The whole New York trip was definitely meant to be all about work, but of course on the flip side work must be balanced with play.  Thursday night the whole team decided to head out to PS450 near downtown Manhattan.   A lot of folks from college we invited out showed up to have a good time, but without doubt we were bound to run into people we hadn’t seen in years.  That’s just the way New York works, you’re walking down the street and all of sudden its someone you haven’t seen since school.   One of the people that showed up was an old friend of mine, Vinnie.

Educated at Univ of Michigan’s B-school (and the streets of New York haha), Vinnie has cultivated himself into quite the number man.   I remembered he was doing financial work for PriceWaterHouse Coopers, so we chatted about that for a second, however it turned out he no longer worked there.  He is now actively working on his own financial consulting firm, Four Corners.  He has been working with a couple of other starts-up, helping them to develop pitch decks, financial forecasts and relationships with investors.  Now how lucky is that?   One of the last missing links to the Motown Initiative is team member with an accounting and revenue strategy background.  I just had to invite Vinnie down to the office for a sit down.

The next day, we had about a four hour conversation.  It was a mixture of catching up on the past and discussing opportunities of the future.  All said and done, Four Corners is now going to be working with Motown Initiative to ensure that we remain adequately funded and inline with our revenue goals post website launch.

This isn’t a retro post…this is my first current post haha

We were down in Manhattan Beach,CA last night BBQ’n and the whole Motown thing came up in conversation, as a couple of our friends wanted an update on MI’s progress. One of them pointed out something very interesting.  Apparently, without even having capital on hand, I can obtain a valuation for Motown Initiative.

One of our other friends actually got valuation for his start-up by presenting his business plan alongside some basic webpage examples.   I think if I take the time to refine my webpage wireframes as well as the appearance of the business plan Motown should be able to seek out valuation. This is exactly what we need to further pique the interest of some investors.  Without a fully functional product, market traction (aka your support) and valuation are key.   (follow jump for more)
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March 22nd, 2009…I spent the better part of my Saturday sitting in my living room with a white board and a marker, drawing a user interface for this so called broadband video idea I’ve been pondering.  As I continued to review the competitive battleground and our notes from the conference on Tuesday, I began to question the business model that I’ve had in mind.

Now there is nothing particularly wrong with the model; in fact I personally still think its great, but there is a fundamental problem with the direction my business seems to be going.  It looks as if I’m trying to replace cable TV.  Now some of you are saying “that’s a great idea, I wish I didn’t need cable”, but the fact is there is quite the business model attached to traditional TV.  I can tell you right now, major networks and cable providers are not about to part with their billions in ad revenue.

I decided to just start typing down all the potential components of the business model and how they may actually fair in the eyes of major networks and investors.  The list got pretty long, and my mind went pretty numb, so I had to call it day.   To compliment a day’s work, I decided to go visit my friend’s house and they just got a PS3 and Wii….sillyness…

Side note:  I did enjoy my gaming night but it was somewhat discouraging.  Remember the 8^th grade, in your parent’s basement? Yea you do…playing video games until they’d force you to go to bed.  Well I sure can’t do it anymore.  After 3 hours of Street Fighter IV, I not only felt like I just took a 5 mile run but my thumbs were sore too.  In fact, forget past tense, my thumbs ARE STILL sore.  I hope when I wake up my thumbs are back in commission :-/

Greetings to all,

This is my first entry,  im getting settled into the site and what not, so bare with me.  Overtime it should start looking a little more cool and hopefully I’ll get you guys engaged through commentary / suggestions.

My writings here will serve to keep everyone abreast of Motown Initiative activity from an “insider” perspective.  What is the Motown Initiative you may ask? Well let’s start with the word Motown.  If this word doesn’t automatically bring the city of Detroit to mind, you’re gonna wanna start by clicking here (a little wiki action for ya :)).   Now going back to complete name.

Motown Initiative is actually the code name for an upcoming tech-start up I believe has the ability to  breathe new life into Detroit.  By bringing relevant business that is non-automotive dependent to the heart of the city,  Motown Initiative hopes to rebuild the economy of Detroit step-by-step.   Imagine a broadband tech company that not only defines its success by monetary measurement but by social impact as well.   Working with local community organizations, educational institutions, philanthropists, broadband industry leaders and local businesses, Motown Initiative will work to redefine Detroit business.  This is in short the best description of the business Motown Initiative will establish.

So if you are like me, and you have a genuine interest in seeing the historic city of Detroit revitalized,  I encourage you to track my blog rss feed.   As time goes on the direction and details of the Motown Initiative plan will be revealed.