pho after the rain

I enjoyed a good bowl today just two blocks from work! There is a place called Pho 2000 just around the corner. I was skeptical at first because I was greeted in Korean when I walked in. But when my bowl came, the broth was clear, the meat was soft and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Turns out the owners are Vietnamese and they own three other locations. They hire Korean workers for this location because most of the customers are Korean. Makes sense, right? We are in Koreatown.

logo selection

A friend is looking at designs for the Chinese character for dragon to use as a tattoo. He's taking extra precautions to make sure he chooses the right one. This got me thinking about how the logo of a website is kind of like a tattoo: it should represent who you are and it is relatively permanent.

We're still trying to finalize the logo and tagline for the new site. I have seen at least 25 versions of the logo and they start to look the same. I keep myself focused by asking myself how it will look on the site, on t-shirts and in reports. How about as a tattoo?

usability and web-savvy

Last week we went to usability testing where we sat behind a two-way mirror and watched a moderator ask people questions and try to perform certain tasks on our new site. Overall, the site performed well and we got really constructive feedback on how we can improve it prior to launch.

I was impressed by how web-savvy everyone was. Most referred to the navigation and form elements by the technical names. They talked about list boxes, tabbed-headers and databases. When I commented on this being due to the fact that we were in Southern California another attendee said that they same thing happens in the Midwest or in the South. Pretty neat.

Most were excited about new site and receptive to its business model. There was one cynic though. During one of the interviews a guy pointed to the two-way mirror and called us the "Harvard people behind the glass". I wanted to knock on the window and say, "hey man, I went to Yale."

rock the launch party

I attended a launch party for evite last night: a good time but a bit surreal, as my wife aptly put it. The event was co-sponsored by MTV and Rock the Vote. There were a few C-list celebrities walking around: Ryan Seacrest was the host if you call showing up and talking for about two minutes being a host. Polly Shore, Chandler and Lorenzo Lamas were there. They must support Rock the Vote because I'm sure they've never used evite.

What do you think of when you try to picture a dot-com's launch party? Drunken software developers gettin' down? That guy from QA making out with that girl from Customer Service? People drinking and eating and celebrating? That's what I imagine. Last night was more or less a bunch of beautiful people sipping Grey Goose martinis while listening to house-music. It was a launch party, LA-style.

dot.com political groups

The office is abuzz with talk about last Friday's debate and how the two candidates performed. Got me thinking about political groups in the startup environment. Most dot-commers seem to fall along traditional party-lines but there are some independent groups that you won't see in mainstream politics too.

Conservatives - Upper management
Concerned with issues of cash; how much there is; how quickly it is running out; how hard it will be to raise more. They are not conservative when it comes to granting themselves equity.

Liberals - Marketing / Technology / Human Resources
Central philosophy revolves around investing in one or more core initiatives like "brand", "redundancy" and "sensitivity training". Liberals are always at odds with Conservatives on how to measure ROI. Partners at VC firms are known to be swing voters: they cross party lines between the Conservative and Liberal camps.

Moderates - Finance / Accouting / Project Management
Moderates are attracted to the potential upside in stock or equity at startups but want to continue leading 9-5 work schedules. They require extra office supplies and constantly complain about the lack of "structure" in the work-place.

Independents - Consultants / Agencies
Support social-welfare programs for dot-commers who were laid off. These ex-pats of Conservative or Liberal parties drain startups of their resources by charging $250 an hour. They frequently extend project completion dates and infrequently provide any documentation about the work they have done. Independents are always blamed for mistakes by the Liberals who hired them.

Green Party - Various
They are a party of those who like to party. You can identify members of this reclusive and loosely-associated group on Friday mornings by the bags under their eyes or the wrinkles in their clothing (didn't he wear that on Thursday?). Members are always looking forward to the next "convention" where alcohol and other mind-altering substances will be consumed or used in large quantities.

Foreign Legions - Software Engineers / Customer Service Reps
Primarily concerned with issues of immigration. Technically, they can't vote but they formed their own party anways. Members hail from India and mainland China. These college-educated professionals do most of the work but get none of the glory. They are secretly supported by Conservatives because their vote can be bought for promises of an H1 visa.

Preservatives - Various
Maintaining the startup approach to work and the dot-com way of life is the focus of this dwindling group. Presevatives hate Moderates and Independents. Many join Liberals in opposition to Conservatives on certain issuesl. They work long hours and are fond of caffeinated-drinks, foos-ball tables and large computer monitors. Membership in this party reached its peak in the late 1990s.

cold pizza for breakfast

Some of the folks I sit with are about a week away from releasing a completely new version of their site to the public. They have been working 14-16 hour days in preparation. Some have even pulled all-nighters.

Last night a large group stayed past midnight pushing out a beta version. Normally, only ops and engineering stick around for this type of activity. This is what the startup spirit is all about: camaraderie, unity and company pride.

They must have ordered pizza for dinner because I found a few left-over slices in the breakroom this morning. Cold pizza is so good.

free food

I had visitors from New York in the office yesterday. My first contact with another person working on this startup in over two months! It was interesting to hear their impressions of the office.

They really liked the space and said that it felt much more dot-com than being on the forty-somethingth floor of a sky-scraper in Manhattan. The liked our cubes and the casual atmosphere. But they said that they would not trade their free soda and cabinets stocked with all manner of goodies and snacks for anything. Ironic, huh?

The free food at my last startup was ridiculous (I put on 15 pounds the first two months). We had free soda, gummi bears, red vines, m&ms, bags of chips and even power bars. All the free stuff went away eventually - we were losing millions of dollars a month!

Maybe the free food selection will be upgraded once we're making some money. I'm okay with this because it means that we're wiser the second time around.

office music

Music is a necessity as I work throughout the day. I listen to Digitally Imported's Trance channel almost everyday. The feel-good vibe and energetic pulse keeps my head bobbin' and my productivity high. I have my own channel setup on Yahoo! LAUNCH as well. Check it out.

One of my favorite activities at my last startup was bumping music in the evenings. I gained quite a reputation around the office for my ecletic taste and love of bass. There are two DJs who might give me competition here:

One likes to listen to the The Tom Joyner Morning show. Its pretty funny and keeps the morning hours from dragging.

The second plays tunes off an iPod and CDs. I was impressed by hearing both Depeche Mode and Dr. Dre on the same afternoon. There was quite a stir last Friday when Lisa Lisa and the Cult Jam's "Lost in Emotion" came on. I thought it was cool.

I'm looking to add a pair of desktop speakers and a sub-woofer to my cube in the near future. Soon, the office will be reverberating to the sounds of Slicksta.