We pay tribute to community in our recent newsletter; the community we’ve found in our workplace, with our clients, with Indy’s entrepreneurs, and in Indianapolis at-large. It seems now, more than ever there’s a rise to solidarity. We are searching to build meaningful relationships and make meaningful contributions to those around us.

Ben captures this spirit best in his recent IndySpectator:

We have dozens of neighborhood & community groups that are altering our city’s cultural, economic, and environmental landscape (and, remarkably, most of them are working in concert with each other instead of competing for the same, finite pool of resources). From our swelling number of ardently independent restauranteurs to inventive gallery spaces, from the founding of slow food gardens and CSA’s to the constant buzz of co-working environments, concert venues, local record labels, thriving food co-ops, breweries, and grassroots meetup groups: we don’t merely work together – we live amongst each other.

I look to the Speak Easy, a place where you can belong to the startup community, not just work for it. A place where you have the freedom to come and go as you please and work on what moves you, but with it comes a responsibility: to other members, that you’ll give of your talents and respect their space; to the community, that you’ll build something meaningful and useful; and to yourself, that you’ll grow and find opportunity. Richard Branson remarks on this community dynamic in his recent article in Entrepreneur Magazine:

When a nation embraces its own as “belonging here” as opposed to just living there, it breeds a different form of loyalty. It reminds us that this is where we belong, and so our efforts are not just on our own behalf, but also to benefit the community.

As you apply this to all the communities that you’re a part of, it suddenly comes to light that “belonging” is an essential element of each:

• When a company embraces its own as belonging there as opposed to just working there, it breeds a different form of loyalty.
• When a business embraces its customers as belonging there as opposed to just patronizing there, it breeds a different form of loyalty.
• When an application embraces its users as belonging there as opposed to just visiting there, it breeds a different form of loyalty.

So think about your job, your groups, your community and your city, and ask yourself – do you belong?

We all know music sampling. Like the song “Take Care”, which began with Gil Scott-Heron, then passed through Jamie XX and ultimately on to Drake, who sampled it and pulled in Rhianna for vocals.

Listening to all of its permutations the other day, inspiration struck — sampling occurs in startups, too! Like Fancy, which I blogged about the other day; it feels a little bit like Pinterest, Svpply and Fab all rolled into one. And Pinterest – isn’t that a little bit Tumblr and Polyvore? Obviously/ironically/interestingly enough, I’m not the first one to have this idea : ). After a quick search, I found Everything is a Remix.

The four part video series, produced by Kirby Ferguson, covers the phenomenon of “Copy-Transform-Combine” as is applies to songs, movies, and technology. Here’s Part 3, detailing how the computer came to be:

Also, here are some awesome sketch notes by Craighton Berman from Austin Kelon (author of Steal Like an Artist) & Kirby Ferguson’s recent 2012 SXSW panel: Everything is a remix, so steal like an artist.

Using Kirby’s Copy-Transform-Combine, I applied it to a few more of my favorite startups:

• Facebook = Hot or Not + Friendster + MySpace
• Twitter = SMS + Blog
• Tumblr = Blog + Delicious + Twitter
• Spotify = Napster + Pandora + iTunes + Last.fm
• Pinterest = Tumblr + Polyvore
• Fancy = Delicious + Tumblr + Gilt + Pinterest + Svpply + Google + Fab

This sampling of functionality, interface, and identifiable structures has allowed startups to earn quicker adoption, integration and utility. The most creative people have figured out how to copy, transform, and combine a wealth of ideas to create unique value.

What are some of your favorite startup remixes?

If you’re one of those guys thinking Pinterest is just for girls, and can’t bring yourself to adopt it despite its stunning growth, you might check out The Fancy – part store, part magazine, part bookmarking – a tool to curate the things that define you. It’s a bit like Pinterest, but sleeker, cooler, more minimal, and more provocative. It’s luxury. And women, don’t be shy; you can Fancy as well (the break down is about 60:40, male:female). Backed by the likes of Kanye, Jack Dorsey, Andreessen Horowitz, and PPR, Fancy is certainly not lacking street cred or style.

Aside from demographics, monetization is another characteristic that separates Fancy from Pinterest. Fancy members can browse deals and sales – literally shop the photos. The entire checkout process takes place on Fancy, rather than linking out to the merchant’s website. Ultimately, Fancy plans to “support a Google-like bidding system, except instead of keywords, merchants will be bidding on the demand surrounding users’ clipped postings” as detailed in a recent TechCrunch piece.

Pinterest has shown some promise for monetization as well, with functionality to tag images with prices making them more shoppable. But, as Jeremy Levins acknowledged, their strategy “isn’t in the oven and it’s not even off the baking table”. Some of the more inventive efforts have been from the brands using Pinterest rather than Pinterst itself, such as Gilt Baby & Kids’ “Pin it to Unlock” campaign. Group buying, meet pinning. Gilt posts an image, and once it’s been re-pinned 50 times, the pin links to an exclusive, hidden sale on Gilt.com.

So while Pinterest and Fancy share some common functionality, their strategies are entirely different. It’s a race to see who can crack the social commerce nut first.

It’s been days now since Facebook erupted the tech world with their $1B purchase of Instagram. Since then, bloggers and reporters alike have been trying to determine the causes and ramifications of the deal. Popular theories include:

• Defense/Offense: Facebook bought a potential competitor and prevented other competitors from doing the same. As David Carr said in the New York Times, “Good for Facebook for buying a bandwagon before they got ran over by it.”
• Mobile UX: Facebook’s mobile app is perhaps its weakest link and has been “publicly labeled as a risk to its bottom line” as reported on Inc.com. Instagram has mastered the platform with its simple, well-designed & loved app as proven by its 5 star App Store rating, based on more than 80,000 reviews.
• Photos are the future: People love looking at and expressing their lives through photos, and Facebook has always been a popular platform to share these images. “Instagram is helping users create an image of themselves they’d like to be seen” quips Cliff Kuang in Co.Design.

But if we humanize Facebook, as we often do with brands these days, then their purchase of Instagram really just mimics users own adoption of the app.

Users like Instagram because it adds instant cool to photos. Without any skill, one can quickly apply a filter to create an artful image. Instagram is well loved by designers for its aesthetic and developers for its language.  So if you think of Facebook as a person, then buying Instagram for its coolness factor totally makes sense. Even they are delighted by the slick photos, smooth interface, and seamless functionality. And I’m sure they hope having Instagram in house will give them more street cred.

Furthermore, Instagram helps users construct an (apparent) authenticity – albeit, a rosy colored, vintage-romantic glimpse of their lives, carefully curated one image at a time. Facebook on the other hand, whether disliked for their privacy policies, straightjacket UI, or even their sheer size, lacks this authenticity-factor. Something that Timeline hasn’t even been able to fix completely.

And so Facebook bought the thing that is hardest to fake. It bought sincerity. – Paul Ford

So what can we expect from this recent union? Hopefully an improved mobile app, better sharing for Instagram photos (maybe even tagging), and perhaps a rebuilt Facebook? One can only dream.

Kyra prescribed three tools, to help teams work better:

• Deep Listening
• Non-attachment
• Generosity

Deep Listening
Deep listening is all about being present and communicating it through body language. So put away those phones during meetings! Also, practice simply listening to what people are saying, rather than for when you can say something next. And don’t worry about silence – just let it sit. Sometimes these pauses will spur the speaker to share something they wouldn’t have if you had interjected.

Non-attachment
Not to be mistaken for apathy, non-attachment is about being open – meaning it doesn’t have to be your way or the highway. To do this, research: ask questions that might change your current position; reframe before you go into a discussion; and observe what’s pressuring your coworkers – deadlines, budgets, family, etc. This added flexibility and awareness will lead to a better team-built solution that everyone can get behind.

Generosity
To work well, we need 3 positive interactions for every 1 negative interactions. Through generosity, we can create those positive interactions and give our coworkers the gift of play, fun, and brainstorming. As a project manager what can I give my coworkers to get the project done? Is there more scoping, risk analysis, a roomier schedule that I can provide? As a designer, how can I make it easier for the developer? Can I take the design assets to the next step? Generosity is not about giving away power, but creating an environment for collaboration.

SXSW has long been advising on how to build startup communities, as you can see from Kristian’s post back in 2009. This year’s “How to Build Entrepreneurship Communities” panel was no different. Successful startup communities still need capital, mentors and support systems to thrive.

Perhaps new to this year’s conversation, though, was the need for storytelling. The startup epicenters on the coasts have media bulwarks in their neighborhoods – Fast Company, Mashable, TechCrunch, The New York Times – lapping up their frenzy and pushing it out into the world. But what is the official news source for activity happening more inland? What publication would you turn to if you wanted to find out something about, say, Chicago’s startup community? The largely coastal based panel was at a loss (although one member did have hopes that Built might be the one to do it.)

Jeff Slobotski, one of the panel members, shared his experience with bringing leading news coverage further midland. In 2008, he founded Silicon Prairie News, a story platform that has helped increase awareness of entrepreneurial activity both within, and perhaps more importantly, outside of Omaha, Des Moines and Kansas City’s startup communities. Jeff advised that it’s important to build your reach through both online and offline experiences. He described their early success hosting events that attracted out of town/state talent into their communities (perhaps a catalyst for Big Omaha?). These types of events are big opportunities to share your talent, gain more traction, and also benefit from outside resources & inputs.

Indy’s fortunate to have a number of media outlets sharing startup stories – IBJ, Inside Indiana Business, StartupDigest, Verge, and Startup Spectator. As we grow a strong community, I think it will be important to continue to project outward – to connect our community and our startups from coast to coast.

Fresh off the plane from this year’s South By Southwest Interactive conference I’ve been lining up all the blog posts I want to write. Rather than kicking things off by sharing one of the incredible panels or awesome events I attended, I wanted to dive into one of the most buzzed about issues that happened this year: Homeless Hotspots.

As you can imagine, when thousands of techies congregate within in a 5-mile radius for the hottest interactive event of the year, wireless network capacity is an issue. In an effort to help bring more network capacity to Austin and help out a few individuals along the way Bartle Bogle Hegarty’s BBH Labs launched Homeless Hotspots in Austin. Their campaign wasn’t just meant to give SXSW attendees access to an on demand 4G network, but also to promote awareness of an opportunity for these individuals.

Homeless Hotspots equips homeless individuals to become walking, talking wireless 4G hotspots. If you were down at SXSW and ran into one of them (sporting the Homeless Hotspot t-shirt), you could pay to connect to their network. The suggested rate was $2 for every 15 minutes, but anything you donated went straight into the pockets of that homeless individual.

At first this seems like a harmless idea, and a great way to provide an honest day’s work to those seeking employment. However, there was a lot of criticism directed toward BBH Labs for promoting their brand using those in less fortunate circumstances. Some believed that this campaign didn’t actually help the homeless because it didn’t guarantee a steady income or a reasonable fee. It was a one-time opportunity that may have gotten these individuals paid for a few days but didn’t actually do anything relative to helping the cause to end homelessness.

These claims sound fair and true, but looking at it from the perspective of the 13 men and women who sported the t-shirt for the last few days you may see things differently. Rudolph a local from Austin has been homeless for a year and makes it a point to have a positive attitude about his circumstance. Clarence is from New Orleans and has been “houseless” since Katrina. Melvin is from Ohio and is actively searching for a job and home, creating awareness that homelessness is not a choice. Stacia has been homeless for over ten years due to an abusive marriage and is working to put her life back in order. (You can check out the remaining 9 individuals who acted as a hotspot here.)

In the eyes of the 13 participants, this campaign has helped them at a time in their life when they needed it the most. BBH Labs has been active in ensuring that their motivation and purpose behind this campaign was not to promote themselves in anyway. Their most recent blog post outlines a few facts they feel haven’t been shared with the world, including:

• We are not selling anything. There is no brand involved. There is no commercial benefit whatsoever.
• This is a test program that was always scheduled to end today (there’s no 2-week payment cycle)
• Each of the Hotspot Managers keeps all of the money they earn. The more they sell their own access, the more they as individuals make (it’s not a collected pot to be shared unless people choose to donate generally).
• Underheard in NY is NOT becoming a reality TV show. The confidential plans are much more akin to an interactive documentary. Regardless of what happens, it will stay true to the original idea: to give homeless people an unedited voice so people can understand their lives.
• The biggest criticism (which we agree with actually) is that Street Newspapers allow for content creation by the homeless (we encourage those to research this a bit more as it certainly does not work exactly as you would assume). This is definitely a part of the vision of the program but alas we could not afford to create a custom log-in page because it’s through a device we didn’t make. However, we’d really like to see iterations of the program in which this media channel of hotspots is owned by the homeless organizations and used as a platform for them to create content. We are doing this because we believe in the model of street newspapers.

I’ve got opinions that lay on either side of the line, but overall I think more good than bad was done in Austin this year. I’d love to get your opinion whether you were attending or not!

What say you?

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