We spent some time this evening doing a podcast via Skype with the good folks at Minority Rapport. The discussion focused around what we’re up to at Jambo, and the details of our customer deployments. Check it out here.
Charles was cruising the blogosphere the other day, and found an interesting comment on a blog about WiFi and Social software here. Here’s an excerpt:
“I’ve heard that a future Apple notebook will have a wireless communication capability. As soon as more than one is in the same room, they’ll automatically form a network. This is all very well, but meetings need more than that. They’ll need software which can take the inputs of individuals and make them available to the whole group.” (very Jambo-ish, isn’t it?)
So, Charles says to himself “Cool, this guy is describing what we’re trying to do!”, and he replies with a comment - his first time to comment on someone else’s blog. He does what you should do. He gave his real name. He shared his enthusiasm for Jambo. He wrote in the 1st person. And it totally backfired. The guy misinterpreted his enthusiasm for spam.
A sentence like “Have you heard of Jambo Networks? We combine WiFi and social software to discover and connect you with those you want to meet.”, sounds very different than a sentence like “Have you heard of Jambo Networks? *They* combine WiFi and social software to discover and connect you with those you want to meet.” One word (we vs. they), and the sentence becomes spam. But that word is the truth. Charles, the co-founder, was writing the post, and so he used the term “we” as opposed to hiding behind the word “they” and making the post more anonymous.
This guy’s reaction was really over the top, - you can read it here. He assumed we’re out there spamming blogs about our software. Nothing is further from the truth. But, because of his assumption, we now have negative commentary out in the world. Thats the power of the blogger - we’re in your hands. Please do a little dilligence though before you post negative commentary.
We just returned from Vancouver, engaging our first international partnership. A productive trip and a spectacular city - mountains, ocean and Jambo! It is Canada’s most WiFi-enabled city - everywhere we went, there were dozens of hotspots. The people we met were spectacular, great focus groups and we shot a lot of film and video of Jambo in action. Hopefully we can vlog some of it up here soon. For now, here’s a blurry cellphone cam shot of us with our new Canadian friends!
Just saw the movie - March of the Penguins this weekend. It was terrific! It is about the migration of Emperor Penguins in Antarctica. They walk a 70 mile course to one of the most desolate places on earth, where no other wildlife exists, to breed. Along the way, they meet up with other penguins that jump in to form a massive single file line of penguins walking to their birthplace. Occasionally they stop to consider which way to go, until one of the penguins feels confident enough to take up the lead and march on, with the rest following behind without an argument. Eventually, they arrive, and then its like one of the biggest speed dating events in the world. They all start walking and dancing around trying to find a mate. They will stay with this mate for up to a year. Then they breed and wait until the egg is hatched, enduring a winter that I could never imagine. It can be 80 degrees below, 150 mile an hour winds, and little daylight. To keep warm, they cluster together and take turns being on the outside. They go several months without any food. Once the women have laid their egg, they leave the egg in the fathers care, and walk another 70 miles to get food for themselves and their babies. When they return, the men are starving, having gone without food for four months, so its their turn to find food. Both parents continue to go back and forth along this 70 mile course until their babies are able to feed themselves.
Seeing what the penguins have to persevere through has given me newfound respect for them and has made startup life seem like no big deal. While an entrepreneur may need to walk a long way to find an investor or customer, its not 70 miles in Antartica. While an entrepreneur may starve for a few days, its not four months. While an entrepreneur may sometimes get a chilly reception, its not 80 degrees below zero. So, I am feeling pretty good right now.
Another lesson Jim and I learned from hiking around Mt. Kenya on NOLS was how to deal with adversity. One day, a small team of us spent the day doing a technical climb, before meeting up with the rest of the group at the next night’s campsite. On the way to the campsite, it started to snow and hail as soon as we reached the top of one ridge. When we got to the second ridge, a blanket of clouds quickly surrounded us, completely closing off our visibility beyond 50 feet ahead or below us. The hail started to pound heavily on top of us, which made the rocks on the ridge very slippery and icy. If that wasn’t enough, we had a time constraint because the sun was starting to set and soon it would be dark. Since we couldn’t see anything around us, we started to question where we were and where we needed to go.
In a startup, it can sometimes be hard to tell if you are going in the right direction, particularly if you are charting a new path to a place no one has ever been. The more planning you do beforehand, the better prepared you are to deal with countless unknown factors that will pop up along the way. The more conversations you have with potential customers or partners, the more you think about competitive threats and how you will deal with them, the more you plan to consider how different market scenarios may impact you, the more confidence you will have to stay the course. It is still important to refer back to your map from time to time to see how well you are progressing and determine if you need to make any adjustments. Maybe you are further than you expected to be or not far enough? Maybe you find a better place to camp? Or maybe there’s a herd of cape buffalo running your way?
In Kenya, the lack of visibility prevented us from knowing if we were going the right way, so we had to rely on the planning we had done beforehand to keep us moving forward. Eventually, our perseverance paid off (and a little luck), because the clouds lifted a bit at the right time for us to notice that we were hiking right through camp.
Starting a company means being comfortable with the unknown. We don’t know how it will end up. But, we have spent a lot of time thinking about this space, and if we stay focused on our goals and we passionately execute them, then hopefully things will turn out well.
I was recently reading through a journal I kept when I climbed Mt. Kenya with Jim many years ago. We woke up around 4am to climb Pt. Lenana, one of Mt. Kenya’s highest peaks, to see the sun rise from 16,355 feet. The view was amazing! On the way down, we slid down a glacier for part of the way, and came across a small hut. Inside the hut, there was a quote on the wall that read “Limits exist only in the minds”. This probably inspired countless other climbers to reach the top. But, it was equally inspiring for us for the rest of our trip. One example of that was rock climbing up a face that was extremely difficult. I was midway up the face, but I was stuck and couldn’t find a handhold or foothold to pull me up. I fell too many times to count. My arms and fingers were aching, and I was out of breath. But I never let myself dwell on these things, because I knew if I did, I wouldn’t be able to make it up the mountain. After falling a few more times, I remember resting for a few moments to clear my mind and a new source of strength and creativity rose within me as I discovered that I could put my hand behind a boulder jutting out atop a ledge, and use a small indentation less than an inch thick as a foothold to help pull myself up, despite that every muscle in my body was shaking profusely and trying to convince me to give up. I was determined to reach the top, so I persevered until somehow I pulled myself up and kept going until I reached the top. By that time, I was thoroughly exhausted and it took me about an hour or so to get my breath back.
Starting a company is also very hard work. Jim and I have never done this before, so we are climbing up a new face every day. We have had setbacks and there have been times when I thought it was too difficult to climb, but the passion I have for what I am doing has been a constant inspiration to me and has given me the strength to persevere. Knowing that I am doing what I love and that I am trying to create something that can hopefully make a meaningful difference in people’s lives, keeps me climbing. I never imagined we would get as far as we have with Jambo, but that’s because I never set a limit on how far I thought we could take it. We continue to focus on that next handhold or foothold, striving to reach a peak that keeps on growing higher. We still have a difficult climb ahead, but there are no limits to how far we can go.
Cornell Reunion Weekend is off to a good start after a sleepless night in LGA. I have risen from the basement of baggage claim to see life starting to stir, slowly at first, but now a plethora of activity everywhere I look. I am sitting near my gate, “rubber necking” back and forth, looking for possibilities, looking to see if any of my classmates will be on the same flight. Who will I see first? Will I recognize them? Will they recognize me? Will we remember one another’s name? There will be name tags at the reunion, but, what do we do before then - when we encounter one another in the airport? We need Jambo to tell us his or her name before we encounter them.
I see a guy wearing a Texas t-shirt sitting near my gate. Maybe he is from Dallas? Maybe he went to Cornell too? What about the attractive blond to my left? Possibilities are all around me, I am bursting with excitement! I just want to take a net and capture them all! . . . . or maybe I just need to get some sleep.
I am on my way to my 5 year reunion for Cornell’s MBA School and I am stranded in LGA for the night and my phone just broke - so I can’t call anyone. I am in the basement of baggage claim and I have three laptops with me, so I am not going to sleep anytime soon. So, its 3:17am and I am the only one awake. . . . . but I have WiFi Internet Access, so I got that going for me.
No one I know is on Skype or AIM. What about Jambo? I would be SOOOOO pysched if I found another Jambo user in LGA right now! Something about sharing the same experience - the same dreadful experience - at the same time in the same space. A common bond. As I clicked on the Jambo puzzle icon, my pulse quickened. Who would Jambo find in proximity? Would it be a long lost friend? Another Cornellian on their way to Ithaca? Another entrepreneur? Unfortunately, it was just me and I am all alone again. It is 3am - what did I expect?
But what if I did find someone? Right now, I would have paid a lot for the ability to just connect to anyone, but someone that shared a lot in common with me - now that would be priceless. Please let us know if anyone has an experience like that through Jambo because as you can see that’s what keeps me up at night (at least tonight). So, if I can’t experience it, my hope is that we can empower someone else that will.
I had lunch today with Gary, one of the many good people at NOLS.
NOLS is a close friend of Jambo Networks. Charles and I orignally met in Africa - on a NOLS course. Gary and I were giving each other updates and generally catching up/hanging out. I started thinking about the NOLS business vs. the Jambo business. The non-profit and the for-profit aren’t as different as you might think.
As a non-profit school, NOLS has created a institution that is having a major impact on thousands of people’s lives. My time both in Africa and Alaska is a fundamental part of me, of who I am. NOLS is driven by a MISSION, not by profits. However, as Gary told me over lunch - the NOLS Board always says “Without Margins, there is no Mission.” Even though its a non-profit, it must be run like a business. They need to bring in revenue to do what they do.
Let’s flip it around.
“Without a MISSION, there are no Margins.” Non-profits teaching for-profits. This statement works really well now in the for-profit world. How can you expect to make a profit if you aren’t creating meaning? What drives you if you don’t have a mission? What is pulling you out of bed in the morning? If it is MARGINS, I say you’re in trouble. Go find a MISSION. Charles and I have certainly found ours.
“I’ve got 43 Starbucks locations within a five-mile radius of my apartment. First of all, what the fuck? Second of all, and I can’t help but to get competitive here, can anyone beat that?” –Justin
We’ve been trying to write/create original content on the blog, (as opposed to just linking to cool slashdot articles or whatever), but every once in a while you just have to link to something.
Depending on your perspective, this is either totally amazing, totally hysterical, or totally depressing. For Jambo, its totally amazing, because as a matter of fact, Starbucks happens to be our office. What’s not to like? 100% WiFi, decent coffee, good music. Instead of one dinky office, Jambo has 4400 (and growing) offices around the country. We have the chance to have random wifi encounters (Jambo Moments!) with customers. We don’t have to pay rent for an office. I personally think Starbucks rocks! So I guess ideally, I would live at the corner of 55th and Broadway in NYC - then I would have 165 Jambo offices in my five mile radius. What a hoot.