Mankind Stupid
Sometimes, it’s plain better to be clever and let go. Here’s a prime example of utter stubborness and stupidity: almost everyone coming from this direction take a shortcut across this piece of lawn. The solution? Perhaps a few cobblestones?
Instead, they put up criss-cross some totally ugly tape, because yeah, we want to keep it pretty. This has been going on for months. Come on!
Community ROI
Received an E-Mail asking me to participate in a questionnaire that would help set a ROI benchmark for any kind of community-related online effort, or so. Here’s a quote:
Die Professionalisierung von Social Media Angeboten erfordert eine Bewertung des Return on Investments und damit eindeutige und vergleichbare Analysekennzahlen.
In other words, “professionalisation of social media offerings require a valuation of the ROI, and thus clear and comparable analysis benchmark data”. Or, in my words, “we are trying to define parameters for a ROI which will make the various community-related online offerings comparable”.
Obviously, creating an industry benchmark bears its (economic) advantages, but I do have to question whether a) it is feasible and b) worthwhile pursuing at all. Even in “old” industries – let’s pick banking of automotive – there are zillions of various ways of measuring ROI, and that’s for a product that is much more comparable than something as intangible as an online community.
For instance, a brand-centered or managed community might have a totally different underlying business model than a social network in the purest sense. Whilst a “car owners club” or executive travellers’ club needs not be a profit centre, a social network does, especially if it’s not integrated with other media.
Second, why the need to benchmark? I can’t really think of any group other than investors that would stand to benefit from this, and they surely must have their own in-house valuation mechanisms.
Also, a typical €€€-ROI would stand to totally leave out any umeasurable qual elements, and these can be of much more importance than quant. For instance, user feedback and dialogue can result in the development of new products. There’s a “guts” side to business, which in my opinion tends to be quashed in favour of numbers-driven targets. Wrong, over and out.
StartupCamp Cologne: Thanks, but no thanks
I’ve just received an invitation to StartupCamp Cologne, due to take place March 3. So far I’ve only taken part in one BarCamp in October 2007 in Munich (here are some impressions, here are more), but it’s certainly been one of the best experiences in my life, for a variety of reasons. It’s not easy for a self-employed father-of-three to take a weekend off, so I’ve missed out on all other BarCamps since then, which I am really sorry about. It’s definitely on this year’s to-do-list.
Which is perhaps why I was really pleased to find an invitation to said StartupCamp. Specialised Camps, such as WordCamp, sound like a great opportunity to meet like-minded people and exchange on a favourite topic.
To keep it short, StartupCamp is nothing short of an absolute disappointment. Basically, it feels like they’ve hijacked the whole camp idea to set up a typical venue where startups meets capital. As for the camp-typical democratic idea, well, this is what’s on offer:
Präsentation von VCs und Startups an Stehtischen. Interessante Start Ups präsentieren ihre Ideen und Konzepte. Für Gleichgesinnte, VCs und Business Angels
Hm. Great. I can present my startup at a some coffee table. How far is that from a BarCamp?
To sum it up: this whole thing feels like a PR exercise, nothing more. It’s nowhere near a BarCamp. It’s not like we can congregate and design the course of the event. Everything’s pre-defined.
I’d really, really LOVE to see a REAL StartupCamp happening which is NOT about funding, but about sharing experiences. I run a startup that is generating revenue NOT from advertising. The past year has been (and still is) very painful, but I feel like there’s plenty to share and I would really like to hear from others’ experiences. Surely companies sponsoring such a BarCamp would stand to benefit plenty more.
Finally, there’s one last reason why I won’t go to any present-yourself-and-get-some-capital parties: sadly (for others) I’m not looking at a potentially huge market with a short-term exit. On the other hand, profitability is just around the corner, and that’s good enough for me. It’s not like I wouldn’t appreciate capital influx, but how many VCs would share my enthusiasm for firefighting?
That’d be one empty coffee table at StartupCamp, so no thanks, and best of luck to all other participants.
PS: no “official” hashtag?
Update: June agrees.
Croatia
Spent last week in Croatia. What’s amazing: it’s actually not that far from here, only a 6-hour drive, but it’s a world away – and then perhaps not as much as earlier. Tobi and I went on this trip, which was kindly organised by Sinisa and Mario. And what an experience that was! Basically there was a firefighting side to it (flickr), where we spent time with fire departments in Ivanic Grad, Makarska, Varazdin, Ivanec and Zagreb.
Besides all the firefighting stuff, this little round-trip of 2,500km presented us with a plethora of impressions. Perhaps the most impressive is the sudden change from continental to mediterranean climates. I also really enjoyed Varazdin, a beautifully restored town in the far northeast, which also particularly reminded me why Europe is such a great place. Anyway, I’ve put the pics up on Flickr and here is the slide show:
Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.
As usual, so much to tell, so little time :)
SFCC
Als Starbucks noch nicht in Europa präsent war, da sprießten die Coffee Shop-Ketten nur so aus dem Boden. In London war das so (Costa, Seattle Coffee Co.), und natürlich auch hier. Coffee Fellows, San Francisco Coffee Co. und die anderen machten sich womöglich hoffnung, vom großen “Bruder” aus Seattle aufgekauft zu werden.
Die Geschichte nahm ihren Lauf, Starbucks machte auf DYI.
Ich bin kein besonders großer Fan von Starbucks, allerdings noch weniger von SFCC, die sehr kühl-loungig daherkommen, und leider auch keinen Gratis-WLAN anbieten. Aber der Mocha ist empfehlenswert, und hier im wilden Osten gibt’s ausser indiskutablen Konditoreien mit Käffchenecken keine Alternative.
Warum allerdings der Speckgürtel in München mit dem vielen Geld noch mit keinen Coffee Houses gesegnet ist, das verstehe ich nun wirklich nicht.
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Welcome
Welcome to Irakli West's personal pages on the Web. I am Danish, live close to Munich in Germany, and run FWnetz, an online magazine and training resource for firefighters. In real life, I am Regional Manager Northern Europe for Paratech and currently training to become a specialist in Urban Search and Rescue as well as Heavy Rescue (it's fun, challenging and serves a good purpose)
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