Disqus - Latest Comments for jlaing

Re: Letter to college students

jlaing — Sat, 12 Mar 2016 01:03:23 -0000

Great advice, reminds me of a lot of the book The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter--And How to Make the Most of Them Now (http://www.amazon.com/Defin....

Re: SEO for Non-dicks - Matt Legend Gemmell

jlaing — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 12:58:57 -0000

There are lots of valid criticisms of capitalism and especially corporatism. That's besides the point. This is the system we live under, and the conditions.

Also what exactly is morally objectionable about creating a blog network? Is it morally objectionable to hire writers? Own web sites? Link those websites together in whatever fashion you desire? So what if your aim is to rank higher than others. What's wrong with that goal? Is all competition bad?

I guess it depends how you go about making that blog network. Concealing your identity does seem somewhat shady. But where exactly is the line? And who are the arbitrators of morality in this competition? Google? They make their money here, they can't be unbiased. A competitor? You?

Is it morally objectionable to name your company AAA Moving in a world where the yellow pages and alphabetized listings rule?

BTW I'm not an SEO so I'm not selling rankings or the web as a commodity. Also I'm sort of playing devils advocate here, because I do agree you should do the ethical thing. The world just isn't that black and white.

Re: SEO for Non-dicks - Matt Legend Gemmell

jlaing — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 19:46:42 -0000

Tom is totally right on here. In the real world of commerce there is fierce competition and you will get walked all over if you just sit back and say "the best content will win". I know a lot of awesome sites that are being out ranked by crap for money terms.

Re: Why I sold my startup, Sparkbuy, to Google

jlaing — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 00:00:58 -0000

Did you get a lot of criticism of your decision to sell? Or is this more self reflection?
Sounds like a really smart move and awesome opportunity.
Congrats and well done!

Re: Scripting News: Google Yawn

jlaing — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 17:42:43 -0000

Good point. It is frustrating to the consumer if they don't know if a product is going to stick around.
I think this is a bottom-up versus a top-down development debate. Google likes to think of itself as bottom-up-developer-driven. Microsoft is a lot more top down as far as I can tell.There's no roadmap to follow for these companies. That is for sure.

Re: Scripting News: Google Yawn

jlaing — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 17:04:54 -0000

There is a lot of heavy case selection going on here. It's easy to point to cases where Google/MS/BigTechCo has failed with follow on products. Wins are infrequent and hard to accomplish. However MS and Google have both had big follow on wins. Everyone I know uses Gmail and Google Maps (and all the Google Maps counterparts). Android? Chrome browser?
Google does iterate on what it sees potential in. It's also not afraid to kill what it got wrong.
btw Froogle is not dead by anymeans. It's Google Product Search fully integrated into google's main search product and being tied into Places. Tons of iteration going on here.

Re: Enough Is Enough

jlaing — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 12:13:42 -0000

Agreed.
Software patents are for sure about consolidating power and stifling innovation. Bootstrapping innovators don't have the time or money to go after patents. And if they do, they are worthless because they don't have the resources to defend them.The only people that benefit from the software patents are the already powerful and rich.
Not to mention the fact that software should be copyrighted and not patented. Physical processes are supposed to be what is patentable.
The system is completely broken for software patents.
The only people I hear arguing for continuing software patents are IP lawyers and others who profit.
Software already has property rights. It's called copyright. It's well established and works just fine.

Re: http://garyvaynerchuk.com/post/3506001136

jlaing — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 14:21:23 -0000

Excited to read the book! I usually end my blog posts with a thank you to customers for making my job possible. One thing I just thought of is I should be encouraging my support techs. to throw out some thank you's more often, not sure if they are saying those words specifically.

Re: Rethinking “F@#$ You Money”

jlaing — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 03:01:17 -0000

I was going to write a reply about how $5m isn't really FU money (in my book). But this is sorta missing the point. The point seems to be that you should be putting your time/heart/soul into something meaningful. If you're doing it just for the money then a) you probably won't succeed b) you probably aren't going to make enough to make up for time spent. You only live once. Do what you love.

Re: The Freedom of Transparency

jlaing — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 12:11:33 -0000

I wouldn't be surprised if there is something even more insidious lurking behind the program. Though if it's just that they wanted you to interact with them and know that you were getting the bonus, that is odd. And I would agree your approach would be better. Did you read all the terms and conditions? Are you sure you aren't signed up for some sort of credit protection insurance now or something?

Re: Olympia Coffee Roasting Co.

jlaing — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:48:03 -0000

They need a bigger sign closer to the road. Hopefully they can break the curse of that location (seems like businesses cycle out of there pretty quick).

Re: The Press Coffeehouse and Lounge

jlaing — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 15:26:04 -0000

Great for lunch! Gourmet sandwiches.

Re: Gary Vaynerchuk - Product and Brand : YOUR TIME Your time is going...

jlaing — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 00:46:33 -0000

Totally agree, the more you focus on customer support/interaction the better you will do.
BUT: Don't ignore your actual product because you're spending all your time promoting and interacting. There is a lot of value to spending time building a more useful, easier to use, etc product.

Re: 14 tips for building a startup sales team

jlaing — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 14:41:59 -0000

Nothing in this article indicated it was only for enterprise software or for products costing $20,000 or more. I have no experience selling products that cost that much so I can't speak to that, nor was I attempting to.

Many people in my industry (solutions often costing $1k-$10k) consider having sales staff mandatory. Our company is growing while competing with these players with no sales team. All we have is knowledgeable support staff that answer questions from potential leads.

Premising your argument with a statement about age is a cheap shot.

If everyone did everything the way it has always been done progress would grind to a halt.

What role was your "wise man" in when he told you that? Sales or CEO? just wondering.

Re: 14 tips for building a startup sales team

jlaing — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 23:03:17 -0000

These sound like great points but I disagree with the premise that you must have a sales force.
Your product alone can't sell itself (unless it is an extreme exception to the rule) but your product + marketing + support staff can sell your product by themselves without traditional sales staff.

Re: Kenny and Trevor are cooking it up at The Gyro Spot!

jlaing — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 19:52:21 -0000

Anyone have a review?

Re: Th frustrating process of politics

jlaing — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 15:31:12 -0000

As best I can see.. olympia's total budget is $98 million.. and total cost for parking is $1.1 million.. santa cruz is $147 million versus $3.5 million. They spend a lot more of their budget on parking.

http://www.ci.santa-cruz.ca...
"The City of Santa Cruz has 22 parking lots in the downtown area. Sixteen of them are free, with time limits The other six of them are pay parking. The map below shows the locations of the parking lots. For information about a particular lot, click on the number of the lot."

Not saying that Olympia should exactly try to copy that because each city is unique.
But still I'm wondering why we need Diamond parking lots? Does Diamond own these lots? Are they leased from other land owners. More information would be nice.

Also yes. What's up with the residential meters? Why aren't the home owners on those streets asked if they want them before they are put in? What's the purpose of those meters if not to making parking for the home owners easier??

Re: Th frustrating process of politics

jlaing — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 19:46:41 -0000

Santa Cruz (not much bigger than Olympia - where I'm from) has a two story parking garage that's 100% free all the time + 2 x 4 story parking garage that is pay sometimes and free others + a couple of lots that are free. It might be 2x the size of Olympia so it seems like it could be reasonable for a city the size of Olympia to have a couple lots that were free.
Personally I can't stand the city parking office + city council decisions on parking. They put meters in front of my house where no one but residents ever park because it made a square box on their parking map instead of actually thinking street by street what should be there.

Re: Th frustrating process of politics

jlaing — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 17:50:55 -0000

Seriously. 90 minute and 3 hour parking is pretty much it. You have to be from here and know to find 9 hour spots (and they are outside of the core streets). Why do we have to have all these private Diamond lots? Can the city buy some of these lots or lease them from Diamond and open them up as free parking?

Re: Construction on City Hall Site effecting 4th Avenue, 5th Avenue, Chestnut Street and Cherry Street

jlaing — Thu, 14 May 2009 20:19:12 -0000

Anyone know how long the pile driving is going to take?

Re: Why Downtown is Great

jlaing — Thu, 14 May 2009 20:14:43 -0000

My wife and I were just talking about this as we walked past empty lots in the heart of down town. Why is Lacey a vast ever expanding waste land of sub-divisions when there are perfectly good infill lots available right in the center of Olympia???
The insanity of it is mind numbing.
I hope that gas goes to $5+/gallon and motivates people to get out of these far-flung sub-divisions.
Apologies if you bought a house out in the middle of no where and your bank account is going to be ruined by $5/gallon gas, but you made a mistake and the best thing for all of us is if it's corrected as quickly as possible.

Re: How To Inspire People To Be Passionate About Your Business – With Tom Szaky

jlaing — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 19:03:57 -0000

Love his tenacious spirit. Definitely agree, for most businesses success is just a matter of not giving up. I've heard this from so many successful entrepreneurs now.
Andrew thanks for bringing us these great interviews!

Re: MerchantOS » Girl in Your Shirt » InYourShirt.tv Internet Television

jlaing — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 13:04:07 -0000

Awesome job on the video! Very professional. Will recommend to others.