Would you take a job at BitTorrent?

A good friend of mine is considering whether he should move from Toronto to San Francisco for a job at BitTorrent. There is obviously a long list of pluses and minuses, particularly with the launch of their new service tomorrow, but when he asked my opinion it came down to three simple things: The download market is an incredibly interesting space, BitTorrent is one of the most interesting players and San Francisco is the epicenter of the tech world.

In my mind it doesn’t matter that BitTorrent face a lot of challenges. They have as good a chance as anyone and they are running in one of the most exciting races going on right now. A job at BitTorrent would be an opportunity to live on the bleeding edge for a while. You’d have a business card that would get you into a lot of interesting meetings and, very importantly, you’d be in the Valley. I think this would be an opportunity to learn and to make contacts. If BitTorrent became a huge success – great. If not I’m sure other opportunities would appear quickly, and often.

Two and a half years ago when I was deciding to move to Toronto for a job I approached the decision differently. I was looking for a company that I could help make successful. Now, potential failures are just as interesting. A chance to fail (maybe) is a chance to learn and as long as you are meeting great people and enjoying yourself then it looks like a good opportunity to me.

If you’ve ever wondered, this is what a public relations disaster looks like…

Check out this train wreck of a video.

It was taken at the PowerSet party on Saturday night. The comments on the TechCrunch story are a good read too. My favorite: “I am a VC who has invested $100,000 in PowerSet and am desperately worried.”

Toro magazine closing its doors today

I was sad to hear that the fantastic Canadian men’s magazine, Toro will not be publishing their March issue, or any more for that matter. The reason given: the advertising market in Canada. Apparently the ads dollars they were getting just couldn’t sustain their business.

Here is a quote from the press release:

(TORONTO – February 12, 2007) Toro proprietor Christopher Bratty is suspending publication of the Canadian men’s magazine he launched in April 2003. “Despite steady annual growth,” says Toro publisher Dinah Quattrin, “it’s become clear that the advertising revenue available in Canada for a general-interest men’s magazine is such that even a very high-quality book like Toro can, at best, manage to sustain itself. The prospect of significant profits wasn’t in the foreseeable future.”


UPDATE: I’ve already had a couple of emails from Dose staff suffering from flashbacks!

Does consumer PR sell products or stock?

I had a beer a couple of weeks ago with Ian Barr from Hill and Knowlton, a large PR firm here in Toronto. We were chatting about how PR is used in modern business. One question I had was how many clients were coming to him to promote a new product versus coming to him explicitly wanting to impact their share price? Now, I’m not talking about investor relation or corporate PR – that’s always been focused on share price. I’m talking about consumer facing communications.

Ian said effecting the share price was not the main reason clients gave for planning a consumer campaign but that the conversation was coming up a lot more in meetings.

I guess the point behind my question was this: In a world where citizens create the media (blogs, etc), and the investment community monitor that media, the line between investor relations and consumer PR is blurring. If you want to effect share price in this scenario you put an ad on TV (or on YouTube) – not just in the business pages. Or to stick with the PR story – you message the masses, not just the business journalists.

I wonder how long it will be until the scales tip and marketing managers talk about share price first and product launches second? Maybe soon if the Bombardier commercials that played during the Superbowl are anything to go by.

Breaking news: Bridezilla is an ad for Sunsilk

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRNntNBEUF0]

I’m sure you’ve all seen the Bridezilla clip that’s been doing the rounds: Girl completely wigs out and cuts her hair an hour before her wedding.

I got an email from a friend today, Robbie McNamara who produced it. Here is the info he passed on:

The video was directed by John Griffith and shot in the Sheraton Four Points hotel on Lakeshore Boulevard in Toronto. Heather Fox did hair and makeup and Mark Binks was the coordinator. It was intended as a non-branded viral ad for Sunsilk hair products. The advertising agency behind it was Capitol C, here in Toronto.

With over 9 million views this might be the best value for money an advertising client ever got.

There is a good story with lots more details on this at Torontoist.

Is this how you kill interest in a public Beta?

I’ve loved the idea behind Spanning Sync since the day I read about it (essentially it’s a little application that syncs iCal with your Google Calendars – very handy!). So, I’ve been watching their blog daily looking for them to announce a public beta.

Yesterday my prayers were answered but then a few hours later (before I’d had a chance to register for my account) they closed the doors again. Having a customer chomping at the bit to get their hands on your product is a great thing. But making them wait, and wait, and wait – not so good. Hopefully I’ll get an account over the weekend, then I can post about how it was worth the wait ;)

I’ve been reading a lot about running a good beta test in the last few weeks. It’s something our little startup is planning for right now. Michael Arrington wrote a great post about it this time last year, but my best research has been just watching other sites launch their beta products. The way you announce your launch, which browsers you support and your responses to customer problems all say so much about your company. People form attitudes about you over this time that might never fade, so it’s an important thing to get right.

An great resource for entrepreneurs from Harvard Business School

Lately I’ve been looking at a number of different business models for the startup I’m working on and doing a bunch of competitive research. I’ve found a lot of useful resources but none as good as the cases from Harvard Business School.

Each case looks at a different business and an important decision they needed to make. They often go into detailed category analysis and give you background information that isn’t easy to find (I think each case is prepared with the help of the business being discussed). The best bit?… the full searchable list of cases are available on the HBS website and they only cost $6:50 US each. We’ve brought a few, and I tell you they are definitely worth it!

Clever ad idea from Mini

This is a great little ad idea. Apparently select Mini owners were recently sent RFID key fobs and asked to pick a special personalized message that would play on digital billboards when they drove past.

This is a great way to get Mini owners talking to their friends about how much they love their Mini – and this kind of word of mouth is a great way to sell more of the little exports from Oxford.

Full disclosure. I’m a Mini owner. I drive it, I like it. But I’m not one of those obsessive Mini people.