All in

Why am I doing this? 
That's a question I get a lot. 
There are also people who think thy know why I doing this blog and New
Tech Press and the VC communications program, etc., etc.  It occurred to me today that I haven't
really stated why.

Here's why.

I no longer believe in the effectiveness of the public
relations practices that we are all used to.  I no longer believe 99.999 percent of the news releases put
out everyday have any value.  I
cannot see how media and analyst relations practices that have developed over
the past century can possibly bring awareness of small, innovative
companies.  I believe that
everything has changed, from the way information is distributed to the way it
is consumed; from the way information is gathered to how that gathering is
financially supported.

For the past 12 months, I have not taken another client that
wants to do business as usual.  I
have told dozens of companies that what they want to hire me to do will NOT do what
they want to see happen.  I have
told them that even if they find someone to do what they want and they get what
they expect, what they expect will NOT produce the outcome they hope for.

There are a lot of small PR agencies and consultants that
will take money to do what is asked of them.  They will do the job very well and produce the results the
companies want to see.  But those
same consultants will face a dissatisfied client in 12 months because he can
see no growth in his business, no additional awareness of his company and no
real hope for continued investment in his innovation.

I do not want my company to be another one of those
agencies.  Something new has to be
done.  I think social media
approaches are more effective.  I
believe sponsored media coverage has greater reach.  I know that the approaches I am promoting actually do some
good for the companies that are exploring the possibilities.

Basically, I'm saying I am all in with the gamble on new
forms of media and information. 

I am not going to compete with PR consultants and agencies
for traditional business.  I will
work with those agencies to help them be better at what they do.

I'm saying all this for you to be prepared.  You are going to be hearing from
us.  By us, I mean me, Joe and
Ozzie.  We are bringing you the
truth about the present situation and what you can do about it.  We know that the past no longer is. We
don't know exactly what the future will look like, but we have a pretty good
idea and we're going to take some good companies there.  And it's going to benefit everyone:
startups, media, analysts and the market.

We will probably be talking about you, too.  There are many influential people and
organizations who are asking us who is in and who is out.  We'll be praising companies who get it
and revealing those who don't

We're
all in on this.  Someone has to be.