Here is the video of Badgy’s presentation at Flashpoint last week. I love* this startup.

* Full disclosure, I’m an advisor to Badgy #provinthelove

I’m always looking at startups to see what they’re doing in the “not so obvious” category. Two local startups are doing some things that show me they’re building a brand just as much as they are building a company. And in my experience that can make all the difference.

The first is my old partner’s company, Proving Ground. These guys are doing awesome things in helping startups get off the ground. Check out their website to get more of the scoop.

One of the things they’ve been doing is really giving their company a personality. As an advisory board member, I was fortunate enough to get a gift from them for the holidays and I just love what they did. Check it out, they had caricatures created of each of their team members placed on a nice bottle of wine. As you can see, its placed appropriately in my home office next to my Brand Atlanta Coke bottle and a signed REM sheet music of Everybody Hurts.

The second startup that is just oozing with personality is Scoutmob. These guys have created a brand that people absolutely LOVE. Check out what a fan gave them as a sign of how much they love their brand (I saw this at their office recently and had to take a pic). Insane!

A painting from a Scoutmob fan. A fan!

Additionally I went over there earlier this month and hosted a beer thirty on Friday (the way we do every Friday at Engauge and I figured Dave and Michael would like a joint beer thirty at their place). If you haven’t been to any of the Scoutmob events, you’re definitely missing out, as they do all sorts of cool and wacky things. Included are these awesome mustaches that they put on beer bottles, which you can see here from the beer thirty event.

Scoutmob's classic beer mustaches

It takes so much to get a startup off the ground and make it successful. Sometimes its the little things that can make all the difference. And creating a brand that people love and aspire to engage with is a huge component of success these days. Well done guys.

Evernote has been one of my favorite apps for years. I’ve written about it dozens of times on this blog. 
 
I’ve written about the differences between Evernote and Instapaper. It was at the top of my list of products I loved in 2010. I even had a post where I got two Evernote addicts like me to talk about why they love it.
 
So needless to say, I love me some Evernote.
 
And I loved reading the article in December issue of Inc. magazine where the Evernote boys were on the cover. GREAT story, if you haven’t read it.
 
But I’m getting worried. What I loved about Evernote was that they did one thing and they dominated it. Saving and storing your thoughts, notes, ideas…your memories. And by focusing on that they become one of those can’t-live-without services. 
 
So I was curious when I saw that they launched two new apps recently, Evernote Hello and Evernote Food. They already have several other products that I don’t use, Skitch, Clearly and Peak.
 
Evernote Hello describes itself as: Remembering people is hard. Evernote Hello makes it easy by creating a rich, browsable history of individuals, encounters and shared experiences.
 
Unfortunately, the way you do this currently is to hand your phone to someone and let them enter in their information. As far as I can tell, you can’t even go to your contact info and pull the information on someone to at least autopopulate it if you’ve already met before. But I’m surprised they didn’t at least launch this with “bump-like” technology so two Evernote users could swap contact info by simply tapping their phones together. At the moment I can’t see myself using this unless they advance the technology in several areas.
 
Evernote Food describes itself as: Preserve and relive memorable food experiences. From fine dining to family gatherings to a local food truck, remember every delicious moment.
 

If this eventually ties into other services, like Yelp, I might be more interested. But I can’t see myself taking a photo of everything I eat, or even most of the things I eat. Can’t really see the purpose.
 
My main question is, why is Evernote branching out from their main app where many people have done these same activities? Couldn’t you just have a “contacts” feature in the main Evernote app? And is it a good strategy to begin fragmenting your products and by doing that, are you going to be able to continue to ensure that every product you have out there is amazing?
 
I hope so and honestly, I wouldn’t bet against them. They’re still one of my favorite companies. 
 
But I’m starting to get a little worried…

Path is a new(ish) mobile only social network that describes itself as the smart journal that helps you share life with the ones you love. You can only have 150 friends. And I’m loving it.  
One awkward thing about this post is that typically I write about a service and want people to “friend” me so we can play with it together. In this case, I’m going to use Path the way it was intended, which is to connect with only the people in my life that I have a close relationship with. Don’t worry, we still have Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Tumblr, etc. ;) 
 
Oh, and why did I “draw” the reasons I like it? I do that sometimes as its a creative way for me to lay out my thoughts on something. Like this. Also sometimes I do it because the guy next to me on the plane is oblivious to the fact that has arms are hanging way over the side of the arm rest, so far in fact hat I can’t even use my right arm to type. 
 
Anyways, if you find yourself loving Path like I am, I’d love to know why. Here are my reasons: 

You can now leave people location-based gifts using a service called Clingle. Are you kidding, that’s freaking cool!

I could leave my wife a $25 gift certificate at Starbucks next time she goes there.

I could surprise my dad with a $50 Home Depot gift certificate next time he goes shopping at his favorite Depot.

I could leave $500 bail money at the local police department for my favorite politician.

This is a really exciting idea and I can’t wait to see if Clingle is able to get it to take off in the US. Good luck guys.

Instagram, which describes itself as “fast, beautiful photo sharing for your iPhone”, has become one of my favorite apps over the past six months. It passed my second screen sniff test and has now become a permanent fixture on the first screen. I wrote a little about why I now love Instagram in this post: Why and how I use WordPress, Tumblr, Instagram and Foursquare.

After reading the book Onward, I was infected by Schultz’s passion for coffee and ever since have enjoyed a french press at my house. I’m currently 2/3 of the way through the Steve Jobs book by Isaacson and I’m already finding myself interested more in design as Jobs was so passionate about it.

And so in reflecting on why I gave Instagram so much attention I realized that it was because I was influenced by a few folks at Engauge that are huge Instagram fanatics. I decided it would be fun to do a Q&A with them on why they love Instagram so much.

How do you use Instagram today?

@ktmel: I use Instagram to capture life moments and share them with family, friends and followers. Top 4 reasons that I love Instagram:
1. Pictures are worth a million words. I love documenting life :)
2. The app makes sharing on different social networks seemless.
3. The various photo filters make every iPhone photo looks artistic.
4. It is free!

@leesnewton: I use it to take pictures of things that I find interesting & that I think others would find interesting. I’m not too into taking pictures of everything & instaspamming everyone. Sometimes I do take random shots though if I’m feeling artsy.

And why do you use it instead of other services that do similar things?

@leesnewton: I think the sheer number of other people (especially friends) that use it is what keeps me on this instead of other platforms. Plus it’s super simple to use and the features rock.

@ktmel:

• Instagram was one of the first photosharing that captured my attention and held it. I continue to test other photo sharing apps, but another app/services has yet to pull me away from Instagram.
• Great user experience: Instagram has found a great balance between giving users choices and not overwhelming them with a million options. This balance makes it a bit easier for users to make decisions.
• Viewing: The home view feed allows users to easily scroll through their friends photos in real-time. My cousin does not like Twitter, but she loves been able to scroll through and “share life” with me via Instagram.
• Interacting: The two simple ways of interaction (liking and commenting) allow users to engage with little effort and not too much thought. I can like a photo with a simple click and continue to scroll through my feed.
• Sharing: Instagram knew who/where to integrate with for sharing. If they had included too many platforms to share on then users would be overwhelmed by the choices (as well as initial set up of each platform).
• It is free :)

How often do you post?

@leesnewton: Sometimes I’ll go days without posting, sometimes I’ll post like 6 times in a day. No real plan or strategy.

@ktmel: My posting frequency varies from day to day. I post when and where I am inspired, reminded of someone or simply want to capture a moment. Recently I realized that I seem to take/share more Instagram photos when I am having a great day :) I would guess that I average five Instagram posts a day.

What other services like Instagram do you use and how does that compare (Tumblr, etc)?  How connected are these services to one another?

@ktmel: I try every sharing service that I can get my hands on because using these services is one of the best ways to learn. The “micro-blogging” or sharing services I use most often are Tumblr and Posterous. The visual appeal of Instagram, Tumblr and (recently) Posterous feeds provide users with similar experiences. Tumblr’s feed called the “dashboard” and Posterous’s new “reader” are similar to the visual scroll of Instagram’s feed; however, Tumblr and Posterous feeds extend content beyond photos with multi-media blog posts.

I send my Instagram photos to all the services with which they allow sharing. Currently Instagram allows users to send their photos to email, Facebook, Flickr, Foursquare, Posterous, Tumblr and Twitter. Each of the “partner” services have their own unique strengths.

I have my own thoughts about when I share my Instagram photos to each service.

• Email: I do not use email much unless I know someone will not know how to access the other services. Email exclusivity would make sense; however, my Instagram feed is public so emailing does not make my photos exclusive. Email is simply a more direct/personal way to send the photos.
• Facebook: I never share my Instagram photos to Facebook via Instagram because I created a rule in http://ifttt.com/ to send all my Instagram photos to a Facebook album. Currently, Instagram does not provide the funtionally of storing photos in a Facebook album. When Instagram users share a photo directly to Facebook, Instagram simply post a link on the user’s Facebook wall.
• Flickr: I did not think my Instagram photos were Flickr quality (AKA beautiful enough) when I started using Instagram. I need to start share to Flickr more; however, it is simply not top-of-mind for me.
• Foursquare: If I can connect to my location, I almost always share.
• Posterous: My Posterous blog is more of my technology/professional blog. I began using Instagram for more personal reasons and therefore did not share to Posterous. I have begun to start more to Posterous as I use Instagram to document innovate ideas and moments at conferences.
• Tumblr: My Tumblr blog is my personal “life documentation” blog, therefore, I share Instagram photos to Tumblr quite enough. I post to Tumblr if I want my mom and close friends and family to see my photos.
• Twitter: I tweet Instagram photos all the time. All my followers know my passion for photo sharing in general. I connect with many different people on Twitter, therefore, I tweet most of my photos.

@leesnewton: I use Tumblr all day, every day. Every now and then I’ll post instagrams to tumblr but not that often. That’s about it,  I pretty much never post pictures to Facebook or anything else.

What do you think about Instagram’s announcement that video is likely coming soon?

@leesnewton: It makes sense that they would go there. I wish they wouldn’t for the sheer sake of the weird crap that people are gonna post. There definitely needs to be a time limit for the viewers sake, and bandwidth/storage. Plus, it’s mobile… nobody wants to watch a long video on it.

@ktmel: I was thrilled to hear about the rumored video functionality! I’ve always enjoyed creating videos; however, I am not everyone or even the average user. It will be interesting to see how others react and use video sharing. People already share billions videos and Instagram can only make it easier. I hope Instagram will make video sharing as easy and visually appealing as their photo sharing. I look forward to seeing the decisions that Instagram team makes regarding length of video and whether they will stick to only filter editing or add in audio editing.

What do you wish Instagram would do that they currently don’t?  Or fix?

@ktmel:

• Character count. I wish there was a character count in the caption box. A character count would avoid sending tweets with cut off words.
• Auto-populated Twitter accounts. I wish Twitter account names of those I follow and mention in my photos would auto-populate. Instagram autopopulates name of those you follow on Instagram; however, I have to look up Twitter handles (or Facebook friends). This would be very difficult for Instagram because even Twitter and Facebook do not always make it easy to tag friends within their own services.
• Facebook albums. It would be great if Instagram allowed users to send photos directly to a Facebook album. This would avoid my use of iftt. I also do not love that all my photos are displayed in my friends’ news feeds. It would be great to have different options for Facebook photo sharing. Again, this is my perspective as a “super user.”
• Foursquare deal notifications. When I check-in on Foursquare when I share an Instagram photo; however, I wish I could see if there was a Foursquare deal at the venue I am sharing the photo of. @ratpack and I recently discussed increased use of Foursquare via Instagram sharing. I am not an avid Foursquare user unless I know I can get a deal; however, my check-ins increased tremendously through link my Instagram photos to a Foursquare location.

@leesnewton: Panoramic images would be awesome, but that would require images that aren’t squares. So I guess different shaped images. Maybe even a built-in diptic style functionality. They should allow you to choose image quality for output. That would help if you’re stuck in a crappy network area.

What are your three favorite Instagram photos you’ve posted (or 3 most recent that you liked)?

@leesnewton:

@ktmel:

This is what I get when I search for "London startup scene"

I recently read Bringing Nothing to the Party by Paul Carr. I learned about Paul when he left Techrunch in a blaze of glory. He’s since landed in Vegas and started a new company, Not Safe For Work, which seems to be a publishing company for tablet magazines.

I give the book a B+ and I only mention it because I read the entire thing, cover to cover, which for me is…rare. So I thought about why it kept my attention for that long, which lead me to this list.

You might be interested in this book if you:

• Are curious about the London startup scene, at least the London startup scene in 2006-2008…or Paul’s version of it. I have to think that most of the players have remained the same. It’s very interesting and in some ways, not that unlike Atlanta’s startup scene and in other ways, worlds apart.
• Are an entrepreneur and like the stories of other entrepreneurs. I always enjoy reading about other startups and the ups and downs that go along with any new company. This has plenty of both.
• Are looking for a quick and humorous read. Paul’s a pretty good writer and he’s got that quick British wit. Makes for a fun read. Besides, if you’re an e-book person (Kindle, Nook, etc.), you can always get a free preview of the book and try the first chapter. That’s probably one of my favorite things about e-books. After all, you can’t judge a book by its cover…but you can by its first chapter ;)

Yep, those are probably the reasons you might want to check this book out. I think its worth at least a free preview download to see what you think. I definitely enjoyed it.

Now I’m reading the Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson (shocker). So far its been a great book and I’m probably 1/3 of the way through it. I had no idea Jobs was such a hippie / pot head / cry baby in his early years!

I need to rethink my strategy, maybe I should be high and crying more…

I test a lot of iPhone apps. Partly I need to because of my job, but mainly I’m just eager to play with new stuff.

Several months ago I made the second screen on my iPhone (and iPad) a place where I test apps. My home screen is for the apps I use the most and having a screen for just the apps I’m testing has been helpful in keeping my app addiction under control. I won’t download a new app without first making room on my second screen, which usually means deleting ones I’m not using any longer. The rest of my apps are mostly stored in folders for later use.

Below is a list of the apps I’m playing with right now. Please share your test apps if you want, I always want to hear what others are playing with.

Trover – likely deleting soon – Social sharing app that I was interested to play with, but so little content was being added to it that I lost interest. I would have stayed with it if more people had joined. Really nice interface, very solid app.

Uncrate – I discovered Uncrate on the iPad while using Flipboard. It’s a fun site that lists new, cool and often techy products. I’ll likely move this app into a “Shopping” folder on my iPhone since I use it somewhat frequently.

Tango – likely deleting soon – Free video calling on the iPhone…but never use it. No idea if it works great or not, probably does, just never found a reason to use the service unfortunately.

Crackle – likely deleting soon – This had promise but I just can’t yet find the time to watch video programming on the iPhone. Good in theory but doesn’t fit into my personal usage of my phone.

Socialcast – we use this one at Engauge to communicate amongst the DIG team. I’ll keep it though haven’t figured out where to move it yet. Doesn’t make the cut for the home screen but still an app I want top of mind so I remember to check out what DIG is up to.

Picplz – likely deleting soon – Another app to share photos through. Not a bad app but again, do I need another one of these? Can’t find a place for it in my life.

Messenger – This is Facebook’s messaging app. I really don’t use it much but randomly decided to use it yesterday when watching the US Open men’s final to talk about the match with friends. Like Socialcast, I just don’t know where to put this app yet but I’ll likely keep it. Anyone using this instead of the Facebook app itself?

Can’t Wait! – I’m a huge movie trailer junkie. I could watch trailers for an hour. So this app is pretty good for that, I’ll likely move it soon to the “Movies” folder.

Greplin – This is meant to be the “search bar for your life”. I honestly haven’t spent enough time with it to have a view point. Need to do that.

Ness – likely deleting soon – Recommended to me by a friend, this is another app in a long list of apps to help you discover new places to eat, visit, etc, around you. I somehow never have a need for these types of apps, so even though it has a really nice UI, probably not going to last much longer.

Squrl – I’m a big fan of this service in concept but for some reason find very little time to use this app. This will stay on the second screen for a while while I figure out what to do with it.

Hanging Free – likely deleting soon - I played this a ton for about a week, then never picked it up again. Was fun at the time but not gonna last much longer.

Mightybell – My new favorite site, blogged about it recently. Not sure yet if I will need the app, its really a great web experience, but I’ll keep it as long as I’m using the service.

Foodspotting – I like this app a lot though I can’t figure out if I want to use it over Instagram or Tumblr, and honestly often just use Foursquare when taking a pic at a restaurant. I’m going to keep this one around but not sure if it’s a long-term keeper.

Onefeat – This is the most recent addition to the list. It’s a service where people create tasks to accomplish. Seems really fun, still playing with it but not sure I’m going to keep up with it as it takes a lot of energy to get to the point where you can create tasks yourself (you have to be level 10 or something).

So, any experience with these apps and/or what are you playing with?

I read this morning about a new service called Mightybell, which is Gina Bianchini’s new outfit. You might recognize her name as she was the former CEO of Ning.

My 1st Mightybell experience

Mightybell, which you can try to sign up for here but they may be out of early invitations, is described by Bianchini as being “…based on a simple idea, which is that you are what you do…People of action think big but break anything down into a series of small steps and you make anything doable.”

I love ideas like this. Allowing people to create content is obviously a great idea, but often times this content is mostly useless. In this case, people are creating step-by-step instructions for things they are passionate about. There are also some interesting ideas about analyzing the data created and monetizing it, but that sounds like its still in the works.

I did create an experience: 4 steps to being more confident at anything (based on this blog). Check it out and see what you think.

I’ve always thought Reid Hoffman was one of the true visionaries in the start-up/Internet/newest new space. The guy has an amazing resume. Success seems to always find him. He co-founded LinkedIn. He was involved as a board of director level with the founding of PayPal and helped get them to the sale to eBay. He was an early investor in Facebook and Zynga. He sorta knows what he’s doing.

A NY TIMES article passed to me by who else, @Steve83, talks about an upcoming book that Hoffman is writing called, “The Start-Up of You” (I just pre-ordered it for Kindle). In the article, as Hoffman talks about the premise of the book, the writer says:

Hoffman argues that professionals need an entirely new mind-set and skill set to compete. “The old paradigm of climb up a stable career ladder is dead and gone,” he said to me. “No career is a sure thing anymore. The uncertain, rapidly changing conditions in which entrepreneurs start companies is what it’s now like for all of us fashioning a career. Therefore you should approach career strategy the same way an entrepreneur approaches starting a business.”

I had never thought about career strategy in that way, but its dead on and readers of this blog probably understand why I agree with that whole heartedly.  It got me thinking, *successful* start-ups have the same characteristics that individuals should have when they approach their career:

• unbridled passion for the work
• an uncompromising positive attitude
• confidence and belief in yourself
• a focus on results and not on putting in the minimum number of hours required
• teamwork and collaboration

I’ve written before about how to be an entrepreneur with a job, but I actually like this mindset better.  How to BE a start-up. It’s a great mentality to have. Control your own destiny. Believe in YOU. Approach your career the way a start-up approaches taking over the world.

Go on, start yourself up.