We just wrapped up a great podcast with Wright Steenrod over at Chrysalis Ventures. We had a great time digging into their model and gleaning his insights.

As an added bonus, we provide a double dose of “Under the Bus”: Mike tosses some alcoholic StartupLounge haters under the bus, and I pile on and “gently nudge” some regional VCs into oncoming traffic. We also have a nice batch of your emails and a great Thanksgiving comedy bit to round out a lengthy, but great show!

Cheers.

As a bonus, we threw the service provider community “Under the Bus” (because they had it coming.) Also, you won’t want to miss the announcement of the first StartupLounge.com Capital Connections event!

I say “torrid” because it feels that way. We’re doing 2-3 shows a month now, and we’re finding that it is an enormous undertaking to put each show together. We have several meetings prior to each show, where we go over questions for the guest, show format, flow, future show lineups, etc. There are also several hours of post-production editing and mixing. The actual recording of the show is the smallest activity, in terms of actual time spent. So after just 8 shows, we’re right at 1,700 listeners now. Seeing that number climb with each show and reading your emails and comments is nice motivation to keep pushing us along.

A special thanks to Stephen for coming on the show and rolling up his sleeves to help entrepreneurs everywhere.

Cheers.

On a related note, Tino will be appearing as our January guest over on the StartupLounge.com podcast, so be sure to stay tuned for that. We’ll be discussing TAG’s role in promoting entrepreneurship in Georgia.

Cheers.

Cheers.

To open source, or not to open source? That is the question that CIOs have been asking themselves for the better part of a decade. And while the argument for open source grows stronger every day, especially at the enterprise level, questions still remain. Being the new CIO doesn’t help either. You just never know what political minefield awaits you.

The other day I found myself sitting quasi-comfortably in an interview for a CIO position. This particular organization had a technology environment that wasn’t necessarily all that complex, but it was deemed mission critical to their operations. At one point in the interview, the CEO asked me the following question:

What are your views on open source versus proprietary/COTS (Commercial-Off-The-Shelf) software?

Generally speaking, before an interview, I will have researched the company, its technology, and its principals to the fullest extent allowed to me by the major search engines, my personal business networks, and other “valued” resources on the net (such as searching the major job boards to try to find some hiring profiles for their technologists – a great way to begin gathering intelligence about their business model and system architectures). Unfortunately, I had very little information on this firm’s technology platform, so my canned (but well thought out) answer to his question would have to suffice. There would be no tailoring and positioning this time around.

On the one hand, if you respond with something along the lines of “open source is great; I love it; it is the best thing since 32-bit registers”, you run the risk of isolating yourself if the organization has not embraced the open source movement. On the other hand, if you respond with “open source is folly, give me Microsoft or give me death”, you run the risk of being labeled something completely different, and again, isolating yourself. So, you have to straddle the fence, but you try to do so as intelligently as possible.

I also am very careful not to tread into the political side of the open-source debate. I view things primarily through the business-benefit prism. I could care less about people who use open-source solutions solely because they “hate Microsoft”, “want Bill Gates to slide under a moving milk truck”, or “believe that software should be free”. The “I hate the system” spiel is so 1967.

The following is a longer, more structured version of what I served up as my answer to that interview question, but the general tenets remain:

Implementing a solution grounded in open-source code is not something to tread into lightly, although it can provide certain benefits. However, the extent to which those benefits reach depends upon a wealth of criteria:

1. First and foremost, the obvious business prism questions. What business problem does an open-source tool solve? What inherent business benefits am I going to obtain by using it?

2. New system or existing? Are we talking about building a new system from the ground up with very few constraints, or are we talking about an existing system that is mired with them?

3. What is the company culture, at both the technology and management levels? Will the company’s culture support open-source?

4. Do you have the right skillsets in house, and the right mentality for open source? In other words, will there be a learning curve on the implementation side, or is this going to be a no-brainer for your staff?

5. What are the integration points with your customers (internal and external), vendors, partners, etc.?

6. What are the cost ramifications? What is the total cost of ownership of these systems? True, open-source software is generally freely available, but there could be hidden costs. This goes back to all of the questions above. For example, if you don’t have the skills to implement the solution in house, then there would inherently be some form of training cost, followed by opportunity cost. Or, perhaps services fees to a systems integrator.

7. On the other hand, in organizations where the company culture, the skillsets of the IT staff, and the business requirements are in line, open-source can represent a tremendous reduction in cost/COGS (cost-of-goods-sold) and development timeframes.

Satisfied with my answer, I looked at the CEO, patiently awaiting his response, or perhaps a followup question. Instead, he responded with:

Well, you should know that we are a .NET/C# shop, and that isn’t about to change.

Suffice it to say, he probably wasn’t thrilled with my answer, because in the end, it did leave the door open for open-source as a viable solution. I immediately responded with “but I’m not necessarily endorsing open-source as a panacea to solve all of your technology/business problems”, but I don’t think it did any good.

This particular fellow turned out not to be what I would call an “enlightened” CEO, at least as it pertains to the strategic deployment of technology.

An “enlightened” executive realizes that sometimes, in order to be agile within the marketplace, solutions need to shift. The landscape for technology changes each day – there is no such thing as a “long-term” solution anymore. Every solution we put into place has a half-life associated with it. You just hope that you make the right decisions that will lead to slightly longer half-lifes than those of your competition.

What say you? Share your thoughts on the open-source decision by using the comment form below! No registration is necessary, but all comments are moderated to prevent spam.

Cheers.

I am pleased to bring you the inaugural audio podcast here at The Pothole! Contrary to what some might think, you don’t need an iPod in order to listen to podcasts. Any web browser will do (simply click the play button below in order to play the podcast now!). There are lots of other ways to download and play podcasts, but that’s a discussion for another day.

Podcasting is simply the art of bringing audio content down to the listener level by “pushing” it through RSS feeds (or publishing it on a blog). If you are into podcasting, you already know all about how this process works. If you are new to podcasting, I would recommend visiting the following resources:

• Introduction to Podcasting from Washington University
  
• Podcasting News: What is Podcasting?
  
• Podcasting News: Getting Started with Podcasting
  
• Townpodcast.com: Introduction to Podcasting
  

If those resources don’t do the trick, simply search google.com for “podcasting introduction” or “podcasting” and you will have enough material with which to print out and wallpaper your living room.

We are experimenting with 2 different formats:

One format we are playing around with is a “weekly” format. This style of program will run about 20-40 minutes in length, be published once a week, and will provide audio discussions of the various articles that were posted the week before. This initial podcast is in this format.

The second format we are playing around with is more of an “article” format, whereby the podcast will generally focus around the content of that week’s main article (and would be published simultaneously along with the article). The length of these podcasts would be much smaller (5 minutes or so).

The stories covered in this podcast are:

• Why 5 Minute Jobbing is a Bad Idea
• Leveraging the Corporate Blog
• Those Spaminous Recruiters!
• Q4/2005 Tech Spending Uptick
• Networking Leads: 2/24/2006

Unlike many podcasts, we are striving for a very professional format and superb sound quality. So instead of recording on a $20 radio shack microphone on a tape deck, we are working live in a multi-track recording studio on some high-end equipment in order to obtain the best possible sound.

Please let me know what you think of the format, sound quality, and content. All suggestions welcome!

Cheers!

Recently I delivered a presentation on “Business Blogging” for the Kettering Executive Network, a C-level executive networking group here in Atlanta. In one of my slides, I offered up my view of the Atlanta executive blogging “scene” (or lack thereof, depending upon your perspective). There aren’t many of us, but that is slowly changing. Nevertheless, one Atlanta executive blogger stands out in my opinion.

In my opinion, Bill Nussey, the CEO of Silverpop is doing an outstanding job on his blog, located at www.billnussey.com. For my explanation as to why, listen to this “mini-podcast” of me discussing the Atlanta executive blogging scene (the play button beneath my signature). In essence, Bill is out there writing about the industry in which his firm plays, rather than writing about the actual solutions that his firm offers. Therein lies the fast track to fostering an atmosphere of trust with your customers, and accruing customer loyalty along the way. This is also a great way to differentiate your firm’s value proposition, especially in a crowded technology market.

Toby Bloomberg, President, Bloomberg Marketing
Larry Loucka, Lean/Six Sigma Executive
Bill Nussey, CEO, Silverpop
Charlie Paparelli, Atlanta Angel Investor
Sherry Heyl, What a Concept!
Michele Moore, Happiness Habit

What say you?

Cheers.