Janet told me the other day that my blog has been a little gloomy lately so I thought I better blog about some things that are cool. I got thinking about it and I’ve seen some impressive action lately from a lot of cool dudes. Here’s a quick profile.

Andrew Allgaier at Business Brink

Andrew Allgaier, owner of Zoom Agent, is a true entrepreneur. He recently bailed on his “secure” full time job to start his own business. I wonder how his pregnant wife feels about that? Andrew had a cool idea - he’s documenting his start up on a video podcast at Business Brink. Its genuine and interesting to watch.

I highly recommend using Andrew. He created the logo at 10Speed Media, which I think is one of the coolest logos ever (of course I’m a little biased).

Duane Jess at Podfitness

Lately, I’ve been meeting with Duane Jess, VP of Sales and Marketing, at Podfitness. Duane is just one of those guys who is trying to make it when he has a lot stacked against him. He’s got a tough job and I’ve never heard him complain about it. Duane is selling some cool fitness podcasting stuff at Podfitness. He’s working hard to get up sales and he’s also working hard to get the marketing side of the business on its feet. Sometimes all you have to do is shake someones hand and look them in the eye to know they are genuine - Duane is the real deal. The Podfitness guys are lucky to have him.

Marty Fahncke at Conference Call University

Marty is a good dude. I first met Marty at 10Speed Media when he worked with us as a consultant. Now, I’m lining Marty up with his own podcast show on Podango. Here’s why Marty is cool. He has a son with a disability. After having some problems with the school and the state, Marty decided the best thing to do was to move his family to Kansas City so his son could get the best possible education. What a dad! I was very impressed when he told me this story.

Look for an announcement on Marty’s podcast in the next month or two and check out Conference Call University.  

Brock Blake at Funding Universe

I think Brock is the youngest CEO in Utah but don’t let that fool you - the dude is a pro. Brock is leading a ragtag group at Funding Universe (more affectionately known as “FU”). Brock is scrappy and he works incredibly hard. He has a great group. I remember sitting down the hall from them when I was the CEO at 10Speed. Every time they landed a sale they would yell and jump around and give each other high fives. I thought it was awesome and I miss being down the hall from those guys and seeing them everyday. Let me know if I can help in any way.

Ron Hartley at Podango

Ron Hartley is my right hand dude. When I was at 10Speed, I found Ron randomly through monster.com. I called him up and asked him to come in for an interview. I think I hired him on the spot.  

I honestly would not be nearly as effective at Podango without his help. Ron is a true salesman and he’s great at developing collateral and proposals. He’s a master at follow up. On top of all that, he’s one of the nicest guys I know. We are truly blessed to have him on the team.  

Bonus! Five more good dudes

Colin Kelly at Lumin Publishing (Connect Magazine) is a good dude! He sent me an apology after my name was misspelled in the latest addition of Launch magazine. It’s no big deal, Colin. Heck, half the time I call you “Collin”.

John Jonas is a good dude. Regardless of what some people think about John, I think he’s one of the smartest technologies in the state and he gets online marketing better than most people I know. John gets a bad rap sometimes but I enjoy his company and friendship. If you have the privilege of getting to know John, you’ll know what I mean.

My neighbor, Brett Zabel, is a good dude. Brett has helped me lately with my podcast editing. On top of that Brett has mentored me in my responsibilities at church. Thanks, Brett for being there for me!

Conner Boyack is a good dude. Conner recently gave my blog a makeover. He’s a good developer. He’s scrappy and reasonably priced. I love to read his blog. It’s like reading my own thoughts. Conner, thanks for all your hard work! I look forward to a long association.

Scott Bourne is a really good dude. In the short time Scott has been associated with Podango he has taught me so much. Scott is making some big sacrifices for Podango right now including moving from Seattle to San Francisco to set up Podango Productions. Scott sold Netradio for a lot of money and doesn’t need to be doing this but he believes in Podango. We’re lucky to have him on board. Podango is going to be huge!

I am lucky to be associated with such good people. Sometimes we need to be more mindful of those around us who are making an impact on our lives. Thanks to these guys for being good examples to me.

The January/February issue of Launch is now available. It’s a great issue except there are too many quotes from some dude named Chris Knudsen. They need to ban him for a couple of issues.  

Today I attended the Wayne Brown Institute's Investors Choice venture capital conference, which is sponsored by Thorpe Capital Group.  I served on the selection committee for the event so I have had as many as three exposures to all of the presenting companies.The conference featured presentations from 25 startup companies in a variety of industries.  I'd like to highlight three of my favorites: ClearPlay:  Bill Aho, CEO of ClearPlay, presented for his company.  ClearPlay provides technology to allow consumers to view movies without material they find objectionable.  The technology is patented and is protected by specific Federal legislation that defines the technology in a way that means it is uniquely legal, unlike the plethora of other companies that that have been forced out of business for violating copyright law. EXpresso: George Langan of eXpresso explained the differences between eXpresso's on-line collaborative spreadsheet and Google's:  auditability that complies with Sarbanes Oxley.  There is a huge need for tools to help public companies deal with the overwhelming requirements of SOX. Know More Media:  Hal Halladay, CEO of Know More Media, the publisher of this blog, presented the latest plans from KMM to help businesses create "on-line density.". The plan builds on the blog network and extends far beyond. Here is a complete list of presenting companies. 

Have you ever bought a car? You have to decide how much you want to spend, what you want, and who to buy it from. The last one can be tricky because everyone has either been ripped off when buying a car or knows someone who has become a victim. Getting a new website for your company is not that different, the main difference is that you probably know more about cars than you do about websites. Well, allow me to be your trusted friend who works for a car dealer and knows the ins and outs. Here are some tips on how to get what you need for the right price without getting ripped off.

1. Start with a plan. If you approach a web design company and say “I need a new website” it’s like going to a car dealer and saying “I need a new car.” Car or truck? New or used? What brand? What color? Mileage or performance? Safety or looks? You would probably already know the answers to these questions if you were buying a car, but you might not know what you need to know before you approach a web design firm. You can start out on the right foot by figuring out basics about your website. How many pages? Will the site simply contain content or will it have features where site visitors can buy things, submit information, or otherwise interact with the site rather than just looking at it? What do you want the site to look like? The best thing you can do is find other websites that are similar in some way to what you want. It’s much easier for a web design firm to understand what you want if you can point to another website and say “I want my website to look or work like this one.” When it comes to this step the more research and planning you’ve done the better, but even a basic plan will help a lot.

2. Figure out how much you can spend. And I mean figure out how much you can really spend. Of course in making deals you always want the other guy to throw out his numbers first. Some web design companies make it easy by putting pricing on their sites, but most don’t, and they might have legitimate reasons for that, but they might just want to know what your numbers are first. What you don’t want to do is go in with no idea of what your budget is, because you’ll only be wasting your own time and the time of whatever firm(s) you talk to.

3. Find a few good firms. This can be tricky. You don’t want to be dealing with the proverbial used-car dealer of web design firms. While bad web designers generally don’t wear tacky suits, the other differences aren’t hard to spot. Things like pushy sales tactics, lots of talk but not much sense, and deals that seem too good to be true are as prevalent in the web design industry as at Gino’s Previously-Owned Car Emporium. Some tips? Get a reference from a trusted friend. Get references from the firms you’re looking at and contact them. Ask the firm about a worst-case scenario they’ve had with a client. If they tell you all their clients are happy they’re lying and you can move on. All web design firms have had bad experiences, and sometimes it’s their fault and sometimes it’s the client’s fault and sometimes it’s nobody’s fault but just a bad situation. What you want to find out is not whether they’ve ever had a bad experience but how they handled it.

But most important of all, contact more than one firm. Having a basis for comparison will be invaluable.

4. Compare apples to apples. When you present your plan to one firm they may interpret it differently than another firm will, and you may end up with two prices that are quite different. This may be because one firm simply charges more than another, but it may be one firm or the other doesn’t understand exactly what you want. This goes back to #1–make sure you have a plan. You don’t want to make the mistake of going with the less expensive firm and halfway through the project having them say “Oh, you want that?! That’s going to cost an additional $10,000.”

5. Figure out the true value. Some firms are more expensive than others, there’s no doubt about it. My firm charges around $15,000 for a basic website. Some companies charge less than $5,000, and even here in Utah there are companies that charge a minimum of $100,000. I would argue the companies charging $5,000 won’t build you as good of a site as my company will for $15,000, and the company who charges $100,000 would probably say the same thing. At the same time the guy charging $5K would say he does just as good of work as my company does, and I would claim to do just as good of work as the company charging $100K. The truth is that with few exceptions you get what you pay for, and price is a good indicator of quality. The good news is that everybody doesn’t need the same quality of website. If you’re a small business just getting started and you plan on making a few hundred thousand dollars this year you might do well with a $5K site. If you’re a mid-sized business with $1-200M in revenue you should expect to pay tens of thousands of dollars for a website, and if you’re a large company with $500M to $1B+ you would choose the large agency that charges $100K for a website. Just make sure the firm you’re going with matches who you are. If you really need a $30K website but you get a $5K website it may end up costing you in terms of missed opportunity.

6. Negotiate, but with caution. If the firm you like the best costs a little more than you’ve budgeted for, now is the time to disclose your numbers. Tell them “We’d really like to go with you, and I’m not trying to talk you down just to get a lower price, but we honestly only had $10K budgeted for this rather than the $15K you’ve proposed.” Now here’s the hard part to swallow–the better firm will turn you down. Why? Because they know that if they give you a deal, you’re going to become second-place to any client that is paying them their full rate, and they don’t want to put you in that position. However, maybe, just maybe, they’re a good firm and they just happen to have some spare time, your project can be turned around quick, and they can take it on at a discounted price and get it done quickly before they get too busy with higher-paying clients and have to push your project back.

Never negotiate just to get a better deal when you could afford the price the firm has given you. All you’re doing is setting up a situation in which nobody will be happy. Only negotiate if you truly don’t have the money the firm is asking for but you really want to hire them vs. another firm.

7. After you buy, trust. I read some marriage advice somewhere that said couples should take off the rose-colored glasses before marriage and put them on after marriage. I don’t think this necessarily applies to buying a car, but it sure applies to working with a web design firm. I’ve been in this industry for seven years and have worked with hundreds of clients, and I can say with 100% confidence that those clients who were the most trusting got the best results. The clients that second-guessed us on every detail, that micro-managed the process, and that tried to give us design advice ended up with projects that took longer, went over budget, and in the end weren’t anywhere close to the quality of what they could have been. Granted, there are some firms that will do a horrible job and in those cases you need to rip off the rose-colored glasses and get out of there with whatever you can, but if you’ve done the work to find the right firm you should trust them and be as hands-off as you can be after you hire them. If you have a micro-manager personality it might be tough, but you’ll be better off for it in the end. Unless you’ve worked in the industry, the firm you hire will have a lot more experience than you do and you’ll do well to trust their judgement.

Any questions? Feel free to ask.

About every five to six months I go through the same cycle. It starts with me figuring out that I have overloaded myself to the point of burn out. Then I sit back and make hard decisions on what I need to dump from my life in order to make things more simple and be more effective.

I think I just hit that wall again. The last time I hit that wall was in September. I had just started at Podango and I had way too much on my plate. I off loaded a bunch of stuff but slowly I’ve allowed things to creep back in. So tomorrow I’m taking inventory and deciding what I need to shelve, adjust and just plain dump.

Simplify.

I find that people are apt to making their lives harder than they need to be. I am no exception to this. I had this epiphany several months ago when I realized that I was attracted to complex business models. I had to sit back and ask myself why simple, proven business model didn’t seem to be worthy of my time or effort. Since then, I’ve cleared out all the highly complex, high start up capital ideas floating around in my head. The amazing thing is that I have found simple business models to have way more potential than the complex models. Think about this in terms of YouTube. Its a simple idea: give people a great video player and allow them to share their video. Eighteen months later Google buys you for $1.65 billion.

Simplify. 

Lately, I’ve been considering a move. We’ve been in our current home for 3 and a half years. My wife and I have always liked a neighborhood near the one we currently live in. The houses in this neighborhood range from $500k to $800k+.  One house looked really nice and was in the 700K range. Then I woke up and asked myself what I was thinking. A freaking $700k home? Moving after only three or so years in a perfectly nice home? Home owners fees? Starting over? No thanks. I can stay put and pay off my house and student loans in the next 10 to 15 years. Why make life more difficult? Why add the overhead? Why put myself into that much more debt? All to keep up with the Joneses? No thanks!

Simplify.

I blogged recently about wanting a new car. I decided yesterday to hold on to the perfectly fine Honda Accord I currently drive. Why add a car payment? Why get into more debt? All to make myself feel cool? My father-in-law is a very successful oral surgeon and he drives a 1991 Mitsubishi Galant. Think about that one for a minute.

Simplify!

Brad Feld, whom I respect as one of the truly great early-stage venture capitalists in the country, wrote recently about his wish that folks wouldn't shake his hand. Fred joins Donald Trump in what I view as being a small, but growing trend to avoid a very traditional greeting among friends, business associates, church goers and others. I understand the argument that a handshake is an obvious means for passing germs from one person to another, especially during cold and flu season. On the other hand, a hand shake remains a traditional test of one's professionalism. It is generally, though obviously not universally, expected that you shake the hand of the people you meet.  At some level, the hand shake determines whether or not you have met someone.  Until the hand shake, you remain unacquainted.

On one consistent thread of most start-up businesses is the lack of money. Many companies put off speaking with an intellectual property attorney in an attempt to conserve resources. However, this approach is usually pennywise and foolish.

Any start-up company ought to perform at least five basic steps up front. These need not cost much money and can help the business avoid substantial harm down the road.

1. Do a trademark search.
Your company name or the name of your leading product may sound pretty cool. Unfortunately, it probably sounded pretty cool to the other company that adopted it before you did. Thus it is a good idea to conduct a trademark search before you launch your product or begin building brand loyalty. You can spend about $500.00 for a trademark search through an attorney, the attorney will typically look not only at your exact name but variations used by potential competitors that may raise trademark issues. While no trademark search is a guarantee that there will not be conflicts in the future, it significantly reduces the risk. At a bare minimum, do your own trademark search at www.uspto.gov. A little bit of your time now will save many headaches later.

2. Consider patent issues.
Many tech oriented companies are familiar with the need to obtain patent protection. However, if there is something truly unique about your product that you believe provides a competitive edge, it is wise to have at least an initial consultation with a patent attorney. This will probably run you $200.00 to $300.00 for an hour of the attorney’s time. It may save you hundreds of times that in the long run and improve the chance you will properly protect your inventions.

At a bare minimum, every business person should know that you have one year from the date that a product is first sold, offered for sale, or in public use in which to file a patent application. Wait one day longer and you have dedicated any invention you may have made to the public. Additionally, if foreign markets are of concern, please note that a U.S. patent application must be filed prior to any public disclosure of the invention. You will then have one year in which to take steps to preserve any patent rights in foreign countries.

3. Get your employment agreements in order.
A start-up company may face a significant competitive threat from its own employees. If the employees decide that they can do better by going into competition, you may have little recourse if non-compete and other employment related documents are not in place from the beginning. Therefore it is strongly advisable to have any employees sign employment agreements which restrict any use of confidential company information and, for those employees who may pose a competitive threat, which prevent them from competing directly with the company for a reasonable period of time.

4. Ensure ownership of your intellectual property.
Many small companies use independent contractors to save on costs, and to provide greater flexibility. An independent contractor, however, will generally have greater rights to ownership of any work which he or she creates. If you hire an independent contractor to write code, come up with company design, or otherwise do anything which may involve company inventions, trademarks, or copyrightable materials, it is critical to have contracts which will vest all ownership of the intellectual property in the company. No matter how friendly the independent contractor seems today, he or she may subsequently claim that they own part or all of your important company intellectual property. An ounce of prevention in this regard is worth many pounds of cure.

5. Protect confidential information/trade secrets.
Virtually any company generates confidential information. While it may not be as important as the actual formula of Coca-Cola, it is probably important to the competitiveness of your company. It is not uncommon for renegade employees or others with access to confidential information to use that information to the competitive disadvantage of the company. By the time that happens, however, the horse is usually already out of the barn.

Reasonable steps should be taken from the outset to protect the company confidential information. Client lists and term sheets which are not publicly available and cannot be easily deduced should be provided only to those who need to know within the company. Documents containing confidential information, to the extent practicable, should be stamped confidential and should not be left in open view.

Likewise, any scientific or technical information which provides a competitive advantage should be protected.

The Utah courts have traditionally been very favorable toward the protection of confidential information and enjoining parties who attempt to misuse it. However, one of the first questions will always be did the company take reasonable steps to protect the confidentiality of the information. f not, there will be little recourse.

The preceding steps need not cost a lot of money. In fact, with the possible exception of a technology based company, it should amount to a fairly small percentage of early expenditures. Neglecting them will cost many times the perceived savings down the road.

This blog post is intended for informational purposes only, and should not be construed as legal advice or as pertaining to specific factual situations. Consult with an attorney concerning your own needs and circumstances and to obtain any legal advice with respect to the topics discussed in this post.

I want to put in a plug for the new Linkedin Answers service. Answers works by allowing you to pose questions to your network. Hopefully someone in your network has the answer to your question. I used the service last night. At about 10 pm I asked my network if anyone knows who American Expresses ad agency is. Then I went to bed. By 8 am this morning I had three replies. Two of the three responses provided the answer I was looking for. Cool - someone else figured it out for me while I slept!

I’ve also been playing with Yahoo! Answers lately. It’s a great service. In the last six months Yahoo has had over 80 million people use the service. That tells me that search engines aren’t providing all the information we need. I certainly found it much more efficient to just ask my network who the agency is instead of spending a bunch of time sifting through search engine results.

It looks like user generated Q&A has legs!

The MountainWest Capital Network, the real deal network in Utah, will be awarding its annual Entrepreneur of the Year award to Headwaters, Inc.'s (NYSE: HW) CEO Kirk Benson on February 15 at noon at the Little America Hotel. The Salt Lake Tribute ran an article about Mr. Benson (in which I was quoted) yesterday. The article notes:

"What this award really means to me is that we have had some great employees at Headwaters who have done a very good job," says Benson. "This recognition is really about Headwaters' success. That's how I see it."