Inspired again by Gary Vaynerchuk

Gary knocks it down again at RailsConf.  While I’ve read (most of) Crush it! and seen several of his presentations, this recent rant to Rails developers is just a great reminder of the opportunity we have to use the web and social media to ply new ideas.

Gary talks about how our grandparents are probably more in tune with the opportunity the web presents to connect with customers in a sincere and direct way. The opinions of everyone matters – so be there for them.

We’re moving from the era of faceless big box stores (back) to one where the individual producer is empowered to battle the big guy. Main Street matters.

Increasingly, we don’t need the permission of a gatekeeper to get into business, build brand equity and to make a living.  It’s your identity and there’s no where to hide, so be intentional about your interactions with people, your customers/users and just be nice – no to mention – thankful!

Gary mentioned form sage advice heard from older seat mates on airline flights:

• wishing they’d spent more time with their family
• that they’d gotten to do what they love

None gave a crap about how much money they’d made. Wake up friends and find something bigger than you to chase and your desire to feather the nest.

DevHouse evolved: Joyent + Mentez in the developing world

I used to think all cool web startups happened in and around the Bay Area, the nexus of innovation, brains, and capital – right? There has been a great change underway with global spread of Barcamp since August ’05 and Facebook Developer Garages (calendar) that have been going on since May ’07 (time of Facebook platform launch), there has been a surge in creativity happening in places far beyond the Valley. In fact 8 out 10 most recent Facebook developer garages are happening outside the States.

Juan Franco of Mentez of Miami has smartly tapped several hots trends. Mentez has created an environment for bringing together developers together around the viral platforms, Facebook and OpenSocial. They are reaching out to developers in developing countries like Turkey, Mexico, Columbia, Brazil, and South Africa.

While we have at times raised sponsorships to offer prizes at iPhoneDevCamp and DevHouse events I’ve been part of organizing, they are paying cold cash and providing consulting services and infrastructure through a deal announced yesterday with Joyent. I don’t think they’ve quite reached the OLPC-destination villages in Africa, Asia and Latin America but maybe that’s the next stop.

Their approach builds on things that have worked elsewhere like SuperHappyDevHouse in Silicon Valley and its dirivitives, CocoaDevHouse, MashPits, and in another vein, Startup Weekend.

Developers interested in the next round of Mentez competitions have until the 24th of February to signup. Check it out if you’re a developer and if you’re a blogger in those countries, help spread the word.

I’d be happy to field your questions about scaling your business or social applications on Joyent Accelerators. If you’re a Facebook developer, check out our free Accelerator offering in partnership with DELL and Facebook.

[Disclosure: I'm a platform evangelist at Joyent. ]

Schooling on the Social Graph

It’s been a wild few months since the f8 launch event…but most of you reading this don’t need to be reminded of how much things have changed since then for web startups and entreprenuers with app ideas brewing. While we’ve not solved global poverty yet, it’s still early in the game! (90 days or so) Already, there’s been significant participation in the Facebook Developer Garages around N. America , the U.K. and another in Singapore upcoming.

In October, there are *two* multi-day facebook conferences with broader agendas: CommunityNext Platform organized by Noah Kagan & GraphingSocialPatterns put on by Dave McClure. The latter, is where I’m focusing my attention (read: building apps to demo) and contributing time; raising sponsorships – as I did for iPhoneDevCamp. Check them out and see what’s the best fit for you.

Dave McClure has steadily been building his facebook street cred, f8 knowledge and best practices. To be fair, along the way he has taken some heat for his f8 zealotry!

I think GraphingSocialPatters will be a great conference at a great price. Out-of-towners will have easy-access from the San Jose airport. It will be great investment of time for the increasing number of traditional businesses looking into facebook, developers with apps to showcase, and anyone wanting to learn the intricacies of building smart, scalable apps on facebook. Check out the details and maybe I’ll see you in San Jose soon.

Tags:
facebook, f8, graphingsocialpatterns, davemcclure

Like the early days of radio…

I was up early this Saturday; preparing for my son’s 8AM basketball game when ideas for the introduction to my new podcast started pumping through my brain. The podcast, “Building Web Apps” (first shows posting this weekend) is my public notebook where I’m capturing my thoughts and interviews about the latest technologies, platforms, unix distros, javascript libraries, etc. to build online apps and services. It’s also about the choices facing anyone wanting to put their app on the web and specifically as a non-developer. More to come on this.

I scanned my inbox to find Apple’s “eNews” where the news is usually old but occasionally I find a nugget or two of interest. Today’s nugget spells out what podcasting is really all about: capturing the passion of the long tail and giving a voice to anyone with ideas to share:

Community Next: are you in?

I heard today that Community Next is *sold out* Wow! I’m glad to say I got this booked last Friday. A full house should make for some great conversation and more opportunity to learn what’s working and what’s not. For me, the timing of this is perfect for my projects and I’m really looking forward to being there. I’d like to think I know a lot about fostering community and social media but I’m sure I’ll walk away much richer in wisdom.