I didn't mean to Link(edIn), but...

"Can ______ access your contacts?" is part of the the modern mobile version of next...next...next of PC and web apps. Last week I was talking to Zula team about particular point of UI and referred to LinkedIn's iphone app design, and was told I was using old version. Checked, and yes, heaven forbid, I was using an outdated version. So I went to App Store and updated. Got a pop up message from LinkedIn asking "Can LinkedIn access your contacts?" Now, as LinkedIn is all about creating and managing network of contacts (yeah, they do lots of other stuff, but at core is the network) I just assumed in the past I had given LinkedIn permission to acccess my contacts. I also assumed that such a "successful" and well known company would be careful about unintentional spam -- and that the permission to access my contacts was designed to allow me to proactively invite people in my contacts to be linked to me. Wow...was I wrong. A few seconds (literally) after I hit yes to LinkedIn's request, my phone and ipad started to go crazy with notifications from people accepting my request to connect on LinkedIn. Seems the folks over there at LinkedIn took my "yes" as permission to upload my contacts and blast a LinkedIn connect request to every last person who somehow ended up in my contacts database. I am talking about people I may have traded one email with, folks I haven't spoken to in 15 years, and other random entries in my contacts... As a result of the LinkedIn spam attack in my name I gained hundreds of new LinkedIn "connections." And days later they are still rolling in. How does this make me feel? Well, at first was embarrased, then realized that it was even worse, for many recepients of this spam felt like I was reaching out on purpose, and many questioned why. Others were happy to hear from me. Many pitched me their current start-ups. And some just said hello. All in all a somewhat harmless experience, but shows off the shallowness of the average LinkedIn network. I was also astonished at how wide the LinkedIn network has become...a majority of my contacts have LinkedIn accounts. And I am not just talking about the VCs and entrepreneurs I know, I also mean the gardener I haven't used in 5 years, my son's nursery school teacher, and many more. Like Facebook, LinkedIn has succeeded in becoming part of the fabric layer of our digital lives. It doesn't mean I actually need to use it, but it does mean that the value of LinkedIn is almost priceless, because after such a wide net is cast, the company can take their time monetizing. We are all there already! Now that I have another ~600 connection am I better off? Well, can't hurt. And that is the key here. As long as a mistake like I made is harmless, LinkedIn and similar companies will continue to expand their networks. This also assumes that I do not share or expose information on LinkedIn that I have any concern about people seeing. As I almost never use LinkedIn, that assumption in this case is correct. I long ago realized that there were so many holes in the fabric of Facebook that their "privacy" controls were meaningless, and adopted the policy of only sharing what I was 100% proud of anyone seeing. Thus I don't care that much about who are in my FB friends list. But even so, if I have absolutely no idea who is sending me FB "friend" request I tend to ignore it. As I saw with LinkedIn, some people will accept anyone (hey, they accepted me...). Bottom line: no real harm done with inadvertently allowing LinkedIn to spam my contacts, but did remind me to be more careful with what I say yes to -- and impressed me with wide network LinkedIn has created and how quickly many jump to accept every new connect request. My hope for the world is that some good comes from all of these "connections."

Riding the Wave/Rising Above the Noise

This past weekend I spent time with my younger children at the beach. It was a perfect day, water refreshing, sunny but not scorching, and waves just the right size for my almost-6 year old and ten year old sons (Mishael and Nachum). Shefa, my two year old daughter, was with me... But back to the boys. Within a few minutes, they had mastered the art of the boogie board, and wave after wave served as an endless God given ride, more fun than anything Walt Disney or Six Flags Adventure ever dreamed up. As I watched them, and allowed Shefa to dip her feet in the waves, I was reminded how much of start-up life is trying to catch a wave -- and then stay on top. As many of you know, I have been part of the start-up ecosystem long enough to see wave after wave, sometimes catching a ride up but also at times crashing down, and yes even a "wipe-out" or two (or more, but that's a different discussion). Back to wave catching. Obviously when there are many waves, easier to catch one. On the other hand, it means there is great turmoil in the market -- and thus no time to rest between waves, to plan properly -- simply need to react. And of course there is the "fear" that there is even better wave coming... The kissing cousin of "Riding the Wave" principle in start-up life is "Rising Above the Noise." When there are many waves, there is noise in the system. All the surfers come out at once, and all of a sudden it gets crowded and noisy. Noisy in a real sense, and noisy in the way that the endless ocean all of a sudden feels crowded. Now, in the back of your mind, you know that it can't stay this way -- eventually some of those surfers will get tired, and will go home. But what about you? As an entrepreur, do you have the stamina to keep paddling, and the skill set to rise above the noise, to get noticed by the cheering throng on the beach -- so that they start rooting for you to catch the best waves, to stand up on your board and make the magical seem effortless. In an another post I will take apart a recent rejection I received from a potential investor regarding crowded market and differentiation, but for now let me bless all of us that we manage to keep our heads above the water, catch a wave we like, and ride it in. For those of us serial entrepreneurs -- same blessing, but repeat. :-)