chris dumler

“I know that I’m old, but do you want to trade...

Tue, 22 May 2012 12:17:23 -0500

“I know that I’m old, but do you want to trade shoes?” - Uncle Drew

WELCOME TO THE VIRTUAL CRASH COURSE IN DESIGN THINKING “A...

Sun, 20 May 2012 23:33:07 -0500

WELCOME TO THE VIRTUAL CRASH COURSE IN DESIGN THINKING

“A 90-minute video-led cruise through our methodology”

behappy.me

Sun, 13 May 2012 11:52:28 -0500

behappy.me

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:09:00 -0500

behappy.me:

"An SEO walks into a bar, bars, alcohol establishment, restaurant, coors light, bud light, guiness,..."

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 19:43:17 -0500

“An SEO walks into a bar, bars, alcohol establishment, restaurant, coors light, bud light, guiness, katy perry, kate upton, beer, football”

- @MarkJeffrey

Lvl: Asians!

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 11:49:00 -0500

Lvl: Asians!:

Jason Shah: Lock Down a Paid Subscriber On Visit #1 | DollarShaveClub's Mancave UX Clubhouse

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 14:26:07 -0500

Jason Shah: Lock Down a Paid Subscriber On Visit #1 | DollarShaveClub's Mancave UX Clubhouse:

jasonshah:

Like millions of other people this week, I found out about DollarShaveClub through its undeniably hilarious viral intro video, “Our Blades Are F****** Great”. I will leave it to someone else to pick apart how incredibly brilliant the video itself is (insofar as any form of advertising can be…

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 17:30:31 -0600

"Providing jobs, driving the economy, serving the shareholder are not purposes. They are..."

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 17:20:39 -0600

“Providing jobs, driving the economy, serving the shareholder are not purposes. They are rationalizations used when a greater cause or purpose is not clear or not there. Real purpose has a clear and definitive direction. It is a path that points towards a very specific vision of the future. Rationalizations have no destination, they are simply a calculation to demonstrate some benefit to justify the actions. Rationalizations are just that: rational. In contrast, purpose is deeply emotional. This is why we feel passion and intense drive when we are involved with something that has purpose. And it’s why we get that sick feeling when we do something in violation of that purpose. There is no sick feeling from violating a rationalized purpose…nor is there an invigorating passion to pursue it.”

- Simon Sinek

http://blog.startwithwhy.com/refocus/2012/02/purpose-can-not-be-rationalized.html

Some thoughts on creating a great entrepreneurial ecosystem

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 16:58:00 -0600

I’ve just looked over Brad Feld’s outline for Startup Communities: Creating a Great Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in your City and , being a part of the developing startup community in Los Angeles, I decided to pull together my most recent perspective.

An Ecosystem is Cohesive

Most communities can probably point to a handful of local meetups or user groups occurring periodically in their city, but they might be hesitant to say they have a startup community there. Why? Most likely because there’s no real cohesion that connects those groups together in a meaningful way. The Hadoop group and the Node.js meetup are separate populations, even if members cross over. This, however starts to change when you…

Help Infrastructure Develop

The shared workspace is becoming a critical factor in startup ecosystem development. They evolve from the home office to the coffee shops and public libraries into multiple companies sharing an office or coworking facilities. But the common thread is the same: different people in the same environment with startup culture in common. I’ve heard a lot of people talk about diversity of skills being key in coworking spaces, and I believe there is some relevance, but I tend to think common culture is more important than diversity. Skill diversity helps with creativity, and it is important, but common culture helps momentum. For the new entrepreneur making the leap this is critical as they begin to…

Practice Entrepreneurship

It almost seems crazy to think that there’s a way to practice being an entrepreneur, but it is happening. Events like hackathons and Startup Weekend are two obvious examples of where entrepreneurs spend intense amounts of time learning by doing. The risk is low and because of this sense of safety new entrepreneurs are able to express themselves in actionable ways like they’ve never been able to before. The well-known entrepreneur Sam Wyly has a quote that I think about a lot. He says, “If you don’t know who you are, being an entrepreneur is an expensive way to find out.” While I believe that expense is there for an important reason, I do think that it’s becoming less expensive in a way that’s just as important. The ability to practice building a company through simulation or some other method inevitably grows into prototypes, products, and new businesses that entrepreneurs can be proud of. Even if it’s a failure, a platform of learning is established that hopefully leads to future success. For this reason, when a startup has something to show off I like to…

Let them share, Let them be proud

Not everything is going to be a win. Not everything is even going to be good. But from my perspective as a community member I want to encourage startups to share what they’re doing. I want them to get feedback from other stakeholders in the community. I believe in this way they can get better. Having local “megaphones”, professional and amateur journalists willing to promote the startups is really valuable to the community as a whole. Having places where startups can promote what they’ve done helps generate buzz. It also tends to bring startups together as they recognize commonalities. This is important because…

Connecting to other founders keeps you going

Anyone who has participated in a startup knows how lonely it can be. Few outsiders understand what you do. Fewer understand why you do it. Being able to connect to other founders and team members on a social level just keeps you going because, in a way, it’s validating. No one else gets your jokes, cares about the things you read, or understands what inspires you in the same way. Being able to grab drinks with other startups - and having places where this happens routinely - helps in the obvious practical ways (talent and knowledge sharing) but also in ways that are beneficial to the psyche. The dark side of course is that occasionally the emotional turbulence can lead to….

Infighting that will destroy your ecosystem

Passionate people are passionate people and they’re not always going to agree. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it can quickly get messy if there is internal community infighting and it will really slow the growth of your developing ecosystem. To combat this…

Continually reiterate and promote the values of your community

Create a community where helping each other is encouraged and where people are excited about growing the ecosystem. It’s not all selfless. Supporting positive community values helps all of the stakeholders and the businesses that support them.

I have numerous thoughts about this topic and hope to dive into more of the details about workspace as community as I watch the Los Angeles startup ecosystem develop. My perspective continues to evolve as I get to meet more new entrepreneurs and ecosystem stakeholders. But as we head into 2012, these are the components I am reminded of.

Happy New Year!

See thoughts on this same topic from:
Marc Nager Contribution to Brad Feld’s “Startup Communities” post
The Franck ENTREPRENEURIAL ECOSYSTEMS : DO OR DO NOT THERE IS NO TRY

This film captures the journey of two individuals at Startup...

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 11:54:33 -0600

This film captures the journey of two individuals at Startup Weekend in Toronto: Ronan Levy (Delirious App) and Eugene Woo (Vizualize.me), and explores what it means to start your own business.

Loved it.

"The question is, will your failure be the lesson that enables someone else to be successful or will..."

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 10:22:31 -0600

“The question is, will your failure be the lesson that enables someone else to be successful or will you get the benefit of your failure?”

- Should Entrepreneurs Buy Into the “Changing Pace” of Innovation from @FastCompany

The article will give you insights to chew on, but it’s the above question that lingers in my mind.

And I think I got it to a point where I’m very...

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 15:29:49 -0600

And I think I got it to a point where I’m very comfortable with two simple principles. Which is, when looking at what you want to do with your life, find the way to optimize who it is, the quality of the people that you get to work with and the flow of opportunities that you’re going to be in the middle of because great people support each other and build great networks that reinforce this recycling of opportunities.

And the second is, great opportunities are essentially where you go next.

Randy Komisar on Optimizing Career and Life Opportunities via Stanford eCorner

Travel essentials: Belkin Mini Surge Protector Dual USB Charger

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 12:16:32 -0600

Travel essentials: Belkin Mini Surge Protector Dual USB Charger:

I try to keep this with me always. While not perfect, it’s small and superbly functional.

bmull:

I highly highly recommend this device.

connectedtravelling:

When we travel, we try to pack as little as possible. On this trip, I tried to limit myself to 13 pounds. That’s really not a lot of stuff, so it’s critical that we only bring necessary stuff.

When I packed the “Belkin Mini Surge Protector Dual USB Charger” (recommended to me by Joe…

America's Healthy Infatuation With Entrepreneurs - The Atlantic

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 12:23:35 -0500

America's Healthy Infatuation With Entrepreneurs - The Atlantic:

We cheer for them because they represent our youthful hopes, our idealism, our ambitions and our dreams. And when these entrepreneurs defy the extraordinary odds, and succeed, we rejoice, for at the moment we can sense, if only fleetingly, the exceptional untapped potential within each of us. We rejoice, and wonder: what if?

For whatever reason, nothing has inspired like this has. My...

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 16:22:59 -0500

For whatever reason, nothing has inspired like this has. My favorite talk. Thanks @plibin.

foodlatio: Los Angeles, I Love You

Sun, 18 Sep 2011 17:05:51 -0500

foodlatio: Los Angeles, I Love You:

foodlatio:

You met her at a bar.
She was a perfect 10.
Actress. Model. Dancer. Whatever.

You’ve seen her in pictures, watched her on TV, and heard about her from friends but you always wondered. And now she is right in front of you, but there’s just one problem, she’s a raging bitch.

She rarely…

"You can’t solve this problem alone. You’re rebuilding an ecosystem. Who are the other organizations..."

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 09:16:34 -0500

““You can’t solve this problem alone. You’re rebuilding an ecosystem. Who are the other organizations that must be part of your solution if this is going to succeed?””

- Revitalizing Struggling American Cities (August 16, 2011) | Stanford Social Innovation Review (via billyb)

I am with @umairh (Umair Haque) on this one. Ideas matter. It is...

Sun, 28 Aug 2011 14:27:25 -0500

I am with @umairh (Umair Haque) on this one. Ideas matter. It is a skill to communicate the ideas in your head in a way that has meaning to others. And it is important to challenge your ideas to be substantial.

First Tweet

Michael Dell’s Dorm Room Startup Summit Forbes has a...

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 17:04:26 -0500

Michael Dell’s Dorm Room Startup Summit

Forbes has a pretty good transcript of the event as well.