I've just realised that I was participating in the SB group all this time without introducing myself. Sorry! Here's me:
I'm Alan Jones. I'm an online product strategist with community-building, creative marketing and editorial background. That's a nice way of saying I have no formal qualifications in internet development, like the sound of my own opinions and once worked in PR. It's not easy putting a positive spin on that, but I can do it. I consult, write and present on a communications-forward approach to product strategy, team leadership and communications. I'm usually working with new startups and the investors who back them. Why the internet? I like working with ideas, in environments where the rules are few and fast-changing. The internet is the industry with the shortest time between the conception of an idea and its execution, and changing ideas costs less online than in other industries. It's perfect for me. I'm no developer but I've always enjoyed the company of coders. I have a favourite t-shirt from Cheryl and Scott at www.moltn.com that shouts, "I LIKE CODE" in big Helvetica Black type. It would be more accurate if it said "I LIKE PEOPLE WHO LIKE CODE" but my chest isn't broad enough. As a teenager I was happy to be the monster-bait in a D&D party just so I could hang out with the geeks. I have O'Reilly books I can't understand just so there's something at my house for coders to read when they come round. And I think many coders like me too. Coders are awesome at math but they sometimes have trouble communicating with non-geeks. I'm awesome at communicating with non-geeks but I'm terrible at math — coders and I complement each other. After a few years editing computer magazines and doing PR I started doing contract web production work for Microsoft for what was then called Telstra On Australia and later became MSN Australia and later still, ninemsn. I co-produced one of the world's first online video shows (a soap called "Friday's Beach") and ran a weekly live text chat series which regularly rated audiences in the thousands. Guests included Graham Richardson, Andrew Denton and even Reg Mombassa (who couldn't yet use a computer and had his pre-teen son type all his answers while Reg paced nervously around our office, trying to figure out what the hell was going on.) I joined Microsoft to work as a content production producer on an ill- fated city guide product called Sidewalk. Eventually, the bad karma of working for the evil empire forced me out. In my desperation to escape I took what seemed like a big risk and took a job with a tiny web startup that really only my geek friends had ever heard of. Turned out it was called Yahoo! and I was an early hire there. To setup the AU/NZ business they transferred a hundred thousand dollars to a personal bank account, gave us the phone and pager number of one of their developers, and told us they'd send someone senior out for the launch in a month's time. Holy shit! But we made it, and sold some ads too. For the first 12-18mths (not sure exactly, it was all a blur) I personally hand-coded the entire front page of au.yahoo.com — the only way you saw anything on that page change was if I coded it. gmake was my friend and emacs my constant companion. I spent five years accruing good karma at Yahoo! and was able to leave in 2002 in a karma-positive position. I loved that company back then — cut me and I'd bleed purple and yellow. We'd built a great team in Australia and across Asia and rather than move to the US to work at HQ I chose to go back to startup life again. We got the ex-Yahoo! band back together to start an online DVD rental service called HomeScreen Entertainment, inspired by Netflix. We secured CPH Investments as investors (the "Packer Backers") built an awesome front and backend and thought we were on a real winner... until Telstra decided it would be fun to play in that space. Tip: never try to build a profitable business in a market where your biggest competitor doesn't ever have to care about breaking even, never has to acquire you and never has to sell out. You can't win. But at least we got to build a kick-arse platform with a smart, agile team and we were able to find a reasonable exit. Since then I've consulted to a wide variety of early-stage startups in entertainment, news, mobile and social media. Now I do most of that under the auspices of the hard-rocking, brutally-focused, preaching- what-they-practice team at Pollenizer (www.pollenizer.com) which has frankly been better for my personal brand than mine has been for theirs. "Startup incubator" doesn't feel right to me, since it sounds like a too-warm room with poor ventilation and a mould problem. Pollenizer is more like a set of orbital booster rockets. I'm always nursing a startup idea of my own or two. On the side I do some writing gigs through www.doingwords.com, sell tiny volumes of music through www.littoralrecords.com and sell a gift for new dads and their new babies at www.milkooler.com. And I will always and forever be "bigyahu" (www.bigyahu.com). Cheers! - alan --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Silicon Beach Australia mailing list. Guidelines on discussion: http://tr.im/ujKF No lurkers! It is expected that you introduce yourself: http://tr.im/ujMm To post to this group, send email to silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to silicon-beach-australia+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia?hl=en?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
