We’re thrilled to have Cedric on board. Ced’s background at Amazon during the early days means he has experience with rapid growth, and all that goes with it. His experience as a musician and forming his own record label means he understands first-hand the challenges facing artists and performers.

We’ve talked about CultureMob being “the artist’s friend” and “the place artists go to find great events.” There’s a couple reasons for this. If we build to this standard, we’ll deliver an outstanding service for everyone. Also, while we focus on helping people find great events, the other side of the equation is that event performers and promoters are looking for growing and enthusiastic audiences. To look at only one side of the equation is to miss the entirety of the challenge.

Ced will be working with artists, enthusiast, promoters, venue owners and others, to make sure we understand their needs and can help them fill their events with enthusiasts.

If you’re on the performer/promoter side of the equation, and are interested to learn more about what we’ve got in store, feel free to shoot him a note! cedric at culturemob dot com.

Welcome aboard, Ced!

With the new year upon us, I found myself thinking about some of the fundamentals of business success. One that keeps coming back to mind is “the rule of three,”

We developed a philosophy at my previous company, Serials Solutions (we used to call it SerSol, so I’m going to start doing that), that can be summed up as the rule of three. The order is important.

1. Give customers something great.
In our case, we focused on a great product, at a great price, backed up with great service. We were always aggressive, but never knowingly made a promises we wouldn’t be able to keep. We lost some business over this - prospective clients would tell us that they really wanted to work with us because of our reputation, but “you were too honest.” Those are the breaks.

Another aspect of this is that while it’s important to track what the competition is doing, it’s a hell of a lot more important to track what the customer wants and thinks about your product. Customer satisfaction is a critical early indicator of success.

2. Give great employees a great place to work.
We’re not talking about any or all employees, just the great ones. The ones who want to be challenged, to grow, to be proud of great work, to be part of a great team, and to leave the world a bit better. This includes giving people the high level direction, resources, and freedom to create something truly powerful. It’s tough for a start-up, but this also means a total compensation package that reflects the work being done.

3. Give shareholders a great return.
The problem with this one is that so many companies put this ahead of everything, to the point where it harms all three goals. The the order is important. The first two are the real value creators, so you’ve got to get them right. Otherwise, getting number three right will be hard as hell. Granted, people obsess over this and ignore the first two all the time. But I’m skeptical of the true success rate for software companies that choose this route. By contrast, when you get the first two right, and maintain clear and consistent focus on shareholder returns, you can deliver outstanding results for everyone involved in the project.

As I look back over 2007, I think we’ve done a good job of staying true to these fundamentals at CultureMob. Start-ups aren’t theoretical places. A lot of people make a lot of decisions, many of which are done quickly and with limited resources. But at the end of the day, a common thread becomes apparent. That thread should add up to something clear and consistent. As the company grows stronger over 2008, I’d like to see us continue this growth trajectory, and make sure that thread is clear and strong.

We’ve all participated in that all-American ritual: the awkward company holiday party. No matter the best intentions of the planners, everyone stands around looking for small talk that will get them through the night unscathed and un-remembered. More importantly, one tries to avoid the broader question of, “Why do I spend so much of my life with these people??”

The CultureMob team is not your average team, and the party reflected that. With a group like this, it’s easy to have a great time. There was great food (compliments of my wonderful wife, Christina, plus vegetarian and vegan food provided by Jeremy), the inevitable wheel chairracing (the rules seem to change with every race), bike jousting (which began and ended rather abruptly), bowling, tennis and more (compliments of a Wii and our projector) and a great toast by Chadwick.

Best of all perhaps were the gifts. Jeremy gave me a magic wand. Yup, it’s true. If we need more capacity to handle increasing traffic, I can simply wave it over the servers. Need a critical feature to arrive sooner? Just wave the magic wand and all will be right with the world. Plus it has great sound and light effects. Some may not believe the power of the magical wand, but I have incontrovertible evidence: During the party, Brummel and I disagreed about something. I merely waved the wand — he was in mid-sentence — and he suddenly saw things exactly as I do. Truly magic.

Wait a second, the best part of the party was the reminder that I work with a group of great individuals. In addition to being the foundation of a great company, it’s not a bad way to spend your days.

Happy Holidays!

Other startups have ping pong and fooseball. Green Couch Conspiracy has Wheelchair Racing!

Why, exactly, do we have wheelchairs in our office? Hmm, that’s a good question…

Mike? Jeremy?

The latest release is live! The user name and password requirements are gone! (No more dress code. What you’re wearing does cut it.) People are using the site and providing feedback. The world can see what we’ve been working on these many months.

Best of all, we’re just getting started. We’ve got tons of work still to do, but we’re completing the fundamentals. We’ve got a great foundation for building our vision of the best local events discovery site on the web.

As we do that, we get to build cool, innovative software and add to the vitality of Seattle’s local event scene. A great combo.

Have any comments on what we can do better? Just let us know. Post a comment or email me and/or Mike Showalter (the guy who’s really in charge). We’re a work in progress, releasing early and iterating often. The best is yet to come!

And don’t forget, be sure to tell 1,000 of your closest friends about CultureMob.com!

After a few chilly days and several visits from our friendly landlord and the radiator guy, our old-school radiators are once again making a racket and generating heat. Nice to have the heat back!

Soon we won’t have to turn off a space heater whenever someone wants to use the microwave…

The tech team is really delivering! The latest version of the product is up on staging and showing HUGE strides over the current version. Wow. Great work guys. Sure there are a few bugs creeping around, but they’ll be squashed in short order.

Now, if we can just get the heat back on in this place…

Recently we wanted to hire a talented individual. The problem was he lacked start-up experience. We were concerned that he was accustomed to life at “BigCo.” That evening, I wrote him a letter. Our CTO reviewed it, made a few minor edits, and together we sent it off…

Dear Candidate,

We look forward to discussing the prospect of you joining the Green Couch Conspiracy in a full-time capacity. Before we do that, it is imperative that you fully understand the realities of start-ups in general, and Green Couch Conspiracy in specific.

Start-ups are the worst possible work environment for 99% of the population. The hours longer, the pay lower, the work more stressful and demanding, the prospect of no paycheck higher, and the probability of failure higher than in any category of businesses.

Start-ups have no friends. No competitors welcome a startup into the market. No customers or vendors have grown to rely on them. The overwhelming majority of potential clients don’t want to hear about yet another product/service/company. The standard reaction is to dismiss the new offering out-of-hand with the first objection that comes to mind.

And yet, for a tiny handful of people, this presents the ideal work environment. Startups are challenging, demanding, and sometimes harsh. And because of this, they are vital, exciting, and creators of tremendous value.

Our current challenge is an execution race. To succeed, we must, and do, have ruthless focus on that. The time has past for pondering and exploring new ideas. We have a strategy. We have received good feedback that it is the right one. We must execute on it as rapidly as possible. There is no time for anything else.

The hours are long. The founder of Cisco said that “dedication begins at 60 hours a week.” Please consider this. Are you ready for the impact it will have?

In a start-up, you must work on the highest value task. Fun, or interest-level just doesn’t play into it. If shoveling shit is the highest priority, that’s what gets done first. This is true for everyone, ourselves included. There are no two-ways about this.

Related, there isn’t much management overhead. This means that everyone must be trusted to follow through on delivering the highest value project, particularly if it is delegated to him or her. If you disagree with prioritization, a startup is the most likely place that reason will win out, as we cannot afford to make dumb mistakes. But the final decision must be executed upon.

We both want you to read through this note and consider it very carefully. If you have any questions, please ask either one of us, or both of us. If you agree that the forgoing is a requirement for all employees, and a level of accountability to which you are willing to fully commit to, if you are willing to shovel the shit, if you are willing to do work even when you disagree with the priorities, if after all of this you’re still interested in joining the Green Couch Conspiracy in a full-time capacity, then we are excited to talk with you about the possibilities.

Thank you for taking the time to carefully consider this. We value your contributions and friendship, and have invested the time in this because we care about a relationship that works for all.

Sincerely,

Steve McCracken
CEO
Green Couch Conspiracy

Jeremy Franklin-Ross
CTO
Green Couch Conspiracy

I’ve redacted the sections that were unique to his role, but the letter serves as a good reminder of what it means to join a start-up. And it’s a great reminder that while employees are easy to find, great employees are hard to find. They’re cut from a different cloth. They’re worth their weight in gold. I’m proud to say that we have a team of great employees. And our candidate chose to join.

Chris Andersons‘ “The Long Tail” is one of those great books that articulates a shift in economics and society even as it is underway.

An argument within the book is that the blockbuster hits we’re accustomed to are a function of the technology and economics of producing, promoting and distributing goods and services, rather than people’s inherent enthusiasm for identical, formulaic entertainment (and other goods and services).

He’s right of course. And this weekend I got to participate in one of the greatest long tail events in the city (in my opinion): the International 14 National Championship. A race of high performance, 14 foot sailboats.

No more than 100 people came out to watch, but those that did got to see wild sailing in 20 knots of wind that gusted into the 30s. Boats careening around the course off Shilshole, punctuated with regular capsizes, broken masts, ripped sails, boats on rocks, beaches, and wherever else they crashed home. For those of us who competed in the event, we got a thrill ride that just can’t be beat. And one that you couldn’t pay 99% of the population to participate in. Long live the long tail!

Pics of the event aren’t available yet, but www.i14.org gives a feel for the boats.

Our office space is great. Not just because it’s $7 per square foot, triple net — It’s got character!

What it doesn’t have is heat. It’s a mild setback. Most of us added another layer of clothing and carried on. Heavy wool sweater and wool hat for me. Mike had his hooded sweatshirt that looked pretty warm.

Unfortunately for Chris, he didn’t dress warmly enough. So, he did what any good entrepreneur would do: For lunch he went to Mae Phim’s and ordered a cup of hot tea along with the lunch special — 5 stars, as hot as they’ll make it. (That had him down to short sleeves for the better part of the afternoon.)

Then he got to work getting the heat turned on. Nice work, Pierard. One more job title…