— lyle mckeany

I’m going to give this new Quora blogging thing a try. Working on that whole building an audience thing. I plan on cross-posting everything here though. But, if you’re on Quora already, or you’re interested in checking it out (it’s cool, trust me), come check me out there at http://mixingitup.quora.com/.

Virtually everyone thinks that email can be a pain in the ass. Everyone dislikes it so much that it has been relegated to “necessary evil” status. We all continue to use it because everyone else continues to use it and no viable replacement has come along. I’m not even sure what a replacement would look like anyways. Let’s face it. Email’s here to stay for the foreseeable future.

Earlier this year, I was excited to discover Sparrow. I had only used it for a few months when they announced that they had been acquired by Google. I still use the Mac version of the app on my MacBook Air, but I’ve now moved onto the Gmail app on my iPhone since Sparrow never implemented push notifications. My hopes for a “fix” to the email ecosystem had been dashed. Until now.

About a month ago, I somehow stumbled upon Mailbox. It feels strange, but I’m genuinely excited about an email app. The app looks great and the gesture functionality is brilliant. The Mailbox team is trying to change the way their users interact with the inbox by completely transforming it.

I love some of the copywriting from their website:

We’ve come to believe email is here to stay. And while we can’t get away from it, we can change how we interact with it. We can put email in its place.

We’re taking the very best experiences from the apps we use everyday and applying them to this archaic medium. It’s a new way of looking at your email, but when you use Mailbox for the first time, we believe you’ll say “of course.”

My absolute favorite thing they’ve done with their landing page is the call-to-action. When you click the blue “Sign Up” button, a popup box appears where you enter your phone number, rather than your email. Well played Mailbox, well played.

Look for the app at some point in “the New Year,” as it says on their site. I’m looking forward to saying “of course” then.

Back in August, I wrote about my experience in my old band, Pressure 4-5. It was mostly about how I came to start playing the bass and the whole story around my subsequent music career. In the post, I briefly described how a record deal works. Here’s an excerpt:

When an artist signs to a major label, they typically receive a signing bonus of some sort and an advance of cash, all of which the artist must contractually pay back through album sales.

Here’s a more succinct description of a recording deal via Earbits:

A recording advance (record deal) is financial capital provided to early-stage, high-potential, high risk, musical artists or bands.

Now, let’s compare that to a typical definition of venture capital from Wikipedia:

Venture capital (VC) is financial capital provided to early-stage, high-potential, high risk, growth startup companies.

They sound remarkably similar and there’s a reason for that. The business models for both are virtually the same. Bet big on companies/bands the firm or label thinks are promising and hope that 1 out of every 10 or so become the next AirBnB or Bruno Mars and make up for the 9 failures that didn’t work out.

Not surprisingly, the internet has changed everything.

The demise of record companies has long been predicted. With the rise of digital downloads, the increasing popularity of streaming services like Spotify, and the closing of brick and mortar record stores, the need for massive physical distribution is declining rapidly. That being said, I don’t think they’re going anywhere any time soon since the model works well for trying to create superstar artists. While I think VCs are doing much better than record companies, they’re certainly being threatened by crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter. And if the JOBS Act ever gets fully enacted, it will allow government registered crowdfunding sites to let people who aren’t accredited investors help fund companies in exchange for equity.

I remember telling one of my co-founders, Terry, about how similar the business models are. It was the day before I attended TEDxSonomaCounty. At the event, Pomplamoose performed and bandmember Jack Conte broke it all down better than I ever could.

Pomplamoose epitomizes the new internet economy that’s empowering up and coming artists, performers, and entrepreneurs. Their quirky style has garnered themselves a loyal following on YouTube. Singer Nataly Dawn even leveraged that fan base to fund a solo album on Kickstarter.

The new internet economy is here to stay. Record companies and VCs need to adapt or risk becoming another statistic just like 90% of the projects they fund.

For many years I was convinced that two spaces after a period and before the next sentence was correct. However, I discovered this article on Slate back when it was published in January 2011, which made me realize the error in my ways.

Here’s an excerpt:

Every modern typographer agrees on the one-space rule. It’s one of the canonical rules of the profession, in the same way that waiters know that the salad fork goes to the left of the dinner fork and fashion designers know to put men’s shirt buttons on the right and women’s on the left. Every major style guide—including the Modern Language Association Style Manual and the Chicago Manual of Style—prescribes a single space after a period. (The Publications Manual of the American Psychological Association, used widely in the social sciences, allows for two spaces in draft manuscripts but recommends one space in published work.) Most ordinary people would know the one-space rule, too, if it weren’t for a quirk of history. In the middle of the last century, a now-outmoded technology—the manual typewriter—invaded the American workplace. To accommodate that machine’s shortcomings, everyone began to type wrong. And even though we no longer use typewriters, we all still type like we do.

While it took me awhile to get used to not tapping the spacebar twice, I can’t imagine doing it now. Just think of all the spacebar presses I’ve saved. How much time saved it equates to over the course of an average person’s life is anyone’s guess, but it’s not inconsequential I’m sure.

These days I immediately notice writing with two spaces as it looks like the prose is filled with gaping holes. It’s distracting and, sadly, it takes my mind off what I’m actually reading. I’m sure I sound like a crotchety old stickler for the rules, but I don’t care. I need to spread the word!

I have referenced this article multiple times since reading it and I am always amazed by the pushback I get from my serial two-space offending friends and family.

Another excerpt:

What galls me about two-spacers isn’t just their numbers. It’s their certainty that they’re right.

If you’re one of these over-confident offenders, stop reading this and go read the article now

Now if I could only get better at typing and eliminate the ridiculous amount of times I hit the delete/backspace button.

Watching movies is inherently a social experience. Most people enjoy telling their friends and family about the latest movie they rented or went to the movie theater to watch.

For over a year now, Netflix has been trying to change a law that prevents people from automatically sharing what they watch with their Facebook friends, even if they opt-in. The amendment is currently stuck in committee in Congress.

While I understand why Netflix wants to partner with Facebook, I don’t think their current approach is worth it for a couple of reasons.

The case for case-by-case

I don’t know about you, but I don’t feel comfortable sharing every single Netflix movie I watch on Facebook. The partnership seems great on the surface, but I think it would ultimately create a negative reaction from Netflix users, and probably some funny/tragic stories as well.

Netflix should instead make it easy for their users to share what they’re streaming on a case-by-case basis.

As Senator Al Franken said:

It’s a really good thing that people can easily tell their video company, “Sure, go ahead and tell people I watched The Godfather, but no, don’t tell them I watched Yoga for Health: Depression and Gastrointestinal Problems.”

All Netflix needs to do is incorporate the ubiquitous social sharing buttons in various places on their website, as well as during streaming, perhaps down where the volume control is, and at the end of the movie. I’m sure their growth hackers would have a great time doing A/B split testing to see which locations perform the best.

Facebook isn’t the only game in town

Sure Facebook owns the largest social media audience at nearly 1 billion people, but there are many others that would be ignored. Twitter has 500+ million users, Google+ has 400+ million, and LinkedIn has 175+ million.

Ignoring the other social media platforms is short-sighted. If I were to watch a good documentary on entrepreneurship, I might decide to share it with my LinkedIn business contacts. However, if I watch The Big Lebowski for the umpteenth time, I’d probably go with Twitter or Facebook.

A new metric?

If Netflix were to incorporate the social sharing buttons, it would create a new “most shared” category on the Netflix site. Social sharing would bring even more attention to the most popular movies and drive more traffic to Netflix in general. This would be a big win for both Netflix, the filmmakers, and the studios.

One of the biggest problems Netflix has had with their streaming service is getting their hands on great content. The reasons for not subscribing I hear the most are that they don’t have any new releases in the streaming section and that most of the streaming movies are crap. I agree with those reasons for the most part, but I’m still a subscriber for the hidden gems I find from time to time.

Netflix can leverage social sharing to not only increase the size of their subscriber base, but to get more studios on board after they see the amount of shares that people make. If more and more filmmakers and studios see the potential for exposure to their films, then they are more likely to come back to the negotiating table with Netflix.

Sounds like a win-win for everyone involved to me.

Edit: Come join the lively discussion on Hacker News.

When in doubt, don’t settle.

When in doubt, ask questions.

When in doubt, choose the high road.

When in doubt, proofread.

When in doubt, raise.

When in doubt, be pragmatic.

When in doubt, surround yourself with friends.

When in doubt, tear down obstacles.

When in doubt, go for it.

When in doubt, win.