P.R.I.E in our Digital World

Had the good fortune to be selected to participate in a competition for Tech Innovators a few weeks ago.  There I ran into a couple of Stuyvesant High Alums.   We chatted it up and discussed some of our experiences and new ideas.   As I shared an idea a buddy and mine have been tossing around for a couple of weeks, one of the Stuyvesant Alums jokingly said “it’s a compelling idea but a Brooklyn Tech guy cant pull it off. “   Later he brought it back up again and threw in a few cracks about Tech Engineers…   Naturally this didn’t sit too well with me, felt a sharp sting rising within.  Pride was too great so I fired off and told him to put his money where his mouth is.

That said, Challenge set forth is to build it and get 5K users in 3 months.  

Have been banging away for the last couple of weeks to get the site up, so check it out at:

www.convo-it.com 

We love watching video but even moreso like talking sh#t, sharing laughs and thoughts with our buddies. Convo It provides a simple way to enjoy videos and kick it privately with our favorite friends. 

End goal, a place to easily share and discuss video with close friends - making the video experience more social & fun :)

#Winning - should we win the wager money will be distributed to the top users.   

 So what should you do:

1. Like us on Facebook & follow on Twitter   (http://on.fb.me/hr24Vh   &   http://twitter.com/convoit)
2. Go to www.convo-it.com and sign up.
3. Add your Fave Friends.
4. Find video you like and Convo It. 

Most of all, Enjoy and HAVE FUN!!

 - James Lateef

*  Feedback is encouraged, so let us know your thoughts and experiences - positive or negative.  The only want to make something good that’s useful to you and others is by listening to your feedback to make improvements - Thanks!

Problem Statement:

Findings from Interviews & Surveys:

Value Proposition:

Minimum Viable Product - DatingCRM:

SMS App

Droid App:

Results:

More Happy Players & More Jealous Haters — PRICELESS!!  :-)

It’s a wonderful time to be part of the tech scene.  Never before has there been so much energy and enthusiasm exerted toward making the world a better place through our talents and creativity.  I absolutely love the era we are in right now and thank all who are contributing.

With all the new found ideas and products coming to market, it is hard to keep up with everything.  Moreover, as more products and services enter the marketplace the more discerning we become.  

There is a lot of cool stuff out there on the market, however much of it doesn’t seem to fill an immediate need or void in life.  The best products are the ones that naturally come to mind during the course of one or more of our daily activities as a solution that makes our lives a little easier or more enjoyable.  Here are two new products which have found a place in my life. 

Hashable - the ultimate networking app makes introductions (and connecting with people in general) easy and awesome. 

For me this is a winner as I love meeting new people.  Hashable gives me an easy way to trade info and leave a short message all at once.  So as Foursquare allows us to check in places, Hashable enables us to check-in with people giving us our very own personal CRM.

By simply using the #justmet tag and entering the person’s email address or twitter handle, Hashable adds them to my address book and send out my contact info with a meaningful “Nice to meet you!” message.  

It gets even better.  For those who I already know, I can use the service to easily log encounters of ours (#Lunch, #Meeting, #RanInto).  

We are all so busy nowadays we many times forget to reach out after meeting someone.  Many times people’s info do not make it into our contacts for one reason or another, whether being that they didnt have a card on them or we do get their card but it just gets added to a stack of other cards and lost in the shuffle.

Hashable eliminates that problem and gives us a way of tracking our interactions in a meaningful and fun way.  

Not to mention, LinkedIn is a bit dry and unsocial while Twitter is a never-ending social ocean whose waves can easily become overwhelming.  People can now easily post Tweets of their social encounters using hashtags, bringing some meaning and substance to these interactions while simultaneously building their network.

Frequency - is an innovative social discovery platform for video.  Their real-time video network powered by people all around the world as well as your social networks, makes it insanely easy to preview and follow video.

I watch video online daily but find it difficult keeping up with posts that have been shared by my friends as well as video of interest from various sources I like such as ESPN, This Week In, and other channels.

Frequency takes all the video from your Facebook, Twitter and YouTube feeds and streaming it together in one easy to view feed.  In addition, you can also follow and watch hundreds of other free video channels on topics ranging from Art to Business, Celebrity, Music, News, Fashion and more. 

What really makes this service great is it allows you to preview videos in your feed.  The Auto-Scan function will cycle thru the videos in your feed like a playlist, difference being, it will only play 15 seconds of each video.  This is HUGE winner for me.  

I like watching video but dont have enough time to go thru them all.  It gives me the opportunity to keep up with all the video posts in a fraction of the time it usually takes.  Making what was once nearly impossible, not only possible but enjoyable.  The videos which I want to see in full, I can simply select to watch the full clip.  Life just got better.

In my previous post, I reviewed Internet TV devices.  Frequency is a great candidate for an Internet TV app.  It could be that breakthru channel bringing us content we actually want to see, with little to no effort.  

I am anxious to see how both Frequency and Hashable progress - they both not only have a lot of promise in the future but more importantly serve a need today.

It seems the mark of a new decade may be the mark of a new beginning in how we watch TV.   A number of companies have released products bringing TV to our set tops via the internet.  With cable providers and broadcasting companies battling over fees, unfortunately at our expense the advent of Internet TV brings a new option to the table.  My question is simple, will we now be able to get rid of the overpriced relic known as Cable in favor of Internet TV devices – eliminating the monthly service fee?

Apple TV, Boxee Box, Google TV, and Roku are the primary players in the Internet TV space at the moment – all of which have their advantages and drawbacks.

Apple TV -  provides content from iTunes and Netflix primarily.   YouTube, podcasts,  and internet radio are also included.  For those who own iPhone or iPad its quite appealing as you can download an app that turns your iPhone/iPad into a remote.  The one drawback of the Apple TV is you can only rent content  from iTunes thru it, there is no purchase option.   I am not a big fan of the rental play once model (you have 48 hours from pressing play to finish watching).  It also doesn’t have a browser but that’s not a deal breaker.  For $99, its hard to complain.


Boxee Box -  Perfect for playing downloaded video as it can handle almost any video file type.   It has a browser and can play Flash video from the web.  Boxee also has apps such as Pandora and they will work in the background while in multitasking mode.  It also comes with a very cool remote control that has a Qwerty keyboard on the backside so you can type on it.   Drawbacks are it lacks Hulu, Netflix, and other content providers.   At $200 it’s a hard sell for me until they get a few content providers on board since it primarily serves as a way to watch downloaded video and I don’t torrent shows or movies.


Google TV – Best option for browsing the internet from your TV.  (Any option that allows internet browsing starts out with some plus points in my book.)  It also supports apps and for those who have an Android, you can use it as your remote.  The drawbacks are Google TV browser is being blocked by Hulu, ABC, CBS, and NBC so cant watch any of those programs until apps come out for these networks or they decide to remove the block.  The $300 price though seems a bit high for the existing capabilities though I do believe their product will soon be top of the class.


Roku -   Focused on tuning you into select internet distribution channels.   It has Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu Plus.  The device doesn’t have a browser or any other apps but considering it has the 3 major content providers, at $60 – 80 it seems like a good buy.

First Look at these Internet TV devices - VIDEO Reviews


These new services are amazing and introduce a new way of bringing entertainment into our living room.  Netflix, Hulu, and other online providers of TV entertainment have already had a huge impact, making the shows and movies we want available to us on demand.  Extending these resources to our TV sets is awesome, giving us an alternative to our cable programming and movies on demand.  

One question that comes to mind is, as Internet TV evolves will television programming also be delivered? Meaning, its great to have your on-demand movie selections but will our TV stations come over as well.  Like radio, turning through stations of programmed television has a certain appeal.  The service of having someone to decide what content to show and when to show it adds a different element.  The element of discovering things to watch, of which many times we normally would not have selected - the stumble upon factor.  

For others TV programming helps them frame their days.  For example, my mother catches Oprah at 4pm and then prepares dinner, its like part of her daily routine.  I believe in order to replace cable completely, this television programming will have to come to Internet TV in some form.  That I guess is up to how flexible the network providers are.  There also lies opportunity for new “channels” to emerge.  Those who couldn’t enter the traditional television market due to the barriers of cost and scale but can manage to deliver network television via the web.  Or even, will there be a new smart programming system that builds channels based on our interests?  A Pandora for TV?

In conclusion, Internet TV is still in its infancy but this is a great start, there are plenty of good things to come.  The biggest issue right now seems to be trouble with getting networks to play nice with everyone.  Google TV is being blocked by most networks and one would think Boxee will encounter some of the same problems.  As such, looks like we are a ways from being able to rid ourselves of our Cable/Satellite providers.  Im not a big TV watcher but I love sports, especially football - so for football fans like myself we need our ESPN, NFL Network and Sunday Ticket.  At this stage I would opt for a Roku since it has the major content providers and priced at a point where you cant go wrong but will be anxiously be awaiting the evolution of the others.  I have a feeling Google TV is going to be in the running for industry leader of this market.
  
What are your thoughts on Internet TV?  Is this, just an aperture into a whole new world of TV entertainment?

1. Team Balance

Step 1 is realizing you need a well balanced team in order to succeed.  In life same as in sports, we all have our favorite players and many times tend to rely on them to carry the team to victory.  I spent my whole first season of Fantasy Football getting my butt thoroughly whooped because I placed too little value on what the other team members were contributing to the whole.  

Fantasy Football helps one realize the value of every position.  In order to be successful, a team needs to be balanced so it has better chances of performing well over time.  Teams which are not well balanced tend to lose more because “Star” players cannot consistently make up for low performance players.  Tough matchups, bye’s, & just bad games by a key player on an unbalanced team will more often than not, lead to a loss.

As Entrepreneurs we must put our teams together so they have balance and the members complement each other well – making the whole greater than the sum of its parts.


2.  Preparation

As with anything, preparation is key.  One must invest time researching team members and schedule in order to set the team up for top productivity.  

Entrepreneurs must do the same.  Spend time researching the market you are in, your target, your competition, and devise a strategic plan.  Set your team up so it has the best opportunity to succeed and achieve company goals.


3.  Expect the Unexpected

What makes life special are the unknowns.  Imagine how boring life would be if everything was completely predictable.  The best laid plans can go awry due to the unexpected.  

In Fantasy Football players get hurt, have extended periods of low productivity, and sometimes get traded to a team that’s not a good fit.  As a GM one must be ready to make adjustments.  

Same applies for Entrepreneurs, there are a lot of things we don’t know or expect.  Actually about the only thing we do know for sure is that unexpected things will happen, and as such, we need to be ready to adjust accordingly.


4.  Be Active

The second part to preparation and being ready for the unexpected is Taking Action. Success in Fantasy Football is a product of good team management throughout the season.  Every year new players emerge and others fall.  A good GM has to be on the hunt for rising stars and know when to deal players who are on the way down or have a rough road ahead.  

As Entrepreneurs we must stay active so we are steadily acquiring knowledge and adding value, improving our position, increasing talent & influence, and adapting to the ever-changing marketplace.  Once we get a handle on things and become fluid navigating the current - we will then be able to push forward, set new trends, and ultimately have an impact on the market.


5.  Be Wise & Learn to Adapt

If there is one thing to take away from all of this, its:
in order to succeed one has to Prepare, Be Flexible, and Learn to Adapt.  

Many people lose Fantasy Football because they either get lazy, complacent, discouraged, or too emotional.  Success in any walk of life is a product of hard work, preparation, and outstanding execution.  Luck is a factor but it is many times overrated.  The hardest thing to do is to not get too emotionally attached and know how to maintain perspective & reason.  Emotions generally cloud good judgment.

People many times will stick with a player because they like him or they don’t want to feel like they were “wrong”.  Being wrong is not necessarily a bad thing, moreover it doesn’t reflect poorly upon you.  Depending on how you view things, its actually almost as valuable as right.  When you figure out you were wrong about something or there has been a shift in the marketplace, you are halfway home because you can now make the necessary adjustments and pivot your strategy to take advantage of the shift.  

Everybody takes their licks and make mistakes, that’s just life running its course.  Its those who quickly adapt, turning those mistakes into insights and then transform them into opportunities – they are the ones who rise to the top.

Rome wasn’t built in a day and if you aren’t making mistakes you probably aren’t trying hard enough.  With mistakes and learning, progress awaits just around the corner.