Having just finished up my work last night, I decided to keep my “creative juices” flowing and record some music.  Turntable-ism, as I like to call it, is a great hobby to get your mind off things.  At the same time I decided to run a virus check, just to make sure my laptop was up to snuff.  Everything was going fine until I tried to execute one more task.  I hit the function key on my laptop to swap monitor outputs and bam….I was paused up.  I waited for a few minutes, but I eventually got impatient and turned the computer off.  Upon reboot my jaw dropped…… “ntfs.sys not found”.

The computer wouldn’t boot.  I thought to myself “it’s over, this whole Motown thing is over, and it will be all my fault”  I hadn’t backed up the files in 6 months.  No one else involved with the project is housing all the files.   I am the only person who tracks all of the workflow.  Business plans, wireframes, and research, everything…it was all in limbo at this point.
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work..eat..work..eat..work..sleep..repeat

Well there isn’t much of it.  As you can see, blog posts have been sparse lately, but I haven’t forgotten about you guys.  The past couple weeks have been a test of the Motown team’s dedication to the project.  The hoops that we have to jump through to obtain funding, in addition to all the work needed to create a reasonable business plan, are a bit much.  I rewrote our elevator pitch so many times that I was ready to just take the stairs.  However, after much work, I think we now have a great pitch with a perfect plan behind it.   I’ll probably spend the next few days going over the document implementing any needed revisions but then its off to my mecca of inspiration.  The car dealership :-D.

I think every entrepreneur needs an inspiration, and it shouldn’t just be cold hard cash.  This is not to say that money can’t be a factor but an inspiration should have form, even if it is just an object of desire.  Whether you’re inspired by your personal mentor or the idea of buying a house for your family, I think everyone should conger up something.  I personally am inspired by family and successful friends, but one form of inspiration that really stands out for me is automobiles.  It’s my true passion.

One of those "objects of desire"

I love cars, from a Kia to a Bugatti,  I have an appreciation for anything that is well designed and rolls on four wheels.   So after a hard couple weeks work, one of the MI team members and I for some “spirited” test drives :).  This is always the pick me up I need to get my head back in the game.  I’ll post some pictures of what we drive on Sunday, its alway’s epic.  Last time we drove a Honda Insight, Porsche Cayenne and VW CC.  We’ll see what we get into this weekend.  Can you say Aston?  I hope I can haha

One of our primary competitive threats is currently in beta testing the water for their new subscription based online video system.   Both Time Warner Inc. (not TW cable) and Comcast are involved in this online business model mutiny.  Probably more of a strategic move to improve their set-top box cable business, you really can’t blame them for trying to expand their reach.   In any case, I figured i’d pull some bullet points from newteevee.com just to give everyone a snapshot of what we’re looking at with TV Everywhere at the helm of online video.

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The light is coming for Detorit

Everyday I try to read at least one article, blog entry or book chapter related to business.  My desk is simply stacked with reading material spanning everything from Inc. Magazine to MBA for Dummies.  Yesterday, I noticed there was an article about “the 10 best cities to start a business in” on the cover of Entrepreneur.  I opened the book only to be disappointed.  I thought to myself, why have they not cited Detroit?

As I began to read the article, I realized that they weren’t focusing on cities that were ripe for change and advancement; they were more so highlighting cities they thought embodied the entrepreneurial spirit.  Unfortunately, Detroit doesn’t quite do that yet.  I figure they could have at least mentioned Ann Arbor, there have been a number of start-ups there, but much to my dismay no mention of any city in Michigan.   Continuing to read, I started to notice statements like “their unemployment is near 10%” and “the cost of living is more affordable than it has been in eight years”.  Do people not realize the unemployment rate in Detroit is about 15% (50% more) and the cost of living is borderline cheapest in the nation haha.  It really isn’t a laughing matter, but I still feel like people are not realizing the potential of Detroit.

I would call Las Vegas, San Diego, Phoenix or Austin interesting places but not necessarily anything special for entrepreneurs (four of the cities they cited).   Vegas is a great place to party;  San Diego is a nice place to sit on the beach and they have a nice Zoo; Phoenix is super hot if you need a tan; Austin is a great place to meet women I hear;  But I really don’t think any of these places can beat the opportunity inherent in Detroit.  The local talent of Detroit is unbelievable.  Just think, the guy who came up with Google, one of the original engineers of the ipod, and even looking all the way back to Motown music or even the Model-T automobile, Michigan has brought greathings to the world.   I truly believe that with the right industry in place, Detroit can thrive once again and Michigan can began to cultivate and utilize its talented workforce.  I’m not the only one who believes this though, there are a number of great organizations labeled business accelerators that have started in Michigan recently to support entrepreneurship and the revitalization of the local economy.  One group in particular that comes to mind is Ann Arbor Spark.

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DA from Chester French; Program Lead from Music Unites ; Mitsue Artist

Although the concept may seem old, it works and its certainly not seen enough. Entertainment is one those industries that cashes more checks than Bill Gates.  So why not use that financial strength to do good.

When you look at companies out there that are laying the ground work for artists and empowering individuals, Music Unites (MU) is one such organization. Music Unites (MU) is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting established and emerging musicians and genres, in addition to supporting music education by underwriting free concerts for the public in various cities. MU aims to break down barriers between music genres and introduce new audiences to unfamiliar artists.  Motown Ini will continue to track this organization and see how they shape the playing field for emerging talents.

On a similiar note, just last week MU had a Chester French event at the Red Bull Space and it was a very engaging event. They highlighted the new popular artists Chester French (new group pub’d by Pharrell Williams) as well as emerging talent Mitsue (check previous blog entries to learn about our relationship with her efforts).   Although Chester French was the focal point of the event, when we walked in with Mitsue the crowd turned toa frenzy, there was a lot of curiosity about who she was.

Chester French with Pharrell Williams

Upon entrance someone immediately placed a TY KU bottle in her hand for some branding shots, and I don’t blame them one bit. If I had a product to sell, I’d want her face on it too. “I must admit, I was there to see Chester French perform. But the moment I saw this red hair girl enter and the press swarmed her by the step and repeat, I had to see what she was about and I completely forgot why I was there” claimed one guest. “I love her look, where can I find her music?”.  If Music Unites can attract and continue to support this level of professional emerging talent, then they’re really onto something.  Motown Ini will hope to do the same for emerging entertainment.  FOLLOW JUMP FOR IMAGES.

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Just when I thought I had a good pitch together, I had to mess around and get more opinions on the matter.  It seems it’s not enough to just have one trick up your sleeve.   When Tim Wakefield (Red Sox, not a fan or anything but the guy is good) steps to the mound, he doesn’t throw the same curve ball over and over,  he switchs it up.   You have to know who you’re pitching to and how to get past them.  While my initial pitch was quite suitable for its purpose, I have yet to pitch to any resident silicon valley VCs.   Pitching to that crowd is a whole different ball game.
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I know, broad question right?  As I continue to dig into our financial pro-forma, to ensure that all revenue/cost figures are current before I hand it over to 4corners, I just can’t see how you can’t develop profits in the broadband video market.  Every time I look at the margins and costs involved, even when using improbable absorbent cost figures, the financial sheets always project that we will see initial profits within one year of operation.  This is not normal for a start-up; normally it should take years for investors to see a return.   Of course success is completely contingent on the number of unique visitors a website attracts, but to date there hasn’t been one major broadband video site to attract less than 600k unique visits in a month.  I think market costs were about 5x as much only about 18 months ago, so maybe it was just harder to be profitable in the past, but by our measures if you have good advertisement relationships and a reasonable overhead, 1.8-2M views in a qtr should leave a video company on the cusp of profitability.   Every major site, even those that have failed in the long-run, has at some point hit over 600k unique visits in a month.  However, at that point, a particular site either engages users and continues to grow rapidly, or it losses.  There is demand for online video, so there is no shortage of users to drive unique visits. It seems success is completely dependent on the quality of the product presented.
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