Archive for posts i've written

last night this happened

23 Jul, 2010 • posts i've written • 1 comment

In one month, 212 backers contributed $18,591 for the development of a book.

(about $16,200 after kickstarter & amazon service fees, if you’re curious)

It’s not lost on me that for most Americans that’s a majority of their yearly income and for most humans across the globe, that’s more than they’ll make in 3-5 years.

Your collective faith in the project and this money together amount to a considerable obligation to make this awesome.

After the funds clear in 14 days, they’re going into a new bank account that will only be used for direct expenses related to the research and development of the book. That’s a promise.

When I set up the Kickstarter page 30 days ago, crossed my fingers, and hit submit I had a healthy sense this might work, that there is far more value in our networks of friends and colleagues than we can possibly fathom right now, but I had no idea we’d raise this much together.

And frankly, I had no idea that this many people were this willing to put their faith in us (it’s not just me, people were clearly inspired by the type of people supporting the project).

So it’s a shared obligation – between you and I – to make this thing awesome.

Research is ramping up fast. Next week I visit Boston and Microsoft’s New England R&D office. I’ll be inviting the Editorial Board members into their private basecamp group soon, too (but it might take a little longer than I planned, I had no idea there would be over 110 of you).

Personally, I just want to take a second to be candid and tell you all how much this means to me. This is emotional for me. This outpouring of support has been more than enough to I think cure me of any remaining cynicism about people or life I might have been carrying around with me. I’ve been taking stock lately of my nomadic existence over the last 4-5 years, of the cities I’ve moved from, of the people whose names I have trouble remembering now, of the random tragedies I’ve seen befall people I love … and in contrast, this thing the internet that I’ve poured so much of myself into with a deep feeling that somehow I was building something with all of those sleepless nights hunched over my laptop, obsessed with something new, obsessed with building relationships with the brilliant people the web brought me access to. After every move, I tend to pair down what I own. I’m down to just a few suitcases now, I even left my guitars behind in Brooklyn. But as I was pairing down physical things, I was amassing more and more connections to people, connections that flutter between transient awareness and then gushing support like this. It’s a remarkable feeling to know that I carry all of you around with me in addition to my few articles of clothing, and I hope you start to feel just a little bit of what I feel after this experiment.

final day, final notice, final chance to join the bucket brigade

22 Jul, 2010 • posts i've written • 1 comment

Today is the absolute last day to join The Bucket Brigade. Funding closes at 12:35am Friday EDT.

JOIN NOW AT KICKSTARTER

A few notable new members of the Editorial Board you could be rubbing shoulders with if you join now:

Lots of early backers have been increasing their original donation so that they can join the Editorial Board.

So far the average contribution exceeds $82 per supporter.

Incredible.

But it’s not half as incredible as the people that have chosen to support the project … and me. If you’re unable to support the project, still be sure to find these people and connect with them. They’re incredibly kind, passionate, engaged, helpful, and curious.

They’re the best network of friends and associates to be had. And I’m not just saying that. Now, I’ve got real proof.

As funding wraps up, the real work begins. It’s going to be awesome. And it’s going to be a helluva lot of work. Good thing I have friends.

You can fund the project for as little as $2, and any amount guarantees you a digital copy of the book when it’s done.

Head over to Kickstarter to back the project, and then give your own network one last warning that today’s their last chance to join up.

4 days left to back the bucket

19 Jul, 2010 • posts i've written • No comments

Thursday is your final day to back The Bucket Brigade – and your final day to join the incredible group of people (a Twitter list of backers) that are supporting the project.

Visit the Kickstarter project page now.

And if you’ve already supported the project, please consider taking a few moments this week to urge anyone else you know to join our cause.

More reasons to back the bucket, from actual supporters:

  • “Whilst Bud’s doing the research and writing and thinking, he’ll be working with the folk who back him at the ‘editorial’ level to sense check/input/read/think/suggest. By being part of that part of the project, and given the sorts of folk on the editorial team, it’s a brilliant opportunity to look at the world again, and reorientate my head. So I guess, in a sense, the $100 for the editorial level is the cheapest course I’ll ever pay for…” – John Willshire
  • “Bud has an idea, and it might be right and it might be wrong and no one’s going to know for sure until we get him in the room with enough of the right people. Plane tickets cost money, but they beat the hell out of simply insisting that your idea is right. … More significant, though, is this: ideas like these demand rigor. They demand smart people who have ideas of their own, with designs on challenging the ideas we started with until something far more refined and interesting takes form. In this case, that process will serve as both the opening chapter of the final product and a measure of the integrity of the text itself, with the success of the Editorial Board structure in many ways determining the strength of the final product.” – Ian Fitzpatrick
  • “Lots of people think (and talk) about writing a book (including me) so my last (and possibly overriding) reason is because he’s got off his butt and done something about it” – Neil Perkin

Updates on the project:

  • Last Friday I completed my first interview for the book with Tobias Peggs, VP & GM of OneRiot – a realtime search engine. Tobias actually earned his PhD working with some of the underlying concepts I’m following for the book, mainly classifier systems. He not only had some great insights to offer, but he was so excited about the idea for the book that he decided to back the book and become a member of the Editorial Board. How cool is that? By the way, all Editorial Board Members will have access to interview transcripts and I’ve already posted the transcript from my interview with Tobias in the private community that all E.B. members will be invited to by the end of the week.
  • Next week I’m headed to The Microsoft New England Research & Development Center in Boston to finally meet my academic heroes Nancy Baym and danah boyd and to continue my research for the book with their colleagues. And in case you’re wondering how the funds for the book will be used – this single trip is going to cost me more than $700. Hopefully I can plan future trips out a bit more and save some money, but needless to say, this process will be expensive.

9 reasons to join the editorial board

13 Jul, 2010 • posts i've written • 1 comment

With 9 days left to back The Bucket Brigade, I thought I’d give you 9 reasons to support the project by highlighting 9 random members of the Editorial Board so far. Over 30 people make up the brain trust to-date, and a donation of $100 or more guarantees you a place among fine folks such as these:

Johnny Vulkan – along with one rad name, Johnny is Partner at Anomaly, where he makes innovative things happen on his dual iPads while criss-crossing the Atlantic Ocean. And like everyone on the Board, Johnny is one seriously nice dude.

Gareth Kay – Gareth is the Director of Brand Strategy at Goodby, incredibly smart, universally loved, and even though I was little more than a random internet person, Gareth took the time to give me some earnest career advice. Oh, and he blogs. And it’s good.

Mel Exon – Mel is the Managing Partner & co-founder @BBHLabs and runs things in London. I finally met Mel in person at SXSW when she brought the whole Made By Many crew to one of Austin’s best cowboy bars, The Broken Spoke. I think Mel should have been born in Texas.

Jamie Wilkinson – Jamie is my go-to professor of all things internet domination; co-founder of Know Your Meme, F.A.T. Lab, and Parson’s Internet Famous Class, Jamie knows how small groups use the web to their advantage. He’s an awesome dude.

Laura Chavoen – Laura is one of the few people that can claim more than a decade of experience focused on strategy and back it up (Razorfish, Scholastic, Yamaha, and now Imagination Publishing). I had the good fortune to work for Laura in Chicago and she brings some serious chops and wisdom to anything she works on. I’m also psyched to also pick the brain of her husband, Bill Shunn who is a much acclaimed science fiction author – perhaps he’ll help me keep this thing interesting (and by that I mean ray gun fights and faster than light space travel).

Len Kendall – Len’s right there with me (or even past me) trying out new publishing experiments, maybe you’ve heard of his massively successful the3six5 project.

Gavin Heaton – aka @servantofchaos, and the publisher of the collaborative publishing book series, The Age of Conversation, Gavin brings some awesome experience having actually sold copies of A.O.C., super glad to have his expertise.

Neil Perkin – founder/blogger/thinker at Only Dead Fish, which is a fantastic blog but will never be truly amazing until I actually win one of his damn post of the month polls (Faris rightly wallops most everyone, most every time).

So what’s the Editorial Board you ask? Well, The Editorial Board is a private digital community (hosted through Basecamp) and members of the community will help to:

  • identify experts/case studies to include
  • help shape the questions asked or topics covered w/ said experts
  • they’ll also receive early transcripts of those interviews b/c it’s awesome
  • later the board will see early drafts of chapters, will weigh in on them, etc
  • then we get to make the fun decisions about the product itself, does it have to be a book? what should it look like? where should it be distributed? do we charge for it?

Sold? Visit the Kickstarter page!

And be sure to check out all of the supporters of the project. If I had more time, I’d include all of them. Oh, and I want to send a special shout-out to MailChimp for backing the project at $1,000 yesterday. Wow, huh?!

the bucket brigade on psfk

07 Jul, 2010 • posts i've written • No comments

Paloma Vazquez at PSFK was kind enough to interview me on the topic of the Bucket Brigade, crowdfunding, and my goals for the book.

Go read the full interview.

Support the project at Kickstarter.

what everybody already knows

07 Jul, 2010 • posts i've written • 3 comments

Plenty of people in marketing promote themselves as gurus. They’re Sherlock Holmes to your bumbling Watson. They’re the cool hunters, the trend spotters, the social media experts, the advertising whizzes, and the charming prodigies. You hire them, ostensibly, because they’re the only ones who know what they know.

It’s nice work if you can get it. But I suspect they’re often better at marketing themselves than your products.

Most of my time isn’t spent revealing the magic word that makes Facebook users fan your brand’s page (it’s farmville, btw), most of my time is spent rooting out the little communal truths floating out in the open – what everybody already knows.

The ROI on listening to what everybody already knows is huge. Absolutely gigantic. Bigger than Farmville.

Everybody already knows that agency so and so charges way too much and hasn’t delivered in years. Everybody already knows that product x, y, and z are dogs that need to be put down like Ol’ Yeller. Everybody already knows that media is being wasted on ________. Everybody already knows that this is just a vanity project for what’s his name.

The challenge is cultural.

There are cultural barriers, within the company, that stop the organization from capitalizing on the intelligence of their own employees. At my best, I can stem the tide for a moment; bringing in disparate internal audiences into neutral territory, teasing what they already know out of them, and getting everyone in the room to nod their heads in agreement.

As they say, recognizing you have a problem is the first step. Companies that do something about what everybody already knows win. Companies that don’t, tend to lose in my experience.

You already see where I’m going. Quit looking for the gurus. Start listening to what everybody already knows. You don’t even need me to do it for you.

If you make listening to what everybody already knows a stated objective for your organization, the cultural barriers will fall all by themselves. Fiefdoms aren’t sustainable when everyone is accountable for the truth.

Bucket Brigade Update: we’ve crossed $6k in funding, with more than 30 members of the Editorial Board and 14 days still left to raise funds. There’s no limit to the number of Editorial Board Members (people who will help participate in the book’s creation, production, and distribution) or Official Sponsors (people who will have their name and URL in the book), so if you’re inclined, visit the Kickstarter page and back the project. I promise that every dollar raised will go directly to the book’s development, and every additional dollar means more money to conduct interviews, pay an editor, consult a designer, produce and distribute the book.

book review: the quants

06 Jul, 2010 • posts i've written • 1 comment

In The Quants, staff reporter for the WSJ Scott Patterson follows the housing bubble collapse of 2008 and the lives of the brilliant-but-overly-confident hedge fund managers that contributed to the global economic meltdown.

Instead of painting the architects of such financial instruments as CDOs (collateralized debt obligations) as malevolent plotters, Patterson demonstrates, through their personal history, a group of mathematicians and physicists who were hell bent on trying to prove that they could create algorithms to accurately describe reality and repeatedly manipulate the fabric of the global market. And when they thought they had succeeded, raking in billions of dollars in profits during the early 2000s, they became assured of their dominion. Until of course, their quantified worlds fell apart around them.

The book is an essential read if you’re at all curious how the modern market works and why we find ourselves potentially facing a double dip in housing. It’s even more important as a cautionary tale for people like myself, who get a wee bit too obsessed with modeling reality through complex mathematics.

“We look at the present through a rear view mirror. We march backwards into the future.”
– Marshall McLuhan

The Quants, fascinated by poker and blackjack, devised models based on decades of historical market prices along with probability theories such as Brownian Motion, to predict future price movements. They imagined themselves sitting alone at a blackjack table, in the corner of the market, taking advantage of microscopic inefficiencies. However, the mechanized trading systems they engineered became the backbone of the entire global money grid, and when their historical models couldn’t cope with unprecedented events (and price movements that were more than incremental adjustments), they froze liquidity and crippled markets around the world.

Here’s the author on a recent episode of The Daily Show:

the future, in slurps and squirts

06 Jul, 2010 • posts i've written • No comments

Watch the video above to see an amazing interface, a digital eyedropper of sorts, for file sharing by Jamie Zigelbaum, a former student at the MIT Media Lab. Slurp, that’s what it’s called, is actually more than a year old. I love its playfulness and I’m also intrigued by how it abstracts the digital bits from whatever UX or device it originates from. That seems important … to be able to pull data out of a context and easily inject it into another.

And most of all, things like this suggest that the future of interfaces isn’t relegated entirely to carpal semaphore.

via engadget

you did it!

29 Jun, 2010 • posts i've written • No comments

In 6 days, we’ve raised over $5200 with the help of 70 people.

Damn Amazing. Thank you.

But it’s not over. This isn’t the finish line, hell, it’s not even the starting line yet.

23 days left to go in funding – 23 days to plan the project, get a way for us to communicate off the ground, setup interviews, work on outlines, compile research, and the like; so that when funding is over, we’re ready to hit the ground running.

I have ambitious plans for members of the Editorial Board. I want to offer those supporters transcripts of my interviews as I complete them, chapters as they’re edited, and generally bounce ideas/questions off of them based on topics or people I’m about to sit down with. Are you game?

We have 23 days left to raise cash for travel, transcription, editing, design, production, distribution, and oh … writing.

Now this is a real boy. It’s going to happen. We’re going to write a book together (Are you excited? I’m damn excited). So if you think someone should join our Editorial Board, invite them to back the project at $100, and let anyone else know that they can become an Official Sponsor for $25.

Visit the Kickstarter project page and support the project, if you haven’t already.

why you should back the bucket brigade

28 Jun, 2010 • posts i've written • No comments

I’m using Kickstarter, right now, to fund writing my first book. Instead of a publisher, I’m asking my social graph to fund, co-create, and help distribute the book. See an earlier post for more information on the book concept itself.

Asking for money from my social graph puts me in the vague space between the Gift economy and Adam Smith’s economy. The project is extremely important to me, but I have to weigh my own desire to spread it with my network’s tolerance for it. Ultimately though, if I don’t reach my goal, none of the funds will be released. It’s all or nothing.

So I’ve asked anyone willing to back the project to consider putting a few words together on why they chose to do so. At the time of writing this post, 50 people have given some amount of money to the project, and I’m stunned and incredibly grateful for their support. And a few of those people have already written blog posts to give their reasons:

Edward Boches, on You don’t need a gigantic network to create, experiment and succeed:

We live in an age when anyone can publish, broadcast, design a product or start a movement. The only thing stopping us is fear, inertia or lack of a network. If Bud raises his $5000.00 – in $25 and $100 increments – it will be one more reminder of how much power has shifted to the individual.

Tobias Wacker, at BrandNew:

If you want to change Marketing for the better, if you want brands and people having an exchange with each other, please support and promote the project and thinking. Although it makes perfect sense, marketers believing in push, quick sales tricks and old school thinking are still in the vast majority, causing pain to passionate forward thinking marketers and – last but not least – people.

Sheila Germain:

Largely as part of the major shift in my own paradigm and understanding of what consumes ME, the connections I’ve made over the past 2-3 years are with people who will do nothing less than change the way we view the world. If they’re not on the leading-edge of technology or new media communications, they are creating new ways of doing, changing and building new platforms for business, and showing the rest of the world that not only CAN you prosper financially and culturally by shifting the way things are done to a more integrated “both/and” experience, but the benefits of doing so can net MORE prosperity than anyone would have imagined, allow for insanely creative initiatives, and build momentum for even larger beneficial.

Heather LeFevre, Why I find myself a patron:

Bud is a great writer. He is prolific which to me says he’s disciplined. Any project he puts his energy toward will turn out well. … Compared to times past, our culture doesn’t support creative endeavors. Michaelangelo had Leorenzo de Medici, but who does Bud Caddell have?

Sam Joseph:

Secondly, Bud’s a smart dude. For better or worse, I’m in this game for the long haul. Not to be a sniveling money grubbing careerist, but to get myself in a position where I can do meaningful advertising. Work that gives people utility or entertainment, and all that jazz. So maybe down the road Bud remembers the-guy-who-gave-25 bucks-just-to-help-himself when he’s on top of the world.

Convinced? Here’s how to get started:

  1. Visit the Kickstarter page and fund the project (for as little as $2)
  2. Write a blog post, a tweet, or an email telling your friends and followers why you did so
  3. I’m currently finishing a full outline of the book, along with a list of people/companies to interview for various topics – use the comments to share names and articles I should consider

Thank you for even considering supporting the project. I’ll be honest and say that I hope we can exceed the goal for funding because it will mean that I can dedicate more time, attention, and travel to the research, writing, editing, and publishing of the book – and ultimately, so that the book will be as good as it deserves to be; as good as you deserve for supporting it.

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