The FuzzyBlog!
Marketing 101. Consulting 101. PHP Consulting. Random geeky stuff. I Blog Therefore I Am.

Wednesday, July 03, 2002

Big Things at the FuzzyBlog -- We've Joined Forces with eVectors I'm tremendously pleased to be able to announce that my partner Gretchen and I have joined the eVectors team to help establish eVectors North America, a subsidiary of eVectors, Srl to bring the IdeaTools content management system to North America.  It probably doesn't surprise anyone to learn that I've taken on the role of Vice President of Marketing given my fairly regular writings and diatributes on this subject.  Gretchen Cahaly, my partner, has taken on the role of Vice President of Business Development -- this isn't a surprise to me given her superior networking and people skills.  Gretchen has also had the opportunity to witness, from the inside, a series of highly dysfunctional technology companies, so the chance to apply that knowledge with her MBA is intriguing for her.  It's been an absolute pleasure working with Paolo, the CEO of eVectors, and we are both just thrilled by this opportunity.  Even though you obviously wouldn't expect me to say anything negative anyway, I just can't say enough good things about eVectors right now.  And both Gretchen and I are very hard critics (it's why we work together so well). You'll definitely see a lot more about eVectors / IdeaTools in this space -- but Paolo understands my commitment to fairly brutal honesty and knows that this will carry forward.  And I will be disclosing my biases regularly as everyone knows I do.  I've also already updated my "So What Am I Selling" link.  One of the reasons why Paolo and I have clicked so well is that he's as honest as I am.  And, having worked for both a less than honest dot com and a publicly traded company with issues in this area, I just find that unbelievably compelling.  For those folks out there still doing the big company, highly political, cover your butt routine, think about a small company -- the change is just wonderful.  And, as we've all seen, there isn't really any job security anywhere these days.  I mean we're about to see the bankrupcy (I'd bet 75% likely) of MCI.  Who'd have believed that 5 years ago? What Does this Mean for The FuzzyGroup? Well the FuzzyGroup is still going forward and continuing to focus on our work with non-profit organizations as well as in the open source arena.  We have some very strong long term customers as well as a number of projects in the works so stopping the FuzzyGroup wasn't really an option.  Our skills, along with those of some of our associates, will also be applied to providing the type of cutting edge consulting services for IdeaTools that Paolo's group provides for IdeaTools in Italy.  Both of us are pretty aggressive multitaskers as well as users of some internal technology for project and task management that makes us a lot more productive. More Details Here's more information: www.evectors.com -- the new eVectors North America web site Background Info on eVectors The Team at eVectors (includes photos of everyone including us!) And ... If You Need Information on IdeaTools Just drop us a line at our eVectors.com email addresses: scott.johnson@evectors.com  gretchen.cahaly@evectors.com We're already in serious discussions with customers and one customer is already using eVectors (and paid for it).  How's that for proof that while the big high tech companies may have lots and lots of issues, the scrappy, fiesty little guys are still making it. Humorous Closing Note This has to be close to an industry first -- Paolo has a VP of Marketing who not only still codes but is published in Communications of the ACM (as well as being an O'Reilly author).  I'm not blowing my own horn here (maybe a little) but it's a good sign, at least to me, when technical companies stay technical.  I better not tell this to any of my marketing friends -- they'll throw me out of the club. 10:27:00 PM  Google It!  comment []   IM Me About This

RackSpace -- Gotta Love Them -- They Rule. How can you not love a company that you can call at 20:15 and by 20:27 your issue (which you created yourself) is fully resolved?  Oh and it's the night before a major national holiday...  I love these guys. So my thanks to Brian in Data Center Ops.  I really appreciate it. If you haven't looked at RackSpace for a hosted, managed server then you really should.  I'll totally admit that RackSpace is more expensive than Brand X.  THEY ARE 100% WORTH EVERY PENNY.  I used Brand X and it was a disaster.  RackSpace just plain Rocks.  Highly Recommended. 9:48:14 PM  Google It!  comment []   IM Me About This

Business 101: Commitment Commitment.  This is a big scary word.  And it's scary both in relationships and in business.  In this essay, I'll talk to you about commitment in terms of a new business venture that Gretchen, my partner, and I, are in the process of entering.  Ever since I got involved with Radio, I've been engaged in, well, flirting -- with Paolo.  No, no, no -- not that type of flirting.  Paolo is the CEO of www.evectors.com and www.evectors.it.  eVectors is an Italian company focused on two things: ==> Read Story <== 8:11:12 PM  Google It!  comment []   IM Me About This

If You've Emailed Me Recently, I am Sorry for the Slow Response All my system stability issues have been a huge distraction and there is a new business opportunity that will get profiled here later today (watch this space) that is being launched and has been wonderful but took a lot of time.  So I will get to all emails before I head off to Venice and Paolo but it may be a few more days. 7:08:24 AM  Google It!  comment []   IM Me About This

That Wish List Thing.... Someone gave me some great help the other day.  It was one of those cases where a bit of knowledge he had saved me about 3 or 4 hours of just general Linux geeking out and experimenting.  So I just hit his blog, happened to see his wish list and I saw a book on it that I really loved and he wanted.  So I got it for him.  That's really cool to me.  Here's why -- in a lot of computer things, a little bit of knowledge can just save N hours (where N is an integer and usually > than 2) -- and, while I know that people generally don't mind helping, you sometimes just hate to ask.  Either it makes you feel stupid or you just don't want to bother someone.  Knowing that someone has a wish list means that if I feel this way, at least I can do something to compensate someone for their time.  Time is valuable as is knowledge.  Was the book I got for this person the value of the time?  Of course not -- but I don't think that's the point -- it's not about value as much as it is about appreciation.  At least that's the case for me.  For example, my security article continues to get serious traffic despite my writing it about 3 months ago -- and I'm still getting emails asking for more help!  And you know something, I actually try to answer them.  I wish I did a better job -- and I'm working on it -- but the reason I try is that these people show appreciation.  And, like anyone who writes, you get addicted to the positive (or even negative) feedback.  About Wish Lists Have You Made a Wish List for Your Blog Yet? 6:18:27 AM  Google It!  comment []   IM Me About This

Thank You Adam or My Mandrake Is Much, Much Happier Now I wanted to publicly say "Thanks" to Adam -- he helped me get the C compiler back on my Mandrake box.  And even though I'm not much of a C programmer, you really do need it on any *nix system since you have to somewhat regularly use it to install software.  Even better and more impressive, Adam helped me get through "RPM Hell".  More on that later.  Thanks Man! 4:35:18 AM  Google It!  comment []   IM Me About This