Adam Seifer, co-founder and former CEO of Fotolog.com, one of the oldest and most popular photo sharing sites on the net, said: “I frequently find myself trying to convince partners, advisees, etc., that one of the biggest risks a start-up has is to not launch anything at all—to get so caught up in talking about what you’re going to launch and so fixated on details that it feels like you’re making progress when instead what you’re really doing is moving asymptotically closer to something that doesn’t ultimately matter as much as you think it does.”

Some companies have truly embraced the world of continuous testing, also called “using your customers as test subjects.” Google’s Gmail was listed as a “beta” or test version for about five years. Apple’s “Siri” voice service is still considered a “beta” (and given that it works for me about half the time I’d say that is an accurate label.) But are these kind of tests for everyone?

“Not so fast,” said Art Chang, CEO and Founder of Tipping Point Partners, a New York City-based “institutional entrepreneur” that serves as a seed investor and founder of software start-ups. “Siri is a ‘feature’ on the iPhone, but the iPhone works. Gmail is an extension of the Google brand, and though it started a little shaky, by the time it came out of beta, it was solid. If you’re an established brand you can experiment, but for a traditional start-up, that first product represents a brand promise. So, it may be better to reduce features and functions to have a product that works really well, and does what it is supposed to do. Twitter and Evernote both started as very simple products, and expanded after they got the core right.”

Read the full article here!

YOU:
A generalist who is comfortable doing a variety of tasks that could range from working on user interface to contributing to frameworks and libraries that support our applications. Diving into lower levels doesn’t scare you. You have excellent skills in object-oriented software design and programming, experience working on user interfaces of consumer oriented applications, and developing concise, consistent and developer-friendly APIs. You are someone who can step back and look at a problem in different light to identify an approach that improves performance and uses as few resources as possible, while still being responsive to users.

YOUR EXPERIENCE:
• BS Degree in CS, ME, EE or equivalent
• Strong object oriented programming and design skills
• Experience at app and user interface level with at least one of the following: Cocoa, Java, C++, C#, Android, Win32 or Windows
• Performance analysis and tuning experience including memory usage, CPU utilization, leak checking, etc.
• Excellent problem solving, critical thinking, and communication skills

BONUS POINTS:
• Worked on iOS or it’s predecessors at Apple or NeXT
• Knowledge of Objective-C
• Knowledge of Apple’s development APIs (Cocoa Touch, Cocoa, CoreFoundation, CoreGraphics, etc.)
• Experience developing reusable APIs
• Experience shipping consumer oriented products
• Familiarity with Unix, especially Mac OS X
• Experience writing multithreaded code
• Experience and interest in Enterprise data management
• Passion for the mobile platform and writing simple, elegant software that is easy and fun to use

THE JOB:
Responsibilities will include developing new features, maintaining existing code, fixing bugs and contributing to overall design. Performance analysis and tuning will also be a significant part of your job. Sound like you? Send us your resume!

Food+Tech Connect and Gojee are bringing together journalists, technologists, designers, policy makers, and food data specialists to develop tools and visualizations that help the public better understand how the Farm Bill impacts our lives. The Farm Bill affects us all – influencing what we eat, how much it costs, and how our food is grown. Thus far, there is little in the way of visually interesting and informative media about the Farm Bill. The hackathon is happening now at the Tipping Point Workspace as part of the International Open Data Hackathon. Follow today’s events on Twitter using the hashtags #foodtech and #odhd, or join us in person – we’ll be here till 10:00pm tonight!

Testimony of Art Chang
Chair
New York City Voter Assistance Advisory Committee

City Council Committee on Governmental Operations
September 22, 2011

Good Afternoon Chairwoman Brewer and Committee members. I am Art Chang, Chair of the Voter Assistance Advisory Committee (VAAC). With me today is Amy Loprest, Executive Director of the New York City Campaign Finance Board. Thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today.

As you may know, the Voter Assistance Advisory Committee was created by an amendment to the city Charter last November. I also serve as a member of the Campaign Finance Board. I thought it might be helpful for me to tell you a little about myself to help provide context for the comments I will offer shortly on the ballot and voting process. I formed my company, Tipping Point Partners, in 2005 to bring together technologists, entrepreneurs and investors to create and grow Internet and mobile startups that can provide the tools to transform the nature of work in and the way people relate to large enterprises, including government. But you don’t have to be a professional to recognize the tremendous potential of technology as a vehicle for change.

I’m not here to repeat the excellent testimony of Assemblyman Kavanaugh or the specific and excellent work of the Brennan Center, but to raise more fundamental questions about voting technology, which is the interface between the people and the democratic process. In the last fifteen years, we’ve witnessed a revolution in the way people access, receive, and share information. Technology has fundamentally transformed American life; making it easy to connect with old friends, share opinions with strangers and simplify and streamline our lives from shopping to banking to filing our taxes, electronically. No institution touches our daily lives as much as city government, yet the ease and accessibility of these tools has yet to transform the way citizens connect with their representatives and leaders at the local level, or for that matter, at any level. Now is the opportunity for government to apply the people-focused principles of Web 2.0 technology widely available in the consumer sphere to give New Yorkers the great voting technology we deserve.

Technology is not a solution; it is a vehicle to this end. Ballot design, for example, is a critical aspect of improving the voting process. But it must be supported by a system that accurately and efficiently records our votes. If votes are cast electronically, we should not have to count paper ballots. Imagine a system that enabled us to count electronic votes as they are cast, and report results to the public more quickly. This would be a great step forward, increasing efficiency and transparency in the voting process.

While I understand that this issue is largely out of the purview of the City Council and the city’s Board of Elections, I’d be remiss not to take this opportunity to publicly comment that the city deserves a voting system that offers its citizens the same ease and accessibility that they may find elsewhere in their everyday lives. The potential to apply simple technology to invigorate and inspire more citizens to register to vote and to participate in local elections is great. We must leverage our city’s technology expertise to explore new ways to simplify and streamline the most fundamental elements of voting, starting with voter registration through the casting of votes to the counting of ballots. We, as a community, must pressure the state to allow for the flexibility to easily incorporate new tools and technologies that will drive these improvements.

We hope the state finds a way to enable the Board of Elections to make the ballot clear and legible, and further urge the Council to continue the conversation about how to employ widely accepted and adopted technology to our voting process. Thank you again for the opportunity to testify about the proposed resolution. I am happy to answer any questions you may have and I look forward to continuing this conversation in the future.

Cookstr Launches New Digital Recipe Collections Exclusively on Apple’s iBookstore

NEW YORK, July 19, 2011 — Cookstr, the world’s #1 collection of cookbook recipes available online, today launches its first original offering of curated recipe content exclusively on Apple’s iBookstore. Created as a model for Cookstr’s collaboration with book publishers, the company’s iBookstore offering includes curated sets of 10 recipes ($0.99), 50 recipes ($3.99) and 250 recipes ($9.99) that invite readers to choose between whole books or shorter form sets and chapters, to build their own a la carte cookbook and recipe libraries.

Cookstr is honored to present award-winning chef and cookbook author Rozanne Gold’s The 1-2-3 Collection as its premier offering. The 1-2-3 Collection is now available at www.itunes.com/rozannegold for purchase and download on Apple’s iBookstore, via the free iBooks App for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch.

Fifteen years ago, Gold started a revolution around the idea of simplicity in cooking. Today, her dynamic three-ingredient recipes are breaking new ground in a format designed for in-kitchen use. Each recipe is 140 words or less and can be viewed on a single screen, with mouthwatering images and brand new notes by Gold that flow beautifully on the iPad’s stunning display. Gold’s The 1-2-3 Collection is also the first digital cookbook to incorporate Cookstr’s proprietary search standards and technology, currently used by a growing number of America’s leading media, consumer and healthcare brands.

“We believe this platform has the potential to benefit publishers and home cooks alike,” said Cookstr CEO Art Chang. “We are using technology to enable publishers to sell a wide variety of books and booklets created from the best recipes in their catalogs and upcoming books. Cookstr believes you can maintain the highest standards for food and nutrition andgive the home cook more choices when it comes to quality, curated content. Most importantly, we can continue to reward the cooks and authors who create the recipes, and the publishers behind them who play such a key role in the identification and support of talent.”

The 1-2-3 Collection is comprised of 250 recipes ($9.99), which can also be purchased separately by theme:

• Quick & Easy 1-2-3, a 50-recipe collection ($3.99). Individual 10-recipe chapters are also available for purchase ($0.99), including: “Quick & Easy Mornings,” “Quick & Easy Appetizers,” “Quick & Easy Weeknights,” “Quick & Super Easy” (recipes you can cook with one hand), and “Super Quick & Easy” (recipes you can complete in under 5 minutes).

• Be Well, Take Care 1-2-3, a 50-recipe collection ($3.99). Individual 10-recipe chapters are also available for purchase ($0.99), including: “Be Well, Low Sodium,” “Be Well, Eat Light,” “Be Well, Gluten-Free,” “Be Well, Vegan,” and “Be Well, Healthy Heart.”

• No-Sweat Summer 1-2-3, a 50-recipe collection ($3.99). Individual 10-recipe chapters are also available for purchase ($0.99), including: “Summer Starters,” “Summer Soups,” “Summer Suppers,” “Summer Sides,” and “Summer Sweets.”

• Menus for Entertaining 1-2-3, a 50-recipe collection ($3.99). Individual 10-recipe chapters are also available for purchase ($0.99), including: “BBQ Menu,” “Al Fresco Menu,” “Fiesta Menu,” “Picnic Menu,” and “Labor Day Menu.”

• Dishes by Ingredient 1-2-3, a 50-recipe collection ($3.99). Individual 10-recipe chapters are also available for purchase ($0.99), including: “Poultry Dishes,” “Meat Dishes,” “Fish Dishes,” “Veggie Dishes,” and “Fruit Dishes.”

“The opportunity to create new cooking experiences that embrace technology is exhilarating,” said Gold. “My updated repertoire of three-ingredient recipes relies on fresh, unprocessed ingredients and streamlined techniques presented in a brand new form. The result? The revolutionary 1-2-3 Collection that mixes passion with practicality. It is designed to inspire a new generation of home cooks and professional chefs alike to keep it simple.”

Visit http://ibooks.cookstr.com or www.itunes.com/rozannegold for more information. A free sample of The 1-2-3 Collection is also available by searching for “Cookstr” or “Rozanne” on the iBookstore.

About Cookstr

Cookstr develops and delivers innovative products and technologies to market leaders in the media, healthcare and food industries, to support enjoyable and healthy consumer lifestyles focused on quality home cooking. Since its inception, Cookstr has introduced technology innovations that have significantly improved the inspiration and decision-making experience around recipes. Cookstr, founded by Will Schwalbe, and launched in 2008 with Katie Workman and Art Chang, has worked closely with the cookbook publishing industry to build a hand-curated database of thousands of cookbook recipes offered directly to consumers via the Cookstr website, www.cookstr.com. Today, Cookstr’s offering includes recipe curation solutions for the food media market, nutrition solutions for the health and wellness market and mobile solutions for the food publishing market. In addition, Cookstr has developed technologies that can improve expert content management for use in other markets.

About Rozanne Gold

Rozanne Gold is a chef, international restaurant consultant, author, journalist and four-time winner of the James Beard Award. She was the consulting chef to the legendary Rainbow Room and Windows on the World, and helped create three of New York’s three-star restaurants. First chef to New York Mayor Ed Koch at the age of 23, Gold has been known throughout her career for anticipating and inspiring food trends, including “The Minimalist” column in The New York Times, which was based on her cookbook Recipes 1-2-3, and the grazing craze, which was initiated by her cookbook Little Meals. Gold is the author of twelve cookbooks, including the award-winning 1-2-3 series. She was the Entertaining Columnist for Bon Appétit magazine for five years, and has written and produced stories for The New York Times, O Magazine, Gourmet, Real Food and more.

Contact

Follow us on Twitter: @cookstr
Find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/CookstrCooks
Visit the Cookstr iBooks page: http://ibooks.cookstr.com
Press Inquiries: press@cookstr.com

http://techcrunch.com/2011/05/16/ny-digital-city-road-map-2011/

Join us here at the Tipping Point Workspace, 86 Chambers Street, suite 704, on December 7th (starting at 2:30pm) and 8th (starting at 8:30am) to watch/co-work through the livecast with other members of the New York tech community. Visit: www.tedxtribecawomen.com for more information and to RSVP!

My wife and I booked a room at the Thompson Beverly Hills. The hotel was “fully booked” (I say overbooked) and we checked into a “lovely room on the seventh floor” with “a great view of Los Angeles”. Disappointingly, our guest room was the small salon room to a two-room suite. Our bed was a small pull-out sofa bed!

What is good customer service? Meeting a customer’s expectations is good customer service and exceeding those expectations is great customer service. In your business’ branding, marketing and sales efforts, what expectations are you encouraging your customers to have about your business? What promises are you making about your product or service? If there’s a mismatch between what your business promises and what you’re actually able to give, providing good customer service will be a hard hill to climb.

I’m a low maintenance hotel guest and don’t subject a hotel and its staff with demanding expectations. But one basic expectation I have of a hotel like the Thompson is to have a real bed in my room. In addition, since it was a salon room, it didn’t have many of the items I expect to find in a normal guest room, such as end tables, hotel guide, luggage rack and a clock within reach of the bed.

Receiving a terrible room was enough to mean poor customer service, but how the hotel went about it, made it worse. They presented the room as a standard room and when we inquired about why our bed was a sofa bed, their reaction made us feel like we were high maintenance guests. How should your business deal with potentially poor customer service? Should your business be proactive or reactive? If the hotel had been proactive, explained the situation and offered us a guest room at another nearby hotel or an affiliate hotel and perhaps given us some small complimentary items or services, we would have felt the hotel provided good customer service despite the hassle of going to a different hotel. By not being proactive, the hotel dug itself an even deeper customer service hole from which to climb out. A company trying to pull a fast one with a customer is a sign that it doesn’t care about its customers’ experiences.

Proactive actions may often cost a business more in the short-term, but it helps build a foundation for longer-term repeat business and favorable word of mouth. Reactive actions may often avoid costs in the short-term, but destroys longer-term relationships. In our case, the hotel received a couple of nights of room charge, parking and internet service revenue. However, they lost food & beverage revenue and any future visit revenue from us and perhaps others.

Of course, there may always be those folks who aren’t satisfied no matter how much your business tries to meet their expectations. Still, you try your best and when you realize that their expectations are out of whack with what you’re offering, then it’s time to part ways. They’re a disproportionate drain on your time and resources anyway.

This concept of customer satisfaction could be expanded to how people in businesses interact with others. Everyone else that you interact with is a customer. Within a business, your boss, subordinates and colleagues are your customers and outside a business, employees at your vendors and customers (in the traditional sense of the word) are also your customers. Why should you give your subordinates and vendors good customer service, after all don’t they work for you? Because by giving others good service, you’ll receive better service yourself. After all, you can’t do everything yourself anyway.

Providing good customer service should be a primary goal of every company that wants to be successful and every person that wants to succeed at work. Treat everyone as your customer, present your capabilities realistically and exceed expectations.

Last month, we were surprised (or not?!) to find that we all had eerily similar Meyers-Briggs personality types.  But on our team retreat to Shelter Island this week, we discovered we had even more in common!

Fondness for FIFO

It didn’t take long to realize we share a fondness for FIFO.  As Wikipedia explains, FIFO stands for First In, First Out, “an abstraction in ways of organizing and manipulation of data relative to time and prioritization.”  Now, preparing a meal with Art is awesome, but preparing a meal with a team of FIFO All-stars is even better!  In accordance with the credo, we queued tasks seamlessly, self-selecting for skill level and completing each task in its entirety, including cleanup, before beginning another.  For a First-in, First-outer, lending a hand is not just about generosity, it’s an instinct.  Turns out Tipping Point can’t have too many chefs in the kitchen!

The Knack for Falling

Later in the day, the incredible Paddle Diva, Gina Bradley gave us our first Stand-Up Paddleboarding lesson in Gardiners Bay.  It was the perfect group activity; we could paddle together but separately, all in one direction but each at our own speed.  More than any of these things though, what we enjoyed most was falling.  Art was the earliest proponent of “Fall-Down Paddleboarding,” but it was Brad who really made tipping-over tempting.  He dared me to edge forward on my board, to test the physics, to cease trying not to fall.  Giving in was a powerful reminder that falling can be exhilarating and even self-indulgent.  A reminder that fear of failure is a fun-kill.  That it is paddling, not balance, that moves you forward, and as Buddha once said, “the foot feels the foot when it feels the ground.”

What a great experience on the perfect summer day.  There were so many memorable moments; I guess that’s why they call it a “re-treat.”

I’ve long believed that failure is replicable, while success always contains an element of luck. That is, the reasons why companies fail are often repeated across the spectrum of startups, and taking a deep dive into the causes of failure can be incredibly helpful to entrepreneurs at any stage. The lessons of failure often drill down to the nuts and bolts of entrepreneurship — relationships with team members, technology and marketing decisions, hiring and other core elements that can get lost in blow-the-doors-off success stories, but are utterly critical to giving yourself the best shot at creating a great company.

Matt and I are in the position of having a fairly amicable end to our venture, so it’s not too difficult to talk about. According to the event description, Matt and I will be talking about “[our] experience running a kickass business into the ground”. Should be fun.

If you’re interested,  check out the event here.