1-year Anniversary of Leo Laporte using TalkShoe

It’s our 1-year anniversary of Leo Laporte using TalkShoe, and time to reminisce…

It was back in October 2006 when Leo Laporte of TWiT-TV first told us that he was planning to use TalkShoe. Leo, for those of you who don’t know, is the #1 podcaster in the world by most measures. We had a couple of weeks to prepare, and we had no idea what kind of traffic Leo would generate, and what part of our system would break. At that time, we didn’t (we do now) for example have anyway to heavily load-test our system.

The BIG day came on November 5, 2006 when Leo and Amber (MacArthur) first went live with their net @ nite (http://www.twit.tv/natn) Talkcast (previously called Inside the Net). The whole company (all 10 of us) came into the office on that Sunday night, as we prepared for the 9:00 pm live Talkcast. We all popped open some beer, and as the time approached, we could see from our traffic reports that TalkShoe’s system was “heating up.” Web traffic jumped starting about 15 minutes before the show, along with telephone traffic.

Looking for a Top-Notch Public Relations firm

We’ve recently begun our search for a top-notch public relations firm to aid us in generating online, print, TV, etc. buzz about TalkShoe and its podcasting business, and new foree into social networking. (Lots more to come on this subject)

If you know of a good agency with both traditional and online PR experience, as well as experience working with hot tech startup companies, email me at markj@talkshoe.com. — Thanks.

Back in the Old Days

This post relates to junior employees taking direction from senior employees. Back in the old-old days, work life was pretty straightforward in terms of decision making. Senior employees (managers) made decisions, and junior employees carried them out. This was a very efficient system, although junior employees didn’t always buy into decisions. If a junior employee didn’t listen, it was considered insubordination.

In the old days (my generation), senior employees weighted advice from both senior and junior employees. Senior employees ultimately made the decisions, and they were carried out by junior employees. But junior employees had the right to disagree, but in the end everyone still realized who was boss. If a junior employee didn’t obey the decision, it wasn’t considered insubordination, but it wasn’t a good thing over the long term.

Today, things have changed again. It seems that senior and junior employees negotiate equally and openly. Junior employees are generally not afraid to speak their mind. In particular, at TalkShoe, since we’re focusing on social networking, junior/younger employees still  have a say. Now we must reach consensus. If a junior employee doesn’t carry out the decisions made by the senior employee, it’s more the senior employee’s job to once again try and reach consensus. This can be very inefficient if decisions have to continually be revisited; however, ultimately it’s great when concensus is reached, and all employees feel ownership of the decision.

Carnegie Mellon student project

TalkShoe has just begun doing a project with students from Carnegie Mellon University MISM program which is a joint technology-business masters degree. The students will be looking at methods and best practices for marketing into social networks, especially MySpace, Facebook and Ning. This is part of TalkShoe’s new thrust into getting social networkers to use Talkcasts for discussions, conversations, and of course live podcasts.

Check out the students’ blog where they’ll be making their findings public and soliciting feedback. http://twelve300.com/

Premium Wine and Beer in a Bottle

One of the greatest things about working in a start-up, especially an Internet startup, is the casual and relaxed environment. Our office is a large open area with 4 people in cubes, plus two offices that each house 4 employees. Needless to say, we’re a close-knit group. In the open area is a crappy old pool table with the pockets falling out, and a well warped slate/felt (home field advantage). Next to it is a pinball machine, although I’ll admit that I suck at pinball. There’s also a new putting machine and golf balls around the office, and a ball dart-board hanging on the door.

Best of all is the small refrigerator in our tiny kitchen, which often doubles as a 2-3 person conference room (standing room only!). So what’s the big deal about a refrigerator? Every company has a fridge, right. Wrong! While there is some diet soda, our fridge is stocked primarily beer. Premium bottled beer. As you might has guessed, I’m drinking one right now — Circus Boy Hefeweizen from the Magic Hat Brewing Co. (excellent beer by the way)  We’ve also got a cadre of other microbrews, and a few old favorites like Sam Adams, and of course, our company favorite Guinness (Brilliant!). I remember last St. Patty’s Day drinking Guinness, and I do remember we did a lot of creative thinking that day.

What’s the real value of this to the company, you might ask? It’s comeraderie, it’s a relaxed atmosphere, it’s treating people like responsible citizens, it’s CULTURE. And it does make a difference. It’s letting people wind down from the stresses of a startup. We do a lot of good team building standing around playing 9-ball and having a beer.

Hate Talkcasting

It turns out that someone has been recently using TalkShoe as a means to spread hate. The person has been joining live Talkcasts and making threats to people, and then finding information about hosts and contacting them directly. You’ve got to be kidding! I can’t give any of the real details because we’ve had to contact the police in California where this crazy guy lives — turns out the guy has some emotional problems, so there’s no need to worry. Now our CEO, Dave, has do deal with this stuff, instead of dealing with more important real business. You just don’t put this kind of think in your Palm Pilot day planner.

Deciding to Blog as a REAL person

I’ve been maintaining TalkShoe’s company blog for over a year now. The decision to create on was simple — everyone’s doing it, and it’s a great way to build a community. Currently, we get about 2,000 hits on our blog per week which isn’t bad. Basically, I write all the posts, but they show up as being from TalkShoe, not me. Over the past few months, I’ve become convinced that I should also maintain a personal blog, that is associated and linked to, yet separate from the TalkShoe blog.

I decided to make the blog about life in a startup. This is my 5th entrepreneurial venture, so I have a lot of experience. I will be talking about a wide range of activities including fund raising, product development, marketing, general management, etc. This will allow TalkShoe users, and general Internet users alike to come along as I cronicle the company.