President Bill Clinton addresses @inc500 conf thru video
5:42 AM Oct 1st via TweetDeck

Gary Hirshberg CEO – Stonyfield Yogurt

Should be good! RT @inc5000: Today’s 1st session is starting! Gary Hirshberg, the CE-YO from Stoneyfield at #inc500conferenece!

Stonyfield Yogurt is up to $360 million in sales now. Gary going to go over his philosophy on triple bottom line.
5:47 AM Oct 1st

Churchill quote “success is the ability to move from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm”
5:49 AM Oct 1st

If the rest of the world adopted USA energy and total consumption, we’d need 5 Earths to be able to handle it.
5:52 AM Oct 1st

67% of Americans are obese or overweight. Just like the environment, unintentional actions lead to disastrous effects.
5:56 AM Oct 1st

Stonyfield first 9 years to get to $4m revenue and barely unprofitable. Never got venture money. Grew with cradle to cradle thinking.
6:04 AM Oct 1st

9 carbon footprint teams – transportation, greenhouse gas emissions, sustainable packaging, etc
6:08 AM Oct 1st via TweetDeck

Real sustainability is about innovation not just Eco efficiency
6:11 AM Oct 1st

@inc5000 Gary hirshberg, stonyfield yogurt CEO. Cradle to cradle = no waste. Highly profitable, requires a little investment up front.
6:15 AM Oct 1st

Organic cows live twice as long as conventional cows. Whoda thunk that?
6:21 AM Oct 1st

The challenge: stonyfields gross margins are 10 percent less than competitors. Better net margins from less advertising.
6:25 AM Oct 1st

Stonyfield lids talk about their causes. Huge customer loyalty. Advocacy.
6:27 AM Oct 1st

Stonyfield is deeply engaged in PR and social media. This year- 4 billion media impressions.
Fri Oct 01 2010 06:33:56

Mollusks take calcium carbonate from their environment to make their homes. Humans will need to do this with carbon.
Fri Oct 01 2010 06:38:33

Kevin Surace CEO – Serious Materials

@inc5000 next speaker Kevin Surace of Serious Materials rethinking an industry retrofitting homes and building with Eco drywall
Fri Oct 01 2010 06:44:24

Kevin surace – Inc. Magazine entrepreneur of the year. Need to identify a big problem. For him: climate change.
Fri Oct 01 2010 06:51:34

Today- only 0.4% comes from wind and solar. Everything else is coal, oil, and others.
Fri Oct 01 2010 06:54:45

Ecorock tackles the problem that 40% of total world energy usage is in building energy inefficiancy.
Fri Oct 01 2010 06:57:33

QuietRock is 5x more than drywall but total installed cost was actually quite a bit less.
Fri Oct 01 2010 07:02:39

People advice- look at hiring people outside your industry who look at a problem differently. Take company to next level
Fri Oct 01 2010 07:04:37

Your customers will not go with you just because you are green. Got to save them money. Most important.
Fri Oct 01 2010 07:07:22

Serious Materials replaced out all windows on the Empire State building with high Rsquared value windows. 6500 windows, saves $28m.
Fri Oct 01 2010 07:09:53

Everyone says they are innovative, but to truly disrupt an industry is really really hard.
Fri Oct 01 2010 07:11:47

Apple is most well known example as a disruptor. iPod was 50th digital music player in the market, but did it uniquely.
Fri Oct 01 2010 07:13:44

Serious Materials CEO is PR genius by buying shutdown doors and windows manufacturing plants and partnering with unions. Moving fast.
7:27 AM Oct 1st

Tim Westergren Founder – Pandora

Pandora founder Tim Westergren speaking now @inc5000 conference. Very psyched to hear his story of going broke then $100m rev this year.
7:36 AM Oct 1st

By end of 2001, over 50 Pandora employees worked for free. It stayed that way for 2 years. Founder had $200k personal debt. Got $9m VC in 04
7:46 AM Oct 1st

Tried it as a subscription model, but people didn’t want to pay. Pandora now has 65 million users in US. 100k new users per day @inc5000
7:49 AM Oct 1st

@pandora – your founder talking now about responsiveness to real human listeners. Do u engage on Twitter?
7:55 AM Oct 1st

Washington dc political process nearly shut down pandora due to Internet levy on streaming music. 400k faxes to congress in 3 days. Saved.
8:04 AM Oct 1st

Radio is 85% of how people consume music. Biggest $ part of industry. Pandora makes money thru advertising. Cash flow positive, but not prof
8:10 AM Oct 1st

Pandora 90k artists. 70% independent. @inc5000
Fri Oct 01 2010 08:12:44

@inc5000 panel “inside the mind of an investor”. Only 500 actine VCs in country. As entrepreneur, still need to be selective
Fri Oct 01 2010 09:19:41

Danny Meyer – New York City restaurateur and CEO of the Union Square Hospitality Group

@inc5000 current speaker is Danny meyer of the famous NYC restaurant Gramercy Tavern
Fri Oct 01 2010 11:58:01

51% of your success is how you make customers feel. 49% is the technical delivery of your products and services. Hospitality is adapting to
Fri Oct 01 2010 12:19:48

Jean Chatzky – Author of “The Difference”

@inc5000 speaker now is Jean Chatzky, author of “the difference”. Anyone can prosper even in toughest times.
Fri Oct 01 2010 12:48:23

As an entrepreneur, Jean knows company owners think often about finances, but how structured are we in our thinking?
Fri Oct 01 2010 12:58:47

#inc500 Human nature in personal finance is to be over-confident about our future finances.
Fri Oct 01 2010 13:03:12

3 traits of financially secure people: Habitual savings, diversified investing, and …
Fri Oct 01 2010 13:11:34

Money doesn’t bring happiness. Statistically, happiness attracts money and success in all stages of life.
Fri Oct 01 2010 13:18:53

Saturday, Oct 2 – Day 2
#inc500 First session on virtualization and cloud computing is a bit of an infomercial for Dell.
Sat Oct 02 2010 06:11:29

RT @IncMagazine: “Giving entrepreneurs better access to capital would have been No. 1 way to get us out of the economic downturn.” S. Felice
Sat Oct 02 2010 06:12:54

Steve Felice word of advice is to not wait so long to get international experience. #inc5000
Sat Oct 02 2010 06:41:03

John Gerzema says the great recession could be the best thing for america. Underlying sense of optimism. #inc5000
Sat Oct 02 2010 06:43:31

Based on a huge study on American spending habits, there is a major shift from mindless to mindful purchases
Sat Oct 02 2010 06:44:51

Author of “Spendshift” says American consumers collectively saying “if you want to sell to me, you better have my back”.
Sat Oct 02 2010 06:46:51

Shift happened in 2005 from superficial stuff to authentic, craft-driven meaningful products. #inc5000
Sat Oct 02 2010 06:48:23

RT @IncEvents: Final Day @ Inc. 500 conference! Listen to @johngerzema talk about Decoding the New Consumer right now.
Sat Oct 02 2010 06:49:57

Trends since 2005 – fewer logos on new clothing, more volunteerism, retooling empowerment betterment, people becoming self-reliant.
Sat Oct 02 2010 06:52:38

Lots more Americans, even in Dallas, have backyard chickens. Fascinating that this defines a trend.
Sat Oct 02 2010 06:54:44

Time banks is a cool concept. You give time as a guitar teacher and I give back by doing yardwork. #inc5000
Sat Oct 02 2010 06:56:23

Spend Shift trend – badge of awesomeness – creativity but keeping it simple and frugal and Eco. Nimble, adaptable.
Sat Oct 02 2010 06:58:54

50% of mellenials don’t have a land line, bookrenter.com, neighborgoods.com. Use hulu.com and don’t pay for tv cable #inc5000
Sat Oct 02 2010 07:02:40

Recyclebank – works like frequent flyer miles for rewarding recycling. Trend towards uber-local support #inc5000
Sat Oct 02 2010 07:06:43

Simplicity example – Shoebox banking. Put all your personal financial statements in a shoebox and bank figures it all out for u #inc5000
Sat Oct 02 2010 07:08:52

We are moving from a credit to a debit society. The $ that we are spending today is really ours. More selective, mindful consumption.
Sat Oct 02 2010 07:13:34

America is an emerging market for values-led innovation. Future is bright. #inc5000
Sat Oct 02 2010 07:14:41

Hilarious zappos video about the “happiness bus” playing at #inc500conferenece. 3 month happy bus tour
Sat Oct 02 2010 08:54:06

I gotta check out the happy bus outside the Gaylord resort Hotel here #inc5000
Sat Oct 02 2010 08:57:55

Tony Hsieh CEO – Zappos

Tony Hsieh speaking now. Glad he is adapting his presentation from last year #inc5000. Happy bus coming to Portland in 6 weeks
Sat Oct 02 2010 09:02:27

RT @IncMagazine: “I sold LinkExchange because it wasn’t fun anymore…the company culture went down.” says Tony Hsieh @zapppos #inc5000
Sat Oct 02 2010 09:02:40

New zappos record for longest phone call. 7 1/2 hours. What if you need to go to bathroom? #inc5000
Sat Oct 02 2010 09:10:44

Zappos Call center people are trained to check pricing with 3 competitors and tell customer to go with less $ competitor product
Sat Oct 02 2010 09:13:04

Nice! RT @sandydlc: #zappos saved me for inc conference gala outfit. Ordered sandals Monday, arrived Tuesday, flight early Thursday #inc5000
Sat Oct 02 2010 09:16:02

Growing zappos brand over next few years – clothing, customer service, culture #inc5000
Sat Oct 02 2010 09:17:45

Two books in Zappos giving library – Good to Great, Tribal Leadership. Important findings #inc5000
Sat Oct 02 2010 09:20:37

Commitable core values – doing a google search on any 1 of 10 core values – zappos shows up #1. Unique. #inc5000
Sat Oct 02 2010 09:23:39

Luck is really about being open to opportunities. More perspective than fact #inc5000
Sat Oct 02 2010 09:25:29

Zappos has 1500 vendors that have total access to info in zappos extranet #inc5000
Sat Oct 02 2010 09:28:31

Great companies had really strong cultures and all had a higher purpose. Chase the vision, not the money #inc5000
Sat Oct 02 2010 09:33:27

Zappos took the high human touch approach, not high tech approach.
Sat Oct 02 2010 09:37:35

2009 timing of when zappos vision became broader to “delivering happiness”. #inc5000
Sat Oct 02 2010 09:38:48

What is your goal in life? Ultimately, it’s to be happy and fulfilled. #inc5000
Sat Oct 02 2010 09:49:42

Happiness framework – perceived control, perceived progress, vision #inc5000
Sat Oct 02 2010 09:51:37

To build enduring, great companies, you need profits, passion, purpose. #inc5000
Sat Oct 02 2010 09:55:46

Norm Brodsky #inc5000 talk on sales -listen to your customer, take responsibility, everybody sells
Sat Oct 02 2010 11:31:31

Learn from others. What you like. What you don’t like. Borrow others ideas and embellish them. #inc5000
Sat Oct 02 2010 11:33:46

Hire salespeople who want to stay with the company forever. Right attitude is everything. #inc5000
Sat Oct 02 2010 11:46:04

Norm Brodsky – some of the best suggestions come from employees. Put up a suggestion box and use it! #inc5000
Sat Oct 02 2010 11:54:02

The real question is “why are we doing this?” prioritize. Need to write down your life plan. Do that with your wife. #inc5000
Sat Oct 02 2010 12:06:18

Norm says you have 48 hours to put things you’ve learned into action or you won’t do it. #inc5000
Sat Oct 02 2010 12:12:58

Great black tie #inc5000 awards ceremony tonight!
Sat Oct 02 2010 17:02:43

Upon my return to the grid (meaning my iPhone on the drive back), I realized that my longing for technology was really in communication of key information and emotional connection through my inbox (email is not, nor will it ever be dead in the foreseeable future), not through Tweetie, Tweetdeck when I returned to my laptop at home, Facebook, LinkedIn, or any website at all – it was spending 6 hours of catching up on all of the things that are hyper-relevant to me in my inbox.  Interestingly enough, I could only really scan and internalize all the issues brought up through hundreds of emails on my iPhone for about an hour, and the other 5 hours of digging way deeper and responding happened through my Outlook inbox on my laptop.  It’s a totally different mode of thinking on a 14″ screen than a 2″ screen.

There is a lot of chatter over the past several months among Email Marketing industry execs (over a hundred of us on a private email list) about whether or not Twitter is a complete waste of time or if it will kill Email, and it seems so obvious to me that Twitter is a useful conversation piece that has its place in the marketing mix, but is not yet the killer addictive app/platform/communication channel that email is.  In each of our daily lives, the large majority of us prioritize our Inbox over everything else.  It took almost a week in the woods to be able to articulate this simple gravitational pull towards email.

I’m usually curious enough to click on the links she offers and yesterday I found myself at her new site.  What I was surprised and delighted by was the ease at which she engaged the user in a multitude of interactions.  As a first time visitor to the site you are invited to “Get The Zoe Report” by simply giving your email address and zip code.  The call to action is straight forward and simple.

Next you are taken to a thank you page where they segment your gender, age and preferences with an option to add a category they haven’t listed.  I think this page starts to build the relationship with the user.  You are asked about what is important to you and given the chance to elaborate, in a way it sets the tone for the pages that follow.

Next you are asked to engage with Rachel Zoe via social network.  “Have an idea for the Zoe Report? Send your suggestions to Rachel through Twitter!”  Underneath the headline there is a text box set up to instantly @reply to Rachel on Twitter.

Finally they encourage more social interaction in the final thank you page with a call out to share on Facebook.

Each of these steps is voluntary with a link to “skip this” and with a full top and bottom nav bar to navigate away from the information gathering pages at any time.

Once you are done you are greeted with a thank you email with information on what you have opted into, a suggestion to add the newsletter email address to your address book, share on facebook and the option to unsubscribe.  The copy that surrounds all of these options make them a little more special.  For example “The Zoe Report will never go out of style, but if at anytime you wish to stop receiving it, you can unsubscribe.”

I think this is a great example of a website taking the extra step to engage their users and get them excited about visiting the site while collecting valuable information for their email campaign.  Well done Rachel Zoe!

Check it out for yourself »

Comment below and tell me what you think of the process.

Statue by the Penguins holding the event program and enjoying Cascade Brewing’s Razberry Wheat

Luckily for me, Ryan was going to our New York office to meet with clients so I happily went in his place.  It was a perfect day for music, beer and friends.  This fact was only enforced when all the tickets were sold out by 6:30!

The deliciously potent Lagunitas 2009 Correction Ale 7% ABV

With over 20 breweries to choose from and 10 tastings included with admission, who could blame the throws of thirsty Portlander’s enthusiasm?  There was a selection of seasonal summer ales along with tried and true favorites.  The only line that seamed to suffer was the one for root beer.  We don’t proudly state “Keep Portland Beered” for nothing.  My only complaint is that there is only one a year.

Beer lovers lounge in the field while listening to the Crazy 8′s

Photos by Keith Kunis

Leading the frenzied mob was Christine and Don who fought their way to the Red Star for a chance to grope the 7 foot 1 mammoth.  Christine, a dedicated Blazer fan, saw the tweet, took off her earrings and ran the seven blocks in moccasins with Don at her side.  Somehow, with the will of true Blazer fans and the hearts of eROI employees, Christine and Don the magnificent were able to reach O’Neal and claim their prize – two tickets each to a rocking basketball game.  A proud day for all.

Follow eROI on Twitter!

So then I turn to Twitter and gag. Gee, any of this is really worth a tweet, right?  Then I get distracted by someone or something else that needs immediate attention. By the time I get back to Twitter the moment has passed and I’m on to 6 other things and the cycle starts all over again. Yikes! Therein lies my dilemma. I want to share these things but I don’t want to be one of the those folks suffering from “Twitterhea” either –you know who you are. Your constant blathering has to be a sign of some sort of neurosis.

Back to me. Do I need to make the decision to go all personal or all professional? I am finding the mix a little distracting from some of the people I follow. I’m also not sure how I should feel reading the personal bits about my colleagues. (Sorry the garlic pizza didn’t go so well Meggan!) I imagine some of them don’t feel comfortable that I’m following them because I’m their supervisor. I’ve actually chosen not to follow some people for that very reason. I know I wouldn’t want my boss to have a front row seat to all of my personal goings on – and we have a pretty open work environment here at eROI too. ALSO – who are the random people that decide to follow me? So far I’ve had 3-4. How should I feel about their sudden interest in me?

Which leads me to the other twouble with Twitter that I’ve been discussing with other Twitterphiles here at eROI.  I am finding that some companies are pursuing a full blown Twitter creep out strategy. Please stop. I don’t want the fact that I’ve shared my one too many glasses of wine the night before story to suddenly open me up to be followed by some wine company because they’ve heard the news and want to share their love of the vino. Okay, I also don’t want AA unnecessarily following me because they’ve heard and now they’re concerned for my overzealous love of the divine grape. I’m okay, really!

Don’t get me wrong – Twitter is an up and coming force that companies need to reckon with. It is already gaining a serious footing as a marketing channel. The best strategies for using Twitter are surely yet to come but so far most brands are pursuing a couple of solid yet simple strategies. For instance, piggybacking broadcasts of recent posts to drive traffic. Another strategy is using Twitter to widen a campaign’s reach for topic driven outreach to achieve broader messaging and soliciting feedback. Be open to experimenting but stay true to your brand.

One great local example is the way Travel Portland uses Twitter to get info out about local happenings, hot spots, restaurants and the like. In fact they have just launched the first “Twisitor Center” for visitors to our fine city to use for help and insider information. By far though, one of the most powerful uses of Twitter to date taking  place today is Twestival an international charity event bring together Twitter communities 175+ cities around the world for an evening of fun and to raise money and awareness for charity: water. Find your local event!

So if you’re just getting to know Twitter, what should you/ your company do?  I’d suggest you at least secure an account(s) for your company and any brands under your umbrella. If you are already tweeting as a company or brand, step one;  don’t be creepy. Step two; review step one. Ask yourself what your audience would want to hear from you or your brand frequently. Also, are your  tweets achieving any strategic objective? Is your audience going to get anything from what you’re saying? Keep in mind Twitter could be a qualitative strategy providing a way to promote the personality of your brand and the people and the things around it rather than a call to action soap box. (I’m personally looking forward to the real Captain Crunch tweeting.) Above all keep it simple and sane and please avoid becoming a purveyor of “Twitterhea.”

In the meantime on a personal note, I’ll keep working on what the right call for me is– all personal, all professional or a saucy mix of the two. It may be like seeing how sausage is made for awhile but follow along if you dare –yes, even if I don’t know you! http://twitter.com/mpimley

In Portland, we’ve had huge windstorms. During dinner at a friend’s house, a massive tree branch came crashing through my Prius back window. I love nature, but this time, my love affair was tainted for a night and the next morning.

So, after having seriously f@*#ked up dreams all night, I went for a long run in the morning and began processing my thoughts.  Before, my run I glanced at the NY Times front page article titled “Poll Finds Faith in Obama, Mixed with Patience.” In many of my blog posts, I’ve talked about 2009 being the year of optimism and it has been an optimistic year until the bloody tree limb incident last night. But, I knew I could mentally power thru these dreaded pessimistic thoughts.

The sub-header in the NY Times article was “Most say they expect progress to require at least 2 years”, but I think we as a people in the technology age of immediacy have much less patience than 2 years. My belief is that the Obama administration needs to make significant traction on at least 1 issue and 1 industry within his first 3 months. If not, I think more and more people will become jaded and let their proverbial f#%*king tree limb, pessimistic feelings last longer than 12 hours. So, I put the question out there to 400 followers on Twitter and Dylan Boyd replied immediately with a 1 year horizon to make real changes happen.  Mark Kelly, an online marketer from Seattle, replied “@ryanbuch re: obama I think we will give him the typical 2-3 mos because of our extreme short term focus. Dems will be more patient.”

Whatever the timeline is, you gotta give Obama credit for his ability to inspire. I’ve been listening on NPR to today’s 750,000 person celebration, speeches, musical performances. Yes, there are huge expectations on our new President, but let’s give him some credit for jumping into the trenches with us on economic issues and global political issues 2 1/2 months before his job starts. As an entrepreneur, I have a lot of self-motivation. But sometimes, it helps to know that we are part of a larger effort to make a hugely positive impact on the world and create some amazing jobs and opportunities in the process.

“(Reuters) – Social networking company Facebook recently held acquisition talks with Twitter, the micro-blogging company, the Financial Times said.

The negotiations, put a valuation of as much as $500 million on Twitter, which has become one of Silicon Valley‘s most closely watched start-ups, the paper said.”

Read the rest of the article here >>

I used to think Twitter was primarily a distraction with no practical business purpose, but now my latest Binge Tweeting session has provided some epiphanies from first-hand experience.  I tweeted about Zappos as a great case study in creating employee evangelists and within an hour, Tony Hsieh (@zappos), CEO of Zappos, began following me on Twitter (which is a good thing for all you non-tweeters).  We struck up a conversation on twitter and now I’m an even bigger fan of Zappos. I also realized that over 60% of our eROI employees use Twitter, which is awesome.  We can benefit from knowledge sharing, internal quick communication, and even help in some customer service scenarios.  The next step is to create a Group within TweetDeck, a sweet Twitter application, with the Twitter handles of as many of our customer contacts as possible to engage in those daily conversations as well and continue to be a resource to them.

To check out other CEOs who use Twitter, read the rest of the blog post.

According to this BusinessWeek article, which has incredible imagery for an article on folks typing on their computers, the following CEOs are major Twitter users:

 Kevin Rose from Digg
Tony Hsieh from Zapppos
Jasaon Calacanis from Mahalo (former Netscape no?)
Michael Arrington from TechCrunch
Loic LeMeur from Seesmic
Tim O’Reilly from O’Reilly Media
Jack Dorsey from Twitter
David Sifry from Technorati
Christine Perkett from PerkettPR
Michael Hyatt from Thomas Nelson
Jeff Bonforte from Xobni
Mike Troiano from Matchmine
Jonathan Schwartz from Sun Microsystems
Shafqat Islam from NewsCred
Barry Libert from Mzinga
Eugene Lee from SocialText
Kel Kelly from Kel and Partners
Lois Paul from Lois Paul and Partners