The most interesting thing here is that Scoble "liked" this ;-) - Brian Sullivan
Scoble "likes" items to bring them to the attention of those who follow his feed. It's not an emotional response. It also is his only option if he wants to highlight it... and not comment. - Louis Gray
Lighten up Louis - I'm sure Robert can speak for himself - Brian Sullivan
Louis, that type of social behaviour is not alone a scoble thing :)- - Peter Dawson
interesting, scoble "liked" my post but then removed the like. i also think like should be renamed to share to avoid these issues in the future. - Allen Stern
I thought changing it to "mark" would work as well. - Brian Sullivan
I don't Like that PodTech failed, $7.5 million in VC cash and today they were sold for for less than half a million dollars. I know Robert, Jeremiah, John and Vallery, but no one is ready to tell the story - paul mooney
I'm cool with telling the story. I just need a couple of glasses and wine and a lot of time to tell it first. Podtech was screwed up by a number of decisions. Everyone played a part, but I sure learned a lot about how a company can screw up big time. Major learnings for me? 1. Have a story. 2. Have everyone on board with that story. 3. If anyone goes off of that story, make sure they get on board immediately or fire them. PodTech did none of the three and I'm sorry for my part in not making the three happen - Robert Scoble
That's the cool thing about you, Scoble...you're human and admit it too! - Sean McGee
Not all ventures succeed though. How many 'fail' for those that succeed? It pays to take a pragmatic view. I think it's a hot market, and the impetus to succeed is high, eventually some will break - Mo Kargas
Other things I learned: 1. Make sure people are judged by the revenues they bring in. Those that bring in revenues should get to run the place. People who don't bring in revenues should get fewer and fewer responsibilities, not more and more. 2. Work ONLY for a leader who will make the tough decisions (see above). 3. Build a place where excellence is expected, allowed, and is enabled. 4. Fire idiots quickly (didn't happen at PodTech -- even if you count me as one of the idiots). - Robert Scoble
We get so much coverage of companies when they launch, when they're growing, etc. I'm hoping that someone writes an in-depth piece on what went wrong at PodTech so that entrepreneurs can learn from this. There is so much that you can learn from failures. - Mike Doeff
Other things I learned: 1. if your engineering team can't give a media team good measurements, the entire company is in trouble. Only things that are measured ever get improved. 2. When your stars aren't listened to the company is in trouble. 3. When your stars start leaving (Gillmor and Owyang left before I did) the company is in trouble. 4. Getting rid of the CEO, even if it's all his fault, won't help unless you replace him/her with someone who is visionary and who can fix #1,2,3. - Robert Scoble
My only thought is, how much longer does PodShow have? - Christian Burns
Robert: Thanks for all the insights from the "front". It's no fun being in a business failure. :-( But the lessons there are immense. I learn a hell of a lot from my failures... - Mitchell Tsai
Mike: I'm not going to be the one who writes that. Much of the worst stuff is too personal. Failures of companies often happen around failures at the leadership level. Telling why things failed means telling off investors, executives, and others (and even me). Not likely to happen because that'd mean burning bridges and I'm just not willing to do that. These people have too many friends. :-) - Robert Scoble
My vote is for assimilation into something bigger. They bought it to "right the wrongs" and flip it to someone else. Heck, at 500k, it's a bargain right now...IF things are cleaned up. - Bradley McSpinn
Brad: almost all of the talent left. What's left now is not much that's worth much. The revenues came because of our social media leadership. That's what Furrier really had in his hands. Owyang. Me. Cunningham. Jones. Gillmor. The rest of the stuff was a pipe dream that didn't lead anywhere, which is really why the company burned through $7 million (plus several million in revenues). - Robert Scoble
@louisgray I've often wondered if there was a better option than "like" and "unlike" would be nice to see "interesting" there are many times when I see something that is interesting but I don't "like" it. - Nice Fish Films
Although I'm sorry to hear this happened, Robert, I'm really appreciating the lessons you're passing on. Valuable stuff, thanks. :-) - Brian Carter
Louis is correct. I didn't "like" this. I just thought it was interesting for you to read. - Robert Scoble
I'll second Brian. Thanks for sharing, Robert. - Chris Baskind
"burned through $7 million (plus several million in revenues)" ?? wow thats a lot of mulla to burn thru .. net net at least 10-12M ! For what a 10 member team and within like 2yrs ?? you all must have had rock star status... did you have a chauffeur driven car Scobles ? - Peter Dawson
Well dish them up, Eric. The aspect of full disclosure is part of what I love so much about FriendFeed. - Bradley McSpinn
tell tell Eric.. the topic is hot :)_ - Peter Dawson
I honestly hate to hear of the downfall of any credible social media, especially in the means by which this story unfolded. Glad to see you're in better company these days, Robert. - Bradley McSpinn
Peter: there were more than 30 people and dozens of contractors working at Podtech. Only a couple brought in any sizeable revenues. - Robert Scoble
Yeah...I'm SURE that if wages had been at even 100,000/year (That's a 1,000,000 payroll for a 10 member team)...they'd still have money left. Unless their offices were prim-o real estate...I dunno...I don't live there. EDIT: just saw your last post Robert...makes sense now...sorry... - Sean McGee
Misteps aside, did PodTech have a viable opportunity, or was it ultimately doomed from the start? Clearly any company that's not run as a meritocracy has little chance for success. - Brian Edwards
Although Robert's response to Mike Doeff is probably true (that the backstory to companies that fail are too personal), I agree with Mike that a post mortem of entrepreneurial endeavors would be very useful. Case studies can change the names to protect the not-so-innocent too. - David Muir
grrrrrrrr.. I wish FF has button at bottom of thread 4 ease of commenting..anyhoot @Sean even at 40heads - it still does not make sense. Unless you tell me that all 30 members were getting $100K and dont 4get startups pay less and give more in share holdings !! - Peter Dawson
Do I dare bring up the how did they expect to pay back 7.5 million in V.C. through such extremely niche content question? - Paul Colligan
@Peter: Well, as we all know, contractors usually cost more (per hour) to employ than regular employees...And, being a video site, I'm sure their bandwidth costs were high (although I only watched maybe 3 videos total myself in their entire existence.) But, you're right. You know, If PodTech were a restaurant, the owners/founders would have only taken a salary large enough to cover their minimum expenses and waited to take a larger salary when the restaurant was successful. - Sean McGee
Sean: engineers in Silicon Valley cost more than $100,000 per year. Podtech had a chance in the Social Media World but spent too much to build its own platform and never delivered on that. We also didn't work together and that is another failure in a startup. - Robert Scoble
I am going to write an in depth post on this story. It's huge. There are many lessons. Scoble's view is from his perspective but there is a big picture that goes way beyond Scoble's view and that has to do with building a company from a zero stage. I've moved on from a year ago after I was forced out by the board. We made some mistakes but directionally correct. Sure if I had a mulligan things might be different but a business strategy, financing strategy, and team strategy are part of the story.. - John Furrier
john: I am looking forward to your post. - Robert Scoble
There are many lessons to learn that I'll post about. PodTech had a great chance and pioneered some of the best practices in social media. One thing that I'll talk about is the difference between self financed growth strategies and venture backed growth strategies. - John Furrier
I'm looking at this from way on the outside. The value of my perspective is that I know nothing about internal management, visions, discussions, factions, or what have you. All I can say is that from afar, I never got any brand coherence from PodTech. Was it news? paid corporate marketing videos? analysis? community? There were some powerful personal brands--I still follow them in the PodTech diaspora--but it felt they never cohered into a PodTech identity. (That doesn't mean losing personal identity.) - Michael Markman
Michael: exactly. We never played together as a team. It is why entrepreneurs need different skills after they start their companies. It is not enough to sell people on a dream. You must coach your way to it too. - Robert Scoble
Great to work with John, Robert, Valarie, Kevin E, Jennifer J, Michael K, Jeremiah. Like many Web 1.0 / 2.0 companies, those in social media face the challenge of business model. There are lots of bigger train wrecks. But unlike PodTech, no one created enough of a brand (good or bad) to even be remembered in this conversation. There are more to come. - Brad Baldwin
Brad, so does this mean you're looking for something new now, or are you still with PodTech's new owners? - Jesse Stay via twhirl
When exactly are people supposed to use PodTech? At work... but too time consuming... people hate slow voicemail and want email. In the car, maybe. At home, may not want to address work topics. At least they had the cojones to cut bait. - Steve Follmer via twhirl
John Furrier, I'm also very interested to hear your stories. - imabonehead
I think this is one of the best conversations I've ever seen on Friendfeed or in a blog. The perspectives are great. From my outside point of view, and from the vantage oint of having worked with literally hundreds of entrepreneurs, I think Podtech didn't exactly know what it was doing from a brand standpoint, other than being "cool." It was VERY cool, but so was pets.com,There also has to be a viable business model, and I don't believe revenue from sponsorship is enoough. - Francine Hardaway
With all due respect to their "failure", half a million dollars ain't that bad! What puzzled me from the beginning, is what permission do they have to record and publish many of the talks. Did all respectful speakers surrender full "replay/distribute/resell" rights to their sessions? This doesn't apply to interviews, but a lot of recordings are from professional talks and seminars... - Adi Rabinovich
I have been thinking about what Furrier said about me not having a full picture of what went wrong. First of all I don't think he is right, but if he is I will add one last learning: never work in a VP position when those above you don't share a complete picture of the business with you. Especially when that business is a social media one that was pushing transparency and community values. - Robert Scoble
PodTech introduced me to Thomas Hawk. Robert Scoble took a risk and left Microsoft for PodTech for more money and to make his mark ouside of MS. The back story would be interesting to hear. I agree with Francine Hardaway in this this is one of the best conversations I too have seen on FriendFeed. Honestly, I'm an audio listener. I never could support PodTech as a viewer unless you count Photowalking. I did not know that John Furrier was forced out. So who bought PodTech? - Maury Estabrooks
Pathetic that people cheer at someones failure. Regardless, I know - don't go there- just freakin sad. - Rocky Barbanica
What will happen to your videos? You guys did good work there. - Andrew Feinberg
Andrew: our old videos belong to Podtech. I hope they donate the tapes and archives to the Computer History Museum. - Robert Scoble
I'm looking forward to hearing an open discussion of what went wrong. I think startup entrepreneurs like me ca learn a lot from this. - Andrew Warner
Hope the 2-3 hours of video Scoble recorded of CrossLoop way back doesn't go away - Mrinal Desai
One thing, Andrew, you could learn - don't alienate those about you. Be strong enough and have the courage to bring everyone on the team together and make them all feel that their contributions are appreciated. - Rocky Barbanica
...and be smart enough to put the company on Chemotherapy when cancer is detected. - Rocky Barbanica
Robert was kind enough to take me to Podtech and introduce me to John when I was in town last May. I think it's very sad that it didn't work out. People put their hopes and dreams and very soul into startups. But then, "failure" does have a lot of value, as we can all see from this thread. Hopefully, for everybody involved Podtech was a good stepping stone to something else that's better. It looks like that's what it was for Robert and Rocky and others, at least. If you keep that perspective, then some of the inevitable aftertastes won't be as bitter. Hey, some of us would kill for stepping stones. - Dawn
@ Scoble. I am copy pasting a comment from Mathew Ingram's post on this topic. I liked the comment and hope you would shed some insight into its questions. The comment follows: "Is anyone at Fastcompany Inc. reading this? What has Scoble really learned?
What is Fastcompany.tv's story? How do Fastcompany.com, scobleizer.com, scobleizerTV, Fast Company Live, WorkFastTV, PhotoCycle, Qik, Kyte, Twitter, and FriendFeed/scobleizer all fit into that story? If you need a hint, read the about page.
How much revenue is Fastcompany.tv making? How much profit. What is the project revenue growth for the rest of the year?
What is being measured at Fastcompany.tv? It doesn't know much about it's audience. There is no way to login, share demographic info, etc.
Who is making the tough decisions at Fastcompany.tv? Why did it take a threat from SAP to fire Shel? There doesn't seem to be any strong editoral decisions or guidelines." - Bilal Hameed
Bilal, perhaps you and anonymous commenters at Mathew Ingram's blog should mind your own business. Demanding revenue and profit numbers, etc., is outrageous. - Dawn
As much as anyone who is 'in it for the tech' hates to admit it, revenues are simply essential for any business. I can't even count the number of times in y old company business development came down and said 'do this and this please' and I was like 'it will take 3 employees 2 weeks of time to do this, how much money will we get for it?' and the answer was 'oh, no revenues, we just think it would look better.' Revenues matter. - Andrew Leyden
Did the rights to the Vloggies go with the sale? I know Irina would love to have her idea back.:) A lot of the talk here is how Podtech was a "social media" company, where it always looked like a "video production/distribution" company to me. Is there a difference in Podtech that I was missing? There is definitely a great case study in how companies interact with creative professionals and communities somewhere in here. - Schlomo Rabinowitz
Bilal: the changes to WorkFastTV actually were made due to community feedback. If it weren't for the community feedback, those changes would never have been made. What is FastCompanyTV's story? We are having conversations with business and tech innovators to understand how the "fastest companies" are building value for their customers and we'll use the most interactive methods around to include our audience into those conversations (which is where Qik and FriendFeed come in). That's why this week I interviewed one of the best architects in the business (he's designed stadiums around the world). Two weeks ago we interviewed six congressmen. As to revenue and all that... - Robert Scoble
FastCompanyTV is making our bosses happy (we're bringing in more revenue than is being spent) but we're a private company so we don't discuss our finances in public. About our audience. I'd argue that I know more about our audience than any TV show does and we're soon going to require loging into FastCompanyTV to comment. Who is making tough decisions? I have a boss and he has a boss but the community is really our ultimate boss. - Robert Scoble
Schlomo: no, there's no real difference in the end. That's why PodTech failed. It squandered (didn't listen to, or make use of) its social media stars. I don't know what'll happen to the Vloggies trademark and domain. I assume the new owners will keep those, I'd assume Irina can negotiate with them. Andrew is right. Dawn, thank you, appreciate the support. - Robert Scoble
PodTech and John's earlier work (circa 2005) was why I got into podcasting. It's why I co-founded PodCamp. It's why I thought there was a great opportunity to make interesting media in the tech space. Between PodTech and IT Conversations, I learned tons of larger picture information that saved my company millions of dollars. When all the "cool kids" showed up, I had high hopes like everyone else. But that's also when things diffused in a weird way. - Chris Brogan
Scoble: $100,000 for an engineer?? Wow...The only guys I know here in San Antonio that might pay that much for that job is Rackspace....Maybe USAA. Wish Rackspace needed UI developers...I'd love to work for them. - Sean McGee
What a wonderful discussion. I am waiting for John's post. It will surely clear a lot. I know John personally and I like him. Let's see his opinion and see what the next steps for everybody are. - George Athannassov
some of Those videos that Scoble did for podtech have had huge impact on me - Christian Burns
Posted a longer essay on this, and podcasting as a business. My question: How does the $500k sale price relate to missteps by the company, as opposed to fundamental problems with podcasting as a business? -- http://www.thestandard.com/new... - Ian Lamont
I pointed this thread to a friend of mine, not a geek , but a "thinker" and who dabbbles in M&A, Hedging and all that nice fund style mngt. His comments were. "listen there are lesson to be learned everywhere, the founders should be thankful that this is only a 10-12M cost of learning curve. All startups face a risk, all investments have risk. Its only throgh failure that people learn to mature and grow. All good things that flourishs are by-products of many failures" . Oh well, I digress. - Peter Dawson
It was certainly an interesting ride for the almost year I was there. One thing I could never understand is why PodTech felt it needed to build its own media player and distribution platform when there were several potential partners that were already years ahead of PodTech's development. Blip.tv or Castfire could have easily saved PodTech a shit ton of cash while delivering better features and stats reporting. I suspect with an engineering team in place, they needed something to do. - Eddie Codel
I couldn't do them at all when I was in the army ages ago - so, I had the bright idea to practice them against a wall, then against a table so I could build up my ability - it totally worked! - Cheryl Allin via NoiseRiver
i've been practicing push ups for a couple of months. i can do about 60. i really love doing them, and have started using medicine balls, stability balls, etc. to work on stability at the same time. - Ruth Kaufman via feedalizr
Everyone should take a few seconds out of their day to read this. What took me so long to find you? wow - Mona N
I'm simply amazed that so many people WEREN'T reading Hank. Oh, and that he's on FF. Which I had no idea, I don't think. I probably should check that filter I created and see who ELSE is on here. - Cyndy
good read. One contradiction though I can't get my head around. You criticize people who don't talk about this, then defend the right of others to shout down those who do give their opinion. The problem for me still remains that there is a lack of civility between the differing opinions here, indeed that while I might not have agreed with the people you highlight (Rizzn comes to mind), I also don't agree with the vicious nature of the return takedown either. People will always fear the mob. - Duncan Riley
I should also note Hank, your articulate contributions are something we also need more of. - Duncan Riley
Cyndy, definitely agreed. I'm reading through his older posts. I am now a HUGE fan. - Mona N
@duncan certainly mobs can be a bad thing. Its all a matter of who you agree with and what you say is right. Were the "mobs" of people at the washington monument for the MLK "I had a dream speech" bad? It seems to me that the distinction between mob and "gathering" or "peaceful protest" is purely ideological. It tends to be a "mob" when you don't agree. I would probably personally call any KKK gathering a mob regardless of whether they were violent. - Hank Williams
@duncan in the context of whether people were vicious to Loren, this is just my take, but I don't think its that vicious to be angry and to say so when you feel someone has hurt or offended you. To me the response was reasonably matched to the action, but I understand that for many who don't think what loren was doing was that bad (or bad at all) the response may have seemed over the top, and demanding that he be dropped too much of a punishment. Again it all comes down to perspective. - Hank Williams
The "mob" word has been adjective used alot. Of course only to highlight the negativity and the emotion of those who disagree with Loren. - Shey
MOB: a large crowd of people, esp. one that is disorderly and intent on causing trouble or violence. GATHERING: coming together; to assemble. Nope, doesn't seem like an 'ideological' distinction to me. - Cecily Walker
@cecily where was the violence? Are you saying that customers asking verizon to not hire feldman is violent or disorderly. If so, you have just negated the entire american civil rights movement on the basis of it being a mob, and in fact every other form of what i think most would describe as democratic protest. - Hank Williams
That's not how I read her comment -- I think she meant to contrast the definition of a mob with what's really going on. - Shey
oh I see. Sorry Cecily. I misunderstood - Hank Williams
I am careful of what I say because mobs tend to react and not hear what is being said. Real discourse works best when it is between those that are willing to take the time to understand each other. Seek to find agreement, not accuse. Quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry. - Christian Burns
I thought it was very good; made me want to get an OpenMoko Neo rather than wait for Android phones! *grin* No camera in this version, though. *grumble* They have the right ideas about openness and freedom, though. Still might get one; haven't decided yet. - Ken Kennedy
This is a good listen ... I learned a lot ... I love the idea of open software and hardware - Steve Holden
$1.50? If it's good and fresh then that's a steal. - James
yeah it's decent and fresh. There is better quality stuff for $2+ but in a pinch this does fine. - Mark Forman
Unless you are eating supermarket sushi in Hawaii. Best sushi I ever ate. - Christian Burns
Best I ate was in Japan-no surprise. Nothing cheap in Japan, but worst quality starts at good so... - Mark Forman
I've never seen sushi in the supermarket here. - jjprojects
three weeks ago, the semi-stale donuts at the safeway by my office went for $0.59 each. This morning, they're $0.75...over 25% increase in less than a month... but just like the recession, inflation is all in your head baby! ;-) i live in san francisco, btw. - .LAG
LAG-comfort is that your paying higher prices with shrunken dollars... xD - Mark Forman
Supermarket sushi can be fantastic if fresh. Haven't been to Taiwan in 10+ years. In the US, usually at Japanese grocery stores, or the lovely co-op in Ashland, OR. - Mitchell Tsai
Mark, that's not bad even when compared to Japan. - Kenichi Matsumoto
Mitchell- Are you or your family from here? - Mark Forman
“How do you know someone is smart? I've been thinking about that this morning and looking back at all the conversations I've had and one common theme is smart people talk to you about ideas, not about celebrities.”
Tad: even those people are still smarter than people who tell you about what Britney Spears did last night. - Robert Scoble
You could replace "celebrities" in that sentence with "names of people". In other words, it's ideas and concepts that are important, not egos. Even "nobodies" can have egos. Narcissism shuts out the world beyond the self, we can't learn if we are always holding up a mirror, never looking beyond it. - Jason Wehmhoener
My dad once told me that even the dumbest person in the world can teach you something because he probably knows something you don't. - Jason Shultz via twhirl
Smart people listen more than they talk. - Randy Hall
To me the smart people are those that make a well-reasoned argument for and idea and then do two things. 1. Have the guts to put it out there to the world and 2. Have the guts to change their mind if they're wrong (or hold their ground when they know they're right) - Morgan
I think it all depends on the topic you're discussing. I'd say someone is smart if she can engage with you on the discussion and make you think about it from a different angle. - Bruno Pedro
Jason: it's one thing if I tell you "Doug Engelbart had dinner at the Ritz last night." It's a whole nother thing if I tell you "Doug Engelbart told me that xxxx idea is interesting and he's working on making that better." - Robert Scoble
Duncan for example is a smart guy, but still talks about celebrities, so it's possible to do both and still be smart - Dobromir Hadzhiev
Which reminds me I need to talk to you about an 'idea' at blogher. ok. not really...more about which cam to get for the conventions. lol - Erin Kotecki Vest
I agree... This is especially obvious here in LA... although sometimes the celeb mention is the nature of the business -- or at least mention of -- as Calacanis would say -- "webebrities." - Andy Sternberg
Jason: that's true. I have yet to meet someone who is able to communicate (I have a friend with a mentally retarded son who isn't able to communicate, so we'll leave him out of this) who I couldn't learn something from. Randy: exactly. When I fail as an interviewer it isn't because I'm listening, it's probably cause I'm talking. - Robert Scoble
Andy: when you talk to the smartest people in Hollywood they talk to you about ideas. Trends. People's work. They don't talk about "I saw Tom Cruise at dinner last night" or "did you see what they said about Oprah in the tabloids?" - Robert Scoble
Robert: I agree. The point I was trying to make is that we can learn something from almost everybody, even those who we may think know less then us. - Jason Shultz via twhirl
I think one can be smart and still talk about "Weird Al" Yankovic, because he's smart. - MiniMage via NoiseRiver
Dobromir: Duncan's best work is when he talks about ideas. That's why I love Duncan, cause he tells me who has the most interesting ideas, and he's very willing to debate ideas (I've debated a few with him). - Robert Scoble
I think people can be both highly intelligent and pretty stupid at the same time. Robert Anton Wilson said it better than I can, "When dogma enters the brain, all intellectual activity ceases." And that doesn't apply to just religious dogma - any kind including political, scientific, cultural, etc. - Tad Donaghe
this is a cool thread! we need a lightbulb "intelligence meter" on FF - users vote on how smart you are based on your posts... bulb gets brighter with more votes! - Susan Beebe
Susan: fantastic idea! Now that's smart. - Bruno Pedro
I have a theory that being smart is simply a matter of the attention that you give somthing. Granted, Nobel Prize winning physicists dont grow on trees. - Roberto Bonini
smart to me is someone who knows what they know but more importantly knows what they don't know - too many intelligent people who never make it to smart because they are too busy broadcasting what they know - Marco
That would give credence to the old saying “if smarts was electricity that boy couldn’t light up a 10 watt bulb. “ - Tony C
Social media is about inclusion, don't alienate too much with your labels and boxes - Michael W. May via twhirl
I've found smart people treat being smart like fight club: rule number one is you don't talk about being smart. Rule number two is you don't talk about being smart. To Jason Wehmhoener's point, smart people don't spend their time making a point of how they're wrapped up in smart things or "look what a good person I am for talking to x or doing y." - Mark Trapp
Smart people usually start talking by conditioning everything - and the first condition is for them to say they are not an expert ... - LPH
Smart folks understand questions are important, they are not afraid to admit ignorance and appreciate that learning is a process not an event. - Dave Martin
LPH: hmmm, the ultra smart like Douglas Engelbart (who really is the true visionary I've spent time with) just paint pictures in your mind of how the world will be someday. He never said he was expert at something, just talked about how this new world would work. I could listen to that guy for hours. At 82 he's easily the smartest person I've met. - Robert Scoble
Michael: that's an interesting question. The biggest way I've found? The only skill not smart people have is in ripping down other people's ideas, or, worse, trying to rip down other people altogether. - Robert Scoble
Robert, put it another way: smart people talk about the world that could be, not that the world that is? - Mark Dykeman
"No one who cannot rejoice in the discovery of his own mistakes deserves to be called a scholar."
- Donald Foster - Roberto Bonini
Smart people simply can get the job done faster and pay attention to the hidden details that others would miss. I still don't know how to best test for it, though. - Ben Parr
You know a person is smart when they do not follow the crowd and pay $500.00 for a cell phone. - Paul L. McCord Jr.
smart people are visionaries, humble and most likely pious too. Take a look at the peoples who are deemed as being smart. These are some of the comman attributes of these type of people.! - Peter Dawson
I think it can go both ways-Charlie Rose talks about both-ideas are great, but what is with the people behind those ideas - that's very interesting! I also think its a natural human instinct to talk about others - it depends on the context. "I saw Tom Cruise last night" is the lowest common denominator. Inquiring about the dynamic of Shell's latest barrage of public vitriol and the work ethic of others in the Valley are spurned from natural human curiosity that we all share, whether we ask it or not. - james svenson
Robert: ”Smart” here as different from ”Intelligent” – I have one story that will help us out here to identify a smart person. I had a friend at high school that knew he was not that intelligent, but he was smart: - he used to research old exams to see what the previous year tests would possibly cover on the upcoming exams. He used to collect all class notes from the top “dedicated” colleagues that were willing to share the notes. He would then select the top 10 of about 20 topics that could come up on the exams. This guy passed always and with the minimum needed to advance. What he did in my opinion was that he OPTIMIZED all his capacity to achieve one goal and that as it. He knew his weakness so well that he found ways to overcome them. He went from high school to university and to MBA: he travel to Europe for about a year and returned to get the job he wanted. - Joao
@susanbeebe: I dunno, I'd feel pretty hurt when the system took away my lightbult entirely. - MiniMage via NoiseRiver
I remember my dad once telling me what Eleanor Roosevelt said... "Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people." - Brian Sloane
the first sign that someone is really smart... they will tell you they're not but they will show you they are. - Scott Lockhart
I'm not saying I'm particularly smart, but I truly find celeb gossip one of the most uninteresting things I can think of. - Ian May
I think that smart people are the people that get things done. Imagine two people that have never heard or met each other and both of them come up with the exact same brilliant idea. One person brings the brilliant idea to a reality, while the other person doesn't. Which person is smarter? - possible248 via NoiseRiver
maybe true...but everyone is smart in their own right. you might be a social media whiz but not know anything about putting in kitchen cabinets. I'm a firm believer that everyone has their sweet spots in terms of knowledge. The really smart ones, just take the time to expand that sweet spot so it's more than just a spot and more like an area. - Don Martelli
I think a smart person can talk about both. That way he/she can converse with all people and not make anyone feel less smart than them. - Adrienne Van Houten
Adrienne: I agree with that. But smart people never start out that way. - Robert Scoble
What an awful generalization. That's how I know when someone is smart. When he doesn't make an implied generalization like "stupid people talk about celebrities". - Jay Cruz
smart people think through questions and give full answers. who talks to you about angelina jolie? i agree anybody asking scoble about that is "not as intelligent," but probably nice people...unless they have no idea who you are....maybe they ask you these questions: "is veronica belmont really cute in person? or is kevin rose really a ladies man?" however, smart people are not always smart in all aspects of their lives... - Pokai
"Smart people talk about ideas. Common people talk about things. Mediocre people talk about people." -Jules Romains - Joe Lencioni
You know when someone is smart when they know what they're talking about and they have a good understanding. "Smart" people grasp things better and/or have ideas. - Kevin Porter via twhirl
Smart is not about opinions ("Stupid ideas"). You can be smart and have different beliefs. I'm wondering if they are "smart" conversations or just engaging conversations. I'm much more interested in sharing ideas than sports scores, gossip, or transitory circumstances. - Barb Gonzalez
Ugh. Most of these comments seem to prescribe behavior to those who are "smart" - one of the only commonalities I've ever seen of truly smart people is that they make their own rules. To say they only talk about X not Y or they listen more than they talk or any other behavioral observation misses the mark with me. Smart people don't subscribe to other peoples' ideas of what they should be. - Lucretia Pruitt
Smart people realize how little they know but have no need to try and convince others that they know a lot. - Dossy Shiobara
Scoble, no one is "smart" or an "expert." It doesn't really matter at all. The only thing that matters is how people preceive someone to be. My blog, http://onlyjames.com/ is constantly growing, so I believe people to think I am smart. Then again, I might be a complete nutcase. :D - James Mowery via twhirl
I think you can define smart a few different ways as well. I think the question you're really asking is "How to determine if someone is INTELLIGENT?" - David
I have noticed that they seem less likely to urinate in their pants than the general population - Seth Shapiro
Takes a long time of knowing someone and seeing how they react under differents sets of circumstances. People are smart in some ways, but not in others. - Francine Hardaway via twhirl
When I hear the word "celebrity" I now think of Sarah Austin's Pop17 which come to think of it Robert, you have never acknowledged that I know of. Her site is about a new kind of celebrity. For her, and for me, the interesting celebrities are people who become famous because of their outstanding work. And she does not attempt to ask about shallow tips or favorite colors, but rather about their work. The people she tends to interview are micro-celebrities small in size, but important. - Andrew Baron
Smart people don't brag about how they can recognize smart people. - Rutger Blom
I enjoy people who talk about other change-makers in the world. People who point me towards amazing & influential musicians, dancers, physicists, politicians, chefs, etc... Sometimes the geek-world is a little heavy on ideas. I enjoy hearing about the life history & paths of unusual chemists, religious leaders, and environmentalists. Just as some of my friends have more "aesthetic sense" than others, some are unusually attuned to remarkable people, and some to innovative ideas. - Mitchell Tsai
@ Scoble, once again you've hit a collective nerve with this thread. it goes back to what makes us human? "i'm not human without you"- Desmond Tutu re: Umuntu http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U...) communities like friendfeed should be a place where we explore these types of questions, there is enough pablum out in this world already, thanks for pursuing this line of questioning. - Nice Fish Films
I have an idea in that I'd love to get Britney Spears on Twitter - I think that would do wonders for her career. ;) - Jesse Stay
Is smart a measurement of intelligence or emotional quotient? One's intelligence is measured and quantified, like it or not, whether intelligence is synonmous with smart, that maybe another question. One can have emotional quotient as well i.e. street smarts and it too is measurable. Intelligence is not dribble. Intelligence, for me, is the generation of ideas with vision followed by implementation. Intelligence has many forms as well albeit plasticity or crystallized. Good nature versus nurture question. - ka3drr
I'll answer with this: the people's intelligence that I most desire and respect are the ones who are able to bring reality to the "out of the box" ideas they have. Plenty of people can speculate, but very few have the competence to bring a good idea to the rest of us. - Tony
I still have no clue who these A-listers are that people talk about but I'm interested in ideas both from other people and also sharing ones I come across. Celebrities? Phooey, give me an original thinker any day. - Sally Church
Pop culture aficionados are not necessarily stupid. I think the smartest people can carry on a conversation about nearly anything, and like it or not popular culture is a great source of inspiration for many ideas. - Lindsey Smith
Hmmm, how about... Methinks "smart people" think about having conversations with people (aka "intellectual celebrities") with whom they can talk about ideas and... Sigh... It still goes back to Howard Bloom: http://users.ucom.net/~vegan/P... —I'm a Zen Buddhist, but I still do think "God" is fair... As in, I can brainstorm pretty well, yes, but I'd die in the Aussie outback if you put me there. :P - kwok heng
Thats a great observation. If only we could make those ideas a reality :) You are a fun guy to talk about ideas with. - Christian Burns
Is this where we talk about Paris Hilton ? - Eric Berlin
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