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Where leaping to conclusions is my primary form of forward motion.
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Thursday, August 25, 2005
Cheater's Guide to LinkedIn
This comprehensive, practical, how-to guide for networking via LinkedIn is chock-full of techniques I would never think of myself. LinkedIn is a great tool for those who live in and around Silicon Valley. I’m not at all sure how valuable it is for those of us who live in the remaining 99.999% of the world, but even if you don’t use LinkedIn this guide is full of ideas applicable to both online and offline networking. [Thanks to Atlanta PR Madame Jeneane Sessum for the link.]
Terry Frazier at 4:36 PM
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Thursday, August 4, 2005
Amazing On Demand Manufacturing
If you’re worried sick about all the outsourcing to China, losing sleep over the wholesale shift of manufacturing jobs to the Asia-Pacific region, and constantly banging your head on the wailing wall of “free” trade please have a look at the future – www.emachineshop.com.
A friend in the modeling business pointed me to this site and it is, in a word, amazing. If you’ve ever tried to have any custom manufacturing done you know what a nightmare it is just to get someone to quote your project. Getting it approved – i.e. making sure it can actually be done the way you want it done – is nearly impossible. It doesn’t matter where you do it – here, Singapore, China, wherever – it’s all the same. One giant, expensive, unreliable pain in the ass.
CAD programs made it possible to design complex objects via computer. CNC machines made it possible for those drawings to become complete machining instructions. 3D printers made it possible to build accurate models without investing in tooling and dies. But none of these things were connected in a way that helped the small innovator get to market. And none were especially affordable.CAD programs are renowned for their steep learning curves and hideous license fees. 3D printers still run close to a half-million dollars. And getting a CNC shop to talk to you about your small project? Priceless.
eMachineShop has automated this error-prone process and removed the need for human intervention in the frustrating estimate/quote/approve cycle. They provide a free, – yes, free – CAD program you can use to design your project. When you submit the drawings you get an automatic approval. If the machine you want to use can’t do the job you get suggestions on how to change it. You can do one, or thousands. And you get a quote right away. You can do what-if scenarios to your heart’s content and no snarky sales guy is going to bitch about your changes.
I know what you’re thinking. I thought the same thing – this CAD software must be crap. Well, eMachineShop is the brainchild of Jim Lewis, founder of Micro Logic Corp. and developer of the venerable PIM Info Select.His software is not crap. And this idea could change everything. All kinds of niche products become viable, and the information gap between regular people with ideas and manufacturing specialists with access just got crushed. This is what happens when smart software people put their minds to things, and it’s why all the moaning about outsourcing and China may be moot in the long run.
I can already think of at least two dozen people who, with a few thousand dollars, can now launch new businesses around cool ideas they’ve had for years. If you ever had a product idea but didn’t know where to begin you owe it to yourself to check out eMachineShop.com
Terry Frazier at 10:13 AM
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Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Invest While You Rest
Have you seen this? It's a stock award program for frequent customers at Jameson Inns. I saw a billboard for it on the way to the office this morning, and I've never seen anything like it. I don't know anything about Jameson Inns, and can't imagine that many people who actually stay in a Jameson actually want stock in a hotel chain (JAMS is currently trading at about $2.40 on NASDAQ.) But I have to give them credit for innovation.
You get 10% of your room rate in credit towards stock purchase. You have to stay three (3) nights to qualify, at which point Jameson automatically (assuming you've enrolled in the program) creates a stock account for you. The max applicable room rate is $100/night, meaning a max of $10 credit toward stock purchase. I suspect most Jameson's are considerably under $100/night, but you can still figure on getting 3-4 shares of the company for each night's stay. I don't know if this is a good idea or not, but it's interesting. Is any other company doing something like this? Maybe Trader Mike knows...
Terry Frazier at 10:19 AM
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