Tag Archives: larry+chiang

Larry is a guest blogger and if you’ve read, “Hip Hop Schools Silicon Valley”, “21 Lucky Tips to Ace Blogworld” or “Communication 2.0“, “Five Ways to Hack SXSW” then maybe you’ll like his latest: “7 People To Avoid At SXSW”

By Larry Chiang

SXSW Interactive is a dolled up, gem of a conference for web 2.0ers in the know. I personally love accurate weather forecasts and getting a scouting report before getting to a party. Make no mistake, SXSW is a fun party where you can get your learn on.

To better help you get the lay of the SXSW land, I character-compass seven types of people to avoid.

-1- Spray-n-Prey Venture Capitalist

Investment technique is similar to conference selection methodology. Always attend New York Fashion Week, TED in Long Beach CA, Media Summit in NY, and mixers at a dirty Vegas conference.

They either have an investment thesis, his WAVC (Western Assoc Venture Capitalist) buddies will think is genius 10 years from now or they’re just boondoggling.

-2- Badgeless.

Flew in from California and still badgeless. How sad. These types will mooch hotel floor space that will later turn into squatting for sofa space. Mr. Badgeless goes to parties thinking that popularity boosts shareholder value. It doesn’t. Taking copious notes, pressing palms after sessions, and following-up does.

-3- In-a-meeting.

Has a platinum pass but hasn’t seen one session and is wedged in back-to-back-to-back meetings. Doesn’t leave the only five star hotel in Austin and rotates three meeting areas at 98 San Jacinto so they can still be 20 minutes late even though he’s on site.

-4- The Pseudo Staffer.

This person is a volunteer but they oh-so have an agenda. They’re not paid, but pretending to be a full staffer. At SXSW Film, they’re pitching scene treatments and a partial script. At SXSW Music they’re promoting two bands. At SXSW Interactive they’re dabbling in the idea or raising VC money for their start-up.

Di-worse-ify is very similar to Spray-and-Prey.

-5- Last Minute Promoter.

Jumped on Mobissimo.com and booked a last minute ticket. Over ordered Kinko’s supplies in the hopes for a big response. Cutting and Pasting @zappos will get you some brand traction, but joining a parade is easier than starting one at the last minute.

-6- Austin Poser.

This twice a year Austinite is from Palo Alto. The other time he’s here for a week plus is ACL. This poser wants so much to be a local that he has a local 512 cell, a Yelp profile and co-working space on 6th street.

-7- Conference Romeo.

It’s ok to say ‘hi’ and expand our network outside our bubble. In my case it’s my cubicle + sororities that invite me to speak on FICO and credit. In short, full-on conference hook-ups are a no-no.

Needing a carnal commitment ASAP is weird. Remember, if they’re at a work conference and can be distracted by your hawt ass, how good can they be at work? Rising “hitters” use man-charm up until closing time of a conference mixer.

If you do see someone you romantically like, drop them a note and reconnect after a conference.
Hope to see you in Austin. I’ll be on the Twitter so check @larryChiang for updates. Or we can roll old school by text messaging my cellie, 650-283-8008. I keep office hours so you can even call me (don’t call to see if I’ll pickup cuz I will so you better have a question for me

Larry is a guest blogger and if you’ve read, “Hip Hop Schools Silicon Valley”, 21 Lucky Tips to Ace Blogworld” or “Communication 2.0“, then maybe you’ll like his latest: “Five Ways to Hack SXSW”

By Larry Chiang

South By Southwest (SXSW) is THE cool conference for web 2.0-ers as it is the sandwich meat wedged between SXSW Film and SXSW Music.  Sure, there’s an infusional waft that is strongly Californian, but the meat of it is Texas. Sprinkle in a tad of Austin weirdness and you get a powderkeg of creative force.

I am not one to tread lightly when faced with a business opportunity. I don’t attend industry shin-digs with a go-and-see attitude. SXSW is a tool and in this post, I will expose five tips that will get you a substantive return on your conference dollar.

-1- Go With a Conference Focus.

There are PhD students that wallow in and out of topics. My college experience was no different. I attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with the intent to make as much money as a Harvard MBA graduate by the time I graduated. I did by sophomore year. I don’t write this to promote myself. I’m confessing that I can, with my 88 well-focused IQ points, outflank and outmaneuver a team of tier-one MBAs.

-2- Elevator Spiel, Engage.

Have “who you are” and “what you do” ready at a moments notice.  This should coincide with your conference thesis and focus.  For example, if I go to a technology conference, my sound byte is, “I head up a company that graduates college students with a FICO of 750.  I’m here to see if we can text to and from an 800 number.”

-3- Book the Middle Seat.

Normally I prefer to wedge my 6’5” frame into a window seat, but pre-conference prep requires that I maximize my networking time belly-button-to-belly-button.

-4- Pre-Party on Twitter!

Before you go to Pangaea, you pre-party to save money… right?!

Well if you pre-party on Twitter, you can push your SXSW focus and thesis ahead by tracking speakers, panels and topics like “#vcSecrets”. Or if you’re a Facebook fan, I am sure that there are SXSW groups to join. Better yet, try to secure a venue and host an alternative party since the parties in Austin OVERFLOW during SXSW.

-5- Prey and Spray.

Kiss alpha, gamma and beta ass.  Don’t make the mistake of just being a star-chaser and only kissing alpha ass.  Kissing gamma and beta ass means being nice to assistants & staffers (gammas) as well as fellow attendees (betas).  Tip, bribe and comp to augment your conference experience. Also, no rockpiling with your hotel-mates – that’s a huge conference no-no.

Larry Chiang is the founder of Duck9, which educates college students on how to establish and maintain a FICO score over 750. He has testified before Congress and World Bank on credit.

He is a frequent contributor to Business Week’s blog on “What They Don’t Teach You at Business School”

Our guest writer, Larry Chiang, is at times a tortured blogger. If you have seen his GigaOm post, “9 VC’s You’re Gonna Want To Avoid” to, then you read his ONE Techmeme hit.

This article might be part of his book…

By Larry Chiang

San Francisco, Calif — November 7th — Web 2.0 Summit

I am sleep deprived and in creative mode at “Web 2.0 Summit” (as opposed to execution mode when I’m in Palo Alto CA). Here is what I learned at Web 2.0 Summit:

-1- New networking rules. It is who you know AND what you know. In the networked economy you can NOT fake-it-until-you-make-it. Web2.0 is about transparency. You might get your foot into the door but whether you stay is based on talent.

-2- Sweet and sour makes food really yummy. Question: what makes an egg roll taste oh-so, ah-so good? The sweet and sour sauce. The best food (and drink) combine both sweet and sour simultaneously.

Workplace community interaction is the same way.  Be really nice (sweet). Be really sour (mean).

For example:

***  SWEET TWEET #1  ***
@DanielBru  if u were here, I’d showcase u as the emerging entrepreneurial titan u will be #web2summit From @larryChiang

***  MEAN TWEET #1  ***
#web2summit Just hope google’s Matt Cutts stays in the SEO dark when people search “FreeCreditReport” Re: FTC violations  From @larryChiang

***  MEAN TWEET #2  ***
@ acEdge  maybe meetings/content @ #web2summit pale in comparisson to an FTC repeat violation site; FreeCreditReport.con From @larryChiang

-3- Fail right. Fail loudly. Fail publicly. At web2summit, I started a business charging iPhones. I charged $3 for a half charge and $5.50 for a full charge. My marketing plan was word of mouth, twitter and my personal sales effort. The AC chargers bulging from my pocket did not hurt either.

My first customer was Dave McClure. I failed miserably because Richard, the Palace Hotel front desk manager, took the phone into lost and found. The silver lining was publicity of being most entrepreneurial at an entrepreneurial conference.

A different type of fail was by dressing really, really, badly at a conference

PHOTO CREDIT BRIAN SOLIS

-4- Gain a zero, lose a zero… You’re still the same guy. Elon Musk is in deep with Tesla Motors. When he was a web 2.0 summit, he was fresh and fluffy. I did not see much entrepreneurial stress there because gain or lose a zero, Elon is the same guy.

-5- BizSpark from Microsoft springboards your company with servers and stuff if you
A) are less than 3 years old
B) have less than a million in revenue

-6- Facebook is HUGE in France. Claiming you are big in Europe, is a manuever normally reserved for tier-three bands. Facebook’s stagnation in the U.S. of A. coupled with low CPMs stimulated Mark Zuckerberg, CEO, to (over) extrapolate his current 7% into a mind-blowing 20+% market penetration in France.

“We might even open up an office in France,” quipped the 23 year-old paper billionaire. Mark, they pay you to increase sales and build shareholder value versus open up sexy offices in faraway lands.

-7- Di-worse-ification is another cautionary business tale. Elon Musk is starting a car company, Tesla on top of an existing space exploration company, spaceX. Fighting a war on multiple fronts causes you to di-worse-ify yourself.

Back when Mr Musk kicked back-to-back-to-back ass, he focused on ONE thing a time in sequence without overlap. Zip2. X.com, PayPal.com.

-8- People don’t read twitter. VIPs nearly never read Twitter. I did testing with TWITTER CONTESTS using giftcards, fleece jackets and even a $100 cash prize. CONCLUSION: people do not read twitter. If they do read and reply to your twitter, tip, bribe, comp and tip them.

I said ‘tip’ twice cuz it works the best

-9- Cash isn’t king here at web 2.0. 80% of your time as an entrepreneur should be spent bringing money in the door. There has been very little time spent talking about revenue and methods to generate sales. Me and Baxter love liquidity Fridays

Good luck out there and text/call me during my office hours of 11:11am (and pm) +/- 15 minutes. PDA to sms: 650-283-8008. Landline to call 650-566-9696.

Larry Chiang is the founder of Duck9 LINK “DUCK9: which educates college students on how to establish and maintain a FICO score over 750. He has testified before Congress and World Bank on credit LINK “World Bank on credit“

Our guest blogger, Larry Chiang, is an instructive humorist. If you liked “How to Work a Twitter Party,” you’ll like this submission on some all-important fundraising mistakes to avoid for entrepreneurs.

by Larry Chiang

MARK CUBAN’S 10 tips for me

In this article, I use man-charm techniques to cozy up to billionaire Mark Cuban. I sooo wanna be a billionaire too. Right from the get-go, I observe his behavior, ask him questions, listen when Mark answers other people’s questions, email and call him with MORE questions – - all to determine the character compass of Mr. Mark Cuban. A character compass is a run-down of traits, tendencies, self-perceptions, third-party observations and my own entrepreneurial algorithm. I use a compass to plot a life plan. I study other compasses to mimic and model a path of personal development.

This (reprinted) Amazon blog post is based on my 8+ hour interview / interaction with Mark Cuban in SF during TechCrunch50, the post party, the post-post party, and the post-post-post party. And in Chicago IL after game #2 of the NL MLB Playoffs.

These interviews are unauthorized, unapproved and unedited (by Cuban’s media buffers). The subterfuge focus of this article is to offer up a confessional of how this millionaire (me) seeks to become a billionaire.

I chose Mark Cuban because…

-1- Cuban has a Social Silver Bullet. A social silver bullet owns something or someplace that allows you to host a hit party (and be popular).

Cuban, the self-proclaimed nerd, has a most special of social bullets, an NBA franchise. Membership to NBA Team Owners club has its benefits. Similar to fellow billionaire, Paul Allen, who owns the Seattle SuperSonics, Cuban one-upped him by turning around the NBA’s worst team, the Dallas Mavericks.

The valuation of the Mavericks has tripled, according to the Wall Street Journal, since he bought them from Ross Perot for $273mm.

In the bay area, the closest version a ‘Social Silver Bullet’ is Kenny and Luke’s house. Yeah, the one with the indoor pool.

A social silver bullet is critical to host an event that hot women wanna come to. More on deal flow later.

-2- He Blogs. Blogs give a peak into the soul…http://www.BlogMaverick.com branded Cuban as an in-touch owner that gives fans and readers full access. As the only blooger that owns an NBA team, Cuban is blogMaverick’s sole writer. In it, Cuban, posts off-the-cuff comments, ideas, riffs and commentary. Adding to the true removal of layers, Cuban literally cuts out the editor– often with a symptom of publishing small spelling errors.

-3- He is reinventing Hollywood from Dallas. The independent film industry has been dying an ever slow death. Effen Cuban’s sweet spot is tweaking broken models. HD is no different. 2929 Studio is no different.

Early into this model reinvention game Cuban, has already had a major hit, “Inside Enron.”

-4- Silicon Valley admires entrepreneurs who do not get screwed after selling the company. Mark shorted Yahoo stock AFTER he sold Broadcast.com to protect the sale price of his company. Had he not done that and held on to Yahoo stock, Broadcast.com would have been sold for $200mm (vs $5.7B).

-5- Mentorship society at every owner meeting. The NBA owners meet up during the ALL-Star break and during the off-season. Often times, Mark is tapped to do presentations on how technology is to be used and embraced by owners. I am guessing that at every interaction (including ours at RedHerring, TechCrunch50, Cubs game), Mark learns as much as the people he is presenting to and interacting with.

-6- Silicon Valley loves mavericks. Top Gun had a pilot played by Tom Cruise whose character was named Maverick. Cuban cites mentors who are cliche, prototypical mavericks.

At Tony Perkins’ RedHerring’s “Venture Conference,” Mark Cuban cited Dennis Rodman and Paris Hilton as people who could work a media party like no other. Mark went against the grain of the room and was right. The general consensus was that Paris Hilton’s 15 minutes of fame were almost up, but Cuban strongly disagreed. Cuban was right cuz Paris is still a hot media property. Since me, Mark and Paris all use Sidekicks, I might have to host a Sidekick Twitter Party.

-7- Cuban can actually make money from bad fortune. Silicon Valley loves a CEO that can wrestle success. Fortunes ebb and flow. Mark thinks that when failure stares you in the face and puts you in a hole, “You dig in your heels and dig yourself out.”

A lighthearted example of this is when Mark was fined by the NBA after his comment that some NBA referees are not even qualified to manage a ‘Dairy Queen’ ice cream store. After paying the fine, Cuban served soft-serve cones and got major ESPN coverage.

A heavy example is when Cuban remembers, “Renee Hardy stealing $80k of AP money from MicroSolutions.” He realized she was whiting out checks and adding her name to siphon off money. Mark dug his heels in and committed to making payroll.

-8- “Now coming outta retirement.” Force me outta retirement with the perfect project please!”… This is the Silicon Valley wet-dream.

Entrepreneur John Dough (yes I intentionally misspelled “Doe”) is in the formation holding pattern called, “one hit wonder.” Yes, he is working as a VC, working 25 hours per week, taking 9 weeks of vacation, an LP (limited partner) on thirteen funds and not making any carry on Sand Hill Road.

He gets written up on GigaOm post about ‘Nine VCs You Don’t Wanna Meet‘ and is generally in hell. His DREAM dream DREAM is to get called out of this ‘retirement.’

Mark describes his post-sale-situation, “Before my co-founders pitched me on Broadcom, I was drinking beer, visiting countries and retired (from money I made from selling MicroSolutions). Mark, to quote Sarah Lacy, “Once you are lucky, Twice you are good“.

-9- Cuban gets to manage, develop and promote the best talent in the world. He took startup management skills with an eye for fixing a broken model/ org when he turned around the Mavericks.

-10- Cuban works the Party. I have seen him work the fringes of the room, the center of the room and break up rockpiles. At the Cubbie Bear after the Cubs game, Cuban said hi to no fewer than 100 people. Stanleys and Gamekeepers were two quick stops where Cuban worked another 100 or so Cubs fans.

His effort to work a party’ is a direct effort to woo a city into loving him and his intention to explore the possibility of buying the best brand in all of baseball: the Chicago Cubs.

- BONUS -

Cuban Gets Great Deal Flow. Who lead generates hot Stanford, GSB, future-founders at a tech event?! Cuban. I wrangled him at the Norton Anti-Virus Party at Temple where he got to meet talent and was great at getting the read on who was hot and who was not. Outside of one poor character compass read with a VC associate, his time allocation was spot-on (according to my character compass and entrepreneurial algorithm. See source code at TheDatingReport.com)

He angel invests and gets great deal flow. Cuban does not get Roelof Botha like deal flow, but definitely has more access than fellow billionaire/quasi-VC Pierre Omidyar.

Bonus observations. He works a conference like a tier one celebrity rising.

He…

1) worked the techCrunch event without a buffer,
2) Kissed other “alpha” ass. I heard him say to Brian Solis, “oh yeah, I heard about you. GREAT to meet you.
3) Was gracious with people’s picture requests
4) asked ONE personal question (or two) per person. Mark asked me after seeing my iPhone sticker, “So what does Duck9 do?”
5) Developed an entourage on-the-fly.

Mark Cuban and Brian Solis

NOTE: THE PIC IS USED WITH PERMISSION OF BRIAN SOLIS
(yes, I did snap the pic but with Brian’s camera)
Yes I was the DP on my own shots D.P. Director of Photography. http://bub.blicio.us/

Larry Chiang founded duck9 to graduate college students with a FICO over 750 using text messages in fourtune cookie sized snipits. He writes for GigaOm’s Found|Read.

His earlier posts include: “How to Not to Work The Room“; “8 Tips On How to Get Mentored“; “Man Charm“; and “One Hit Wonder”

You can read more equally funny, founder-focused-lessons onLarry’s Amazon blog.

by Larry Chiang

Founders have bad credit and get it one of two ways. Not making enough money (obviously). And not so obvious, making too much money. Why?!: You won’t have car loans because you’re liquid!

Here are 10 tips for founders and their FICO score…

1. Money in > Money Out.

If this currently isn’t true, then when will it be true. Post it on a treasure wall of goals.

Treasure management.

So lets say Money in > Money Out, there still will be short falls where credit covers expenses. This is where stress occurs.

-2- Twice a month for 10 minutes do something to measure your credit quality.

I recommend a sweep of every account on your credit report. I also recommend logging into every credit card account 2x/month. If you wanna credit FICO buddie to remind you two days a month, text message me your first and last name.

The cost. I’m just trying to help you, so I guess it’s just free.

-3- Help someone with their credit.

No you can NOT give them my cell phone but you can point them towards getting a free credit report in the mail. What?! You don’t have yours?! Hypocrite! You want to use the magic of the Internet?! Long story short, you can’t, can’t can not.

Not.

If you’d like to argue this I suggest you save pain and just mail it
in.

Remember, you live in a country that can land a person on the moon with analog technology, but you can’t properly download a PDF from the unholy trinity of trans union, equifax or experian.

-4- Sign it Once.

Integrate the date into signatures. Why, you should see how easy it is to photoshop one signature onto a guarantee doc with your house as collateral?! Easy, weasie, japan-easie.

-5- Learn to love paper and mailing stuff.

Disputes must be done via snail mail. Emailing does you zero good. Calling does you less good. The fcra protects peoples rights via snail mail disputes only.

Oh and cc creditCard.org electronically all documents you mail the unholy trinity of trans union, equifax or experian.

-6- Be an Under Consumer

There is no such thing as fake-it-til-you-make-it anymore. What was a quasi possible strategy in the 80s definitely won’t work now. Plus stress from Money Out > Money in makes you retarded.

-7- Get a WIKI page to track you credit.

It looks like this and when you do your page, I’ll be your credit coach. I will be free. Why?! Cuz you won’t do shitake with this offer cuz you’re a looo-ser and you’re waiting for your overnight success so you’ll never worry about money.

News flash. 1.) GooG luck, and 2) even when you’re rich you’re still dealing with money problems. After a date I need to know exactly where every one of my sperm is cuz I don’t want a paternity suit costing me another 40k/year on a reach-around.

-8- Weekly Liquidity Event.

Pull some money off the table EVERY week.

-9- 70-20-10 Your Money and Your Time.

70% for essentials

20% for investment

10% you treat as house money. House money is not your money/time so go blow it, save it or give it.

-10- goals focused on twice per day buddie buddy. I would choose 11-11-11 which is all ones on your credit report. 1′s are on-time payment and 9s are charge-off. Good luck ducking 9s

Larry Chiang is CEO of Duck9. He is working on a book project “What They Don’t Teach You At Stanford Business School.”

Larry’s earlier posts in this series include:

9 Things Stanford B-School Won’t Teach You;

9 VCs You’re Gonna Want to Avoid;

and Hack Your Startup Credit Rating.