I dont do them.

Then a few days ago, my friend Gary Vaynerchuk text’d me and said “Micah, my book comes out in a few days. Can you read it and tell me what you think?”

I quickly replied “Of course,” while thinking to myself “that book is 250 pages! What have I agreed to?”

Before I get into the Thank You Economy, I want to tell a couple of stories. (I drop names like Thor drops hammers. But whats a story if you dont know the players?)

I met Gary, and his brother AJ three or four years ago at the TechCocktail conference in Chicago. I was giving a talk entitled SEO for Douchebags, and while I was talking, I kept looking over seeing two dudes, one with a shirt that said “Legacy > Currency”  and the other with a baseball cap, tshirt and shorts. And they were nodding vigorously. “Who the hell are those guys?” It was clear to me that they were from New Jersey, and knowing all the stupid crap I have done in my life, I was wondering if 1) I pissed them off some how; 2) if the opposite door was unlocked; 3) that I was pretty sure I could take them.

About an hour later, the dude in the “Legacy > Currency” shirt takes the stage, and the program said he was Gary Vaynerchuk. I leaned over to my friend Harper Reed, and said “Who is this dude?” Harper (if you dont know harper, find him on twitter, and get to know him) says, in his very Harper way, “hahaha that dude is awesome. Its Gary, he sells wine.”

Later that night, I ended up with Gary, AJ and a few other folks playing Cranium, watching Gary get pissed because he was losing, and putting playdoh in Nate Westheimer ‘s mouth as he snored.

Two years ago, at the Big Omaha conference, I was lucky to speak with a bunch of friends. At around midnight, Jeffrey Kalmikoff, Jason Fried, Gary and I found ourselves in Gary’s room chatting. (By chatting, I mean four strong personalities diving into all kinds of topics, learning and teaching simultaneously.) It was a smaller version of several similar sessions at various conferences that we have all attended, which was great, because less people meant the room didnt stink as badly or was as warm.

About half way through the night — We were there until, I think 3am, with Jason being the second speaker at 9:30ish — Gary said “You know, the only way to win is to give more than you take. For businesses to be successful, we have to figure out how to use the internet to be more like old school mom and pop shops.” Now Jason with 37signals does that quite well and Jeffrey, who was at Threadless at the time preached the same. That one statement led to easily a 1.5 to 2 hr conversation about what Gary now calls “The Thank You Economy.”

You see, for all the noise that Gary makes around wanting to own the Jets or using sound bites like “Whats the ROI of your mother?” at his core he is a kid running a liquor shop, where each person matters.

Gary was on his book tour for Crush It a year or two ago. He was coming to Denver, and wanted to swing by Boulder and say hi to some friends. Joe Stump was here as was Jeffrey and a few others. I offered to drive him to his signing in Denver, and on the drive down, traffic was horrendous. We got to talking about people.

“I hate people,” I declared. “I hate that people have expectations and view others by who they are and what they do, rather than what they care about.”

“I love people, Micah,” Gary said. “I really, really do. I care that people are happy and fulfilled, and that they are as excited about what they are doing as I am for what I am doing.”

I used to tell people that I believe that there are two types of people: People that care how the world effects them; and people that care about how they effect the world. Gary is clearly the second.

Now, to make sure you dont think this is some puffery about how awesome Gary is, while we were driving down to Denver, he got a call from Wine Library, the liquor store, and he had a long discussion with the manager about an employee that wasnt performing. You think Gary was soft? Yeah, I didnt think so either.

Want to know what I think of The Thank You Economy? I will sum it up in a single quote from the book:

“Success in the Thank You Economy hinges on obsessively caring about the customer, yes, but a great caring culture stems from the top of a company and cascades through it like a waterfall.”

Is that how we end up being successful in life? Its how Gary has done it. It is what we are trying to do at Graphicly . And, frankly, if you are not focused on caring, then you are planning your demise.

Related articles

• Why Gary Vaynerchuk wants to buy the New York Jets: Wine Library… (thetickr.com)
• Thank You Economy is Better than Crush it (garyvaynerchuk.com)
• Vaynerchuk’s Thank You Economy Hits Stores This Week (socialmediaexplorer.com)

To get, one must give, and trust that the gift is compelling enough to have the other give in return.

(I’ve always wanted to quote myself. Talk about an ego boost!)

Now, its a year later. The work we have done at Lijit has really begun to pay off. Since I started in the end of 2007, we have seen our pageviews grow 30x (11mm per month to 325mm per month) and our user base grow 11x (1,000 – 11,000). Clearly, our approach to business development has worked.

But, this past weekend at Gnomedex, I began to rethink my philosophy.

If you approach relationships as “give with the hope of getting something in return,” by definition, you are creating unidirectional value relationships.

A good illustration of this is the classic/stereotypical dating situation: Man takes woman out to a meal and a movie. He expects she will return a little loving. Who has the power in the relationship? Clearly, not the man.

Look at traditional sales relationships. Same story.

The majority of business dealings are created with the intent of forming a unidirectional value relationship. To be clear, while there is always some value passed back and forth, this is more an exploration of mutually equal value and sharing of power.

Which brings us to the concept of a bidirectional value relationship. Value is mutual. Power is shared.

In my personal life, I tend to be more like my original concept: “To get, one must give, and trust that the gift is compelling enough to have the other give in return.”

Which makes me more interested in women that have such needs that within the relationship, I can provide more than I get in return. This creates an imbalance in mutual value and power, often leaving me in a less than ideal situation. While I was assuming that I was keeping control, and therefore the balance of power in a relationship, the truth was that I was giving away both.

In business relationships, if you miscalculate and the value you provide is not compelling enough, or the other party is uninterested in providing equal value in return, the relationship ends up being unequal and creates the reality of a difficult ending.

Think of it this way. There are two parties, and between the two parties there is a bucket sitting on a level. Neither party can take the bucket, but each party can fill the bucket. If one party fills the bucket, but the other doesnt, the bucket tips. If one party takes too much out of the bucket, the bucket tips. There has to be equality.

Does this mean that relationships are not the focus of business development 2.0? Actually quite the opposite. Relationships are the centerpiece, but successful relationships are bidirectionally valuable.

How does Freemium work in all of this?

The general idea is that if a user likes a product, they will be willing to pay more to use it. Or, for some cases, free accounts can be used for lead generation. But, if the relationship with the user is unidirectional (you give away too much; the paid services are not compelling; you attract the wrong kind of user), then the model fails.

When building a strong, lasting relationship, its important to determine what equal value entails (For example: you put Lijit search on your blog and allow us to share in the revenue generated, and in return we will monetize an under-monetized section of your blog and give your readers a superior search service) and ensure it is understood by both parties.

Relationships should be evaluated on the ability of both parties to provide value. A true relationship, business or otherwise, is predicated on the fact that power, and therefore control, is shared by both parties. When that is out of sync, the relationship has no chance of becoming long-term. In fact, there is no relationship at all.

There is simply an agreement between two parties, that usually occurs after a series of negotiations focused obtaining the highest potential value for each individual party.

Building bidirectional value relationships takes time and trust. It takes a willingness to be vulnerable and a clarity of requirements. Such relationships take learning whats important to each party, and being brutal if those requirements are not met.

We were going down a specific path with this partner, who on the call threw us a bit of a monkey wrench. It happens. Its the internet.

Our product guy sends out an email after the call that basically indicates that the project is now dead. At the same time, I draft an email to the business partner about ways that we can potentially still work together even with the major change to the business strategy.

So who was right? The product guy for answering the question “Can it be done?” or me for answering the question “How can it be done?”

The truth is we both are correct. It needs to be determined if there is a solution to the problem, but also a need to understand the brain damage that solution might cause.

Organizations that understand this fundamental reality (product cares about the feasibility of projects, while business development cares about the potential of projects) create a positive work environment where idea flourish and projects actually complete.

Right around when I first started at Lijit, Todd Vernon wrote a post about the roles of a CTO and a VP of Engineering. Initially, I was taken aback by this section:

Another way to look at it, the CXO team should all be thinking of the next way to upset the world.  The VP’s and their Directors should be huddling on how to deliver the crazy ass stuff the CXO team is thinking of.  Of course, everyone wears a little of both hats, but in my mind that’s the focus.

After all, I had just come off of selling my company, and saw myself as someone who’s purpose in life was to “think of the next way to upset the world.” Yet, I was taking on the VP of Business Development role, which was a “by design” decision. (My focus was on learning more about how a venture backed company worked and surrounding myself with experienced rock stars like Lijit’s board and management team.)

But the question that loomed was could I do what I do best in a role that is defined by “the delivering crazy ass stuff the CXO team is thinking of”? Isnt that the role of the product team? Frankly, I was worried.

And for a year, that worry never completely subsided. Dont get me wrong, we landed big publishers, launched strong product upgrades and created great partnerships. Dont believe me? We are currently approximately 50%-ish ahead on our goals (which were scary high to start with). Clearly, we are doing something right.

Because of our successes, I never bought into the need for a dedicated product team. I didnt want a group who primary function was to tell me no. Who’s role was to determine FEASIBILITY not POSSIBILITY. To ask “Can it be done?” Not “HOW can it be done?”

Then we hired Greg Keller. Greg is a seasoned product manager and a solid blogger. He rides a bike (ok, he is a cyclist), but most importantly, understands the proper intersection of product and business development.

Over the past several weeks, the product team has expanded (and contracted a bit) to take ownership of our three products: The website (and search results), the widget and our ad network. In each case, the product path has become more clear, the important (and missing) elements have come to light, and the spots where I can make the most impact for Lijit.

What this has taught me is that if I were to build a company, I would look past the current constructs of position titles to understanding the true functions:

CEO – final decision maker; vision builder (“What do we want to be?”)

Operations – operationally focused; makes the business run (“How can we make that a reality?”)

BD – Lives outside reality, thinks about what is possible. (“What is possible?”)

Product – Lives in feasibility; thinks about how to make things reality (“What is feasible?”)

Engineering – Focused on making. They are the builders. (“Can we do it?”)

(Yes, I dont talk about sales. Sales is a very mechanical function, even though it is very necessary).

Can a small company share these responsibilities? Yes.

But, damn, its nice to have area experts.

Its 1:30am as I sit in my hotel room. I should have been asleep hours ago, as I have three meetings tomorrow (well four). At 8am I have a phone call,  I need drive down from San Francisco to San Mateo to meet with Apture (I mention them only because they are now installed on my blog, and I think they are pretty interesting) by 10am, and then back to San Francisco for 1pm meeting. Not to mention the the dinner I am pretty excited about with Foodzie.

But this isnt a complaint post.

Earlier tonight I was watching Glee on the new Hulu desktop app. There was a point in the show where one teacher shows the Glee Club teacher a video of him performing in 1993.

“That was the greatest time of my life.”

Which got me thinking. What was my greatest time?

No answer found itself to the front of my brain, and it dawned on me.

I havent had a greatest time in my life…yet.

At first, this realization was followed by disappointment. Has it really been 37 years without a greatest moment? Does it mean my life has been boring and without merit?

But, quickly it hit me. I derive my drive from an intense desire to HAVE a greatest moment. I am comforted by knowing that my greatest moment is still out there.

Then I started to apply the concept to the friends around me. People that I am humbled to know:

Brad Feld: A very successful venture capitalist, what excites Brad about being an investor is helping people build the next big thing. Does he think every investment he (or Foundry Group) makes is in the next big thing? No, but watch where (and in whom) Brad invests his time…its a great indicator of what (and whom) he is excited about.

Frankly by definition being an investor is the belief that the greatest moment is still to be…

Gary Vaynerchuk: Gary wants to buy the New York Jets. Gary is going to be a dad soon. Gary, our generation’s Tony Robbins, is driven by passion and the desire to win. Ask Gary if he has had the greatest moment in his life, and he is liable to punch you in the mouth and yell “I want to own the NY Jets, dummy.”

Jason Fried: I met Jason at the BigOmaha conference after several failed attempted by Jeffrey Kalmikoff to connect us, and was literally awed by Jason’s mix of focus and adjustment when we talked about business ideas. He has a clear vision as to what works and how it works, but he is also quick to absorb data and guidance and apply it to his vision. I would almost be willing to bet dinner in Chicago that if you asked Jason what his greatest moment in life was, he wouldnt name it quickly. Im sure he is proud of 37signals and the work they have done, but I am also sure that he believes that 37signals will be a footnote to whatever he accomplishes in his life.

Jeffrey Kalmikoff: While I refuse to take free tshirts from Threadless, Jeffrey is still my friend. Did you know that Jeffrey used to be a pretty decent DJ? Or that he and Jake Nickell have spoken to MIT and Stanford and were on the cover of INC magazine? Probably not. Because those are things on the path to whatever it is that Jeffrey will one day achieve.

The list goes on and on.

What is it then? People that are focused on the future are more likely to be successful? That people who have had a “greatest moment” are doomed to look at the past?

Not sure thats it.

People who have had a greatest moment spend most of their lives trying to recreate that moment.

Their very motivation centers on the concept of re-experiencing that wonderful moment in time.  Therefore, failure hurts, because you have known true success.

On the other hand, people that have not had their greatest moment yet, are waiting for that moment.

Their motivation is focused on creating that moment. Knowing that the moment will come (and fear that it may never). Therefore failure is part of the process, because we have never known real success.

Maybe I am rambling because its now 2:30am and I can barely keep my eyes open, but chew on this:

If I have had my greatest moment, then I know the parameters that that moment exists in. Therefore, my drive is limited by that scope. I am comfortable working a job, or limiting what I think I can achieve, because I know that my success must occur in a similar way to how it did in the past.

But what if I add a bit of hope to my beliefs?

In hoping that the greatest moment in my life is yet to come, the scope of where my greatest moment lives becomes infinite. I become ok with change and error. I stop questioning my ability to achieve and I focus on what the success should be, because I have no idea where, when or how my success will manifest in the future; I just know it will.

My greatest moment in my life is coming and it will be amazing.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Brad Feld’s Latest Investment: Students (xconomy.com)
• Glee: Hit Musical Comedy Television on Fox (connectwithyourteens.blogspot.com)
• Marvel Universe Goes Zombie (gamercenteronline.net)

The difference for me this year will be striking (speaking vs. not-speaking, knowing people vs. not knowing people, how much hotter I am, etc.). Yet with all the growth I have done personally and professionally, some of my friends are still light years ahead of me in terms of accomplishment and recognition.

And thats ok.

I realized that what I love most about life is the realization that no matter how much I accomplish, I always have people around me to remind me that I have a long way to go. That, for me, the only thing that drives me is success and since there will always be someone more successful than me, I have a long way to go.

Which brings me to the raging debate about spec work.

(huh? Yeah, I know, but its how my brain works. Stick with me.)

I am not a designer. I can barely draw a straight line. But, I have been a business man, even played one in real life.

Here is how I see a basic logo development conversation (for 99% of the world):

Business guy thinks to himself, “hmmm, I need a logo. Im bored/tired/renamed my business/whatever, and it about time. I dont want to spend a ton of money on it.”

Designer guys thinks to himself, “I love being an artist. I live to create. I dont just “do” logos, I create identity.”

Business guy: “sweet on the identity. How much will it cost?”

Designer dude: “$5,000.”

Business guy (after laughing so hard he is crying): “Thanks.”

And then business guy heads over to one of the “spec work” shops, and puts in a request for a logo, with a couple of requirements, and prices it at $500. A couple of weeks later, a logo is approved and used, and the business guy is happy. The “spec work” designer is less happy, but has $500, the “real” designer is totally unhappy, and blames everything: spec work, the business guy and the “spec work” designer (but not himself).

There is no questioning his pricing, or the value of his production, just that he got undercut by an “amateur.”

I think I get it.

Designers are being protective of their industry and their “art,” by railing against an activity that by design, reduces the amount of money they can charge.

At SXSW, Jeffrey is on a panel entitled “Is Spec Work Evil?” and the moderator, Jeff Howe wrote a great post called “Is Crowdsourcing Evil and Other Moot Questions …” where he wrote:

The demand for low-end design has ballooned in recent years alongside the profusion of start-ups and small businesses. Conveniently enough, so has the supply of what we might call “low-end designers” (amateurs, recent grads and the like). According to Forbes there are 80,000 freelance designers in the US alone. Most of these are, proverbially speaking, waiting tables. When someone matches demand and supply, well that’s kismet!

I agree that the market drives the business and the business practices. Take the hurt feelings out of the spec work debate, and you have an efficient marketplace driving costs down due to an overabundance of designers, coupled with the increasing number of small businesses and startups (which by definition, have no money to spend on huge design projects).

Is spec work “evil” (meaning detrimental)? Hell yes. It devalues the work of the designer and trains the business professional to accept a lower quality (but sufficient) work product.

But the problem is not with the companies that drive spec work, or the designers that participate in it, or even the companies that pay for it.

The problem is simply a result of an upside down economic model where the artificially high supply of designers is pushing the pricing downwards. Include the general efficiencies that are provides by the internet, and BAM! spec work is perceived as evil. Read Jeremiah’s post about how he views spec work from the business perspective, and you can see exactly this dynamic occurring.

I commented on Jeff’s post:

I am excited to listen to the panel and continue the conversation that we have had around these here parts (Its Boulder, we can sound Western…).

There is a constant fight for equilibrium between business interests and service providers, where businesses will always undervalue the esoteric value of intangibles, and service providers will always overvalue them.

There is not a service industry that is not touched by the concept of spec work or unfavorable (to the service provider) competitions. The canary has been dead for awhile, people just have named it.

Of most service industries, graphic design (and design as a whole) is probably the most disparate in perceived and actual value. How do you value “art”? How do you value “feeling”?

Businesses apply a value to everything. When I sold my company, when I agreed to accept a non-compete that had a value. The association of my name to the new company had a value.

The positive of the spec work revolution is that it forces designers to think: 1) am I talented enough to be charging what I am charging; and 2) what is the real value I bring to the table that can be counted by my client (the business) in dollars.

The negative is that designers are realizing that their perceived value is not equitable to their real value.

(There is also the reality of the economic abundance of designers makes it easy for spec work to exist. If I were a designer I would stop worrying about spec work and get more people to quit the industry.)

At the end of the day, being underpaid for valuable work sucks, which is what the specter of spec work brings. Want to combat it? Dont suck. Provide value. Set realistic expectations.

The only way to reduce the negative effects of spec work on the design industry is to make the supply of designers scarce.

Want to end spec work? Kill all the designers.*

* of course this is meant simply as an oversimplification of a complex problem. Please dont kill the designers. Perhaps take away all the stolen copies of Photoshop, or disallow internet access for designers at coffee shops, but killing them might just be a bit more evil than the perception of spec work.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Is Crowdsourcing Evil and Other Moot Questions … (crowdsourcing.typepad.com)
• Forbes calls designers snooty (davidairey.com)
• Why the Music Industry Hates Guitar Hero (wired.com)

Over the years, I have spent my fair share of time in strip clubs. Mostly for fun, but sometimes for business, every strip club I have ever been to (no matter the physical location) tends to have the same formula.

A main stage for the feature dancer or the a rotation of dancers; a series of smaller tables with chairs (always on rollers); a private VIP area and a set of private rooms or stalls for the girls to perform private dances.

Most strip clubs seem to do relatively well financially, and other than Las Vegas, seem to stay in business regardless of economic times.

But, thats not what interests me.

Whats interesting to me is how the dancers themselves work. Each girl is a little mini-business and a entrepreneur in their own right.

In the past two years, I have gone to two separate clubs. One in Dallas and one in Las Vegas. Each time was for an extended period of time (Dallas was about 5 hours, and Las Vegas was about 3 hours) completely sober (yeah, dont ask…).

I spent the majority of my time in each one watching the girls interact with their customers.  (And to be completely fair, I spent my fair share of time with the dancers themselves.)

Here is how it works for me:

• I sit down at one of the smaller tables (never at the stage. mostly because the dudes sitting around the stage are pretty slimy).
• I order a red bull (there is usually some sort of drink minimum);
• over the next 30-45 minutes, dancers will tap me on the shoulder and ask if they can sit down and talk. I tend to refuse (mostly because I want to get settled in, and to a certain degree have to get up the courage to interact).
• Finally, once I am ready and I find a girl that is attractive to me, I will accept the invitation to sit down.
• We talk for a bit, she dances for a bit, and then she usually pitches me on a private room, which I refuse, and she eventually moves on.
• Then the process repeats.
• Sometimes, a particular dancer and I will get along and she will either spend an inappropriate (remember she is there to work) amount of time with me, or kinda swing by periodically through out my time at the club.
• This seems to happen more often than one would expect, and through out the night, I tend to learn all about the dancer’s history, family, etc. In Dallas, I learned that the girl was a blogger and had spent time in Thailand working with Amnesty International on some sort of drug case. (I just remember it was very Midnight Express). Another dancer came from a family of dancers. Both of her sisters and her mother danced at a rival club, but since she was only 18, she couldnt dance in a club with alcohol.
• At the end of the night, I leave. After all, it was just a night at work for her, and usually, a night at work for me too.
• (if you are wondering, I used to get a lot more stripper phone numbers than I do now. Probably because I am sober.)

I have often wondered why one particular dancer over another would select me to engage with. Was there something in how I carried myself? Was it because of how I looked? What was it?

The process of customer selection by the stripper is really interesting. I spent a lot of my time these past two times at a club really watching the process.

1) Dancers seemed to be more likely to talk to a customer that had just walked in. Almost before he could get settled.

I imagine that this is due to the fact that new customers have the potential to have the most money. After all, if the dancers are good, most of the customers that have been there for a number of hours are probably tapped.

2) Dancers tend to approach the same type of men. This is more pronounced by the race of the dancer.

Each race of stripper tends to have a similar shtick. I know that sounds racist, but it really makes sense. If men are attracted to certain types, then those type of women will learn that they get the biggest reaction from those type of men, when they act in a certain manner.

For example, I seem to predominantly attract minority dancers. Sometimes a heavily tattooed white stripper will swing by, but almost never the “all-american” types. Makes sense given my general look and the tattoos.

When Asian stripper approach me, they often talk about how much they like a “big man,” Latino and Black strippers will comment on “how strong I must be,” and tattooed strippers, of course, talk about my tattoos.

3) Every action, including feigned interest, is designed to generate revenue.

There is not a single thing a dancer does that isnt designed to separate a customer from his money. A stripper looks at their time at the club as revenue/minute. When they arent hustling, they are losing money. Its that simple.

In New York City, the famed club Scores is a master at this. First of all, all cash is converted into “Scores Dollars” which is not a 1:1 direct conversion. Then, every 30min or so there is another Scores product to buy (Calendars, videos, tshirts, etc). Even drinks can be bought with the funny money. Also, you can only buy “Scores Dollars” in groupings of $10 or $20 (I think). But, nothing works out to a round amount, so you are either sitting on the sidelines, or buying more fake money. Ingenious.

4) Customers that are cheap or refuse the company of a dancer, will soon find themselves completely shut out.

I doubt there is a bulletin board in the back room that states “skip the dude in the black shirt with the tribal tattoo,” but there is an almost natural way that dancers mark a customer as a dud. It could be the drunk guy, or the extra touchy-feely guy. Or just the guy that doesnt seem to pony up enough cash quickly enough. But, it happens, every single time, there is some guy that just gets shut out.

5)  Customers that feel special will spend more money.

There is a real connection between how valuable a customer is to the dancer and the amount of attention given by the dancer. Have money? Continue to get smiles. Get too drunk? See the dancer move away. Pay for your friends? Get attention. Get your friends to pay for you? Nada.

It is a set expectation when you enter a strip club that you are entering a business establishment with unwritten rules for conduct and transactions. Want attention? Spend money. Its that simple.

So, how do I apply these five rules to business?

1) Dancers seemed to be more likely to talk to a customer that had just walked in. Almost before he could get settled.

Be attractive to new customers, but understand its easier to keep the regulars. Make sure that new customers immediately feel important.

2) Dancers tend to approach the same type of men. This is more pronounced by the race of the dancer.

Know your market. Explain your value in an easy way, that is understood by the market you are selling to.

3) Every action, including feigned interest, is designed to generate revenue.

Always be generating internal value. I used to tell people that worked for me that for every dollar I paid them, they should generate three.

4) Customers that are cheap or refuse the company of a dancer, will soon find themselves completely shut out.

Dont waste time on customers that will not generate revenue or internal value. ‘Nuff said.

5)  Customers that feel special will spend more money.

Make the right customers feel special. Have a VIP list. Be transparent about the value specific customers bring.

All I ever needed to know in business, I learned in a strip club.

Its really that simple. There is not that much different between a dancer in a strip club and a startup or huge multinational corporation. One just ends up with all your money at the end of the night, and the other gives you lap dances and covers you in glitter.

Forbes had a great article: Are You A Humpty-Dumpty Entrepreneur, which discussed the difference between a workaholic and an entrepreneur (short answer: workaholics enjoy working; entrepreneurs enjoy doing).

Jessica Mah, one of my favorite young entrepreneurs, wrote: Why 99% of Entrepreneurs Fail: Because they dont do anything (short answer: too many like to start things–easy, but dont have the fortitude to finish things–hard).

Dave McClure, who is a master of subtly, wrote Great Entrepreneurs are PASSIONATE about Customers & Products, NOT about being Great Entrepreneurs (short answer: just build something. stop worrying about how you look, and start worrying about what you are accomplishing).

Finally, I wrote the post: What is an Entrepreneur? (short answer: some who has passion about something and focuses on finding out whether its going to work or not by starting AND finishing.)

Whew. Thats a lot of discussion.

Now that we know what a Entrepreneur, whats next?

Whether you raise money or not, the most critical decision an entrepreneur makes is team selection.

There are two schools of thought when it comes to selecting a team.

School 1: Hire your friends.

When my friends Jake and Jeffrey, owners of skinnyCorp, built the company, they decided that many of the folks that they would hire would be friends. Not just friends, but people they had known for most of their lives. When you talk to them about the people that work with them at Threadless/skinnyCorp, there is almost always a story about high school or college that accompanies the introduction.

I asked Jeffrey and Jake if they had ever fought. Quick denials. Given their personalities (Jake is a mellow, quiet dude; and Jeffrey is a constant talker; who is also quite a giver) its not surprising.

Hiring your friends adds value in a couple of ways. First of all, you know you are going to get a group of people that are willing to stand beside you regardless of the challenges and should provide support around ideas and efforts.

Of course the negatives are that you might have a crew that all thinks similarly or are unwilling to hurt each other’s feelings, making the truth a hard thing to come by.

School 2: Cauldron of Friction

One of my favorite books, McDonalds: Behind the Arches, covers the genesis and growth of McDonalds and other franchises. (Did you know that Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy’s was Colonel Sanders marketing guy?)

John F. Love writes a lot about the decisions that Ray Kroc made early on with McDonalds. Things like buying a corporate plane so that they could fly over potential restaurant locations and determine the best placement based on traffic flows and housing placements.

The other thing at Kroc believed in what that you hired for competence, and that competence bred loyalty. The senior management meetings at McDonalds were legendary for the yelling matches and friction between the leadership. Kroc believed that you got better answers from people who were passionate and willing to stand up for what they believed in rather than valuing harmony.

Often, when an idea is thrown in a cauldron of friction with a healthy dose of respect, the results are often surprisingly innovative. To be forced to defend concepts and ideas creates an environment where on the positive side there is an immense requirement to truly understand the problem and the suggested solution. On the negative, people become afraid of the process, and therefore stop bringing ideas forward.

So whats the best choice?

Do you hire your friends and work in a welcoming, supportive environment or do you hire people who primary value is their competence, where ideas are thrown in a cauldron of friction with the hope that a healthy respect develops resulting in an environment that allows for ideas to survive and flourish?

Related articles by Zemanta

• What is an Entreprenuer? (learntoduck.com)
• Drivers of Entrepreneurial Success (myventurepad.com)
• Why 99% of entrepreneurs fail (coloradostartups.com)
• 10 Traits of Successful Entrepreneurs (myventurepad.com)

Early in my career, I interviewed hundreds of people. I ran call centers and had large staffs. I enjoyed interviewing, and it became almost a set process for me. I had my favorite questions.

Of all questions, my favorite still is: “If I were to ask the person that knows you best, to describe you with one word, what would that word be, and why?”

The responses were always all over the map, from “christian” to “super helpful” (yes, I would mention that was two words, and they would rarely be hired, but it was a common answer.)

Back to Walter’s post. I was thinking about some of the points he laid out while buying groceries at King Soopers (a local non-Whole Foods supermarket). I was wearing one of my basketball jerseys (A Sixers Julius Erving if you must know), which allows for a full view of the tattoos on my arms.

Usually, I hate wearing clothes that show my tattoos in public, because I get a million comments. I think my next tattoo will say, “Thanks! I appreciate that you like my tattoos and taste. But really, I am walking because I am trying to get somewhere, which is not by your side to discuss my tattoos.” Of course, that might be a little lengthy.

As I walked out of King Soopers, one of the baggers said to me, “Nice tattoos. Are you an artist?”

“No,” I replied. “But I love the art form.”

“Me too. But, I cant show any of my tattoos while at work.”

As I walked to my car with my groceries, I thought to myself, what are my requirements for an employer? If as Walter outlines in his post, a company has requirements of potential employees, I should have requirements as well.

So here (yeah, I know, an amazing meandering narrative to get to this point) are my requirements.

Dress Code:

There can be none. I want to show up in shorts or a basketball jersey, or have my tattoos be visable, it shouldnt matter. After all, are you hiring me for my looks or for my production?

Smart People:

And not just intelligent people, but people that I can learn from. I want to go home every day thinking to myself, “wow, I wonder what I am going to learn tomorrow.” I want people that realize that I have something to offer, and leave every day thinking, “wow, I wonder what I am going to learn tomorrow.”

Real Challenge:

The company should be trying to solve a real problem. I should be an important part of solving that problem. I should leave on certain days concerned that the problem we have chosen is too big for the team we have; and on other days leave feeling that we have the problem licked.

Focus on Success; Expectation of Failure:

Success only occurs from the existence of continual measured failure. The more one is able to fail in an environment that accepts and welcomes failure as a process, the more often one is able to succeed.

Freedom to Expand:

Its important that I have the ability to be involved with more than the exact job description that I have been asked to do. I want to add value horizontally, not just vertically.

So, want to hire me?

That might make this the shortest blog post in the history of this blog.

But why?

Dammit. There is always that.

I had a conversation this morning with a startup executive who said, “I really think a blog would be good for us, but my CEO doesnt really agree. Given all of our other priorities, that has made blogging less of one.”

Blogging, I said, is an important part of the growth of a startup.

Why? he asked.

Dammit, I thought.

Several months back, I wrote what were my three rules of blogging. Here they are in brief:

1. Write as if no one is reading your blog (allows for openness and honesty);
2. Dont write on a schedule (allows for quality and enjoyment);
3. When you find yourself thinking “That would make a good blog post,” then you are a blogger (reduces pressure and provide a goal).

Look at those three in total. How do most companies think?

Those rules dont apply to the company:

• I HAVE to write as if someone is reading my words. I am writing to a specific audience.
• I HAVE to write on a schedule (to create consistency and expectation)
• I DONT get to choose what I write about. The market dictates that.

Most companies make the assumption that they know what they what their customers want to hear from them. It usually falls into a couple of categories:

• Press Releases
• Product Releases
• Pricing Changes

What companies fail to realize is that their customers would rather engage with them than be educated by them. What companies fail to realize is that they are PEOPLE and PEOPLE use their products or services. And, PEOPLE, like to engage with PEOPLE.

Engagement creates an expectation of reflection and communication. Take a look at my three rules again. Their primary purpose is to drive reflection by the writer.

At Lijit, we have a corporate blog that does it right (Thats right, Im proud of our corporate blog. Why? C’mon, we were such friends…).

We have four types of posts:

• Publisher Highlights (ex. The Wiz of Odds/The March of Madness)
• Product Highlights (ex. Ready…Set…Price!)
• Employee Highlights (ex. The World According to Pip)
• Thought Leadership (ex. Being the Center of Your Universe)

Tara Anderson, our Marketing Manager, manages the blog pretty simply. She will ask folks to write various posts at various times. While she facilitates the blog, we all own it. Everyone in the company. We all have logins. We all can write anything. We just have to coordinate the publication with Tara. (By the way, wondering who Tara is? Follow her on Twitter here or read her blog here or check out her latest late night gig here.)

Thats it.

Blogging has become so common place, and such a part of most people’s day, that a company that doesnt create transparency through their blog, actually creates the aura of opaqueness. Of not wanting to interact with their customers. Of hiding something.

So should a company blog?

The Harvard Business School wrote in 2005:

What [Bob] Lutz and other executives recognize is that a blog is an incredibly effective yet low-cost way to:

• Influence the public “conversation” about your company: Make it easy for journalists to find the latest, most accurate information about new products or ventures. In the case of a crisis, a blog allows you to shape the conversation about it.
• Enhance brand visibility and credibility: Appear higher in search engine rankings, establish expertise in industry or subject area, and personalize one’s company by giving it a human voice.
• Achieve customer intimacy: Speak directly to consumers and have them come right back with suggestions or complaints—or kudos.

Ignoring the existence and reach of blogs, says Heidi Cohen, principal of Riverside Marketing Strategies and an adjunct professor of interactive marketing at New York University, can leave a company vulnerable to serious damage. “With blogs, the ostrich approach doesn’t work,” says Cohen.

That Harvard school is pretty damn smart.

Why?

Don’t start with me.

Like most professions people choose, entrepreneurship isnt all play time and money. Startups arent filled with foosball and Mac Pros.

We read about layoffs and think to ourselves “Well, its a startup. They arent making any money. I have no idea why they employed so many people. Whiles its horrible, its probably for the best.”

Or we read about the latest funding and think to ourselves “What? They got $5million dollars? Its just a <insert something here>. They will never make any money.”

What most people dont understand if they havent been in a startup (even those that cover startups really dont get it), is that a startup’s culture always has a few key components (not success components necessarily, just that they exist).

1. A general belief that what the startup is focused on is unique, interesting or better than current offerings in the market place (the old better, faster, cheaper argument).
2. That startups have an end.
3. And at that end, there will be some sort of reward.
4. That working at a startup gives you a greater ability to have a bigger influence on the product, brand, business direction, whatever.
5. That you, the employee, can do whatever is placed in front of you, better than anyone else.

And while its easy to intellectualize the long hours and hard work to get to the end of the rainbow, most people dont understand how the startup lifestyle truly effects them emotionally and mentally.

You can get fired/laid off at any time.

Often decisions are made based on the money in the bank, or the expected out of case position, rather than on the true needs of the organization. Often, there is little determination of the effect less people have on overall workload.

A mistake can be magnified.

Because each person has a large affect on the outcome of the business, mistakes are magnified. Code something wrong? It could push back the next release. Push back the next release, and lose a big deal. Lose a big deal, and miss the numbers you expected. Miss the numbers and the world turns on you. Because most startups run extremely lean, it is imperative that each person is competent. Extremely competent.

All the best work can be for naught.

Do everything right, get the product out the door on time and under budget, make the greatest thing since sliced bread, and watch it wither on the vine. Sometimes, for no reason, a great idea/product just dies. Its a sad reality of the risk/reward game of startups.

All of this leads to high level of expectation and stress.

Which leads to burnout.

Successful entrepreneurs and long-time startup employees understand that burnout is part of the lifestyle they have chosen. Everyone burns out at some point.

So what do you do when you feel a burnout coming?

Most people dont. They work and work and work until they fizzle. Their production decreases and mistakes increase. Soon, they have been let go, and dont understand why.

Here are some early warning signs of burnout:

• You are tired all the time. No matter how much you sleep, you cant seem to “catch up.”
• You complain more than usual. Everyone is a moron. You are the only person that can get the job done.
• You snap at friends and colleagues. Since they cant understand the workload you are under, or how unfair that workload is, you snap. You withdraw.
• You start thinking about quitting. It has to be the company. There is a better job with less stress out there. I just made a bad choice of jobs.
• You take little “breaks.” Today, I am going to nothing that pertains to my job. I know its Tuesday, and we have a release coming up, but I can catch up tomorrow.
• When do you get home, you dont take care of personal business. Dude, I just worked for 12 hours straight. Why should I pay bills?
• You wish you can, or you start, working from home more. There are less distractions (and people). I can work at my pace and I do a better job!

Often the signs of burnout are subtle, and the important thing to realize is that working at a startup is a continual ebb and flow of “completely burned out,” to “almost burned out” and back.

What do you do to make sure you dont completely burn out?

• Pick a project that is just for you. Work it at your pace. Work it in your space. Dont “re-grout the tile” or “pull the storm windows.” Remember your passion. What got you going in the first place. Do that, but do it for you.
• Take some time every day away from the office. I make sure it always take a lunch. 30-60min where the focus is on anything except work. My first boss told me, “The concept of a job is that there is work. When there is no work, there is no job.” 30-60min a day will not put you so far behind that it causes issue.
• Laugh. A lot. There is nothing wrong about finding humor in your day. If its a quick trip to ICanHasCheezburger or a joke with a co-worker, make sure to laugh everyday.
• Learn. A lot. Often, we get so caught up in our jobs, we forget that there is always a lot to learn. It doesnt have to be big. It just has to be something. Ask a co-worker a question. Look something up on Wikipedia. Try some different code.
• Engage. The great thing about startups, is that the team is small enough that you can engage with most anyone. There is no reason to go at it alone. Ask a co-worker to review your work. Get involved in something outside your job. Find a team that you can add value to, and get on it. You can also engage outside the company via a blog, Twitter or some other social media outlet.

How do you deal with burnout?

Lets take these out of order.

First my mood.

I am living with bipolar disorder II. I am taking two drugs, Seroquel and Trileptal that seem to be really making it easier to have stable moods. Pretty rad.

Second my life.

I do business development for a company called Lijit. I date (lately more frequently, but its something I certainly dont write specifics about. There is another person involved more often than not, so it just doesnt seem right.) I do the proverbial “hang out with friends” and spend a significant time with my two dogs, Billie and Taylor. (I do spend time with my three cats, Calin, Winston and Max, but they are cats. They are less needy.)

Third is my faith.

Its easy to say that being Jewish shapes a lot of what I do, but thats not the faith I am speaking about. That faith is the simple faith in me.

A recent fortune cookie read:

Deep Faith Eliminates Fear.

For the first time in awhile, a fortune cookie made me think.

(The other fortune was pretty good too: Dont be discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward. That one relates to my dating life and my business philosophy. Perhaps I will write about that another day…)

One characteristic that is often associated with me, and many entrepreneurs, is risk taking. Its one of the characteristics that I have a hard time understanding.

Here are some of my responses to “risks” I have taken:

“So, I quit my job to start a company. It wasnt like the company was going to fail.”

“So, we were competing against several huge agencies for the deal. Is wasnt like we werent going to get it.”

“So, you walked away from a high paying job to work at a startup. It not like that startup wont be an amazing success.”

“So, you moved to DC after college with $300 and a place to stay for two months. Its not like I wasnt going to find a job and be successful.”

The list goes on.

I never see anything that I do that can be considered “risky,” because the deep faith I have in myself eliminates the fear of failure.

Read that again.

Apply it to other entrepreneurs you know.

The truth is that successful entreprenuers have a deep (not blind) faith in their own abilities to succeed. They understand their shortcomings. They know what holes they need to fill, and the types of people they need around them to be successful.

They dont take risks, becuase the outcomes are measured against the faith they have in themselves.

True entrepreneurs eliminate the reason for failure on external sources (the market, the community, the economy, whatever) and own their own failures as much as they own their own successes, because they know, their actions (or lack thereof) are solely responsible for the outcome.

Thats why there are so few real entreprenuers.

Most people are willing to take a contained risk by put up a site, write a business plan, even raise money.

But most are unwilling to jump off the cliff with only deep faith in themselves to eliminate the fear of the outcome.

If you consider yourself an entrepreneur, ask yourself this one question:

“Above all else, who do I have ultimate faith to get the job done, to make the right decision, to do the difficult things?”

What did you answer? I know mine.

Not figuratively either.

See, when I went to college I knew I wasnt going to be able to competitively swim (I swam in high school for a number of years.) because I was “ok,” but not great, and I didnt want to put that much time into a sport.

A friend, I met in college, Darren, who was from San Diego, suggested I try lacrosse.

Lets just say that partying wasnt the first thing I got addicted to. I loved playing. I played for 15 years (I retired from playing about 3 years ago) and have coached for just over 18 years. I have coached all levels (youth, high school, college. Men and Women).

Lacrosse has been a large part of my life (my first tattoo commemorated my love of lacrosse, and memorialize my friend Jeff Cerny, who died playing lacrosse).

What are the lessons getting beaten on by sticks taught me?

1. Love What You Do. You dont have to love it every minute, but it has to be something that you love enough to continually try and improve it and your interactions with it.
2. There is ONE Team Leader. There can be many “sub-leaders” that at specific times and for specific tasks take the lead, but a team only works if there is one clear leader. This leader has only one function: To build trust. From that, the team allows the leader to make the decisions that have a major effect on the team.
3. Everyone Has a Specific Role. If you cannot articulate what your specific role is on the team, then you are useless, and will most likely be removed from the team.
4. Not Learning is Losing. The scoreboard is simply a way for simple people to determine who won. In truth, if, as a team member, you are not learning from the good and bad, you are not benefiting the team, and should re-evaluate your membership.
5. Focus on Making Everyone Else Better. Not focus on making everyone else happy. What can you do to help a team member achieve his goals? What can you not do?
6. Focus on Being the Best You Can Be. Basically, know your limitations. But push them hard. So often a hard working team member has more value than a naturally talented one.
7. Pain and Failure is Ephemeral. It sucks to get beaten. It hurts to get knocked to the ground. But its what you do next that defines your value to the team.
8. Teams Can Excel With One Fantastic Player. The truth is, that one fantastic player can push a team to achieve more than it could with the sum of the rest of its parts. If the rest of the team is willing to support the star player, the team will achieve. If the rest of the team doesnt provide support because of petty jealousy, the team will fall apart.
9. Coaches Get Things Started; Players Finish It. Coaches become extraneous pretty quickly. They can put the right players in the right positions and places, but the players must execute. If the coach forgets to the let the players play, or the players forget to let the coach coach, failure is the only outcome.
10. Have Fun. Without fun, the previous 9 things just dont matter.

If you have kids and are wondering what sport to let them play, check out lacrosse. Let them get beaten by sticks. It could be one of the greatest experiences you and your kid share.

(drum roll please)

“Its not in my brand”

Yuck.

As social media continues its explosion, and more and more people are becoming “social media experts”and talking in terms of personal brand.

(BTW, “social media expert” is another complete misnomer. Have you noticed that most “social media experts” are socially awkward or inept? What they truly excel in is using the Internet as a way to relate in a non-real way. Thats why I am so impressed by video bloggers who truly just talk into a camera and express their feelings. Its the closest thing to connecting directly with people that is not hidden by social media constraints.)

(another point. I am a bit of a hypocrite here since I am blogging, not video blogging these thoughts, but to my credit, I aint no “social media expert.”)

Back to the concept of personal brand.

There are two types of branding: corporate branding, and this new concept of personal brand.

Corporate branding is simple. Its the concept of creating a good feeling about a product or service with potential customers. So have a concept of “Give the world a Coke,” is a great branding exercise. People feel good about giving and therefore feel good about Coke, with the net effect being more soda being purchased.

Personal brand has become how you present yourself to the world. What people dont realize is this simple fact:

Personal Brand is YOU.

So, there is so separation between your “personal brand” and you. Personal brand, doesnt exist. Its a fake concept, a misnomer, a way for “social media experts” to make a living.

Take for example screen names.

There are people who use screen names that are not connected to their names, when asked why, the common response is that they can “brand themselves around the screen name.” This allows them to keep the “personal” away from the “professional.”

How is this personal branding?

If personal branding is about the person, shouldnt it be about the person?

By using my name (@micah) I create no division between Micah the person and Micah the “online” person. This means that I dont have a Personal Brand, I just have me.

There are other folks who do the same online.

Chris Brogan, Gary Vaynerchuk, Robert Scoble and the king of all marketers, Seth Godin, and others use their names as their online identities and allow their words to define who they are. Are they careful with their word choice and subjects, sure, but most folks are aware of the effect of their conversation with others and on others.

Personal Brand is like Coke. Its easy to get addicted to the concept of personal brand and the need to “protect your personal brand,” personally, I say enter a 12 step program and just be you.

Most of the time, you is pretty damn cool by yourself.

,

So, probably because I am the coolest person in the world (in addition to my status as the #1 douchebag in the world), I asked Aaron to try his hand at Business Development at Lijit Networks.

Its been fun over the past week or so talking to Aaron about publishers and Lijit, but more interestingly is the discussions we have had about business development.

So, back to the Skype conversation.

Aaron and I were discussing a plan of attack for a large publisher. One that neither of us had a warm introduction into. As the conversation continued, I began to explain to Aaron the difference between business development now and during the Great Dot Com Bubble of 2000.

In the “old days,” business development was more about strategic alliances, which was a silly way to say, “lets find a way to drive traffic to each other.” (Notice the word traffic. I didnt accidentally substitute that for the word revenue.)

Many companies owned a certain space and could demand many things for the access to their traffic or data. Business Development was really just sales with out the quota. It was all about traffic and eyeballs, and there was little to no focus on creating bi-directional relationships. As I just explained to another friend:

Business Development is about working with people who want to make your company better while you work to make their company better.

And that, in a nutshell, is the difference in todays world.

The world is smaller. Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and the like make it easy to interact with people all times of day and builds a level of understanding and connection that is unprecedented.

So, what advice would I give a new business development guy? What advice did I give Aaron? Here are my three rules to being a fantastic Business Development guy:

1. Be yourself. You are now intertwined with the brand of the company you are pitching. If you are fake, then the company will be seen as fake. Just be yourself.
2. Do what you would do normally. If you are not a blogger. Dont blog. If you dont like twitter, dont tweet. Basically, chose the communication medium that best suits you.
3. Look for connections. Not just between people, but between companies. Does it make sense for Lijit to work with hardware manufacturers? Probably not. So think of connections in three ways:
   1. Direct: These are people that you know directly or can be introduced directly. In this case, you are looking to directly pitch the person on your product or service.
   2. Indirect: These are tangential connections, where you want to pitch your product or service to someone because of the people that like, follow, respect the direct connection.
   3. Enhanced:  Dont really have a better word for this, but its basically a connection where there may be no immediate business to pitch, but since the two companies are like minded and the product or service is complimentary, that a connection will enhance both companies.

The first type, Direct, is the most like sales. You have something you want someone else to use or pay for, so you explain the features and benefits, and you are off to the races. The second, Indirect, is very much like a Direct connection, but your target isnt the initial person, its the intial person’s fans and friends.

Both of those are necessary for the growth of a company. As long as one is open and honest about it and straight forward, there is nothing shady about the practice.

The third type, enhance, is the most difficult and esoteric for most people. People that are successful at Enhanced Connections usually dont work for commission. They usually arent great sales people. But, they see the potential in both their company, and the target company, and understand that together they are stronger than individually. And most importantly, they understand its about sharing and giving, not just taking.

I also often joke that my title is VP, Favors and Introductions. 99% of my job doing favors, giving introductions or asking for favors or introductions. To me, the only capital I possess is my reputation and the trust my friends have that I will introduce someone that is worthy and wont waste their time.

The key to being successful at this is understanding one simple thing:

To get, one must give, and trust that the gift is compelling enough to have the other give in return.

And that one sentence, is what Business Development in a Web 2.0 World is. Its not wineing and dining, or business trips, or even expense accounts. Its being in a state of constantly giving, making sure that you have given more daily than received. And, most importantly, if, at the end of the day, what you are giving away (whether it is time, connections, a product or service, or even just an ear to listen) is not worthy of the people you are giving it to, and not given freely, you will lose. Every time.

But, the comments I love are the ones that extend the discussion. Sometimes those comments spill over onto Twitter, or direct emails, or lunch discussions the next day. And those are the comments that I would love to capture. Those comments I would love to extend beyond my blog. Those comments I would love to make interactive.

When I started to get back involved with the Colorado tech scene, I got to know one of the founders of Intense Debate, Josh Morgan. Fantasic guy. Clearly in over his head, but a hard worker. His partner, Jon Fox, is a brilliant developer, but needed direction. Still I really liked what they were doing.

So, I added Intense Debate.

After a couple of weeks, Intense Debate began to really bog down performance wise. Plus, it didnt have trackback support.  Knowing the guys, I finally made the decision to pull it off my blog, and go back to the default comments. I explained why (performance and lack of trachback support). I figured the default comment system would be good enough.

Over the months, I watched Disqus continue to grow and Intense Debate languish. “They will do what they are going to do,” I thought to myself. “I hope that ends up positive.”

And, Disqus continued to innovate and extend their reach. And, finally, Disqus got funded.

And while there has been minimal innovation with Intense Debate, Disqus has continued to add features and even developed an API (which as a non-technical person always means to me that one can do more cool stuff with the product).

And, even more importantly, more and more of the blogs that I interact with were using Disqus.

Still, I stayed loyal, and added no comment system to my blog.

Fast forward several months.

My blog has grown. Many times, I get a dozen or so comments on posts. Its no 100+ that some people get, but its more than 1 or 2. So, I started reviewing comment systems again.

For those that dont know, I run business development at Lijit Networks, and one of my roles is finding additional content sources for our technology to index. At Lijit, we are content agnostic. We will index any RSS/OPML feed or URL.

I often say, “Google wants to index everything. At Lijit, we only index the information you care about.” So, if you want to index Disqus or Intense Debate comments, we want to make it easy.

So, I emailed Daniel Ha over at Disqus and Tom Keller at Intense Debate.

Five minutes later, I got an email back offering development and business development support. Access to a private API, basically whatever we needed. (It didnt hurt that Daniel and his business partner were both UCDavis–my alma mater–*ahem* almost grads).

I was completely amazed at the speed and willingness of Daniel to make sure that the two companies worked well together and produced a superior integration.

And even then, I didnt add Disqus. I stayed true to my word, not adding any comment system.

This post: http://www.jangro.com/a/2008/04/08/hacking-disqus/ became the straw that broke the camel’s back for me personally.

Why? Because the community had begun to choose which comment system they wanted to use by hacking it, and if you read the comments, Daniel jumped right in and has taken some of the hacks, and integrated them into the system. Disqus had embraced the community right back.

Then, with the addition of video comments (something I want to play with, and would rather do than write a comment), Disqus became too good to not use.

So what does that mean? Its simple enough. In this world we all work in, if you dont embrace (and be embraced by the community) you cannot succeed. If you dont continually innovate, you cannot succeed.

Moral to the story: If you dont embrace the community, and you dont innovate, you die.

And that is why I chose to add Disqus comments to this blog. Will they stay? I dont know. It will depend on if Daniel and team continue down their current path. Could Intense Debate produce something that is interesting enough for me to walk away from Disqus? Sure, and frankly, I hope they do. But, for now, Disqus it is.