Posts tagged mind
“I can Has Cheezburger” loses millions : Jann Scott’s Journal
Dec 20th
In a confession on Back Channel Huh said:
“In a nutshell, we didn’t know what we were doing. We had been profitable for years, selling ads, t-shirts, books and even a reality show on Bravo. But having investment money in the bank was new for us. More important, so was the process of transforming ourselves from a team that built and acquired WordPress sites to a company that produced a full-on content platform. We tripled our headcount.
After cashing out our original investors, however, our $30 million had dwindled to just $4 million. That figure is small by venture capital standards, but for a company that was used to duct tape and folding chairs, we felt like we were swimming in cash. We were turning into a confused, money-losing mess.”
What is this company ? What do they produce ? What is their financial model ? Believe it or not it is a kitty Kat humor website company who depends on fucking banner ads and T shirt sales to make it. It was a losing idea from the beginning. Memes. really. The entire startup world is caught up in this kind of bullshit and most of them go broke. The only people making money are the founder hustlers and the early stage VCs like Foundry. It is almost like these people plan to fail.
I hate to toot my own horn but I sure as hell know how to turn 30 million dollars into a profitable company and not blow it on dumb shit. Take a company like mine: Channel One Networks llc. We have evolved from cable television programming in the 90s to web based TV and news in the 2000s. We built slowly and surely turning a profit every year while expanding steadily. Now we have a grown to 6,000 TV channels and newspapers with local content and local advertising in every city in the world. We are not a flash in the pan and we don’t make Giant company ending mistakes. We compete with Google, Twitter, Facebook, Yahoo and Microsoft. We build and sell our own products . We are not re sellers of somebody elses.. And we know what is King. Advertising and service sales are kings not content. Yes we are changing the way TV and news is delivered locally and we are changing the world.
One of the problems with the entire start-up millennium movement is that they are not business people. Most of them go broke. Most of them have little business or sales training. They do not know how to service customers or produce results for them. They are so caught up with making the scene that their zine meme thing crashes and they wonder .. oh gee what happened. business happened.
I wish some of these incubators and business schools would teach business instead of entrepreneurship. Not everybody can be an entrepreneur. There is great value in being a good solid worker.
From the Real World Home Town
Jann Scott
Boulder, Colorado
Jann Scott’s Journal gives a critical look at the world through the wise eyes of Boulders #1 multiculturalist
Hands Up Don’t Shoot: How to Survive a Police Stop by Jann Scott
Aug 21st
That means if you frighten them them they can and will shoot to kill you. They do not have much of an in between.
So I always approach cops with this in mind. I am not stupid. I don’t ever do things to antagonize them. I never fight with them or argue with then.
They have the gun on their holster. They have the badge of authority and the entire police department, district attorneys office and local government behind them.
Cops are the wrong people to fuck with always. Many of them are stressed and overworked. They spend much of the day dealing with scumbag wife beaters, child abusers, drug addicts and alcoholics, thieves etc.
So when they run up on you in a traffic stop just know you have a wilkd lion coming up to your car and you don’t want to piss him or her off.
What to do in a traffic stop.
1. Pull over to the right immediately and stop.
2. Don’t get out of the car.
3. Put your hands up on the steering wheel and keep them there.
4. If it is night , turn your overhead light on so the officer can see your hands.
5. Don’t go fishing around for your license or registration in the glove box.
6. Sit still and wait for the cop to come to your window and wait for instructions.
7. Cops get nervous when you go to the glove box or start fishing around. They worry that you might have a gun or someone in the car has a gun .
8. Be polite. Yes sir no sir goes a long way. Don’t argue with him.
9 I have found that being polite to a police officer always helps….. If I have done something wrong in the vehicle I just admit it or say i didn’t realize and apologize. That approach will get you less point on a ticket or a warning. I almost never get stopped and when I do it is usually with a warning.
10. I am serious. I could have driven over the guys mother and he’ll give me a warning. Why. because I pose no threat.
12. Now of course I am white, middle aged and look like Rush Limbaugh so that helps… a lot. I am usually well dressed and well spoken. I don’t give off attitude.
13 I have no idea what to say to those of you who are black, Latino, or wear gangster clothes. I would take my hat off and do your best Eddie Murphy impression.
14. when I was a long haired hippie and on drugs and wearing weird clothes… believe it or not I was the guy who was cool calm and collected around cops. I was often the spokesperson. ” Yes sir. No problem here sir. thank you sir . no sir yes sir. did you want to fuck one of the girls sir cause that one there thinks your cute.” I mean , I will do anything to keep the heat off and make sure the cops are feeling non threatened. I just try to be nice to them. Cause nobody else has been all day and they appreciate it.. And that means they will go find somebody else to eat.
15. If you have somebody with you who is being agro toward the cops, you tell that person to “shut the fuck up” in no uncertain terms. You tell the cop .. “You will have no problem with us sir, I am sorry for my disrespectful friend he was smoking crack before you so caringly stopped us ” and then you make sure a friend sits on that guy or girl.
16. Now you people of color, try to dress as white as you can. And talk as white as you can. Wear Kakis and a blue oxford shirt and a red and blue stripped tie. Talk about how you love the police and hope to be a police officer next year. Smile like Chris Rock and mention church.
sorry that is how it goes. This is a white mans world. White businessmen do rule…Next come our white women and our white children. If you are rich like me and live in a rich white city like Boulder you get treated like a Lord by the cops. Then again I don’t fuck up. I am not out dealing drugs, shooting people, robbing, stealing rapping or walking the streets. I am scared shitless. But I get more points than you.
If you are black, Latino or homeless you will always be stopped by the cops in rich white Boulder or any affluent white neighborhood in America.
So how you carry yourself, what you wear and how you speak in the presence of law enforcement officers will make the difference of whether you live or die tonight.
Jann Scott has covered the police for over 20 years
by Jann Scott
Jann Scott’s Journal
from White Boulder