things like a pool guy, landscaping and your AC bill.  Oh wait the AC bill is a negative.  I will get back to that.

  Another great thing about living in Texas is Chick Fil A.  That is right, those delicious little chicken sandwiches can be found here on almost every corner.  I know many of you are closet fans and at least now you don’t have to drive to the Inland Empire to buy one.  You may be saying, “Well that is terrible for you and will make you fat.”  This is true, but a good thing about living in Texas is most people here are fat and could care less about it.  You can come here skinny and totally fit and it will take years to catch up with the average Texan.  They encourage over indulgence.  Remember, everything is bigger in Texas.  Take this not only literally but also as words to live by.

  You will also never have to worry about carrying a conversation at a party.  The days of uncomfortable silence when you are trying to think of something intellectual to say are over.  Since you are from California most people here will assume you are a bleeding heart pot smoking liberal.  As a result you will likely not get invited to many parties.  This is ok because it will give you plenty of time to see your counselor to deal with your grief.  By the time you have that dealt with you may have found some other people from California you can hang out with.  Or, worst case scenario you join a mega church and they will do their best to brain wash you and convince you that Jesus and Ted Cruz are the path to your salvation.  Resist the temptation for social acceptance and stick to your guns.  You will thank me for this I promise you.

  The other piece of good news is that as a member of the Democratic Party you will actually be able to attend political fundraisers.  Since there are so few of us here you can give a few hundred bucks and get an invite to an “elite” party event.  Who knows maybe you can even meet the next President of the United States, Hilary Clinton.  On a side note, don’t put a Democratic bumper sticker on your Prius.  You will likely get vandalized.

  Costco.  That is right, Costco.  Unlike in LA where the experience may take years off your life it can be quite pleasant here in the north Texas burbs.  There is lots of parking, not a ton of people (because there are at least a half dozen in the Metroplex) and cheaper gas.  That is right, gas is super cheap here relative to California.  If you don’t have a membership go and get one immediately, it’s a great way to kill time.

  Did I already mention that you wont have to pay state income tax?

  Ok, now on to the bad stuff.  Please be positive and resist the temptation to immediately quit your job.  While things seem bleak, if you know what to expect you can survive I promise.

  While this may get some of my haters to hate even more who cares.  Here goes nothing.  Get used to dealing with the God fearing Jesus freaks.  I love God and in some respects fear him as well (that is for a different blog post) but I don’t think a 5,000 person mega Church is what either of them had in mind.  You will get countless invites to join a Church, asked constantly what your denomination is and if you answer either incorrectly welcome to the social abyss.  They don’t like people from California and they really don’t like people who don’t go to Church every Sunday.

  People here really like Cadillac’s.  I really don’t know why and cant even begin to explain it.  In LA there is a high likelihood you are either a hip hop star or a drug dealer if your drive one.  Here it’s a sign that you made it. 

  Big trucks and SUV’s are everywhere and the people driving them do so at 85 MPH while texting.  No, it’s not against the law to text and drive in Texas.  It is however frightening to watch and drive next to the people who are manning their lead sleds rocketing down the freeway while sending their “LOL” texts and Facebook messages.  You will likely have to concede at some point and get rid of your Prius and buy a larger car.  If for no other reason than to stay alive in the event of a massive pile-up that is almost always the result of texting while driving.

  Traffic here sucks just like it does in SoCal.  You would think having toll roads would solve for this problem but it really doesn’t.  Just like in LA buy a house close to your new office in Plano.  Your chances of dying in a crash will go down dramatically and it will save you at least an hour each day of drive time.

  Unlike SoCal where you have the beach, the mountains, the desert and other great activities there is nothing to do here.  People talk about the lake, going to Austin for the weekend and great restaurants.  First of all, the lakes are all super crowded and who has time to drive 4 hours to Austin for the weekend.  As far as the restaurants, if you like CPK (California Pizza Kitchen, ironic right), steakhouses and lousy Tex Mex food then this is your place.  If you are looking for a “foodie” experience then you should head to DFW airport.  To the airport for food you may be asking yourself?  Yes, because you will need to catch a flight back to the west coast or perhaps to NY to get a decent meal.  I have had one great dining experience in almost for years and it was at a restaurant called Boulevardier.  Great French place with an awesome wine list.  It’s the only place you can eat and not have to promptly drink a gallon of water afterwards due to all of the salt in the food.

  One good thing to note in the midst of my laundry list of bad is golf.  If you enjoy teeing it up then Dallas is a great spot.  There are lots of great private clubs and public courses to play.  They don’t take an hour to get to and you can typically play in less than four hours.  If you don’t play golf you should learn.  Other than shopping it’s about all there is to do.

  Speaking of shopping, get ready to be disappointed.  You wont find a Kitson, Bloomingdales or boutiques like you find on Robertson.  Here its places like Nordstrom Rack, Stein Mart and if you are feeling particularly adventurous Dillards.  There are a couple of Nieman Marcus stores and even Nordstroms, but they are inside of the massive malls.  It takes forever to find parking, they are extremely over crowded and the stores largely suck.  What I do is use them as a place for my kids to run around.  Its good exercise for you and for your kids.  This way they get tired and go to bed early so that you can start to drown your sorrows in wine while you watch TV.

  Did I tell you about the heat?  During my first summer in Dallas there were over 100 days above 100 degrees.  It’s kind of analogous to living in Palm Springs with 70% humidity.  Don’t worry you will get used to it.  That brings me back to your AC bill.  Gone are the days of spending $75 a month on electricity.  Get ready to $600 - $1,000 per month once the five days of spring we have every year pass us by.

  While brevity is not my greatest strength I promise this is my last note on things to look forward to in your new life.  Prepare yourself for the Texas accent.  Yes, its there front and center and you will likely shake your head every time you hear someone say, “Y’All”.  No they don’t teach this in grammar school but it is one of the things that make the Lone Star state charming.  At least that is what Texans will tell you.  It does sound ridiculous and you will have to force yourself not to laugh when you first arrive.  After a while and like most things you will learn to accept it.  Chances are you wont even hear it.  Just remind yourself after you have been here a few years to resist the urge to adopt this phonetically challenged version of the English language.  Hopefully once enough large corporations move here we will begin to wash away the twang and its everyday use that we are forced to deal with today.

  In closing, yes this is a going to be tough for you and your family.  You will constantly reminisce about the good old days in California where you could walk on the beach, eat great food and have stimulating conversation at a dinner party.  Now you can look forward to owning that pair of cowboy boots you always wanted.  If you get really crazy you can buy a nice skintight pair of Wranglers.  Just be sure if you do this to iron a really nice and tight crease down the middle of each pant leg.  Its a super sexy look and very fashionable here in Texas.

  Good luck packing and with your move.  I look forward to seeing your California license plate deep in the heart of Texas

[joelawright]

I am officially burnt out on social media

Why you might ask?  Well the list is long, but here is my top 10.

  1.     We don’t interact any more.  We stare at our phones.  If you ever walk around a mall, a park or even at a restaurant you see masses of people constantly staring at their mobile device.  Forget the possibility of pedestrian head on collision, what about having an actual conversation with something other than your phone!  I was having dinner with my family a few weeks ago and watched a couple on a date through the corner of my eye.  In 30 minutes I saw them speak to each other once and I think it was about an Instagram post.  They then promptly went back to their virtual lives while shoveling pasta and liquor in their mouth.  I guess I am going to have to fill my need for physical human interaction with my 3 ½ year old daughter who actually like to chit chat.  I guess that’s because my Wife and I haven’t allowed her to get a Facebook account yet.

2.     My feed simply gives me a headache.  I cant keep up with the real time stream of consciousness that exists.  While you may think it’s interesting to give a play by play of your life, it really isn’t.  I only say this because if I did the same thing you would be as annoyed as I am.  If this bothers you feel free to send me a message and defriend me.  Its cool, I can take it.

3.     Social media is like high school with money.  Enough said.

4.     Just because you read a paragraph online or see a post from someone doesn’t make you an expert.  Before you spew your political theory on everyone please do a few quick things as a courtesy.  One, check the facts.  These tiny little pieces of information are pretty important.  Two, be respectful of others.  We don’t all share the same opinion, which is good.  If our views differ just acknowledge that fact and be polite.  Three, read a book.  Four, TMZ is not a news organization.  Five, repeat step three when complete.

5.     LOL, LMFAO, JK, BRB, J and all the other ridiculous ways that we have massacred the English language as a result of our laziness.  Is it really that hard to type out a sentence?

6.     I want more than 140 characters.  Oh wait, that is called email.

7.     LinkedIn is actually an awesome social service.  That is until people start to connect all of their accounts and it becomes the same nonsense from other services repeated over and over again.  No, I don’t work for LinkedIn.

8.     If I annoyed any of you with point number 4, I am sorry.  Its just my opinion.

9.     If you Tweet or do a post more than 4 times a day you aren’t working hard enough.  Lets face it, unless you are paid to be a prognosticator then you blowing off your day job.  For the record, I have a social media intern to spew my web of nonsense.

10.  To all of my friends and followers I genuinely like and care about you.  Feel free to call me if you want to catch up.  Would be good to hear your voice.

  BONUS NOTE:  TTYL, I have to go and Tweet something now.

  Your friend & follower,

  Joel