Baghdad Bob must be running communications strategy at the White House

The much maligned but always piercing words of Iraq’s former Minister of Information have found a new home. Given the drivel coming form the executive branch these days (with the exception of the State Department), it must be that Baghdad Bob is in charge.

Forget why we invaded Iraq, apparently now the reason we’re doing so badly is…you guessed it, the Press. It seems the press only reports the bad things (bombs, blood, bullets) and not the good things that happened every day in Iraq (bar mitzvahs?).

The mere fact that the traditional media took the bait, and is now devoting significant airtime to the questions of “do we (the media) only cover the bad news in Iraq” means the administration has won…by again diverting the debate away from real issues to false issues.

TiVo Worthy

Discovery Science has many interesting shows, but only one gets recorded each week at Casa de Entrepreneur.

How It's Made shows how items as varied as aluminum foil, contact lenses, and food products are manufactured. Although almost like the film strips we were showed in grade school science, the depth is considerably more, and the detail fascinating.

Check it out each Wednesday evening at 8 and 8:30 (check your local listing for times).

One I Like

Check out Sales Voodoo...great product, cool people, excelent customers.

www.salesvoodoo.com

Help Thyself

I've had three meetings with folks involved in startups in the last 24 hours. In two cases, neither team could tell me what the heck they did nor why anyone should care. All I wanted was a series of short, concise statements.

I’ve been there…but I was 25 and had no idea what I was doing. These two teams had supposed “experienced management” that had no idea how to articulate the value of their product, who they wanted to buy their product, nor how they were going to find those folks.

In case anyone wasn’t paying attention:

Investors buy stock in your firm because they think you can make money. This means you have to completely understand your prospective customers and how your product will help those people.

Companies don’t acquire technology (except in very rare cases) so you have to have customers, lots of them, to get anyone interested in buying you out.

Investors make money off your risk profile. If the profile of your company doesn’t exactly meet the investor’s pre-determined risk profile, you’re out. Investors can always find more reasons not to do a deal than reasons to do a deal.

Focus doesn’t mean myopic. How do you want your firm to look in five years? How will you compete against the existing folks in your space? What happens if the genius that invented your product gets arrested for accidentally killing a hooker after a week-end bender? How will you go on? Why are you different? Why should anyone care?

Why I'm Not afraid of the Chinese

Pizza Hut China Salad Architecture

This one is for brother Bill

Effectiveness of Aluminum Foil Hats