SOMEWHAT FRANK

Goodbye Aol. Hello Entrepreneurship In 2010!

This year my New Year's resolution is to be bold and what better way to do that than to start the year off by leaving the solid paycheck, benefits and comfort of a job at Aol. Today is my last day as an Aol employee as I have decided to move on to pursue some of my own entrepreneurial endeavors. It has been just over 3 years since I joined Aol to help bring some "Web 2.0 & social media" perspective and expertise to the Aol team. In Internet years that is about 10 years. My first task was to join the product development team responsible for the myAOL triple threat including a personalized homepage, a feed reader with bookmarking and an innovate recommendation engine. We then went on to launch it in 28+ countries before it turned one. More recently with the launch of AIM Lifestream I saw about 18 months of planning and strategy come to fruition which included work on AIM buddyupdates and the acquisition of SocialThing. I have racked up a lot of airline miles bouncing between DC and the West Coast. It has been a good run and a great learning experience working in a large organization and I have met so many great people along the way. I am proud of our accomplishments at Aol. As anyone who has ever worked at a large company can attest, it is not easy to launch a product in a big organization and I did it a few times in just three years. 

What will I be doing? 

I Am Somewhat Inspired: What Inspires You?

Innovation starts with education and I believe in lifetime learning. I starting writing SOMEWHAT FRANK due to my curiosity and interest in learning more about blogging. Now I am inspired by personal technology. I like to figure things out and that helps to keep me constantly learning new things. Intel recently created, Inspired By Education, a site dedicated to helping to highlight the importance of education and lifetime learning. I shared my thoughts on "What Inspires Me?" in this video (above). Check it out and share what What inspires you? by uploading a video.

Live Video: Personality Not Included Q&A

Watch and interact live over the Web! Today at 7 p.m. EST, I am chatting with Washington, DC local marketing/PR guru Rohit Bhargava the author of the new book, Personality Not Included: Why Companies Lose Their Authenticity And How Great Brands Get it Back. I am excited to be able to chat with Rohit tonight as part of the Network Solutions powered event that SOMEWHAT FRANK teamed up to host.   

I met Rohit last year as he moderated a panel that I sat on with fellow social media experts, Gary Vaynerchuk and Geoff Livingston. You can watch that video here, as I recorded it from a video camera mounted to my head. Interestingly, my three colleagues have all since published books - now doesn't that make me feel like a slacker. :) 

Personality Not Included is different from your typical marketing book and we are going to discuss it at this event. The actual event is sold out but you can watch it below thanks to BlogTV.

Video: Why I Love Blogging

I recently spoke at BlogPotomac about social media and my love for bright shiny objects. At the event I talked with SearchMarketingGurus.com's Li Evans about why I love blogging. Check out the video (below) and find out why.

Why do you love blogging?

Join Me On Jonny's Par-Tay

JOIN ME ON JONNY'S PAR-TAY!

I will be talking about startups, Web 2.0, social media, SOMEWHAT FRANK and TECH cocktail on the video show, Jonny’s Par-tay on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 at 9pm EST. The show is hosted live by DC TECH cocktailers Scott Stead and Jonny Goldstein so tune in. Here are the details:

What: A rollicking conversation with Jonny Goldstein, Scott Stead, and you! You get to interact with everyone else via live text chat.

When: Wednesday, June 18, 9-10PM EST

Where: jonnyspartay.com

Be a part of the live conversation as we talk about TECH cocktail, technology startups and more. It should be a lot of fun!

Social Media Panel at TECH cocktail CONFERENCE

I recently sat in on the Social Media and Branding panel at TECH cocktail CONFERENCE. Geoff Livingston, David Armano, Danielle Wiley and I decided to start out with a little transparency and authenticity lesson. The lesson involved the Chicago Cubs (my favorite baseball team and the Chicago home team). In case you missed it, don't worry, it was caught on tape thanks to social media.

TECH cocktail CONFERENCE Downed Smoothly

Somewhat Frank has been taking the brunt of an intense schedule this past week as I have been in Chicago preparing for and hosting the first TECH cocktail CONFERENCE, followed by our 8th Chicago mixer, TECH cocktail Chicago 8 on May 29, 2008. Though it took a lot of time and hard work, it was all worth it as it was a lot of fun as we were able to further our mission of better connecting and amplifying the technology signal by bringing together some of the TECH cocktail community leaders from Boston, Boulder, DC and Chicago as speakers at the TECH cocktail CONFERENCE which attracted close to 300 guests. From the opening ceremonies where we played the TECH cocktail Song to Gary Vaynerchuk wrapping up the day of speakers it was a lot of fun. All the speakers did an amazing job and we are very appreciative of their participation and support. Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to see all the panels as I was pretty emceeing the event and making sure things run smoothly.

Check out the TECH cocktail CONFERENCE photos taken by the very talented Leora Zellman. Additional photos from TECH cocktail Chicago 8 are coming soon.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Video: TECH cocktail Song

I have been pretty busy the last month or so preparing to host the first TECH cocktail CONFERENCE on May 29, 2008 in Chicago. As part of the preparation I found myself whistling while I work and pulled together a TECH cocktail Song which is Episode 28 of SOMEWHAT FRANK TV. It is a bit of a TECH cocktail ballad and I hope you enjoy it!

Video: Finally, I Bought a Mac

Aside from the iPod and its PC vs. Mac commercials, Apple must be doing something right as a number of influencer and early adopters appear to be going Apple. If you attend a technology and social media conferences these days you will see what I mean as you might find a sea of Apple logos in the crowd. I have held out on making the move to a Mac for quite sometime as I leveraged Windows and all it can offer to the maximum but when it came time for me to get a new machine I decided it was time to try out an Apple. I recently purchase my first Mac, a MacBook Pro to be exact. I decided to capture the moment as episode 27 of SOMEWHAT FRANK TV.

Video: TECH cocktail Earns CityLIGHTS Award

The Illinois I.T. Association CityLIGHTS 2008 Awards Gala took place in Chicago, Illinois on Thursday, April 3, 2008. The event was held at Union Station which you might recognize from the epic scene from the movie The Untouchables where Kevin Costner saves a baby carriage while also shooting up the Al Capone gangsters on its marble steps. While did not save any babies TECH cocktail, the community building startup that I co-founded with Eric Olson, was nominated for the CityLIGHTS Award for its positive impact in connecting the Illinois technology community. I am please to report, that TECH cocktail took home the hardware. I was deeply humbled by winning the award as it serves as validation that all the long hours and hard work is truly helping to sculpt a better connected local technology community while helping to amplify that same community to the world.

TECH cocktail: ITA CityLIGHTS Award Finalist

I am pleased and somewhat humbled that TECH cocktail, a little events startup which I co-founded with Eric Olson back in May 2006, has been nominated as a finalist for the Illinois Technology Association CityLIGHTS Award. Over 700 great entrepreneurs, startups and established companies will be in attendance tonight as the awards are presented.

TECH cocktail is nominated for the CityLIGHTS Award which is given to an individual or individuals that have made a significant impact on the Illinois technology community. The list of finalists include:

• Ron and Jeff Galowich, co-Founders, Initiate Systems
• Bob Geras, president, LaSalle Investments
• Brian Knudson, CEO, NogginLabs, Inc.
• Eric Olson and Frank Gruber, founders, TECH cocktail
• Brad Spirrison, president, MidwestBusiness.com

TECH cocktail was started as a way to better connect and amplify the local technology community and being a finalist for this award validates that all our hard work has been paying off. Our first TECH cocktail CONFERENCE in May should further along this mission - don't forget to sign up now. Cheers!

BlogPotomac To Unite DC Area Bloggers

If you are in the Washington, D.C. area, mark your calendars and register now for BlogPotomac, a one day event aimed at providing advanced marketing insights beyond the average social media 101. BlogPotomac will be held on Friday, June 13, 2008 at the State Theater in Falls Church, Virginia. BlogPotomac seeks to provide a local “un-conference” on best marketing practices for the social media community in the D.C. metro area.

5 Startups Demo at TECH cocktail Boulder

On a clear, crisp evening in Boulder, Colorado over two hundred technology enthusiasts piled into The Foundry Billiards Club to better connect and amplify the technology signal of the region. The event, TECH cocktail Boulder in partnership with DEMO, showcased five startups from the local area. The event was sponsored by Boulder-based Lijit and Chicago and potentially soon to be also Boulder-based skinnyCorp - thank you both!

Since TECH cocktail is one of my own creations with co-founder Eric Olson, we were really enjoyed the evening getting to hangout with some of the technology "movers and shakers" in the Denver/Boulder area. For more details check out the official TECH cocktail Boulder 1 photos, our event wrap-up article and ColoradoStartups' wrap-up. Read on for more on the startups that demoed at TECH cocktail Boulder.

TECH cocktail Remixes With TECH CONFERENCE

TECH cocktail, the events startup that was created by Eric Olson and I back in May 2006, has made a couple of exciting moves today. First we launched a substantial redesign of the TECH cocktail website that we have been working on for the last couple months. In addition, to stay true to our mission of helping to amplify the technology signal in local communities we are have announced the first ever TECH cocktail CONFERENCE (or TECH CONFERENCE for short). The event full day conference will take place in Chicago on May 29, 2008 and will be followed up by our popular mixer event. Register now - it should be a great event!

TECH cocktail Boulder Colorado

I am pleased to announce that TECH cocktail will be making its first appearance in Boulder, Colorado. TECH cocktail Boulder 1 is another big step forward for TECH cocktail for another reason besides the obvious one of expanding to a new area. TECH cocktail Boulder 1 will be the first event we are putting on in partnership with the DEMO conference. Yes, the same DEMO conference that I just attended last week.