The Converging Network

Recession YTD, Brain Damage Already Done

It's official. We've been in a recession since December... of last year. 12 months already. CNN reports that most US recessions last 8-10 months, and global recessions average 16-18 months. Obviously we're in a global recession, which means somewhere around another 8-12 months, if history is any indication. The tangible impact of a recession are clear; layoffs, unemployment rises, downturn in spending, failed businesses, etc.

Now I'm no economic expert, don't play one on TV and I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, but I have to ask, what additional deep damage has our federal government done by heralding the coming catastrophic financial, banking and credit crisis. By getting on TV and announcing we're facing a dire financial situation, Henry Paulson and George Bush perform the equivalent of yelling fire in a crowed theater while not owning a shred of fire fighting equipment.

Just as tangible as the impact of job losses are, economies are just as much about how we perceive them - we often describe this as "confidence in the market". If we believe the markets are going to be in the tank, they will be. It's a self fulfilling prophesy. The reverse is true when we're bullish about the economy - somehow we make our predictions come true. I believe Bush and Paulson have done us all a huge, huge disservice, making things even worse by all their aimless handwaving of warnings and non-specific dark cloud predictions.

The best things Bush and Paulson can do for the economy is to:

• stop talking
• stop appearing on TV
• focus on transitioning to the Obama administration

Thinking Too Small – Dare To Think Big

I had an interesting ah-ha happen this morning. Last night I had emailed my editor because I had blogged about Jerry Yang stepping down as CEO of Yahoo!. I caught the news Monday evening and had blogged about this pretty early in the news cycle so I thought there might be a chance I’d get some “link love” if Network World had something on the home page about Jerry’s news. That’s the kind of story that would usually get some attention on the home page, and being a promoter type of personality, I’m always looking for ways to get ideas, thoughts and stories out. Last night I checked the NWW home page and there was  big picture of Jerry Yang but I didn’t see a link to my blog post in the list under the main story link. Thus, my email to my editor Julie, who is always great about helping get the word out about what I write.

 This morning Julie emailed me back both saying she’d check to see about getting a link to my post about Jerry, and then I had a second email back from her letting me know that I actually was already linked to on the home. The main storyline was a link to MY blog post, not the usual article that might be written by a reporter. Doh on me! And wow for me too! I’ve got the lead article on the NWW home page. Sweet! That’s cool but I’d almost missed it. I’d set my sights too short, only looking below the story to see if my blog post had been linked.

It’s so easy to look short and come up short sometimes in life. I’m realizing how often I look below the storyline for my story (in the proverbial sense) and not shooting for the stars. I should have set having a lead story on the NWW home page as a personal goal for me, and I never had. And that’s only a little goal. There are much, much bigger things I want to create and accomplish (and I’m working on some of those now!) I’d been thinking too small… I had been thinking too small, expecting my post would only ever fall under the main lead article. I hadn’t considered having the lead link a possibility, and it was, as is so much more.

So, note to self: Think big, shoot high and set big and even scary goals. You’ve accomplished great things and you will continue to accomplish great things in the future because you are will to dare and think big.

And a note to Jerry Yang: Thanks for thinking big, shooting high and setting big and even scary goals. You’ve accomplished great things and you will continue to accomplish great things in the future because you dare to think big.

Podcast #58 - Bill Brenner, CSO Online

This week Bill Brenner, senior editor at CSO Online, joins Alan and me to discuss the impact the financial crisis will have on security in enterprises, small businesses and the security industry itself. We're likely to see a lot more federal regulations and this could actually be good for network security (see my Network World blog post about recessions, transparency and network security.) The interview is also a good insight into the world of a media writer/editor, as Bill shares why he move from reporting on the everyday security news to his new position where he gives his own insights and comments into what's happening.

Alan and I also talk about a host of items including the every evolving M&A activity in the security industry, Apple's wonderful blackbox "we know better" iPhone (which wiped out all of Alan's music during a recent upgrade), and "green IT" press releases by Mirage Networks and others.

Enjoy the podcast. If you are interested in sponsoring the podcast, feel free to contact us.

Power IT Down Day + Call To Action To Create Greener Products

Yesterday I recorded a podcast about Power IT Down Day. I'll be posting the podcast to my Network World Converging On Microsoft Podcast first part of next week. Power IT Down Day is an initiative set up by Citrix, HP and Intel, to get everyone to fully power down their desktop and laptop computers, and associated monitor, printers, powered speakers, etc. during the off work hours on August 27th. I say fully power down because even hitting the power button on monitors and laptops, for example, doesn't mean they aren't sucking up juice through their standby modes and transformers. Better yet, power it all down, by hitting the power switch on the power strip plugged into the wall.

The idea behind Power IT Down Day is to help all of us be aware, and also to try and start some behavior changes, to save electricity consumed by our individual computers while we're not working at our desks.  According to my podcast guest Tom Simmons, area Vice President Federal at Citrix, many are projecting we could see electric power costs soar in the future similarly to how gas prices skyrocketed this summer. California already suffers rolling brown outs and a lack of power for data centers. The seemingly unlimited low cost power we take for granted today, like the low cost gasoline of the past, could become a scarce and expensive resource in the future.

I'll save some of the specifics behind the program for the coming podcast, but until then please visit http://www.hp.com/go/poweritdown and sign up for the program. Based on the estimated power savings from powered down PCs at participating companies, Citrix, HP and Intel will donate an approximated savings amount the Red Cross. (Personally I wish they were donating the money to help us build more wind farms, or create hydrogen powered cars and fueling stations in the U.S.) I think this is a great program and I hope you'll participate.

Power IT Down Day is a socially conscious conservation effort: Help users, through their company's participation, understand the impact of needlessly leaving computers running during off work hours. That's good stuff, and well worth doing. I hope we change some habits and conserve power as a result. I've already started changing some of my power munching habits just after hearing about the program. But, I think we should tackle something closer to the heart of the problem: designing greener products.

Do monitors, printers, computer motherboards and power supplies, etc., really need to operate in standby mode where they continue to consume power? What's it save us, 10, 5, 3 or 1 seconds to start up our devices faster? Are we that pressed for time or that lazy? Why can't laptop power supplies (bricks) have a built in sensor that determines when laptop batteries no longer need charging, and then fully turn off the transformer? I'm sure those are just a few of the obvious examples and there are many more that could save even more energy.

I have the same beliefs about network security. Educating users only marginally helps the problem. The real issue is designing products that are fundamentally more secure or can automatically configure themselves securely rather than relying on end users to deem what programs should/shouldn't talk through a personal firewall, for example. Same with conserving energy. Fix the problem of creating greener products.

I call on product designers to design products than consume less or no energy, including periods when they might experience light or almost no use, rather than relying on end users to know and act to conserve energy. If you need help understanding how product design decisions impact the "greenness" of a product, and want to know how to design greener products, check out a company called Sustainable Minds (I'm an advisor to this company), their Okala methodology and their green product design industry expert blog. Help us all by starting at the source, creating greener products from the get-go.

And remember to sign up for Power IT Down Day, and most importantly, turn off all that computer equipment when you leave work on August 27th, and every day for that matter.

We're Hiring - Sales, SE, QA and Exec Assistant

We have a number of job openings at my SaaS application performance management software company, Absolute Performance Inc.

The following positions are open:

• Regional Account Manager - West Coast
• Sales Director - Boulder, CO
• Sales Engineer - Boulder, CO
• Software Quality Assurance Engineer - Boulder, CO
• Executive Assistant - Boulder, CO

Send your information and inquiries to jobs@absolute-performance.com. (And let them know you read about it on my blog.)

VC panel about funding SaaS companies in today's market

While attending the 2008 SaaS Summit last week, I was fortunate to listen in on a panel discussing venture funding of SaaS companies in today's market. The panel had a mix of early stage, mid and corporate, corporate investors and a view from the public markets perspective.

Panel: Ann Winblad, Partner - Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, Jason Maynard, Research Analyst - Credit Suisse First Boston, Jason Green, General Partner - Emergence Capital Partners, and Jon Krause, Investment Manager, Intel Capital. Moderator: Treb Ryan, CEO, Opsource.

Several things stuck with me from the panel discussion. First is the divergence of business funding models that have been funded in the current and past years. SaaS isn't just about funding investments of $50m, $75m or $100m in capital mega startup or roll up companies. Several companies were mentioned who bootstrapped, acquired a bevy of good customers, and then seek capital to increase growth. These aren't the days of "build it and they will come". SaaS and On Demand software enables companies to get products to market with fewer barriers, benefit from customer and market feedback, to more quickly prove out their business model, or at least spend less money doing so.

Another common theme was the patience that investors must have these days. Few startups are going to go from series A to a buyout or IPO in 3 years or so. Most take much longer for a liquidity event. Venture cycles are running 6.7 for a company IPO, and 5 years for a company is acquired, according to Ann Winbald, of Hummer Winblad. Though the VCs know this, most entrepreneurs are still learning that these timeframes are typical, not the quick pops during the '90s bubble.

A few other themes resonated with me. The importance of partners, and extending your reach through those partners, sales organization, branding and technology. My experience is that product managers, CTOs and product developers often overlook opportunities for rebranding and OEM products early in their development. I know I've been guilty of that lesson myself, and it's something I put a lot more emphasis on in the companies I work with today.

The other was the investment in the front end of the business that is necessary, sales and marketing. Some of the panel members felt it should be a 1:1 ratio, $1 of sales and market for every $1 of the most recent quarter of revenue. That's sounds like the spend of one of those capital intensive mega companies and seems pretty heavy to me, but I do believe you've got invest significant dollars in the front end. Products rarely market or sell themselves, and when they do, no one knew it would happen up front -- I'm saying they are lucking more often than smart. So don't put too much faith in luck and invest in the business.

Is your product aspirin or vitamins (metaphorically)? That's one prescription for telling how important your product or service is to the customer. How sticky is what you provide your customers and could they walk away during a downturn of the economy. That was some other sage advice from Ann, who talked about how they evaluate the customer portfolio of companies they consider for investment.

Note: I'm requesting permission to post the mp3 recording of the panel discussion. Stay tuned.

 

TechStars: 29 Days Left To Apply

I've made it a personal goal to be more involved in the entrepreneurial community instead of my usual "singular focus" when doing start up companies. One of the reasons is to give back and help others as they develop their ideas and businesses. It's a part of my thoughts about flourish and how to help make that happen.

I'm happy to announce that Brad Feld and David Cohen have asked me to be a mentor for the TechStars program. What a great way to get an idea developed and possibly funded. And, it's a great way I can help others in the process.

If you still have a business idea but haven't applied, I would encourage you to do so. There are only 29 days left to submit your application. Maybe submitting your business plan or idea to TechStars is that calling you need to put your idea into action. Plus, you can't get selected if you don't apply, so here's your chance.

I hope you'll consider becoming part of the program. Yours could be the one that gets selected!

Let the exodus begin

With BEA's acquisition by Oracle, I've got to believe the assimilation will occur as other Oracle acquisitions have. A sizable turnover of people takes place as the acquirer reshapes things to fit the acquired company. That could leave a lot of folks looking for sales and technical work. I'm working with a company in the Denver/Boulder area looking for top notch sales people, an engineering VP position, tech writer and QA testers. Send me an email if you are interested.

New Converging On Microsoft Podcast - Episode 1

I''m pleased to announce the first episode of my new podcast on Network World, the Converging On Microsoft Podcast.

My Network World blog has been doing very well and the editors asked if I would like to start a companion podcast. Not being one to turn down another opportunity to "play on a bigger stage" I jumped at the chance.

My first guest on COM Podcast Episode 1 is Bob Walsh, a software developer, entrepreneur, business owner, author and blogger. I came across Bob's book Clear Blogging which I enjoyed so much I called him to thank him for such an insightful and useful piece of work.

Turns out there's much more to Bob than just one book. Bob's background is both as a writer and a software developer, and recently he has been evangelizing to other software creators to help them bring their products to market as a Micro-ISV. Yes, micro independent software vendor -- a one, two or up to ten person software shop, primarily comprised of technical people with little or no previous business or marketing expertise.

In addition to running his own software business, Safari Software, Bob blogs at 47hats.com and recently began writing for Web Worker Daily where he follows up on the latest tips and insider info about the online web industry. Check out the links to Bob's two books below.

If you are a software developer and always wanted to make money from the software you create, you'll be fascinated by all of the ideas, information and resource suggestions Bob gives during the interview.

Before I wrap up I would also like thank guitarist, composer, studio musician and a good friend of mine Michael Reese for his music Treasured Path used as the podcast  music. I'd also like to thank Jessica Freemann for her voice over talent introducing and closing the podcast. Thanks to you both!

If you have any questions, ideas, feedback or suggestions about the Converging On Microsoft Podcast, please send me email at podcast@mitchellashley.com. Enjoy :)

Bob's books:

Flourish -- A word you should hear and use more often

There are so many things in the world that I find thoroughly fascinating. Creating products, figuring out the happenings and strategies in a market, creating an unbelievably usable and appealing user interface design are just a few of the things I find fascinating in the work setting. But I especially appreciate those times when something hits me out of the blue, even more so when it's a small observation, that generates worlds full of insight. That happened this week.

I was reading a book by author and StrengthFinders fame Marcus Buckingham when I came across one word that caused me to stop in my tracks; Flourish. My first reaction was; "Now there's a word you don't hear very often." It seems that I rarely come across the word flourish.

But that was only the beginning. I stopped for a minute to really think about what the word flourish means and implies to my world.

I'm at my best when I'm in the middle of creating something; creating a product, a song, or an idea. Most of the time that creation process is happening with other people in a group or as part of a team. That's when great things can happen. Growth is also something I value very much. Growth you see in people, capabilities, products, a company, the groove between musicians in a music group, and even personal growth. Both of the ideas around growth and creating follow right in suit with the theme of flourish.

Dictionary.com defines flourish in various ways. I'm going to list them all because I think they all apply to the work of startup leaders. Here's Dictionary.com's definition:

1. to be in a vigorous state; thrive: a period in which art flourished.

2. to be in its or in one's prime; be at the height of fame, excellence, influence, etc.

3. to be successful; prosper.

4. to grow luxuriantly, or thrive in growth, as a plant.

5. to make dramatic, sweeping gestures: Flourish more when you act out the king's great death scene.

6. to add embellishments and ornamental lines to writing, letters, etc.

7. to sound a trumpet call or fanfare.

–verb (used with object)

8. to brandish dramatically; gesticulate with: a conductor flourishing his baton for the crescendo.

9. to decorate or embellish (writing, a page of script, etc.) with sweeping or fanciful curves or lines.

–noun

10. an act or instance of brandishing.

11. an ostentatious display.

12. a decoration or embellishment, esp. in writing: He added a few flourishes to his signature.

13. Rhetoric. a parade of fine language; an expression used merely for effect.

14. a trumpet call or fanfare.

15. a condition or period of thriving: in full flourish.

All of these different definitions apply in interesting ways to how flourish fits in the world startup, entrepreneurial and emerging companies. Startup leaders must create an environment where ideas, products, people and teams can flourish. If that's happening, it's very likely the company is moving in the right direction, to create something exciting and beneficial in market.

Some of those definitions really speak loudly about young enterprises, teams and helping the company grow. Words like vigor, thrive, and growth are about creating that environment where people and teams can flourish. Prosper, prime, excellence and successful speak to the results we want to achieve. Also important are more colorful words like dramatic, sweeping, ornamental, fanfare and embellish, which speak to the creativity that happens when an environment is present where people can flourish. 

Think about your job as a leader. Sometimes it's to set a direction so that everyone will be on the same page, so they'll follow. It's about dealing with tough problems and make decisions when the team needs help moving forward. Those are some of the things we typically envision when we think about leadership.

My challenge to you, and to myself, is to think about what we do to create an environment where people can flourish. Where individuals can bring their unique talents, strengths and passions together to solve problems and create results no one thought possible. If our teams flourish, we'll not only see it in the results but also in the level of engagement and commitment, and in the passion and moral of our teams. Put an emphasis on flourish and see what results might happen.

I like this word flourish.

Note: If the ideas about flourish resonate with you, drop me a line, comment on the blog, etc. I'd love to hear your thoughts about flourish.