I opened up “Delivering Happiness” by Tony Hsieh one day last week and just didn’t want to put it down.  I have had a chance to see Tony’s talk in person at Big Omaha, but for some reason the book still took me by a surprise. Perhaps I was expecting a typical “manual” on good business know-how.  Instead, Tony’s writing, in 1st person narrative, was...

One of the reasons that Big Omaha was an amazing experience for me was because I got a chance to meet Jeff Slobotski.  Jeff is the co-founder of Big Omaha and Silicon Prairie News. In this interview, Jeff talked about his vision & passion for the entrepreneurs’ community which led to the success of Big Omaha – the flagship entrepreneurial event for the...

I think Santa Monica is becoming more and more a startup hub for LA. I had a wonderful day yesterday, crashing offices of a few startups in Santa Monica. I started with a meeting at… well, I can’t tell you. Yet. Had a very pleasant talk with… can’t tell you whom. Yet. Getting involved in a very exciting project… But you may have a pretty good idea from the...

This is my interview of Shane Mac, the marketing manager at Gist. I met Shane at Big Omaha. His enthusiasm is contagious. This interview is really not about Gist, but about a range of other things that Shane is involved in: the AskSummit, “Stop with the BS” – a book that he just wrote, his one-man wedding band, The Squad – a career blog that he has been...

Up until a few hours before the tickets sold out for Big Omaha, I have never paid attention to know what the conference was about.  Luckily, thanks to Casey Allen, a passionate Mixergy fan, who got on a video call and persuasively convinced me to go to the event:  ”Mixergy is the media sponsor.  You and Andrew should be there!” I quickly looked at the...

You may have remembered that I recently did an interview with David Lifson, Founder of Postling.  David lives in NY, but recently went to San Francisco to do a demo at the #SmashSummit.   So he extended his trip for a short visit to LA. It was a perfect opportunity for us to have a day out and showed David our hospitality.  So as I arrived back late on Saturday...

I have been thinking about the “positive thinking” or “self help” education market and how such a huge bandwagon it has been. Have you wondered why so many people who addicted to it yet don’t get very far in achieving their dreams? They seem to sign up to one program after another, and forever in that learning cycle. Not that I am against continuous...

I was incredibly honored to be invited to moderate the New Media Age panel at the LA Entrepreneurs Conference yesterday.   The panel organizer, Ryan Jones did a fantastic job of lining up great panelists: Jesse Albert, an independent media consultant, formerly of ICM, where clients included Showtime Networks, Beyonce…, Scott Carleton of Nomad Editing, Mike...

“The” Andy Liu is in town and I asked him if I could grab him for a quick drink with a few local startup people.   He was kind enough to carve out a block of time to spend with us yesterday. Just in case you are not familiar with Andy Liu, his Mixergy interview is here. Andy Liu is a serial entrepreneur and angel investor. As an entrepreneur, he’s the...

I love the startup community. Let me say that again: I LOVE the startup community. I love the community because there are so many amazing people, all trying to CREATE something. Then there are those who have done great things and continue to provide support through investment or advices to the next generations. And those around it in the areas of social media,...

Last week, I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to talk to Fred Smith, Founder/CEO of FedEx backstage at the John Wooden Global Leadership Award event.  To be invited to the event was already a pleasant surprise, to meet the man…  well, needless to say, I was star trucked.  How many people we know that started from scratch, and built up to a company...