Once You're Lucky, Twice You're Good Archive

Do I Know the Digg Guys or What?

Some of us (Read: those who don't plan/have a book to promote in November) choose to go to London at a different time than everyone else in Silicon Valley. So since I'm the only person in the Valley not at FOWA in London right now, I didn't hear Kevin Rose's keynote. But apparently I didn't have to. It nicely echoes what I wrote here: That Digg has picked a fork in the road and is ready to grow up and prove it can be more than a fan boy site filled with Microsoft ads. (Convenient timing for me too, since I'm updating "Once You're Lucky" for paperback.) As someone who has spent a lot of time giving Digg tough love, but also defending what Kevin and Jay have done well, I'm rooting for them.

(Sorry for the crowing, but I'm getting a lot of kudos on my latest Valley Girl column and am enjoying feeling like an actual reporter again today, less obnoxious self-promotional media persona. Well, except this somewhat self-promotional post and my upcoming interview on KQED's Forum in an hour...)

Yes, the Rumors Are True...UGBT Is Hitting London

Ok, it's not officially part of the User Generated Book Tour, but Olivia and I are indeed coming to London for a big, big Robert Loch-style party. [Update: Apparently also hosted by Paul Walsh who will hopefully not steal my Blackberry and write Twitters about how hot he is. Hrmph.] Why are we throwing a party? To launch my new book. (Ok, ok it's just the UK edition of the same book only with a far more commercially appealing title...)

We fly out just after we vote for Mr. Obama (holla!!) and hopefully land on Nov. 5 to UK papers trumpeting his victory. (If not, we may just stay in London.)

Now, several of you keep *harassing* me to come to London and have a big party so I fully expect you to be there and bring friends.

Stay tuned for party details...

UGBT Memphis: Let's Play to Our Strengths, Guys

I have a lot to say about the past few days I've spent touring the various nooks and crannies of Memphis and its entrepreneur scene. And as luck would have it-- I finally have a few hours to say it, er write it. A theme that has consistently cropped up during this tour is what each city means by entrepreneurship, and what they want to get out of building their own culture to give rise to it. Increasingly, it's the cities who never really tried to be Silicon Valley in the late 1990s that seem to really have an exciting and burgeoning scene. Why? Because they were forced to play to their strengths.

I'd put Omaha in this category. Omaha's entrepreneur scene is totally nascent and who knows what will come out of it. But it's endemically Omaha-like. Same with Portland, to a degree. And, I think, that's even more pronounced in Memphis. (More on that in a second.)

The corollary would be Austin or Seattle, cities that have followed a more Valley-like model with varying success and failure. The success is obvious: More venture capital money, more jobs from what big or mid-sized companies have emerged. But is there really a sustainable culture around entrepreneurship? Or is it about being a Valley-satellite? And frankly-- which would a city rather have? Because you can argue the first brings in more jobs, prestige and money.

But I argue, there's something great about a city that at its core has its own unique, scrappy entrepreneurial drive.

The Man Who Brought You Sarah Lacy (tm)

I was supposed to have lunch with someone an hour ago, but well, this person hasn't shown up. So I've been plowing through Memphis video footage. Here's an interview that meant a lot to me, because it's with someone who means a lot to me. The man partially responsible for me being a journalist in the first place, Barney DuBois. He introduced me at my Launch Memphis event-- which was fabulous, by the way. I said a few words, answered some questions and signed a load of books while I gave some of the local entrepreneurs advice. I only had to yell at one of them, who said "Why not blow some money on a
Superbowl commercial if you have it?"

Barney and Me from sarah lacy on Vimeo.

UGBT: Keynote Angst? Done. Moving On.

The next emotional milestone (and a tiny one in comparison to Austin and the keynote) is going back to my hometown. I'm doing an event for Memphis entrepreneurs and Barney DuBois-- the man who told me I would be a journalist way back in my high school days and the publisher of my first gig, The Memphis Business Journal-- is doing my introduction tonight. I'm pretty unemotional, but I might tear up.

Also my hometown paper wrote about the event and -- I kid you not-- it was the first time my parents realized there was a controversy about the Zuckerberg keynote. That made me happy. Yes, they also had it clipped out and put it on the fridge. Bear in mind, I do not have gushing parents. This is highly unusual. They would only read what I wrote for BusinessWeek if I mailed them a copy with the page marked. (Also, I realized this morning that my father's uncanny ability to turn on the dishwasher the second I get in the shower has also persisted through time and space. Despite the shock of cold water with an eye-full of soap, it's nice to know there's an oasis of sameness in my ever-changing world.)

Tomorrow we take off for Vegas -- Blogworld!!!!! This was a late night Gnomedex addition to the tour, at the request of Mr. Brian Solis. We're signing books poolside at the TechSet party and only have about 20 so come and get 'em! $20 each. We will be grateful to stop lugging them around. Turns out books are heavy and cumbersome to travel with- Duh! Guess that's why the Kindle is almost a $1 billion business, right?

Saturday night, Tony Hsieh of Zappos -- sorry, ZAPPOS!-- and I are co-hosting a party at a very, very awesome spot that's a last minute Twitter surprise. So follow Tony or me if you want the deets! It's open to anyone and we'd love to see you there!! Tony knows how to party and Vegas is his turf so you do NOT want to miss this.

Then, Sunday night we come back to Memphis, just in time for a talk at my alma mater, Rhodes College, on Monday. That's incredibly weird. Typically your family and the people you grew up with are the ones who convince you you're not actually a big deal at all.

I've been saying for the last year that the incredibly life-changing year I've had was at some point going to hit me, and it's sort of hitting me this trip, between returning to Austin, doing my first big keynote, and now this hometown stuff. Anyway, below is a video Olivia and I shot after the keynote. We celebrated by going to a snooty restaurant Olivia worked at last year. She didn't have the greatest experience so we figured since I was going back and facing fears and stuff this trip, she should too.

Yeah, yeah, we'll get back to reporting on business soon. Again, just indulge us this month!

Post Keynote Confessions from sarah lacy on Vimeo.

UGBT Boston: Living the Good Life

Even with a competing Web event last night, we had a great turn out at our Boston signing and party. Olivia had loads to say about it afterwards, so I thought I'd let her handle the de-co. But here's a quick video we shot with two of the guys who made the event possible, Rich DiBona and Gradon Tripp. Oh, and just before we shot this a big, drunk Southie dude came up and told me he was single and owned a boat. That must be why this particular bar is called The Good Life.

Boston's Good Life from sarah lacy on Vimeo.

UGBT Boston: New Englanders, Come Out to Play

We've landed in Boston finally- narrowly avoiding a Hurricane Ike spin-off tornado in our connecting city, thanks in part to a renegade pilot that is now one of my personal heroes. Gotta love that salty, go-get-em spirit. Speaking of, did I mention Sarah Lacy is here in Boston?

She's keynoting at the Taleo Worldwide conference on Wednesday, but we can't spend the whole duration of Sarah's FIRST-EVER visit to Boston standing beneath a powerpoint presentation. So, we want all you natives to stop by the UGBT event tonight at the Good Life Bar! Of course, there will be books and T-shirts for sale, and Sarah will lovingly sign any and all copies. (Three books gets you a free shirt and the holidays are coming up....just sayin'.)

Special thanks to Gradon Tripp, Rich Dibona, and Rebecca Corliss for their organizational prowess. You're all wicked awesome.

Virus Threatens UGBT: Exclusive Behind the Scenes Footage!

Let me start by again apologizing to readers who come to this site for serious business analysis for the torrent of lifecasting. Believe it or not, I've actually done a lot of substantive reporting on this trip. But Mr. Lacy couldn't join me so he asked me to keep a diary of the madness, and I figured, why not turn that into blog fodder too? Two birds right? Just indulge me a few more weeks and then my life will be boring again.

Now to the video at hand: It seems all that late night schmoozing, 5 a.m. Yahoo mornings, skipping meals and travel have taken their toll. (Again.) We decided the responsible thing would be going to the doctor before it got worse, given the upcoming travel schedule. And, of course, we had to flipcam it-- mostly so Mr. Lacy would give me props for actually being responsible and going to the doctor for once.

It was about 15 minutes of random hilarity, as happens when too many people come in the exam room with you....here's a small taste. Props to Dr. Tsai for being such a good sport. I mean-- does that guy know how to play to the camera or what??? He clearly steals the show. If you are in Austin and overworked, go see him!

UGBT Austin: Why Walk when You Don't Have To?

Continuing in our we-wish-it-was-more-consistent tradition of deconstructing UGBT parties in bizarre locations specific to that city, we bring you the Austin pedicab ride from last Friday night. Its no cornfield or parasail 500 feet over Seattle (to be posted soon, really.) But it was as good as we could get given the UT football game got canceled for the weekend.

It was canceled of course in anticipation of hurricane Ike and the Austin Statesmen noted I was the "second hurricane" coming to town. (Safe to say from the sunny skies, we had a bigger impact than Ike, right?)
Exhausted from the last night of TechCrunch50, Olivia and I barely made our flights, barely made the hotel for some snacks and a very quick cat nap before the event at the Marq downtown. Huge, huge thanks to Bryan Menell for organizing and James Hyde of BusinessWeek and the other sponsors. It was a great turnout and in the tradition of the User Generated Book Tour, I met a lot of fascinating tech folks who I hope to stay in touch with for years to come.

Afterwards, Olivia and I hung out on a lovely rooftop bar with some of her oldest friends from back East. One of them, the charming Eli, may do a SarahLacy.com internship next summer. Quickly gleaning the way to the top of this organization, he stealthily arranged for us to travel back to the Hilton in style while he went to Wendy's to pick up late night junk food. Impressive.

In this video, Olivia and I are a little tired from the previous 72 hours of TechCrunch50 insanity + travel + several-hundred-person Austin party so forgive the general loopy-ness. (Believe me, you don't want to see the outtakes....)

Why Don't We Just Take the Rickshaw? from sarah lacy on Vimeo.

Oh, Hello There Omar....

I'll just let this video speak for itself...