In the next 14 days, give or take, we are opening up our service to the public. Nothing up this point in my life has me prepared for these next days.

I am an adman. Started out in publishing and through chance and helping hands, blagged my way into Account Planning. For all my bitching and bridge burning, I really enjoy it. I have a talent for it. Am proud of most works I’ve been a part of.

But launching a proper company, with people depending on you for money, clients across continents, investments, is not like launching a campaign. Not even close. Being a hoe don’t prepare you for pimpin’.

We’ve been working towards this launch for the last 3 months. Progress has been slower than expected. Most people who track our progress, disagree with me.

They tell us there are three criteria to judge progress as a start up:
1) You don’t believe in the idea..
2) You are fearing the end of finance..
3) The market consistently turns down your iterations..

If any of the above are happening, panic and have serious conversations. If not; focus and push forward..Judging by that, we’re good.

And yet here we are, weeks away from public judgement : a million things to do, and even more things slipping past me because of lack of time, hands and sheer inability to do better.

I know some perspective is needed, but in the lonely cool before the launch, this is how I am seeing and feeling things.

Lucky for me Kedar is co-founder. For the life of me I don’t get why he agreed. Good thing he did though. Being better at what I am good at and the opposite of me, has made all the difference.

I can’t imagine it always being easy to work with me: moody, impatient, prone to immaturity and unreasonable expectations. And then there are bad days. Though I’d never say it to his face, I am very thankful for his momentary lapse of judgement when he agreed to all of this.

Like I said, nothing has me prepared for what is next; least of all my time spend in Adland. For all their talk of failing fast and learning, always being in beta and shit; when you’ve invested as much as I have, we have, no way I am objective and rational.

This is personal, fuck business and fuck you.

Time to lift the curtains..

Anyways…as always

NH

A month in, co-founder education start up;
A month in, spring and chance of heat waves;
A month in, ideas are less thoughts, more action plans;
A month in, LATAM feels like a continent I could spend a lifetime;
A month in, Todavía no hablan español;
A month in, a lot of “what if” with a fighting chance of finding out, and winning…maybe

Anyways… as always

NH

Secondly, we survived our personal version of a Chilean bbq; grilled for over two hours by a VC; keeping the bad bbq analogies going, in the end he did not spit us out after chewing us up (and no he did not lick the plate either, you perverts). We are now labelled viable. Seems to be quite a thing in that world, so a small hurrah.

Sunday’s are a bit weird as that day is mostly spend not doing anything in Chile. But when in Rome ..and all that..

Looking ahead the week is busy but shaping up nicely; lot’s of meetings, system design sessions (no idea what that means, but is sounds nice), budget talks, some emergency cloth shopping and attending a proper Chilean wedding.

Anyways..as always..

NH

Updates will follow as events unfold, because if you think this is over then you’re wrong.

I have a neighbour. About 50 years old, but to be honest I have no idea how old she is. She’s been ravaged by bad health.

In a wheelchair, suffering from what I think is Parkinson’s as well. She can walk for 2-3 minutes though she shouldn’t, as her body can’t take the pressure.

My neighbour is also a bit of bitch. Rude, stubborn (especially in her refusal to take care of the mess her cats make), and most days she will flat out ignore everybody who walks by and greets her.

This morning, she dropped her keys. Her husband was away (also in a wheelchair) and given her state, she can’t bend over to pick them up. So she yells through the building: “pick up my keys”. Over and over, I think.

Because the first time I thought I heard something I was still half sleeping. In that state I’ve imagined my phone ringing, leaving doors open. “Pick up my keys, help me please”. My neighbour. Again.

At that moment I realise it is not a dream, but her – again- needing help (she tends to have these types of incidents once twice a month) .

I stare at the ceiling for a second, and think to myself ” the fucking nerve… Who the fuck does she think she is, waking everybody up”.

I get up, grumpy and ready to give her an earful, as I walk down the stairs to help her with the same smugness, IMF bankers show on their way to ‘helping’ emerging nations.

And then I see her. Barely standing, leaning against the door, knees and arms shaking from standing to long.

Her keys just out of reach beneath her on the doormat as she breaths way to fast and shallow from having tried to fix the problem on her own.

And in that moment, just for a moment, I get some much needed perspective. She’s no bitch. I can only imagine the daily struggles she goes through. Stuff that I and the rest of the neighbours take for granted.

Simply because we’re healthy and never imagined that not being able to pick up keys could be an embarrassing and physically hurting event.

When a planner recently asked me why planning is not as respected as it once was, I could not help think that the question “why don’t we get respect” goes a long way to diagnosing our problem.

We are lost in our own private Idaho’s. Our system of thought, our needs to push the clients into brave new worlds, our superior insight into human behaviour, business and technology. Our..our.

And while this attitude can work for decades in growing economies, that tend to blur success attributable to proper planning rather than overall industry growth, in current and coming times it won’t work.

The fat lady is singing.. I am hoping there is no encore.

” William Lawrence of ABC, another former Times man, asked the first question on December 16: As you look back upon your first two years in office, sir, has your experience in office matched your expectations?

It is much easier to make the speeches than it is to finally make the judgements, because unfortunately your advisors are frequently divided. If you take the wrong course, and on occasion I have, the President bears the burden of responsibility quite rightly. The advisors may move on to new advice”

President Kennedy – Profile of Power; Richard Reeves

I heard a story about this rapper Brian Williams, aka Baby. With his brother he runs Cash Money Records. Legend has it that when he started out in the music industry, he replaced his original teeth with golden teeth and got tattoos on the most visible parts of his body (neck lower arms).

It was his way of telling himself and the world that there was no turning back. He had to make it in the life he had chosen, because the ‘normal’ world would sure as shit not have him, looking like he did.

I’ve never listened to much of his music, but I have started to get his message. Getting what it means to want more than you have been given, that just because you start out somewhere somehow, it does not mean you have to end up there, the same.

And getting that there are no guarantees. That just because you want it, it will be given. Change is possible, it just might not be the way you want.

I have been given a glimpse of what might and actually could happen. But with that glimpse came the question ‘what if..’

What if you try? What if you fail? What if it turns out different to what you expect? What if…you don’t do anything?

You just have to ask yourself what is easier to live with: failing or not knowing?

So here is to the future. As you said: It is time. And as the other you said: we owe it to us to find out.

A couple of things have been popping up on my radar interesting, or I think interesting, enough to warrant a hypothesis about business, communications, people and politics.

First there is:
This story. An entertainment channel for the conservative American.

What makes them interesting is the fact they seem to be focused on spreading content, the way the audience wants it (bypassing possible censorship) and they get that entertainment is still the biggest gateway towards culture shaping, because it allows them to say more under a veil of deceptive winking and smiling..

Of course the larger interesting question is the robustness of the hunger for segregrated media (loaded term perhaps, but BET did make billionairs out of the owners) that is still so strong in the USA (perhaps anglo/american cultural sphere in total). It seems something the vast majority of 2.0 land is not to keen on looking in to.

Secondly there is this:
http://www.mousemail.com/

MouseMail -> protect your kids -> advisor on board = Frank Luntz (GOP strategist) -> Bill Bennett = advisor (Form Bush/reagan administrator)

It seem that doing stuff instead of just rethoric seems to be finding it’s way more and more in the political arena. Is this the future of political campaiging?

Political branded utility and co-creation, while making money and creating voters out of consumers and consumers out of voters?

Looks the ultimate campaign moneymaker, bypassing any possible lobbylaws as the line blurs between voter and consumer and producer..

Thirdly there was this:

http://www.google.com/crisisresponse/egypt.html

Seems like a action guided by the State Department more than some internal mantra. Now if Google start doing stuff like this in countries like USA to give a voice to police brutality and other stuff, I will eat my words.

But they won’t..This flip flop picking of sides all the time is what politicians and celebs do. And it is gonna cost Google at some point. Net neutrality does not mean that the net is a-political.

On the contrary. Just like the web is one massive confession, it is also one massive vote based on values.

Google does Data, not social and all the human stuff that comes with it. They should not start now, or their Switzerland position (we just create good search results) is done and then all gloves will come off.

Things are gonna get interesting now that the business of social/and co-creation is demanding a show of (political) colour, which leads to the hypothesis about business, communications and politics for the coming decade:

Increased segregation under the veil of curation based on preference. Which will only be overcome by fooling people.

We are going to have to start bullshitting (again), to get passed the bullshit, if we want to get things done.

Talking food and music I was struck by a recurring theme. Nobody just likes stuff anymore. “The pork needed a bit more seasoning or herbs, The Roller sounds like Lennon, Nicky Minage went Platinum..”

All these answers were given to a simple question: ” so, did you like…? “ And it is boring and tiresome.

People conversing like they communicate online: tagging,linking to pictures or repea(twee)ting other people’s words. Looking to distance themselves from their own likes, looking for rationalizations that they are special like everyone else..

It is like the hipsters and politically correct folks went and had a crackbaby. Talking alot of crap, but not saying anything that tells me how they feel, while getting high of their own factfilled brainfarts. Did I like my roast suckling pig:YES..Beady Eye single: kinda..rap in 2010: no

And I know that we always judge things in context and contrast (There is a link, but franky I can’t be arsed), and that formulating thought out thoughts makes for clearity, and I am not saying be uninformed, but….

Stop with the endless streams of factfilled hotair as your default. Find a balance and also just like stuff for what it is and don’t be afraid to get frowned upon if you don’t have answers for why.