Increase Efficiency, Reduce Paper, and Travel!

This year I want to become as organized, efficient, and as digital/mobile as humanly possible. On top of that goal, in a few weeks I'll be leaving for Warsaw, where I'll be living for a few months, so I decided to jump full-speed into some useful, innovative, and entrepreneurial-focused services. Here's the list...

Increase Organization / Reduce Paper.

• EarthClassMail - Imagine being able to access your postal mail in the same fashion you check your e-mail, all while you're free to travel around the world. Sounds far-fetched, but it's all possible. If that's your cut of tea... check out EarthClassMail.
  
  
• Pixily - With Pixily, you can send all your existing paper documents and within a few days have a living/breathing, search-able archive of your papers. The only challenge is what to do with that ugly file cabinet now that it's obsolete. This start-up is based in the innovative state of Massachusetts. On another note, if you just want to focus on your receipts and business cards, Shoeboxed might be more your match.
  

Organize and Track Expenses.

• Expensify - Import your expenses/receipts, and generate IRS-friendly expense reports.
  

Access your data from anywhere.

• JungleDisk - Local storage is so two years ago. With JungleDisk you can store, sync, back-up and access all of your data on the cloud. It's a must-have!
  
  
• Google Apps - Online applications such as Gmail for Business and Google Docs are genius.
  

Manage Invoices.

• Harvest - Being able to quickly invoice clients, monitor time, and track month-to-month performance is a piece of cake with Harvest, an easy-to-use online invoicing system.
  

Voice-related Services.

• Google Voice - Check your voice-mail just like your e-mail, have a single number forward to all of your lines, send/receive/store your voice-mails and texts... and many other features.
  
  
• Grasshopper - Press "1" for Sales... Press "2" for Tech Support... Grasshopper is a smart virtual phone system with a major focus on entrepreneurs and small business. Another great start-up from MA.

If this is what we have available today, just imagine what will be possible a decade from now.

Last Saturday's Voyage to NYC

This past Saturday, a bunch of friends/entrepreneurs spent the day in NYC. Instances of the dreadful flu knocked out a couple of our comrades, but Sam, Zach, Caleb and I headed on our way. We grabbed lunch at Daniel Boulud's DGBG Kitchen, where we met up with Dominic of Garment Valet, and then made our way into the depths of SoHo to see some compelling art, cast-iron architecture, and furniture design. After parting ways with Dominic, we were joined by Justin, a friend of Zach and Sam of One Mighty Roar / BuildInternet.

We then made our way uptown to Columbus Circle to explore the Museum of Arts & Design where we were enticed and inspired by the current exhibition, Slash: Paper Under the Knife. Highly recommended. After that, we walked up to Verdi Square, one of my favorite general areas in the city... as I made the claimed that coffee taste better the closer you are geographically to The Ansonia. How could that not be true?

We headed back down to SoHo for dinner at Mercer Kitchen, and were joined by Andy of One Blue Brick / Edopter. The conversation was great... the food was so/so. Come on Jean! After narrowing down to the original Pioneer Valley crew, we hit up the Upright Citizen's Brigade for the some hilarious improv. I haven't laughed so hard since Jim Jefferies. After that came to an end, we made our way back to our neck of the woods. Time well spent. Always a good time in New York City.

Upstarts Book Launch

I just got back from Donna Fenn's Upstarts! book launch party. It was at 7 World Trade Center in New York City and attended by many of the vibrant, young entrepreneurs featured in the book. If you haven't ordered a copy of this book, you can do so at Amazon or pick it up at your local bookstore.

Story in Boston Magazine

Young Gun: Would You Let This Kid Save Your Town? Brendan Ciecko made his name—and a boatload of money—as the music industry's go-to website designer. Now that he's finally old enough to buy beer, he's decided to take on a slightly less sexy project: remaking his hardscrabble hometown.

The story hits newsstands today but you can read it online at BostonMagazine.com. I hope you enjoy.

Interviewed by BMW Magazine

I just had the honor of being interviewed by BMW Magazine. This publication goes out to over 3 Million readers in more than 120 countries and is published in 33 languages - nice! Hopefully in Polish and Czech, that'd be fun. What's it all about? You'll have to wait until September to find out.

Update from Ten Minute Media

Ten Minute Media has been busting out work for the TV-celebrity Cat Deeley, re-united Blink-182, buzz-worthy Shwayze, world's biggest DJ Paul Oakenfold, heavy-hitters Staind, indie rockers White Rabbits, and more. Stay tuned for more.

"High Tech for a Historic City" Op-Ed on Xconomy

"High Tech for a Historic City—A 21-Year-Old Web Entrepreneur’s View of the Big Computing Center Planned for His Home Town" - Read More at Xconomy.com

Live, Work, Play

Word on the street is that I take my State to the gym from time to time... you know, helping to make Massachusetts strong. Read more about it here on the Commonwealth's new online resource for young adults. That's some nice Holyoke brick behind my headshot, thanks Jeff.

Robots Take Over Cambridge!

We just got back from the Middle East in Cambridge where a very special celebration took place. What was the celebration about? Our friends at iRobot hit $1-Billion in total robot revenue - an incredible achievement for entrepreneurship, high-tech, robotics, and, damn that's a lot of zeros.

A group of slick Grammy-award winning, YouTube celebrities stopped by the party... déjà vu and familiar faces, it was OK Go! They played a quick game of Rock Band on stage to their own song and a track by the Pixies. Colin from iRobot rocked the guitar and Alex from Harmonix held it down on the drums. After the performance, Elizabeth and I hung out backstage with the band and Colin let us all test-drive some cool robots. Rock stars and robots. I'll post a few pictures in a few days.

Congratulations to iRobot on their continued success!

NYC Book Launch

On Monday, I woke up to a foot or so of snow... despite the weather conditions and after finishing up some work, I made my way to New York for some meetings and an event.

First, I stopped by EMI/Capitol Music on 5th Ave. The lobby there is dressed with huge illuminated pictures of their recent hottest artists; Katy Perry, Coldplay, Lily Allen... I've done quite a few projects for these folks. After some greetings, a quick meeting, and such... I left for my next destination and with some great Bluenote vinyl.

I was in the city for the official book launch party for "Student Entrepreneurs: Mentors Matter" - a book that I contributed a chapter to (more on this at a later date). The event was held at PS450, a business-chic place on Park Ave S. It was nice intimate celebration with many fellow entrepreneurs.

After that, a few of us headed out for dinner. We ended up at a nice French bistro in the Meatpacking District called Pastis. As my New York night came to an end, I headed back to good old Western MA.

Back in town

I couldn't find the time to write about the Budapest adventures, but to wrap it all up... it was an amazing experience and probably one of my favorite cities (it tops the list along with Gdansk). Back to reality, the New Year has started off nicely for my company Ten Minute Media with many new projects in the works. I'm excited to see how this year will move forward for my company, community and country with the new leadership.

Last Saturday, was Gasoline Alley's holiday party in Springfield, MA. The event brought people from all over the region, Boston, New York and even as far south as Virginia. I met a lot of great socially and environmentally conscious business hustlers, such as the people behind Generation Sustain up in Shelburne Falls (town that is home to Bill Cosby), Kopali Organics and Earth Advertising from New York City. Although there was a nasty snow storm in play, a hundred or so people filled the transformed, post-industrial entrepreneurial oasis with energy and stimulating conversation.

NYC & SVN

On Wednesday, I was invited along to a holiday party for Social Venture Network in New York. SVN is a group of socially conscious entrepreneurs and investors that are doing big things. Later in the day, I left for Hartford to meet-up with my good friend Rob, founder of SocialK, to drive down to New Haven to take the train to Grand Central. When we arrived in New York, we grabbed a drink at the absolutely gorgeous Campbell Apartment, waited for a friend from UBS and then took a cab to Pipa Tapas, a place of with great food and enchanting décor. I'd highly recommend this restaurant, it's excellent.

After that, we made our way uptown to the SVN party at Cafe Notte where we reconnected with our friend and fellow western MA'er, Joe Sibilia. I can't say enough about Joe, he's one of those people that leave you with energy, ideas and inspiration. He's had a big impact on how I run my business and how I want to run my business.

Never judge a book by it's cover. To the untrained eye, Joe's outfit of an off-white one-piece jumpsuit, would led you to believe he is either a Ghostbuster or coalminer. He's known to be a pioneer and trendsetter in many capacities, so take notice!

I met a bunch of incredible people and made a few new friends. At the end of the night, Joe, Rob and I said farewell to the great people of SVN and then we headed back western MA.

Bean Town, Part One

On Thursday, I was in Boston to meet up with a bunch of exciting entrepreneurs that wanted to have more fun and do less formal networking. This was a last minute idea of Colin Angle, genius CEO of iRobot. We all unwound at Bar 10 near the lovely Copley Square. It was a great time - such a great time that my keys must have jumped out of my pocket somewhere in the Back Bay. With no way to get home, I canceled my Friday meetings and stayed over with a new friend and called it a night.

Celebration at the State House

Today I spoke at American International College in Springfield and after that headed over to the State House in Boston. Tonight, Massachusetts celebrated some of the great businesses started by the state's young entrepreneurs. We got there a bit late because just like a song by The Walkmen, we got lost in boston. After getting there, we met some cool people from around the state. Elizabeth and I talked for a bit with Johnny of the killer brand Johnny Cupcakes... after chatting Houdini, he made Elizabeth's business card disappear with a good ol' magic trick. I think I'll make some dollars disappear and buy some a cupcake t-shirt or two, you should too. Anyways, it was a nice night in Boston.

Entrepreneurship in the "City of Firsts"

Last Friday, I spoke at the Grinspoon Entrepreneurship Conference at the MassMutual Center in Springfield, MA. I met tons of passionate young entrepreneurs and students that are interested in starting their own businesses. I gave my first ever keynote speech, to a room of 700 people... it was an exciting experience. Thank you to the Harold Grinspoon Foundation for putting on such a great event!

Hanging in Chicago

I just got back from a quick trip to the beautiful city of Chicago. I was back again this year as a judge for the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards. It was very exciting to walk around Grant Park the day after American history was made with the election of Barack Obama, the energy was evident.

I spent the bulk of Wednesday afternoon re-exploring the city with my friend Fraser Doherty of the Scottish company SuperJam. We hit up Ed Debevics for lunch, smoked old-man pipes while getting our shoes shined by an ethusiastic scam artist, and everything in between.

That evening the judges, student competitors, and various entreprenuers were invited to Bill Farley's lovely Beaux-Arts residence for some good old stories and networking. Mr. Farley is a business icon who ran a couple multi-billion dollar enterprises and is also Oprah's neighbor. I had the great opportunity of meeting Bill Farley, talking with Robert Kiyosaki, and swapping cards with other ambitious entrepreneurs.

On Thursday, I judged a bunch of incredible presentations from the best student entrepreneurs around. After that, I talked with a couple friends, old and new, and headed to Midway for my flight back home. All in all, my trip to the "Windy City" was wonderful and I can't wait to go back.

Great Time in NYC

Last night, Elizabeth and I made our way to NYC for Inc. Magazine's "30 Under 30" party. We got into the city hoping to catch an early dinner at Veselka, a well-known Ukrainian place on the LES, but some new show starring Jason Scwartsman was being filmed in the restaurant so we temporally crossed that off our list.

After exploring the neighborhood, we headed up to midtown for the Inc. party at D'Or. The club was packed full with many interesting entrepreneurs, guests and the great people who make the magazine happen. I met lots of great people, had great conversations - it was a blast. We headed back down to Veselka for a late dinner of pierogi, golumpki, and blintzes... and then made our way back home.

Breakfast Roundtable at MIT

Today I had breakfast at the President's House at MIT.

Rewind: towards the middle of last week, I received a phone call from Governor Deval Patrick's office - an invitation to the Technology Roundtable at MIT. My initial reactions were that of shock and excitement...

At the table: MA Governor Patrick, Susan Hockfield (president of MIT), Jack Wilson (president of UMass), and CEOs: John Chambers (Cisco), Paul Sagan (Akamai), Joe Tucci (EMC), William Green (Accenture), Colin Angle (iRobot + actor in the movie, 21), and some kid from Western MA with a pseudo-dutchboy haircut, me!

As the discussion moved forward, many points were made about the future of the tech industry in Massachusetts, impact on the state economy, and promoting entrepreneurship.

When the issue of focusing on green energy (as it applies to tech) arrived... I commented that Western MA's most valuable resource for the tech industry is abundance of power: renewable hydro-electric power. At the moment, Google is in the process of building a major data-center of in The Dalles, OR (population: 12,000) because of the cheap and renewable energy from the hydro-electric dam. Holyoke has 16 hydro-electric sources, the most of any city in the state - by almost 3 times as much as the runner-up. Holyoke also has the Mt Tom Power Plant and ISO as an added bonus. You have the bargain, clean hydro, multiple sources of energy and water for cooling the data-center... it's data-storage/processing company's dream.

Is there a chance that a company like Google might look at Holyoke for there next data-center? From some of the CEOs and other experts I've talked to... Yes, it's very likely.

Well, enough of my rambling. Today was unforgettable and it was a great honor to meet some of the world's most brilliant thinkers.

The First of Many...

Welcome to the musings of a young entrepreneur, digital media producer, and urbanist.

Many people have made the suggestion that I should start a blog. If you know me, you know that I can talk for hours about anything... this is both a good and bad thing.