In this video, Matt Schlicht, aka one of the best product managers I have ever met, pitches his newest startup, Tracks.by, which he describes as “the most viral way for artists to promote their music and videos.”
Matt was the first product manager at Ustream, where he built a lot of the company’s viral products, including its Social Stream product.
This speech took place at the most recent San Francisco MusicTech Summit.
Disclosure: I sit on Tracks.by’s board of advisers.
Posted in Projects
I’m late adding this to my blog, but I still want to note it.
Two weeks ago, I agreed to help out the Leap for Life campaign to raise money and awareness for cancer research. To do this though, I did something I have never done before; I jumped out of a plane.
You can read all about the project here, but suffice it to say, the result was this:
I’m thrilled to have been a part of this experience and this worthy cause. Thanks especially to JoJo Wright and his team for letting me join on this crazy adventure.
I have more planned on the charity front. Stay tuned.
Posted in My musings, Projects
Moving across the country and Mashable have killed my blogging on BenParr.com, but still thousands of people are reading my posts. So, with my change of location, I thought I’d throw in a change of design.
So welcome to the new BenParr.com, the beginnings of a more social, more interactive BenParr.com. The old design has been thrown out the window for this one.
Some of the new updates:
Some of the things you can expect on this new website:
What still has to be done:
Watch out for more changes and updates. In the meantime, please give me some feedback on what I should do next.
- Ben
Posted in Announcements, My musings, Projects, Synergies
Hey everyone, it’s been a busy couple of weeks, thus my updates have been even less frequent than usual. Normally I like to make my blog more about how to make you more productive as an entrepreneur and as a person. I promise I will get back to writing great posts on entrepreneurship soon.
In the meantime, I want to tell you about upcoming changes and the Twitter photostream experiment I will be conducting while I travel from Chicago to San Francisco, starting next Monday (April 13th).
First, on the changes – I intend to completely redesign BenParr.com with a new interface. It will be a completely new scheme that switches the location of the menu and adds some integrated functionality, such as a widget that streams the articles I write for Mashable and integration with my new tech show Tech & Beer, which should be launching in May. There will also be some integration with my new consulting firm, Engage Analytics, which is nearly done as a website and as a company.
The second piece of interesting news is the cross country move. It’s going to be a grueling, wonderful 4 day journey spanning over 2,000 miles. I will be driving in my truck with a uHaul trailer hitched to the back. But if pictures interest you, I will be taking pictures across the country, in every state and cool place I visit. I will chronicle packing things up, visiting my hometown, my dogs, and the major sightseeing points – the Rocky Mountains, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, and yes, even Nebraska’s corn.
The picture above is the boxes being packed. I will be posting all of my photos via Twitter, but I will be re-linking my Facebook status to my Twitter account, so all of those pictures will be posted on my Facebook as well. Be sure to follow my Twitter if you want to see half the country in the span of 3 days.
Those are my announcements. Oh yeah, I’m going to embed a widget tomorrow to stream all of the photos from my TwitPic account so you can see the moving images. Hopefully this will be a good experiment in social media’s ability to share photos and experiences.
Posted in Announcements, My musings, Projects
I have several major announcements to make, many of which you have seen if you’ve been following my Facebook or my Twitter stream.
1. I have left Spine-health:
If you did not know, I was the Interactive Content Manager for Spine-health, the web’s leading patient resource on back pain and chronic pain. I did everything from SEO (search engine optimization) to usability to adding new doctor-written content to the website.
I have nothing but the most profound respect for Stephanie Burke, Sylvia Marten, and the Spine-health team. However, I decided it was time for some changes in my life. It has been a great learning experience, and I am glad to have left on great terms.
2. I am now Associate Editor at Mashable:
I have been an occasional writer for Mashable since August 2008. But perhaps you’ve noticed a recent influx of articles from me in March, especially on weekends. Well that’s because I was training for a new role, as associate editor at Mashable. Mashable, for those who do not know, is a leading news and resource blog on social media and web technology. Now I get to talk about, debate, and discuss social media like Twitter, Facebook, iPhone applications, and more.
I can’t wait to discuss social media with the world! Interested in my writing? You can always find my work at my Mashable Author Page.
3. I have started an analytics and consulting firm:
Mashable won’t be my only job. I have opened up a consulting firm, Engage Analytics, which will provide strategic and consulting services in three specific areas:
For more details (and a rough look at the still-being-built website, visit here.
4. I am co-hosting Tech&Beer, a live tech entertainment show:
In the next month, Matt Schlicht and I will be launching Tech&Beer, a twice-weekly live tech entertainment show. On the show, Matt and I will bring aboard tech personalities, entrepreneurs, and celebrities as co-hosts. We will interview them and discuss the week’s major technology-related events with them. We will use audience questions and topics to fuel the show. And as the title may indicate, we will drink beer and have a little fun as well!
Each episode will air live on Ustream.tv as well as be recorded via Vimeo. If you’re interested in the show (either as a co-host, sponsor, or interested fan), be sure to email Mazy Kazerooni, our producer, at mazy[at]techandbeer.com.
Also, follow the Techandbeer Twitter account.
5. I am moving to Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay:
The final announcement, and perhaps the most significant, is that I am relocating from Chicagoland to the heart of Silicon Valley. I’ve lived in Illinois my entire life, with brief stints in Santa Barbara, Croatia, D.C., and Thailand. Chicago has been great, but I need a chance of scenery.
The Tech&Beer show will be broadcast from Mountain View, CA, and I will be covering stories for Mashable from the silicon technology hub. I leave for San Fran/the valley on April 13th.
I will have more to announce and discuss in the next few weeks, but wanted to let you all know now. . Thanks for your support. I’ll try to post more about all of this soon.
Posted in Announcements, Entrepreneurship, Projects, Social Media
I’ll have more to report as I try to take this moment in, but I completed my first novel, a science-fiction thriller, at about 11:00.
Although the story’s done, I still have a lot of work to do. I’m going to take a break from it, read some fiction for fun, and then get this thing printed and do my edits. After that, I’ll be asking some close friends to read it as well and we’ll find out if it’s up to par.
In the meantime, here’s some statistics (as of 1/24/2009):
I’m finally done. Wow.
Posted in Announcements, Projects
For the last few days, I’ve been working on some design and functionality features of BenParr.com. I’m nowhere near done, but I’m ready to release a new section of BenParr.com: The Internet Tools Wiki
The Internet Tools Wiki is a project designed to aggregate the most useful information on the internet regarding internet tools and social media. What does that mean? It means that, unlike Crunchbase or Wikipedia, which are focused on general, non-biased information about companies and products, the Internet Tools Wiki is chiefly concerned with effective utilization of these products and aggregates the most impressive articles and community knowledge to that end. In the next few weeks and months, you can expect blog articles to coincide with wiki articles, for articles across the net to be added to the Internet Tools Wiki Database, and for more and more tools to be added over time.
The information you will find on most of the wiki pages:
The wiki is currently bare bones and does not have proper information for most internet tools – That will come with time. Instead, functionality and information will be gradually added as articles are written and found.
Everyone is welcome to contribute to the wiki and to add their tips and information . You are also welcome to add new tools and new articles.
Expect more integration between the blog and the wiki as time goes on and my coding skills improve. In the meantime, I hope you get some utility and usefulness out of the Internet Tools Wiki!
- Ben
Posted in Announcements, Productivity, Projects
Today is the official launch of FriendQuilts, a dynamic, useful, and incredible Facebook application that I firmly believe improves the usefulness of Facebook and will catch fire with Facebook users.
Okay, so I’m biased because I’m part of the project. Sue me after you’ve visited the app.
We would like to invite you to participate in the launch of Free Lunch and Sociable Apps newest facebook application, FriendQuilts. This unique online application let’s you show off your digital photos and videos in an exciting and interactive way!
Don’t want to deal with having to upload your stuff? We automatically support Facebook photos, web images, and Youtube videos. Check out some of the screen shots below for details.
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No registration is required to view and interact with quilts. Customization is simple and easy.
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Share photo albums around events. Invite your friends to fill in your empty patches. Zoom in to view and play videos at a larger size.
FAQ:
“How much does this cost?”
“What if I don’t have a facebook account?”
“What about privacy?”
Posted in Projects
Tagged applications, facebook, friendquilts, mosaics, photos, videos
I wanted to get in a quick post to say that my blog on the economic slump and recession has launched. If you haven’t visited it yet, here’s the link:
I need your feedback (and maybe your writing) as I craft out the direction of Buck the Slump.
Buck the Slump
- Ben
Posted in Projects
Since the collapse of Bear Stearns and even before, many of us have been bracing for an economic downturn or, more seriously, a recession. Let me not that we are NOT in a recession yet. It takes two quarters of negative growth, and we haven’t had that yet. But there’s no doubt the economy has slowed down and unless those tax rebates we got perform some miracles, we’re going to have to deal with the issue for a while. 
This is why I am launching a new website and blog on Monday, May 5th, called Buck the Slump. It is a blog on the recession and how to better succeed within it. The side images are screenshots from the website. The first one is an article page; the second one is the job board, where people can search for jobs or submit them.
I encourage you to visit Buck the Slump’s About page and learn more about what the blog will cover. I have some help, though I will be the main writer. I am looking for guest writers and promotional help. The blog is about community, and it won’t succeed in its goal to provide support and analysis in regards to the economic downturn without it.
So I’m giving you a sneak peek now. Please, tell me what you think about the design, the layout, the topics, and any bugs or issues you find. I am going to be writing content all of this weekend for the launch while I juggle my other three major projects (Novel, FriendQuilt/FreeLunch, and the GMAT. Trust me, I’ve become a master of the art of the multitask).
Tell me your opinions on the project! I’ll be reaching out for help soon: I am going to make this successful, but I can’t (and don’t want to) do it alone.
- Ben
Posted in Projects
