SLIDE RANCH "Where the Bay Area Gets Down to Earth" NEEDS YOUR HELP

Friends, family, colleagues, I am asking you to attend the Slide Ranch / Richard Louv Event as listed here at the Slide Ranch web site: http://www.slideranch.org/programs/events.html

Slide has pre-purchased 1000$ of tickets for this event that they need to sell in order to cover their costs.

They have not sold their quota and as a small non-profit even $1000 dollars can make a huge difference!

So, if you see this post, go to their events page and see the details of the Richard Louv event and "express interest" via the PhlooQ widget (the big Q) and this will spread the word to your social graph!

Or, just use this one:

Even better call them up and buy a ticket!

Richard Louv has written a great book and whether you have children or not the sentiment here is spot on for the moment. As the world seems to be in constant volatility around us: the financial mess, politics, the war, we forget that we are here on an earth that is infinitely beautiful and that our children need us to guide them to that beauty and connect them with it! This is core to the Slide Ranch mission and it is core to Richard Louv's book "Last Child in the Woods." Help Slide Ranch help children.

LIFT AGENCY TO BLOG ABOUT PHLOOQ WEB DESIGN PROJECT

Lift Agency will be documenting their design project with PhlooQ. They have agreed to blog about their process, their progress, and the products they produce as they produce them.

You can see Lift Agency's first blog post about working with PhlooQ here: LiftAgency + PhlooQ: ...And We're Off!

This is pretty exciting! As we will be moving the site forward and sharing our progress in that regard as we go. This makes me giddy! To operate transparently is I think unusual--though likely not unique. I'll look to see how many other start-ups have put their process and progress out into the blogosphere.

This is an opportunity to engage partners, employees, customers and users in this movement forward. To engage with open ears as much as anything...sharing our trials and tribulations is really a desire to get the conversation started and keep the dialogue open!

I am so grateful for Lift Agency's desire to participate in this transparency with PhlooQ!

LiftAgency + PhlooQ: ...And We're Off!

As David mentioned in his post yesterday, our design firm liftagency llc will be working with PhlooQ to do a new user interface and appearance, and we're taking the extra step of sharing the process with anyone who cares to participate.

A Bit About liftagency

We like to consider ourselves a different type of design firm and one that has firmly embraced the web 2.0 communication methodology of rapid access to information - even if it's not 100% perfect. We've worked on a number of interface projects and been involved with re-designs of all sizes and scales and we are excited to be working with PhlooQ. Onward and upward.

Our Process As It Pertains To PhlooQ

The first step in this, and any, successful design project is to completely understand the scope of the project and to this end we'll be doing a working session with the PhlooQ team in which we hope to build out some sketches of the final product - we'll call this 'step one', and once we've got something visual to share with the team, we'll post it for the world to see.

Next, we'll develop a series of interaction maps (wireframes) which will represent the components we'll be building out - this step will allow us to finalize the position of each interaction point (buttons, fields etc..)

The third step has us delivering fully realized graphical compositions which will form the basis for the new PhlooQ, and we're going to be excited to get your reactions.

Be sure to stop by this blog, and liftagency.com for further details as we document the entire process.

PRODUCT DESIGN BASED ON BUYER FEEDBACK: PHLOOQ TO IMPLEMENT GREENMOMS.COM UI SUGGESTIONS

The smartest product builders in the world are not smarter than the marketplace. Sometimes the marketplace takes innovation and drives into places one would never expect. Sometimes the marketplace explains to you the small refinements that will make ALL the difference.

GREENMOMS.COM will be going live later this fall. We love the social responsibility, green, and community space. This sector of the Web publishing space is DYNAMIC. The publishers are going wild getting up sites and organizing events and announcing get togethers. For this reason we love that Janice Solimeno & Melinda MacNaughton the co-founders of GREENMOMS will be going live with PhlooQ's widget on their events page!

As she has worked toward implementation on her site we have been getting great product direction from her. So I wanted to share what a perfect customer behaves like! The kind of customer a start-up piloting its technology in the marketplace loves! We started our conversation when she was playing around with the widget. She had her own clear idea of how her user's are likely to react to the sign up and use model.

In the following section I am posting an edited transcript of our communication. Note how credible her commentary is because she has moved well beyond the "getting what PhlooQ" does stage. She is deep into how the value of PhlooQ needs to be pulled into alignment with how her audience will feel when they use it. She is making detailed refinements for her user base that will ultimately translate into a far superior experience for all PhlooQ users.

I publish the following with the permission of Janice Solimeno and Greenmoms.com in case you were wondering.

Begin edited transcript between PhlooQ and Greenmoms.com:
______________________

DAVID:

Okay so in the widget you don't like that we ask you for your cell number (and we don't indicate that its is optional -- though you feel we should). I get that. You also don't like the way the Add Facebook button looks because it doesn't say what you are adding Facebiook to. That makes sense to me.

You mentioned you had to "re-enter" the widget. This wll happen on occasion. The reason you have to re-enter could be one of many reasons: change of computer, change of browser, no use of a PhlooQ widget in a day or so between expressing interest, a cleared cache, etc...

While we are talking, how would you change the interface? How would you indicate the phone # is optional without making it too easy for people to skip? How would you implement the Add Facebook button so that it was clear you were Adding Facebook contacts to PhlooQ?

JANICE:

You got the main points just fine. As for what I'd address in the interface...

a. Easiest thing to do about the phone number (these are all and/or - do some or all):
1. just write "optional" in teeny letters to the right of the box or just under it, or "optional - may enter any 10 digit unique numerical ID"
2. add a "why my phone number" clickable text - open another small info window explaining all about how the ph # is used)
3. add in teeny letters near the box "to be used as your unique ID, not to share" or some such thing

b. For the Adding Facebook Button:
1. add a "what's this" clickable text - open another small info window explaining all about what's going to happen). In general I think you guys would benefit from having something on this popup screen where you could click and get more info about "What's "Q" or "What's PhlooQ" or "What's This?". The first exposure anyone might have to the service/function is a big Q near an event. That's it. The curious will click it. Then the reaction will likely be, "Huh? What is this and why are they asking for my phone number and getting me on Facebook"?

2. Change button label from ADD FACEBOOK - to something like CONNECT TO FACEBOOK or LINK FACEBOOK FRIENDS or (if you're eventually going to hook up to other piles of friends per your product roadmap) LINK TO YOUR FRIENDS or MEET UP WITH FRIENDS or HOOKUP WITH FRIENDS ... some kind of indication that this Q is going to associate events you're interested in with talking to your "friends" to see if they want to hookup at the place (I realize there is limited space for text...you could change the grammar: FRIENDS MEETUP, FRIENDS CONNECTION, FRIENDS HOOKUP...you get the idea).

DAVID:

Thanks so much for this. We will shuttle this over to Product and start looking at synthesizing these suggestions with the changes we already had in the pipe.

JANICE:

You are welcome. One last thought...

reading again about how the "Q" might be the only indicator of "do something with this event", you might want to consider naming the service and have that be identifiable under/near the Q - the Q itself may not be enough to get someone to click it. Like with "Share this", they have a visual identifier (the tinkertoy like icon or graph theory icon, depending upon your level of nerdiness) as well as text SHARE THIS. I got it immediately. I have no idea what the Q is for except once I know what your company's name is. But if you want to keep the Q maybe....

Q Q Q
Event Hookup Event Meetup Event Connection

Or some such...

DAVID:

Wow thanks again! Got it. Likely to just put rollover text on the Q but will see what the guys think about adding text beneath the Q. Recognition is a short term problem but until it is no longer a problem the text may very well be the right formula!
______________________

PHLOOQ CHOOSES LIFT AGENCY: LIFT BLOG

After much deliberation (and drawing out my decision to wait for late-coming proposals): we have chosen Michael Baumert's Lift Agency as our Web design firm.

Lift will be blogging about their process as they engage with us in the transformation of our skeleton site into a Web site that fits the needs of Publishers who come to our page looking for a social engagement widget to massively increase the connection between their visitors and the site.

I'll be keeping an eye on: http://www.liftagency.com/lifthome/ and be cross-linking when it makes sense.

Also, we'll be looking for votes and commentary on what you like and don't like as we forge ahead.

Rock-and-Roll!

PHLOOQ :: EVALUATING DESIGN FIRMS :: THE FINAL 3

I have spent the last week interviewing and soliciting proposals from design firms to design a Web site for PhlooQ (see http://phlooq.com).

The last few posts included some of the dimensions of what I am looking for in a design team for PhlooQ's web site. (A team that will ultimately drive the interfaces of the widgets, the ads we develop, and the brand identity in general.)

I may choose a firm and then decide to change creative direction but I'd prefer to find a design team that PhlooQ can grow with and keep as a partner over the long haul.

The dimensions that I talked about were:

1. Flexibility of mind

2. Ability to understand what we do, where we are, and where we are going

3. Demonstrated design capability

4. Affection for the team

5. Cost

6. Responsiveness

&

7. Risk taking

I called out #7 in my last post about "chickenshit." Everyone is a critic and these types will tell you what they don't like but they can't tell you what they would do instead. They won't risk putting their own ideas out there. My last post was focused on those folks who will tell you what they don't like but can't or won't tell you what they want to see.

These contributors fall into the people you hire to complain to you...they will tell you all that is wrong and wait around for you to give them another idea to complain about. They revel in the self-satisfaction of telling you that yet again another idea is bad or wrong. These folks wait around until you give them the safest, least common denominator idea: an idea so basic that they can't find a complaint about it. And then they encourage you to execute on that!

I want a design firm (and friends, and partners, and colleagues, and even customers) who will upgrade the quality of their complaints to constructive suggestions for improvement. I am interested in people who take the time to walk through the thought exercise of asking themselves, "I don't like this for this reason, okay so why is that? And now that I know why I don't like it, I can actually explain how this might be done better!"

I am looking for a design firm that is an endless fountain of ideas for improvement--I mean, I know when the UI sucks. I want you to create a solution that I didn't think of--I don't want to sit around and tell you all the ways it can be better and then watch you copy down my thinking and spit it back to me.

I've spent the last few days uncovering my own thinking about hiring a design firm. I have made transparent my flaws and my predispositions...I have narrowed the field down to three firms:

Skona
Kasman/Squillante
Lift

Skona: http://www.skona-advertising.com

Skona had the team I really felt akin to. There was something about their vibe that I bought into. Plus I love the demonstrated design skill from their Meyer Sound ad campaign. The "real" quality that is part of their Voice won me over. I was not so impressed with the Web sites they did. I felt like they had a decent idea of what we did though they did not request to connect with me on Facebook. That said the vibe was good and the way they talk about committing to an effort until a client is satisfied was great.

Kasman/Squllante: http://www.ksgraphic.com/

This pair probably had the highest pure design skill of any firm I looked at. Their minimalist approach was almost showy in how it made apparent their design skill. The way they think through the design problems they have solved is worth highlighting. I like these two very much! ...but felt like I would have to work on "connecting" with them. I also felt they were very deliberate and the kind of time pressure I might put on them could really squirrel the relationship.

Lift: http://liftagency.com

This group demonstrated the greatest flexibility of mind. The dynamic mind of the lead designer, Baumert, was impressive...as he seemed to think fast and react quickly. Every idea I tossed out he responded to and built on in a way I was hoping one might--with a twist or two I had not thought of! He is on Facebook and RSVP'd to the PhlooQ meetup event in Foster City (see http://phlooq.com). Also his demonstrated design skill is top notch. I liked the Dislocated Clothing part of his portfolio. Also, his proposal had cool surprises in it-- a risk taker!

Tomorrow? The winner!

CHICKENSHITS: MORE ABOUT MY THINKING WHEN IT COMES TO CHOOSING A DESIGN FIRM

Generally speaking Silicon Valley has the rap of being a place where experimentation and innovation have deep roots. A place where we will try anything and have fun doing it.

Unfortunately in my experience over the last decade that is more of pleasant self-delusion than the real character of the place. Our true nature is that we behave according to smalltown backwater politics. We operate with cronyism and fear as our primary driver of our decisions.

Don't get me wrong, we love our own ideas (but hate everyone else's). We are great critics! But we are actually horrible early adopters. But this is what gives SV start-ups a Darwinian edge. If you can succeed in place where most people make themselves feel good by dissing other people's ideas (before they try and steal them for themselves) your edge is pretty sharp.

Consider that most start-ups face an environment where most of the investors, businesses, and pundits are so incredibly chickenshit that unless they are paid 10k and see their 5 closest friends doing it they are not going to touch a new idea with a ten foot pole.

The pleasant part of this is that great ideas and products will succeed in broader markets if they can succeed in our myopic subculture. And here I am, a deep part of our little backwater where we pretend to take risks. But most of us, really, are all huddled around the card table of our little ideas ever afraid the big bad wolf is going to come and blow our house down.

I have met dozens of entrepreneurs who have crushed their own ideas by locking them in a box under their beds, ever afraid this guy or that guy or this business or that investor is going to steal their oh so brilliant idea. They are chickenshit. Chickenshit of failure.

Chickenshit their idea wasn't really that good in the first place. Those other businesses the entrepreneur was afraid of? They are chickenshit too...and if they do steal your idea that behavior will come around and crush them in the end anyways. Those investors you are so afraid of that are going to take a struggling portfolio business and make them execute on your idea--they are chickenshit too.

So for better or worse as I push PhlooQ's engagement widget into the marketplace I have decided I will not act like a chickenshit nor will I do business with people who are chickenshit. This means that I am interested in people from the design firm I am choosing, to the investors we connect with, to the publishers we engage with, I will not operate as if the sky is falling.

I have gotten more email in the past few days from tire kickers than I care to deal with. If you really want to implement PhlooQ's widget I can turn a widget over to you in a few minutes but if all you want to do is talk, and talk, and talk some more--please move on.

At PhlooQ we are moving toward a self service model. In the next iteration, publishers will just login, push a few buttons and have customized PhlooQ code and widget for their site. In this way those who really want to implement PhlooQ's social engagement widget can do so quickly and on demand. Then chickenshits will have no reason to call me at all! Wahoo!

This does not mean PhlooQ does not want to provide every possible piece of information you need in order to implement. On the contrary, we want to be completely transparent in our process. So not only will we answer all the questions you need to feel comfortable with an implementation, but we will even implement for you on your behalf for free!

The implementation of a widget involves 2 steps. One placing a script source tag in the header of your pages and then dropping 75 characters or so of HTML into the place where you want the widget and you are done. Want a second widget for your site? Change one value of one parameter (and you can automate this) and you have a second widget...and so forth.

I have a self-image that I carry around that I fit this Serial Entrepreneur mold. Perhaps I am delusional but I am, for better or worse, typical ( if one can use that word ). I am a geek who graduated from one of the geekiest of schools: Carnegie Mellon. I watch Project Runway. I dive with great white sharks, love skiing and snowboarding and art. I buy in when the market is down. I watch the UFC. And I am constantly generating new ideas for products and helping other entrepreneurs execute on such ideas. I have spent alot of time around alot of people who take risk and make it work. And I have spent too much time around people who claim to be entrepreneurs and risk takers but have never actually taken any risks.

So how does this apply to choosing a design firm? I did not explicitly include "willingness to take risks" in the dimensions of my decision making in my last post. But I should have. I don't believe the willingness to take risk means be "flamboyant." Sometimes, the riskiest thing to do is be reserved and minimalist. That said if I perceive people I work with as assurance seekers, as people disinterested in really taking risk in a project,that will count against them.

I am not a one issue voter--so if I sense a design firm is risk averse this will not eliminate them from contention. But it won't help.

A little self-examination: do you "think" you are a risk taker or are you really a risk taker?