Last week I had the opportunity to attend the DFJ CEO Summit in Half Moon Bay, California. It was a wonderful event featuring over 150 CEOs from every type of company you can imagine. I was privileged to share war stories with CEOs in all stages of funding, from those who just closed their first round to those who had billion dollar exits.

The experience inspired me to reach out to some other CEOs to capture their thoughts and share them with my readers. I asked a small set of entrepreneurs to answer two questions:

1. What is the biggest business mistake you have ever made?
2. What advice would you give to a first time entrepreneur?

I am going to provide the answers to the first question today, and the answers to the other later in the week. I know many of you are entrepreneurs or have entrepreneurial aspirations. Hopefully this guidance will help you along your way.

Q: What is the biggest business mistake you have ever made?

Tim Draper
Partner at DFJ

“The mistakes I have made have been for what I have not done, not what I have done. We have passed on or not offered high enough valuations for some great companies.”

Gary Vaynerchuk
CEO of Vaynermedia and Author of Crush It

“I don’t really look at mistakes the way a lot of people do because I don’t care as much about the money as other people do.  The process is what really excites me, so even if I do something and it doesn’t end up being financially successful, the learning experience and the fun I had always make it worth it.

Because of that, the only things I would really consider mistakes are opportunities I didn’t take.  I’m known a lot for Twitter and I saw in early ’06 how much of a game-changer it was going to be, but I never invested in it.  That’s looking like a mistake now.  Even that mistake, though, was a process that I learned from.  Now I’m investing in internet start-ups that I really believe in, so it’s possible that not investing in Twitter opened up greater opportunities in the end.”

Chris Brogan
President of New Marketing Labs and Author of Trust Agents

“My biggest mistake was (and still is) saying yes too much. I accept too much. I take on too many things. I get worried that I’m going to miss out on something. ”

Tony Hsieh
CEO of Zappos.com

“Hiring too quickly and firing too slowly.”

Andy Beal
Founder at Trackur.com and author of Radically Transparent

“Forming a business partnership and moving forward on someone’s word–and not a written contract. I learned, the hard way, that however nice or sincere someone appears, you should always cross every “t” and dot every “i.” People change, business circumstances change, and people’s memories can get fuzzy, but a written contract never lies. Even if it feels awkward to put things in writing, always do it!“

Gal Trifon
CEO of Eyeblaster

“My more significant mistakes are related to hesitations in making changes in malfunctioning areas. I was never sorry for actually making changes, just for waiting too long to do so.”

Micah Baldwin
CEO of TakeComics

“The biggest business mistake was believing that I could do it all. When starting a business, there are usually one or two people, and everyone wears every hat. Yet, as the company grows, it becomes too difficult to do it all. For me, I was uncomfortable with allowing anyone but me manage the books (after all it was my money!) and pay the bills. So what happened? Bills went unpaid, taxes were done wrong, and overall it was a big mess. The best entrepreneurs believe they can do anything, but understand that the best course of action is to not do it all. Trust others, and your business will grow faster and bigger.“

Marcelle Turner
CEO of MindComet

“The biggest mistake I’ve ever made as a business manager or entrepreneur is allowing myself to become too far detached from the day-to-day operational aspects of the business. Having trusted management partners is critical, but having to rely solely on their interpretation of data or situations (especially in siloed departments) can be detrimental to both you and your valued team. Having a firm understanding of daily activities (bank balances, staff sentiment, sales pipelines, etc.) takes nominal effort once you get used to it, and will allow you to collaborate with your team across multiple disciplines to make more informed, holistic decisions.“

How about you? Do you have some knowledge to share with other entrepreneurs? Please drop some knowledge in the comments.

Have you been looking for a well designed, full featured, Twitter screen saver for Mac OSX? So have I! The good news is I have been able to find a few screen savers for the Mac (some listed below). The bad news is that none of them are what I am personally looking for.

What I want in an OSX Twitter Screen Saver :

• Elegant design


• Utilization of Quartz, maybe with a little 3D action


• Ability to customize the source of the tweets (people, keywords, lists)


• Ability to customize the fonts and colors used


• Display of avatars next to the name of the person


• Integration of geo data if available


• Integration of photos (show me a preview of the link)

I was able to find some decent screen savers for Windows. Flitter looks close to what I was thinking I would find when I first started looking. Damn you Windows. Damn you.

Twitter Screen Savers for Mac
Twistori (3/5 Tongues)

This is the most interesting of the bunch. Twistori is a Twitter screen saver (and website) that displays tweets based on emotional keywords (love, hate, think, believe, feel, wish). It’s funny to see how people express themselves, you can certainly get sucked into this experience.

Twistori is available for both Leopard and Snow Leopard . I am bummed that this screen saver has zero customization options. I wish I could add my own emotions or get rid of certain words like hate. I have no desire to have the word hate repeating on my screen all day… it’s just bad karma.

TweetSvr (2/5 Tongues)

TweetSvr is a very basic Mac screen saver that displays tweets from you, your friends, or the public timeline in floating clouds. I grew board with this screen saver instantly. You can’t customize the font or size of the text. It’ doesn’t display the avatar of the person that made the tweet. The graphics are just blah. The only good news is that it works with Snow Leopard and doesn’t seem to have any technical issues. You can download it here.

If anyone has found a Twitter screen saver for OSX that they really like please let me know. I would love to check it out.

Last month I had the pleasure of joining the crew from MindComet on their 10th anniversary cruise (if you are into corporate culture be sure to click on that link!). It is hard to believe that it has been ten years since I started the company. I haven’t been active in day to day operations since I founded IZEA, but the organization remains a big piece of my heart. I have always seen MindComet as an engine for innovation and creativity, it was clear that these value remain when I had the opportunity to speak to new team members I had not met before.

I would like to give a huge shout out to Marcelle Turner, my beloved sister and current CEO at the company. She took the reigns about a year ago and has done a tremendous job in the role. You have to be a creative type to manage creative types and she is among the most creative people I know.

Marcelle has ushered in a new age at the company, complete with a new corporate identity that I personally love. Leave it to the MindComet team to debunk my post about flash websites sucking for SEO. Their new site is search engine friendly and allows you to deep link to whatever you want.

If you are looking for an interactive agency drop the team at MindComet a line.

Support Rock for Hunger

It’s hard to believe but Thanksgiving and Festivus are right around the corner. While the holidays are a time of celebration and full, bloated bellies for most they are a time of struggle for others. Way too many people don’t have food to put on the table year round, let alone the holidays. I am supporting Rock for Hunger again this month with a mini canned food drive to build up their reserves. My goal is to collect 200 cans of food this week to donate to this wonderful organization.

10 Cans for the hungry = 1 Burrito for You

I will be at the downtown Orlando Pancheros this Friday from noon until 1:30 collecting cans of non-perishable food items. Every person that brings me 10 cans or more gets a free burrito on me. The person who brings me the most cans will win a $75 Pancheros gift card courtesy of my good friends at Pancheros. Second place gets a $25 Pancheros gift card. If you don’t do so already make sure you follow Pancheros on Twitter, they are good peeps and I appreciate them helping me out.

Let’s recap : You get a burrito. We feed the hungry. Everybody wins! Please help spread the word to your Orlando friends! It’s the season to give back.’

UPDATE!
5 Cans  = 1 Free Cocktail

Our tweeps over at Wall Street have stepped up to help support the cause. Can’t make it for the main event and contest at Pancheros? Join us at happy hour from 4-9pm at WaiTiki on Wall Street this Friday. Free burrito or free booze for a great cause. You can’t go wrong. Want to know what is happening in dowtown orlando? Follow @wallstplaza

Contribute from Anywhere!
10 Comments  = 1 Burrito for the hungry

I realize that not all of you live in Orlando, but may like to help out. I have great news… you can contribute from anywhere in the world! For every 10 comments left on this blog post (by a unique person) I will buy a burrito gift card that will be donated to Rock for Hunger. They can use these cards to treat the hungry to a fantastic warm meal filled with cheesy goodness.

20 Retweets  = 1 Burrito for the hungry

Too lazy to leave a comment? Just hit the retweet button on the top of this page and share with your friends.

1 Pingback = 1 Burrito for the hungry

Want to help even more? Write a blog post and spread the word. For every blog post that pings back this post I will buy a burrito gift card for the hungry as well. I will buy up to 100 burrito giftcards for comments, rewtweets and pingbacks. Together we can help feed a lot of hungry people.

One of the arguments that I hear from people when they talk about Sponsored Tweets is that you will lose followers if you participate. It’s total #bullshite from people who have no real experience with sponsored conversations. They make assumptions about how things work and how people will react without taking the time to try it for themselves and perfect the practice.

These are not “social media experts”. Experts have actual experience with the tools and concepts they speak about. These are social media donkeys, following the herd blindly through the echo-chamber that is the blogosphere.

People like my sponsored tweets

What? Yeah. People actually find value in the sponsored tweets I share. So much so that they retweet them and thank me for “for the find”. I am not going to say I haven’t lost a few followers here and there, to be honest I have no idea. What I do know is I continue to gain followers and I have never had anyone complain about one of my sponsored tweets. Not only that, I have personally found some awesome new services from SponsoredTweets.com that I now love and use including Alice.com.

You can screw up any form of advertising

Have you ever been to a website or blog that had blinking “punch the monkey” banner ads all over it? How about an adsense explosion? It happens. It doesn’t mean that display ads are bad, it just means they can be overused, misused or abused (like any form of advertising).

You have the choice

In Sponsored Tweets you have the ability to choose which advertisers you work with and how the message is shared (which is more than I can say for adsense). I am a proud Sponsored Tweets user and I am very selective on which advertisers I work with. It turns out so are the rest of you. Less than 50% of offers made to Tweeters in SponsoredTweets.com are accepted. It’s not a question of money, it’s a question of finding the right fit for you and your followers.

Ted’s tips to successful sponsored tweeting

1. Sign up. You can’t get any offers if you aren’t in the system.


2. Be selective. Only take opportunities that are a good fit.


3. Cap frequency. Even if the opportunities are right you need to space them out.


4. Listen for feedback. Your followers will tell you what types of ads they like.

Don’t let inexperienced fear mongers ruin a great financial opportunity for you. Let’s look at this objectively:

Worst Case
You sign up and never find an advertiser that is a fit. Nothing happens.

Best Case
You connect with lots of advertisers and make huge bank doing what you love.

Most Likely
You connect with a moderate amount of advertisers you like and earn some extra spending money.

Last November I wrote a blog post titled Stop leaving me phone books. In it I explained that I haven’t had a home phone in (5) years, yet I continue to get phone books. My friend Alli pointed me to a site that was supposed to stop the madness… but one year later I came home to two phone books sitting on my porch. Why would the phone company continue to deliver expensive phone books to me? One reason. Advertising dollars.

Phone Book Circulation is Crap

Credit : funkeemunkeeland

The phone company sells advertising to local businesses largely based on the circulation of phone books. The problem is that nobody with a computer has a use for phone books anymore. The Internet has replaced the need for these prehistoric landfill-busting monsters. I can’t remember the last time that I even opened a phone book, yet my two phone books are being represented to advertisers as market reach. Both books went straight into the recycling bin, what a waste of money and natural resources.

If you are a local business do yourself a favor and invest in online marketing. The more savvy you become now the more effective your efforts will be in the future. It won’t be long until these dinosaurs are extinct.

I will be speaking at the B.I.G. (Business Innovation & Growth) Summit on Thursday, November 19th at the Hilton Orlando. The summit is a big departure for the Orlando Regional Chamber of Commerce and I am happy to see some spunk coming out of our local business community. Instead of suits and ties thing jeans, t-shirts and flip flops. This is a business conference designed for today’s creative workforce.

Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh will be keynoting the event. His session is titled “Building a $1 Billion Business”… hells yeah! Sign me up! I will lead a workshop on building better relationships using digital media. If you are an entrepreneur living in Central Florida you would be a donkey to miss this event. Sign up now!

A few weeks ago at IZEAFest Aaron Brazell spoke briefly about the concept of entitlement as it relates to influencers. Aaron’s point was simple, you aren’t entitled to anything and should be thankful for everything. I agree with Aaron 100%

In my role at IZEA I work with beginning bloggers to celebrities and everything in between. I have to say that I have noticed a disturbing trend over the past few years across the entire social media spectrum. As the demand for bloggers and tweeters has increased so has the size of their heads. I am sad to say that many of the people I network with have become downright ungrateful. The inflation of entitlement far outpaces the true value of the people who display these behaviors.

Don’t confuse entitlement with value. You should always negotiate the best deal possible for yourself and I would never suggest otherwise. However, the manner in which you negotiate your terms and interact with your business associates makes a huge difference. I don’t care who you are… nobody owes you anything. Not a business opportunity, a free ticket, a free meal, a free drink or even a kind word. Everything somebody does for you is done because they want to.

I don’t do business with people because of who they are, I do business with people because of what they are. While your stature may initially open the door it is your actions that keep the relationship progressing forward.

Ted’s Guide to Avoid Becoming a Donkey

• Be thankful


• Participate


• Smile


• Recognize when you mess up, apologize when appropriate


• Don’t be afraid to be humble

One of my favorite bloggers is Drew from BenSpark.com. He has worked his way up the blogging ranks over the past few years but has always remained grounded. At BlogWorld Ben brought me an ice cream cone. He saw that I was trapped in my booth and I hadn’t had anything to eat. First of all I want to say THANK YOU AGAIN. Second I want to say holy crap, how nice was that of you? I am not entitled to that sort of treatment and I truly appreciate it.

Even though Drew has become a big blogger he still does and says the things that he has always done. He is just a good all around guy, someone I met through business and now consider a friend. The door remains open for Drew because he doesn’t believe he is entitled. He gives back more than he gets and I would do anything for the guy.

Don’t be a Donkey

If you have made a name for yourself congratulations! I am happy for you and I hope it brings much prosperity. Just remember what got you there and that it could all be gone tomorrow.

My father introduced me to my first Mac when I was only 8 years old. It was a Macintosh 512k and I remember slapping away on the keyboard like it was yesterday. I would fight my dad for time on it, I grabbed the mouse every chance I could get. I was a MacPaint master. While other kids where making watercolors for their parents I was making bitmap computer art. When HyperCard came out in 1987 I knew I would spend the rest of my life tethered to a computer.

This afternoon Tara and I watched the movie Welcome to Macintosh (yes, I am an iTunes affiliate) and I started to think about how many Macs I have had in my life. I am not sure about the exact number, but through my companies I have bought somewhere between 250-300 Macs over the years. I took a look at apple-history.com to see how many different Macs I can remember buying (or my parents buying before I had my own money). Here is the list:

• Macintosh 512k


• Macintosh Plus


• Macintosh SE30


• Macintosh Powerbook 140


• Macintosh LC III


• Power Macintosh 8500


• Power Macintosh 7200


• Newton Message Pad 2100


• PowerBook G3


• Power Macintosh G3


• iMac


• iMac (Rev.C)


• Power Macintosh G3 (Blue and White)


• PowerBook G3 (Bronze Keyboard)


• Power Macintosh G4 (AGP Graphics)


• iMac (Slot Loading)


• PowerBook G3 (Firewire)


• Power Macintosh G4 (Gigabit Ethernet)


• PowerBook G4


• Power Macintosh G4 (Quicksilver)


• iMac (Summer 2001)


• Power Macintosh G4 (Mirrored Doors)


• Xserve


• iMac (Flat Panel)


• PowerBook G4 (12.1″)


• PowerBook G4 (17″)


• Xserve RAID


• Powerbook G4 (17″ 1.33Ghz)


• Xserve G5


• Mac mini


• MacBook Pro


• MacBook Pro (17″)


• AppleTV


• iPod (many)


• iPod Nano (many)


• iPhone (1st Gen, 3G)

Me in 1999 with a G3 laptop and stupid hair

Yeah, I am a Mac. Old school baby! I know there is a lot of buzz about Windows 7 but I will never be a PC guy. The closest I have ever come was a couple of Power Computing rigs in the 90’s. Apple FTW!