Snowcamping! Woo hoo!

I know my blog is mostly about work...but even professionals need to take a long holiday weekend!

I am off to Crocker Point in Yosemite (this guy is not me-the hair gives it away) for 3 days, 2 nights of snowcamping. My pack is packed. My snowshoes are ready. Time for an adventure! And when I return I will be all the more energized for having taken a break.

If you think I am crazy...checkout www.snowcamping.org. I have taken training. I have helped train people to do this. I used to be an assistant leader on these trips. I know what I am doing...because, folks, don't snowcamp if you don't have the right gear and don't know what your are doing. People die. But not me...I will just have 3 glorious days in Yosemite.

Woo hoo!

Twitter: @jroym
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jroymartinez

Joining the Facebook Juggernaut

I have been resisting having a Facebook account for a long time. Mostly for personal reasons that I won't get into here. But, I have really embraced the social media revolution. I use LinkedIn constantly. I have a blog. I tweet. So...why the resistance to Facebook?

I guess I have trouble with the collision of worlds. My work world is buttoned down. I don't want my personal life to feel the same way (not that my personal life is wild by any stretch of the imagination). But I realize that the best work relationships are also personal. And...haven't the work world and personal life already collided? I need to ask that when I am checking my iPhone at 6AM for work-related emails. I need to face it...in the 21st century work and personal life intermingle continuously.

So...I set up a Facebook profile this morning. I invited my direct family and a few friends. Because I am careful, I set my security restrictions very high. Facebook wants users to start loose and tighten over time (or...heck...keep 'em wide open). I prefer to set high security and loosen it as I become more comfortable and learn how to build safeguards into my profile. I won't click "Like" until I figure out what that means. I did post my first "status update". But, I do this all the time on LinkedIn and Twitter, so it is no big deal.

OK...so no more wearing that "Party Naked" t-shirt.  At least not when cameras are around. Truthfully, I don't actually have one, as anyone who knows me knows. But, you get the point. I have to watch out...my future employer may be watching at all times now. So is my wife. So is my daughter. My personal life will go on more display now. And...once something is on the internet, it may always be in the public sector. I am out of my comfort zone. But, often getting out of one's comfort zone is a good thing.

Social media is here to stay. It is valuable and amazingly effective. I still believe that the Facebook quasi-monopoly will eventually crack. The Microsoft one certainly did. But at least for now...I need to be on Facebook...so I am.

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jroymartinez
Twitter: @jroym
Facebook: facebook.com/jroym

Marketing Opportunity -- Training the Unemployed - For FREE!

At a Proformative event in San Francisco today I made a bold suggestion. 

I approached Paul Turner, senior director of Product Marketing at NetSuite and Rob Hull, Founder of Adaptive Planning -- two of the hottest small/medium business software companies. I suggested that they train unemployed business executives for FREE.  Here is what I said:

I really think Netsuite has a huge opportunity to do some long-term marketing and to build some incredible good will in the financial community.

Right now, due to the Great Recession, there are thousands and thousands of senior business managers without jobs. Few have experience with Netsuite. Most have used Quickbooks, GP, etc. At some time in their career, most will participate in the decision about an ERP/CRM/accounting implementation.

It would be great if Netsuite took a long-term view and treated this situation as an opportunity. Netsuite could develop a formal program to train those out of work finance managers on the Netsuite product free of charge. Then...when they are employed again, and they will be employed again, they are much, much more likely to recommend Netsuite when it comes time to upgrade accounting, ERP, etc.

This was a bold suggestion. Offer training for free. But...the value is clear. Both Paul and Rob clearly "got it". They expressed cautious interest in the idea. We will see if their organizational view is long-term enough to embrace it.

Twitter: @jroym

My quotes in an article this week in the Silicon Valley Business Journal

My quotes in an article this week in the Silicon Valley Business Journal

I was quoted in the Silicon Valley Business Journal this week. The SVBJ won't let me post the entire article, but here are the paragraphs in which I am quoted. The article is about YCombinator giving $150K to each of the companies that participate in its incubator program.

Startups get $150K each to help bring products to market

Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal - by Jon Xavier

Date: Friday, February 4, 2011, 3:00am PST

http://bit.ly/eazJTl

Even with the incubator’s strong reputation and heavy hitters, it remains to be seen whether other incubators will try to court similar investments. That will depend on how successful the current crop of Y Combinator startups in the next few years. Regardless of the outcome, Y Combinator continues to be ahead of the curve, said J. Roy Martinez, chair of the angel investment group North Bay Angels.

“Y Combinator really has reset the bar, raised the expectations for what an incubator should offer,” Martinez said. “I mean, I’ve heard at least one incubator being told, ‘Why can’t you be more like Y Combinator?’ So they continue to raise the bar, they continue to innovate, and more power to them, I say.”

Twitter: @jroym

Why VC’s should pay attention to secondary geographies

Why VC’s should pay attention to secondary geographies

October 6, 2010

U.S. VC’s are almost all located in very specific locations. Silicon Valley, San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, New York, RTP, etc. I call these VC primary geographies. They do almost all their investing inside those primary geographies.

Sequoia Capital is famous for explicitly preferring to invest in companies that were within a 20 minute radius of its office. Of course, Sequoia is located on Sand Hill Road. That pretty much limits their investing to Silicon Valley and San Francisco.

But…does that make sense?

Did you know that the biggest M&A event of a privately held VC-backed company happened to a pre-revenue startup in a secondary geography?

Were you aware that arguably the two biggest financial successes of the 20th century started in what investors at the time would consider tertiary and 4^th or 5^th rate geographies?

Of course, I am talking about Cerent, Microsoft, and WalMart.

Cerent was acquired by Cisco for $7.2 billion. Cerent was located in my hometown of Petaluma in Sonoma County, CA. Well outside Sequoia’s 20 minute radius.

Microsoft was started in Albuquerque. Definitely at least a tertiary geography at the time. It soon moved to Seattle…which at that time would have been considered a secondary geography.

WalMart began (and remains) in Bentonville, Arkansas. ARKANSAS. Can you imagine Sequoia going to Arkansas?

So…clearly, VCs ignore companies outside their primary geographies at their risk.

J. Roy Martinez

http://www.linkedin.com/in/jroymartinez

North Bay Job Creation

North Bay Job Creation

Recently, Brenda Gilchrist of the HR Matrix asked a few North Bay business people the following questions:

In your opinion, what do you think it will take to create [and/or retain] jobs? 
 - Any barriers to creating jobs?

 - Any changes needed for job creation?

 - Are you concerned about jobs?

 - Are there barriers for companies to be successful or to start up, which impacts the ability to create jobs?

Here is my answer:

I am VERY concerned about jobs in the North Bay. We have 12% unemployment. There are many, many people without jobs. (Full disclosure: me included)

I think it is very difficult for businesses to start, operate, and expand in our communities. Small business and startup businesses are the engine that feeds our economy and creates jobs. If businesses have challenges starting up, operating, and expanding, they cannot create jobs.

There are many barriers to business expansion and job creation here in the North Bay. Most people tend to blame the state and local government regulations. They are right. But…I would suggest that we, the people of the North Bay, play just as big of a part in the situation.

1) Many North Bay people have gone beyond NIMBY (not in my backyard) straight to BANANA (build absolutely nothing anywhere near anything). The badly needed asphalt plant in Petaluma is a good example. Despite being in a great (and historically appropriate) location for this kind of industry (close to freeway, river access for raw material delivery), people oppose it because it is NEAR a park. Not in a park. Just near a park. Build absolutely nothing anywhere near anything.

2) The North Bay electorate swings wildly…electing pro-growth representatives one year, anti-growth representatives the next year. How can businesses that operate on a multi-year horizon do any planning? It has taken Target 10 years to get permits to build in Petaluma. Since the planning process takes more time than a city council term, they have been subject to the wild swings in sentiment in the city council.

3) There is always somebody opposed to anything. So…doing anything is a huge fight. This makes trying to do anything just not worth it for many existing businesses and new entrepreneurs.

Finally, there is an issue of focus. Our cities and chambers of commerce recently have tended to focus on driving tourism and retail. This makes sense as tourism and retail drive sales tax and ToT (transient occupancy tax) revenue. 10 years ago, I remember a local mayor trumpeting Telecom Valley and the $100K jobs it brought. Today I hear that same official banging the drum for tourism and retail. Tourism and retail will bring $10/hr jobs. What an amazing change in focus.

We need to work together to grow the North Bay economy and create jobs. State and local government can play a part. They can work harder to facilitate business creation and expansion. The citizens of the North Bay need to play a part. We have to stop opposing everything. But, most of all, we all need to agree to focus on not just job creation but good job creation. In addition to tourism we need to focus on enabling the creation of more technology companies that will export goods and services from the North Bay region (phrase proudly plagiarized from Michael Adler). Those companies will create $100K jobs that will drive our economy. Incidentally, if we do that, the retail jobs will follow.

The North Bay Growth and Innovation Forum vs The North Bay Investors Summit?

The North Bay Growth and Innovation Forum vs The North Bay Investors Summit?

This fall the North Bay will host two great events --the 9th North Bay Growth & Innovation Forum (NBGIF) and the 2010 North Bay Investors Summit (NBIS).

The NBGIF is put on by the Santa Rosa Chamber of Commerce with leadership from the City of Santa Rosa Economic Development team. The North Bay Angels are an event partner. This fall the NBGIF happens on October 20. The keynote speaker is Doug Clark, the CEO of Métier. Métier recently opened its second office in Santa Rosa. The Métier Santa Rosa story is amazing. In just 12 months Métier had brought on over 20 employees (with 11 open positions) in Santa Rosa. Métier chose Santa Rosa after an exhaustive evaluation of different cities.

The target participants for the NBGIF are growing small-to-mid-sized businesses in the North Bay. The NBGIF includes the standard company pitches. But the forum also has an educational component. The NBGIF has round table discussions where entrepreneurs can talk with an expert at no charge. Past round table topics have included financing, due diligence, social media, and email marketing. Attendance is open to anyone. This is a great event for any North Bay small-to-medium-sized business owner to promote their business. It is also a great forum for aspiring entrepreneurs.

On the other hand, the NBIS is hosted by the Sonoma Mountain Business Cluster (SMBC) with a focus on angel or VC-backable startups. The SMBC is partnering with the North Bay Angels and the Keiretsu Forum. Attendance is limited to accredited investors and VC's. This year's event theme is Cars, Cabernet, & Cash. Cash of course refers to the VC-pitches. And cabernet is obvious -- Napa and Sonoma counties make the North Bay the premier wine region in the country -- so the wine at the event mixer will be great. As for Cars, the event will include a small exotic and performance car expo and an opportunity to test drive a Tesla. The NBIS keynote speaker will be Barry Schuler, the CEO of Raydiance and the former CEO of AOL. The 2010 NBIS will be on November 10.

The NBIS is THE North Bay event for early stage startups to pitch to angels and VC's. Up to 200 investors are expected to attend.

So...clearly the NBGIF and the NBIS are complementary events. The NBGIF should appeal to any growing business in the North Bay. The NBIS makes sense for angel investors, aspiring angel investors, and VC attendees along with startup company presenters. This fall will be a good time for small businesses and startups in the North Bay to pitch their companies.

Full disclosure...I am on the organizing committee for both events representing the North Bay Angels.

2010 North Bay Growth and Innovation Forum

October 20, 2010

Hyatt Vineyard Creek Hotel

More info:  http://bit.ly/UP4MB

9th North Bay Investors Summit

November 10, 2010

Sonoma Mountain Village Event Center

More info:  http://conta.cc/anKkFX