The Jason Calacanis Weblog http://www.calacanis.com The Jason Calacanis Weblog http://www.calacanis.com/media/feedlogo.gif The Jason Calacanis Weblog http://www.calacanis.com en-us Copyright 2008 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/Jason CalacanisIn depth discussions with the tech news makers and shakers.Apple iPhone details & photoshttp://www.calacanis.com/2007/01/09/apple-iphone-details-and-photos/http://www.calacanis.com/2007/01/09/apple-iphone-details-and-photos/http://www.calacanis.com/2007/01/09/apple-iphone-details-and-photos/#commentsFiled under: ,

Oh baby.... it's on!

Engadget and TUAW are doing live keynote coverage as always:
http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/09/live-from-macworld-2007-steve-jobs-keynote/
http://www.tuaw.com/2007/01/09/macworld-2007-keynote-liveblog/

They have tons of photos and they are updating their blogs every 2-3 minutes with new details. I love it! Rock on Weblogs Inc/AOL!!!!

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]]>Jason Calacanis2007-01-09T00:31:00+00:00Autoblog on fire...http://www.calacanis.com/2007/01/08/autoblog-on-fire/http://www.calacanis.com/2007/01/08/autoblog-on-fire/http://www.calacanis.com/2007/01/08/autoblog-on-fire/#commentsFiled under: ,

I still check the traffic stats on the Weblogs, Inc. blogs and I was shocked to see this massive spike at Autoblog.... way to go AOL Autos and Autoblog!


http://s17.sitemeter.com/rpc/v5/server.asp?a=GetChart&n=9&p1=s17autoblog&p2=&p3=12&p4=0&p5=66%2E171%2E49%2E245&p6=HTML&p7=1&p8=%2E%3Fa%3Dstatistics&p9=&rnd=5137
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]]>aolautoautoblogautosblogblogscarcarscartJason Calacanis2007-01-08T00:57:00+00:00NYT says new AOL chief has long view... I hope so. (and some free advice for what it's worth)http://www.calacanis.com/2006/12/19/nyt-says-new-aol-cheif-has-long-view-i-hope-so-and-some-fre/http://www.calacanis.com/2006/12/19/nyt-says-new-aol-cheif-has-long-view-i-hope-so-and-some-fre/http://www.calacanis.com/2006/12/19/nyt-says-new-aol-cheif-has-long-view-i-hope-so-and-some-fre/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,



I don't know Randy Falco or Ron Grant, but I wish them luck. The NYT says they have a long view of AOL, everything I read says AOL's is going to be cleaned up and sold.

My advice to both men: start blogging today. AOL was a very closed culture when we got there a year ago, and blogging is what really pulled the company into the Web world. There are dozens of important folks in the company having honest discussions on blogs and the best way for you two to build AOL is to embrace the culture of honesty, transparency, and debate. Blogging is the best medium for this. Take a page from Microsoft and let all your team members blog, and even pay some folks to be company bloggers. Let it all hang out, let the marketplace tell you where to go, and be open about everything--the good and the bad.

Even though I was at AOL for only a year it felt like home. ~50 members of "my team" are still rocking it out at Netscape, WeblogsInc, and Blogsmith, and I really hope the new guys recognize the amazing potential those groups have and continue to invest in them.

Weblogs, Inc. has grown into an eight figure business at AOL over the past year and I think it could be a nine figure business if they keep investing in it. Easily.

Netscape has continued to advance and grow since the bottom out in October. It takes 2-3 years to build an online community like Netscape, not three to six months. Social news is the future and Netscape is in first or second position on every important factor in that race (along with digg). To give up now would be such a wasted opportunity (especially since there are 500 folks trying to get into the top five slots right now!). I mean, Conde Nast just bought reddit--a distant 3rd or 4th to Netscape and digg.

Blogsmith is a fantastic platform that could rival TypePad and WordPress in the market place if AOL put some muscle behind it. Brian is a genius and AOL should really pull him in to the senior management team--guys like him don't wind up in big companies often.

Anyway, I've got to get back to my day job... I don't work for AOL anymore but I still spend 2-3 hours a day thinking about and talking to the folks who run those businesses. Giving them advice (solicited and unsolicited), and participating in and using those fine services and products.

Randy & Ron: If you every need any free advice on them or want to grab lunch you know how to reach me. Good luck and please take care of my babies. :-)
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]]>aolblogsmithdiggjim bankoffJimBankoffnetscaperandy falcoRandyFalcoredditron grantRonGrantsocial bookmarkingsocial newsSocialBookmarkingSocialNewstime warnerTimeWarnertwxweblogs incWeblogsIncJason Calacanis2006-12-19T11:36:00+00:00Being an "Out there person"http://www.calacanis.com/2006/12/11/being-an-out-there-person/http://www.calacanis.com/2006/12/11/being-an-out-there-person/http://www.calacanis.com/2006/12/11/being-an-out-there-person/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Ted pointed me to a report that profiles the "out there person" that has been showing up in organizations recently. The report says that the "out there" folks are more likely to:
  1. Value fame as an "asset"
  2. Willing to share certain types of sensitive information on the web
  3. Believe it is appropriate to criticize their organizations on the web
  4. Believe that "organizations need to be more transparent to succeed"
  5. Believe "there's no harm in openly discussing the work I do inside my organization with others"

Obviously I agree with all those points. However, the fame part I think is a temporary thing. Folks who are open and transparent today are getting famous for their candor but in another couple of years this candor will be the norm. Folks like Scoble when he was Microsoft (he's now at Podtech), and Jeremy at Yahoo, were viewed as shocking two years ago, important this year, and in two years they will simply be the norm. That's how trends go.

Mark Cuban deserves a lot of credit for this trend as well. He's always been blunt and to the point. Some folks don't like it, sure, but most folks love it. And, at the end of the day you have to be who you are. Cuban is Cuban--that's it. He will tell you to your face that something is stupid, say it on his blog, or say it on ESPN. He will also listen to what you say and if he was wrong say "@#$%#$%, I was wrong about that one!"

So, I would add to the list another two points. Out there folks are:
  • #6: Willing to listen to all sides of a debate openly
  • #7: Willing to change their position quickly and without remorse

As Ted points out, I brought this brutal honesty to AOL and that was always the plan (Ted, Jon MIller, and Jim Bankoff very clear with me to "go for it" and not pull punches). A year after I was there folks were routinely "mixing it up" on the group listsrvs and the heroes started to emerge. The folks who cared, the folks who were engaged, and the folks who could keep up chimed in--those who couldn't stood on the sidelines.

These were flat out sparring matches and we debated major topics. One exchange that went for what seemed like 50 comments was a debate surrounding Netscape's video hosting. (As in should Netscape have it's own video hosting or should it just dump folks to AOL's video service). I argued that Netscape should have it's own video services even if there was some overlapping pieces. Others thought I was crazy and doing duplicate work (shades of peanut butter--yes). Of course, in business most answer are not right or wrong--they are 50, 60, 70, or 80% right or wrong.

That debate however let everyone know who was smart enough to be in the debate. Some jumped into the debate with weak arguments and got smacked down real quick--as they should be! If you're not able to jump in the ring and defend your position don't jump in the ring. It was great--AOL was alive with debate and deep thinking in an open platform where *anyone* could chime in--your title didn't mean a thing. Everyone involved got a serious education--including myself. After that debate the video group and I became fast friends, and the collaboration level only *increased*. Debate is great.

Anyway, the report goes on to say: "In summary, your 'Out There' people are the ones who are:
  1. Fast followers
  2. More flexible
  3. Open communicators
  4. Aspire to greatness
  5. Looking for new, innovative ideas
  6. In short - your future leaders
I agree with these as well. If your putting yourself out there you have to be flexible and open, and just by the fact that you are open you're gonna find innovative ideas. I will add the follow to the list. "Out there" people are:
  • #7 Passionate
  • #8 Lovers of intelligent debate
  • #9 Don't take themselves to seriously
Frankly, I couldn't run a business any other way. The only way to really get things done is to be out there. There is so much noise in the space, so little attention, that you're best bet for building great products is being totally honest about what you're doing and letting folks help you.

Read/Write web has some additional thoughts.
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]]>Jason Calacanis2006-12-11T01:11:00+00:00CalacanisCast Beta 5http://www.calacanis.com/2006/11/19/calacaniscast-beta-5/http://www.calacanis.com/2006/11/19/calacaniscast-beta-5/http://www.calacanis.com/2006/11/19/calacaniscast-beta-5/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

CalacanisCast Beta Five... if you have feedback please send me an MP3 or WAV file.

No show notes--ever!

Here is the MP3 file

If you want to subscribe go into iTunes and hit "Advanced -- Subscribe to Podcast" add this feed:

http://podcast.calacanis.com/rss.xml
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]]>aolbrian alveyBrianAlveycalacaniscase studiesCaseStudiescastblasterck sampleCkSampleengadgetgillmor gangGillmorGangharvardharvard mbaHarvardMbahughjon millerJonMillerlearningmike arringtonMikeArringtonmountain climbingMountainClimbingnetscapepeter rojasPeterRojaspodcastpodcasterspodcastingpodcastspodshowpodwhoscalesteve gillmorSteveGillmortechcrunchtwxweblogs incWeblogsIncwhats nextWhatsNextwinecastJason Calacanis2006-11-19T10:14:00+00:00calacaniscast beta 5Jason Calacanis10:00CalacanisCast Beta 4 (or JasonNation Beta 4--your choice).http://www.calacanis.com/2006/11/16/calacaniscast-beta-4/http://www.calacanis.com/2006/11/16/calacaniscast-beta-4/http://www.calacanis.com/2006/11/16/calacaniscast-beta-4/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Did a quick podcast last night to talk about how I'm feeling. I've got a bad cold, so excuse my coughing/hacking.

CalacanisCast Beta Four... MP3 file.

If you want to subscribe go into iTunes and hit "Advanced -- Subscribe to Podcast" add this feed:

http://podcast.calacanis.com/rss.xml
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]]>adam curryAdamCurryaolblogbloggingcalacaniscast blasterCastBlasterdaily source codeDailySourceCodefederated mediaFederatedMediafred wilsonFredWilsongodaddyhelphoward greensteinHowardGreensteinjohn battelleJohnBattellejon millerJonMillernick dentonnick douglasNickDentonNickDouglaspeepspodshowpodtechscoblesilicon alleysilicon alley reporterSiliconAlleySiliconAlleyReportersplendasteve gillmorSteveGillmortruliavalleywagvcventure capitalVentureCapitalweb 20web 20 conferenceWeb20Web20ConferencewikipediaJason Calacanis2006-11-16T00:03:00+00:00CalacanisCast beta 4Jason Calacanis10:00Our best blog launch ever... thanks team AOL!http://www.calacanis.com/2006/11/01/our-best-blog-launch-ever-thanks-team-aol/http://www.calacanis.com/2006/11/01/our-best-blog-launch-ever-thanks-team-aol/http://www.calacanis.com/2006/11/01/our-best-blog-launch-ever-thanks-team-aol/#commentsFiled under: ,

StyleDash.com was the best launch in the history of Weblogs, Inc. thanks to the support of AOL and their traffic machine. The graph below is from SiteMeter which we've found is about 5-10% less than our internal stats.

It shows 1.5M pages in month one and almost 2M pages in month two. It used to take us 12-18 months to get a blog to 1M pages... now we start at 1M pages. That's the power of scale, and that's been the biggest lesson I've learned at AOL: how to build a "scale business."

AOL could literally launch a new media property every two and get them to critical mass, and that's a conversation I've been trying to have with folks since I've gotten here. TMZ and BloggingStocks.com are the other two great example of AOL instantly building a leading brand. BloggingStocks broke 1M pages in months five and six. That's really the value of Weblogs, Inc. inside of AOL... the ability to build vertical leading brands with AOL's massive traffic and amazing sales group (called AMN: AOL Media Networks).

StyleDash.com Sitemeter:
http://s27.sitemeter.com/rpc/v6/server.asp?a=GetChart&n=9&p1=s27styledash&p2=&p3=33&p4=0&p5=66%2E171%2E49%2E245&p6=HTML&p7=1&p8=%2E%3Fa%3Dstatistics&p9=&rnd=43132

BloggingStocks.com

http://s24.sitemeter.com/rpc/v6/server.asp?a=GetChart&n=9&p1=s24bloggingstocks&p2=&p3=33&p4=0&p5=66%2E171%2E49%2E245&p6=HTML&p7=1&p8=%2E%3Fa%3Dstatistics&p9=&rnd=26312
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]]>Jason Calacanis2006-11-01T01:16:00+00:00DownloadSquad is doing really great...http://www.calacanis.com/2006/10/27/downloadsquad-is-doing-really-great/http://www.calacanis.com/2006/10/27/downloadsquad-is-doing-really-great/http://www.calacanis.com/2006/10/27/downloadsquad-is-doing-really-great/#commentsFiled under:

Since we consolidated a number of smaller blogs into DownloadSquad in June the site has really taken off and will break 1M pages a month.

Way to go team DownloadSquad!

DownloadSquad monthly traffic from sitemeter:
http://s17.sitemeter.com/rpc/v6/server.asp?a=GetChart&n=9&p1=s17downloadsquad&p2=&p3=33&p4=0&p5=66%2E171%2E49%2E245&p6=HTML&p7=1&p8=%2E%3Fa%3Dstatistics&p9=&rnd=86731

... oh yeah, wanted to give some props to the EngadgetHD (fka HDBeat folks) for having a record month... looks like they will be in the 1M+ page a month club as well!

http://s22.sitemeter.com/rpc/v6/server.asp?a=GetChart&n=9&p1=s22hdbeat&p2=&p3=33&p4=0&p5=66%2E171%2E49%2E245&p6=HTML&p7=1&p8=%2E%3Fa%3Dstatistics&p9=&rnd=85820
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]]>Jason Calacanis2006-10-27T05:20:00+00:00Email with a journalist...http://www.calacanis.com/2006/10/27/email-with-a-journalist/http://www.calacanis.com/2006/10/27/email-with-a-journalist/http://www.calacanis.com/2006/10/27/email-with-a-journalist/#commentsFiled under:

Another email with a journalist writing a "business of blogging" story. I won't say which publication until it comes out.

best j

> > 1) Quite simply: CAN blogging be business? If so, can it be a money-
> > maker in its own right for a lot of people, or just for a few, like
> > yourself?

Blogging is already a business. Our company, Weblogs, Inc., is an eight figure a year business.

Gawker Media, Rafat Ali's PaidContent.org, Mike Arrington's TechCrunch, John Battelle's Federated Media, and Boingboing.net are all significant media business today.

> > 2) how does one make it a business. Ie, how did YOU make it one.

Advertising.

> > 3) as much as possible in the way of numbers and examples.
> > Revenues, costs, profits. (can be vague, estimates, projections....)

We are an eight figure a year business today. In terms of profitability the blogging business is better than the magazine or newspaper business in two main ways: 1. there is no distribution cost to blogging (i.e. printing, shipping, and postage), and 2. we don't have the large management cost structure because our bloggers are not edited.

> > 4) Advertising, AdSense etc: Will blogs be monetised as efficiently
> > as search results in future? If not, why not?

Frankly, that's a strange comparison. Blogs will never have a better margin than search engines have because search engines are created by machines and blogs are create by humans. Humans are more expensive than machines!

That being said, blogs are the most profitable media business today.

> > 5) Are blogs that become businesses really just newspapers or
> > magazines with a modern format? Are they even still "blogs", as
> > defined by Dave Winer, or have they sold their soul?

They have already become a business without selling their soul! The core of blogging is based on the authenticity of blogger and them being unfiltered. As long as you don't filter the blog, and the blogger maintains their authenticity all is well.


> > 6) Are there non-advertising business models? John Battelle seems
> > to use his blog as a way to market his conference and his book. So
> > are blogs really just marketings costs for other existing businesses?

Of course. Saying "blog" is like saying "paper." You can do different things with paper including write a book, market a service, or be a counterfeiter--the same is true of blogging. Blogs are a platform, how you use them is up to you. Most people are not blogging for money, they are doing it to express themselves.

> > 8) what are the day-to-day challenges and stresses of running a
> > blog as a business? Ie, anecdotes about the pressure of posting
> > frequently, giving link love and other ways to rise in the
> > technorati rankins and grow an audience.

The challenge is "feeding the blog." You work at a weekly magazine so you know how much pressure it can be to "put an issue to bed" every week. Working at a daily newspaper is even harder, and a wire service is harder than that. The blogging world is even more pressure than working on a newswire. In fact, I'd say the best analogy for working at a professional blog is working for CNN--the pressure never goes away.

> > 9) Is the business model for blogging really the same as that for
> > YouTube and many other Web 2.0 businesses: ie, to sell out to
> > google or Yahoo or NewsCorp or AOL because those giants can afford
> > to build something bigger, subsidised by profits from search?

You are confusing the concept of an exit with the concept of a business model. An exit is how shareholders realize their gain on an investment. That can happen in the form of a buyout, IPO, or dividends.

The business model of blogging is highly sustainable because the costs are so low. Many blogs today, like Boingboing.net and TechCrunch, could exist forever because they are profitable businesses. The only reason to sell would be if the shareholders wanted to realize their investment.

> > 10) most importantly, what else would you have to say about all
> > this? You are a pioneer in this area. You've clearly been thinking
> > much more deeply about this subject than I have. What would you
> > advise me to say?

I think so far you're looking at blogs are one big thing, and they are not one thing--they are many things. There are blogs done by companies to promote their products. There are blogs done by friends and family to keep in touch with each other. There are "faux blogs" created by unscrupulous marketers to abuse the public. There are blogs that are run as publications in order to make a profit.

You have to look at the *goal* of each blogger in order to measure your success. At Weblogs, Inc. we wanted to build a "scale" blogging business--that was our goal. Some folks want to build a "lifestyle" business and don't need to make a large amount of money to be successful.

Also, it is very rare that one new medium kills the medium before it. Blogs are not going to kill newspapers and magazines, but they will take 10-40% of their audience, just like cable TV didn't kill network TV but it did take 20-30% of its audience.

Finally, I think its important to note that blogs have become a vital part of the media ecosystem. Bloggers are interacting with journalists and helping them build their stories--like you and I are doing now! The media business has moved from a handful of people speaking on their pedestals, to dozens of folks at hundreds of tables having conversations about an issue. It's very fluid.

best j

---------------------
Jason McCabe Calacanis
CEO, Weblogs, Inc., An AOL Company.
GM, Netscape.com
Office: 310-979-5654 | Mobile: 310-456-4900
Blog: http://www.calacanis.com
Yahoo/AOL IM: jasoncalacanis

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis
MySpace: http://myspace.com/jasoncalacanis
AIMPage: http://www.aimpages.com/jasoncalacanis/

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]]>Jason Calacanis2006-10-27T05:17:00+00:00Weblogs, Inc/Blogsmith goes mobile!http://www.calacanis.com/2006/09/26/weblogs-inc-blogsmith-goes-mobile/http://www.calacanis.com/2006/09/26/weblogs-inc-blogsmith-goes-mobile/http://www.calacanis.com/2006/09/26/weblogs-inc-blogsmith-goes-mobile/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Here is the internal AOL message I just sent to everyone...


Team AOL,

We are blessed to have the greatest, kick-ass, take no prisoner, samurai, rouge, dev team on the planet working for us at Blogsmith/WIN/Netscape.

Today they surprised me by creating a mobile version of all of our sites-- THIS IS NOW A DEFAULT FEATURE IN BLOGSMITH!!!

Create a blog, get a mobile site free! Also, it is autodetect... it knows you're on a mobile phone and sends you to the right place.

w00t!

details here:
http://www.engadget.com/2006/09/26/engadget-done-right-for-your-cellphone/

best j
---------------------
Jason McCabe Calacanis
CEO, Weblogs, Inc., An AOL Company.
GM, Netscape.com
Office: 310-979-5654 | Mobile: 310-456-4900
Blog: http://www.calacanis.com
Yahoo/AOL IM: jasoncalacanis

------------------------------------------

Hey Bloggers,

We are here at CodeJam 7 and adding some very cool features to the platform. One of the first things to be rolled out is Mobile support for WAP enabled devices. This will be rolling out to all blogs but currently it is running on the following blogs:

- Autoblog
- Cinematical
- Download Squad
- Engadget
- Engadget Mobile
- EngadgetHD
- Joystiq
- TUAW
- TV Squad

To view this take your cell phone or PDA and just point to the site as you normally would. We will auto-detect the device and send it a special page.If you have a device that doesn't send correct headers (Like sidekick or PSP) you will be able to manually go to the page by going to m.domainname.com. (but note: this currently isn't working on any blog)

For screenshots of what this looks like check out the following Engadget post:
http://www.engadget.com/2006/09/26/engadget-done-right-for-your-cellphone/

Big thanks to Mike and Matt (our new designer) for designing and rolling this out to all the sites and Brian, Celly and Alex for night-o-crazy-testing!

We have some other neat things in the pipes so stay tuned.

Gavin
Blogsmith Lead Developer
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]]>Jason Calacanis2006-09-26T01:05:00+00:00Tokyo Game Show 2006 Coverage at Joystiq...http://www.calacanis.com/2006/09/25/tokyo-game-show-2006-coverage-at-joystiq/http://www.calacanis.com/2006/09/25/tokyo-game-show-2006-coverage-at-joystiq/http://www.calacanis.com/2006/09/25/tokyo-game-show-2006-coverage-at-joystiq/#commentsFiled under:

Big company budgets + bloggers = a good thing. :)

http://www.joystiq.com/tag/tgs06/

The image
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]]>Jason Calacanis2006-09-25T03:44:00+00:00StyleDash launches....http://www.calacanis.com/2006/09/13/styledash-launches/http://www.calacanis.com/2006/09/13/styledash-launches/http://www.calacanis.com/2006/09/13/styledash-launches/#commentsFiled under:

StyleDash launches with a bang today!

We are giving away a handbag a day for 30-days... so make sure you keep checking back.

PS - don't forget to check out our last blog launch, the excellent ThatsFit.com

BTW: We need bloggers for both... so make sure you email brad at weblogsinc.com if you want to join the team!
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]]>Jason Calacanis2006-09-13T02:32:00+00:00Keeping talent happy... a primer.http://www.calacanis.com/2006/07/06/keeping-talent-happy-a-primer/http://www.calacanis.com/2006/07/06/keeping-talent-happy-a-primer/http://www.calacanis.com/2006/07/06/keeping-talent-happy-a-primer/#commentsFiled under: ,

Amanda has printed her back and forth with her former partner Andrew Baron--it's really sad. This is a text-book example of how not to treat your talent (and frankly, how not to respond when you're treated bad). The whole thing is a mess and everyone winds up losing.

Regardless, there are some great lessons here for business folks. When you're on the business side your job is to:
  1. Keep talented folks focused on making great product.
  2. Get talented people paid (so they can focus on making great product)
  3. Let talented people grow and support the hell out of them (so they can focus on making great product)
  4. Make talented people feel comfortable that they are not going to get screwed (so they can focus on making great product)
  5. Make a bunch of money (so talented folks can get more money and get more focused on making great product)
As you can see it's all about removing obstacles and creating a comfort level for the talent. When we started Webogs, Inc. I wasn't rich, but I moved mountains to make sure that my people didn't have to worry about paying their rent. I made sure folks didn't have to screw around with the details.

The bloggers are supposed to show up and blog and everyone else on the team is here to enable that to happen. Judith, Brian, Jade, Shawn, Peter, and I all knew and agreed on this... we knew our role was to support the stars. If you support people and make them stars you can do very, very well in life by the way.

Of course, the more talented the person the more work it is to support them because they want to do bigger and better things all the time. Peter Rojas was the most demanding person I ever worked for--and I loved him for it! No one demand more of our team than Peter, but no one demand more from Peter than Peter. He set the gold standard of blogging and we all had to live up to his pace. Shawn and sales couldn't keep up with Engadget, Judith (our Editorial Director) couldn't keep up with staffing Engadget, Brian couldn't keep up with the server demands of Engadget, and I couldn't keep the overall business up with Peter! That's exactly what you want at a company: the talent leading everyone else.

Then the business folks get confident and they give the talent even more room to grow. It's like Coppola making the Godfather and Robert Evans telling him to add an hour to the final version! That's the magic... baby.

If Amanda wants to do the show from LA or Miami or Tokyo who cares? Give her the camera and let her tape it and send the tape into the home office. That's the way it is. Amanda is the reason you got 300k folks downloading the show, so you move mountains to keep her happy (although taping from an apartment in LA vs. and apartment in NYC doesn't seem like any different to me).

As I tell folks on our team, there are three types of people in the world:
  1. People who make stuff.
  2. People who sell stuff.
  3. People support the first two groups of people.
That's really it... I'm a servant to my people. I am here to serve (as a wise, wise man once told me), and if the talent ain't happy then I've failed. The problem is sometimes the support folks think they're the talent.
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]]>godfatherrobert evansRobertEvansrocketboomtalentvlogvloggingJason Calacanis2006-07-06T01:36:00+00:00High and Low (or "How to love members... shall I count the ways?")http://www.calacanis.com/2006/07/02/high-and-low-or-how-to-love-members-shall-i-count-the-ways/http://www.calacanis.com/2006/07/02/high-and-low-or-how-to-love-members-shall-i-count-the-ways/http://www.calacanis.com/2006/07/02/high-and-low-or-how-to-love-members-shall-i-count-the-ways/#commentsFiled under: , ,

We're up, we're down... we gotta keep getting better. Fankly, this is very simple: we must worship our users. We have to love them more than Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft.

How do you show love in our world? Let me count the ways:
  1. More disk space
  2. Better screen real estate
  3. Faster servers
  4. Better editorial
  5. More features
  6. More support
  7. Better design
  8. Less ads
  9. Less annoying ads
  10. Less obnoxious ads
  11. More targeted ads
  12. Take that which is paid and make it free
  13. Anticipate members needs and fill them
  14. Surprise members with fun, new experiences
  15. Communicate with members open and freely
  16. Listen to members--then listen to them some more
  17. Treat members how you would like to be treated
  18. Be honest with members--always
  19. Don't do anything sneaky because a) members are smart and will bust you, b) life is so short--why would you want to be a sneak?, and c) this is a long-term business, the short term is meaningless.
  20. Respect your members wishes above all else. If they don't love you any more that is their choice, and it's an opportunity for you to reflect on why they don't love you (consider it a free focus group)
  21. Let people consume your product on their terms with their software, browser, device, hardware or operating system (this is also known as the "don't be Microsoft rule").
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]]>aolgooglelovenetscapeweblogs incWeblogsIncyahooJason Calacanis2006-07-02T02:17:00+00:00Press Roundup: Ross the Boss; my new official biographer; AOL/TW in the news (no comment); and DIGG 3.0http://www.calacanis.com/2006/06/28/press-roundup-ross-the-boss-my-new-official-biographer-aol-tw/http://www.calacanis.com/2006/06/28/press-roundup-ross-the-boss-my-new-official-biographer-aol-tw/http://www.calacanis.com/2006/06/28/press-roundup-ross-the-boss-my-new-official-biographer-aol-tw/#commentsFiled under: ,

from the press clipping box:
  1. My pal Ross @ Newscorp got some nice ink this week by my other pal Om Malik in Business 2.0.
  2. John Heilemann, who's now on my short list of people to write my biography (I kid, I kid), did a very nice piece (shocking!) in New York Magazine. The piece gives way too much attention to the meaning behind me being at AOL. I mean, is it really important enough for two pages in New York Magazine??! Is there some amazing symbolism to an entrepreneur like me giving up the startup life and passing on all VCs who call every week in order to be the #15 or 20 "suit" at one of the biggest media and technology companies in the world?!? Will I be able to get to EVP--or gasp!--President of a division before someone gets me fired?!?! It's funny to be the subject of a piece like this (in case you haven't been). Some very smart person puts all their brainpower into figuring out the deep meaning of your behavior, when in reality you may just be a normal guy just going to work every day. I mean, do people thing I have some grand, master plan to all of this?!?! ;-)
  3. WSJ on TimeWarner.... I have no comment, I am but a suit. :-)
  4. Some news coming out of Europe about AOL's connectivity business.
  5. DIGG 3.0 had a great launch... congrats to Kevin and Jay (even though they're having a field day dogging me of late!).
Did I miss anything? Anyone want me to comment on anything else?

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]]>Jason Calacanis2006-06-28T06:06:00+00:00Our PR department is amazing! (or Netscape PR recap)http://www.calacanis.com/2006/06/19/our-pr-department-is-amazing-or-netscape-pr-recap/http://www.calacanis.com/2006/06/19/our-pr-department-is-amazing-or-netscape-pr-recap/http://www.calacanis.com/2006/06/19/our-pr-department-is-amazing-or-netscape-pr-recap/#commentsFiled under:

Just got a list from my amazing PR department with some of the massive coverage we got for the launch last week.

We did 26 analyst/press briefings which is more briefings than we've done on any tour in seven years I've been told. I think every, single outlet said yes--wild!

For five days last week I did up to nine, 45-minute presentations of the new Netscape. It was exhasuting, but amazing. It's so great to have the resources of such a professional, fun, and intelligent PR department. I hate PR... I never do it, I just build stuff and let the chips fall.

Now that I've seen how GOOD PR is done I'm changing my position. It's really, really powerful to do a press tour if you have a *qualified* PR group. Thanks Andrew, John, Linda, Lisa, Lauren, and everyone else in the group that helped out!

Amazing.... great work.

Netscape Print & Online Coverage

PUBLICATION

HEADLINE

Associated Press

AOL to revamp its Netscape.com Web portal

Reuters

Netscape reborn again as blog-era news site

Bloomberg

AOL Remakes Netscape.com, Ranks News By...

New York Times

AOL to Turn Netscape Site Into a Newspaper of Sorts

Washington Post

AOL Retools Netscape.com Portal

LA Times

Web Users to Make News on Netscape Relaunch

San Francisco Chronicle

Netscape digging for a second act

PCWorld

Netscape to Take On Slashdot

PC Magazine

Netscape Embraces Web 2.0 for New Site

PCPro

Netscape goes Digg

InformationWeek

AOL Relaunches Netscape.com To Challenge Digg and YouTube

InternetNews.com

Netscape Site Revamp Looks Familiar to Some

eWeek

New Netscape Taps the Wisdom of Crowds

MediaPost Publications

AOL Revamps Netscape As Collaborate News Portal

Jupiter Research

Netscape: the New New Thing?

TechCrunch

AOL-Netscape Launches Massive "Digg Killer"

CNET News.com

New Netscape.com focuses on news

WebProNews

Netscape Back With Hybrid Journalism Site

Red Herring

Netscape Makes the Social News

BetaNews.com

Netscape.com Reborn as Digg Rival

PaidContent.org

Netscape.com Relaunched as a User-Driven News Aggregation Site; Calacanis is GM, Netscape

San Jose Mercury News

Netscape.com to be revived as `social news site'

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Netscape set for overhaul

Times Online

Extra! Extra! Netscape to change into a news site

iMedia Connection

Netscape Relaunches with Blog Focus

TMCnet.com

New Netscape.com portal to let users vote on what gets shown

Crain's New York

Netscape.com returns with new look and focus

NewsFactor Magazine

AOL's Netscape Web Portal Is Reborn

TechNewsWorld

Netscape Is Back

Search Engine Watch

Netscape Aims To Be Digg 2.0, Slashdot 3.0 With Community News Model

ClickZ News

AOL Tries to Revive Netscape.com with Digg-Like Content

Good Morning Silicon Valley

Diggscape

ZDnet.com

Netscape 2.0: Netscape.com gets social

VNUnet.com

AOL prepares to launch Digg killer

MarketingVOX

AOL Turns Netscape into Digg-like News Portal

ARSTechnica

AOL diggs revamped Netscape site

Computer Business Review

AOL resurrects business IM and Netscape

IP Democracy

AOL May Actually Have a Winner in New Netscape

All Headline News

AOL To Revamp Its Netscape.Com Web Portal

Blogging Stocks

Netscape.com relaunched as web 2.0 media site

BlogCritics.org

Netscape, AOL Look to Crush the Web 2.0 Out of Digg, Reddit

PortalIT News

AOL Turns Netscape into Digg-Alike Portal

Digital Bulletin

AOL relaunches Netscape in new guise of news site

The Inquirer

Netscape does a Digg

MoneyControl.com

Netscape.com Relaunched As News Site

SlashFilm.com

Digg meets YouTube = Good; AOL ripping off Digg = Bad

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]]>Jason Calacanis2006-06-19T01:13:00+00:00I called it (along with 20 other peope)...http://www.calacanis.com/2006/06/06/i-called-it-along-with-20-other-peope/http://www.calacanis.com/2006/06/06/i-called-it-along-with-20-other-peope/http://www.calacanis.com/2006/06/06/i-called-it-along-with-20-other-peope/#commentsFiled under: ,

Google is doing an Excel killer, and we all know Google bought a WORD killer not long ago.

I called it back at CES: http://www.calacanis.com/2006/01/07/ces-analysis-google-will-do-an-office-suite-and-a-desktop-os-in/

Google will launch Powerpoint and a light OS shortly.
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]]>googgooglemicrosoftmsftJason Calacanis2006-06-06T08:07:00+00:00I got Shawn thinking/Going underground for two weekshttp://www.calacanis.com/2006/06/04/i-got-shawn-thinking/http://www.calacanis.com/2006/06/04/i-got-shawn-thinking/http://www.calacanis.com/2006/06/04/i-got-shawn-thinking/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

My role at AOL is to shake things up. Sometimes people think I go to far, sometimes people think I'm holding back--the truth is I'm doing neither.

I'm doing what I've always done: being honest and upfront with my opinions. The one thing I've learned from blogging--and running Weblogs, Inc. from nothing the sale to AOL in 18 months--is that blogging/life/business is all about AUTHENTICITY.

All of my posts are 100% authentic. Am I biased... yes, authentically so! Am I wrong sometimes--of course! Do I own up to my mistakes in an authentic fashion--you bet! I don't blog to give people a hard time and I don't blog to kiss up to people. I blog what I feel, and if you've ever spent time with me you know I'm blunt. I don't know where I picked this trait up, but it's all I know how to do and it's served me well in this life.

My new blog buddy at AOL, Shawn Christopher, laid into me last week for my style.

Today, after hearing Jeff Bewkes call bull---- in the WSJ, he's reconsidering. Shawn and I now have a relationship and we're engaged in a very honest dialog about how to make our company better. He's putting out ideas for me (and other AOLers) to respond to--the conversation is getting bigger and deeper. Only good things can come from that.

So, mission accomplished.

We all know the best way to solve problems is to shine a light on them.

I'm going to go underground for the next two weeks, so the posting will be light. No, AOL didn't get to me. I'm on a little analyst/press tour over the next two weeks that will take me to from Los Angeles to Mountain View, San Francisco, Dulles/DC, and my home sweet home New York. I'll keep you posted to my location, and if you're not on the press tour yet feel free to ping me.
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]]>Jason Calacanis2006-06-04T02:32:00+00:00Falling in love with Rojohttp://www.calacanis.com/2006/05/24/falling-in-love-with-rojo/http://www.calacanis.com/2006/05/24/falling-in-love-with-rojo/http://www.calacanis.com/2006/05/24/falling-in-love-with-rojo/#commentsFiled under:

After finding that Rojo was the #2 or #3 reader for Weblogs, Inc. blogs (thanks Feedburner!), I've been playing with the social RSS reader and I have to say it is excellent. When the service launched it felt like a poor version of Bloglines, however bloglines has been stagnant for a year or two (three?) and Rojo has added a ton of new features that really help move interesting stories up the food chain.

Please add my blog to your Rojo page!
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]]>bloglinesfeedburnerrojorssrss readerRssReaderJason Calacanis2006-05-24T01:39:00+00:00We're looking for web designershttp://www.calacanis.com/2006/05/23/were-looking-for-web-designers/http://www.calacanis.com/2006/05/23/were-looking-for-web-designers/http://www.calacanis.com/2006/05/23/were-looking-for-web-designers/#commentsFiled under:

Brian has the details... like all positions at Weblogs, Inc. (an AOL company) you can work from home or an office, we'll get you great equipment, and a great salary with sick benefits.

The big upside: you get to work with Brian Alvey, who is a total genius.
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]]>Jason Calacanis2006-05-23T02:37:00+00:00