Friday, February 27, 2009

Jason Calacanis - What to do if your startup is about fail (or “Don’t Stop Believing”)

The Jason Calacanis Weblog

What to do if your startup is about fail (or “Don’t Stop Believing”)

Location: Mahalo HQ, Santa Monica
Date/Time: February 26th 2009 6:25pm
Subscribers: 12,483
Rock out To This While Reading: Don’t Stop Believing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ip1zsUIosoA
Forward To: Startups that are hitting the wall

A lot of CEOs with less than 12 months of capital left have been
asking me for advice about what to do, given the massive economic
turmoil we’re facing. I thought I would take the time put these
various conversations into one email to help those who are “up against
it,” as we say in Brooklyn.

Now, sprinting to the startup precipice is one of the most horrible
and exhilarating experiences you can have as an entrepreneur.

The exhaustion sinks in as you slam on the brakes. You dig in your
heels and watch the dirt and pebbles fly off the cliff as your left
foot dangles down in the ravine, with your right foot desperately
trying to save you. Your momentum could–if the wind kicks in–send
you straight down to your death. Heck, even the two inches of earth
under your right foot could give way and send you to your death.  Or,
you could slip and fall on a magic carpet that will take you to the
Promised Land.

OK, that last part is made up. You’re probably screwed and you know it.

This email is intended for startup companies with less than 12 months
of cash in the bank, who know in their hearts that their VCs have lost
faith, and that Google, Yahoo or Microsoft aren’t going to pick them
up on a magic M&A carpet ride.

This is the email I’d like you to forward to your friends who are
running startups that could go under in 2009.

Some background
————————-
I’ve been to the precipice and faced the fall a couple of times. I’ve
learned a couple of things from the experience. I can tell you that
the first time it happens, you’re terrified, because everything you’ve
done–all the effort and dreams–will probably be lost (like tears in
the rain).

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Wednesday, February 18, 2009

How to use TweetDeck - Mike's Recommended Twitter Application

Blogging Art and Practice
A blogging coach’s tips and techniques for a better blog
By Kathy Purdy

TweetDeck is the most useful application for managing Twitter that I’ve found. While many call it “intuitive,” some of my clients are intimidated by it. Perhaps they don’t realize it has tooltip-type hints when you mouse over the various buttons, or maybe the tips don’t explain enough. For those of you who want more than tooltips, here is a basic introduction to TweetDeck.

Organize your screen with these buttons

The following nine buttons function as toggles. That is, click once to open, and click again to close. They are found at the upper left of your screen. (Where appropriate, I’ve linked to some tutorials on another site that explain certain functions in more detail.)
tweetdeck-tutorial-01

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  1. Click here to type a message (status update). When you click this button, several other buttons become available which I will collectively refer to as the tweetbox. They are explained below.
  2. This opens or closes a column that shows all updates from everyone you follow. Usually it’s open.
  3. Click this button to start a new group.
  4. Click here to set up a search column.
  5. Click here to start a column that monitors all replies to you. (That is, all messages that have @yourtwittername in them.)
  6. If you want to have a column of all your direct messages, click here.
  7. This button sets up a column with all your favorited tweets.
  8. Twitscoop enables you to see what the hot twitter topics are.
  9. 12seconds is “the best place online for video status updates.” When you click this button it will ask you for your login.
More...

Other Twitter tutorials

The advantage of a still tutorial such as this one is that you can refer to it as you’re using TweetDeck. But a video tutorial can help give you the big picture. I chose these particular tutorials because they illustrated features of TweetDeck that I haven’t covered in this tutorial. You will find a lot more videos on YouTube about TweetDeck, but most are of poor quality.

* How to Create a Group and Use the Search Function
* Rearranging Columns, Search Function, Change Settings (including colors)
* New features in the latest version 0.21b
More...

Look for the links to Ian Dodsworth Interview, the originator of Tweetdeck.
I love Tweetdeck and Find Grouping makes Twitter so much more managable.

Mike
http://www.twitter.com/mike1mb