When the McCracken boys and I started our last company, Serials Solutions, we finally got up the nerve to hire a sales person, Tim Granquist. On Tim’s first day, he gives us a call (we were all still working at real jobs to fund the company) and asks what he should do. Get on the phone, dummy, you’re a sales person. Just one problem, Tim replied, you guys don’t have a phone. We’ll go buy a phone, dummy. We’ll pay you back on our next payday.

A couple of years later, we had a fancy Avaya system and took that original phone, glued it to a piece of wood and turned it into the Whatever It Takes award. The previous winner got to choose the next winner based off of who they thought epitomized the phrase “whatever it takes”

This weekend, our fearless leader, Steve “Yard Sale” McCracken, shattered his kneecap while out water skiing. He’s a very good skier, in fact skis most mornings before work, and just hit a rouge wave. After re-constructive surgery, he was at home resting comfortably. That was until a potential investor agreed to a meeting and he had to spring into action. I loaded him up in the back of the van and off we went.

The moral of this story is that starting and running your own company is never easy and always fraught with challenges. You cramp yourself and a dozen others into an office designed for 3, earn the most meager of wages (if any at all), work ridiculous hours, vacations are few and far between and have a slim chance of a monster exit. However, if you’re willing to give “whatever it takes” and surround yourselves with others willing to do the same, you just might one day have that monster exit you’re looking for. Or you just may find yourself with a busted up knee in the back of a van asking yourself what in the hell you’re doing out of bed.

So you wanted to know all about Culturemob.com right? ITV (Independent Television) interviews Culturemob CEO and Founder Steve McCracken outside Seattle’s popular night spot Neumos…hey, wait a minute. That’s me!

Check out this video and find out what I have to say about Culturemob.com

Thanks to Amy and the crew at ITV.

I found out that the Twitterrific application is coming to the iPhone. This is gonna change the way you or your friends or your kids communicate forever. Twitter is the product of Iconfactory, which won an Apple Design Award by the way. The Twitter concept is fairly new to me, but I ain’t that savvy. Twitter is the creation of the people from the offices of Obvious. Twitter is a way to transfer information in real time. Like I tend to twitter about the stuff I’m doing. People who “follow” me can receive a news feed about that. Endless usage really. Twitterrific is an app that connects you to twitter. You can post “tweets” and connect to others via phone internet…whatever. I’m not aware of a PC app for this but I know it’s available for Mac users.

Now it has an interface on iPhone too? Triumph or Tragedy right? America and perhaps other parts of the globe, loves to tell people what they’re doing. It’s a fundamental shift I tell ya! Have you noticed that when the smoking ban was initiated a few years back; smart phones and texting skyrocketed? Hey, I’m just sayin’!

This morning I read an article about Twitterrific on Macworld written by Dan Moren. Dan breaks down his thoughts about the pros and cons of this application.
http://www.macworld.com/article/133968/2008/06/iphone_twitterrifc.html

It was an informative article and it seems to me that we are about to witness a major shift in behavior.

Culturemob now has a Twitter, AIM and MSN account for you to send us your feedback. My colleague Brummel wrote a blog about it.

GUEST BLOGGER: James Kirchmer

This past Tuesday evening (April 8^th) I attended a private launch event for Virgin America’s new Seattle to Los Angeles airline service. Headlining the party, which ran from 8pm to 1am at The Showbox, was Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth), who played a surprisingly satisfying acoustic set with his new band. For a spell, his signature electric guitar-driven aesthetic was not at all missed. Nevertheless, I hoped he’d whip out his battered Fender at some point and rip, old-school style, into his timeless back catalog. My wish was fulfilled during a long encore that found Thurston in full-on shaggy-haired head-bangin’ mode, and the Who’s Who crowd edged closer to the stage. Dude’s still got it, big time. It was a blissful conclusion to this fun, free-beer-soaked affair (high praise must go to our fantastically charming woman-about-town Kerri Harrop for organizing the hitch-free soiree!). My only regret was not being able to MacGyver my way into the large VIP section, as a rumor was flying around that Lou Reed was kickin’ it. I never did find out if this was true. Anyone? I doubt it (LOL).

Whatever the case, I was told of this possible rock legend’s presence by Nathan, who was assigned to bartend in the Green Room. And speaking of said color, FYI he’s a longtime resident at Seattle’s infamous “Greenhouse“, one of the many area homes that are booking local and touring bands on a regular DIY basis these days (and my personal favorite). Nathan enthusiastically noted that he’d be hosting an awesome night of wild music come April 19^th. And his smile was spot-on: the lineup could have easily headlined, say, at The Sunset. Full details are HERE.

Let’s just say that it’s not your typically predictable rock show - a few of the musicians have collaborated with guitar hero Bill Frisell, among other world-class luminaries, and can twist their instruments into figures shaped by far more than the usual 3 chords. Anyhow, the day after this corporate shindig, as I nursed my body back to life, I wondered whether big business, while able to infiltrate nearly every type of social happening there is, would ever succeed at effectively conveying its marketing messages within the national house-show circuit. It would not surprise me! Anything is possible in this candy-pushing country of ours. Regardless, the mere thought of some marketing execs brainstorming along these lines cracked me up, and laughter’s a great hangover medicine.

That said, here’s a select list of Emerald City house venues, and their corresponding web pages. Some post events, while others will only alert folks who become their Myspace friends (among other underground-leaning protocols). Keeping things low-key and fully grass-rooted, so to speak, is a key to survival. Consequently, I’ll leave it at that. Explore the sites and keep an eye out for new spots, as active houses are naturally always in flux. This post may be of little use come 2009. Lastly, check back - as I’ll be guest blogging about the EMP Pop Conference’s highlights and lowlights. The anticipated yearly event, which just kicked off, runs until Sunday and is once again FREE to the public. Kudos to the sponsors that made “free” possible this year: Zune and Rhapsody.

Some of Seattle’s house-show locales:

• 414 House: http://www.myspace.com/the414house/
• Cat House: http://www.myspace.com/cathouse_/
• Dancylvania: http://www.myspace.com/dancylvaniahouse/
• Dearborn on Woodland: http://www.myspace.com/dearbornhouse/
• Dog City: http://webuiltdogcity.blogspot.com/
• Fire Breathing Kangaroo: http://www.geocities.com/grandpa_jumpy/fbkangaroo.html
• Firefly Concert Series: http://www.fireflyconcertseries.com
• Greenhouse: http://www.myspace.com/thegreenhizzy/
• Healthy Times Fun Club: http://www.myspace.com/healthytimesfunclub/
• House Concert Seattle: http://www.myspace.com/houseconcertseattle/
• Haslund Concerts:http://www.ourhousejazz.com/haslundconcerts.htm
• Plague House:http://www.plaguehouse.com/
• Polka Dot House: http://www.myspace.com/polkadothouse/
• Punkin House:http://www.seattlediy.com/punkinhouse/
• Swamp House: http://www.myspace.com/swamphouseseattle/
• The Ark: http://www.myspace.com/thearkseattle/
• The Dog Park: http://www.myspace.com/ledogpark/
• The Office of Doctor Glorious: http://www.myspace.com/theofficeofdoctorglorious/
• Wizard House: http://www.myspace.com/wizardhouse/

Today culturemob.com raised some interesting questions about the GIRLPOWERHOUR GOES GREEN event taking place Thursday April 17th at 6:30pm (at the sole repair shop).

Just what exactly is this special event about? For that matter, what exactly is girlpowerhour about? Founders Darnell and Samantha tell us what’s going on in their own words. Here’s what we got.

Remember, if you’re interested in attending this event, you can RSVP at www.girlpowerhour.com.

You can find more events here at culturemob.com

While I spend my days writing cute comments about Seattle venues, going out to art shows, and blogging about local music, all the techies here at CultureMob.com have been working diligently to improve our website and add useful new features for our users- YOU! Check them out:

• ADD AN EVENT- Now promoters and performers can upload new events into CultureMob.com so all of our readers can discover them. Once your event is on CultureMob.com, we redistribute the information to other local publications like The Stranger and The Seattle Weekly- how easy is that?. Is your event listed on CultureMob.com?
• TELL A FRIEND- Once you’ve found that awesome event like this week’s Meat Beat Manifesto or the opening of Miss Saigon, you can share the information with your friends (and look cool because you knew about it first!)
• FACEBOOK and MYSPACE APPLICATIONS - You’ve got a great lineup of events to attend that you’ve found at CultureMob.com; add the CultureMob.com application to your Facebook and Myspace page and share your events listing with your friends!

WOW! Have fun with these new features and use CultureMob.com to promote, discover, and share information about exciting events in Seattle!

Yes Folks, the MIT Enterprise Forum on Mergers and Acquisitions is sure to be the EVENT OF THE MONTH!! Year, perhaps?

MITEF is known for putting on a great show, and the topic of Mergers and Acquisitions is always important.

Did I forget to mention that I’ll be one of the panelists? Sorry if I didn’t mention that earlier. Don’t let that deter you. It should be a good event nonetheless.

As always, your trusted friends at CultureMob can provide you with more info:

MIT Enterprise Forum on Mergers and Acquisitions. Thursday, March 20th. 5:00 PM at Hyatt Regency in Bellevue.

Yessir, the insurance cards arrived in the mail over the weekend. Full medical, dental and vision coverage for the whole company. Some would call this a luxury. I disagree. We cut corners elsewhere. Thanks to Pierard for making it happen.

Plus, the insurance actuaries think our company profile means we’re lower cost than the average. Do they know us? Half our guys ride bikes (motorized and not) into the office. Doesn’t matter. Try to stay in one piece, fellas. But whatever happens, we’ve got you covered!

I recently got some grief for not mentioning that we’re hiring a Content Editor. (Well, yeah, that’s a good point…)

Here it is. We’re moving quickly on it, and getting close to a final decision. If you’re a late-inning entrant, better move quick!

CultureMob.com is your personalized guide for discovering great local events — music, movies, theater, and more. We provide personalized recommendations and are adding more rich content every day.

We’re looking for someone to take the lead on aggregating the best third party content (reviews, images, video etc.), writing original reviews and previews, leading our blog strategy and leading portions of our SEO outreach efforts.

Here’s what we’re looking for:

• Ability to rapidly produce great content with real personality. Seattle’s got personality. So do you.
• Knowledge about and enthusiasm for local events of all types. If you’re idea of a happenin’ time is to sit on the La-Z-boy while watching bad TV, this probably isn’t right for you.
• Extroverted. You need to be willing and enthusiastic about contacting tons of people, all the time.
• Web-saavy. You’re more of a blogosphere/myspace/facebook/twitter/whatever2.0 junky than you should probably admit to.
• Highly Organized. Self-motivated. Seriously, do you think I want to babysit someone? No. You understand the goals. You make it happen.

CultureMob is a startup that is backed by some of Seattle’s leading angel investors. We have fun, but we’re also serious about building a great company. If you’re not interested in going the extra mile, please don’t bother applying. (Just being candid, it benefits us all.)

If this sounds good to you. Please drop us a note. We’ll be even more impressed if you go to culturemob.com and put some comments in the system!

Find great events in Seattle at CultureMob.com!

Thanks to Marcello Calbucci at Sampa for maintaining the Seattle Startup Index. This is a great resource. In January, Marcello noted that CultureMob was one of the “big movers,” moving up 51 positions during the month. Thanks for the mention!