One of the things that continually strikes me is how a lot of large companies under-use their people. Often, they don't appear to be under worked as they spend plenty of time in the office, but for many hours of the day they are bored. You're awaiting approval from the boss who is waiting for IT to sign off, IT is too busy handling something else at the moment, so you need to wait... and so on.
It happens quite often in large organizations where the getting -things-done-process is complex. The more steps involved the more potential bottlenecks and the more time you spend waiting. This downtime is costly for the company (who is paying for idle minds) and it's costly to the individual who feels frustrated by a lack of accomplishment.
Systemically, one solution could be to simply increase the company's reliance on outsourced labor. Many operational consulting shops provide those services - and beyond additional 'strategy' often are in effect contract labor for the client organization who pays just for the hours they need. This works for some companies, but there are positions that are tougher to outsource in the traditional sense for reasons of institutional memory, incentives, etc.
I'd like to propose another approach that could help keep the employees tied closer to the company. That is for large companies to outsource their own employees' down time. In effect sourcing limited jobs that can be accomplished remotely and then putting their down-timed employees to work for these other companies. I am not sure whether the solution is first driven by the individual or the company (my guess it's going to have to be the former).
This could be something along the lines of Amazon's Mechanical Turk, for example. There's a lot of possibility to make this kind of system much more robust and tailored for this kind of 'consulting' type of work. By placing the emphasis on the genius of their engineers, for example, a company could also continue to build it's image as an industry thought leader all while taking greater advantage of labor force and keeping them much more engaged.
This is still very much of a brainstorm, but I think there's is a kernel of an idea here...
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Friday, June 5, 2009
Thinking in Numbers
I've started following this little start-up called Wolfram Alpha a while back, let it fall off my radar screen for a bit and now have recently started poking around again after they've resurfaced (they've also made it into mainstream press with an article in The Economist).
And I've been quite impressed with what I found. For those of you who haven't heard of them yet, think Google for all things numbers.
Founded by the creator of Mathmatica, these guys are building an engine that allows you (in a single search box) to input formulas, find statistics, track financials and all sort of other searches based on numbers. In their own words, it's a "computational knowledge engine."
And in the spirit of understanding everything in quantitative terms - Antoine (my brother) sent me this little comparison with my name vs. his name.
Comes complete with age distribution, number of births per year and the expected total number of people in the US today with our names. Talk about the epitome of putting everything into numbers - exactly what the founders hoped for, I believe.
And I've been quite impressed with what I found. For those of you who haven't heard of them yet, think Google for all things numbers.
Founded by the creator of Mathmatica, these guys are building an engine that allows you (in a single search box) to input formulas, find statistics, track financials and all sort of other searches based on numbers. In their own words, it's a "computational knowledge engine."
And in the spirit of understanding everything in quantitative terms - Antoine (my brother) sent me this little comparison with my name vs. his name.
Comes complete with age distribution, number of births per year and the expected total number of people in the US today with our names. Talk about the epitome of putting everything into numbers - exactly what the founders hoped for, I believe.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Internship Opportunity at Venture-Backed Startup
This summer I'm helping out my friends at Give Real, an exciting start-up that is going to revolutionize the way we give gifts - bringing gift-cards into the the internet age and allowing merchants to start really leveraging social networks (beyond simple advertising).
The first service (Drinks) is already launched (allows me to buy you a drink at any bar by linking my credit card to yours - so that as soon as you swipe your card at any bar, you'll be using the gift $$ from my credit card. To see how it works (or to buy me a drink :) click on the yellow button in the right column. The next product will be building on this and if you thought this was cool...wait for the next one! I'll let you know as soon as it launches.
And so we're looking for a few amazing grads or recent grads interested in a biz-dev/ marketing internship to help with the launch of the new service. Here's a link to the job-post. You'll be part of a small, need I say entrepreneurial team, finding and leading creative marketing efforts.
Please pass this along to anyone who might be interested - and feel free to give them my direct contact info: JB [at] GiveReal [dot] com.
The first service (Drinks) is already launched (allows me to buy you a drink at any bar by linking my credit card to yours - so that as soon as you swipe your card at any bar, you'll be using the gift $$ from my credit card. To see how it works (or to buy me a drink :) click on the yellow button in the right column. The next product will be building on this and if you thought this was cool...wait for the next one! I'll let you know as soon as it launches.
And so we're looking for a few amazing grads or recent grads interested in a biz-dev/ marketing internship to help with the launch of the new service. Here's a link to the job-post. You'll be part of a small, need I say entrepreneurial team, finding and leading creative marketing efforts.
Please pass this along to anyone who might be interested - and feel free to give them my direct contact info: JB [at] GiveReal [dot] com.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
The Charms of the Medium (of communication)
So as most of you know, my new favorite gadget is Amazon's Kindle. I can't help but talk about it and how much it has changed the way I read, think and generally access literature. Good job Amazon... talk about creating a product that connects deeply with its user's turning them each into little marketers (that work for free).
One of the most common reactions I get to those who are skeptical of the Kindle is: "but there's just something special about the feel of the book." And I completely agree with them. Just as we form deep connections with the characters in the story, the medium through which the story is told also inserts itself into our experience. And so a "good book" has a feel, a smell, an aura to it. There's a certain kind of reverence we feel in a library, almost like walking into a church and a time machine at the same time. Standing in awe at the physical presence of centuries of human thought coded, categorized and set in type.
And I am sure there were plenty who thought that the essence of manuscripts might be degraded with the advent of the printing press. But as we know today - new charms arose with the new medium just as the old ones died (or changed). And so I don't think any of that actual essence is lost when books are converted to digital. The sensations are different, but the reverence is still very much present if not magnified.
Instead of pages, my fingers tread the brushed aluminum and plastic finish. Just like a good book, I feel a certain emotional attachment to my Kindle as my mind is whisked away through a good story. But in addition to this book-like love, there's also a bit of that library reverence.
Access to an entire library, from Socrates to Blink with one touch of that little gadget, is an incredible experience. And because of this I am also much more likely to actually read often. I can read multiple books at once (without lugging them around) and so best match the story with my current mood- and what I am most receptive to. A metro ride with Jules Verne's Around the World in 80 Days (in my case in French), or a waiting room with Dale Carnegie. I now can't wait to get "stuck" somewhere as I can now sit down and read. This completely mobile library then brings with it new charms. Try it out...I'm sure you'll be quite surprised.
One of the most common reactions I get to those who are skeptical of the Kindle is: "but there's just something special about the feel of the book." And I completely agree with them. Just as we form deep connections with the characters in the story, the medium through which the story is told also inserts itself into our experience. And so a "good book" has a feel, a smell, an aura to it. There's a certain kind of reverence we feel in a library, almost like walking into a church and a time machine at the same time. Standing in awe at the physical presence of centuries of human thought coded, categorized and set in type.
And I am sure there were plenty who thought that the essence of manuscripts might be degraded with the advent of the printing press. But as we know today - new charms arose with the new medium just as the old ones died (or changed). And so I don't think any of that actual essence is lost when books are converted to digital. The sensations are different, but the reverence is still very much present if not magnified.
Instead of pages, my fingers tread the brushed aluminum and plastic finish. Just like a good book, I feel a certain emotional attachment to my Kindle as my mind is whisked away through a good story. But in addition to this book-like love, there's also a bit of that library reverence.
Access to an entire library, from Socrates to Blink with one touch of that little gadget, is an incredible experience. And because of this I am also much more likely to actually read often. I can read multiple books at once (without lugging them around) and so best match the story with my current mood- and what I am most receptive to. A metro ride with Jules Verne's Around the World in 80 Days (in my case in French), or a waiting room with Dale Carnegie. I now can't wait to get "stuck" somewhere as I can now sit down and read. This completely mobile library then brings with it new charms. Try it out...I'm sure you'll be quite surprised.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Tiramisu for two million
I made Tiramisu for a wedding (about 40 people) a few weeks ago and made a little stop action film just for fun. I got the recipe from this sweet site: cooking for engineers. It came out quite well and I would highly recommend it!
What you don't know doesn't exist (?)
If we can understand the nature of the building blocks, than we can understand the larger structures or organisms they create. Any thing is the sum of its parts.
This is the standard scientific methodology and it has brought us to astounding new heights of understanding. But with this understanding often comes an overconfidence of our own knowledge and the pool of "what we don't know, we don't know" shrinks in our mind (but only in our mind, unfortunately).
- And so we ignore the anti-oxidants in fresh fruits and focus on getting the necessary vitamins. - We focus on rising real estate prices and stock markets and ignore rising debt levels.
- We focus on enemy countries and ignore the sub-state terrorist groups.
It's natural to focus on what we can see, but obviously not always effective: like the joke of the man on a dark parking lot looking for a lost cell phone - but only looking for it in a tiny corner where the street lamp shines.
Taking a holistic approach, as oppose to a reductionist one is not without it's problems too, however. As you then have to swallow all of the mythology behind un-proven causes and effects to make sure you happen to eat those ant-oxidants you didn't know existed. It's not unsurprising that there's a lot of interesting questions to answer at this intersection.
Perhaps it's just my short memory or anecdotal evidence, but there appears to be an increasing acceptance of a blend of reductionist & holistic approaches in a variety of different disciplines:
Food & health: The whole foods movement (The Omnivores Dilemma)
Psychology: The behavioral psychology movement (Blink, Nudge)
Economics & Finance: acceptance of randomness (The Black Swan)
Exercise: The cross-fit movement
(I'm not sure about political science, TSA certainly hasn't learned anything about the lack of predictability in security threats.... why are we still confiscating little bottle of water?)
This is the standard scientific methodology and it has brought us to astounding new heights of understanding. But with this understanding often comes an overconfidence of our own knowledge and the pool of "what we don't know, we don't know" shrinks in our mind (but only in our mind, unfortunately).
- And so we ignore the anti-oxidants in fresh fruits and focus on getting the necessary vitamins. - We focus on rising real estate prices and stock markets and ignore rising debt levels.
- We focus on enemy countries and ignore the sub-state terrorist groups.
It's natural to focus on what we can see, but obviously not always effective: like the joke of the man on a dark parking lot looking for a lost cell phone - but only looking for it in a tiny corner where the street lamp shines.
Taking a holistic approach, as oppose to a reductionist one is not without it's problems too, however. As you then have to swallow all of the mythology behind un-proven causes and effects to make sure you happen to eat those ant-oxidants you didn't know existed. It's not unsurprising that there's a lot of interesting questions to answer at this intersection.
Perhaps it's just my short memory or anecdotal evidence, but there appears to be an increasing acceptance of a blend of reductionist & holistic approaches in a variety of different disciplines:
Food & health: The whole foods movement (The Omnivores Dilemma)
Psychology: The behavioral psychology movement (Blink, Nudge)
Economics & Finance: acceptance of randomness (The Black Swan)
Exercise: The cross-fit movement
(I'm not sure about political science, TSA certainly hasn't learned anything about the lack of predictability in security threats.... why are we still confiscating little bottle of water?)
Monday, May 11, 2009
The Presentation Flu
Presenting is a skill/art that everyone seems to need but that is rarely taught. Across my travels over the past month, I attended several entrepreneurship minded events including the Cornell Entrepreneur Conference - a great get together of entrepreneurs, investors, academics and wanna-be's of all three (myself included). And so, I attended a fair number of presentations, largely back to back.
I was shocked at the massive variance in presentation skills. There were some stunning ones and some miserable presentations. Interestingly some of the best were done by the undergrads in their business plan competition - and some of the worst were done by industry veterans. Maybe 20 years in a cubicle exposes you to "presentation-itis."
Whenever I found myself bored to tears, I started taking notes of all things that bothered me so I don't repeat the same mistakes. Here's the list I've compiled for myself as a vaccine against "presentation-itis:"
I was shocked at the massive variance in presentation skills. There were some stunning ones and some miserable presentations. Interestingly some of the best were done by the undergrads in their business plan competition - and some of the worst were done by industry veterans. Maybe 20 years in a cubicle exposes you to "presentation-itis."
Whenever I found myself bored to tears, I started taking notes of all things that bothered me so I don't repeat the same mistakes. Here's the list I've compiled for myself as a vaccine against "presentation-itis:"
- Establish a connection with the audience through varying emotions
- Build tension and then break it (repeat)
- Smile at some points (if not often), even if it's a serious topic
- Vary tone of voice and emotions
- Visuals - make each slide count
- Have them elicit one emotion a piece
- Have them organized for maximum impact
- View questions as a conversation
- Use "Judo" with tough questions - defensiveness just makes you look weak
- Anticipate questions and be ready to work them into your point
- Short on time?
- Don't speed through the rest - have a 'closing punch line' ready
- When moderating a panel, always be in control
- Don't waiver or ask procedure questions (you're in charge...that's why your moderating)
- Keep the questions on target and kindly cut off those who are using it as a soap-box
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Competing with the Giants
With the likes of Home Depot, how does a local hardware store compete?
Make shopping there an astounding experience.
But what is an amazing experience at a hardware store? I'm not there to hang out, meet new friends etc. No, I'm usually there because I'm frustrated, something broke and now I need to find the exact thing-a-majig to fix it. So my goal is to locate what I need as fast as possible and decide on one thing-amajigs from the limitless selection of other thing-a-majigs (i.e. which of the million types of plastic-thingy's do I need?).
And there's one hardware store in my area, Logan Hardware, that has hit the "astounding experience" nail right on the head. Every time I walk out out, I am astounded with my experience. Why?
As soon as I walk in, one of the attendants asks what I am looking for. As I arrive at my destination I am immediately greeted by the zone manager who, informed via wireless headset of my quest, points me to the item in question. The manager often offers me suggestions to help narrow down the usually overwhelming selection (i.e. "most people have found this one effective" - and no, cynic..it's not the highest price item, in this case it was actually the cheapest)
Between the time that I located my item and paid for it, I was out of there in under 7 minutes. Seven! That was fast enough not to get my illegally parked car towed from the Whole Foods parking lot. With some simple (and relatively cheap) coordination the staff provides a customer service that maximizes my goals to a level I didn't think possible. Astounding. And you can tell by the positive ratings on Yelp, I'm not the only one.
Thanks and well done guys.
Make shopping there an astounding experience.
But what is an amazing experience at a hardware store? I'm not there to hang out, meet new friends etc. No, I'm usually there because I'm frustrated, something broke and now I need to find the exact thing-a-majig to fix it. So my goal is to locate what I need as fast as possible and decide on one thing-amajigs from the limitless selection of other thing-a-majigs (i.e. which of the million types of plastic-thingy's do I need?).
And there's one hardware store in my area, Logan Hardware, that has hit the "astounding experience" nail right on the head. Every time I walk out out, I am astounded with my experience. Why?
As soon as I walk in, one of the attendants asks what I am looking for. As I arrive at my destination I am immediately greeted by the zone manager who, informed via wireless headset of my quest, points me to the item in question. The manager often offers me suggestions to help narrow down the usually overwhelming selection (i.e. "most people have found this one effective" - and no, cynic..it's not the highest price item, in this case it was actually the cheapest)
Between the time that I located my item and paid for it, I was out of there in under 7 minutes. Seven! That was fast enough not to get my illegally parked car towed from the Whole Foods parking lot. With some simple (and relatively cheap) coordination the staff provides a customer service that maximizes my goals to a level I didn't think possible. Astounding. And you can tell by the positive ratings on Yelp, I'm not the only one.
Thanks and well done guys.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Charisma & Fundraising
After helping my sister raise money for one of her projects (here's her blog) I've been thinking about why people donate to various causes (why X and not Y, and why X in the first place). It's an interesting problem as we all receive requests for donations and (if you're like me) donate only to particular set of them.
It seems like there are largely two drivers:
It's because they know (or feel as if they know) the charismatic leader that they open their wallet. If a friend approaches me - as long as I don't disagree with the cause - what dictates the amount of money I'm willing to give is not how strongly I believe in it, but how close a friend they are. I simply don't have time to understand the complexities of that particular issue and compare various solutions. Instead, the best I can do is rely on the person presenting the case. The more I trust them (and their own research) the more confident I am in their solution.
Granted that this doesn't mean that in fund-raising you shouldn't explain any actual evidence and just beg your friends for $$, but focusing on relationships does change the entire way you frame, brand and market your cause. It's for this reason that social media (has) and I think, will continue to have a major impact on charity fund-raising.
It seems like there are largely two drivers:
- They believe very strongly in the cause
- This means that credibility flows from the cause to the person.
- In this scenario raising money is all about emphasizing how your work is the best solution to the problem.
- They believe very strongly in the person
- This means that credibility flows from the person - they essentially would support more or less any cause that this person is leading.
- In this scenario personal relationships (or perceived personal relationships) matter the most.
It's because they know (or feel as if they know) the charismatic leader that they open their wallet. If a friend approaches me - as long as I don't disagree with the cause - what dictates the amount of money I'm willing to give is not how strongly I believe in it, but how close a friend they are. I simply don't have time to understand the complexities of that particular issue and compare various solutions. Instead, the best I can do is rely on the person presenting the case. The more I trust them (and their own research) the more confident I am in their solution.
Granted that this doesn't mean that in fund-raising you shouldn't explain any actual evidence and just beg your friends for $$, but focusing on relationships does change the entire way you frame, brand and market your cause. It's for this reason that social media (has) and I think, will continue to have a major impact on charity fund-raising.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Social Investing
I attended another MIT entrepreneurship event last night - this one was on Social Investing. The four start-ups presenting were all pretty different each focusing on a different aspect of the space:
1) Financial Times / Alphaville - the FT's blog & forums to discuss macro economics ideas
2) Sum Zero - wikipedia for investors (similar to wikinvest) except with a closed community of financial analysts
3) Stocktwits - filter for stock tweets on twitter
4) Covestor - democratizing fund managment - [hopes to] allow anyone to be a fund manager by providing a transparent way for individuals to publish their trades and positions
While all were interesting, Covestor seemed to be particularly innovative - challenging the way an entire industry is run. As Rikki explained, thanks to cheaper tools and access to information, anyone can open up an e-trade account and trade. But until this point it has been difficult for you to trade on behalf of other people (manage other's money). By simply publishing what trades each person makes, you could essentially invest alongside the best investors. With a subscription model [coming] and a revenue share deal, the investors publishing their trades can now generate revenue for their research, retail investors effectively have access to actively managed funds for a fraction of the price and Covestor has a business.
As you're probably thinking, there are a whole host of questions and problems as usually happens when you re-invent an industry. Rikki and his largely London based team are working hard to solve them and he was quite adept at fielding tough questions. I would be interested in hearing what Nassim Taleb would say (I'm currently reading Fooled by Randomness). My guess is that in his eyes this would just perpetuate, if not exacerbate the problems caused by mis-judging randomness. Competition among traders even in the Covestor fashion will not do anything to weed out those traders who are are at risk for a major blow-up but doing well (likely the best) in the short term. Perhaps Covestor should reccommend the book and educate the retail investor before they join.
In any case, I like the idea and look forward to seeing how this develops. At this point, transparency is a good thing and more of it is certainly welcome.
1) Financial Times / Alphaville - the FT's blog & forums to discuss macro economics ideas
2) Sum Zero - wikipedia for investors (similar to wikinvest) except with a closed community of financial analysts
3) Stocktwits - filter for stock tweets on twitter
4) Covestor - democratizing fund managment - [hopes to] allow anyone to be a fund manager by providing a transparent way for individuals to publish their trades and positions
While all were interesting, Covestor seemed to be particularly innovative - challenging the way an entire industry is run. As Rikki explained, thanks to cheaper tools and access to information, anyone can open up an e-trade account and trade. But until this point it has been difficult for you to trade on behalf of other people (manage other's money). By simply publishing what trades each person makes, you could essentially invest alongside the best investors. With a subscription model [coming] and a revenue share deal, the investors publishing their trades can now generate revenue for their research, retail investors effectively have access to actively managed funds for a fraction of the price and Covestor has a business.
As you're probably thinking, there are a whole host of questions and problems as usually happens when you re-invent an industry. Rikki and his largely London based team are working hard to solve them and he was quite adept at fielding tough questions. I would be interested in hearing what Nassim Taleb would say (I'm currently reading Fooled by Randomness). My guess is that in his eyes this would just perpetuate, if not exacerbate the problems caused by mis-judging randomness. Competition among traders even in the Covestor fashion will not do anything to weed out those traders who are are at risk for a major blow-up but doing well (likely the best) in the short term. Perhaps Covestor should reccommend the book and educate the retail investor before they join.
In any case, I like the idea and look forward to seeing how this develops. At this point, transparency is a good thing and more of it is certainly welcome.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Social Entrepreneurship & family
My sister made it to the front page of Cornell.edu for her project Bikes to Ghana (the article is here, for those who are checking the site post re-fresh). It's great to see the local media and the Cornell community rallying to support this cause and a budding social entrepreneur. She's been quite busy in her last years at school. Between volunteering in Guatemala, the Ghana bikes project and preparing for her trip this summer biking across the country to raise money for affordable housing - I'm not quite sure how she fits it all in there.
If you'd like to support her cause you can help donate (select rider: Cossart, Anne-Lise) for the bike across the USA project, she has already raised 75% of her target $ and just needs a little more. You can also check out her blog here.
Congratulations little sister!
If you'd like to support her cause you can help donate (select rider: Cossart, Anne-Lise) for the bike across the USA project, she has already raised 75% of her target $ and just needs a little more. You can also check out her blog here.
Congratulations little sister!
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
TED Lecture: Building a Sixth Sense
I just discovered (via my brother, Antoine) new favorite TED video. This lecture by an MIT researcher Pattie Maes and her student Pranav Mistry demonstrate their work in creating a device that could serve in their words "as a sixth sense". It's a wearable device - or rather an amalgamation of off-the-shelf devices - camera, projector and phone. Using the camera to perceive objects, the phone to transmit data and a projector to project the data - you can do such things as pick up an object and receive information about it via a projected image.
What's most startling about this kind of gadget, is the contrast between its simplicity and the size of its consequences. Although there is a lot of work behind the scenes in designing the computer programs, the actual hardware not only exists today but costs less about $350. However, this combination of gadgets by building on the existing infrastructure brings us one step closer to a collective mind - it makes interacting and receiving the world's collective information nearly instantaneous. There's certainly something (I'm guessing many, many) opportunities here.
What's most startling about this kind of gadget, is the contrast between its simplicity and the size of its consequences. Although there is a lot of work behind the scenes in designing the computer programs, the actual hardware not only exists today but costs less about $350. However, this combination of gadgets by building on the existing infrastructure brings us one step closer to a collective mind - it makes interacting and receiving the world's collective information nearly instantaneous. There's certainly something (I'm guessing many, many) opportunities here.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
A whole new world
"Wow, I didn't even know this world existed." A phrase that captures the feeling of astonishment and awe I get when discovering a whole new set of ideas / ways of thinking / networks of people etc. It's in those moments that my world-view grows very quickly, practically jumps - in business terminology it's the difference between organic growth and acquisition.
I love that feeling and it has hit me time and time again, each time with a different scope and magnitude. I can vividly remember when first discovering the world of tech entrepreneurship in NYC - I attended my first NY Techmeetup after a friend suggested it might be interesting. To my amazement I found over 400 people milling around: entrepreneurs, investors, programming wiz-kids and curious consumers. There were presentations and discussions about new ventures and radical ideas - some of them things I had been discussing among friends but never in such volume. All I could think was "wow, I didn't even know this world existed." It was as if I pulled up some ordinary rock to discover not just an ant or two, but an entire colony.
Seeking out and being open to these kinds of discoveries allows them to happen more frequently (and often when least expecting it). In search of a place to print new business cards, I discovered this post at Creativebits which rounds up some of the most creative designs. My world of business cards and general creative design ideas suddenly made a new acquisition.
I love that feeling and it has hit me time and time again, each time with a different scope and magnitude. I can vividly remember when first discovering the world of tech entrepreneurship in NYC - I attended my first NY Techmeetup after a friend suggested it might be interesting. To my amazement I found over 400 people milling around: entrepreneurs, investors, programming wiz-kids and curious consumers. There were presentations and discussions about new ventures and radical ideas - some of them things I had been discussing among friends but never in such volume. All I could think was "wow, I didn't even know this world existed." It was as if I pulled up some ordinary rock to discover not just an ant or two, but an entire colony.
Seeking out and being open to these kinds of discoveries allows them to happen more frequently (and often when least expecting it). In search of a place to print new business cards, I discovered this post at Creativebits which rounds up some of the most creative designs. My world of business cards and general creative design ideas suddenly made a new acquisition.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Improving public transportation's reliabilty
I ride a WMATA bus every morning to commute to work - and every morning I get to work at a different time. There are posted bus signs at each bus stop but they can hardly keep their schedule because of the unpredictability of traffic (there are no dedicated bus lanes in DC) as well as the unpredictability of the bus driver.
This means that whenever I'm out in a different part of the city, I won't wait to catch a bus. The unpredictability just isn't worth it especially considering there's a chance the bus might not come at all. Although the bus maps at each bus stop tell me where the bus is going, I have no idea if the bus is actually going to come or how long it will take as the posted schedule is meaningless. So I'll pay a premium to just hop in a cab.
I suspect I'm not the only one who has this problem. And each time this happens WMATA loses revenue. Because the incremental cost of an additional person on that bus is essentially $0, that's lost profits.
Interestingly there are people who have the information I need to let me know a bus is coming - it's the people riding that bus and the bus driver himself. If I could just call/text/e-mail/(or look them up on Google latitudes) , they could easily let me know how far away they are, run that through an algorithm, and bam I know in how much time that bus is coming.
Such a system could easily be automated to avoid annoying my friends.
First there are (at least) two ways to gather the data:
The data collection itself would also provide WMATA with important metrics which they could use it to track bottle-necks in real time as well as the driver's ability to keep to the schedule.
This kind of small investment = better data = better service = more $
This means that whenever I'm out in a different part of the city, I won't wait to catch a bus. The unpredictability just isn't worth it especially considering there's a chance the bus might not come at all. Although the bus maps at each bus stop tell me where the bus is going, I have no idea if the bus is actually going to come or how long it will take as the posted schedule is meaningless. So I'll pay a premium to just hop in a cab.
I suspect I'm not the only one who has this problem. And each time this happens WMATA loses revenue. Because the incremental cost of an additional person on that bus is essentially $0, that's lost profits.
Interestingly there are people who have the information I need to let me know a bus is coming - it's the people riding that bus and the bus driver himself. If I could just call/text/e-mail/(or look them up on Google latitudes) , they could easily let me know how far away they are, run that through an algorithm, and bam I know in how much time that bus is coming.
Such a system could easily be automated to avoid annoying my friends.
First there are (at least) two ways to gather the data:
- Simply install a GPS in each bus with wireless to communicate the bus's position to a central server (essentially the I-phone w/ Google Latitudes)
- Plug in a bare bones cell phone into the machine which announces the stop name (these busses have a machine that announces stop names, which is activated by the bus driver by pressing a button). The cell phone would simply text the main database with a code for each stop.
The data collection itself would also provide WMATA with important metrics which they could use it to track bottle-necks in real time as well as the driver's ability to keep to the schedule.
This kind of small investment = better data = better service = more $
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Learning fom private equity
Building on yesterday's post, I've picked out some of the key lessons learned while working for a small Private Equity shop over the past year. Like with the previous post, I'm focusing more on the context of work as opposed to the content; as Seth Godin points out in one of his post (I can't find it yet, but it's in there), content can always be Googled, learning "the how" is the key. I'll flesh out many of these items in later posts so for now I'll keep this in a list format:
General
- Project confidence
- Manage expectations. Always.
- Measure twice, cut once
- Seek to understand reality as it is, not what you want it to be
- Always learn from others and then immediately teach what you've learned (this helps others as well as helps yourself - when you teach is when you begin to really understand)
- Get to the point immediately, then provide the details
- Always have an agenda/ specific goal for any meeting, call, etc
- Prepare and speak to the world view of the recipient (boss, client, etc.)
- Find the key levers of a business. "In this business you win by...[enter short phrase]"
- Systematically layout the assumptions of any problem then work to find the answers to those assumptions
- Someone in the world knows the information - you just need to find them
- After completing your analysis, take a step back and find the questions you would ask someone if they asked you to review the analysis. Then answer them
- Leave the desk and desktop clear every night with only tomorrow's to-do list
- Complete a self-assessment every month: listing out what I've learned, and what I need to learn next
- When in need of a productivity boost - work in tabata sprints (30 min increments of extreme focus with 5 minute breaks)
- Stay on top of the calendar
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Lessons from our start-up venture
After running our start-up for about a year, the two other founders and I sat down and listed everything we learned. As we drilled down the list we uncovered some real gems that have continued to serve me well. I think about them often and I believe that the action of sitting down and writing them out has kept them in the forefront of my memory.
Some of my favorites from the original list include:
Some of my favorites from the original list include:
- “Fail Faster and More Often” – Tristan Louis.
- Have fun. Play Foosball. Build Camaraderie.
- Net-weave, don’t network. When you meet someone new, always think: “how can I help this person.”
- Don’t be arrogant – do the due diligence on the industry and the space.
- Trust your team to make decisions. Delegate.
- Set regular meetings for various levels of conversation. Vision, Strategy, Operations, etc.
- Keep operational meetings short and with a strict agenda. Use a timer.
- Keep vision meetings relaxed and open ended.
- Eat breakfast as a team: and keep a schedule.
- Sell water in the desert.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Interactive world
Using the internet and wireless technology to connect with (i.e. collect data and/or remotely control) everyday objects is nothing new. But increasingly, the technology formerly used in major supply chains is reaching small businesses and consumers. The convergence of several factors have made this primordial soup not just ready, but already brewing up life.
The right conditions:
The right conditions:
- An increasing foundation of flexible applications (Google maps, etc)
- Cheap contract manufacturing
- Deep market penetration of various key electronic components (cameras, GPS, motion sensors, batteries, wireless communication, lcd screens)
- A keyword linked to a website to track lost/traveling items (i.e. sendmehome)
- A motion recorder device to measure physical activity/sleep quality (i.e. FitBit)
- Personal RFID or 2-D barcodes (i.e. TouchTag)
- Fitness (nutrition and exercise tracking)
- Household utility usage (and controls)
- Payment systems (consumer-consumer)
- Medication disbursement
- others..
Monday, February 9, 2009
Sources of Influence: the story
Context:
Everyone carries around stories in their head - at some level it's part of our collective culture. These stories provide common ground for those who know them. While many of us share thousands of stories in common I think that understanding those stories that influence people can be a powerful way of learning from them. Those stories influence the way we see the world. Whether it confirms our existing world-view or shapes a new one (likely both) it plays an important role.
Thesis:
Wouldn't it be interesting to read the 5 books that have done the most to shape the way people like Einstein, Barack, your Boss, or your close friends think?
Comparables:
Blogs have done this already with blog roll features, when they aren't giant link-fests, blog rolls enable you to see those people that influence the thinking of the blog writer. In some ways Facebook's profile page for your "favorite books" accomplishes this for your friends.
Gap:
But these are often not 'thought out' or distilled enough. For leaders in their respective field's - the Barack's and the Einstein's - it simply doesn't exist (at least to my knowledge). The only way to obtain this kind of information would be a thorough a review of any passing references in their biographies or press interviews. But if this kind of task were accomplished, I think we could potentially have an interesting product: a compilation of the stories (books, blogs, articles or even simply ideas) that most influenced the way these people think. But this could also be taken one step further and by tracing back the influencers of the influencers you could draw this out as a network with ideas as the connecting factors between people.
You would then have both a list of some of the top books to read and a schematic of the evolution of personal philsophies and principals. Now that is interesting.
Everyone carries around stories in their head - at some level it's part of our collective culture. These stories provide common ground for those who know them. While many of us share thousands of stories in common I think that understanding those stories that influence people can be a powerful way of learning from them. Those stories influence the way we see the world. Whether it confirms our existing world-view or shapes a new one (likely both) it plays an important role.
Thesis:
Wouldn't it be interesting to read the 5 books that have done the most to shape the way people like Einstein, Barack, your Boss, or your close friends think?
Comparables:
Blogs have done this already with blog roll features, when they aren't giant link-fests, blog rolls enable you to see those people that influence the thinking of the blog writer. In some ways Facebook's profile page for your "favorite books" accomplishes this for your friends.
Gap:
But these are often not 'thought out' or distilled enough. For leaders in their respective field's - the Barack's and the Einstein's - it simply doesn't exist (at least to my knowledge). The only way to obtain this kind of information would be a thorough a review of any passing references in their biographies or press interviews. But if this kind of task were accomplished, I think we could potentially have an interesting product: a compilation of the stories (books, blogs, articles or even simply ideas) that most influenced the way these people think. But this could also be taken one step further and by tracing back the influencers of the influencers you could draw this out as a network with ideas as the connecting factors between people.
You would then have both a list of some of the top books to read and a schematic of the evolution of personal philsophies and principals. Now that is interesting.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Ideas in the open
Ideas, both brilliant and mundane often do not make it very far. They are either jealously guarded or if shared, lost in transmission. I hope to overcome both of these obstacles and this blog is the first of (likely) many attempts and steps to do so. Throughout the course of this blog, I hope to make some time for sowing creativity.
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