The Musing Mill

The Wall Street Journal Maketplace section had an article on the front page, top of fold about the US Securities and Exchange Commission shutting down the ‘autosurfing’ site 12DailyPro.com. There is a lot to learn from how this case is resolved. Here’s why…

The difference between the new economy and the old one is that the old economy players relied on ‘economies of scale’ in production, while the new economy relies on ‘economies of networks.’ 12DailyPro was (supposedly) a really efficient way to build a huge network of people interested in website promotion. It was one of the top 400 sites (rated by Alexa traffic) on the Internet. It is safe to say that it was a top brand in website promotion.

The SEC shut down 12DP because it claims that, because 12DailyPro got most of its revenue from membership dues, that it was a Ponzi scheme. That logic makes every fitness club in America, for instance, a Ponzi scheme. I’m guessing that the SEC has more info than it is releasing publicly. But for now, by simply claiming that 12DailyPro is a Ponzi scheme, the SEC has been able to shut down a top brand in the website promotion business, with very little uproar from anybody. Isn’t this guilty until proven innocent?

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It’s been tough to post on the blog being back at school now and working on my startup. On the technology side, I’ve been working on the idea of tying blogs to voting interfaces like that used on DIGG.com. I think I’ll get my MBA classmates to start voting interesting topics and then make that browsable (UI secret to be revealed later

On a related note, using the same software ideas, I just got the idea to start a product mangement blog dedicated to the subject rather than cluttering up this space here. By using a blog to post software feature ideas/pictures/mockups, tying in a voting user interface (password restricted so I can control the sample profile of voters) and then posting results publicly, I could have a whole NEW WAY to solicit public input on a piece of software, or any project for that matter.

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Tommorrow is the first day back at BU for the Spring. It has been a great break and we spent a lot of time with the family and also driving to the cape (as you can see below!)

During the holidays, Sue and I went skiing at Okemo (without the kids this time) and I worked on researching various businesses I have been thinking about.

Along the way, I found this lawyer, Robert Townsend. His take on life was the last sentence on his website. I think it is great!

Recommended Life Style:

Life’s journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out shouting, HOLY SHIT……what a RIDE!

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We have had a really great holiday with our family. This is the first year we got our cards out before Christmas. Susan sang in the church choir on Christmas Eve. Susan’s mother, Karen, spent the holiday with us as well as my parents. Santa was good to us with very full stockings and wonderful gifts for the kids. As a thankyou, Elizabeth left him some milk and cookies (in advance).

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This is the Cape house yesterday Dec 22nd. Charlie Ferrullo (contractor) and Tom have been working on getting the roof framed and closed in before the weather hits. The dormer is for a small loft that will sleep a few more people than before. We plan to have the first use be when the BU folks crash at the house when Allison Beatty and company do the Cape Cod half-marathon in February.

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AU was a blast and a whirlwind 2 days. Skipping class to go was dicey since I have a round of midterms starting Friday. But, it was really great seeing everybody that I had not seen in a year. The Revit classes were packed this year, even the API class with about 300 people. Some of the old-timers crammed into a picture booth late one night. The identities of those involved are revealed on the Revit forums at AUGI.com. Ahhh - good times.

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Tonight I fly to Orlando to spend a day at Autodesk University. I was originally scheduled to speak, but was replaced when I left Autodesk. Given the amount of BU work, it was a blesing in disguise.

Although I’ve kept in touch with folks in Waltham, I haven’t seen or talked to many in the Revit community since July. I’m looking forward to running into a lot of old Reviteers.

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Today we turned in our papers and watched the winner’s presentations on the simulation. It was a great learning experience. How to apply the 4 Ps of marketing and see whether you ‘get it.’ We got most of it, but COMPLETELY screwed up promotion. Why raise your ad budget at all over 10 years? It’s a waste of money, right? WRONG!

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The BU GSMs ‘Night Above Town’ held on the top floor of the State Street bank building was a blast! We all danced and everybody was dressed to kill!

Here’s a shot of Susan and me with our friends Chris and Jee. Chris is a Boston native and has been my ‘partner in crime’ as of late. He’s one of the people on my team for group MBA projects.

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So B-school is still fun, but BUSY. The difference between this and working is that at work I didn’t have a deliverable EVERY DAY of the week. In fact, I had a class this week that had 3 deliverables all in one class. So the pace is pretty frantic.

I’m starting to learn some stuff that would have been very useful to me the last few years. At work, I always wondered how anybody could confidently make use of ’squishy’ survey data. I’m now understanding that you can seperate out confounding factors using statistics. I learned stat many years ago, but in the context of engineering, not business. Application makes all the difference in the world.

The other interesting insight is that I’m starting to understand the mindset of a marketer. I’ve done the tasks and the math before, but working through the reasoning of cases with a master like Menezes is a real eye-opener. It really allows you to understand how to structure a compelling argument for moving a business/product in a given direction.

I can confidently say that an MBA is going to be a huge asset - I should have done it years ago.

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