Monday, October 16, 2006
Been a while
It's been well over a month since I last blogged which I think violates all suggested "good blogging practices" but I'll be making up for lost time very shortly. Starting in November, I hope to be blogging daily on a very exciting trip that I've been trying to make happen almost ever since I started GiveMeaning. It appears as though all the stars are aligning to make this trip possible.
A lot has happened since my last post. CTV gave us some really wonderful national television coverage which you can see here
The coverage ran the night I left for Hollyhock to attend a conference called Web of Change. I was very reluctant to go to the conference and had a bunch of preconceived ideas of what was going to happen. I thought either it would be either too hippy/lala or a bunch of techies talking about solutions without any interest or knowledge in the core problems or worse a combination of hippy/lala and arrogant tech bs.
First, the actual place is amazingly beautiful. There are a bunch of flickr photosets tagged webofchange that show the place's beauty. There is a main lodge which has wireless access and where the food is served which is the definately the hub. But each actual conference session takes place in various cabins throughout heavily wooded parts of the property. Just travelling to and from each conference session, that you are walking through these beautiul old trees as opposed to air conditioned, carpeted hallways of a conference centre makes for a different attitude.
What made the actual conference so enjoyable was the quality of every conversation but one. Sure, there were personalities that I found irritating but nevertheless everyone there was there because they had a passion and desire to be part of the solution. They were there because they wanted to live life with meaning and were actively doing so. I was humbled and inspired by many people I met up there.
Shortly after coming back from Hollyhock, we received our first bit of US media coverage which unfortunately was very disappointing for the sheer inaccuracy of the article. Luckily, all attempts by my friends in the US and Canada to find the magazine on newsstands failed, so it appears as though they are not as widely circulated as before but according to the article: I ran venture capital for Intel and News Corp (I consulted to both companies but was never a VC for either), we aren't seeing viral growth (just the opposite! we've spent less than $1,000 on advertising since our inception and our growth is entirely word-of-mouth), and I count Warren Buffet as a good buddy (never met the man).
No press is bad press? Our first press in the Valley is "GiveMeaning: The site that doesn't have viral growth." Great. Oh well!
A lot has happened since my last post. CTV gave us some really wonderful national television coverage which you can see here
The coverage ran the night I left for Hollyhock to attend a conference called Web of Change. I was very reluctant to go to the conference and had a bunch of preconceived ideas of what was going to happen. I thought either it would be either too hippy/lala or a bunch of techies talking about solutions without any interest or knowledge in the core problems or worse a combination of hippy/lala and arrogant tech bs.
First, the actual place is amazingly beautiful. There are a bunch of flickr photosets tagged webofchange that show the place's beauty. There is a main lodge which has wireless access and where the food is served which is the definately the hub. But each actual conference session takes place in various cabins throughout heavily wooded parts of the property. Just travelling to and from each conference session, that you are walking through these beautiul old trees as opposed to air conditioned, carpeted hallways of a conference centre makes for a different attitude.
What made the actual conference so enjoyable was the quality of every conversation but one. Sure, there were personalities that I found irritating but nevertheless everyone there was there because they had a passion and desire to be part of the solution. They were there because they wanted to live life with meaning and were actively doing so. I was humbled and inspired by many people I met up there.
Shortly after coming back from Hollyhock, we received our first bit of US media coverage which unfortunately was very disappointing for the sheer inaccuracy of the article. Luckily, all attempts by my friends in the US and Canada to find the magazine on newsstands failed, so it appears as though they are not as widely circulated as before but according to the article: I ran venture capital for Intel and News Corp (I consulted to both companies but was never a VC for either), we aren't seeing viral growth (just the opposite! we've spent less than $1,000 on advertising since our inception and our growth is entirely word-of-mouth), and I count Warren Buffet as a good buddy (never met the man).
No press is bad press? Our first press in the Valley is "GiveMeaning: The site that doesn't have viral growth." Great. Oh well!
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