This was my response to Sarah Lacy’s blog post about Cuil’s launch day aftermath…

I think people are still big fans of Google. And nobody thinks Google is broken. So just the fact that there’s some new competitor claiming to be better than Google turns us off. We think Cuil is trying to fill a need we don’t have. And we have no intention of changing our search behavior. And I don’t ever want to have to type the word “Cuil” again. Cuil set the expectation that they were somehow better than Google. When visitors went to the site and discovered the claim to be completely bogus, they reacted violently. That’s our only defense against such bogus marketing. Cuil is just like any other braggart, who is put in his place. We cheer at their downfall and hope to dissuade others from making the same mistake. I would have been much more impressed with Cuil and willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, if they had a humble launch, and I had just heard in passing that there was a new search engine being started as an experiment. But they ended up hanging themselves with their own self-generated fanfare.

I was about to start another blog to detail my transition from a Web 2.0 fanboy into an actual Web 2.0 startup entrepreneur. I even had an amazing blog name & domain name ready. But rather than start a new blog from scratch, I’m just going to take advantage of the built-in search engine collateral this blog already has. Who cares if I change direction of my personal blog (yet again) to focus on one particular area of my life? I’ve done this many times. There is no central theme to The Commute from Hell, other than me. I’ve used this blog to talk about school, relationships, work life, nightlife, and anything else that has obtained my interest in the past. So, now I’m going to target a new area of my life, which may redefine my blog’s place in the blogosphere. I’m sure it will get more attention because of this change. Not that I’m doing this for the attention. It’s simply a popular topic. I’ve been neglecting my blog lately, and by focusing on a topic I’m currently passionate about, I’ll be able to vent my thoughts, foster an audience, and learn a great many things in the process.

So, without further ado… The Commute from Hell will now be a blog about how a normal guy in Washington, DC tried to build the next big Web 2.0 startup.

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UPDATE: Um… Scratch that. I still need a place to put random stuff like AOL news, videos, pics, etc. I’m gonna launch another blog and announce it soon!

A long time ago, last November, I “met” two people involved with Web 2.0 technology. I met Frank Gruber at a conference in Reston, VA, where I was filming a bunch of footage for a new podcast I was preparing to launch (DCtech.TV). He was speaking on a panel with Wine Library’s Gary Vaynerchuck. I was able to interview Frank after the panel – the footage of which I used to launch both DCtech.TV and InsideAOL.com. I subscribed to Frank’s blog and started following him on Facebook and Twitter.

Sarah Lacy was a guest on the Cranky Geeks podcast in November 2007. She had a new book coming out about the people who created some of the most popular Web 2.0 sites (like Facebook, Digg, and Twitter). I added Sarah’s book to my Amazon wish list, subscribed to her blog, and started following her on Facebook and Twitter.

After the release of Sarah’s book, she posted an entry in her blog, pondering the possibility of doing a “user generated book tour.” She asked her readers if they would be interested in hosting one of the tour stops. Those cities that made a good case for her to come would be added to the tour. Of course, I replied and told her that Washington DC was a great place to come, because of the great Web 2.0 startup scene here and the presence of AOL – one of the biggest names on the Internet. To my great delight, Sarah added DC as the first official stop on her tour.

I spent the next couple weeks booking a speaking gig for her at AOL, as well as planning her itinerary and getting her a hotel room. The planning of her AOL appearance was mostly a tale of delightful happenstance. At first, I was planning to start from scratch. I was going to book a room, publicize the event, and hope to get ten or twenty people in a conference room to listen to a book reading. As it turned out, I was able to merge her appearance with a much larger event that was already planned for the Commerce & Marketplace team at AOL. The largest room on campus was already booked, food would be provided, and there were about 150 people guaranteed to be in the audience. It was the ideal situation.

After confirming Frank’s availability on July 17, we began planning the event, which became a panel discussion, rather than a book reading.

I tried to put the fact that I would be moderating the discussion at the back of my mind. Despite my recent success with improv comedy last Spring, I’m not much of a public speaker. And I was mildly dreading the thought of doing what little speaking I would need to do to introduce the panelists and ask them questions. My first thought to remedy this fear was to create an impressive slide show to present on stage. But I didn’t want to use boring PowerPoint. I wanted something sleek. So, I logged onto Lynda.com (best website ever) to learn some Keynote ‘08. Thankfully, Keynote was very easy to use and to create decent-looking presentations. Even embedding video within the slides was simple. I definitely owed a lot of my peace of mind to the Keynote program. (No, I’m not sponsored by Keynote or Lynda.com – I just know awesomeness when I see it.)

Sarah flew into Dulles around 4 PM on Wednesday, July 16. I left work, picked her up, and brought her to the hotel just down the street. Thanks to my uncle Bob, I was able to get a great rate on the hotel room. When she was ready, we went to On the Border in Tysons to meet up with Frank—and later several other Web startup folks.

Frank, Sarah and I discussed Web 2.0 startups in DC and Silicon Valley. Through this conversation, we gathered the topics we would discuss at the AOL panel. Other folks arrived at 6 PM for a roundtable discussion with Sarah. I couldn’t participate, because I had to create the Keynote presentation, which included the topics we agreed upon, panelist bios, and video clips I had to quickly edit down to 1 minute each. By the time I was done, the roundtable was finishing up. Before we left, I talked our waiter into buying a copy of Sarah’s book. It was the least I could do, since I really didn’t have a thing to add to the conversations.

(Only now am I learning about how Web businesses get started, funded, and eventually acquired. And I’m a novice when it comes to Web development and programming.)

Thursday was absolutely non-stop. I picked Sarah up in the morning and brought her to the AOL campus. The person in the cube next to mine was out on vacation, so Sarah set up shop there, while I attended meetings. I went to the auditorium to set everything up around 11 AM. I set up both my HD cameras – one by the soundboard and one up near the stage. The pro camera had a direct audio feed from the soundboard via an XLR cable. The other camera (aka Vloggercam) simply used the boom mic. I hooked up my MacBook Pro to the podium on stage, where I could control the Keynote presentation with the MacBook remote. Thankfully, all of the technical aspects worked out perfectly.

The event started at noon, and despite some initial verbal jitters, I got through the intros, and we delved into the conversation. Since I was able to get AOL to purchase 15 copies of Sarah’s book, we were able to give out free books to anyone who asked a question. This was a great strategy, because we were never short of questions. The presentation looked sweet on the large overhead screen, and the discussions flowed smoothly. We talked mostly of AOL’s past and current acquisitions (like Netscape, Goowy, Yedda, and Userplane). Frank and Sarah then got in a very passive-aggressive disagreement over the great advantage Silicon Valley has over any other area trying to create Web startups. Frank is an advocate for the Web startups in DC, Chicago, and other places that he covers in his blog.

After the panel, good reviews started flowing in from my peers at AOL, as well as upper management. It was the “best FYI Session our group has ever had.” And they wanted me to plan more.

Frank and Sarah left for the final event of the day in Washington DC – the Twin Tech Party, while I put in some hours at the office. Now that the biggest stress of week was over (the AOL panel), I just wanted to sit back and relax. Going to a large networking event in DC with 750 people was not my idea of relaxation. But I had to go, because I was Sarah’s ride back to Dulles. I went home and took a short nap. Eventually, I pulled myself up and drove to the subway station. I eventually got to the venue (Local 16) with way too much time to spare.

While Sarah was promoting her book and Frank was talking to folks in one corner, I pretty much had to kill four hours walking around and sitting at the bar. I did happen to bring the Vloggercam, so I filmed a little (but ultimately couldn’t use any of the footage). I did run into some familiar faces from AOL and Sprint. The highlight of the evening is when I met three friendly folks, who didn’t know anything about technology, but were invited to come by one of their friends. We had a fun conversation at the bar. I convinced them to go buy one of Sarah’s books. While two of them went over to talk with Sarah, the third – Kimberly – stayed with me at the bar. There seemed to be a connection, so when the others returned and were ready to leave, I made sure we could contact each other later.

I know this blog post is going to be super long already, but I just want to say a few words about the networking event… I met many folks that night. And they basically fell into three categories: people I already knew (Frank, Sarah, Qui & Ryan, ex-coworkers), nice people who had a genuine love for technology (like Justin Thorpe, who seemed like such a good guy), and self-centered individuals (like many of the bloggers I came across). I certainly would enjoy any event, where I got to hang out with friends/coworkers or meet good tech folks, but more often than not, the people I spoke with at the Twin Tech party were more interested in selling themselves, than listening to what I had to say, or discussing how to better the tech community in DC. The cool thing about a tech community is the ability to collaborate or find folks who share your vision. Not to be sold to. After speaking with several folks, I just wanted to hit the Unsubscribe button.

After a long table talk with Sarah and her college pal Peter, we eventually closed out the party by being the last ones to leave. Since the subway was already closed, we took a cab back to Vienna (which surprisingly was only $30). I took Sarah back to Dulles, then returned to Oakton. I was absolutely exhausted, but wasn’t going to find much relief that night.

I had to wake up at 5:30 AM the next morning to pick up Sarah, check her out of the hotel, and get her to the airport by 7-ish. I realized I hadn’t interviewed her on camera yet and brought the Vloggercam with me in case the opportunity arose.

Sarah was a good sport, and we did an impromptu interview in the car, while driving to the airport. She was an excellent cameraman.

Finally, it was time to say goodbye. After three challenging days of running around from event to event, Sarah was leaving DC.

Overall, it was certainly a draining experience, but also exhilarating. If it wasn’t for Sarah, I would have never been motivated to accomplish the things I did that week. How many good things will come from the groundwork I laid those three days? That week was one of those potential career milestones that starts with something very simple – in this case, a book – and becomes a stepping stone to greater, more wonderful things.

P.S. Frank posted coverage of the events here and here. Sarah posted a thank you blog post here.

So, I’m going through the first lesson of my online business class (Creating a Successful Business Plan), and I came across this list of characteristics of entrepreneurs. I believe it’s from the book The Entrepreneurial Mindset. I was shocked to see how accurately it defined me.

Characteristics of a Habitual Entrepreneur

• They passionately seek out new opportunities.
• They pursue opportunities with enormous discipline.
• They pursue only the very best opportunities and avoid exhausting themselves and their organizations by chasing after every option.
• They focus on execution—specifically, adaptive execution. (This is the ability to be flexible yet focused.)
• They engage the energies of everyone in their domain.