Just clarifying a little something

July 16, 2009 By Rob Leave a Comment

I’ve written several posts on this blog about SeaWorld, San Antonio.  I love SeaWorld.  I love that I have friends there.  I love that they share new events with me.

I have NEVER taken a dime from SeaWorld (and they have never offered me a dime!), or anyone else, for any post on this blog.  My thoughts are my thoughts.  Sure – if SeaWorld shows me something cool, I will probably write about it.  This is NOT any different than what Robert Scoble does, what Techcrunch does, or what any other news blog does.

Why is this coming up?

A recent article in Forbes mentions SeaWorld in conjunction with a pretty negative post about Izea, AKA PayPerPost.

A long-time reader saw that article – and asked me, rather bluntly, if I had taken blogola.

I absolutely have NOT.  I have sold a few ads over the years (maybe totaling $500) based on content I had already written and published, but I have NEVER written a post in trade for anything.  Not even a free beer.  I write what I want to write – nothing more, and nothing less.  NONE of those posts that paid me ad revenue were in any way related to SeaWorld.

It is also true that I *did* sign up for PayPerPost, back in the day.  Back when they were being raked over the coals for being unethical.  I didn’t want to take the word of someone else – I wanted to see how it “worked”.  So yes, I signed up on PayPerPost.  I have NEVER received a dime from them, or submitted ANY content to them.

I find it distressing that SeaWorld is even named in the same post with PayPerPost/Izea/Ted Murphy.  I am also distressed that this has caused my own motives/ethics to be questioned.  I don’t know what is going on in Orlando, Florida, but I am very confident in the SeaWorld San Antonio team, and how they handled the invitations for me to attend events.  They never asked for ANYTHING in return from me.  And I have been to large events, like launching a new roller coaster, to small events, that were more about their vision for the future, etc.  I might have eaten a free taco, but those of you that know me know that I am not an eater – so free food cannot bribe me.

SeaWorld San Antonio is my friend, and I have made many friends there.  My daughter has a season pass that was PAID for (by my ex).

So no.  There was absolutely zero quid pro quo in any of my posts about SeaWorld San Antonio.  Nothing more than friendships.  Like many of my posts, I do talk about cool things friends are doing/have done.

I don’t know the details of this, beyond the article I reference above.

I just know MY SeaWorld here in San Antonio.  And the PR team I have dealt with.  And they have treated me with nothing but respect.  Had they offered to pay me to post, I would have been offended, and they would have lost a customer, and an advocate.  And probably a friend.

Instead they DID respect my morals as a blogger (and as a person) and offered me nothing in exchange for my attendance other than the ability to attend.  To me, that was payment enough.  Friends launched something – and I wanted to be among the first to play with it.  In this case, it was an idea, or a roller coaster.

In most cases, it is a website.

But to me, the same criteria applies – I have to be interested in it, and I need an emotional investment in it.  In the case of SeaWorld San Antonio it was a combination of both.  Loved the new coaster I got to ride, and am emotionally attached to some of the staff.  They are friends.

And friends don’t need to pay me for a post.  Friends know me well enough not to offend me by offering.  Friends know I will write about them when they do something that interests me.

Rob

Filed Under: Community, Personal, San Antonio

SeaWorld Coaster Challenge

November 1, 2008 By Rob 1 Comment

If you came from the SeaWorld site, and are looking for my previous posts on SeaWorld, San Antonio, they are here.  I expect to have my post (and picts) from today posted tomorrow sometime.

It was fun!

Rob

Filed Under: Events, San Antonio

It is a hard thing to point at.

September 5, 2008 By Rob 3 Comments

I helped build WiFi, and WAY BACK THEN (~6 years ago) my kids were young. I could walk with them through any electronics store – Best Buy, CompUSA, Radio Shack etc – and point at what I did. “Our chips are in that, and that, and that”. It was very cool, and I was a hero to my kids and their friends. Wireless was (and still is) some VERY cool stuff! If you love your WiFi, throw me, and a very talented group of engineers some love!

Now I do Cloud Computing – it is very hard to point at something and have my kids understand exactly what I build. I could not even bring them into our data center and point at a machine that one of my domains runs at. There is no “machine”. There are thousands of machines. (And even as the Director of Software Development I don;t have the credentials to get into our datacenters – I don’t need to be there).

What I build is hard to point at – much more difficult than a Wireless enabled laptop, or a WiFi Router.

But I am building something even larger than WiFi. Imagine that – larger than WiFi! Think of it – where were you last in a decent sized city and you couldn’t find free WiFi somewhere?

It is everywhere, And I am helping to build something even bigger, but different.

And struggling with how I explain it to people. Even my kids.

We went through this with Wireless – where people just didn’t get it – until they used it. Cloud computing is kinda like that. You don’t know that you want it (yet). In a year you will be pissed when you can’t get it.

Filed Under: Mosso, Personal, San Antonio

And the Winner Is… Me! (and Mosso)

June 26, 2008 By Rob 13 Comments

I have just accepted a position as Director of Software Development for Mosso.

Mosso is based in San Antonio, and is part of Rackspace.

So, why did I choose Mosso?  From the web site:

We started Mosso because we knew there were web developers who wanted a reliable platform for their applications and email–without being the ones responsible for all the technology.

Basically, Mosso does, on a much larger scale, what I have been doing as a consultant for the last few years – stripping as much of the technology details as possible out of the lives of people that have an idea and/or dream – they want to build the idea, not manage the server, or the databases.  They want to be able to focus on building what they envision.  I’ve helped people focus on that – Mosso lets thousands of people do the same.

That’s what Mosso does.  And more.  And in very cool ways.

Mosso also passed all of my test points:

  • I need to build teams.
  • I need to work with smart people.
  • I need a voice.
  • I need responsibility, accountability, AND authority.
  • I need the security of a larger company with the atmosphere of a startup.
  • I needed a company that is nimble – it can quickly adjust to change, and new ideas.
  • My work must have value to me, and to others.
  • The impact has to have a large footprint.  I like building big!

So, how did Mosso do on this list?  Extremely well.  I will not be building one team – but several teams.  I have met some of the smartest people – all in one company in downtown San Antonio.

My position is a senior one – I will eventually have a large team – and many of them I will need to hire.  That is important work that is important to the company, and to my new coworkers.  I’ll be allowed to run my teams and do my job – I’ll be helping grow/invent/implement some very cool technology.

The work environment is amazing – we have real humans at Mosso 24/7.  We have developers on call 24/7.  We work 24/7 (so you don’t have to!).  Developers build their own schedules for covering “on call” – they don’t need a “manager” – they are managing quite well right now :)   So I will focus on improving our processes and hiring more talented people (call me if you are interested – 210-845-4440).

New employees get their choice of computers.  You want a Windows desktop? – no problem.  One monitor, or two?  You want a 17” MacBook Pro (I Do!) – that’s cool as well.  One monitor, or two?  It’s really up to you.  Since we are building computing for the cloud, the systems we personally choose don’t really matter (except for where you feel most productive!).

Like any startup, you have a lot to do – your job description might as well read, “Succeed”.  I like that.  But we’re also backed by Rackspace – a very strong company (and a very cool company to work at in their own right – they’ve won a lot of awards for being a cool place to work).

I first met the Mosso crew when I invited Robert Scoble to come to San Antonio – I was just introduced to a couple of them – I didn’t get a chance to talk to them.  But a few weeks later I looked into what they were doing.  I became a customer.  I was (and am even more so now) impressed.  Those blog posts started a conversation that eventually led to here.  It was not planned.

But I am very pleased to be in an exciting position at Mosso – and am very happy to be part of the Rackspace family.  I am a Racker, and already proud of it :)

I won’t be able to talk much about what I am doing for a while.  But once I can, I’ll be sure to share my experience with you.

But as I learn more about Mosso, and what my teams look like – I’ll share that with you. 

Because I wouldn’t go to work for a company that didn’t excite me   And challenge me.

This one does.

Filed Under: Community, Customers, Going Green, Management, Mosso, Personal, San Antonio, Scoble, Stories, startups

Lightning Does Strike Twice

June 25, 2008 By Rob 5 Comments

It has been about four years since I first decided to step into the consulting lifestyle.  In that time one of my “children” has completed High School, and then his first year of college.  Next year my daughter will finish High School as well.

It has been an amazing four years for me – I have been able to spend time with my kids as required – but mostly I have been able to spend an inordinate amount of time learning.  Ten years ago I learned by reading books – today I learn more by surfing the Internet – it is still reading, but it is so much faster, and so much more available (and “find-able!”.

One of the things my time in consulting has taught me is that I miss people.  I miss the challenge of building teams – not just hiring people, but building functional groups that work well together to build more than any single persons could have done.

So, taking stock of my life, as I am often wanton to do, I asked myself, “What is next”?  In a year I will have two kids in college, and perhaps neither of them left at home.

It was time for me to answer the question, “What does Rob want?”.

So I looked back in my life experiences and tried to zero in on what made me the most happy – what did I love to do so much that I could do it for the rest of my life?  Raising children certainly tops my list – but I can’t raise them forever – in fact, I am already being outsourced in that position – by my children themselves.

Raising children is like building good teams – the end goal is that eventually they won’t need depend on you anymore.

I decided I needed to go back to work with people – preferably young, energetic people, and certainly people smarter than I am.  I have always been lucky in surrounding myself with people smarter than I am (and please – PAUL! – no comments that this should be easy – it isn’t).

This realization came over a several month period – I didn’t wake up one day having come to this “epiphany”.

I missed building teams.  I need to work with smart people.  I MUST work for a company that understands that I am a unique person – I am opinionated, passionate, determined, outspoken, opinionated, and outspoken.  And I am sorry if I repeated myself.  And I am sorry if I repeated myself.

I need a company that doesn’t exist outside of startups – I needed security, because I will have two kids in college.  It must be nimble.  It must be willing to listen, and learn – even as it teaches.  But I also needed the excitement that keeps me engaged.  I need to constantly invent.  I need to work with smart people that will make me smarter.  I needed to be someplace that allows me to make a difference every day.  I needed to build something that affects a lot of people, because after helping build WiFi – it takes a big project to be a “big deal”.

And most of all – I need to be able to help.  My work must have value – to me, and to the people I work with.  And to the customers – who I never shy away from or refuse a conversation with.

In the next day or two I hope to share with you the company that is all of that, and more.  How much more is something I expect to find out soon – and something I hope to grow over time.

But don’t worry – I won’t change my blogging style/habits.  I wouldn’t work for a company that thought they could control my freedom of expression outside the office.

The list of companies I wouldn’t work for is rather large.  So I’ll save you that and instead share with you in the next couple days who I would work for – and I will tell you exactly why I made that choice.

Filed Under: Community, Customers, Ideas, Management, News, Personal, San Antonio, WTF?, education, startups
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