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A conversation about impending World Peace

Added on by Chris Saad.

A friend and I just had a wonderful 1:1 chat, and I wanted to share it here (with her permission). She asked me to remove her name because she thinks she was off her game - I think she's crazy - but I will respect her request none-the-less. Please excuse the raw nature - this is a straight copy+paste chat log from Adium.

Also, for clarity, my timeframe for this world peace is not days, weeks or even decades. There are also all sorts of things that can screw my assumptions up. But this is an interesting thought exercise none the less.

9:11 - My Friend:

Chris, about your idea that our connectedness will bring world peace... someday?

9:11 - Chris Saad:

yes - most people think i'm crazy … i think it's already happening

9:12 - My Friend:

Do you think that it's making us more moral?

9:13 - Chris Saad

no… i think it's broadening the set of people we apply our morality to

because we are coming to the obvious revelation that everyone is human, everyone has the same fundamental desires (safety, love, hope) and deserves a fundamental level of respect and dignity

9:14 - My Friend:

do you think it's changing our ideas of what morality is?

9:14 - Chris Saad

… i think humans are always fundamentally selfish - but they prioritize themselves first, and people like them second

… all i'm saying is that people will increasingly realize that there are a lot more people like them than they originally thought - i.e. everyone

9:15 - My Friend:

I think yes we are redefining our standards of morality b/c of the connectedness

9:16 - Chris Saad

I think it looks like that at the surface … but it's only because we are applying our same morality in different ways

9:16 - My Friend:

interesting

9:16 - Chris Saad

which sort of creates a new morality or at least a different looking morality … but its probably the same morality more broadly applied … e.g. we'd never bomb a state of the US … that's morality … so why would be bomb a state of the world … that's 'otherness' which is dissipating … but its the same morality … man i speak a lot of shit like i know what i'm talking about … i should get a bullshit award … i do believe it though

9:21 - My Friend:

maybe it was the wrong question. do you think moral codes are changing morals w/i established groups

9:22 - Chris Saad

can u give me an example of a moral code and how it might have changed?

9:23 - My Friend:

Churches granting priesthood to homosexuals, for example

9:24 - Chris Saad

see i still think that's a broadening of application of an existing morality

… the original moral code was to grant priesthoods to those who worked for it and were pihas  (sp?)

9:24 - My Friend:

maybe it's just a swinging back of the pendulum

9:24 - Chris Saad

… i could be wrong - this is just my opinion hah

9:29 - My Friend:

… but to everyone

you posit then that it's a broadening of moral code - a shedding of the sense of "other" for a set of fundamentally understood values

9:29 - Chris Saad

a broadening of the application of moral codes … but yes

… we're not broadening the scope of the moral code, we're broadening the group of people who fit inside the original scope.

All they are doing now is applying it to a broader set of people - people once considered 'other' … We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. … this is our fundamental morality … its only just being applied more broadly … to more people - not just americans, or males, or straights

9:30 - My Friend:

and this is one of the contributions to a more peaceful world?

9:30 - Chris Saad

its sort of like the big bang, planets and solar systems are not moving - the space itself is moving heh … like dots on an inflating balloon … the dots aren't moving - the balloon is

9:31 - My Friend:

we're on the whale. I just wanted to better understand your view.

9:32 - Chris Saad

presumably it does lead to more peaceful world yes - just like *most* people would not rape their daughter, they would also not rape their neighbor or their countrymen or a foreigner

… we would not embargo our family, or our neighbors or our states or our foreign neighbors - even the word foreign becomes obsolete

9:35 - My Friend:

what about the big brother aspect of all this connectedness?

9:35 - Chris Saad

I'm not sure it's strictly related

… although if most things are public, then 'big brother' becomes more like 'social consciousness' - taboos break down and privacy based on fear (taboos like health conditions, weird sexual interests etc etc) begin to lose meaning

9:36 - My Friend:

Interesting.  Why not?

9:38 - Chris Saad

well privacy is still a right - social media is not about giving up privacy but it does somewhat diminish the need for and the value on privacy because as I said above taboos begin to evaporate

A note of thanks...

Added on by Chris Saad.

The new year is approaching and I am finding myself reflecting on an incredible 12 months. Incredible, surreal, gratifying, crushing, uplifting, concerning and more. This year I've basically been a homeless nomad as I've traveled the world to conferences and meetings. I've spent 14 hour stretches on planes, stayed in everything from crappy random motels all the way through to mansions in high-rise buildings.

I have loved every moment. It has been life changing.

I owe a lot of people a great debt. They helped make this year possible. I am going to invariably miss some of them here, but I'm going to try to name them anyway.

Nik Seirlis

Nik was the guy who believed in a 10 year old kid doing work experience in a computer store. He listened to my complaining one rainy night 3 years ago and said "Kid, you need to stop doing this small time stuff and think bigger". OK he didn't quite say it like a cowboy, but you get the drift. Nik continues to give me a firm kick in the arse every time I start to rest on my laurels. He helped me get the courage to start this journey.

He literally got on a plane with me in '06 and we went to Silicon Valley together. Nik's personal success set the bar for me in my own life and continues to inspire me.

Ashley Angell

If Nik helped me start the journey, then Ashley packed his bags, sold out his family and joined me on the road (figuratively). Ashley and I co-founded Faraday Media together, dreamt up APML and Data Portability together and have had countless discussions about social media, friendship, partnership and much much more. '

Ashley has that rare quality that you need in a business partner to be able to switch contexts. We each explicitly switch gears from 'Friends' to 'Founders' to 'Board Members' and emotionally and logistically bucket our discussions. Having worked with countless partners and friends, I can't tell you how important, and how amazing this skill is.

Thank you my friend!

Steve Kelly

Steve Kelly funded the journey. He is Faraday Media's angel investor and still funds aspects of the company to this day. His dry wit, calm attitude in the face of adversity and generous spirit have made it possible for Ashley and I to ride out together.

Ben Metcalfe

Ben is a unique guy. Dude is maybe a better word. When I first met Ben with Nik Serlis in 2006 his first words to me were 'Why would I want to download THAT" referring to our then windows download product. I took an instant dislike to him.

Right after that, though, Ben showed his true nature. He and Sofia totally set us up in the Valley. They introduced us to almost everyone we know today. They showed us the sights, explained the culture and not only pointed us in the right direction, they took us by the hand and lead us there. Within a day I was having drinks with one of my heroes in SF city - Stowe Boyd.

Stowe Boyd

Stowe has been my inspiration for quite a few ideas over the last couple of years. What I call Edge Theory, Streams and even some of my ideas on the Attention Economy have been inspired by him.

Stowe continues to be an inspiration and I'm grateful to be working with him even more closely today!

Daniela Barbosa

Daniela is beautiful both inside and out. She is my co-conspirator, my collaborator and my friend. Along with Ashley, Marjolein and Elias (and many others not on this list) she helped me co-found and more importantly operate the DataPortability project. Without her, Elias and Marjolein (in the early days) it would have literally imploded under its own weight.

She has been unwavering in her loyalty and commitment and for that I will be forever grateful.

Marjolein Hoekstra

As I've described before Marjolein is a quiet supernode of the social media landscape. Her emotional and logistical investment into all this 'Chris' in the last couple of years has made it possible to keep up with our community, related posts and people and ideas and trends.  Marjolein uses her news radar skills and her countless browser tabs to find gold nugets in a raging river of noise.

I wish I saw more of her these days.

Elias Bizannes

Like I said above, Elias is one of the people who co-founded DataPortability with me. More importantly, however, he has been compeltely piviotol in turning the project into an organization. While we don't always agree, we always respect what each of us brings to the table. And he brings a lot of HARD, detail orientated work. Like with everyone on this list, I could not have done significant chunks of my work this year without his help.

Martin Wells

Martin is almost as much a philanthropist as he is an Entreprenuer. I first glimpsed Marty's name on the '2 Web crew' website. An Aussie cabal of Web 2.0 leaders. They were once a pinicle of 'in crowd' for me to reach out to.

Reach out I did, to many of them. None responded with the generosity and common sense advice that Marty did. He not only elevated my thinking, but challenged me to think even more. He challenged me to stop thinking and to act.

He almost flew back to Australia to drag me to the Valley this year. I'm so glad I came.

Beyond the professional, however, I'd like to think that Marty and I have become great friends. He opened his home to me for many months and I will always love spending time with him, his wife and kids.

Robert Scoble

I met a lot of my heroes in the course of this year. Some were great, others were disappointing.

Scoble is exactly as you'd imagine. In the best way possible. He is constnatly swamped by people wanting his attention. He has a million incoming messages at any given time. And he tries his very hardest to give every single person SOME time. He sees us all as equals in a giant conversation.

His laugh is infectious and he is ALWAYS smiling.

His faith in me during his Facebook crisis helped propel the DataPortability project to a new level and his friendship through countless conferences and meetups (We'll always have Amsterdam Robert hah) have turned amazing nights into surreal moments frozen in time.

It's all just too much fun.

Michael Arrington

Michael Arrington is an amazing person. Number 100 on Time's top 100 list this year (Lucky the list didn't stop at 99 hey Mike?). That is seriously an amazing achievement.

Too many people assume Mike's success is undeserved in some way. They are dead wrong. Mike works his *$@#ing arse off - often to the detrment of his health and his relationships. He gives TechCrunch everything.

When Mike invited me to stay at his home I was blown away due to his noteriety and 'power' in the valley. When I actually came to stay, however, I was blown away by a more important fact.

One of his first words to me were "I don't want my shit on Valleywag". In that moment I realized that he was taking a big risk letting me into his home and life - because any minute thing in his life could be blown out of proportion.

The most amazing thing I learned about Mike was that he still LOVES startups and helping people succeed. I would have never expected that.

Everyone wants something from Mike because they see him as a ticket to traffic or success. After spending a lot of time with him, I'd be happy to just call him a friend.

His faith and support of me at the start of the year will always be remembered and I am forever grateful.

Bill Hudak

I was introduced to Bill Hudak by Martin Wells. Almost instantly Bill, Marty and I became a crazy trio of Aussies. Bill isn't an Aussie though. He is an American trying to be an Aussie. Oi, Bugger!

Bill is a valley boy - born and raised. He knows everyone there is to know here. He walked me into meetings with people I couldn't believe just by making a phone call. He is super smart and super funny.

But more importantly than any of that, just like Marty, he opened his home and life to me. He lent me his car (A Pontiac Solstic no less) for countless months and litterally enabled me to speak to the people I needed to speak to.

I am proud to call him a friend.

Khris Loux

I met Khris just before a trip to Amsterdam. I really got know Khirs on the flight to Amsterdam and the ensuing 4 day Next Web Conference. When I say got to know him, I mean we laughed our arses off, took over the town, met the most amazing people and imagined the future of the web together.

Khris finds business value the way I find architectural value. He is the ying to my yang when it comes to startups. He too opened his home to me when I stayed in the valley. But more than that, he opened his mind!

As I've posted before, I've been offered a lot of gigs this year, but JS-Kit, lead by Khris, was special. I can't wait to see what Khris and Chris can pull off in the new year.

In conclusion

I owe all these people, and countless others, a lot. Their faith, support and efforts on my behalf have made everything possible. I look forward to helping them to continue their journeys next year, and meeting more amazing people in '09.

I'm sorry if your name does not appear here, my fingers are about to break and it's Christmas Morning - I need to run!

Thank so much everyone.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Time to get started

Added on by Chris Saad.

In times of change, new opportunity is always created. Always. Many have written on the opportunity created by this economic downturn. Here are some of the excerpts:

Mick from Pollenizer writes:

1. You don't need a boom to grow. 2. Better access to great people. 3. A slump doesn't stop spending, and it increases in some areas. 4. There is still money available if you look hard, and you deserve it. 5. The community is still here to support you. 6. The big guys cut back on R&D letting you do the innovating. 

Paul Graham writes:

The economic situation is apparently so grim that some experts fear we may be in for a stretch as bad as the mid seventies.

When Microsoft and Apple were founded. ... If we've learned one thing from funding so many startups, it's that they succeed or fail based on the qualities of the founders. The economy has some effect, certainly, but as a predictor of success it's rounding error compared to the founders. ... So maybe a recession is a good time to start a startup. It's hard to say whether advantages like lack of competition outweigh disadvantages like reluctant investors. But it doesn't matter much either way. It's the people that matter. And for a given set of people working on a given technology, the time to act is always now.

And Rajesh Jain writes:

For entrepreneurs, they need to forget about the craziness around and just focus on the business and market. The stuff that's happening has little or no impact on the business of most early stage companies — in most cases, their revenue base is too small to see any negative impact from "market conditions." So, any sales person giving market slowdown as a reason for not meeting targets needs to be given a talking to!

I also think this is a great time to get alternative / disruptive ideas to consumers and businesses. Everyone is much more receptive to  discussions about solutions which provide better ROI. (And without a simpler, cheaper solution, entrepreneurs don't really have much of a chance anyways.)

Getting started today with the right idea is indeed an attractive prospect. If, however, you are two years in to your company and looking for extra funding without real traction or poof points, times are going to get very tough.
 
For startups in this category, I would suggest taking a long hard look at the value you bring to the table, and finding a partner who can absorb and propel your assets through these tough times.
  
I was interviewed fo the NYT on Friday on this very subject. I suggested the same thing to the reporter.
 
More conversation over on Silicon Beach as well (I got many of my snippets from there).
 

Are you home sick?

Added on by Chris Saad.

In less than a week, I will be on a plane flying back to Australia for at least a month. It will be the end of my 6 month long US Trip. 6 Months away from 'home'. The first thing people ask me when they hear that is "are you home sick". The honest answer is I'm not really. I like the challenges and opportunities that come with being here in the Valley and traveling around the world meeting people to share ideas with.

There are things I miss though. I miss having a 'home'. I've been couch surfing and traveling so much that even a few days in one spot is a welcome respite. But in reality I have not really had a 'home' for 6 months.

I have missed spending time with my younger brother. He's at a time in his life where he has really needed me around and it has been hard to know that I can't be there like he needs.

I miss knowing exactly where I am. I can drive around my home town blind folded. That being said, though, I am finding myself getting very comfortable with the bay area. The little Pontiac Solstice that my good friend Bill lent me has been very fun to drive around.

Those are the sort of things I miss.

Hopefully my few month stint back 'home' will allow me to 'recover' and I will then head back here with a full work visa, a place to live and the next chapter of my life.

In the mean time. I am having a little dinner tonight with some close friends and I have a stack of meetings left to do. Then a 14 hour flight. I will need a sleeping tablet!

American Politics

Added on by Chris Saad.

As many of you know - I have been visiting in the US now since the end of January (with a short stint in Europe in the middle). I am loving it. Particularly here in San Francisco and the Bay Area specifically. It's an amazing place where amazing things are getting done every day. But I have made an observation in my travels that I thought I would write about today.

American Politics is a fascinating spectacle. And I don't just mean the politics of government, but the politics of business, community and culture as well. These patterns, trends and reactions are consistent in all sorts of other political interactions here.

The themes go something like this.

If you have been doing something for a long time and talk about very practical, operational things, then you must be good at whatever you do. You typically talk about being against something than for something else.

If you are new to the process and/or attract large crowds of new people, then you are interesting and inspirational but you surely can't have any substance to your message. You typically talk about being for something rather than against something else.

These two positions are always seen as polar opposites. Many people seem to refuse the idea that someone who is new can also have substance. Or something that is experienced may actually need new blood and new ideas.

It's a politics that fights not the ideas on their merits, but the way those ideas are derived, or who proposes them.

There's also a tendency to focus on what 'has worked' rather than what 'could work' - or what has worked in other organizations or other structures outside the immediate scope of inquiry.

Universal Health care for example. Surely the government can't look after our health right? They couldn't even look after the victims of Katrina. Of course, if we look beyond the borders of the United States it's clear that every other 1st world country does have Healthcare backed by the federal government and it works well to create a safety net for their people. It's a simple observation that allows the conversation to move beyond 'could it work' to 'how could we make it work for us'.

There's often a lack of subtlety - a sense that we should throw the baby out with the bathwater rather than taking the good and building on it. Making what is work for us.

As I said, I love this country and my experience here has been amazing - I hope it continues in fact. But as always, I will continue to look for patterns and see if they can be improved. At least in my little corner of the world.

Some of this also comes down to an idea I posted on Twitter the other day - I think it explains some of my thinking in this area.

"We need to extend the time frame inside which we evaluate what is in our best interest"

Everyone acts in their best interest. It's inevitable and irrefutable. But if you open the window from 1 month or 1 year to 5 or 10 years you realize that what's actually in our personal best interest is actually in the best interest of many other people too.

But that's a post for another day.

I'm on the Anthill 30 under 30 list.

Added on by Chris Saad.

Anthill is the leading entrepreneurial magazine in Australia. They have released a list of the top 30 entrepreneurs under 30. Somehow, someone hacked the list and added my name! From the magazine:

They collectively turnover hundreds of millions of dollars each year, yet some are barely out of university. They are proud to be Australian but see their home-grown success as little more than a stepping stone. They have never known serious recession, political instability or significant global conflict, yet they are better educated and better informed than new business owners of any generation preceding them. Meet the future of business in Australia.

...

Chris Saad Age: 26 Location: Queensland Company/Role: Faraday Media

At 26, Chris Saad is one of Australia’s most impressive young web entrepreneurs. His theory and practice around web standards – specifically “DataPortability” and “Attention Management” – have gained significant traction and are set to have a profound impact on the evolution of media in the digital age. Saad has co-founded several web-related companies and organisations, most prominently Faraday Media in 2006, of which he is CEO. Faraday Media is developing Particls, a technology that learns user habit and taste and delivers relevant information to them via news crawler, SMS, email, flash visualisations, etc. He also co-founded the Media 2.0 Workgroup with 14 industry “commentators, agitators and innovators”. There’s no shortage of ideas or energy in this digitally-minded entrepreneur. One to watch in the years to come.

Make sure you click through to the Article, subscribe to the mag and read the other 29 profiles!

Of course, singling out 30 'front men' does not really do justice to the real people who work tirelessly to make successful business happen. People like my business partner and co-founder who actually builds our Faraday Media products Ashley Angell. Like our investors, our team, our advisors and supporters who make everything possible.

To all of them and to our customers and partners - thank you for making this sort of thing possible.

I also look forward to clicking through to the other profiles and learning more about the other people listed - seems like a great group of Aussies!

Violent Opposition

Added on by Chris Saad.

Lately I have been thinking a lot about leadership and this quote keeps coming to mind.

"Great thinkers have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds" - Albert Einstein

Ever wondered why that's the case?

I think It's because genuinely new ideas usually disrupt old ideas - therefore new ideas appear at odds with an old way of thinking. When something is at odds with the way you think, your brain interprets it as 'wrong'. So therefore often what you percieve as 'wrong' is just something outside your experience.

Interestingly, though, I have found that many new ideas can actually be modeled on old patterns. Patterns that have been tried and proven.

For example in my recent discussions about distributed Twitter on the Gillmor Gang and Techcrunch posts, or with the DataPortability project I run, I am basically modeling my thoughts on Blogging (independant software, RSS as glue with aggregators doing most of the work) and the work done on WiFi/DVD (multiple standards combined together under a friendly brand).

Patterns are my thing.

Leadership includes saying no

Added on by Chris Saad.

I was told recently that a big part of leadership is listening. That's true of course. I actually think a bigger part of leadership, however, means learning how to say no. No to distractions, no to the nay sayers and no to feature creep.

Being able to say no is a very empowering and important leadership quality I have only just begun to learn. It is a super hard skill to master. Particularly saying no to the right things in the right way. Saying yes is far easier.

The problem with saying yes to feature creep is that you end up a big blob trying to do everything while actually achieving nothing.

The problem with saying yes to any and all criticism and changing your behavior is that you often end up being put into a corner by other people's expectations. You end up trying to please everyone and you actually achieve nothing. You never break through expectations, passive and active resistance and the 'old way of doing things'. It's said if you have a genuinely good or original idea you will often have to drag people kicking and screaming to your way of thinking before they will get it. You can't do that if you give way to any and all criticism.

Like with all things a balance needs to be struck. Each of us, as leaders of something in our lives, need to be clear about our end goals; our vision. We need to continue to execute on our daily tasks with true north in our sights.

Balance is particularly important in today's political climate. There is far too much extremism going on from all sides of the political spectrum. For example 'staying the course' is not a call for balance, it's a call for stubbornness.

The course may (and must), of course, involve all sorts of corrections to account for criticism, new scope and other changes 'on the ground', but being able to say no to major deviations when you still believe in the final destination is a mark of true leadership.

The Audacity of Hope

Added on by Chris Saad.

In the past few months I have been reminded by many that hoping for a thing does not make it true. Watching the US Presidential Election I have heard the same theme emerge as Hilliary Clinton attempts to question Barack Obama's ability to convert lofty and eloquent speeches into real change. I even posted a Seesmic video about it recently. The question I have, though, is if hope does not make something happen, then what does?

Doesn't all action involve hope? Is not hope a key ingredient for change?

Before one can achieve a thing, they must first imagine it. Before they act on their imagining they must first dare to hope that they could actually have some impact on the outcome.

Even decisions made based on fear involve a hope to avoid that which we fear.

Hope is a powerful driving force. It enables us to act. Without hope, we are often paralyzed.

Most people I talk to who 'wish' they could do something better, or more ambitious, have a common refrain. They dare not hope that their more lofty goals are attainable. They therefore do not act.

Imagine if you could gather a large enough group of people to hope for the same outcome. If you had the right mix of participants and the right critical mass, is there anything that hope, followed by action, can not achieve?

Criticizing hope is actually a thinly veiled claim of naivety or unjustified idealism. If one's hopes are too big, too ambitious or too lofty, then surely they must be too naive to understand the complexity of the issue and the magnitude of the challenge ahead.

Maybe that's true. Maybe those who start with hope and push for change have not yet been sufficiently jaded by a broken system or violent resistance to their ideas.

Maybe, though, if those idealistic and naive people (if in fact they are those things) can somehow encourage others to hope, and then still others; maybe, just maybe, hope will turn into action, and action will turn into real change.

To paraphrase the West Wing... "Do you think a small group of dedicated people can change the world" "Of course, it's the only thing that ever has".

Hope is not empty. It can never be false. Hope, well expressed and shared, is the beginning of something new.

Dare to hope. Then act.

I'm nominated for the 30under30

Added on by Chris Saad.

I just got this email from Antihill Magazine:

Dear Young Entrepreneur,

A friend, colleague or fan of your work recently nominated you for Anthill Magazine's 30under30 Awards, a national awards program designed to recognise and encourage young Australian entrepreneurs.

Details of your nomination are below, including th name of the generous person who nominated you for this awards program.

Cool!

If you'd like to nominate me you can do so on the Antihill website!

Do you have a resume?

Added on by Chris Saad.

Happy new year to everyone! Random thoughts for 1.1.08.

I got asked for my resume the other day and it occurred to me that I've never actually ever made one for myself. People usually just know who I am or come to me through word-of-mouth. More recently, I figured my LinkedIn profile provided plenty of resume style information for anyone who was interested.

So my question is, do you have a resume? What are your thoughts on resumes in a Media 2.0 world? Are our digital footprints and LinkedIn profile pages enough information for Resume 2.0?

I also deal with some of these questions in my book outline.

Here's another post on the subject also.

Announcing Spouse 2.0 Day!

Added on by Chris Saad.

My best friend and business partner Ashley Angell has invented a new holiday in honour of all the neglected people out there who love Web 2.0 Start-up Founders. Ashley says "I love my wife, but she gets no attention from me because I am too busy building Attention technologies - so I thought we should dedicate a day to her, and everyone like her"

Brilliant idea Ash! Check it out at www.spouse2.com and join in the fun by tagging your photos and posts 'Spouse 2.0'.

Oh and I designed the site.

Clinton vs. Fox

Added on by Chris Saad.

I have Goosebumps. Thank god the silence has ended. Maybe the economy of ideas can start again. Maybe the truth can reveal the pathetic joke that has endured for so long.

(Link to Youtube Video: “Olbermann's special commentary on Clinton vs Fox”)

Me against the world

Added on by Chris Saad.

Just came across this great post on the Kiva Blog. I know the feeling of both isolation, connectedness and lack of sleep!

 To quote:

"Entrepreneurialism can be incredibly isolating. On my worst days, it is me against the world. It's Matt versus the naysayers. It's Kiva versus the competitors. It's me against anyone who doesn't see the world as I see it. It's the biggest trap."

"Your challenge as an Entrepreneur comes in tapping into that which is transcendent, that which is infinite about a particular enterprise you might be undertaking. At the end of a day, at the end of a particular lifetime, what can you take with you?"