Category Archives: Favorites

Those posts that I like (unique perspective, interesting writing), get referred to others often, or have been popular in the community.

Waiting on a Winning Streak: Infinity Softworks Closes a New Funding Round

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I don’t like to gamble so don’t usually play cards. Since I don’t play, I haven’t developed some amazing strategy for winning nor do I have the kind of memory that allows me to count cards/play odds and offset my inexperience. But I found myself in a card game anyway. There were six of us playing and I kept drawing lousy hands. I kept folding early and often, before I could lose much money. We played round after round, with me folding with small or zero bets and my chip pile dwindling slowly.

Finally, the cards changed in my favor. With only a handful of chips left, I bluffed my way to a solid pot then started drawing good cards. Before I knew it I reeled off seven or eight winning hands in a row, riding them to a nice pile of chips, and putting everyone else at the table on the defensive.

It dawned on me recently that I have been running Infinity Softworks the same way the last few years. As with cards I didn’t play this strategy on purpose. Instead, my cautious nature led me to it, going after small pots, biding my time for the right opening, staying in the game. Waiting. Other companies were betting all in — on mobile, on the web — and I was starting to wonder if I’d lost my nerve, if I’d be able to see the big opportunity when it hit. And frankly, I almost missed it.

This past summer and fall turned into what I thought was going to happen in 2001: the mobile software market is finally becoming a reality. Amazing hardware powered by Apple, RIM and Google is coming to fruition. The innovation curve is accelerating. Reasonable software distribution is coming back. And all of these devices are web-enabled, connecting our customers to the world.

I have found kindred spirits, people who also see great opportunities and have stuck with me for years. Years of caution finally paid off. Infinity Softworks closed a round of funding that will kick start our FastFigures and FastFigures Mobile efforts, giving us a solid foundation to build from and the ability to power through these tough economic times. (Read the release here.) This, the first winning pot in the latest of Infinity’s card games. I smell a streak coming on.

Company Foundations: Money, Vision and Timing

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I have been thinking a lot about the keys to success for a company. In short order, they are money, strategic vision, and timing. If those three aren’t in place, then nothing else the company does will be successful. What I mean is without these three, excellent execution will mean nothing. Let me explain each.

Money

A company is only as good as it has money in the bank to strategize and execute. This has been Infinity Softworks’ problem the past few years. We never had enough money in the bank to give us enough time to build a comprehensive strategy and execute to it.

In 2001 and 2002, we raised $550,000 but because of the economic downturn at the time money was very hard to come by and we raised it in drips and drabs. The mistake I made was we used the money to meet current obligations rather than executing to a comprehensive plan. At least until the end, when we raised a large chunk all at one time and we used that chunk to build our education plan and go after it. In that case it didn’t work out, but that was because of timing not money.

Don’t take this the wrong way. I’m not saying how much money needs to be raised; I am saying that money gives a company time to plan and execute. When Infinity Softworks started in 1997, we had only a few thousand dollars to build the company with, not many dollars (particularly for the kinds of money being tossed around in those days). But we had time. We were are all young and had very low overhead. This gave us the time we needed to bring out our first products and start to generate cash.

As mentioned, money has been an issue the past few years. We took part-time jobs working for others so we could continue to build FastFigures. Now, we are in the process of completing a small round of funding. It will give us the ability to focus on building our strategy and executing to it effectively.

Strategic Vision

It is imperative that a company understand what it is doing and what it is aiming for. Customers, partners and employees all need to understand it. A vision for what the company can be makes everyone excited to work with you. I have to admit that Infinity Softworks was aimless for a while. I had a better strategic vision in 1998-2000 (the next generation of financial calculators) than I had in 2001-2002 when we raised money. The vision became muddied.

Finally in 2003, we focused on revolutionizing math education (focusing our class time on key concepts instead of keystrokes). It brought partners out of the woodwork. Customers understood it. And the company’s employees all had common purpose. We knew what we needed to do and, importantly, we knew what we should not do. When it fell apart in 2006 (see Timing below), we were aimless again for a couple of years while the vision around FastFigures formulated. Now we are back on track. I can see excitement in the emails and conversations with beta and other customers, and see potential partners becoming excited about it.

Timing

With all the money in the world and the perfect strategy, none of it will matter without the right timing. This was the doom for our education business. The timing was wrong. Monies for technology in the classroom were drying up at the same time that Palm was struggling and decided to get out of the handheld business. We tried to switch course, to move to the web, but we took with the move the same strategic vision. It didn’t fit with how technology was used in the classroom. So we struggled to find partners and customers who bought into our vision. It just didn’t match the market.

The timing has to be right. I was too early and customers weren’t ready to hear my message. If I was too late, then my customers would have found a good enough solution already.

I think our timing is right for FastFigures. From a technical perspective the confluence of mobile computing and web-based computing are making a lot of things possible that just weren’t even two or three years ago. Fine, as my customers have pounded into me, it doesn’t mean web-based apps running on smartphones. But it does mean an improved method for sharing data and interacting between the two.

From a business perspective the economic meltdown has made professionals the world over have to understand the numbers before doing a deal or giving an answer, something missing over the past few years. Are we too early? I hope not but I can only know this one in retrospect.

Responsibility As a Four Letter Word

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When I was a kid, my stepdad rarely got on my case except if I did a half-ass job of something. And then he would ride me for it. In time, I translated this into taking pride and responsibility for the job I am doing. If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right.

I met with an old college professor the other day for lunch and we were talking about the stock market. His broker works for AG Edwards, owned by Wachovia which will soon be owned by Wells Fargo or Citibank. He made a deal with his broker, who was bemoaning the value of his retirement (meaning stock price). My professor made a deal with his broker that he would buy at $10 per share. He did and the stock fell all the way to $1.80 before rebounding to $7. He bought again at $4. He said to me that he made a deal with his broker and my professor is a man of his word, even if it isn’t in his best interest. He took responsibility for his actions.

This is what he tells me is so great about the military, by the way. He was a Colonel in the Marines. It teaches young men to take responsibility for their actions.

I know an alcoholic. Her alcoholism is everyone’s fault but her own. Take responsibility for your actions and deal with it. Get therapy, get off the booze, get a job and do what you need to do. The first step is admitting you have a serious problem and you can’t handle it alone.

I know a husband and wife who had an abortion because they didn’t want any more kids. Try taking responsibility and use a freakin’ condom.

I know late 20-somethings who still live at home with their parents. Christ, move out and take responsibility for paying bills and having relations and, you know, being an adult.

And it feels like both Democrats and Republicans in my government are desperately spending their days figuring out how to relieve us of the responsibility for our actions. I don’t want my government to act like my parent. I don’t even want my parents acting like that any more.

I feel like I have lived my adult life in some alternative universe where only a minority of people take responsibility for their actions, responsibility for the loans they take and the money they earn and the decisions they make.

I have two young children and every time I look at them, I see the future. It seems very bright to me. But it is only bright if I can teach these girls how to be well adjusted, productive members of society. At least in my house, I will take responsibility for teaching my girls responsibility.

The Truth Behind Generation Gaps

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Last week was about mad. This week is about hope.

I am squarely in the middle of Generation X. In my last post I commented how my Grandparents and Parents generations are partly to blame for this financial predicament, the national debt, and decisions made by our presidents and Congress (mostly members of these two generations). The problem is it may not be their fault.

There is a four generation cycle that has persisted throughout US History. The first generation is the dreamer generation. The second generation is more pragmatic, translating that dream into a vision and plan for implementation. The third generation is implementers, helping the second generation make the changes to attain this vision. And the fourth generation likes the status quo, settling into consistent patterns and giving birth to a generation that dreams about how the world can be better.

My grandparents generation, the model of 1950s and 1960s suburbia who attained the height of their political power in the 1970s and 1980s, were the status quo generation. My parents, the dreamers of the 1960s, have reached the height of their political power in the 1990s and 2000s. My generation is just now rising to power, with its most visible member, Barack Obama, running for the presidency. And the fourth generation, Generation Y, will begin running for public office in the next decade. My kids, the millenial generation or Gen Z, will be happy once again with the status quo.

This means every 70-90 years, we start over.

And a simple look back over history tells us this is true. A massive new vision was instituted in the era of 1940s to 1960s, the last time the “second generation” was in power. And before that? Try the 1860s, eighty years before, when the abolition movement came to fruition (and, technically, the crushing of states rights during the Civil War, which has led to today’s outsized federal government). And before that? Try the 1770s and 1780s, 75-85 years prior, and the birthing of a a new nation.

Why does this give me hope? Because 2010-2030 is the era of Visionaries and Implementers once again. And if history is any indication, the cremes of those crops will be well positioned to deal with the major issues of today.

Opening the Closed Door

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Was the desktop operating system a fluke? A rip in the space-time continuum? It’s starting to look that way.

Before Microsoft/Intel/IBM relationship in the early 80s, operating systems were either free (relatively given that there was not Internet distribution) or were controlled with the hardware. IBM and DEC, for instance, owned everything about the computer. Apple, too.

But thanks to the IBM relationship, Microsoft established a value for the operating system separate from the hardware and was able to build a massive business out of it. A lot of industry veterans argued at the time that this was the natural evolution of the industry, this separation of church (hardware) and state (software). Even Apple and Palm tried to license their OS’ for a while.

It seems, though, that the pendulum has swung back the other way. Operating systems are once again either free or controlled by the hardware vendor. Look at the mobile landscape:

  • Apple iPhone: proprietary operating system
  • RIM BlackBerry: proprietary operating system
  • Google Android: open sourced, free operating system
  • Symbian: open sourced,free operating system
  • Windows Mobile: proprietary, licensed operating system

With Nokia’s acquisition of Symbian and its subsequent open sourcing, this makes Windows Mobile the odd-ball. Apple re-pioneered the closed operating system with iPod and its resurgent Macintoshes. Now, I don’t hear much about licensing the OS any more.

Does the new world order spell the end of licensed operating systems? Does this hurt Microsoft or make them more powerful as the only licensing partner in town? In an era of micro-computing — where computers are in everything and we carry tons of them with us — do only these models (and a hybrid where proprietary systems are build on a Linux core) work?

There’s a lot of money riding on the outcome.