Derek Young and his inevitable connection to Exit133...

The voice behind Exit133, Derek Young, stopped by to tell us that he wishes to not be umbilically connected to his blog forever...but with this blog, it is set in stone! (Evil laugh inserted here)

Now to be serious...

Derek Young is the mind behind, as said above, Exit133. This hyper-local blog of Tacoma and its communities has been a voice in the city since 2005. With over 5,000 unique hits a week, according to Young, it is constantly growing and retaining readers in the immediate Puget Sound area and has also got national and worldwide attention. Aspects of the blog have stemmed into other businesses which Derek has started such as Suite133, a small business collaboration office which is open to new and small companies looking to move out of the home office. Another new company which Derek has been working on is Seasonal View. Seasonal View focuses on bridging the gap between companies which have a difficult time communicating with one another. Another major focus of Seasonal View is call center management. With many companies wanting to outsource, just as many are wishing to return stateside and gain back customer loyalty. The flexibility of the businesses that Seasonal View works with internationally is also shown by how broad and far between employees are from it's home in Tacoma. With managing workers in places as far away as Miami, Seasonal View has national appeal.

Derek Young mentioned something that truly took me by surprise for how successful his previous and current ventures were shown off to be. Every one of the businesses was bootstrapped, not a single investment dollar taken in for development of the companies so far. This is completely different from any other speaker and a welcomed refresher in how businesses can be started. As I have questioned nearly all the speakers this year in relation to finances this quarter, Derek just pointed out that Exit133 is run off just advertisement money, the basic web financier. 

Bruce Kendall

The CEO of the Pierce County Economic Development Committee. A mouthful of a title for sure.

Bruce stopped by to drop off some of his vast knowledge of the current economic opportunities in the area of Pierce County. Through the EDC and personal business ventures, he is pushing for proactive retention and recruitment of primary jobs in our area. He is hopeful in bringing more businesses that are looking to build up in areas close to where employees already reside. This includes companies which are yet to have been built and those looking for a new home in the Puget Sound area. He hopes to bring in more defense contractors and corporate headquarters into the area as well. Some of his ideas for retention and partnerships are key in making sure that Puget Sound businesses are flourishing in his examples.

All of what Bruce Kendall is trying to accomplish is what we in the Puget Sound should be focusing on. We have the "big five" (Aerospace, Clean Tech, Information Technology, Life Science, and Logistics and International Trade) that he spoke on that are constantly growing in the immediate area of Pierce County. But will these be the "big five" in ten years? Twenty years? We have to make sure that fluidity is a key component here and that we understand nothing in business is concrete. Not even twenty years ago who was focusing on information technologies and clean tech as a major industry? No one that thought it would take off.

The world is changing everyday.

Strengths Vs. Weaknesses. Well...theres one weakness.

Forgetfulness. I have never figured out why I can't just remember the important things and let the less important things go. I could tell you all the 150 original Pokemon, but would that be useful for anything at the moment? Heck no. Could I tell you why I forgot to do a simple 250-word blog assignment? No. (I would guess it was because I had to write about my own flaws, who actually likes to talk about their flaws?)


In a business sense, my weakness could make or break a deal. Cause clients to drop. Annoy employees. But thats where I ask for someone of my opposite strengths to come in and take a position to work as partner.


Where I find my strengths is in short, creative bursts. I have ideas that will be an amazing short term expression but after a period of time passes, I want to move on to something else. I wouldn't consider it the "ipod shuffle" effect where I'm just jumping in between thousands of different things in a short amount of time, but I love to dabble in small projects that are big ideas and have my hands in many things at once.


I believe I am at the right place at the right time and I want to excel into an expressive medium where short, creative bursts are important. I suppose the best way to put it would be an "artistic twitter". I'd like to be able to start an idea and have others jump in and help in the process more, I suppose that's why I enjoy the art of remixing so much.

John Dimmer, "Raising Capital", and becoming the "Angel" you always wanted to be...

John Dimmer has been putting the money out for over a decade, getting massive returns in his investments. With 22 (or 23) companies currently being invested in, Dimmer has millions of dollars out in Tacoma, Washington, Oregon, and around the world. Having been building up small businesses and preparing those with big ideas, Dimmer has had his hands in many industries, not just in tech but even Honda dealerships, professional indy style racing, and even Round Table Pizza franchises.

Raising the money to start as business, as Dimmer spoke on, doesn't have to be hard. For under $500, anyone with a reasonable idea can speak to an agency such as the TacomaAngel Network with a business proposition and be invested in shortly there after.

Another source of startup money can come from friends and family. Although it might be a much smaller amount, the returns could be extremely high. As Dimmer pointed out, his cousin created a small start-up product in the 90's called "Internet in a box" and was invested in by his uncle with the sum of $25,000. The return was later claimed at over 14 million dollars. Although this is a very rare case, this is just an amazing example of what the return could be like for a member of the family or a close friend.

On a side note,  I was extremely interested to find out about this fabled "Tacoma Grand Prix" in 1986. With some digging, I actually was able to find some more information on this one time invent and the first NASCAR sanctioned street race.

Bonus: Tacoma Grand Prix layout

John Goodman

John Goodman stopped in this past week and the ideas she dropped set my mind racing with ideas. She definitely gets business, and his been around the block a thousand times over. Everything in her talk was beneficial even while during the Q&A session.

In my mind, the one area that I caught on to was the when she spoke as being the "Producer" of film and how one of her children had brought up the idea in her mind of every plot has been done before, you just need to fill in the key roles and locations. Find a "set", or piece of real estate is important, every business needs a central location in which to meet and collaborate. Breaking the barrier to entry invokes finding the right people to fill key roles within the company. Everyone has a place to build up a product, but you have to be in charge and will be calling the shots. There may be a "director" right below you on the chain of command with a set of advisors whom directs the company to the next goal, but this only comes after a start-up has grown beyond just a few employees. The actors are the employees and will always be the ones who build up the final product. A crew and actors work together perfecting the product, preparing it to go the market. Although this is a very centralized idea, a company needs to follow a plan similar to this in all views to become successful.

Producer > Director > Actors and Crew.

Growth: Time to get some longer jeans and a bigger building...

Within a business I would want to work for, I'm looking for an environment that is inviting for myself and those who work beside me. Heck, who wouldn't want a job where it didn't feel like job and just had fun doing what they love? Desk monkeys are always made fun of in films and tv shows, such as Office Space and The Office. Whatever I chose to focus on for my business, even if it was a business that was bought and not started by myself, I would want it to be somewhere that people longed to work. From business I admire walls and cubicles don't exist. Who wants to be secluded in a box? Humans are naturally drawn to other humans. Why would you want to block out ideas and collaboration on a project and put everyone in a board room when it comes to crunch time? How about everyone is in that environment all the time, creating and growing at the same time. Creating relationships within a company retains employees.A great example of this is the layout is at Bungie Studios (Creators of Halo and its sequels) in Redmond, WA. The only wall that exists is between art and programming for a dividing line.  Leveling the playing field for all my base employees would be a starting point. I like to see those who want to exceed, thrive above and beyond the norm. Incentives don't have to mean just cash bonuses.

Inside Bungie: The History Behind the Making of Halo 2

Ron Kornfeld's Visit

I don't know why I keep putting off these blogs, I have so much information I could have input on if I just "liveblogged" it...maybe with an iPad soon...

Ron Kornfeld stopped by today to talk about business planning and the understanding of where he is with his business, NimbleSource LLC today. His explanations focused on the building up a business plan which is dynamic to the opportunities, plans, goals, and operations within the business and outside as well.

• Document Choices
• Expose Fallacies
• Force Internal Consistency
• Induce Self-Reflection
• Demand Rhetorical Alignment

His five step outline on making sure the plan stays current was dead on. Making a commitment to these five properties keeps the vision in sight for those in leadership and also on the investment side of the business. Even years into the business, Ron explained, the plan cannot look the same as it did when it was first put in place or even how it did in the later stages of building.

1. Identify Audience
2. Outline Plan (Everything extremely important should be able to fit into a tweet according to Ron)
3. Write Plan
4. Review Plan
5. Update Plan

One of the major problems Ron focused on was the drafting of the business plan. May times over, he explained, no one ever proofread anything in their own business plans. Outright, Ron would turn them down. Ron has obviously gone through this process many times over and helped to create business for people across the Puget Sound, as well as maintain what he preaches in his own businesses.