Coffee or Lunch?
July 1, 2008
David Cohen wrote a post titled, “Coffee or Lunch” that resonated with me. I get calls, emails, IMs on a daily basis from people who want to meet. If you are an entrepreneur in Dallas I want to meet you, but asking me to join you for coffee or lunch doesn’t usually work for me.
First, I don’t drink coffee (literally never had a cup in my entire life). Second, lunch might be the perfect venue for our meeting and sometimes I will suggest it, but in general it doesn’t work for me. Usually I go to lunch with CEOs from our companies to talk about what is going on and what we need to do. This is REALLY valuable time for us and if we bring you along we won’t be able to get anything done.
The best way to meet is for you to come by our office. We have a Starbucks and a cafeteria downstairs so you can pick up your or lunch if you must and hang out with us. The best thing is to touch base with me a week before and we can pencil in a date and then give me a call an hour or so before you come to make sure nothing crazy has come up. Lets keep it casual. You can always just drop by, but don’t be offended if I can’t meet (assuming you didn’t schedule it before hand). Our new space is almost finished so there should be plenty of ‘hang-out’ space.
Where:
1950 Stemmons Freeway, Suite 2022 (I-35 and Oak Lawn)
Dallas, Texas 75207
214.550.2000 Main
Perfect picture I forgot to use. . .
June 28, 2008
The cute one looking at the camera is my son Ethan. Thankfully, he can keep his gun (it is only a bb-gun)… :)
Sigma Phi Epsilon 17 years later. . .
June 27, 2008
In 1991 I joined Sigma Phi Epsilon at the University of Texas at Austin. That year the fraternity developed the Balanced Man program. Last week Scott and I met with the father of a SigEp ‘pledge’ and we were talking about the program and I thought it might be worth explaining here. My fraternity experience was imperfect to be sure, but the program has helped SigEp to grow to become the largest fraternity in the country.
In 1991 Sigma Phi Epsilon implemented a four year, continuous development ‘Balanced Man’ program, which abolished pledging altogether, instituted year-round recruitment, encourages lifestyles based on the three cardinal principles, and includes a number of tasks geared towards creating diverse experiences that promote the ideals of “a sound mind and a sound body”. First adopted at the New Hampshire Alpha chapter at Dartmouth College, the program has been adopted by approximately 81% of Sigma Phi Epsilon chapters. SigEp headquarters credits the Balanced Man Program as the driving force behind the continued growth and success of the fraternity. Some of these accomplishments include SigEp’s 90% undergraduate retention rate, a major improvement in the national average SigEp GPA (3.04, Fall 2007), and SigEp’s status as the nation’s largest fraternity by undergraduate membership. Other fraternities have since chosen to adopt similar programs, such as Beta Theta Pi’s “Man of Principle”, Sigma Alpha Epsilon’s “True Gentleman”, Pi Kappa Alpha’s “True Pike”, and more recently Lambda Chi Alpha’s “True Brother Initiative”.
The Balanced Man Program consists of four challenges labeled Sigma, Phi, Epsilon, and Brother Mentor. Each challenge contains required tasks that progressively develop a member’s self, chapter, and community. A new SigEp brother is welcomed with the introductory phase of the program, the Sigma Challenge, and must complete a program based on self-discovery, chapter activities, and community service. After completing the Sigma Challenge he enters the Phi Challenge, which is centered on building balance. Here, more advanced tasks await him that include becoming a member of other on-campus organizations and taking a leadership role in the chapter. The third challenge in the Balanced Man Program is the Epsilon Challenge, centered on being an effective campus and community leader; at this level the brother has a full understanding of the Fraternity, the brother is also expected to hold an executive or chairman position in both the Chapter, and at least one outside organization. The Brother Mentor level is an additional level introduced with the Balanced Man program. Brother Mentor signifies a brother’s commitment to his chapter by completing all three levels of the Balanced Man and by going beyond and completing the challenges set forth by the Brother Mentor program. These include a very large community service requirement and tasks that better the chapter as a whole. All challenges in the Balanced Man program are self-paced. They can also be tailored to suit the chapter’s and the individual brother’s needs.
Chapters are accepted into the Balanced Man Program only after an overwhelming majority of the chapter votes to convert from pledging model to Balance Man Project Chapter. New Sigma Epsilon chapters are started as Balanced Man Program Chapters. Once a chapter becomes a Balanced Man Program chapter they are not permitted to return to the pledging model of member development. The fraternity has a goal nationally that 90% of the undergraduate chapters will use the Balanced Man Program for member development by 2011.
Many of the remaining pledging model chapters openly protest the Balanced Man Program. Pledging model chapters claim that the Balanced Man Program members do not form the bonds that a pledging model chapter has. Pledging model chapters also contend that Balanced Man Program chapter members tend to know less about the history of the fraternity or its unwritten traditions and lore. Finally, many pledging model chapters claim that the Balanced Man Program cheapens the process by not creating any obstacles to become a SigEp.
Now, 17 years since the first implementation of the Balanced Man Program SigEp has much success with the program. Over 75% of SigEp chapters use the program. As with any organization as large as this fraternity some chapters do a better job with their member development program than others. The statistics have shown that chapters using the Balanced Man Program have better grades. Risk Management violations from Balanced Man Program chapters are less than those from Pledging Model chapters.
All chapters are expected to offer a four year member development program regardless of whether they use the Balanced Man Program or pledge model development. [via]
HELP: I need a military transport to Iraq and Afganistan
June 26, 2008
If you have contacts within the US military I need some help. Marvel has agreed to donate two (2) of the gigantic Incredible Hulk statues, but the task of getting them to the Middle East has fallen on my shoulders. I am talking to Tonya White with the USO, but I am not certain they are going to be able to help. In the meantime I figured I would see if any of you know a Radar O’Reily character within the Marines/Army/Airforce who might be able to sneak two 8′6″ green monsters on a transport headed to Iraq or Afganistan.
It all started when I bought one of the statues and Chris McCroskey with Heroes 4 Heroes commented on my blog that I should donate it to the troops through his charitable organization. A couple of phone calls later and Marvel’s CEO Issac Perlmutter offered to donate two of the amazing statues to the troops. Of course, I have to figure out how to get them there. How about helping me out? Ideas? Suggestions? Thoughts?
Closers Evidently drive Rollers!
June 25, 2008
I was pulling into the Ritz last night for a meeting and in front of me was ‘The Closer’. I was so excited!
J2EE Deveoper needed at ScenPro, Inc.
June 25, 2008
Okay, jokes on me. As soon as I write about recruiters all sorts of people emailed me their job requisitions. Larry Hebel, a senior programmer for ScenPro is looking for:
Job Title: J2EE Developer – Richardson, TX – Starting Immediately
Description: Looking for a J2EE Developer with a degree and four (4) years of technical experience or six (6) years of experience in J2EE and web application development. The position requires competency in programming software systems, knowledge of computer system design, development, and implementation. Knowledge of Oracle or MySQL and excellent written and verbal communication skills are required. Knowledge of JBoss, Tomcat, or Apache is preferred. Experience with any of the following are a plus: Hibernate, Eclipse, Protégé, HL7, Spring framework, Struts, and Portals
Recruiting! Oh yea!
June 25, 2008
I get ten or twenty emails from headhunters (recruiters) looking for people each day. More often than not it is obvious that several headhunters are working on the same placement. Their job descriptions are EXACTLY the same, but for some reason they can’t reveal the name of the company doing the hiring. Can you imagine interviewing for a position at a company to be named later? I assume before setting up the interview the candidate is told who the company is, but I digress.
Just for fun I tell the headhunter I am not comfortable referring someone to a company who is uncomfortable telling me who they are. In some cases the assignment IS confidential (i.e. they are replacing someone or creating a new position and don’t want to interview internally), but in most cases I find the confidential part is wholely related to the recruiter’s desire to reduce their competition in the account. The contigency based recruiting business is hard! Can you imagine the number of moving parts:
- You must get the placement (i.e. the requisition).
- You must find a candidate before the other recruiters.
- Your candidate must want the job.
- Your client must want the candidate.
- The two must agree on a compensation plan.
- The client must present an offer.
- The candidate must provide notice to his current employer.
- The current employer may counter and you have to start over.
- Assuming the candidate starts work you bill your client.
- In 30-60-90 days you receive payment.
- In many cases if the hire doesn’t work out in six months you have to return payment or replace the candidate.
So I get why these guys keep their information so close to their chest, but my point is that you should not send out unsolicited emails asking for help from someone you obviously don’t trust. If you are going to ask me to refer someone you should know me well enough to know that I am not your competitor and that you can tell me who the hiring company is. Does this make sense? So headhunters, please stop sending me unsolicited emails unless you want to share something with me…
Help me draft the Hulk for the Marine Corps
June 25, 2008
UPDATE: I talked to the guys at Marvel and they have agreed to donate TWO Incredible Hulk statues to ship to our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan (depending on where the Marines/Army wants them). Ask and ye shall receive… Thanks for all your notes and calls. Definitely touch base with Chris if you want to make a direct contribution to his organization Heroes 4 Heroes. Thanks!!!
Yesterday I mentioned that I was able to purchase (via auction) one of the HUGE Incredible Hulk statues you may have seen in major movie theaters. Chris McCoskey commented,
“I have been trying to get one of these for my charity (www.heroes4heroes.org) for months! I can’t believe you won. If your wife hates it and you want to donate to a good cause we would be happen to take it…then auction it for money to ship our packets to soldiers serving in harms way :-)”
I responded that I might be able to get a second one (they cost around $3100) and that I would be willing to ‘donate’ a third of the cost if we could find two other people willing to contribute. I asked Chris to tell me more about his organization and he responded via email,
Heroes4Heroes is an organization I started that sends portable entertainment media to our troops stationed overseas. For the most part we have been sending comic books and DVD’s, but we have sent books and video games too. This year we have shipped over 2,000 packets and we plan on doing another big shipment soon. We put on a live art show every year as our main fundraiser. Check out the website www.heroes4heroes.org for some of the great pictures from soldiers who have gotten our packets, see Gen. Petraeus’s executive staff delivering our packets and even read a letter Gen. Petraeus sent us. I would love your help with the Hulk statue.
Chris is a good guy so I contacted the PR rep I worked with at Marvel to get the original statue and have asked him if he could get Marvel to contribute of the statues (only 200 were made). In the meantime I was hoping I could find a couple of you with deep pockets to agree to go in on simply buying on outright (for the $3100 price). I am in for $1000 so all I need is two of you to contribute the same. What do you say? Will you help me draft the Hulk for service?
So I won the auction for the full size Incredible Hulk!
June 24, 2008
I didn’t think I would win. Where am I going to put this thing? Anyone want to help me pick it up?
Programming note: We are banning AP stories too.
June 16, 2008
The AP has been suing people for taking quotes from their stories for years, but the AP is upping the ante by suing people for linking to their stories. I read about a suit the company has against the Drudge Retort and was about to write a post when Father’s Day duties took precedence. Anyway, Mike Arrington is on the case (as usual) and also has a new policy on AP stories: “Here’s our new policy on AP stories:They’re Banned!“ I am not banning AP stories because of their policy of suing people who link to them, I am banning them to reduce their relevance. Of course my actions won’t have any effect, but if we ALL stop linking to and reading AP stories maybe they will come to their senses.
Thanks VenturePad!
June 11, 2008
The guys over at VenturePad selected me as their ‘Entrepreneur of the Week‘ and Jerry Bowles wrote a nice piece about me ~ unexpected, but appreciated! Thanks Jerry!
Goodbye Zimbra ~ it was great while it lasted!
June 11, 2008
Almost a year ago Yahoo! bought Zimbra our favorite email platform. We began using Zimbra’s open source email system back in 2005 and in early 2007 we became the only Zimbra Service Provider in North Texas. Frankly Zimbra rocked. Web 2.0 goodness in an enterprise class email platform: tags, iCal, RSS, XML, zimlets and more.
Over the past few months we gave up trying to move companies on Exchange to Zimbra for a few fairly good reasons. We detailed our experience migrating Exchange to Zimbra here, but in general things that Exchange users expect like shared folders just don’t work with Zimbra. We use iPhones and Asterisk and Zimbra HAD support for both, at least until recently when all of the cool Asterisk zimlets stopped working. All of the cool features we love are beginning to disappear - why Yahoo!?
The final straw occured yesterday when Jason brought me a breakdown of the cost of the system. For about 65 employees we pay more than $5,000 a year just for the software license (each year!). That doesn’t include the servers, backup system or people. The cost is just too high. We are moving back to Exchange, ironically to save money. Of course, we can only do this now because the iPhone now supports Exchange! Thank God for Microsoft and Apple or I would be going crazy.
What went wrong at Zimbra? In a sentence: Yahoo bought them and somehow managed to stall development on the best email platform I had ever used.
Don’t piss off Dan Sklaire or he’ll sue you!
June 10, 2008
Earlier this month I wrote about an experience one of our companies had with a competitive intelligence professional named Dan Sklaire in a post titled, “Avoid Undue Diligence like the Plague!“ My advice to startups is to avoid RFPs because more often than not they are a waste of time and in some cases you might find yourself across the table from someone like Dan Sklaire who is recording every word of your sales pitch for your competitors.
Dan wasn’t too pleased I used him as an example of a competitive intelligence expert you should avoid. In an email I received from Dan titled, “CEASE AND DESIST - INTERNET POSTING” he indicated,
Alex, this is your first warning to cease and desist from the posting you placed upon your Texas Startup Blog, which is defamatory and conjecture at best. I am going to ask you to immediately remove it, as it is accusatory and false.
He continued by threatening,
This is a first step. The next will be to engage an attorney in Dallas, and initiate litigation to remove this posting and seek damages/legal fees against Architel and your texasstartupblog.
Of course, when we realized that Dan had used his competitive intelligence mojo on our company we felt the same way. Scott even called our lawyer and asked if we could sue. Ironically our lawyer simply suggested that we shouldn’t have responded to the RFP ~ i.e. we were asking for it by wasting our time on an RFP. Scott chilled out after a few days and the matter was dropped. If you are going to conduct surreptitious competitive intelligence you shouldn’t be surprised when someone points out that your efforts may not be terribly productive for the companies you are researching.
Data Center Explosion, Fire or FBI Bust?
June 3, 2008
Update: Interview with Yvonne Donaldson of The Planet.
What is going on in Houston? Reports range from explosions, to fires to FBI Raids. The Planet operates a data center in Houston that recently went offline (I wrote about it here). The company claimed power to the facility was interrupted when a transformer exploded. Official reports that three walls were blown down causing a fire; but also claimed no servers were destroyed. Observers on the scene indicated they didn’t see a single fire truck or emergency vehicle during the incident. We contacted the Houston Fire Department who indicated that they had no idea what we were talking about. We heard reports that the fire marshal was keeping employees out of the facility and we called the Houston Fire Department for a second time, but this time the representative indicated the would call us back, we haven’t been contacted since our call. This afternoon we talked to a customer who claimed to have entered the facility, but after confronting him I learned that he didn’t actually get in. By the end of the day I talked to another customer who indicated that the FBI was swarming all over the facility, removing servers. Who knows what is going on, but it sounds crazy. Anyone have the REAL scoop? Please contact me.
How many astronauts does it take to use a toilet?
June 3, 2008
Turns out if your toilet breaks you need THREE! Okay, if you are going to build a space station with Russian parts you should always have a backup plan.
Other title for this post considered, “If you poop in space can anyone smell it?”
I was shocked to learn that the International Space Station only had one toilet! One toilet for the a space station? The crew of the space station, one American and two Russians have been using a hand pump to flush for the past week or so. Evidently it is a VERY big deal to use the hand pump (one astronaut to use the toilet and two to flush it).
The plan to fix the toilet was simple, overnight a new pump from Japan to the U.S. shuttle Discovery and fly the pump up to the station. This is exactly what happened on Monday. In their infinite wisdom NASA decided to send seven more astronauts to the station. Now there are ten astronauts on the International Space Station and not a single working toilet. Today Russian officials told Interfax that ALL ten astronauts might need to evacuate the station.
First, ten people sharing a single toilet is pretty gross. Ten people sharing a single non-working toilet is even worse. Ironically the International Space Station was designed and built through consensus - I think this is a great example of how a consensus can be very short sighted.
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