Jason Nazar’s Blog

Docstoc now supports email uploading and publishing. Simply email any document (.doc, .xls, .ppt, .pdf) to uploads@docstoc.com, as an attachment, and your document(s) will be published publically on docstoc. Make sure to email docs, from the email account you have registered on docstoc.

You’ll get an email back with the links to all your documents on Docstoc, that you can share with your contacts.

So next time someone emails you some really cool juicy document, simply forward it onto uploads@docstoc.com and it will be published for all the world to share.

Read the coverage on TechCrunch.

In light of all the recent economic events, many investors and venture capital firms have been sending warnings out to their portfolio companies about the difficulties that lie ahead. They have been advising entrepreneurs about the need to conserve cash and start making money as soon as possible. This presentation has been flying around the internet: Sequoia Venture Capital Warning to CEOs and Michael Arrington has been covering the topic at TechCrunch.

Sequoia Venture Capital Warning to CEOs - Get more Business Plans

So of course it didn’t take long for some folks to start lampooning the situation. This morning I was reading Matt Marron’s blog and I saw that he had uploaded a spoof VC presentation to docstoc, and embeded it in his blog, making fun of the presentation above. I think I may have pitched a few firms like “Whiner Jerkins”.

Whiner Jerkins All Hands 10/13/08 - Free Legal Forms

The author of the slidedeck takes a shot at Seesmic which I happen to like a lot and their founder Loic Le Muir. Nonetheless, funny presentation.

I’ve been getting a lot of requests lately from local aspiring entrepreneurs and business owners to get together. Since I’m running my own startup, I haven’t been able to respond as fast as I would like for all the meeting requests. So I’d like to try something new.

I’m inviting you to join me for dinner at our new docstoc office. I’ll provide the location and the food for everyone, and save my evening to help however I can. I’m happy to answer any questions or give feedback related to How to Raise Money, Marketing, Sales, Launching your Product, Writing a Business Plan, Getting Customers/Users, or any other topic where I might be able to provide some value.

I’d like to cap this first dinner at 25 folks. Here are the details:

Monday October 20th

7:30pm at Docstoc.com

1317 5th Street suite 300

Santa Monica CA 90401

If you’d like to attend please leave a comment below, and I’ll save a space for you.

I look forward to seeing you all soon, Jason.

Tonight was the Vice Presidential Debate for the 2008 Presidential Ticket between Senator Joseph Biden and Govenor Sarah Palin. Their performance aside, here are the Top 15 Presidential Debate Moments of the television recording era.

Top 15 Presidential Debate Moments - Get more Docstoc Buzz

A collection of Hollywood A-Listers show up to say Don’t Vote in reverse psychology 101 For my money, the best PSA I’ve ever seen (even slightly beats out “this is your brain on drugs”).

Common Excuses Why People Don’t Vote

Common Excuses Why People Don’t Vote - Get more Docstoc Buzz

Sarah Palin Swimsuit Contest? Yep, this could very well be the next President of the United States of America (oh jee gosh golly well). Here are Sarah Palin Swimsuit Photos.

I recently came across Andy Baio and his blog Waxy. You can see the full video of Sarah Palin in her Ms. Alaska swimsuit contest here.

On a related note, my best friend Ben Gleib recently wrote a letter to Senator Obama on how to handle the financial crisis (oddly enough he was in an orange one piece swimsuit when he wrote it as well). Here were his thoughts on how leadership can get us out of our current crisis.

Senator Obama, Please Lead Us Now - Get more Docstoc Buzz

Congress came to an agreement on the bailout plan over the weekend. Treasury Secretary Paulson and the Bush administration were pushing hard for a government mortgage bailout, where the Treasury would buy billions of dollars of bad mortgage debt in order to provide more solvency and liquidity for our country’s financial institutions.

Here is the bailout bill text

Bailout Plan - Get more Legal Forms

While something needs to be done to prevent massive turmoil in our financial markets, this is the wrong solution. This is simply delaying a larger financial crisis. Historical, the economy has never become stronger as government encroaches more into the private sector.

I wrote about my thoughts here on the national financial crisis:

The financial crisis in the US is going to get worse, much worse. The current crisis is largely due to the fact that there has been too much liquidity in the market. Basically the cost of money has been too cheap for too long, and that has lead to the overvaluing of assets and a mass speculation that perpetual growth is a replacement for sound business principles.

More simply, EVERYONE got greedy because they had access to so much money that didn’t have to get paid back for a long time, and when it did have to get paid back it was at historically low interest rates. This fueled a much larger underlying issue our country has been facing for the last 3 decades, the dollar is not longer tied to the gold standard. This means that the government literally prints more money as it “needs it”.

The largest danger to the US is not terrorism, its our economic policy, and we are all unfortunately in for a rough time ahead. I’ve only heard one public figure speak with any clarity, moral authority, and common sense. Ron Paul may not be on the presidential ticket anymore, but he is a lone voice in a sea of morons, cowards, lemmings, and apathetic bystanders.

I’ll write much more on the issue but for now, this is the most important video I can share and our friend Ron explains it much better than I can.

Digg put on a mixer last night in San Francisco for some CEOs and Heads of BD.  The event was organized by my friend Matt Van Horn, who did a fantastic job of bringing together an amazing collection of folks from Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Dow Jones, Twitter, Linkedin, Motorola, and Docstoc.  (so proud of your progress Matt) 

The event, which was planned weeks ago, ironically fell on the same day as digg’s funding press release. You can see the embed to the press release below.  

I had so many great conversations, and wanted to share a few here.  

Raanan Bar Cohen of WordPress told me how he’s running a team of 40 people all over the world remotely and how they do 20-30 code releases A DAY!!! (Alon, we have a lot of catching up to do)

Jay Adelson of Digg joked about VCs who may have been wearing jeans for the first time to meetings with Web 2.0 companies

Richard Jalichandra of Technorati is a badass, incredibly smart and thoughtful fellow and may be my CEO idol of the week

Oren Katzeff of Demand Media and Cracked was just stoked that there was another straggler from Los Angeles (hello new Santa Monica neighbor) 

Kevin Rose of Digg was as humble and “ah sucks” welcoming as he always is

Kate Thorp of RealGirlsMedia eats a LOT of In&Out

Norman Liang of Photobucket misses Peter Pham (you can’t have him back, he’s ours now)

Damon Berger of Revision3 tried to set me up with one of the waitresses (i generally never trust flirting when it comes before a tip)

Cathy Brooks of Seesmic works for Seesmic, who knew?  (you always make me laugh, even when I disagree with your Lindsay Lohan girl on girl philosophy)

Debbie Landa of DealmakerMedia was not at the event, but I am going to give her MAJOR shit if she does NOT take my idea for her video and do an 80’s Jane Fonda work out spoof

Trip Adler of Scribd and I always joke about what people think of seeing us hanging together at mixers, and sincerely compliment each other while we simultaneously try and pump each other for info

Ryan Cunningham of Jumpcut said he liked docstoc so he is my new best friend for life

Freddy Mini of NetVibes has a cool French Accent.  I wanted to try and imitate him, for him, and thankfully had the good sense not to

MC Hammer of, well, MC Hammer had a great idea about improving voter participation in national elections.  ”Make it a mandatory leave day for employees, and when you bring proof of voting, to your employer it won’t count as a sick day”  

 

Digg Funding Press Release - Get more Business Plans
 

A few weeks back I grabbed a drink with Sean Whitely, the VP of Operations for Slingshot Labs. He gave me some great advice on establishing “Core Values” for employees. His were: 1) We Get it Done 2) We Ask Questions 3)We Like Our Job 4) We Over Communicate 5) We Prove Ourselves Everyday

This got me thinking, what should the core values for our company be? And being a HUGE comic buff, I asked everyone on our team to pick which superhero they would be, and we went around the room and everyone had to explain why they picked that hero (the hilarity from that meeting will be a follow-up post).

I took this as the opportunity to frame our mission and values within the metaphor of an epic adventure. So here is the list of our core values, based on 10 Lessons Startups Can Learn From Superheros. (substitute “Superheros” for “Your StartUp Company”)

Superheroes Never Give Up

Like Batman, you have to keep pressing on to the very last breath. Challenges are overcome by wholeheartedly committing to unrelenting persistence.

Superheroes Always Get the Job Done

There are no excuses if you don’t save the girl from the burning house. There are just results, not reasons, you either save the day or you don’t. Gray area is for Kafka not comic heros.

Superheroes Are the Best at What They Do

Flash is the fastest and we all know it. . If you’re the back end developer, you are the best developer in the world, and everyone on your team knows it. Let great talent excel in areas where their superpowers are most needed.

Superheroes Are Crystal Clear of their Purpose

Captain Marvel may be a cheeseball, but he knows what he stands for. Startups die when they are not clear on their mission.

Superheroes Are NOT Flawless

Superheros have flaws, every member of your team will also. The goal is not perfection, it’s the pursuit of perfection.

Superheroes Do Not Seek Glory…But They Get it Anyway

Don’t do it because you want the attention.
If you do it right, you’ll get it anyway

Superheroes Help Others

Superheroes help people by solving problems. Startups should be obsessed NOT with themselves, but with how they are going to help other people and solve their issues.

Superheroes Can Do it By Themselves But Are More Powerful in Teams

You always have to have each other’s back. Its you vs. the world and brining together your own team of superheroes, and the mutual respect, loyalty, and camaraderie of that team is vital.

Superheroes’ True Strength Comes From Their Character

No matter how super you think you are, you’re strength comes from your character not your talent. Be courageous, be respectful, be honorable, be selfless.

Superheroes Accomplish Huge Feats

The same effort it takes to start a lemonade stand or college club, is the same raw effort it takes to change the world. Your goal is not to build a product or get traffic… Your goal is to accomplish the most amazing feat imaginable. Make the Product, Save the World.