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trump: cyrus, christian or con?
several years back evangelicals weren't comfortable at all saying trump was a christian. before and during trump's campaign conservative evangelicals were all over the map on where they stood concerning his faith: in 2015 dobson said,'I am very wary of Donald Trump,” Dobson said in his email, citing Trump’s business in gambling. “I would never vote for a king pin within that enterprise. Trump’s tendency to shoot from the hip and attack those with whom he disagrees would be an embarrassment to the nation if he should become our Chief Executive. I don’t really believe Trump is a conservative. Finally, I would never under any circumstance vote for Hillary Clinton'. in 2016, and to this day, dobson says on his 'family institute' website, 'If anything, this man is a baby Christian who doesn’t have a clue about how believers think, talk and act.' in 2011 franklin graham told christianity today: ' “No question, the guy’s got a lot of baggage. He owns casinos. He’s had multiple marriages. I did not endorse him.” when trump evangelical bouncer, robert jeffress, defended trump on fox news, regarding stormy daniels' announcement she had a sexual encounter with Trump and was paid to keep quiet before the election, Jeffress explained [to] Juan Williams that evangelicals 'knew they weren’t voting for an altar boy.' eric metaxas in responding to the hollywood access video of trump, [in] an email to 'RNS [... said he] rejected the characterization that he has strongly backed Trump, saying his support “has always been tepid and tremendously qualified." [...] in addition, 'James MacDonald, pastor of the Chicago-area megachurch Harvest Bible Chapel and a member of Trump’s evangelical advisory board, also withdrew his support after the video aired, calling the candidate “letcherous and worthless.' in 2016 mike huckabee tweeted: 'Trump may be a car wreck, but at least his car is pointed in the right direction. Hillary is a drunk-driver going the wrong way on the freeway'. the family research council president, tony perkins, put his support this way: 'You know what? Nations are built on calculated risk. Yeah. You could say we’re taking a calculated risk, but we’re at a point where we have to as a nation because what we have seen in the last seven and a half years has put the nation fiscally and culturally on the edge.' of course, we can't forget jerry falwell's endorsement as early as january of 2016: [...] “In my opinion, Donald Trump lives a life of loving and helping others as Jesus taught in the great commandment,” he said. “He cannot be bought, he's not a puppet on a string like many other candidates ... who have wealthy donors as their puppet masters,” he said. “And that is a key reason why so many voters are attracted to him.” at this time there's no direct evidence, nor cohen's testimony that there was a quid pro quo for falwell's endorsement. the falwell's and trump's have been friends since 2012 when trump spoke at liberty univ. it was falwell's endorsement that opened up the evangelical base to trump and ultimately cut ted cruz out of the race. but it can't go without saying that knowing the past 4 or 5 years of both trump and the falwell's lives, the entanglement is very deep, as you will see. so, given the lack of evangelical consensus, the lack of a solid biblical argument, and the life of trump, the location of where to put him, while retaining some evangelical dignity and avoiding hypocrisy, a charismatic evangelical named lance wallnau enters the story with his best selling book, 'God's Chaos Candidate' on oct of 2016, as well as his piece in 'charisma news', 'Why I Believe Trump Is the Prophesied President'. wallnau argued trump 'is a “modern-day Cyrus,” an ancient Persian king chosen by God to “navigate in chaos.' he even added a little numerology: trump's the 45th prez and cyrus is god's anointed in isaiah 45, so trump's anointed. makes sense right? anyway, aside from us living in a democracy, the idea grew, even to the point of netanyahu comparing him to cyrus. now many evangelicals are compare him to king cyrus. two years have now passed and it was a month before the 2018 midterms and a movie came out called, 'the trump prophecy.' the film was a partnership between 'reelworksstudios' and (-wait for it-) liberty univ's arts program, where it attempted to make the comparison of cyrus and trump. popularity grew when fox news' jeanine pirro touted the film, along with many other radio and tv hosts . while the idea of the cyrus-trump connection is still being floated it doesn't make sense now. why? due to trump openly stating he's changed his faith. more specifically, when trump himself, a couple weeks ago became a non denominationalist, it closed the personal distance between him and jesus, it, theoretically, should bring him closer to jesus, which negated the cyrus typology, which gave him distance from jesus; that's the point of changing one's faith isn't it, to get closer to god. as that distance is now gone, as cyrus was a pagan, and trump is claiming he's a reflective christian -a genius-, having deepened his faith, how can he still be compared to a pagan king? -especially with being surrounded by evangelicals for 4 years. over the past 40 years non denominationalists have grown over 400%, and a 1/3 of all evangelicals are nondens.. who are the nondens? they're basically the largest protestant denomination, and made up many southern baptists, with provisos.. it's unusual for a very stable genius billionaire, to self identify with nondens, but paula white has a 6,000 sq ft home, former trump faith advisor in the 1950s (check out 'the family' on netfix). so, perhaps trump is an eisenhower type, having changed his faith for political profit? if he did, one thing is certain; he can't use the cyrus connection any longer, for attempting to now makes him a public con. trump has stated, 'i'm the chosen one.' he was joking, somewhat, but like so many of his supposed jokes, they usually appear two-sided; they're like a reverse irony found under a bulimic joke, like: “Suburban women, will you please like me? - Please. Please,” he said in PA last week. his other "jokes" we have to wait several hours or a day later to discover if it really was a joke: “When you do testing to that extent, you’re going to find more people, you’re going to find more cases,” Trump said. “So I said to my people, ‘Slow the testing down, please.’. again, '"And then I see the disinfectant, that knocks it out in a minute.. and is there a way you can do something like, by injection, inside, or almost to clean... It sounds interesting to me.' and again, 'russia, if you're listening, i hope you're able to find the 30k emails that are missing.'. these dormant jokes a day or so later are fairly common and have created lots of confusion. i bring this up 'cause trump uses religious language more than any other past presidents in a 100 years, more than twice as eisenhower, and figuring out what he's really saying regarding faith, in politics, isn't any better than his policy discussions, and some might say it's worse -- as he weaponizes/attacks it, too:
when one looks at trump's photo op at st. john's church, as the clergy and protesting faithful and others were cleared with force and gas, just moments later trump took their place on the church sidewalk, standing alone, fixated on cameras, fumbling a bible, then holding it next to his head, never praying, nor mentioning god. during that time, he said two times, 'we have the greatest country in the world,' then walked to the front steps of the church, stood with his back to the steps, as the other pics must have somehow lacked his authority, called some of his staff and bill barr to stand with him while they posed for more pics, stating twice again, ' we have the greatest country' or words to that affect. here one say that trump weaponized the church equating it to a dominating power over those who disagree with trump's edicts. it was a symbol for what constitutes christian nationalism, in my view.
“I don’t like people who use their faith as justification for doing what they know is wrong,” the president said. “Nor do I like people who say, ‘I pray for you,’ when they know that that’s not so.” Later, in front of dozens of members of Congress at his acquittal celebration at the White House, Trump singled out Pelosi and Romney by name, going further by accusing her of neither praying for him, nor praying at all. “She doesn’t pray. She may pray, but she prays for the opposite. But I doubt she prays at all,” the president said.
...
trump said of ted cruz: "but I've never seen anybody that lied as much as Ted Cruz. He goes around saying he's a Christian. I don't know. You're going to have to really have to study that. yes"
a trump tweet on cruz: 'How can Ted Cruz be and Evangelical Christian when he lies so much and is so dishonest?
trump in ohio:'[biden] will take away your guns, take away your Second Amendment. No religion, no anything.” [...]there will be no god is biden is elected', and biden 'will hurt the bible, hurt god,'
finally: Trump responded swiftly at a campaign event in South Carolina, saying: “For a religious leader to question a person’s faith is disgraceful.” “No leader, especially a religious leader, has the right to question another man’s religion or faith,” he told a packed room at a golf course resort.
of course, trump's not the only person to weaponize god-talk. pastor paula white does it as well: christians will 'stand before god if they vote against trump'. of course, she's known as the most adamant evangelical that says trump is a christian. sadly, she's had her run-ins with heresy regarding the trinity, is a prosperity gospel preacher, gone off the rails publicly more than once, has been investigated by the senate, published a book in oct of 2019, that 'christiantiy today' called, disturbing, depressing, narcissistic, dishonest, materialistic, lacking self-awareness, shallow, and trumpesque. so, she's really something -- and of course she's probably trump's top spiritual adviser that works in the white house. the same failure of christian virtues can be said of jerry falwell jr, the president of one of the nation's largest christian colleges, but truly, his narrative doesn't need repeating, except the new sage of he and his wife's game of 'would you rather'.. the same also goes for pastor franklin graham, who is a xenophobe and weaponized 'opposition to President Donald Trump to “almost a demonic power”, metaxis agreed, although he didn't like the 'almost'. finally, to end our sampling, there's pastor robert jeffress statements that anti-trump 'evangelicals are morons. They are absolutely spineless morons, and they cannot admit that they were wrong.' [...] “We cannot afford to be like German Christians who, in the rise of the evil reign of Adolf Hitler, just remained neutered. They remained silent. And you saw what happened there,” Jeffress said. “I think there’s a similar wave of godlessness that is rising in our country right now, and we must push back against that tide.' this is not an argument of guilt by association, these individuals have shown evidence of a failure to abide with the teachings of jesus and the church. their miscarriage is aligned with trump's, and perhaps more so, as they for decades have studied christianity. yet, they aren't running the country and lying daily about the covid virus as thousands die weekly; they aren't constantly attacking and damaging the usps,, mail in ballots,, the press, race, climate science, fauci, the fbi, even saying doctors are profiting off of covid deaths and inflating the dead numbers, attacking impeachment accusers, his sexual misconduct accusers, gold star families ...the list of trump attacks are almost found everywhere and everyday now. therefore, if he's not cyrus, not a christian, is he a con? i think the evidence is abundantly clear. for much of the attacks and weaponizing of people, institutions, and things, the gop has also been silent. they are silent on race, the media, even their own institutions. i'd be something if they came out and supported him in numbers, but they don't. paul states in 1 cor: 11: Do as I do, for I am doing as Christ did. i don't see that happening much in the gop or trump's staff or trump himself, given he's the most religiously rhetorical president in over a 100 years, and that the nondens are the true believers; in fact, the evidence appears to indicate the opposite conclusion. donald trump is a con of the highest order, a chronic liar, a cheat, and devious. therefore, evangelicals should ask themselves ‘what would jesus do about this?' the answer would be, 'don't vote for trump.’
Now that it's getting closer to May, more festival lineups are coming out, and more tours are being announced I think I can kind of clean up the speculation thread a bit now. I've sifted through the speculation thread, other threads, and line up announcements to come up with this so far. If things are missing leave a comment and I will continue to make edits.
New album, haven't played Riot Fest since 2012; No Chicago dates announced on upcoming tour
Possible
Reason
Alanis Morissette
Playing other festivals
Alice Cooper
No Chicago dates; has tour dates in other large markets (NY & LA)
Alvvays
Playing Mo Pop, haven't played Riot Fest since 2015
American Football
Played Pitchfork last year; fill Cap'n Jazz slot
Anthrax
Gap around Riot Fest weekend
Bad Religion
30th anniversary for Suffer
Belle and Sebastian
No Chicago date, gap around Riot Fest
Blink-182
Haven't played Riot Fest since 2013
The Breeders
New music coming; 25th anniversary for Last Splash; playing other festivals
The Bronx
Released new album; no Chicago dates currently
Bully
Came out with a new album in 2017, not on any Chicago festival lineups
Butthole Surfers
New music in the works
Clutch
No Chicago dates and have a gap during RF weekend; last played in 2014
Cobra Skulls
Announching a show on Wednesday (5/30)
Cursive
Playing The Fest
The Damned
No tour dates after August; new music
The Distillers
Playing a few other festivals
Death Grips
New album out in 2018
Dr. Dog
No Chicago date
The Falcon
Switches from Larry Arms and the Falcon, should be the Falcon's year
The Fixx
Announced tour no Chicago date
Flogging Molly
No Chicago dates
Gary Numan
No Chicago dates; Playing in Ohio Riot Fest weekend
Get Up Kids
New music; summer tour announced no Chicago date
Ghost
No Chicago dates on their spring tour, no COA
Goldfinger
No Chicago dates; Playing other festivals
Green Day
No tour dates; would be a huge headliner
Hopesfall
Reunion announced; new music soon
Interpol
No Chicago dates
Interrupters
New music coming in 2018
Iron Chic
Released new music in fall of 2017
Iron Reagan
No Chicago dates
Jeff Rosenstock
Playing Mo Pop, played Pitchfork last year
Jet
No Chicago dates; reunited in 2017
Kanye West
Highly unlikely; New music on June 8th
The Kills
On tour right now with limited US dates in August
La Dispute
New music; 10 year anniversary for Somewhere at the Bottom of the River Between Vega and Altair
Lagwagon
No Chicago dates; haven't played RF in Chicago
Larry and His Flask
no Chicago dates; playing PRB this year
Living Colour
New album; no Chicago date, no tour dates announced past August 11
The Longshot
Tour announced, no midwest tour dates
Mac DeMarco
No Chicago dates
Municipal Waste
No Chicago dates
N.E.R.D.
Playing other festivals, currently no dates in Chicago
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Playing other festivals
NOFX
Stone Brewing is distributing NOFX's Punk in Drublic to states that NOFX is playing shows in, it is being distributed in IL and currently, there are no IL dates listed
PUP
Played Lollapalooza last year; might be working on new music
Pussy Riot
Playing other festivals; members spoke at the Riot Fest Speaks panel in 2014
The Roots
Playing other festivals this year
Run The Jewels
Have never played Riot Fest
Senses Fail
Life is Not a Waiting Room 10 year anniversary; new album
Stone Temple Pilots
No Chicago dates; playing other festivals
Strung Out
No Chicago dates
Sum 41
Play Chicago in May, appearing at other festivals, and tour dates end in August
Taking Back Sunday
Because it wouldn't be Riot Fest without them
Thrice
15 year anniversary for Artist in the Ambulance
Total Chaos
Playing with the Exploited in STL
Turnstile
New album; no fall tour yet
Twin Peaks
No Chicago dates currently
Two Door Cinema Club
10 anniversary for Four Words to Stand on
Ty Segall
Playing Desert Daze
Ultraman
Playing with the Exploited in STL
Underoath
New music; played secret album release party in Chicago; no Chicago date
Vince Staples
Playing Mo Pop
Violent Femmes
No Chicago date on their recently announced tour, haven't played since 2013
War on Women
New music in 2018
Wavves
No Chicago dates
White Fence
Playing Desert Daze
Wolfmother
Playing Life is Beautiful
Wonder Years
New music in 2018
Out
Reason
30 Seconds to Mars
Chicago date on 6/15 at Huntington Bank Pavilion
311
Playing Northerly Island on 9/6
A Wilhelm Scream
Playing 350 Fest in August
Alestorm
West coast Riot Fest weekend
All Time Low
Playing Lollapalooza
Arctic Monkeys
Playing Lollapalooza
August Burns Red
Riv 9/9
AWOLNATION
Playing Q101 Piqniq
Basement
Playing Lollapalooza
Ben Folds
Chicago date 8/22 at Ravinia
Between the Buried and Me
Concord 7/24
Brockhampton
Playing Lollapalooza
Bush
Playing Q101 Piqniq
Cake
Chicago date 8/22 at Ravinia
Car Seat Headrest
Chicago date on 9/7 at the Vic
Catfish and The Bottlemen
Playing Lollapalooza
Childish Gambino
Chicago date on 9/8 at the United Center
Circa Survive
In Brazil during Riot Fest weekend
Cock Sparrer
European tour during Riot Fest weekend
Coheed and Cambria
Chicago date on 7/26 at Northerly Island
Dashboard Confessional
Playing Q101 Piqniq
David Byrne
Chicago dates 6/1-6/3 and in New York Riot Fest weekend
Deafheaven
Playing the Metro on 7/30
Death Cab for Cutie
Playing the Auditorium Theater on 10/7
Descendents
Playing 350 Fest in August
Devil Wears Prada
Riv 9/9
Earl Sweatshirt
Playing Pitchfork
Fall Out Boy
Chicago date on 9/8 at Wrigley Field
Front Bottoms
Playing Q101 Piqniq
Frank Turner
Chicago date on 6/23, will be in Canada during Riot Fest
Foo Fighters
Playing Wrigley Field on 7/29 & 7/30
Franz Ferdinad
Playing Lollapalooza
Future Islands
On the west coast during Riot Fest weekend
Garbage
In Europe during Riot Fest
Gaslight Anthem
Playing the Riv on 8/11
Glassjaw
Chicago date 7/8 at Concord
Godsmack
Chicago date 7/27 in Tinley Park
Gorilla Biscuits
Metro 9/29
Guided by Voices
Playing S.P.A.C.E. on 8/26
Gym Class Heros
Playing Northerly Island on 9/6
Jack White
Playing Lollapalooza
Japandroids
Playing Pitchfork
Japanese Breakfast
Playing Pitchfork
Jesus & Mary Chain
Opening for NIN in October at the Aragon
Judas Priest
Playing at the Hollywood Casino Amphitheater on 8/22
Here is MY story: It was the year 2010: -2nd half of Senior Year of H-S (My best time socially & academically)
4th and final year in AVID...
-Choosing a college and applying (Columbia College Hollywood - private film school - B.A. in Screenwriting & acting for fun) -Planning for big trip to Europe & more during this time... -(May) Iron Man 2 & NOES Remake in theaters, Eagles Concert (Long Road Out of Eden Tour) -(June) Class trip to Six Flags, Graduation at baseball stadium, Grad Nite at Disneyland... -Leaving on trip to Europe, turning 18 during first Red Eye flight (Ontario CA to Atlanta), followed by ATL to New York JFK, JFK to Washington Dulles, Red Eye flight - Wash DC to London Heathrow... -Europe Trip (London, Stoke-on-Trent, Paris, Frankfurt, Munich, Castle that inspired Disney, Zermatt/Swiss Alps, Matterhorn Mountain, Barcelona, Marseilles, Nice, Monaco, Genova, Rome, Napoli... -Continuation of trip (Return to New York/Long Island to see family there, Hershey-park, Pittsburgh for 4th of July, Detroit, Windsor, Toronto, Niagara Falls, down thru Ohio, Kings Island, Louisville, South Indiana to see family there, Return home to SoCal... -(August) Road trip to AZ and back, seeing family there (Mesa, Phoenix, Show Low, Meteor Crater, Winslow) -Packing/preparing to move for college, moving into apartment in Tarzana/northwest of Hollywood -(September thru December) Start of Smallville season 10, Getting comfortable, CCH orientation, class trip to Warner Bros/VIP Tour, first quarter of classes (pretty good academically, not so good socially) -So it begins (My journey into the world of YouTube FULL time, as a viewer and career with my own channel) -During this time, I discovered FilmMasterAdam, Erod the Blockbuster Buster, Doug WalkeNostalgia Critic, Blowshimselfupdude (this guy named Eric, talks about comics & movies) -AANNNDD....of course.....GEEKVOLUTION!! (Superhero Rewind of Batman Forever. Hmmm, what's this?? Who are these guys, "Captain Logan" & his friend "Vince", talking on camera together about superheroes?? I think I really like this, I want to see more!! Subscribed!!) Plus these other guys, by association: the Real Manos, Dan Torrey, Shades at Knight... (2011 and beyond) - Finding lots of interesting stuff and posting it on Geekvolution Facebook page... -Counting Kryptofreaks begins... -Charlie Sheen's mental breakdown and ranting on camera & "Friday" by Rebecca Black...
My YouTube exploration also includes politics, news, real events at this time, but interest dies down by the end of the year...
-Series Finale of Smallville, ends 10 year run... (Summer) - MCU kicks into high gear with Thor & CA F-A...
(December '11) Bob Seger Concert at Staples Center in L.A.
(Summer 2012) -Thunderbird's Air Show... ^ Avengers, Amazing Spider-Man, Dark Knight Rises, Prometheus in theaters... Trip up to San Francisco, includes Alcatraz Island & Six Flags Discovery Kingdom... (March 2013) - Befriended by Cap (Jaymes Logan Williamson) on Facebook... (June) -21st birthday!! -Man of Steel arrives, the big "Superman doesn't kill" arguments/in-fighting begin... (SummeFall 2013) - Anti-social, nearly depressed, My attendance and work input at CCH severely declined. Both roommates in a row were pot smokers and made a mess, made me sick. Needed a change, had no choice but to drop out and move back home to Lake Elsinore. (January 2014) - Start attending MSJC (Mt San Jacinto Community College in Menifee) (Summer 2014 & Summer 2015) - Support Captain Logan and Co on their documentary 'Midwest In Panels', receive my Kickstarter package in mail, open it on camera... (2016) - B v S happens, the big "Superman & DCEU vs MCU" arguments/in-fighting begin... A Wikipedia page for Geekvolution is created, I join and add to it. I have become the only person who edits and updates the page. I've tried to share it often and make people aware.
(October '16) Alice Cooper Halloween Concert at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio... (November & beyond) Interest in politics, news, real events peaks again. More than ever before, in fact. In time for the brutal, contentious presidential election and aftermath. Voted for Trump, not a decision I took lightly. Had to stop Clinton at any cost. Proud of that!
(2017) - Final class/semester (Intermediate Acting) at MSJC. I'm so done, so don't care anymore! -(June) Moody Blues Concert at Pala Casino Starlight Theater, 25th Birthday!! -(Today) That's all folks!! Geekvolution Road ends here and now for me. I will make final updates to the Wiki page, watch a few more things and maybe share them around, for the final time. I'm stepping back, and unplugging from everything. I'm to the point of total exhaustion, intolerance, and annoyance with the whole scene. -Entertainment and fake news alike, all politicized garbage & propaganda. It's so hard to escape from it. But I did, I awoke to reality, completely. I will no longer be indoctrinated or engulfed in the mass brainwashing of Cultural Marxism & Fascist censorship. No more financial support or attention paid to the Hollywood system, Comic Industry, Video Games, and celebrities. Nor the retarded, zombified audiences married to their electronic devises, living in virtual world's, who would never survive a day in nature. I can't be associated with all the sheep still asleep. Instead, I must join the population with which I can have an intelligent conversation about what is really going on. Yes!! I was NEVER a "card carrying Geek", just had mild interests in certain areas. Now, I'm Out!! Thanks everyone, it was okay yet frustrating while it lasted!! -Major Transition In Progress (2018 & Beyond): Finally move the hell out of COMMIE-Fornia, over to Arizona. To live much happier and healthier. I'll prepare and train for the coming crisis (Economic Crash, Civil War, World War 3) and aftermath. -Stock up on Guns & Ammo, Gold, Food, Medicine, Communications. Learn to stand up for myself, take control, fight to support our President and the agenda. I'm stronger than ever, a patriot, about to help take our country back. If the empire falls, then it can be remade great again. Goodbye!! End Transmission....
Here is MY story: It was the year 2010: -2nd half of Senior Year of H-S (My best time socially & academically)
4th and final year in AVID...
-Choosing a college and applying (Columbia College Hollywood - private film school - B.A. in Screenwriting & acting for fun) -Planning for big trip to Europe & more during this time... -(May) Iron Man 2 & NOES Remake in theaters, Eagles Concert (Long Road Out of Eden Tour) -(June) Class trip to Six Flags, Graduation at baseball stadium, Grad Nite at Disneyland... -Leaving on trip to Europe, turning 18 during first Red Eye flight (Ontario CA to Atlanta), followed by ATL to New York JFK, JFK to Washington Dulles, Red Eye flight - Wash DC to London Heathrow... -Europe Trip (London, Stoke-on-Trent, Paris, Frankfurt, Munich, Castle that inspired Disney, Zermatt/Swiss Alps, Matterhorn Mountain, Barcelona, Marseilles, Nice, Monaco, Genova, Rome, Napoli... -Continuation of trip (Return to New York/Long Island to see family there, Hershey-park, Pittsburgh for 4th of July, Detroit, Windsor, Toronto, Niagara Falls, down thru Ohio, Kings Island, Louisville, South Indiana to see family there, Return home to SoCal... -(August) Road trip to AZ and back, seeing family there (Mesa, Phoenix, Show Low, Meteor Crater, Winslow) -Packing/preparing to move for college, moving into apartment in Tarzana/northwest of Hollywood -(September thru December) Start of Smallville season 10, Getting comfortable, CCH orientation, class trip to Warner Bros/VIP Tour, first quarter of classes (pretty good academically, not so good socially) -So it begins (My journey into the world of YouTube FULL time, as a viewer and career with my own channel) -During this time, I discovered FilmMasterAdam, Erod the Blockbuster Buster, Doug WalkeNostalgia Critic, Blowshimselfupdude (this guy named Eric, talks about comics & movies) -AANNNDD....of course.....GEEKVOLUTION!! (Superhero Rewind of Batman Forever. Hmmm, what's this?? Who are these guys, "Captain Logan" & his friend "Vince", talking on camera together about superheroes?? I think I really like this, I want to see more!! Subscribed!!) Plus these other guys, by association: the Real Manos, Dan Torrey, Shades at Knight... (2011 and beyond) - Finding lots of interesting stuff and posting it on Geekvolution Facebook page... -Counting Kryptofreaks begins... -Charlie Sheen's mental breakdown and ranting on camera & "Friday" by Rebecca Black...
My YouTube exploration also includes politics, news, real events at this time, but interest dies down by the end of the year...
-Series Finale of Smallville, ends 10 year run... (Summer) - MCU kicks into high gear with Thor & CA F-A...
(December '11) Bob Seger Concert at Staples Center in L.A.
(Summer 2012) -Thunderbird's Air Show... ^ Avengers, Amazing Spider-Man, Dark Knight Rises, Prometheus in theaters... Trip up to San Francisco, includes Alcatraz Island & Six Flags Discovery Kingdom... (March 2013) - Befriended by Cap (Jaymes Logan Williamson) on Facebook... (June) -21st birthday!! -Man of Steel arrives, the big "Superman doesn't kill" arguments/in-fighting begin... (SummeFall 2013) - Anti-social, nearly depressed, My attendance and work input at CCH severely declined. Both roommates in a row were pot smokers and made a mess, made me sick. Needed a change, had no choice but to drop out and move back home to Lake Elsinore. (January 2014) - Start attending MSJC (Mt San Jacinto Community College in Menifee) (Summer 2014 & Summer 2015) - Support Captain Logan and Co on their documentary 'Midwest In Panels', receive my Kickstarter package in mail, open it on camera... (2016) - B v S happens, the big "Superman & DCEU vs MCU" arguments/in-fighting begin... A Wikipedia page for Geekvolution is created, I join and add to it. I have become the only person who edits and updates the page. I've tried to share it often and make people aware.
(October '16) Alice Cooper Halloween Concert at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio... (November & beyond) Interest in politics, news, real events peaks again. More than ever before, in fact. In time for the brutal, contentious presidential election and aftermath. Voted for Trump, not a decision I took lightly. Had to stop Clinton at any cost. Proud of that!
(2017) - Final class/semester (Intermediate Acting) at MSJC. I'm so done, so don't care anymore! -(June) Moody Blues Concert at Pala Casino Starlight Theater, 25th Birthday!! -(Today) That's all folks!! Geekvolution Road ends here and now for me. I will make final updates to the Wiki page, watch a few more things and maybe share them around, for the final time. I'm stepping back, and unplugging from everything. I'm to the point of total exhaustion, intolerance, and annoyance with the whole scene. -Entertainment and fake news alike, all politicized garbage & propaganda. It's so hard to escape from it. But I did, I awoke to reality, completely. I will no longer be indoctrinated or engulfed in the mass brainwashing of Cultural Marxism & Fascist censorship. No more financial support or attention paid to the Hollywood system, Comic Industry, Video Games, and celebrities. Nor the retarded, zombified audiences married to their electronic devises, living in virtual world's, who would never survive a day in nature. I can't be associated with all the sheep still asleep. Instead, I must join the population with which I can have an intelligent conversation about what is really going on. Yes!! I was NEVER a "card carrying Geek", just had mild interests in certain areas. Now, I'm Out!! Thanks everyone, it was okay yet frustrating while it lasted!! -Major Transition In Progress (2018 & Beyond): Finally move the hell out of COMMIE-Fornia, over to Arizona. To live much happier and healthier. I'll prepare and train for the coming crisis (Economic Crash, Civil War, World War 3) and aftermath. -Stock up on Guns & Ammo, Gold, Food, Medicine, Communications. Learn to stand up for myself, take control, fight to support our President and the agenda. I'm stronger than ever, a patriot, about to help take our country back. If the empire falls, then it can be remade great again. Goodbye!! End Transmission....
Here is MY story: It was the year 2010: -2nd half of Senior Year of H-S (My best time socially & academically)
4th and final year in AVID...
-Choosing a college and applying (Columbia College Hollywood - private film school - B.A. in Screenwriting & acting for fun) -Planning for big trip to Europe & more during this time... -(May) Iron Man 2 & NOES Remake in theaters, Eagles Concert (Long Road Out of Eden Tour) -(June) Class trip to Six Flags, Graduation at baseball stadium, Grad Nite at Disneyland... -Leaving on trip to Europe, turning 18 during first Red Eye flight (Ontario CA to Atlanta), followed by ATL to New York JFK, JFK to Washington Dulles, Red Eye flight - Wash DC to London Heathrow... -Europe Trip (London, Stoke-on-Trent, Paris, Frankfurt, Munich, Castle that inspired Disney, Zermatt/Swiss Alps, Matterhorn Mountain, Barcelona, Marseilles, Nice, Monaco, Genova, Rome, Napoli... -Continuation of trip (Return to New York/Long Island to see family there, Hershey-park, Pittsburgh for 4th of July, Detroit, Windsor, Toronto, Niagara Falls, down thru Ohio, Kings Island, Louisville, South Indiana to see family there, Return home to SoCal... -(August) Road trip to AZ and back, seeing family there (Mesa, Phoenix, Show Low, Meteor Crater, Winslow) -Packing/preparing to move for college, moving into apartment in Tarzana/northwest of Hollywood -(September thru December) Start of Smallville season 10, Getting comfortable, CCH orientation, class trip to Warner Bros/VIP Tour, first quarter of classes (pretty good academically, not so good socially) -So it begins (My journey into the world of YouTube FULL time, as a viewer and career with my own channel) -During this time, I discovered FilmMasterAdam, Erod the Blockbuster Buster, Doug WalkeNostalgia Critic, Blowshimselfupdude (this guy named Eric, talks about comics & movies) -AANNNDD....of course.....GEEKVOLUTION!! (Superhero Rewind of Batman Forever. Hmmm, what's this?? Who are these guys, "Captain Logan" & his friend "Vince", talking on camera together about superheroes?? I think I really like this, I want to see more!! Subscribed!!) Plus these other guys, by association: the Real Manos, Dan Torrey, Shades at Knight... (2011 and beyond) - Finding lots of interesting stuff and posting it on Geekvolution Facebook page... -Counting Kryptofreaks begins... -Charlie Sheen's mental breakdown and ranting on camera & "Friday" by Rebecca Black...
My YouTube exploration also includes politics, news, real events at this time, but interest dies down by the end of the year...
-Series Finale of Smallville, ends 10 year run... (Summer) - MCU kicks into high gear with Thor & CA F-A...
(December '11) Bob Seger Concert at Staples Center in L.A.
(Summer 2012) -Thunderbird's Air Show... ^ Avengers, Amazing Spider-Man, Dark Knight Rises, Prometheus in theaters... Trip up to San Francisco, includes Alcatraz Island & Six Flags Discovery Kingdom... (March 2013) - Befriended by Cap (Jaymes Logan Williamson) on Facebook... (June) -21st birthday!! -Man of Steel arrives, the big "Superman doesn't kill" arguments/in-fighting begin... (SummeFall 2013) - Anti-social, nearly depressed, My attendance and work input at CCH severely declined. Both roommates in a row were pot smokers and made a mess, made me sick. Needed a change, had no choice but to drop out and move back home to Lake Elsinore. (January 2014) - Start attending MSJC (Mt San Jacinto Community College in Menifee) (Summer 2014 & Summer 2015) - Support Captain Logan and Co on their documentary 'Midwest In Panels', receive my Kickstarter package in mail, open it on camera... (2016) - B v S happens, the big "Superman & DCEU vs MCU" arguments/in-fighting begin... A Wikipedia page for Geekvolution is created, I join and add to it. I have become the only person who edits and updates the page. I've tried to share it often and make people aware.
(October '16) Alice Cooper Halloween Concert at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio... (November & beyond) Interest in politics, news, real events peaks again. More than ever before, in fact. In time for the brutal, contentious presidential election and aftermath. Voted for Trump, not a decision I took lightly. Had to stop Clinton at any cost. Proud of that!
(2017) - Final class/semester (Intermediate Acting) at MSJC. I'm so done, so don't care anymore! -(June) Moody Blues Concert at Pala Casino Starlight Theater, 25th Birthday!! -(Today) That's all folks!! Geekvolution Road ends here and now for me. I will make final updates to the Wiki page, watch a few more things and maybe share them around, for the final time. I'm stepping back, and unplugging from everything. I'm to the point of total exhaustion, intolerance, and annoyance with the whole scene. -Entertainment and fake news alike, all politicized garbage & propaganda. It's so hard to escape from it. But I did, I awoke to reality, completely. I will no longer be indoctrinated or engulfed in the mass brainwashing of Cultural Marxism & Fascist censorship. No more financial support or attention paid to the Hollywood system, Comic Industry, Video Games, and celebrities. Nor the retarded, zombified audiences married to their electronic devises, living in virtual world's, who would never survive a day in nature. I can't be associated with all the sheep still asleep. Instead, I must join the population with which I can have an intelligent conversation about what is really going on. Yes!! I was NEVER a "card carrying Geek", just had mild interests in certain areas. Now, I'm Out!! Thanks everyone, it was okay yet frustrating while it lasted!! -Major Transition In Progress (2018 & Beyond): Finally move the hell out of COMMIE-Fornia, over to Arizona. To live much happier and healthier. I'll prepare and train for the coming crisis (Economic Crash, Civil War, World War 3) and aftermath. -Stock up on Guns & Ammo, Gold, Food, Medicine, Communications. Learn to stand up for myself, take control, fight to support our President and the agenda. I'm stronger than ever, a patriot, about to help take our country back. If the empire falls, then it can be remade great again. Goodbye!! End Transmission....
Here is MY story: It was the year 2010: -2nd half of Senior Year of H-S (My best time socially & academically)
4th and final year in AVID...
-Choosing a college and applying (Columbia College Hollywood - private film school - B.A. in Screenwriting & acting for fun) -Planning for big trip to Europe & more during this time... -(May) Iron Man 2 & NOES Remake in theaters, Eagles Concert (Long Road Out of Eden Tour) -(June) Class trip to Six Flags, Graduation at baseball stadium, Grad Nite at Disneyland... -Leaving on trip to Europe, turning 18 during first Red Eye flight (Ontario CA to Atlanta), followed by ATL to New York JFK, JFK to Washington Dulles, Red Eye flight - Wash DC to London Heathrow... -Europe Trip (London, Stoke-on-Trent, Paris, Frankfurt, Munich, Castle that inspired Disney, Zermatt/Swiss Alps, Matterhorn Mountain, Barcelona, Marseilles, Nice, Monaco, Genova, Rome, Napoli... -Continuation of trip (Return to New York/Long Island to see family there, Hershey-park, Pittsburgh for 4th of July, Detroit, Windsor, Toronto, Niagara Falls, down thru Ohio, Kings Island, Louisville, South Indiana to see family there, Return home to SoCal... -(August) Road trip to AZ and back, seeing family there (Mesa, Phoenix, Show Low, Meteor Crater, Winslow) -Packing/preparing to move for college, moving into apartment in Tarzana/northwest of Hollywood -(September thru December) Start of Smallville season 10, Getting comfortable, CCH orientation, class trip to Warner Bros/VIP Tour, first quarter of classes (pretty good academically, not so good socially) -So it begins (My journey into the world of YouTube FULL time, as a viewer and career with my own channel) -During this time, I discovered FilmMasterAdam, Erod the Blockbuster Buster, Doug WalkeNostalgia Critic, Blowshimselfupdude (this guy named Eric, talks about comics & movies) -AANNNDD....of course.....GEEKVOLUTION!! (Superhero Rewind of Batman Forever. Hmmm, what's this?? Who are these guys, "Captain Logan" & his friend "Vince", talking on camera together about superheroes?? I think I really like this, I want to see more!! Subscribed!!) Plus these other guys, by association: the Real Manos, Dan Torrey, Shades at Knight... (2011 and beyond) - Finding lots of interesting stuff and posting it on Geekvolution Facebook page... -Counting Kryptofreaks begins... -Charlie Sheen's mental breakdown and ranting on camera & "Friday" by Rebecca Black...
My YouTube exploration also includes politics, news, real events at this time, but interest dies down by the end of the year...
-Series Finale of Smallville, ends 10 year run... (Summer) - MCU kicks into high gear with Thor & CA F-A...
(December '11) Bob Seger Concert at Staples Center in L.A.
(Summer 2012) -Thunderbird's Air Show... ^ Avengers, Amazing Spider-Man, Dark Knight Rises, Prometheus in theaters... Trip up to San Francisco, includes Alcatraz Island & Six Flags Discovery Kingdom... (March 2013) - Befriended by Cap (Jaymes Logan Williamson) on Facebook... (June) -21st birthday!! -Man of Steel arrives, the big "Superman doesn't kill" arguments/in-fighting begin... (SummeFall 2013) - Anti-social, nearly depressed, My attendance and work input at CCH severely declined. Both roommates in a row were pot smokers and made a mess, made me sick. Needed a change, had no choice but to drop out and move back home to Lake Elsinore. (January 2014) - Start attending MSJC (Mt San Jacinto Community College in Menifee) (Summer 2014 & Summer 2015) - Support Captain Logan and Co on their documentary 'Midwest In Panels', receive my Kickstarter package in mail, open it on camera... (2016) - B v S happens, the big "Superman & DCEU vs MCU" arguments/in-fighting begin... A Wikipedia page for Geekvolution is created, I join and add to it. I have become the only person who edits and updates the page. I've tried to share it often and make people aware.
(October '16) Alice Cooper Halloween Concert at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio...
(November & beyond) Interest in politics, news, real events peaks again. More than ever before, in fact. In time for the brutal, contentious presidential election and aftermath. Voted for Trump, not a decision I took lightly. Had to stop Clinton at any cost. Proud of that!
(2017) - Final class/semester (Intermediate Acting) at MSJC. I'm so done, so don't care anymore! -(June) Moody Blues Concert at Pala Casino Starlight Theater, 25th Birthday!! -(Today) That's all folks!! Geekvolution Road ends here and now for me. I will make final updates to the Wiki page, watch a few more things and maybe share them around, for the final time. I'm stepping back, and unplugging from everything. I'm to the point of total exhaustion, intolerance, and annoyance with the whole scene. -Entertainment and fake news alike, all politicized garbage & propaganda. It's so hard to escape from it. But I did, I awoke to reality, completely. I will no longer be indoctrinated or engulfed in the mass brainwashing of Cultural Marxism & Fascist censorship. No more financial support or attention paid to the Hollywood system, Comic Industry, Video Games, and celebrities. Nor the retarded, zombified audiences married to their electronic devises, living in virtual world's, who would never survive a day in nature. I can't be associated with all the sheep still asleep. Instead, I must join the population with which I can have an intelligent conversation about what is really going on. Yes!! I was NEVER a "card carrying Geek", just had mild interests in certain areas. Now, I'm Out!! Thanks everyone, it was okay yet frustrating while it lasted!! -Major Transition In Progress (2018 & Beyond): Finally move the hell out of COMMIE-Fornia, over to Arizona. To live much happier and healthier. I'll prepare and train for the coming crisis (Economic Crash, Civil War, World War 3) and aftermath. -Stock up on Guns & Ammo, Gold, Food, Medicine, Communications. Learn to stand up for myself, take control, fight to support our President and the agenda. I'm stronger than ever, a patriot, about to help take our country back. If the empire falls, then it can be remade great again. Goodbye!! End Transmission....
You would not believe how much I hear this. Honestly, this is the response I get from most guys around my age (give or take take like 10 years). In my fraternity, we did No Masturbation March, and one of my brothers sent out a video of her, saying that's what he lost to.
Back in the 1970s, she would do shows at casinos in Vegas to fill out her schedule, and apparently those movies about them all being run by mob bosses were true. So yeah, I might be going to school on the Mafia's dime. She is in incredible health. She does several exercise classes a week, and yoga and such on a regular basis. Besides from a few issues with her heart a few years back, she's physically in the condition of someone 20 years younger than her.
She's very cool with the Brady thing. I think she really just loves the attention from it.
All the time, but especially at malls or at restaurants. I'd say it hasn't changed my views on her, since it's happened my whole life. I think it's how I realized she was "famous," though. Also: you'd be amused by how many older women say "I watched you all the time as a child" or "everyone says I look just like you!" when they're old as dirt, shorter, or very overweight.
She is an incredibly down-to-earth person. I think growing up as the youngest of ten in a small town had a lot to do with that, she's been humble her whole life. If anything, you'd be surprised how low-brow some of her humor is.
Oh yeah. I've met the cast of The Brady Bunch on several occasions, and from time to time we bump into friends in Beverly Hills when we visit. Also: she's very good friends with Judge Judy, who I've been told is unbelievably rich. Like, gigantic yacht rich.
Oh, and back when I was 6 she did "Later Today" on NBC. Visiting the set really stood out to me, because I got to meet Katie Couric, who is one of the nicest people you will ever meet, and Rosie O'Donnell, who was something of a c***.
I'd say I'm comfortable. She pays for my schooling and gives me money to have fun, but I'm not out driving Lambos or anything like that. My parents live off of my dad's average salary, for instance, and my last car was a 1999 Honda Accord.
I don't have one. My parents sold it the day before I flew out to Berkeley. Now when I need to get around I take the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) or occasionally use a Zipcar.
I actually have only watched a handful of episodes in my life. It's always seemed a bit cheesy to me, to see the 1970s TV moral lessons. I think part of it was that it was just weird to see my grandma "raising" another family. One thing of hers I did watch was this child-friendly movie she made where she told the story of Jesus to this lamb-puppet (although I'm non-religious now).
Like I've said in other responses, I've met the entire (living) cast of The Brady Bunch. Chris Knight was always my favorite, he was really cool and nice when I was younger. I haven't seen any of them in a few years, though (I had a crush on the youngest girl's daughter when I was younger, coincidentally).
Trying to recall a good story of hers. Until I can remember a good one, I'll just say that apparently she really did treat them as her kids (which is part of why the oldest daughter became such a bitch to her in real life, supposedly).
The weird part is that she doesn't even give a definite answer to the family about it. It was REALLY weird when it came out that she got crabs from the mayor of NYC. We all knew she cheated on my grandpa, but still, ugh.
I'd say it's typical in some ways and really weird in others. She tells stories of packing lunch for my mom as a kid, but my mom says they're bullshit. She's also a surprisingly bad cook sometimes. Once, she made "scrambled" eggs for my mom and sister and they were severely undercooked, to the point of being runny and gross. She goes to plenty of my cousins's sporting an school events, but they live in Los Angeles.
I don't know specifics, but she lives in a 2.5 story house in Marina Del Rey (the third floor is a workout room and balcony) that supposedly cost like $2 million a decade ago. It's in a gated street, I wouldn't call it a community. She has one car, a new Lexus crossover.
Oh, good one! I'm actually a big fan of The Monkees, so this is something I asked her about. While she doesn't really get into specifics, from the way she talks about it, I think she might have been a bit jealous of his fame as opposed to hers at the time. While she's definitely not like that now, I think her younger self was really interested in the growth of her career.
I've thought about it, and act in plays through school from time to time. Seeing her schedule makes it seem VERY appealing, but I think if I had to do anything in the film industry, I'd want to write or produce. That side of it is seems much more interesting and honestly, less monotonous.
Well, this summer I'll be working for the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (they put on the Emmys) and a small record label. So I guess I'm dipping my toes in the business side of the industry. Not sure I'm talented enough for the acting side.
From what she says, they kind of pushed her to say some of those things and used editing to make it look like those were her initial reactions. The wonder of reality tv.
Maybe at some point. She's kind of a flip-flopper, but she was pretty good friends with Reagan, and has strong beliefs on things like the estate tax. Still, she's an Obama supporter now, and a pretty solid moderate.
I'd say they were pretty damn close. Even without him in her life, I'd say her time on the stage made her very accepting of people of all sexual orientations. She's fairly close to all of them (that drama several years ago over the marriage of one of the sons was real, for instance) except for (I think) the oldest daughter, who I recall being a complete bitch.
I think most of it has to do with her being unavailable, but it also has to do with my grandma and grandpa divorcing when my mom was a teen. That led to my mom having to pay for college herself, which she couldn't afford, which meant she had to drop out.
Right now, I'm pretty set on Computer Science. I plan on taking an acting class next semester for fun, and acted in a play last semester and assistant directed one this semester.
She didn't spend much time with her kids unless they were all on the road together. As for her husband, he was a producer on Broadway, so they spent a lot of time on opposite sides of the country.
I'm just glad people are interested. Sometimes I wonder if my mom's overestimating how big of a deal it would be for my grandma to show up to things like my sister's coming high school graduation, but then I get this many responses and questions from my friends like "Did you really have to say 'the mom from The Brady Bunch' in the title? Everyone knows who she is."
I kind of thought her fame was at the point where most people didn't know who she is.
First, make everyone (including you if you want to be fair) have to vest their share in the company over time. 3 years is reasonable. This accounts for the inevitable falloff you'll get over the first 3 years where people quit. Second, make sure people's equity is commensurate with their market value. We use a pretty simple spreadsheet that takes market value (what you make today) and applies a multiplier to account for risk. We then use the market value of the company and say your contribution is a % of your value.
It's easy to say feel good industries like energy and education. So let's take those off the table for a moment.
I think there is still a tremendous amount of innovation to be had in marketplaces. I mentioned this in another reply about stuff like AirBnb, Zaarly, and Exec.
I think there is so much dormant value that needs to be unlocked. Millions of folks will retire this year. What happens to all that resident knowledge? How can we get those seniors re-engaged to teach those younger? Or vice versa - 16 year olds know more about technology than most 50 year olds. How can they connect them to teach each other?
I'm fascinated with what I keep referring to as "dormant value". I love to see startups find skills, value items, time, etc that is going un-used and turn it into a marketable commodity. Sorry if I'm being a bit vague, but it's such a large market that I think some critical thinking would unlock a ton of value. I've got some marketplace concepts based on this that I'd love to see someone run with.
When I was 17 leaving high school, the only thing I wanted to do was become an actor. I graduated at the bottom of my class in High School so I was definitely not destined for college or any kind of business career.
When I was 18 I was working with a company doing resales of mainframe computers (yes, I'm old). The company itself didn't have any software it was running on, so I told the CEO we need to get our stuff together and build a sales force management app. He told me it was too expensive - I suggested we could write it ourselves. He called me out and said "If you're so smart, why don't you write it?" My answer was "I would." 2 days later a 486 PC showed up at my dorm room with a note from the CEO "Have at it." 8 weeks later the first prototype of our sales software was written - in Access 1.0 which had just been released. It was the first time I had done something successfully in business and it felt amazing. A year later I started Blue Diesel.
I should have elaborated. I was at Ohio State at the time barely going to college. I sucked at it. I was living in South Campus but working full time during the day out of my dorm room.
It usually takes at least a year of hammering your assumptions before you know for sure you're on the wrong path. And that's if you're lucky. People who launch and in 3 months think they know the model won't work rarely appreciate how long it takes to get that answer.
Anyone can join a successful startup and grow with it. Joining a startup when it's nothing but pain and suffering and sticking it out is how you earn your stripes. I've learned far more about the character of co-workers in bad times than in good times.
In many years, zero. The tricky thing about being an entrepreneur is that you can make a lot, or you can make zero. You can actually make far less than zero by giving up real money as well as investing all of your savings into the company. It's a far worse downside than just having a low paying job.
"Never, under any circumstance share with people what you have (money). No one ever asks this for positive reasons. They either want something from you or they want to judge you by that metric. The moment people think you have more money than you need, they will begin thinking about how to separate you from it."
I cannot begin to tell you how true this has proven to be.
TI - it's honestly a tacky question to ask. Not giving you a hard time, just saying if you can avoid asking the question, you're probably better off.
My wife told me the other day that the number one suggested phrase in Google for my name was "Wil Schroter Net Worth". Apparently the way to ask is to Google. Now I need to figure out why my own wife is Googling me. ;)
I get asked this all the time. It never helps to have less preparation or diligence put together, but that said, we got Unsubscribe.com funded without even knowing who worked there ($2.1m from Charles River Ventures, Draper Fisher, First Round, Ron Conway). On the other hand we spent literally years preparing Affordit.com's raise and got stomped from over 80 VC's. The funny thing is that both of those events occurred during the same year.
I have extraordinary, off the charts ADD. Like I can't remember what I'm writing by the end of my sentence type of bad.
So in the morning the first thing I do is open up a fresh document (I use a tool called MyInfo which is awesome) and I start typing as fast as I can. I type every idea, thought, to do, that I can possibly think of. I have a lot of random stuff in my head so it's a mess.
The next thing I do, once I'm mentally exhausted, is I group everything that I just wrote. I group it by "stuff I need to do", "weird ass thoughts that have no value today", "people to follow up with", etc.
This isn't about motivation per se, it's about clearing my head. I find that when I do this, I wind up with one or two things that are critically important to focus on. And I get to working on just that.
Figure that 99% of my job is to invent and create. So filtering ideas down to what's actionable is a very big hurdle for me. I even have a little markup language that I use that imports my ideas into a spreadsheet because I'm not only ADD, I'm OCD.
Re: fundable coverage, we worked really hard to get that coverage. We contacted hundreds of journalists to get dozens of pieces written. Crowdfunding is hot right now, but you need wins (which we are getting, thankfully). I think people assume press finds them, and I've rarely seen that happen.
Re: non .com TLD's. I've bought a lot of domains over the years, and I've always been tempted to go non-.com and somehow always balked at the 11th hour. I think .co domains are awesome bargains though.
Most companies never take a penny of big funding. My numbers may be off, but if I recall barely 1,000+ companies got an initial round of VC funding last year. But according to Kauffman there were over 6 million companies started. That doesn't include angel, which is critically important, but gives you a sense for how many people are just bootstrapping it.
I'm not convinced that raising money is the key to success. I've done both, and while having more capital helps, there's something about staying super lean and growing from zero that I really like.
I think the #1 thing to focus on in your startup is your personal burn rate. The company can last in some form forever if you can keep your own rent paid. But the moment you have to hang up your spurs as the founder, you're screwed.
Wow that's a great question. It's 7:16 PM and I'm still at the office, but in the grand scheme of hours, that's not that late. I have a family to go home too though, so when it comes to my commitments it's late. My daughter goes to sleep in an hour. I want to be there for that.
The benefit of doing this for 20 years is that I don't have to spend 24 hours working on things to get them done. For example, when I was 22 I didn't know what the hell a pro-forma income statement was. I didn't know how to model assumptions or create a go-to-market strategy. So I made up for that lack of knowledge with raw hours. Now I know how to do that stuff. I can put together a useful pro-forma in a few hours. I can get far more done with less raw energy time required.
I don't know that I could have shortcutted any of that learning though. From the time I was 19 til about 22 I didn't take a single day off. Not holidays, Chirstmas, Sundays - nothing. And I loved it. That said, I was doing it because I was learning so much. I'm still learning, but the stuff I"m learning doesn't require those hours.
I think SEO is awesome although I'm not sure how helpful it is in the very early stages of startups since it takes a fair amount of time to get well indexed. In order to cut that cycle time I like to use CPC and Social to drive near term traffic to validate some of my assumptions early on before figuring out what I should be optimizing for in SEO. Some things I've learned about A/B testing -
No one has any idea what's on the side of your big "continue" button, so don't assume they are clicking it because you've built an amazing product on the next step. They are going to click it to find out if there is something amazing there. But they are going to click it either way. So don't build a ton of product behind a button people may never click. I'm not sure how, but I just know the moment I hit a site whether it's legit or not. I design for that notion.
The MVP is critical. Until you've got a real product in market, you haven't had the opportunity to validate any of your assumptions. Going into the market and assuming you know what your customers want is in and of itself a flawed assumption. The MVP is basically "this is the least we need to do in order to test whether we are even on the right path."
Starting companies is the end goal. Every company is another problem to solve, another puzzle to put together. I enjoy the challenge itself, not the outcome necessarily. It's my sport.
If you can maintain the company and continue to draw cash out of it and also have primary income, I think you're in good shape. At which point you don't need your job anymore, I think that will be obvious. But I wouldn't worry about changing up your situation if you can live comfortably and move the company forward. It's the best of both worlds.
Fundable was designed specifically for startups, not projects like kickstarter. You'll see us release the ability to raise from equity investors here soon which will change the face of what we do significantly.
The problem with the rewards-based model is that most startup companies aren't compatible with that model. It's awesome if you have a pre-sell opportunity, but if you need $250k just for operating expenses like most companies do, the reward model falls short. That's when people use equity as the reward which has far more scale and applicability to startups.
I think we've seen a very small glimmer of crowdfunding. Can't tell you how excited I am about being part of this revolution.
Not having to answer to anyone. Seriously, this is the bane of my existence. In high school I was constantly in trouble because I hated being told what to do.
You can certainly argue that we all have to answer to someone - clients, spouses, etc. And that's true to a certain extent. But there's something different about being able to wake up in the morning and say "I'm going to work on whatever the hell I want to today." It's the ultimate luxury in my mind.
I respect chains of command and authority structures - I just don't fit well within them. I think this is a very common thread amongst entrepreneurs that I meet. We want the world to work differently, and we're willing to put ourselves out there to get that opportunity.
At Fundable we have a team of 22 people. We go out of our way to hire people that don't need a lot of "management". People work very autonomously here and that's been our goal for all of the companies we've started.
Well my first company, Blue Diesel became a full service marketing ad agency known as inVentiv. I don't know that there are a lot of secrets to starting a professional services company. The most frustrating thing I found was that there is no silver bullet. You get more work, you hire more people, you increase revenue along with liabilities. I kind of hated that. I moved onto creating products (web startups) because the consulting business was such a tough business to scale. We did scale to about $700 million in billings in 5 years but I have to tell you - it was just as hard at bigger numbers.
D - I would focus on one for 6+ months and at least commit through that period. You really can't place multiple bets in pure startup mode and expect to succeed. All you're doing is sub-dividing your chances of success.
It's funny - they are really all problems that I heard someone complaining about (or had myself) and then started thinking "how can the Web solve that?".
Years ago a good friend of mine who is a talent agent in Hollywood mentioned that most casting was moving to "Reality TV" (circa 2006). he said that as an agent there really isn't a good way to find these folks, since they are not trained actors with agents. I simply suggested moving that process to the Web. At the time MySpace and YouTube were relatively new.
He setup meetings with every major network and production company in Hollywood and we pitched the idea of GotCast.com - a platform to move casting onto the Web. We signed every major network and now a great deal of casting for reality TV happens on the Web - and a fair amount from GotCast directly.
Every company has a story like that - I was just listening to someone complain about something and thought "Hm, what if?..."
Fundable is my opus because it's literally a company that helps create companies. (we do crowdfunding for startups).
Just about every company I've started has been in a completely different industry. What I learned is that I really love starting companies. And I have a special place in my heart for helping other founders specifically.
I get to spend all day talking to other founders about great ideas. If you were a sports nut, you'd want to be at ESPN. If you're a startup nut like me, you now have Fundable ;)
Robert Greene's 48 laws of power changed my life. I was a much nicer person before reading that I think. Ayn Rand didn't make me any more fun at parties either.
Re: building a consultancy - don't. It's great experience and a great way to earn income, but every single person I know that has gone into consulting would rather have a product to build and grow with. Myself included.
If anyone that hears about your idea can simply steal it and build a better version than you can you're already screwed. I think the logic that someone is going to Mark Zuckerberg your idea is flawed. It assumes that the Winkelvoss twins could have built a better site themselves.
Depending on the business, I would pour everything I can into marketing. Social is the easiest to scale since the hard costs are so manage-able, but it's hard to get it to big scale. Cost per Click is my favorite because it allows you to tap into people you've never met before and find out if anyone actually cares about your product. If people don't click on your ads, it's often a good sign that something is missing on your offer, if not your product.
Last night I fell asleep listening to Robert Greene's "33 Strategies of War" (not recommended for good dreams). I am a die hard fan of Greene. All of his books, 48 laws of power, Art of Seduction, and even the 50th Law are incredibly insightful.
I think using Google Adwords to test landing pages and concepts is one of the most powerful early validation tools for startups that I know of, yet very few seem to employ it. I seem to recall Tim Ferris bringing this up in his 4 hour work week book and I thought it was so on point. I can be more specific if there is a certain category you're thinking about.
The crazy thing about funding is that it's incredibly cyclical. If you were a groupon clone 18 months ago you were getting funded. If you were a hyperlocal check-in app before that you were getting funded.
I think the myth of VC funding is that they are looking for companies with obvious profits. It's not that they are against profitable companies - far from it - but what they really care about is growth. Their entire model is based on huge wins, so if a company can't get to insane scale (even at the expense of profit) it's still a more likely hit/exit than a $10m company doing $3m in ebitda.
Wait classically trained actors still exist? I thought we got rid of all of you guys when we brought reality TV to the mainstream?! (sarcasm).
I think your online presence is critical. At this point the Web has been around for nearly 20 years, so not having a viable web presence is a big miss. You don't have to go crazy. I find that 3 - 5 well designed pages go much further than some massive site that says very little and looks half-assed.
I'd go to templatemonster.com and pick a template that makes sense. You can get a fully designed template for less than 100 dollars. Figure out what you want modified, then go to Elance and have someone do the work to modify it. Your total out of pocket should be $500 - $1000 for everything. It will pay serious dividends.
Investors rarely put money strictly into concepts unless the person with the concept has a really proven track record or somehow they have figured out how to turn lead into gold (kidding).
Not sure if this is a tech company, but by far the best option for pulling together resources is Startup Weekend. They run a couple times per year in every city and bring people with ideas together with teams who can build them. They build a prototype in 54 hours and present it to the group. It's awesome.
I think Blue Diesel was the most exciting because I was 19 and it was the dawn of the Internet (circa 1994). It's weird to think about this now, but at the time no one had any idea what the Web or the Internet really was. I had been using my Commodore 64 with a 300 baud modem running Color 64 since 1985 so I had a pretty good early lead on online tech. Watching the whole industry come together and being a part of it was incredible.
I think the trend to watch right now is what you're seeing in AirBnb, Zaarly, Uber, and Exec. They are taking dormant assets (spare bedrooms, private town cars) and creating marketplaces to unlock those dormant assets to create value. I think there will be tons of these marketplaces springing up. I think AirBnb has created far more of a proof case for what can be done than anyone.
BPS - I'm a super social guy so I'm out with friends whenever I can be. That said, I'm also a new dad so now the only ladies getting my attention are my wife and daughter.
EX - use them as a superpower, not a vice. Roll with it. Adapt your workflow so that as your mind races you get more done, not less. I have 3 screens running right now with 8 chats, email, 6 web browsers and a notepad I'm filling up. I've given up serialization of thought and output a long time ago and it's been awesome. Just try to contain the actual time spent to one project.
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