Category: Business

Any of you going to #Seattle’s “Network After Work” Event this Wednesday, March 22

Carl Setzer

Hey Seattle-based chums,

Any of you planning on attending “Network After Work Seattle at Amber“? It’s Wednesday evening right by Pike Place Market.

For me, driving to downtown mid-week/evenings is a bit of a pain. Back when I worked at Starbucks it was easy (it’s only a few minutes north, and, ostensibly, on my way home). Even when I was at Microsoft, heading into downtown was pretty straightforward. Marysville, though…well, with traffic, construction and all the other events in my life make these sorts of things challenging.

So, let me know if any of you are planning on going, or even just thinking of going.

Starbucks wants slice of the pizza business

Carl Setzer

I love Starbucks. They’re a great company to work for, and I think they’ve done an amazing job reading the economic tea-leaves and living ahead of the curve.

As for this, though. Not sure I agree this is the best move. Lots of pizza businesses out there. Can Starbucks really offer a unique take on pizza? I’m just not sold.

What do you think?

Starbucks wants slice of the pizza business

The coffee kingpin has targeted Seattle, New York, and Chicago for standalone Princi bakeries and plans to bring the Italian bakery’s focaccia and pizza to the company’s Reserve Roastery locations in New York and Shanghai. Princi food products also will be offered at Reserve stores, opening in Seattle and Chicago next year.(Puget Sound Business Journal)

My quote of the day

Carl Setzer

I came across this line by inimitable Seth Godin, who I admire greatly.

“Our job is to make change. Our job is to connect to people, to interact with them in a way that leaves them better than we found them, more able to get where they’d like to go. Every time we waste that opportunity, every page or sentence that doesn’t do enough to advance the cause is waste.”
from Linchpin

I’ve long seen this as a strength of mine, and one I long to continue to develop. I sincerely hope that at least some of the connections I’ve made have resulted in something wonderful.

 

I do not mind ads / Just make them work on mobile / Do not break the website

Carl Setzer

First, a quick note about the subject line. A friend challenged me to post on Twitter only in haiku for a day. I thought these subject lines would be fun, too.

Anyway, ads. As I’ve focused the past few years on marketing, I have no issue with web ads. Currently, they’re the way many web personalities and other sites pay their bills. Family feeding is a fun, fantastic feeling.

However, web designers need to build advertising around mobile. Too often advertising either destroys the user experience, or critically hampers it. Pop ups that can’t be cleared are big issues. Several times this week I’ve struggled with sites where the “close” button was off the screen, AND clicking on the ad took you to a new website. (Sidenote: web devs and designers, use the target attribute on anchor tags. Don’t build ads that push your readers away from your site!)

These things make your site unusable on mobile. And, let me reiterate what’s been stated myriad times: the web’s future is mobile. If your mobile experience sucks, you’re are already behind. Perhaps you’re ahead of the curve on being an anachronism. It’s hardly ideal.

Last year’s whole Google mobile-gedon thing should have pivoted sites over, but, well, nope. But then folks still build auto-play videos on their sites. Thought that went out with MySpace. Since I’m simply griping now, let me add popups asking me to subscribe upon page load. Let them learn what you’re about first. I’ve neverr subscribed to a site BEFORE I’VE READ ANYTHING! NEVER!!!! Build the pop-up to launch towards the end, if you must use them at all. I’d put the ask in the post body, personally.

Developers, build sites for positive experiences. Delight your readers, inspire them to come back again. Don’t give in to greed or desperation. They’re ugly.

If you’ve liked what you’ve read, please share, read more and subscribe.

Meandering Alderwood Mall And Other Delights

Carl Setzer

I’ve spent the last several hours wandering Alderwood Mall. Today, I won the nail in my tire lottery, and the nearest tire shop I could find: Sears (an open one, at least). The past three times this happened were Sundays. I wonder about this, for no really good reason. Perhaps the universe rages against me. Or my memory’s subjective nature took hold. Whatever…

I remember when this thing was built (the Mall, not my van). During construction we drove over, monitoring progress. Decades passed by, changes take hold: stores move, or go extinct, the food-court relocation and redesign (well done, I might add. Well, if you enjoy light). This entity’s changed with the times. Lynnwood, and the north-end of Puget Sound has changed dramatically. I don’t see old Camaros any more. And the number of BMWs grows exponentially.

With that, I noticed many stores that I’ve known for years, awareness-wise, but really know nothing about. Claim Jumper, Urban Outfitters, just to name a few. And there are a few I know well, but have lost focus on. Eddie Bauer comes to mind. After the sale to Spiegel, I stopped paying attention as quality plummeted, and, well, any sense of it as a Seattle company vanished. Lastly, I look at the Anthony’s restaurants here and think of the local chain, and how little I know about it.

Well, with so much to learn, there will be no shortage of opportunity to write in the near-term at least. If there’s anything you’d like me to add, send me a note or add a comment.

Thanks so very much for reading!

Startup letting strangers share hotel rooms. What could go wrong?

Carl Setzer

Just read this over at Geekwire:

This startup plans to let strangers share hotel rooms to save money

By Taylor Soper

A Seattle startup wants to help you save money on hotel room fares — but only if you’re willing to share a room with a stranger.

My first thought was “ick”. However, as I think of things, there’s a bit of this already going on. Sites/apps like Couchsurfing.com already facilitate something similar. Also, if you look over our culture’s history, sharing rooms with strangers wasn’t uncommon at all. Think about the beginning of Moby Dick, and the meeting between Ishmael and Queequeg.

After reading the article I expect that they’ve been thoughtful of the risks and concerns of this venture. I expect they should do well. I think there is a market for such a service, as long as the risks of carefully mitigated.

Wishing Winston Club the best of luck!

More people need to learn the beauty of bullet points and the glorious application of brevity.

Carl Setzer

So, just got another 10 page email “summarizing” updates made to one of the websites I work out of. This is just insane. Only geeks like me read that much “summary”. Well, folks like me and attorneys. I think more people need to learn the beauty of bullet points and the glorious application of brevity. Really. Clear, concise communications are, really, a beautiful thing. If nothing else, they respect their audience’s time. But, more to the point, they also respect intelligence. Reading through voluminous text is wearying.

Anyway, bullet point the updates then link to supplementals.

 

What is #Winning?

Carl Setzer

I read Om Malik’s great piece today about winning. Chris Michel looks like a delightful person, and the tale of their friendship exemplifies the power and delights of networking.

In the course of their recent conversation, defining “winning” comes up. I’ve been pondering that myself recently. Well, I’ve been looking at “success”, but it’s really the same discussion. I love Om’s thoughts on questions: starting the day with more questions than answers, ending the day thinking of new ones. I have one key add: pride. I want to feel good about what I do, both in terms of ethics and in terms of quality.

So, how about you? Let me know in the comments, via Twitter or Facebook.

Spotify’s Seattle Based Competitor

Carl Setzer

I’m sure most people would think I’m writing about Amazon Prime music, but no. Real Networks has been around for years. I used their player before iTunes, before Pandora, I’m pretty sure before Windows XP. They’ve been in this space a long time, but have not have regained the popular attention they had in the 1990s.

And, as Spotify announces huge, game changing pivots in the music/video space, Real brings back their founder and announces they’re moving into photo-sharing. As they’re bleeding cash, it’s hard not to see this as the final flails of a dying company. I deeply hope I’m wrong. Their immanent death has been predicted for years, and wrong. And I root for my home teams!