Reading time: 3 – 4 minutes

There were a lot of great posts in the last 24 hours which I am normally content to leave in the “Posts Worth Reading” on the right hand side of the site. However, these posts in particular deserve some spotlight so I am going to do a quick round-up for all of you. Here it goes!

Good Magazine Launches

I found out about Good Magazine via my friend Frank’s post. Since he did a great job explaining it I won’t delve into too much detail. Suffice it to say that Good Magazine will tap into the new social movement and talk about people and businesses doing good in the world. With so much of the news out there being about bad things Good Magazine is truly a breath of fresh air. They are also donating a lot of money to charity which is definitely a good thing. They have both print and web editions so you get to choose how you want to read Good (100% of your print subscription payment goes to the organization of your choice).

The Barenaked Ladies Release New Album DRM Free via Amie Street

As some of you know I am advisor to Amie Street so I was excited to see that they recently signed a deal with the Nettwerk Music Group. Nettwerk will be loading their catalogue of artists onto Amie Street going forward with the first album being the new Barenaked Ladies release. This is a huge step forward for Amie Street since it will show that they can work for larger labels and artists. When other large labels start understanding that DRM free music at market determined prices is the way to go Amie Street will be there to make it happen. Nice work guys!

Business Tips Gleaned from Mountain Biking

Paul Kedrosky has a great post today about things in mountain biking that are analogous to business. Being a mountain biker myself (at least until I moved out to the flatlands to join FeedBurner) I would agree whole heartedly with his observations. Check out the post even if you’re not a biker because there are some good business tips to be had.

Are you thinking of working for a start-up?

Reginald Braithwaite has a post up today about how to value the options you receive as part of joining a start-up to see if it is “worth it.” While a lot of us do the start-up thing mainly because we want to work on a project we’re passionate about and with people who are at the top of their respective games we still need to make a living. This post isn’t super technical which is why I love it. It simply shows you how to look at the numbers from the start-up in comparison to a more stable job (what job is really stable anyway?) in order to figure out the overall financial impact of joining a start-up. A couple quick takeaways: 80% of ventures fail so be prepared for failure – and – be the entrepreneur/founder if you really want to have the chance to do better money wise (entrepreneur is above employee in the scheme of things but also carries more risk).

Reading time: 1 – 2 minutes

John Mahoney of InstantInformation has kicked off a series of videos he calls Practical RSS. The aim of the videos is to teach potential feed consumers what the benefits of feeds are and how they can use the technology to better their web experience. The first video explains what feeds are and how to subscribe to and read feeds in very basic terms. The explanation is a good one and I, for one, am looking forward to more Practical RSS videos in the future. To check out show #1 just click the image below and if you want to make sure to catch all of the latest videos in the series you should subscribe to John’s blog (yes, I know he’s not using FeedBurner yet – I’m on it).

Reading time: 1 – 2 minutes

I am happy to report that our CEO, Dick Costolo, is now back to regular blogging with his new offering Ask the Wizard. Dick was inspired by Jason and Brad’s blog, Ask the VC, to get going again and to create a blog where he could answer some burning questions all entrepreneurs have about starting and running businesses.

Dick is not only an experienced entrerpreneur he’s also hillariously funny and full of sarcasm so the blog will be both useful and very entertaining. The topics covered already range from non-founder equity issues, bringing in outside directors and pitching companies. I have read each post and they are well worth your time (I swear I am not just saying that since he’s the big boss). Don’t believe me – check out Brad’s post.

Give the site a read and subscribe to the feed while you’re there. I am sure you’ll be glad you did. Glad to see you writing again Dick!

Reading time: 2 – 3 minutes

Read/Write Web put out a great piece today regarding the adoption of web 2.0 services by mainstream media. The good news is it looks like the mainstream media companies are adopting the new ideas and it looks like Time is leading the pack. Now that the mainstream media is using web 2.0 services it will be interesting to see what the usage of those services by their readers looks like but that’s a whole other post. In this post I’d like to discuss the feed side of things.

As you can see from the Read/Write web chart below, feeds seem to be the most prevalent of services with every site surveyed having at least one.

Since just about every mainstream media company now has feeds the automatic Internet Explorer 7 upgrade from a couple months ago and the launch of Microsoft Vista are even more significant.

Both IE7 and Vista have built in feed reading platforms meaning that many of the worlds’ computer users will now be shown feeds for the first time. In fact, IE7 has a great way of presenting and describing feeds that treats them more like bookmarks which people can easily understand (yes, I know firefox has done this for a while but more of the mainstream audience are IE users and have not seen that).

As we all know, the value proposition of feeds is a no brainer so once these users give them a shot they will likely be hooked (hopefully so hooked that they start looking at independent content as well and subscribing to it).

It is looking like 2007 will be the year of the feed in terms of mainstream audience adoption which gets me very excited since I sleep and live and breathe feeds, syndication and distributed media every day at FeedBurner. We’re just about across the chasm now and it feels good (there has to be a song in there somewhere).

Reading time: 2 – 2 minutes

The Media 2.0 Workgroup launched today and I am happy to be a part of it. The group will include people from many different perspectives including the people fighting hard to bring large media companies into the future, people who work to build tools for new media, people who have built new media empires from the ground up and the list goes on from there.

My site definitely pales in comparison to others in the group including Scott Karp of Publishing 2.0, Ian Forrester of the BBC, Jeff Pulver of Pulver Media and Stowe Boyd of /Message which are good reads. I am also honored to be in the company of good friends like Frank Gruber of AOL who co-founded TECH cocktail with me and writes a great blog. I know I am going to learn a lot form the members of the group and I only hope that I can add some insight into the mix.

From the release:

“The Media 2.0 Workgroup is a group of industry commentators, agitators, and innovators who believe the phenomena of democratic participation will change the face of Media Creation, Distribution and Consumption. Join the conversation…”

Joining the conversation is what it’s all about so get in there and start participating and learning with the rest of us!

Reading time: 6 – 10 minutes

I am happy to report that TECH cocktail 3 was a huge success (although I am a bit biased I suppose). More people than ever, close to 600 or so, piled into Amira at the NBC Tower for TC3 and I think we can safely say it was the largest gathering of great people and great tech ideas/companies in Chicago history (or at least since the bubble burst).

I personally met a lot of new people and got to catch up with a lot of entrepreneurs I already knew who are doing some great stuff (Menuism.com, ParkWhiz.com, etc.). In fact, I did so much talking that I completely forgot to get a drink, get food or take pictures! If you took some please let me know and make sure to tag them techcocktail3.

I won’t go into a description of the night since, quite frankly, many people have done a better job than I could. Check out these posts for an unbiased look at TC3:

Chicagoist – WindyBits – Networking Insight – Two Bit Operation

There are a lot of people I need to thank for making TECH cocktail 3 possible and the list starts with my girlfriend and her friends Lisa and Felicia who worked the registration booth all night. You guys were great and the event would have been a mess without you. Laura and I owe you both dinner soon!

Next up – our sponsors:

SingleHop: These guys do some serious web hosting and also have some serious fun. Without them TECH cocktail 3 wouldn’t have been the same. From the ice frogs dispensing martinis to the covering that vast majority of the bar tab these guys make it happen big time for the Chicago tech community.

Please make sure to get your dedicated servers from them since your purchase helps them to continue to build a successful business and to support the Chicago tech community like no other company. Thanks again guys!

MK Capital: The MK guys have been supporters since TC2. These guys are very community focused and they continue to be helpful to entrepreneurs in the midwest and around the country. If you’re looking for money to fund your company please let me know and I can get you hooked up with them.

Liquid Talk Networks: Dave Peak – the CEO of Liquid Talk – is a great guy and approached me because he wanted to help the community in Chicago grow. I love situations like this where new companies can help the community and we can help them get exposure. For anyone looking to make their corporate knowledge mobile please give me a shout and I’ll connect you to Dave.

Digital Bootcamp: These guys not only help the community time and time again they also teach people how to use the tech we all love. They are single handedly raising the nerds per capital ratio. If you want to learn a new program or brush up on one you used to know Digital Bootcamp is the place to go.

Chicagoland Entreprenurial Center: Jason Jacobsohn has been a great help and has also brought the CEC in make TC3 possible. These guys help entrepreneurs of all kinds all day so they were logical partners for TC. If you ever need any help, connections, etc. while starting your business please check out the CEC. They are there for you.

Origin Ventures: These guys are first time TC sponsors and we are glad to have them aboard. If you are a super early stage company and need some cash to get your business going definitely talk to Origin. The guys are great and I would be more than happy to hook you up with them.

Handler, Thayer and Duggan: These are the guys that brought you roulette and are flying one of you to Vegas. Enough said there right? HTD is a law firm here in town so please check them out if you need some lawyering (is that even a word?). Seriously though – check these guys out. They are a lot of fun (which is rare for lawyers) and can help your business.

Frost, Ruttenberg and Rothblatt, P.C.: These guys make stuff behind the scenes at TC go smoothly. They help Frank and I with our TC tax returns and all that fun stuff. If you are looking for a great accounting firm for your business please check these guys out. They are supporting our community and we should support them.

Next up – The Entrepreneurs

I won’t go into too much detail here due to the fact I want to keep this post under a million words but check these guys out when you have a chance. They were showing off some great tech last night so if you missed it here’s your chance to catch up!

SwapSimple: Used Book, DVD and Video Game Exchange based right here Chi-town. Check them out if you’re looking for some good entertainment and have some to swap.

Weave the People: They create social networking components for your enterprise, association or events. If you’ve ever wanted your own social networking site let these guys do it for you. It’ll be a lot easier!

Neuros OSD: These guys have put together a slick open source media center. I’ve gotta get me one of these!

NBC5.com: Not much I need to say here. NBC5 is working to put together a great new media experience for you guys so please check them out.

JobCoin: If you’ve ever wanted a job board of your very own JobCoin is the way to get one. We’re working with them to spruce up our job board as I write this.

JellyFish.com: If you’re going to buy something check these guys out first. If you but it through them they’ll send some of the commission they get from the sale back to you so it’s a win win. Saving some coin is always a good thing and these guys will help you do it.

Planypus: Planning an event for your friends but want to play it by ear? Planypus lets you do just that in an organized fashion and will get you off your couch and out in the city more often.

Last, but certainly not least, a big thank you to the Chicago tech community. Frank and I simply get the space and you guys make the event what it is. last night was a blast and I am very happy to see the Chicagoland tech community coming together in a big way. Thank you all again for coming and I look forward to seeing you at TC4 (coming soon)!

Reading time: 2 – 2 minutes

Fred Wilson wrote a post the other day where he talked about the TechCrunch DeadPool and FuckedCompany that came before it. He points out that people like to build things up, companies in this case, more than they should and relish in their demise when they fail. I agree with Fred that this isn’t healthy behavior and doesn’t do anyone any good but it does generate pageviews which is why sites like TechCrunch do it.

However, all of these companies could do more than simply generate pageviews for media companies. How you ask? Well, we could all stand to learn a lot from what they did wrong and what ultimately caused the demise of their companies.

Was it too much funding too soon? Or was their a key hire that didn’t work out? Was the board not helpful enough? Or overly helpful to the point it hindered growth?

Imagine if there were a place where entrepreneurs could go and learn from companies who haven’t made it. I, for one, would be happy to talk to these companies and do the write-ups here on Olson’s Oberservations. Hopefully someone will see this post and take me up on the offer. I think it would benefit the entrepreneurial community immensely and would make good use of things like the DeadPool. What do you think?