Tue 9 May 2006
I saw Balter on Sunday for dinner at Upstairs on the Square, right next door to Peet’s, the coffee place where we had first talked in January about the 90 Days idea. He seemed a little rough around the edges. He confessed that he had quaffed an excess of gin and tonic the night before and maybe that was the cause of his condition. But maybe not.
I told him about a speech I had recently heard by Steve Case, founder of AOL. Steve said that, in some ways, he enjoyed the early days of the business, when no one was sure what the outcome might be, more than the later times when the business had become a huge success. Balter said, “Yeah. But we’re a long way from that.”
Yesterday I enjoyed a rare and welcome interview with David Wagner, BzzAgent COO. The very first day I came to the office, Wags and I spoke and he made it abundantly clear that he felt no need for blog immortalization and did not care to appear in 90 Days. He also worried that an inopportune post, on a transparent blog open to the world, could be distracting and even disruptive to the workings of the Hive. Why tempt fate? But nothing like that happened. In fact, Wagner volunteered yesterday that 90 Days has had some positive effect — both as a method of internal communication and as evidence that BzzAgent truly believes in transparency.
Once, I deliberately tested Wagner’s resolve to keep out of the blog, by mentioning his name in a post about a company meeting. I received a very polite email from him reminding me that he did not wish to appear in 90 Days and suggesting that my little test (which I’m sure he recognized as such) had no doubt been an oversight. I liked that.
In our conversation yesterday, Wagner seemed as much on edge as Balter had. Though Wagner has been involved in start-ups before, he made the point that every situation presents a different dynamic, and this one includes: a newly recomposed board of directors, a senior management team with short experience working together, new pressure to achieve quarterly numbers, rapid growth, intense technology needs, a Hive swarming with new hires, and the office move coming up. He speculated that the noise generated by so much activity — in addition to the business of running the business — had the potential to “wear away the collective motivation” and would have to be carefully guarded against. Which is not to say Wagner isn’t confident BzzAgent remains on a path to success. He is.
Elsewhere in the Hive, I’m glad to report that the collective motivation seems to be withstanding the challenges. Michele Pearl reported that BzzAgent “is in a good place overall. Sales are flowing in and we’re figuring out some really important things on the network side.” The Cave dwellers were hard at work on a variety of projects. Smita, the new QA engineer, had settled in, and Vishnu, the long sought-after java developer, arrives today. Jake Alper now sits near accounting and admitted that he was slightly lonely there without his fellow troglodytes, but would soon be joined by yet another new engineer. He lent me his cable again. Thanks.
Erik Heels, a lawyer who handles intellectual property issues, was pleased to report that several “bzz” words (including BzzAgent, BzzBlast, and BzzNetwork) are now well on the way to legal trademark protection. Joe Chernov sent out a missive about the company getting more good press, this time in the Atlanta Business Chronicle. A new HR person has been hired and starts in a few weeks. John Ramsey was handing out free trial memberships to BJ’s.
And speaking of motivation, Brian Dame has already lost five pounds in the Biggest Loser contest, which he thought was pretty good until Toof revealed he had lost eight. “I want a Coke,” Brian said. Neither Sara nor Mary-Stuart were saying how much they had lost.
When I left, I saw Elizabeth and Evan on Summer Street. “They’ve been yelling at me all day,” Elizabeth reported with a schoolgirl smile, referring to people who were upset by the raging debate about pests on the BeeLog. Evan snickered. (His post ignited the controversy.)
I walked toward the parking lot thinking to myself, “I wonder what’s going to happen to all these people and this unusual little company?”
RSS
May 9th, 2006 at 8:31 am
“he enjoyed the early days of the business, when no one was sure what the outcome might be, more than the later times when the business had become a huge success”
MEN! Sounds like my marriage. My ex-marriage
May 9th, 2006 at 8:35 am
Dude, I SO want a Coke. And the blueberry muffin I used to get from Metro every morning. And I’d seriously throw any person in the Hive under a bus if I could get the shepard’s pie from Marco Polo on Thursday. However, I’m determined to win this stupid contest, even if Toof is using weight-loss supplements and purging after he eats his head of lettuce. Eight pounds? In one week? I mean, c’mon dude!
May 9th, 2006 at 11:00 am
John,
Since I know how anxious the hive denizens are to collect your computer cable I want beat the rush and thank you today for informing and entertaining us these last few months. My favorites list will lament the loss of 90 days.
I get the impression that the organization is struggling to catch its breath. Nothing serious really, I mean it needs a metaphorical Breathe Right strip. Maybe that boost is the office move, maybe it’s coming together with a plan to deal with the pests, maybe it’s a cultural shift away from celebrating the total number of agents.
…and maybe I just can’t wait for the end of allergy season so that I can come up with some non-sinus-related imagery.
In any case, thank you and good luck.
Bzzagent Misanthropoid
May 9th, 2006 at 1:01 pm
I’ll jump in too, beating the rush of people who will, I expect, want to thank John before “90 Days” finishes its run.
As someone outside of BzzAgent and the hive, it took a bit before I got my bearings about what John and the rest of you have been blogging about. But there was much here in the past 89 days that was entertaining, lively, and interesting, even to an outsider.
I wonder if Dave and the others will consider something that allows for an occasional update. Perhaps a “Once every 3 Months Experiment”. John wouldn’t need a desk (or cable) at the new digs… he could just show up, roam around, chat, have a piece of fruit, jot down some notes, and submit a brief blog entry.
In any event, thanks to John for the skillful job he did with this. Thanks to you all for the peek inside. And best wishes to BzzAgent as you navigate the interesting terrain ahead.
May 9th, 2006 at 2:54 pm
I now feel like Steve Martin in a scene from “The Jerk” (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079367/), when he said “The new phone book’s here! The new phone book’s here! This is the kind of spontaneous publicity I need! My name in print! That really makes somebody! Things are going to start happening to me now.”
Thanks for the mention!
May 9th, 2006 at 3:03 pm
I saw today at Wal*mart new sponges in the buy just one sponge instead of the collection of three bin.
On the front of the sponge- the scrubby part is a colorful BEE! :0) They are sold under the Spontex name.
I thought it would be great to have a Bzz Sponge and am tempted to get one to send it to y’all to clean up or toss around or squish as stress relief!
www.spontexusa.com and no, i don’t have stock nor do i work for them.
The sponge not the bee one unfortunately, is on the scrubbing page. Their main page looks so much like what i remember the Sparkly Perfect first page to look at that at first i wondered if it were not some gag, but then, i’ve purchased a few of these sponges before because of the purple color or nifty design on the scrubbing pad.
I wonder if Spontex would work with BzzAgent and we can Bzz about Bee sponges! :0)
May 9th, 2006 at 3:31 pm
I am curious as to why the tension is occuring as well. I like everyone has enjoyed the 90 days experiments
Perhaps its a reaction to some negative press.
I recently read a book called Not Buying It: My Year without spending. It was a compelling read and quite interesting (I do not work for the author publisher!)
Bzzagent and JonO are specifically mentioned in this text in what I perceived as negative publicity.
Perhaps the hive has read the text. I was completely suprised when I read the book to find Bzzagent mentioned in a book that denounces spending!
I hope the best for the new surroundings, the most recent hires and all the new business.
May 10th, 2006 at 8:18 am
I’m going through withdrawl already!!!!!! Thank you, Mr. Butman and everyone at the Hive for this blog. It made my bloglines happy every day for 90 days.
Kristin
May 10th, 2006 at 3:01 pm
Brian, my throat was just a bit parched the morning of the first weigh-in so I had to hydrate.
And why are you reading this blog? Go run - you have some catching up to do!
Butman, it has been a pleasure. Come back soon!