Chick Launcher Event

Chick Launcher & DLA Piper hosted an event called “Building The Right Team for Your Growing Startup” tonight. Here are my favorite bytes:

ANN LAWRENCE, Partner, DLA Piper LLP – Host & Moderator
MARTA FERRO, Chief Executive Officer, Pink51
STACEY GOLDSTEIN, Co-Founder, Lola Getts Active
GALIT LAIBOW, Founder, Foodstirs, Inc.
KEVIN McGUSHION, CEO & Founder, InkaBinka

ANN: Introduce the perspective hire to the company’s mission, office, team and then ask “what would you bring to the table?” rather than searching for a person who checks off on a list of characteristics.”

KEVIN: A’s hire A’s, B’s hire C’s.
A lot of people don’t pivot well, and lose confidence because the company changes direction. The core team must have faith in the CEO and project.

STACEY: 67% of Americans are plus size. We brought on a CTO who was plus size/can relate. Everyone on your team has to work from a place of passion, and accept the vision & demographic. Lola Getts Active co-founders re-hired the entire team.

 

GALIT: Keep networking to find the right person! We have someone right now that keeps emailing ideas over and over and I think “will she give up?” but I think I am going to give her a chance.

ANN: If someone wants to help and asks for a piece of the business then say, “that’s great! Can’t wait to have you on the team. Lets give it 3 months” and have them show some evidence. Do they keep asking for stuff? Red flag. You have to see if they commit to the work and don’t just want to go to the party.



KEVIN: I have mentors on my advisory board that I compensate with friendship & investors with equity. I am shameless. “Every friend I have is an investor.”
For our app the savvy investors ask, “what’s retention like? It’s not the user number but rather the download number, how long they spend using your product.

ANN: Understand the market you’re trying to disrupt.
The board of advisors have no actual weight on business. No legal risk. VS. Investors on the Board of Directors have legal risk.


KEVIN: If you are building an online product, understand the language. Learn a little code so you can communicate with the developer(s).

CEO of RadPad

Today I shot an interview with Jonathan Eppers, CEO of RadPad for the Social Programming Network. Hosted by Britt Hysen.

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Three Sony EX 3′s with 2 Arri lights in a small room with big windows
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Bergen Norway

Bergen, Norway - the world’s richest country (because it has the largest sovereign wealth fund) was BEAUTIFUL during our 2 day visit. I sampled a fisherman’s catch of salmon (70 Euros a lb.) that melted in my mouth, visited an old woman’s hand crafted wood shop in the back alleys and shopped HAY OSLO!
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The Clarion Collection Hotel Havnekontoret had tiny rooms but it was clean, amazing breakfast and super awesomely located.

We took a yacht ride to see the fjords
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My lunches and dinners were local/organic
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I discovered this wooden back alley of shops owned by locals in different textile and art industries
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Jeff performed at the Grieghallen
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Reykjavik Iceland

Reykjavik Iceland weather was COLD and bipolar (sunny to hailing to sunny then windy snow – a change every 30 minutes) We visited Blue Lagoon Iceland (earth warmed jacuzzi) Hallgrímskirkja (tall gothic church overlooking downtown) & shot Jeff Dunham show at Harpa (beautifully designed glass structure on the water). A great start to the trip, 16 more cities to go!

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We flew in via Iceland Air on April 17th and staying until the 21st.

We flew from LA to Seattle
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This was our first lunch and dinner:
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and my favorite meal of the day: breakfast
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I loved my hotel (Hilton) because it was minimalist and airy. This was the view outside my window. I did not pack appropriately from the start…
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Hospitable touch on Easter. This inspired me to call a team meeting (over Skype) in order to surprise Podestrians on Easter morning with candy eggs
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Hold on, let me take a selfie:
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We shot Jeff Dunham being funny at the beautiful Harpa auditorium.
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Your camera girl for the evening:
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Next up, Bergen Norway!

Dunham Tour: Canada

I flew to Calgary via Air Canada on April 9 for a show in Red Deer at the Enmax Centrium. This was our test before hitting the road for 17 cities abroad. Dipple and I have to be mobile and compact. Our cases are organized by type of equipment (battery pack versus lenses versus bodies versus audio etc.). Every show we will have to unload and load in the same [organized] way so nothing gets left behind. I will be tending to these hard cases at least 34 times on tour, my OCD may wear off toward the end.

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We checked into iHotel, which was pretty awesome actually (see my review here)
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That night we ate an incredible steak (pecan crusted sirloin with goat cheese!) at The Keg and on set the next day, the crew got catering.
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We arrived at 10am for the 8pm show to setup. We ran 5 cameras, I was on stage left in the penalty box shooting on a Canon 7d with 100-400m lens.
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We flew back to LAX on April 11, 2014 in preparation for the big trip April 17 to May 26!

Road Trip to SF!

Before I start my international travels for Jeff Dunham’s comedy tour (Canada end of this week and the world tour abroad the following weekend) I decided to drive up to San Fran with Kate in her 2003 Volkswagon 2 door GTI – which is not automatic, which means I did not have to take the wheel.

I tested out my NEW go pro 3

Took some photos from the car with my 5d

Post by Elvina Beck.

 
 
Played dodgeball

and connected with my little sister Lily

Pringles Video Contest

Me, Kate & Kera brainstormed a concept for Eyeka.com Pringle’s “You don’t just eat em” contest and decided on “you prank em!”

We spent 2 days shooting 2 thirty second videos for our submission. Here is my hand drawn storyboard!
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I tweeted out a pic after wrapping and was re-tweeted:

Post by Elvina Beck.

SXSW2014

This was my 5th year at SXSW in Austin Texas and I almost did not go. I paid $800 for a Southwest airline ticket because I bought it 1 week prior. March 6-11 I was badge-less at the interactive festival, using a backchannel with mostly silicone valley friends to attend VIP parties and each breakfast, lunch and dinner for free.

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My friends housed me

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I participated in discussion forums

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I visited Facebook Austin
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and met some really great friends
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FastCompany Party Shoot

My friends from Hootsuite were going to the SXSW Fast Company party and I wanted in. They did not have an RSVP for me, so I whipped out my DSLR, put a 580EXII flash on it and told the door girl I was shooting for Hootsuite. She definitely questioned my story and hesitated. Especially since I had 3 guys with me. But after a long moment, she wristbanded us and in we went!

Well, I felt bad lying so I started shooting guests and getting their twitter handles. My friends were like “you know you don’t have to do that right?” But I wanted to. I wound up meeting Rachel, the woman who threw the party, and she said “thank you for shooting! I am not sure where you came from but I appreciate it” and I gave her a set of personal shots with sponsored brands.

Keep hustling my friends, but do the right thing!

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