Social Media Mania – What’s A Gal To Do?
Dec 13 2007

Wendy at eMoms at Home did a post recently where she asked her readers “How do you Use Social Media to Promote Your Business?”  I didn’t have time to answer then and I’m sure I missed out on the free books, which is OK because I never seem to have time to read any books these days.  I’ve had a few days off from software testing, so I figured I’d do a post about it.

There are so many aspects to social media that it’s tough for an entrepreneur to keep up.  I mean we still have to sleep!  Fortunately, I’m fairly social.  I mentioned on a post that Liz Strauss did recently called Business and Life: Are You Making the Most of the Conversation? that “I am a Participant, rarely a Lurker, and often a Listener.”

It is fun making friends all over the world and it’s easy to be social from behind your computer when it fits with your schedule.  In the past I resisted joining sites like facebook because of the time commitment. 

To do a social network right, I figure it means committing significant time to it.  When you are launching a start-up, planning to raise funds, taking care of kids, maintaining a house, etc., it’s not easy to be as active as one should be in these networks over time.  But so far it’s been fascinating to see how other people interact with the networks.  I mean can you believe that facebook has over 55 million users all over the world?  That is amazing!  So here’s what I’ve done and what I’ve observed:

I started this blog (it had a different name before) with the help of Connie Reece. She gave me the kick start I needed! I think I did my first post back in May 2007. The blog has been fun and I know it has driven some additional traffic to my company site, Babble Soft, but to date I haven’t seen that it’s resulted in more than just a few additional sales. As a result of having a blog, I joined MyBlogLog, FeedBurner, Technorati, StumbleUpon, Digg, and BlogHer. Wendy was also kind enough to invite me to join the Home Business & Entrepreneur FeedBurner Ad Network. I haven’t made much money from these particular ad networks (maybe in total $100) but it has given me exposure to other bloggers and made me aware of other businesses.

I entered some competitions to hopefully win prizes and get additional exposure. I can’t remember all of them but I know I did one at Alpha Moms and I just entered Intuit’s Just Start challenge where I have the potential to win $50K for my business! The ‘vote for me’ widget will be on the right hand side of my blog until shortly after their voting deadline of December 16. After I sent an email to some friends asking if they would vote for me, I found out that people had to log in to do so. Knowing how much I hate to create unnecessary logins, my guess is that I won’t win on votes, but I might win in the unique idea category and because we have jokingly referred to our Baby Insights application as “Quicken for Baby.” 🙂

I have participated in some blog memes: 8 Random Things About Me and Blogging Tip Meme. Neena just tagged me again for a My Favorite Words theme. Memes give you exposure but they are time consuming so I think after doing this last meme, I will have to put a notice somewhere to let people know not to tag me unless they let me know first because I would hate to leave a meme go unanswered. I’m answering the Favorite Word meme by bolding my favorite words in this post (in case you were wondering why some of the words are in bold text). Isabella at Change Therapy I hope that’s OK with you! What do these words say about me? I guess that I’m a driven, committed, somewhat zany, looking to learn, searching for connection/peace, sleep deprived, mom-ified, and sometimes creative.

I joined LinkedIn. I’ve found LinkedIn to be useful for business related networking…for answers to specific questions. I haven’t yet established a deal or attempted to look for employees there which I hear is what it’s meant for. I’ve been able to answer a few questions on LinkedIn but I don’t think I’ve contributed to the increase of anyone’s business yet.

I joined facebook. Mostly to learn from the king of social networking sites. I may do some targeted ads there some day when time and money permit.  I also set up a company page on facebook for Babble Soft.

I engaged a full service SEO/SEM firm.

I just joined twitter. I even added the little widget to my sidebar, and I integrated it with facebook. I really resisted joining twitter. I had no idea why anyone would be interested in my day to day activities. More importantly I didn’t think I would be interested in anyone else’s day to day activities! I already have about 20 followers. You may be wondering what pushed me over the edge and made me join twitter…well it was the Duran Duran concert I attended earlier this week. I was there and I suddenly thought ‘wouldn’t it be great if I could tell my friends and random strangers about the fact I’m at this cool concert?’ and then all of a sudden I “got” twitter! Will it result in additional business? I’m not sure. Time will tell.

I have not yet joined MySpace or YouTube (but I’ve been to the site many times).  If I had to guess, I will probably join YouTube before MySpace, but first I need to create some videos!

Overall, I think I’m still at the tip of the iceberg when it comes to building a powerful online network and I’m a little bit afraid of getting in too deep and getting stuck in a networking hole somewhere.  I’m not sure if that makes sense to anyone, but it’s a fear I face nonetheless.  Maybe I’ll find peace there instead.

An Entrepreneurial Self Portrait
Dec 9 2007

Picture by my friend Sandy Blanchard
Shane and Peter issued a challenge on their blog (which I first read about on Naomi’s IttyBiz blog) where he asked their entrepreneur readers to answer questions he came up with (i.e., interview themselves).   It’s his way of interviewing people by getting the interviewee to do all the hard work!   Great idea by the way.

Since I just finished a post called Why I Don’t Want a Monster In My Pants, I said to myself “what the heck, let me see what I can make up come up with.”  I was just helping my son with his Transformer puzzle that he’s putting together here next to me, and I have some time before the rest of the house wakes up so here it goes…

What’s your personal mission statement?  To make a difference and change the world for the better (not for the worse).

What’s the biggest mess you’ve dealt with this year?  Depends on what you mean by mess.  On the parenting front, I would have to say potty training messes.  On the business front, I would have to say spending more money than I had hoped to.  I probably should have invested in Google stock or figured out how to invest in facebook instead.

What current entrepreneurial efforts consume your time?  Product management, product development oversight, software testing, user story generation, press release writing, assembling (with help) gift cards and mailing them out, thinking, blogging, dealing with &#$#% Microsoft’s Vista OS which results in IE crashing every 30 minutes!  All that fun stuff.

Why do you do what you do? What inspires you? When do you get most excited?  It’s in my blood.  My grandfather was an entrepreneur.  He actually made baby powder back in Sri Lanka and sold it door to door.  Plus, I’m not sure what else I would do.  I like creating things that didn’t exist before.  I like bringing to market products that make life easier for people.   Now if people actually use them and want them, that’s a bonus!

I am inspired by my children’s smiles and laughter.  I’m inspired by blue skies and majestic trees.  I’m inspired by people who overcome great odds and challenges and are still great people/parents.  I’m inspired when people make sparkling connections with other people and the world around them.

I get most excited when I get a good night’s sleep.

Boxers or Briefs? or as Naomi says, Bikini or Thong, duh?!?  No comment.

What do you do when you’re not [designing | programming | managing | writing | toiling for the wo/man]?  Sleep.  Tickle my kids.  Negotiate with my kids.  Hang out with my husband.  Argue with my husband.  Watch TV.  Chat with my family.  Hang out with friends.  Walk.  Think.

What one thing made the biggest difference when getting started?  Lack of sleep.  Our son didn’t sleep through the night (and he still wakes up) until he was 4 years old.  I can’t be held responsible for any of my decisions between the years of 2001 to mid 2006.  He is the reason we started Babble Soft and we even had another little one in the middle of the non-sleeping chaos.

What’s your exit strategy?  Happiness or Acquisition by a Happy company that has a lot of money.  If a Happy company does not exist or does not want to acquire us then I guess we’ll grow big enough to continue to stay private.  Get it?  Me either.

What is the last thing that made you belly laugh? My kids laughing together (i.e., making each other laugh).  Kids can make you cry, whine, scream, yell but the greatest thing they can do is make you laugh like crazy at the silliest things.  Oh and I laughed pretty hard when I saw There’s Something About Mary and the Austin Powers movies.  I almost forgot about the DadLabs manly breastfeeding video.  My gosh it is so hilarious that I had tears in my eyes!

Have you ever been in business before? Yes.  I’ve also been in a swimming pool before.

At what point do you consider yourself successful?  I don’t believe one ever attains success.  It is an ongoing, evolving learning process.  Check out all of the cool people I have interviewed on the topic of success right here.  I think the closer one gets to feeling at peace with oneself and the world around them and can complement that feeling with a very comfortable financial position, the closer they are to success.

Oh, who am I kidding it’s when I can get 6+ months of uninterrupted nights of sleep…now that’s success!

What was your first experience with a computer?  I think it was at computer summer camp and we were working on Atari’s or maybe it was an Apple.  I remember learning some BASIC coding.  Of course I can’t code anything to save my life now. 

My first memorable experience was on a Macintosh.   I happened to be fairly good at typing and in my junior high typing class I was second only to a girl who was also an expert pianist.  She typed 90 words per minute and I typed 70 and that was on a typewriter not a computer.  Because of my typing speed and accuracy, my mother asked me to help her type up her exams and some other documents she needed for her medical students on her Mac.  I remember feeling so happy and proud that she trusted me to help her with such important tasks!  My very first computer was a Mac Classic that my mom got for me during my 2nd year in college and it cost something crazy like $1,100.

Steve Jobs vs Bill Gates in a jello wrestling match, where’s your money?  No comment.

Where do you do your best thinking?  Everywhere and nowhere.  I’m a non-stop thinker.  I even think in my sleep.  Some people think that’s odd.  I am told my grandfather (who was also an entrepreneur) was like that.  It’s genetic.  I know this because my son does not stop talking.  He has not learned that he can keep thoughts in his head and that he doesn’t have to tell everyone everything that runs through his mind. 

Writing this post has taken me 20x longer than it normally would because my son (who finished his Transfomer puzzle) has asked me a million questions and reported to me everything that was going on with his puzzle, his friend who is coming to visit, his friend who is not coming to visit, the basketball game he is going to see with his dad, and marshmallows.  Now he is here trying to read this post and asking me why I’m writing about kids and work.  He is just so darn adorable, amazing, wonderful, and he wants to sit on my lap. 🙂

What does your average daily work / life balance look like? How much time do you work, play and sleep?  Let’s see.  I pretend try to sleep 7 to 8 hours per night.  I check email constantly sporadically throughout the day.  Depending on who drops the kids off at school, I usually start working between 8:30 to 9:00 a.m. each day.  If I don’t have a lunch meeting I watch CNN for 15 minutes while I eat leftovers or a PB&J sandwich.  I then wrap up around 4:30 or 5:00 in order to pick up the kids.  If I can, I’ll fit in a 30 to 45 min walk (which is rare) around the neighborhood if the weather is good.  Then I do some more work and blogging between 8:30 and 10:00 pm (unless we’re watching one of our favorite TV shows after the kids go to sleep) and on weekends (like I’m doing now).

I think it also depends on how you define work and play.  Some of my work is play (like blogging and setting up partnership deals and meeting cool people) and some of my play (hanging with the kids) is work.

If I could introduce you to anyone, who would it be?  Oprah Winfrey.

What stops you from giving up when you are frustrated?  I don’t know.  Probably the fear of what I would have to do instead of doing this.  Plus the fear that if I stop now, all the time and money I’ve invested would have been for naught and people will make fun of me.  I’m hoping for another tech bubble so I can be a part of it before it bursts!

If Chuck Norris and Steven Hawking had a baby (hey it’s my damn interview), would you vote for her for president?  It all depends on her IQ, parenting style, athletic ability, knowledge of world affairs, ability to persuade huge groups of people to do great things, and her knowledge of universal physics.   It would also depend on who she is running against.

By the way, I saw Steven Hawking once at a restaurant in California.  He was with his assistant (I think) and I remember wondering if he felt lonely.

My question:  What is something you do (or have done) that makes your kid(s) genuinely laugh?  If you don’t have kids then your spouse, your friend, or your family member.  Tickling does not count as an answer.  There was no requirement that I answer this question so I’m just not gonna do it, but I look forward to Shane’s response.

Thanks Shane for these interesting and bizarre questions and for motivating me to do your work for you. 🙂  I have a hard time refusing any challenge!   I started this post yesterday and am finally getting around to posting it today because we just got back from the Austin Zoo.  The Austin zoo houses endangered and abused animals and it’s the perfect size for kids.  They have lions, tigers, and bears oh my!

Since I don’t think Shane is going to pay me for this interview, if you like this Entrepreneurial Self Portrait, won’t you give it a Stumble please? 😀

Speaking of Venture Capital…
Nov 13 2007

First off, if you haven’t heard Al Gore is now a partner at Silicon Valley venture firm, Kleiner, Perkins.  Kleiner is the most prestigious venture firm in Silicon Valley.  He joined to help guide their investments in companies that are combating global warming.  I have to really hand it to Al Gore for totally reinventing himself from VP of the United States to candidate for President of the US to champion for the planet!  His parents must be mighty proud!

After writing my post on Fred Wilson on Venture Capital Fund Performance, I have happened upon a few more interesting posts on the subject of fundraising.

Wendy Piersall made me aware of 7 Things No One Tells You About Raising Venture Capital Financing by Ben Yoskovitz.

From Ben’s blog I found 7 Steps to Land and Leverage an Angel Investor by Carleen Hawn.

Here’s a chart listing their lucky number 7 items:

Ben and Carleen make great points and from my experience back in the late 90’s I agree with all of them.  I’d like to add, ‘trust your gut!’  Your gut feelings are based on years of experience that you may not be able to articulate quickly in words but you know…you know you do.

Fred Wilson on Venture Capital Fund Performance
Nov 10 2007

For those of you interested in venture capital, you should definitely check out Fred Wilson’s blog called A VC – Musings of a VC in NYC.  He’s been doing a series of articles on Venture Fund performance that is very interesting.  Although I’m not currently looking to raise venture capital, it’s good for entrepreneurs to understand the history of venture financing because these venture funds might be investing in future partners or competitors.

I am currently evaluating the opportunity to raise angel and strategic financing to take Babble Soft to the next level.  I am reaching near the end of my pocket book (or purse strings) and I have so many ideas that I want to implement that will mostly likely require outside capital.  The interesting challenge I have with Babble Soft is that we are not only a Web 2.0 (ACK!$%#) play but also a web portal, thingamajig, mobile application, [invent new word here] play.  Most of these plays are in my mind, scratched out on paper, or mocked up in PowerPoint and the only things lacking are the money and the people to bring them to fruition.

Anyway, check out:

VC Fund Performance – Some History

VC Fund Performance – Selection Bias

The Rise and Fall of the Venture Business

VC Fund Performance – Sample Size

VC Fund Performance – The Ugly Years

A VC – for future posts that I’m sure Fred will be putting up on the subject.

I’m excited about the prospect of raising angel funds because I had a good experience with the two angel rounds I raised for my first tech start-up.  However, having raised funds before I know how long it can take and how many doors will be slammed in my face before getting to the right investment partners and I’m not looking forward to that.  For my first company, we raised money in 1998, 1999, and 2000 (just a few months before the bubble burst) so I know that things went faster than they normally do in ‘fundraising land.’  Isochron survived because it has a solid product/service that companies like Coca-Cola were willing to pay for but let’s just say we as Founders were washed out when it was sold in 2002.

I’m a little bit wiser now on how to play this game, however, now I’m leading a company that has a Business-to-Business (B2B) and Business-to-Consumer (B2C) business model compared to my last which was purely B2B.  Plus even though the Internet has been around for a while, things are evolving at a lightening pace making last years, last quarters, or last months strategies in some cases no longer repeatable.

Interesting times ahead!  All I know is that of all the deals out there, Babble Soft will one day be in the top 10% of ‘why didn’t I think of that’ ideas!  Ah yes, spoken like a true high-tech entrepreneur who might one day wish she had invented those little, cute Croc shoe accessories called Jibbitz instead of trying to do a high-tech startup!  Yeesh…I don’t even own a pair of Crocs, but I know that mom who invented Jibbitz is sitting back laughing all the way to the bank!

Guest Post: Robb on the Writer’s Strike
Nov 5 2007

Here is a spur-of-the-moment guest post by a friend of mine, Robb Lanum, who blogs at The Robblog.  The writing industry is his scene, so his opinion and thoughts are much more relevant on this topic than mine are.  Plus, he brings up the term ‘entrepreneur’ a few times in his reply!

I forwarded him Marc Andreessen’s post on Suicide by strike today on the writer’s strike going on in Hollywood.  Robb did not know that this post was written by Marc Andreessen, co-founder of Netscape, Opsware, and now Ning, when he sent his response via our friendly email group (which started as a ‘reply all’ list, then a listserv, a yahoo group, and now is a google group) that has interestingly been going on since 1995…well before all the major social networking sites existed.  Here is what Robb had to say:

 Marc’s comments:

>If you’re a mogul, the key question has to be, what would the founders
>of my industry have done in this situation? Really, what would they have done?
>Thomas Edison, Darryl Zanuck, Jack Warner, Irving Thalberg, Adolph
>Zukor, David Selznick, Louis Mayer, David Sarnoff, Bill Paley, Walt Disney…

>In a nutshell, would they have crawled into a hole of protecting the
>status quo or would they be forging a new, exciting, optimistic future
>through force of will and creativity?

>Why aren’t you doing what they would be doing?

Robb’s reply:

A very good article.  This writer is correct but the connection that he doesn’t make is that those guys who built the industry were entrepreneurs who ran private companies who could risk it all. The moguls that the article is addressed to are not individuals anymore – they are multinational public corporations.

The truth is that the guys who made Hollywood WERE faced with earth-shattering revolutionary change MANY TIMES and rolled with the changes – and lightning-fast. Silent black and white movies were killed by sound black and white movies were killed by sound color movies were killed by TV. TV was very analogous to the creation of the internet – it was just as devastating to the model as the changes are today. What did they do? The old-school moguls adapted by the seat of their pants and moved quickly.

What has changed since then? These guys were all bought out by multinational public corporations in the 1970s, or sold out to IPOs to become multinational public corporations themselves. There are so many layers of bureaucracy now it is unbelievable, and nobody can move anymore, and certainly not fast. When TV threatened to kill movies and literally kill his business, Walt Disney got a crazy idea and responded by simultaneously (1) jumping into TV – which nodoby else dared to do – and (2) inventing the theme park to invent his own new model of content which also created its own new form of distribution (people would come to the park) – an entirely new model of content and distribution which he would own 100%. TV trumped movies so he trumped TV! How many layers of management did he have to convince of his idea? Zero. Stockholders? Nope. He made the call and took the risk. Impossible today. Did this impact his writers/actors/directors? No. They kept on producing content. The American entrepreneur figured out how to sell it.

What is happening now is that middle manangement/corporate bureaucracy is getting squeezed as the guy nailed in the article. They don’t like it and they are trying to push that off to the creatives. The creatives don’t care how their work is distributed – they don’t care at all, they just want a very small percentage of the eventual profit. The residuals we are talking about are a lot of money but a very small rate of royalties. The creatives don’t care how their work is distributed, that is not their headache. That is the job of management. Management says “distribution is so much harder now with these technologies.” The writers/directors/actors say “be bold – figure out how to sell it.” Mega-corporations don’t know how to do this, and the creative people who DO know how to do this (Steve Jobs) wouldn’t be caught dead working for somebody else’s corporation – they’re going to make their own. The publicly-traded corporations are creatively bankrupt, virtually by design. It could not evolve any other way really. Do you want to work for a corporation or do you want to control your own destiny? Creative types will answer the same way 100% of the time.

This is not a crisis of the writers – this is a crisis of the entire model and a crisis of adaptation.

The best idea I have heard about how to continue to make money in the changing technology economy is to do what TV did. TV content is not free to the consumer, it just FEELS like it. This is the key. People watch TV “for free” but forget they are paying $$$ for products whose cost is marked up to pay for ads. On the internet, people exchange pirated music and videos “for free” but forget they are paying $$$ for internet connections and hardware – but it FEELS free. With iTunes TV and movie downloads studios make it easy to download high-quality content without exotic equipment or connections – but then they screw it up and make the money exchange part of the experience. That is convenient but it doesn’t “feel” free. What if they made it “feel” free by having an internet plan that was priced higher but included all the free music and TV and movie downloads you wanted? Every kid in the U.S. would have this – every iPod would be full of music, every hard drive would be full of movies and TV shows. Everybody kid in the U.S. would pay for these extra iPods and extra hard drives and this internet plan – and all that little bit of extra money on each would go to the studios and management and the creatives.

What if a movie studio created its own satellite TV service like DirecTV. You pay $49.99 a month and everything is included – movies on demand free, like pay-per-view without the pay. All the movies and TV shows you can record, all included in the $49.99 per month. Where does the money go? Back to the middle management. The creatives get their small percentage of royalties like they have for decades. And it all feels free to the consumer. Everybody is happy.

Do Not Plan Your Career!
Oct 1 2007

According to Marc Andreessen, co-founder of Netscape, Opsware, and now Ning (a social networking site) you should NOT plan your career.  I wholeheartedly agree.  We are living in different times where there are too many variables to plan for a life-long career at say IBM, GM, Dupont, etc.  He then says focus on developing your skills and pursuing opportunities.  I agree with this too because you may just stumble upon your, shall we say, happiest LIFE.  This doesn’t mean don’t have goals.  If you want to be a CEO of a Fortune 500 company, then pick opportunities to help you develop those skills so that when the opportunity presents itself, you are ready.

Check out his lengthy but interesting blog post where he describes in depth his following rules of career planning:

The first rule of career planning: Do not plan your career.

The second rule of career planning: Instead of planning your career, focus on developing skills and pursuing opportunities.

His thoughts reminded me of the thoughts shared by one of my interviewees (available on the Succes Means… tab of this blog).  His name is Jimmy Treybig, and he happens to be the founder of Tandem Computers, which is now part of Hewlett-Packard.  Oh and Jimmy also happens to be one of my Babble Soft business Advisors.

One of the things I notice most prominently about Marc’s blog posts is that he often uses the feminine gender (i.e., she, her) in his writing when he gives illustrations.  I think that’s great and it’s a small step to help adjust all of our minds and remind us that women comprise at least 50% of the world population!

Entrepreneur Feedburner Ad Network
Sep 29 2007

Wendy Piersall at eMoms at Home is at it again.  She just created a Home Business & Entreprenuer Feedburner Ad Network and invited little ‘ole me and my entrepreMusings blog to join!  It looks like it will be really cool.  So now people who subscribe to my RSS feed will see links to relevant information about home business and entrepreneurship at the bottom of some of my posts and hopefully I’ll make a little extra cash to help fund R&D for Babble Soft along the way.  Wendy is just so innovative and most importantly inclusive.

Thanks Wendy for letting me ride on your coattails. 🙂

New eMomsatHome.com Internet Home Business Magazine
Sep 13 2007

Wendy Piersall just announced her new site and new business model: eMomsatHome.com Internet Home Business Magazine.  Congratulations Wendy!  In my opinion, she is one of the best examples I’ve seen of an entrepreneur helping to shift our perceptions of what entrepreneurship means.

To follow up on my last post on time-saving tips for parents, she has an excellent post called 25 Parent Productivity Tools for busy Moms, Dads, and Kids that you should check out.

We are still finalizing the new blog design and corporate site for Babble Soft.  It always seems to take to the very last minute to get projects done.  According to the 4 Hour Work Week, there is something called Parkinson’s Law that defines this phenomena.  “Parkinson’s Law dictates that a task will swell in (perceived) importance and complexity in relation to the time allotted for its completion.  It is the magic of the imminent deadline.”  I haven’t had time to finish this book, but will write about it when I do.  Needless to say I think it’s taking me more than 4 hours just to get through the book!  Well we have missed the first deadline (9/12) for the current projects for a variety of reasons, so even if I have to learn how to do website design/development (or beg my husband to help me) it will get done by the new deadline! 

Oh, and did I mention our daughter has been home sick most of yesterday and today?  She’s better today but I am keeping her home to let her rest.  Being able to be with my kids when they need me and not being stressed about not going into work is a big reason why I like working from home and being an entrepreMuse. 🙂

Just Get Started! Get up to Bat!
Aug 16 2007

According to the summary section of a recent post by Marc Andreessen (co-founder of Netscape and current founder of Ning) called Age and the Entrepreneur – part 1:

• Generally, productivity — output — rises rapidly from the start of a career to a peak and then declines gradually until retirement.
• This peak in productivity varies by field, from the late 20s to the early 50s, for reasons that are field-specific.
• Precocity, longevity, and output rate are linked. “Those who are precocious also tend to display longevity, and both precocity and longevity are positively associated with high output rates per age unit.” High producers produce highly, systematically, over time.
• The odds of a hit versus a miss do not increase over time. The periods of one’s career with the most hits will also have the most misses. So maximizing quantity — taking more swings at the bat — is much higher payoff than trying to improve one’s batting average.
• Intelligence, at least as measured by metrics such as IQ, is largely irrelevant.

So here’s my first challenge: to anyone who has an opinion on the role of age and entrepreneurship — see if you can fit your opinion into this model!

And here’s my second challenge: is entrepreneurship more like poetry, pure mathematics, and theoretical physics — which exhibit a peak age in one’s late 20s or early 30s — or novel writing, history, philosophy, medicine, and general scholarship — which exhibit a peak age in one’s late 40s or early 50s? And how, and why?

So if your odds of a hit are related to the number of times you are at bat then get out there and start trying to hit that ball!  Marc no longer accepts comments on his blog so if you have answers to his questions above, feel free to comment on this post.  Since I’m in my mid-30’s now I am taking the stance that it’s more like “novel writing, history, philosophy, medicine, and general scholarship.” 🙂

Thanks again to the folks at Austin Business Babes for their series of podcasts on me and my thoughts on entrepreneurship.  I believe they finished the series with a podcast they called “just get started.” 

just get started

Click To Play

Thinking too much can stop you…don’t imagine all the things that can go wrong, just go into action! This and other insights of an experienced (and young) entrepreneur, Aruni Gunasegaram.

8 Random Things About Me
Aug 5 2007

A blogger I admire a whole bunch, Connie Reece of Every Dot Connects, tagged me for the 8 Random Things About Me game (meme?).  I’m not sure what a meme is but it seems like a ‘tag your it’ kind of game and then you have to spend a bunch of time crafting a respectable blog response. 🙂

She helped me get up and going with my first blog and has given me advice and suggested connections that I should make in the blogosphere.  All out of the kindness of her heart.  What a big heart!  I still have no idea what her “I’m my own first cousin” statement means.  I made the mistake of commenting on her post as follows:

Me: What an interesting post! I don’t even know if I could come up with 8 random things about me because none would be as interesting as yours.

Connie: Oh, Aruni, of course you could come up with 8 random things about you that would be interesting! Consider yourself tagged. Write that post, link back here, and tag 8 others — some of your fellow mom- or dad-preneurs or other Austin Business Bloggers. I bet that if you  get started on it, you’ll have fun.

Me: Yikes! You’ll see from reading my blog that I’m up to my ears in software testing, but I will certainly give it a go later this week. I think some of the people I have met in the blogosphere have already been tagged in this game.

So here it goes:

1. I was born in Sri Lanka.

2.  I used to ride on the University of Texas at Austin Equestrian team (which apparently does not have a working website) in undergrad.  I always seemed to pick the craziest horses during competitions!

3.  I used to work at Mr. Gatti’s Pizza my junior/senior years in high school and the summer after my freshman year in college.  I love their parmeson mix.  My co-workers had a nickname for me: Pep-Aruni.  Get it?

4.  I have lived in Sri Lanka, England, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, and Texas.  I have traveled to many more places than that.

5.  I have lived in Texas now for 27 years.  8 years in Lubbock (Happiness is Lubbock, Texas in my Rearview Mirror was my favorite Mac Davis song), 4 years in Austin, 4 years in Dallas, and now 11 years back in Austin.

6.  My first paying job was a paper route in Lubbock when I was 13 years old.  I remember the cold, icy mornings delivering the Saturday and Sunday papers and the sometimes hot, dusty afternoons delivering the evening paper.  I did this all on my 10 speed bike with one of those shoulder bags with pouches in back and front to hold the papers while I pedaled.  I threw the paper with one hand and tried to avoid crashing with my other.  Ah, those were the days…

7.  I like to sing but right now I usually only sing in the car to the Top 40 tunes.  After Babble Soft makes it (crossing my fingers), the next thing I will pursue is a singing career…probably won’t get too far since I’ll be in my 40s (or maybe 50s) by then. 🙄

8.  I’m married to a White guy named Erin who grew up in Mexico City and who you would never know is 100% fluent in Spanish.  He was born in the US and then moved to Mexico City with his parents because his grandmother (who is 86 years old) runs a restaurant there.  He’s sometimes smarter than me and that’s why I married him. 🙂

Now I am not sure if I know 8 bloggers to tag since I’m still a new blogger (4 months and counting) and I’m not Marc Andreessen, but here we go (in no particular order).  I’ve included links to the posts of those people who have already been tagged:

1.  Carole Hayes – Alias Tex: Telling thier story to every stranger that arrives.  Carole happend upon our company site by seeing a blog post at The Lactivist.  Carole is one of our biggest fans and she is awesome!  A news station in Dallas, WFAA, ran a story on Babble Soft on August 2, 2007 and she was the subject of the story.  Interestingly, one of my friends in Dallas saw the piece and called me to tell me that she and Carole where in the same Mom’s group when her eldest daughter was born almost 7 years ago!  Small, small world…

2.  Clay Nichols – Daddy Clay’s Blog: it’s only pee – A fellow Austin, Texas entrepreneur demonstrating that it’s OK to be a great dad!  He is co-founder of dadlabs.

3.  Maryam Scoble – Maryamie: Maryam Ghaemmaghami Scoble’s musings about Life, Love and Everything Else… I heard about Maryam from none other than Connie Reece.  She met Maryam’s husband, Robert Scoble, during SXSW, a music and film festival to end all festivals, held in Austin every year.  Connie actually gave him a 6 month gift subscription to Baby Manager because apparently Robert and Maryam announced their pregnancy on twitter (still haven’t figured out what twitter is yet) but as of today we don’t know if Robert lost it or left it somewhere or even remembers meeting Connie.  Maryam is so nice and responds to my comments on her blog.  I’ve commented a few times on Robert’s blog but he seems to think I’m not worth acknowledging….probably because I’m not Marc Andreesseen.  I just saw that he got Faceslammed by Bill Gates which makes sense if you think about it.

4.  Thom Singer – Some Assembly Required  – Thom is a fellow Austin blogger who I’ve known for years.  He writes books on networking and how to be the best networker around!  He recently got back from a trip to Ireland and said he kissed the blarney stone.  My challenge to him is that the next time I see him, he has to demonstrate his newfound ability to persuade people to do things he wants them to do.

5.  Mack Collier – The Viral Garden: blurring the line between company and customer.  Mack has given me some links to some informative articles about business blogging and much needed words of encouragement!

6.  Randa Clay – Randa Clay Design (already tagged) – I love her current ‘juicy’ lime graphic on her blog!  I know I need to change my blog header but I haven’t had time to figure out how to modify the css file.  I would love to have one as vibrant as hers someday.  Her lime graphic makes me wish I was on a beach sipping margaritas. 🙂

7.  Jennifer Laycock –  The Lactivist: nursing out loud! (already tagged) – I admire her ability to get the word out about breastfeeding and offer her support and insight to so many of us who need it.  I like the fact that she’s not preachy and aims to highlight the facts and the laws surrounding breastfeeding.  She acknowledges that breastfeeding doesn’t work for everyone and we should not look down on women/families who choose to bottle/formula feed.  I totally agree!  I found her site, while doing follow up research on our launch press release and she posted a “not so flattering” post about Baby Manager.  I think I have since recovered…barely…  😯

The following are ‘long shot tags.’  They are people who I know are extremely busy at the moment but would I’m sure have great responses if they have the time to respond.  However, if one of them does answer (or points me to the post where they have already put down their answers to this game), then I would have met my requirement of 8!

8.  Wendy Piersall – eMomsatHome: starting, running + succeeding in home business and blogging.  I have learned SOOO much from her blog about ‘how to blog.’  She’s amazing.  I will be doing a guest post for her in the near future.   I heard about Wendy from again, none other than Connie.  Connie met her at a conference and told her about me and later told me about her.  Thank goodness because I wouldn’t have made as much progress on this blog without Wendy’s tips!

9.  Marc Andreessen – Blog.Pmarca.Com: Often Wrong. Never in Doubt.  I am fascinated by his writing on high-tech business start-ups especially since I’m on my second high-tech startup.  When he was accepting comments, he actually replied quite often to my comments which was like ‘wow, Marc Andreessen responded to me on his blog.  Totally cool.  I matter in the universe now!’  He recently wrote a post called Why a startups initial business plan doesn’t matter that much.  I totally agree.  Now I can just mention Thomas Edison when someone asks me for a business plan.  I emailed him to see if he would mind me tagging him, but haven’t heard back.  I so enjoy his thoughts on startups that I’m hoping he will have the time to tell us 8 Random Things about himself.  I even created a category just for him. 

I think the protocol is that you link back to this post when you make your post.  It has taken me days to construct this post from contacting people to see if they would mind being tagged, to determine if they had already been tagged, to adding links, etc.  I’m cross-eyed now.  I’m not sure I can handle another tag but I hope it’s clear why I could not leave Connie’s tag unanswered!

The Go-To Mom
Aug 3 2007

Kimberly recently reached out to me to tell me about her new venture TheGoToMom TV where she publishes a series of videos for parents.  She has some great stuff on her site.  We chatted on the phone for a while and we discussed each of our business goals.  I will be checking out her site from time to time to learn new things about parenting.

I found that the most compelling reason to visit her site came from my phone experience with her.  The entire time she was on the phone I barely heard her baby in the background.  She told me that she has her baby with her all the time and most people don’t even know it because he is so quiet and keeps himself preoccupied.  Wow!  I think his great behavior might have something to do with his personality because I know that if I’m on the phone or trying to do something on the computer, my kids find every excuse to come ask me things and whine about something.  OK…do I have to admit that I might have something to do with that?!?  But just in case she has some advice on how to accomplish that feat, I’ll be sure to watch her videos.   She even has a video called Stop the Whining! 🙂

About The Go To Mom:

www.TheGoToMom.TV is a How to show for families with young children (newborn to 6). The ‘Go To Mom’ addresses parenting issues, discipline strategies, development activities and much more. The show also presents cutting edge research about the development of the young child’s brain. Call into the Talk Show and get your parenting questions answered live!  Various specialists will be featured periodically. Los Angeles based, former preschool teacher and licensed child development therapist, Kimberley Clayton Blaine, is the Go To Mom. Kimberley is dedicated to teaching parents how to adopt a positive child-rearing stance and to use their authentic self in deciding what type of parent they would like to be. This last decade, Kimberley’s main research efforts have been focused around the Impact of Trauma and Aggressive Child Rearing on Childhood Brain Development. Kimberley currently teaches Early Childhood Brain Development and Positive Discipline Strategies at UCLA Extension Education Department.

Kimberley is well known for her warmth, ingenuity and willingness to reach out to families in need of state of the art child rearing resources. In her own words, “I am here for children, every time I try to branch out I end up back in the preschool classroom – that is were I’m destined to be.”

Kimberley Clayton Blaine, MA, MFT
www.TheGoToMom.TV

Musings of a Texas Gal in NYC
Jul 26 2007

I figured if Fred Wilson can blog about his musings on being a VC in New York, I can blog about my musings on being an Austin, Texas based entrepreneur visiting New York. I’m still here and will blog more about my trip when I return next week, but I have to say it’s been fantastic!

I made tons of great connections at the Working Mother Multi-Cultural Women Conference I attended and I believe many of them will prove mutually rewarding.

I have also been able to help my cousin with her new, very cute baby by taking ‘big brother’ to the park, distracting him from time to time, feeding him dinner sometimes, doing a few dishes, and holding the baby sometimes so she could rest.  It is great hanging out with her and my aunt.  We have also been catching up on all the family news and drinking a lot of red wine.  My aunt is a brave woman because she watched all four of us kids for several summers when we were growing up.

I know those first weeks that a baby is home can feel isolating and I remember it was always nice to have someone I felt comfortable with around to talk to. Hopefully my cousin feels the same and I was sufficiently helpful.  Since my aunt is here also it’s been easier to help out plus she’s a great cook. 🙂

All in all a good trip! More details to follow…

Aruni

Silicon Valley’s Baby Boom
Jul 13 2007

I just found out from reading Burningbird’s post called The Strk Commeth (or is that Stork?) that there is a site/blog called Valleywag (a gossip like blog that seems to be about the Valley’s tech entrepreneurs and investors).  Valleywag just did a post on Silicon Valley’s Baby Boom.  Seems like there are several new babies that have arrived or are arriving in the Bay Area including parents-to-be from Flickr and big time bloggers Robert and Maryam Scoble.  They just bought a real iPhone…not a hand knit one.

I’m in Austin, Texas which people sometimes refer to as Silicon Hills.  I wonder if there would be any interest here in having an Austinwag.  Hmmm.  I’m not sure if we’ve reached the same drama level as Silicon Valley though. 🙂

Aruni

Success to Me: Marc Seriff, founding CTO of AOL
Jul 10 2007

As some of you may know, I co-write articles on the topic of success for alumni magazines with my wonderful writing partner Pam Losefsky.  Our latest article for The University of Texas at Austin’s alumni magazine, The Alcalde, is about Marc Seriff, founding CTO of America Online.   Our goal with this endeavor is to get people thinking about what success means to them by reading about how other people define success.  Click here to see other articles we have written.  We’d love to hear your thoughts…

Austin Business Babes
Jun 13 2007

I figured that title might catch the eye of some Fathers out there!

Dana Minney is the host of Austin Business Babes.  She interviews women entrepreneurs in Austin, Texas and shares their stories with others all over the world through her podcasts.  I was fortunate enough to have been interviewed by her on May 21, 2007 with the first of the series going up yesterday, June 12, 2007.  They will release additional segments of the interview over the next few weeks and display them on my very own austin business babes page! 

I cringe a little and smile a little when I see myself on TV/video.  As I guess is the case with many women, I immediately notice the things about me that ‘could look better.’  I’m working hard on spending less time being critical of myself and spending more time noticing the positive things like “Wow, I didn’t have something on my face or shirt that one of my kids gave me as a parting gift that morning.” 🙂

Thanks to Dana and Sylvester (aka German Cowboy) for giving me the opportunity to tell my story!

Aruni

p.s. For those wondering how we are getting such great local video/TV press, look no further than our publicist, Phil West.  He also set up an interview for me with the local FOX station recently, but we are not sure if they will put that video online.  We rely heavily on the kindness of friends, family, and strangers to help us spread the word and translate those press mentions into Baby Manager users. 😀