Cerdafied...startups, people & the variety Hour

nelly

...so I was on an early morning flight to Dallas the other day. As I walk tired past First Class (on the way to my seat in 30C in the back of the plane in that special place by the engine), I noticed coach Don Nelson of the Golden State Warriors reading the Sports section (and he was wearing the same outfit as in this pic). Ironically I almost went to that game against the Knicks the night before.

Then in baggage claim, I saw him chowing down on some airport fast food (no I wasn't stocking him). I thought about going over and asking him how the game went the night before, but naw... And then, I was in the Dallas W Hotel for a meeting in the bar, and I saw his greatness one more time! This time I had to ask how the game went. He told me he was coaching the Warriors now, as if I didn't know. I told him I was a Bay Area guy and he said, "Oh, great! We won by 2 points, great game!" Then he took his booze on the rocks and went about his meeting.

The question I have, is what the hell is he doing in Dallas? Not likely meeting with Mark Cuban, nor the Mavs. Hmm. Unless he's talking about a player trade ...

Technorati Tags: don nelson, golden state warriors, dallas mavericks

going east

I'm freezing and getting really bummed on the weather. So I'm leaving. I'm going to Miami. Ok, there's more to the story... unfortunately I'll have no time for a cigarillo and mojito on the sand. Instead, I'll be speaking and doing meetings at the MAC Congress and the Social Networking Conference/iDate Conference.

If you're going to one of these, ping me.

Technorati Tags: social networking conferece, idate, miami, duke rum, horatio cane, don johnson, something about marry, mac congress

My best of NAMM at SNA.

I attended the NAMM show for the first time this weekend. It's basically a trade show for music products and instruments. I've been wanting to go for years, but's it's always fallen on my wedding anniversary. The calendar dates shifted so that wasn't a problem this year. I seemed to spend most of my time watching legendary percussionists play in the Latin Percussion booth. Every couple of hours they'd start a jam, until the noise level police shut them down. It was fascinating. I met all kinds of cats, who were real busy doing meets and greats. Among them, was 86 year old Armando Peraza.

Armando is a conga and bongo player who came to the US in 1949. He collaborated with Mongo Santamaria, Cal Tjader and Carlos Santana, among others. And he's played with the who's who in 20th century music.

Anyway, when I met Armando is was very brief, and I had heard he wasn't feeling well, so I went about my business just being stoked to have met him. But then today I was walking through John Wayne Airport and Armando was there seated waiting for his flight. He saw me and stood up and shouted at me to come over. The dude remembered meeting me, which completely blew my mind. He asked me all about what I play, with whom, etc. Of course I ALWAYS have a CD on me at these things, so I gave him my last one. He was gracious enough to offer to come play with us sometime, gave me his phone number, and took this picture. It's no wonder why all the contemporary percussionists in the Latin scene point to Armando as a source of inspiration... This guy is for real.

Technorati Tags: armando peraza, latin percussion, LP, NAMM, santana

Jajah and tacos

Ok, Jajah and tacos have nothing to do with another. Ben and I were over in Mt View to visit our compadres at Jajah yesterday.

Ben and I went to lunch afterward, and given the taco freak I am, I talked Ben into giving the local taco place a try. But wait, there are two places right next door to another...

...and they both claim to be the best burrito. Hmm. But who does the best taco? Taqueria La Bamba or La Costena?

Not that anyone cares, but if you're in Mt. View and want a taco, you can't go wrong at either place. We did two tacos al pastor at each place. La Bamba felt a bit more authentic and had the better sauce, but the al pastor was quite a bit better at La Costena. I think if I was down there again today, I'd go to La Costena.

We had a meeting with our board afterward, and note-to-self... don't eat 4 tacos before a board meeting. In the second hour you get verrrrry sleepy.

Technorati Tags: jajah, la bamba, la costena

Presentation Zen

Building presentations is both an art and a science I think. Keeping balanced with relevance and cohesiveness tends to be the challenge. And then lots of people feel they need to dump huge amounts of data and bullet points throughout their presentations; when really it's best to abstract from that data and discern what it is you're really trying to say. If there's key data to present, there are certainly creative ways to do... An easy tactic to building a presentation:

1. Write out everything you want to say in it's best summary form.
2. Segment each point, so that you can say one clear sentence about it.
3. Then build a slide on each point. (If you have a gazillion slides at that point, then you're trying to say too much. Try it again).
4. Go through and delete words or phrases that don't matter...i.e. be mindful of the signal to noise ratio (remember, you're PRESENTING so slides should be speaking aids like on your nightly news. You don't want to simply be reading off the slides when you present, so just put key material on the slide, and images that help tell the emotional story, and then deliver the rest verbally).
5. Figure out what kinds of images or illustrations help the emotional sale, apply them with style and taste (lots of folks get stuck here...so worse case, err on the side of the simple/minimalist).
6. Say all the details you want in the speaker notes, in case you truly must or want to leave your deck behind.

---

There's a lot more detail behind building presentations at the Presentation Zen blog and in the new Presentation Zen book. I've been following the blog for some time, but just bought the book - which I highly recommend. After reading it, I was inspired as I had to build three new presentations for this and that. Here's my latest Jangl presentation cover art...

Technorati Tags: presentation zen

Ads on Calls...Bold new world

One of the many things on the perpetual “things to do” list is launch our forthcoming ad trial.

Jangl (as well as Jajah and Voodoovox) was covered by Fortune today. I did this interview back in early December in a very cold New York City. There's also a very-abbreviated version in the latest hard copy magazine.

It's true that Jangl is about to trial advertising again (we did this in mid-2006 with a partner property). We learned a lot back then, and have continued to learn via focus groups, consultation with many experts and vendors, and more.

Excerpt from the story:

Pioneers in the nascent in-call industry acknowledge that in-call marketing is pretty cutting edge. "We know this is kind of bold," says Jangl founder Michael Cerda. "But these are bold times." It is so cutting edge, in fact, that a lot of advertising agencies haven't even heard of in-call marketing, and those that have are somewhat skeptical. "The first question I would have is how is privacy being handled," says Angela Steele, a mobile marketing vice president at ad buyer Starcom USA. "People need to know that by using the service, that information can be used for advertising."

First off, most of the mobile ads people think about [when they think mobile ads] are WAP ads, analogous to web ads. There are certainly other opportunities around mobile ads, namely the in-call ads the story mentions, but also SMS ads.

So what have we learned? In order for any in-call advertising to be useful and usable, a few critical things apply. First, placement of an in-call ad is key. If placed up front, it has to replace (or overlay) the naturally-occurring connection time, or ringing, that takes place on every call – which means that it also has to be brief. Second, it has to be as relevant as possible. (I hate that damn Zales commercial but I love any Apple commercial).

The argument, by the way, that we would delay emergency calls to insert an ad misses a key point about Jangl: we aren’t a VoIP replacement for your phone, and thus would never be used to make an emergency call. Along these same lines -- and despite what many might think – Jangl is not about making cheaper phone calls.

From day one, we’ve been about using your regular mobile handset to talk and text with greater privacy, control and management capabilities than a regular phone and phone number afford you. Nothing about advertising changes that – on the contrary, the very fact that Jangl provides privacy, control and management makes advertising that much more relevant and appropriate.

As I’ve said, we’ve learned a lot already, and no doubt will learn more as we approach launch. The overarching thought here is that the customer is king – which is why we’ve spent so much time making sure we do this right.

Yes, Jangl is a bold company. Most start-ups are. Start-ups are built to do what more established companies don’t -- forge ahead into unknown waters – because they can, and should, bear the burden of greater risk/reward.

It was a real pleasure talking with Stephanie at Fortune. As anyone who’s been in this business already knows, she’s the epitome of professionalism.

Technorati Tags: ads on calls, fortune, jajah, jangl

What if 911 isn't good enough?

Given I've spent some time in VoIP land, the topic of E-911 isn't unfamiliar to me. I've never had to "practice" the use of 911 from my own house before though. Ironically, it drew me to completely new conclusions than I'd ever expected:

The Friday before New Year's, I decided to knock off work a little early. At 430PM I got in my car and was resolved that I had no phone calls or work to do for at least a week. I turned up the music in my car and began singing along with Poncho Sanchez. As I approached the freeway exit near my home, I saw helicopters circling, which typically indicates a car accident. (As my grandmother taught me, I usually say a prayer for whomever is in trouble). Anyway, I exit the freeway, and notice I missed a call on my phone. It was my wife calling in a panic. I called back and couldn't reach her. Then I saw dozens of local sheriff and neighbor city police cars parked with flashing lights at the freeway exit. Traffic was diverted away from my street, so I had to jump back on the freeway and access my home from another route. In the meantime I called my daughter's cell phone and she told me that 'mom was on the phone with 911, because there are bad guys in our yard'.

Turns out 4 African American guys (about as rare a sighting as 4 anything - heck I'm one of only four Mexicans around) tried to rob a local Long's Drugs, then drove off, only to crash into a car, then began running on foot. My wife heard what had happened and went to latch the gates to a creek next to our house, and it was then she saw one of the guys peeking his head over into our yard. She immediately called 911 and ran into the house, then grabbed my son's BB gun rifle so as to appear she was packing heat (very smart on her part). 911 had her on hold for a few minutes, then they were asking her questions like "are you sure you saw someone?" It took the authorities, who were parked only blocks away almost 15 minutes to get to our house. While she waited for authorities, she felt helpless and the kids were of course scared.

15 minutes later, I finally made it to my street. It was packed with all twelve cop cars from the other street at the fwy exit. I parked my car and ran down my driveway, only to find a bunch of authorities and search dogs running around my yard. My wife was talking to one of them, and my two children (one of them being my 9 year old boy that was freaked out by the ADT commercial that aired during American Idol last year; I always assured him things like that don't happen here very often, and now it's happening in our yard!) were freaked out looking out the window waiving me to come inside. I grabbed my wife and walked inside to get caught up on the background. My wife and kids went to a friend's house while a neighbor and I watched the dogs search. Then, all of a sudden the cops packed it in and took off - not telling us anything. I was thinking "either they found the guys or someone else had a sighting, or...maybe the guy my wife saw is hiding around my property someplace!"

Not being sure what was going on, and not being 100% whether my own surrounding area was completely searched, I sent my family to a neighbor's house. I grabbed a retired weapons guy and his marine son who pack heat from next door. We were busting open doors and shining giant flashlights, something out of a scene from cops. For better or worse, we came up empty handed. At least I was comfortable no one was hiding out at my place anywhere. Rationally, I suspected that anyone on the run would be miles from here by now, and would be hard pressed to find their way back to my abode.

I called the city police and they said it was all over, that all 4 guys were apprehended. Then I called the local sheriff, who said 1 guy was still at large. Nobody would provide me any details. Were they known criminals? Armed and dangerous? No one either could or would give me that information.

My family was freaked out, and I was freaked out about what could have happened in those 15 minutes before the authorities showed up at my place. What if the guy my wife saw in our yard had broken into the house, out of desperation and attempted to hide or hold someone hostage? My quaint little lane was turned upside down for the night. It was probably 1 in a million chances, but the conclusion I drew, is that you can't rely on 911. You can't safeguard from everything unknown, but you can at least think about a few potential scenarios, and prepare yourself and your family. Should everyone exercise their right to bear arms? This is one of those things you can never really answer until it happens to you I suppose...

Technorati Tags: idol, poncho sanchez, boys in the hood, cops, 911, right to bear arms

MyCES/Mynutia

My first blog of the year, promises to break most every rule Shel taught me. I realize this won't get me invited into the blogger lounge at CES. Oh well, hear goes..

If you've ever registered online for CES, you'll know there's this "MyCES" event organizing web service they make available. It's klunky as hell, so despite the many emails I get reminding me to use it, I don't. That leads me to my CES. No, I'm not going to provide an all encompassing summary of the CES greatest hits, because too many other places do that. I will instead focus on the minutia I experienced;)

Jan 7
-wake up 430AM, eyes red -drive to SFO to sample Virgin America to Vegas

-always worried about flying, especially alone (don't want to leave family behind in the event something bad happens)

-walk down jetway to board plane, enter plane with pink and blue lighting, lounge music (it was so surreal I thought for sure I was done)

-sitting on board, trying to keep eyes closed and not think about anything

-woman next to me sniffling and coughing reminds me that I'm still awake, and in danger of the cold

-safe landing, arrival in nice new terminal

-my driver never showed, wait in cab line

-dude cuts in front of me talking on the phone, so that gets him off the hook for some reason

-I get into a cab with talky tina, ready to tell me about all the events in town

-tina: "where you going?"

-me: "um, Mandalay"

-tina: "the hotel?"

-me: "yes"

-tina: "or are you going to the Mandalay?"

-me: "yes the Mandalay"

-tina: "the Mandalay Hotel & Casino or The Hotel?"

-me: "what?"

-tina: "are you going to the hotel?"

-me: "yes, I am going to the Mandalay Hotel". (there's another hotel next to the Mandalay called "The Hotel"). Abbott and Costello type shit.

-arrive at the hotel and plea for early checkin, no dice.

-get an omlette and wait for my 10AM meeting to start

-10AM meeting gets all hosed up, one guy is at the CES floor, the other at another hotel, meeting postponed.

-return some calls on my iphone which is already losing battery.

-1130AM try again for early checkin, yes - dice.

-bust out some emails on the half baked Cox wi-fi, clean up for the show.

-cab it to CES, cabby says I need to pick badge up in South Hall. 20% left on iPhone

-I tip him nicely for the good advice, only to find out I need to walk clear around to the other side which felt like a mile.

-Nice booth sign says "Badge holder Pick Up Here". I wait in line for 20 minutes.

-I present business card and ID, she says "Sir, do you not yet have a badge?"

-me: "No, that's why I'm here"

-her: "Oh, no. You have to go inside and get your badge. This is just for the badge holder itself."

-You gotta be kidding me.

-I went inside and waited in another line, and eventually get to the front. I handed my ID and business card.

-lady: "I'm sorry, are you sure you registered?"

-me: "Yes of course. And I've been getting multiple emails a day from CES ever since."

-lady: "I can't find you in our system, you'll have to go to the customer service line and see if they can help you."

-Deep breath.

-The customer service rep found my name no problem, got a badge and began to try and find the MOTO booth for a meeting.

-Picked up directory, no MOTO. WTF?

-Walked to North Hall, picked up another directory, no MOTO. WTF??

-Call MOTO guy. Oh, it's in the CENTRAL HALL. Right, I should have known.

-Find my guy, try to find a place to have our meeting. We walked around for a half hour and couldn't find a concession stand nor a place to talk. We settled for a corridor where we could at least lean up against a wall to talk.

-Play some new Roland toys

-Tour the house of the future, had to listen to Mr Douche Bag behind me talking baby talk to his chick back home.

-Talk with some VoIP guys (what are they doing here??), go to another meeting at the Sands...

-Cab line is horrendous, so start walking to the nearest hotel

-Getting cold out, longer walk than I'd ever planned, I didn't realize how seedy it gets, finally made it to the Wynn, only to find another long line for a cab

-Grab a martini, get back on my feet and walk to the Sands. Wow, I need a hot shower. Not so fast.

-With time to spare, a walk into Buchon inside the Venetian for a drink and to warm up

-Some Bill Braski's walk up and ask for my table since there are more of them; they negotiate to buy my drink in trade. Sure, explain this one on your expense report;)

-730PM Tend to my meeting back at the Sands with good success

-845PM Take a "car" over to Hard Rock for a dinner meeting @ Nobu. Delicious and productive. Look...

-The cabbie was in fact Cuban, so I asked him how he got here, "I flew." Cuidate compay. I asked him if he knew the song "Cuban Cabbie" which of course he did. We had a laugh and talked music and plantains.

-1130PM Head to a "private" party at the Palms. My boy Doug the slug is playing DJ.

Jan 8

-1AM Shooting 3 pointers somehow, in a hotel room in the Palms, which has a half basketball court. (Maybe I did die on that plane!! I mean, beers and hoops, good tunes, what else...)

-3AM Go back to Mandalay to wind it down

-Hungry, so order a quesadilla and a beer, takes 45 minutes

-4AM Sportcenter no longer spinning, it's really time to go to sleep. The sun will rise soon.

-I'm probably inviting that cold.

-930AM Breakfast meeting (but I just ate!)

-1130AM Check out of hotel, looking for a ride to the convention, Youtube founders and their people are waiting for their wheels

-They load up into a black ford excursion which had the YouTube logo on the door

-I saw them on the road, they veered off into the exec airport area to roll home in a private jet. Of course. I'm going to bet they landed in PA before I even found a place to park at the hotel.

-Wow, check this truck limo out I saw. Mama's don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys:

-Finally make it over to the Sands for some browsing and a couple more meetings. Porn people walking around everywhere since the AVN show is about to start. Yauza.

-She does porn.

-She does porn too.

-She really does porn.

-There's a camera man.

-Checking out best of show exhibits in Innovations plus. Some guy basically jumps me, all pissed off at "those people" who are taking pictures of all the winning products.

-He says "They're just gonna fly home and copy this shit, that's all they do."

-Me: "Uh ok... but I think "those people" actually build this stuff.

-Conference floor will be closing in 10 minutes.

-Race out to the airport, had to cancel evening meeting. Time to go home.

-Flight delayed, do some return phone calls.

-Buddy wants me to donate $2300 to the Barack Obama campaign. (I thought Oprah funded him enough already?)

-Remembering that although I think more like a democrat, I registered Republican when I was 18 (had to be different than my family right I guess)

-Call family, let them know I'm en route

-One of my investors is on the same flight as me, so we catch up before take off. Good guy. Contrary to popular belief, they have as many ups and downs as any of us.

-Time to board, walking onto jetway and there's a freaking disco ball in there, with lounge music playing

-It's making me nauseous for some reason...

-There are some loud people right behind me, sneezing and weezing the whole time

-I'm taking very shallow breaths, unconsciously thinking that if I breathe less of the air, I'm less likely to "catch it"

-Safe landing, forgot where I parked, oh there it is. Drove home and explained all this to my wife at 1130PM.

-Finally got that shower, busted out some emails. Tired. All in a couple days work.

Technorati Tags: CES, Youtube, Obama, I'm tired, Palms, Mandalay, Virgin America, avn, Venetian