Using Twitter To Save Money

by larrychiang on March 12, 2010

Larry Chiang edits the BusinessWeek channel “What They Don’t Teach at Business School”. After a Harvard Business School keynote, Harbus wrote:  “What They Don’t Teach You at Stanford Business School“. If you read his scandalously awesome “What They STILL Don’t Teach You at Stanford About Getting Revenge” and, “What They STILL Don’t Teach at GSB About Public Speaking” you will like his latest post about “Using Twitter to Save Money- The Broke Diaries”.

By Larry Chiang

I love learning from mentors. Nichelle Stephens, founder of Keeping Nickels and editor of Pepsi We Inspire is leading a panel called Broke Diaries. Joining her is me, Hayes Davis, co-founder of CheapTweet.com, and Faye Penn, editor/publisher of Brokelyn.com,

Here is what I will be talking about so if you want to pre-learn, pre-study, pre-prepare… Here are some great tips on using Twitter to save money and make money.

-1- Use Twitter To Save Money on Your Education
Of course I am the guy that teaches “What they don’t teach at b-school”. People marvel at how you CAN learn what Stanford and Harvard teaches without paying full tuition to go. Here’s how EXACTLY
-Download course agendas

-Learn what the professors have loaded up on the internet for free

-Participate in networking events with great speakers. For example, subscribe to twitter.com/basesevents for Stanford b-school events to rsvp for

- Attend community outreach conferences like Harvard’s eWeek for very little money

I once even hosted an event during Stanford’s eWeek. The event was called the Reverse VC Pitch Party and I got venture capitalists to pitch. I guess some people pay to attend business school, but I make money producing b-school events for no money. I got the founder of PayPal to sell his venture firm. How I did all this is below…

…but first how did I meet the founder of PayPal.

-2- Get Smart!

Find mentors and more mentors by wooing them via Twitter.

Twitter is full of experts in a multitude of categories. Wooing and access to them is pretty easy via Twitter. I wrote about “How to Work a Twitter Party” and I would highlight the following points:

- Search and get keyword alerts for phrases that signal an expert is posting tweets. I’d use gmail keyword alerts
- Avoid the surf and pray method of finding thought leaders
- Mentors are at expensive conferences. Access is easier (and free sometimes) if you tweet. (see #3)
- Producing and hosting events future mentors want to come to (This is HUGE! I expand on this in #4)

-3- Use Your Twitter Account to Access Expensive Conferences

Twitter can be your all-access badge if you tweet right. Most conferences charge $300 to $6000. You can increase your probability of getting access if you read and execute on some of the stuff below:
- Conferences need bloggers SO BADLY So blog about the conference before the conference.
- Pre – blog a CONFERENCE helps you and the conference producer
- Live – blog and live tweet using the conference hashtag
- Cover last year’s conference to preview this year’s conference
- Use the 3,2,1 formula- 3 paragraphs, two pictures, one focus for each blog post
If a blog post takes you longer than 2 hours, you’re over-thinking it. In three paragraphs just answer: What’s up. What this means now and in the future. Where things could go. What is next.
-4- Host Uber Low Cost, Highly Attended Events Using Twitter

When I say HOST most people get really nervous. Don’t.

If you host something your likelihood of getting a mentor goes up. It goes up because the number of people you meet goes up. Here is how to produce, organize and promote highly attended events using Twitter for very little working capital.

  • Announce a 5-30 person party on Twitter
  • Beg, email and comp to get retweets
  • Invite an author and buy 5 copies of their book (If you invite me, I will fly across the country if you buy my mentors book)

Guest Blog somewhere and then tweet the bit.ly link
First 25 free – Rebate if you show up (example is bit.ly/vc0406)
Quasi-Celeb CoHost or Celebrity
Value Addedly hi-jack the conference PR

Let me stress the $25-free-with-a-rebate manuver. You don’t want to just give something away and have them not show up. I recommend doing a rebate. It is free and I will rebate you IF you show up.

Well, it’s been a slice and I hope to see you on Twitter. Find me or my panelists on Twitter :-) @niche @LarryChiang @HayesDavis @Brokelyn.
The panel is Friday March 12 at SXSW at 2pm

See the nuggets of learning compiled on a wiki page that you can chip in money saving and making ideas

http://duck9er.pbworks.com/Broke+Diaries+Panel%3A+Pre-learning+before+SXSW

CONCLUSION
larry@duck9.com and put your cell in the subject line to bust spam
bit.ly/BrokeDiaries (a wiki to chip in your ideas)
text me with stuff: 650-283-8008
email my PDA if you want me to retweet something chiang9@duck9.com

If you liked this, you may also check:

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Larry’s mentor Mark McCormack wrote this in 1983. He started IMG which represents athletes.

I wrote this in 40 minutes. If I missed something, email me… larry @larrychiang dot com and include your cell in the subject line.

DISCLOSURE: I kick a lot of butt. Text or call me during office hours 11:11am or 11:11pm PST +/-11 minutes on my cell: 650-283-8008.

Larry Chiang is the founder of Duck9 , which educates college students on how to establish and maintain a FICO score over 750. He is a frequent contributor to BusinessWeek. His earlier posts on GigaOm include: How to Work The Room ; 8 Tips On How to Get Mentored ; and 9 VCs You’re Gonna Want To Avoid . You can read more equally funny, but non-founder-focused-lessons on Larry’s Amazon blog .

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MySpace Revamp, Savior or Scourge?

by Kristen Nicole on March 10, 2010

MySpace sold its soul to NewsCorp years ago, and both parties may have regretted that ever since. The ongoing overhaul of MySpace’s site and services maintain the company’s hopes towards regaining its world dominance, but that’s been the story of MySpace for over a year now. MSNBC points out the company’s need for faith-driven employees, with others speculating that MySpace would be better off as a stand-alone website. Yet a revelation of MySpace’s revamped site could incur that fired-up faith that the company’s management is looking for. Or not.

I haven’t seen the new designs yet, but they’re being described as more user-focused. Easing the use around the site itself, including new features that would play up to user requests for easy access to music and playlists, means that MySpace is hoping to retain the love of its current users, and even regain some of those lost to Facebook.

From the sound of it, MySpace is finally doing some of the things it’s been talking about doing for the past year or so. MySpace had big plans for its site, but got sidetracked with all its success. Instead of learning from the mistakes of those that came and went before it, MySpace trudged along in its own popularity, expanding new services instead of improving its interface. The only question now is whether or not it’s too late for MySpace.

Even as MySpace looks to return to its music roots, its sell-out to advertisers made its user features a second-hand by-product of the deals and partnerships it made with advertisers. When we began to see full-site wraps advertising Secret deoderant instead of highlighting up and coming musicians, we knew the days of MySpace as a music-centric service were over.

I only mention this to highlight the fact that MySpace’s return to its core competencies doesn’t ensure its future success. Still looking to replace or renew its hefty ad deal with Google, which expires this year, MySpace’s money-making potential is bound to drop significantly in the coming months. This leaves MySpace with even more drive towards seeking alternative revenue schemes, while also maintaining its dedication to its users.

While the upcoming features for the revamped MySpace aim to do just this, there are several other companies that have been vying for MySpace’s market share for some time. SoundCloud is one such service that is gaining traction, offering the music services for the likes of MySpace users, and nothing else. When it comes to creating a hub with the end goal of servicing its customers, it’s amazing what kinds of products you get as a result.

Of course, we wonder what else MySpace can do at this point. It still has a large user base, and functions largely as a destination site. Instead of becoming an online distribution channel for NewsCorp media, MySpace has missed out on many of the opportunities it set out to achieve several years ago, such as payment integration for a music-based marketplace, among other things. Friendster survived by shifting its focus to Asian countries, and eventually playing up some of its gaming capabilities as an online social hub. The necessity for seeking alternative revenue has that affect. It brings out the survival mode in many companies, and that may be exactly what happens to MySpace in the coming months.

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Twitter Upgrades Happening Fast

by Michelle Lentz on March 9, 2010

TechCrunch just reported that Twitter’s geolocation features are finally turned on, just in time for you to find everyone at SXSW. My own geolocation features on my Twitter account don’t seem to be active yet, forcing me to borrow a screenshot from TechCrunch (thanks guys!). As you can see, there’s a tiny blue marker that, when clicked, expands into the tweet-location.

Ok, I find geolocation on my Tweets a little creepy, but it’s the sort of thing I can see turning on for big events (like SXSW) and conferences. But for me, it certainly won’t be an everyday occurrence (or so I say now).

How do you turn on geolocation? For quite some time, there’s been a geolocation option in your profile settings. I imagine you just tick the On box. As TechCrunch said, “While Twitter’s geolocation feature has been live through its API since late last year, there was no sign of integration into the main twitter.com site until now.”  It’s worth mentioning that Facebook just announced it will start rolling out its own location features next month as well (via Mashable).

Additionally, Twitter has made a subtle but fun change to its user interface. (Come to think of it, it’s also a change that means I need to update every screenshot in a lot of my course offerings.)  We’re no longer Updating, now we’re truly Tweeting!

Update: Well, apparently Twitter changed it back to Update. :( Come on, Twitter – we liked Tweet!

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Reverse VC Pitch Party

by larrychiang on March 8, 2010

Larry Chiang writes about hacking business and school. After a Harvard Business School keynote, they wrote: “What They Don’t Teach You at Stanford Business School“. If you read his scandalously awesome “What They STILL Don’t Teach You at Stanford About Getting Revenge” and, “What They STILL Don’t Teach at GSB About Public Speaking” you will like his latest post about Getting VCs to Pitch Us Entrepreneurs.

If you spend 60 minutes reading his stuff, you’ll be street smart by St Patrick’s Day.

By Larry Chiang

VCs now pitching start-ups.

Dave McClure is leading a new charge where VCs are doing outreach and education to stimulate deal flow. He is at Founders Fund.

Who are VCs trying to charm?! — waves of entrepreneurs able to launch lean start-ups.

Sales oriented VCs like McClure romance entrepreneurs by reaching out to influencers like Jeremiah Owyang (Altimeter), Eric Reis (blogger), or Marcus Nelson (UserVoice/SalesForce). These influencers are the people who entrepreneurs look to for guidance, advice and support.

Smart VCs are also “speak-sponsoring”… it’s where they speak and sponsor simultaneously. For example, at Stanford, David Hornik of August Capital introduces VIP guest speakers and hosts Fraiche frozen yogurt receptions.

(cc) Kenneth Yeung – thelettertwo.com

A third component to speak-sponsoring is producing afterparties to tech conferences and events. On a small scale, Second Market hosted the green room at Girls In Tech Conference. Second Market provides VCs, LPs and founders liquidity to pre-IPO companies. Brita Moeller, VP of Private Markets, revealed, “For a small sum of money I got access to all the speakers basically coming to me in the green room.”

Another example is when Canaan Partners hosted Web 2.0 Summit afterparty. They paid for an event at the Swank St Regis to get entrepreneur deal flow. The Web 2.0 Summit was at the Westin and Canaan decided to upgrade the entrepreneur experience and use a five star resort

(cc) Kenneth Yeung – thelettertwo.com

Bryan Chao, senior associate at Canaan said, “Nothing activates our brand more than supporting entrepreneurs”. Canaan gave away a booth that allowed a non portfolio company to showcase and promote as if they were already Canaan portfolio company.

VCs pitching entrepreurs is also happening at South by Southwest (SXSW). For the first time at SXSW, there is the Reverse VC Pitch event. It has VCs pitching entrepreneurs. Recently, at Stanford, Luke Nosek of Founders Fund pitched (Video) http://bit.ly/vc0224v.

The upcoming event Sunday March 14 has over a dozen top venture firms including GRP, Bessemer, First Found, Benchmark, Austin Ventures, Draper Fisher, S3, Shasta, Sierra and more.

Good luck working it and crash my Reverve VC Pitch Party on March 14.

If you liked this, you may also check:

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Larry’s mentor Mark McCormack wrote this in 1983. He started IMG which represents athletes.

I wrote this in 40 minutes. If I missed something, email me… larry @larrychiang dot com and include your cell in the subject line.

DISCLOSURE: I started the credit company that changed an industry Duck9. I make money selling credit cards to college students and I got a bill passed that outlaws 90+% of my competitors. The new law takes effect Feb 2010 and is called Student Credit Card Protection Act of 2009. Before credit card companies used to screw college students. Now, college students have the tables turned in their favor. Yes, I plan on doing this college marketing job until 2069 (I’ll be 90 then :-) Text or call me during office hours 11:11am or 11:11pm PST +/-11 minutes on my cell: 650-283-8008.

Larry Chiang is the founder of Duck9 , which educates college students on how to establish and maintain a FICO score over 750. He is a frequent contributor to BusinessWeek. His earlier posts on GigaOm include: How to Work The Room ; 8 Tips On How to Get Mentored ; and 9 VCs You’re Gonna Want To Avoid . You can read more equally funny, but non-founder-focused-lessons on Larry’s Amazon blog .

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THE NEW DORK – Entrepreneur State of Mind

by Alison McNeill on March 8, 2010

Mondays are rough. Here’s a little something to help you make it through the rest of the day. Enjoy!

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