SOMEWHAT FRANK

Video: Forbes Top 25 Web Celebs

The video I decided to highlight this week happens to showcase a friend of mine, TechCrunch editor Michael Arrington as he appeared on the San Francisco Bay area local Fox affiliate discussing being named one of the Forbes top 25 web celebs. Other notables include Robert Scoble, Jeff Jarvis,  Jason Calacanis, Steve Rubel, Pete Cashmore, Kevin Rose, Ryan Block, Seth Godin and "Giga" Om Malik.

ReviewMe: My First 30 Days of Use

ReviewMe an online product review broker recently launched as highlighted previously on Somewhat Frank. Like many other bloggers I inquisitively registered Somewhat Frank for the service. Thirty days have passed and I wanted to follow-up with some additional thoughts on my first experiences with the service. To date ReviewMe has sent me four different review requests. I was given 72 hours to accept each offer. I briefly checked out each service and decided not to review any of the products.

Why did I decline an easy $475 or $125 per post? It is simple. The products did not excite me. As Seth Godin puts it, they were not Purple Cows. Not to say that every product or blog post I highlight is a ‘purple cow’ but these did not arouse my interest. It isn’t that these companies aren’t doing valuable things online, they just didn’t catch my attention. After receiving these review requests it is very clear to me that ReviewMe puts bloggers into a somewhat compromised situation since ReviewMe bloggers could be perceived in the blogosphere:

1.)    As a sellout if they write a positive review and get paid for it.
2.)    As a pompous egotistical bastard if they write a negative review and get paid for it.

ReviewMe presents a tough nut to crack and thus far I have chosen to abstain until the right review opportunity happens to arise, but I would love to hear about other bloggers experiences with the product.

Photo Attribution: sunclover via Flickr

Startup Dreams? Bootstrapper's Bible Could Help

The web 2.0 movement has shown that it is a great time to start an online business with limited funding. As a number of startups have emerged some have received funding while a large number of others that have turned to 'bootstrapping' to keep their startup dreams alive. Bootstrapping in financial terms is the idea of starting a business with little or no money (outside funding). There is not a right or wrong approach however bootstrapping does allows a startup to maintain more control of their product or any eventual returns as the startup does not have to answer to a bank, VC or other investor.

Seth Godin, a bestselling author, entrepreneur and agent of change, has written several helpful and inspiring books including The Big Moo which I highlighted previously. The Bootstrapper's Bible, one of Seth's latest books, is focused on the concept of bootstrapping an idea he touched on briefly in Making Money On The Web. The Bootstrapper's Bible is currently available for free download. I would highly recommend taking a look at is as it has some helpful hints on that can be applied to startups and large corporations alike.