Podcasts about blippy

Brian will never be able to look at Blippy the same away after learning about his dark past. Chicago’s best morning radio show now has a podcast! Don’t forget to rate, review, and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and remember that the conversation always lives on the Q101 Facebook page. Brian & Kenzie are live every morning from 6a-10a on Q101. Subscribe to our channel HERE: https://www.youtube.com/@Q101 Like Q101 on Facebook HERE: https://www.facebook.com/q101chicago Follow Q101 on Twitter HERE: https://twitter.com/Q101Chicago Follow Q101 on Instagram HERE: https://www.instagram.com/q101chicago/?hl=en Follow Q101 on TikTok HERE: https://www.tiktok.com/@q101chicago?lang=enSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The offers to sleep with Iggy keep rolling in despite his tardiness. Joe Buck joining us on YouTube. Well, kinda. Having some technical difficulties. Joe Buck now checking in via the phone line. Joe's emotions the morning of getting to call the Cardinals-Cubs. Joe's "Welcome To The Big Leagues" moment with Ken Wilson. Cardinals offense might be starting to turn the corner. Former Cardinals thriving after leaving St. Louis. The Buck and Caray families. Joe headhunting as a pitcher at Country Day. Blippy and Barney. Being able to laugh at yourself and not take yourself too seriously. Doug's hair. The 'Joe Buck hate my team' narrative. The Sound Off section. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The offers to sleep with Iggy keep rolling in despite his tardiness. Joe Buck joining us on YouTube. Well, kinda. Having some technical difficulties. Joe Buck now checking in via the phone line. Joe's emotions the morning of getting to call the Cardinals-Cubs. Joe's "Welcome To The Big Leagues" moment with Ken Wilson. Cardinals offense might be starting to turn the corner. Former Cardinals thriving after leaving St. Louis. The Buck and Caray families. Joe headhunting as a pitcher at Country Day. Blippy and Barney. Being able to laugh at yourself and not take yourself too seriously. Doug's hair. The 'Joe Buck hate my team' narrative. The Sound Off section. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sedano & Kap start off the show with some Crosstalk with Mason & Ireland. Kap asks Jorge about today's Dodgers game, which he took his son to, to see Blippy. Kap has a lot of questions about Blippy. Kap talks about it being National Flip Flop Day and goes on a rant about his nasty feet. He also complains about how he can't get into his new ESPN email. Aaron Rodgers did an in-depth interview with The Athletic and is basically trying to rewrite history in regards to his breakup with the Packers. Kap breaks down how it all comes down to having one bar of reception at home. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The guys with kids explain Blippy to those without, the long lost Blimpie's, Connor's sandwich shop dreams, go deep on Gary's Bigfoot guest from earlier today, and what happens in Hastings

A dog returns home from a Kennel, and the gang talk about childrens programming including Steve's own version of Blippy!

First of all ... It's BLIPPY ... NOT Bippy! Secondly ... the guys discuss some ideas they have for using different new media tools available that might allow some of our younger people to get involved in promoting the gospel and the church.

Hilary and Derek welcome the always hilarious Kate Micucci this episode! Comedian, cartoonist, actress extraordinaire Kate shares with us about party planning, Blippy the musical and seeing your friends at the beach.Want to tell us about YOUR weekend? Comment below or email us at thisweekendpod@gmail.com! Plus, find even MORE out about our weekends by following on Instagram @thisweekendpod! Make sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher and Derek & I would love it if you could leave us a positive rating! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit cartoonsbyhilary.substack.com/subscribe

Wacky! Fun! Crazy! Outrageous! Who could ask for more? Quick shout out to Punk Rock Factory, whose cover of the Fun House theme (plus some excellent others) feeature on their […]

In the news this week, invisible sculptures sell for thousands, Batlefied 2042 trailer reaction and What happened to Blippy? And much more... Email: TFEPOD@gmail.com  Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/welleritsabouttime  Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/frankcomstein Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/Frankcomstein  YouTube: Thoughts Feelings Emotions: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbLZuzqis4EsoYQ1_r9-c6g  YouTube: Frankcomstein Gaming: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCU2aGxp1xpmRh0TKeyvrhJA    Like the pod, leave a review, comment & subscribe for more.

Episode Notes Clowns are funny, right? Well not when you find out the true dark secrets of these creatures that walk amongst us handing out balloons and laughter... Is that a chuckle you're hearing or a blood curdling scream?! Fun in Funerals by David O'Hanlon Buy the new "Babysitter Massacre" book! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08P4ZF9LG/ Get Cool Merchandise http://store.weeklyspooky Support us on Patreon http://patreon.com/IncrediblyHandsome Support Weekly Spooky by donating to their Tip Jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/weekly-spooky Contact Us/Submit a Story twitter.com/WeeklySpooky facebook.com/WeeklySpooky WeeklySpooky@gmail.com Music by Ray Mattis http://raymattispresents.bandcamp.com Produced by Daniel Wilder This episode sponsored by HenFlix.com For everything else visit WeeklySpooky.com Transcript: The death of a Clown is no laughing matter.  It leaves a bleak, unhappy void in the universe equal to the amount of Joy the departed had caused. Fennis Farcemeister, Whiteface of the Amityville shudder, had brought happiness to millions. His body rested in the lavender casket with his bright red shoes sticking straight up and his orange hair jutting over the side. Before him, a pedestal—too large for its contents—stood erect as a grim reminder of the task to come. The remainder of his shudder mourned in their own ways while they awaited the arrival of Pastor Crumb.  “How are we supposed to close the lid?” Popsy Pringle asked gruffly, wiggling the toe of Fennis’ shoe. “Might as well just slap some Crocs on him.” “You don’t have to be in such a hurry, Popsy,” Sweet P. Cheepskate sobbed. Sweet’s brother, Blippy, put an arm around her shoulders and nodded in agreement. The twins were the shudder’s resident tramps. The tears rolled down Blippy’s rotund cheeks and disappeared in the smear of his greasepaint beard. The siblings both focused on the pedestal or, more accurately, the egg resting atop it. Blippy chewed his lip nervously and tipped his torn top hat respectfully.  “We all know you’ll be the next Whiteface,” he said softly. “You don’t have to be so eager to take it. Callousness is for humans. Clowns are better than that.” Popsy groaned and gave his nose a squeak. “Spare me.” Blippy gasped at the insulting gesture and sobbed on his sister’s shoulder. Waldo Tatters’ tie-dye shitkickers clopped across the wood floors with his spurs jangling until he stood before the egg. Its scaly, vermillion shell was painted with Fennis’ likeness and locks of his hair snipped and glued to the sides. Every Clown had an egg in their shudder’s reliquary. Waldo traced his finger across the curve of the egg. He took off his cowboy hat and pressed it to his denim shirt. Rodeo clowns were rogues and rarely allowed membership in a shudder. Fennis saw beyond Waldo’s wily, psychotic, demeanor, however. “Don’t you worry none, pardner,” the cowboy said, lowly. “We won’t take too long.” “We’d better not.” Popsy checked his oversized watch. “Where the hell is Crumb? No one likes a sad Clown.” Sweet squirmed uncomfortably in her pew. She’d see a Pierrot once. It was the worst thing that could happen to a Clown.  The Code called for funerary games so that the laughter of the shudder could carry the soul to the Palace of Joy. If the games didn’t appease the soul of the departed Clown however, it would become trapped in the void, and they would return as a Pierrot—a hideous, undead monstrosity that devoured flesh and spread coulrophobia. You can’t bring Joy if the audience thinks you might eat their faces.  “The Code don’t cop to convenience,” Waldo reminded him. He looked at the flower on Fennis’ lapel. Its pedals danced in the artificial wind of the oscillating fan, but Fennis remained still. “Rather get on with the Chase myself, all the same.” “It’ll be a hell of a blow-off.” Blippy tugged the handkerchief from his breast pocket dragging out an extra three feet of multi-colored linen. He blew his nose on it and folded it back into his pocket. A sad smile stretched across his chubby cheeks. “Fennis will be able to rest easy in the Palace seeing the party we threw for him.” “Gonna be a different kinda party, if’n we don’t get a move on.” Waldo patted the egg and sighed. He turned to Popsy. “Who’s the peckerhead anyway?” “His name is Al,” a new voice said. “Al Musing.” The shudder turned their attention to the tiny, trapezoidal door leading to the church’s rectory. Pastor Crumb’s four-foot height made it through the door easily, but the prisoner he escorted on a leash took to crawling on his knees to fit through. Pastor Crumb jerked backward as the leather strap went taut. He huffed and waited for the prisoner to catch up, using the moment to attend an urgent itch south of his bulging belly. “Al doesn’t like Clowns,” the Pastor said. He adjusted the white collar beneath his second chin. “I imagine he’s really going to hate us after tonight.” The shudder laughed.  Al tried to stand when eighteen-inches of checkered vinyl kicked him square between the shoulders. Popsy knelt on the human’s back and held his hand out to Pastor Crumb. “Enough propriety. Give me the biscuit.” Crumb took the revolver from the inside of his jacket and twirled it clumsily on his finger. He shook his head. “We have one more point of business.” He waved for Popsy to move.  The Auguste Clown growled, but rose nonetheless. Popsy rolled his gloved hand theatrically and gave a phony bow. He slapped the toe of his shoe down on Al’s face.  “There’s no reason for you to get up,” he said around the nub of the smoldering stogie between his yellowed teeth. “Get on with it, Pastor.” “Fennis Farcemeister was a Clown of the highest order. We gather here not just to honor the Code,” He glared over his shoulder at Popsy, “nor to anoint a new Whiteface. We are here to say a final goodbye to a Clown that was more than a mere leader or friend. Fennis was a mentor when we were ignorant, a father when we were alone, and a force of will when we were rebellious. He brought Joy to the humans like no other Clown before him, and in doing so he restored this shudder to a place of reverence among all Clown-kin.” “Amen, Pastor Crumb,” Sweet agreed. “Fennis did such wondrous works in his two-and-a-half centuries,” Crumb continued. “Why, if it weren’t for him, we might not even have the squirting flower gag. He took juggling to new heights, literally, by doing it on the tightrope. He restored the pooting bag to glory when he showed the humans how to make their whoopee cushions. There has never been a more beloved and potent Clown than Fennis, and never shall there be. We have made a grand day of remembrance; however, the time has now come to say our final goodbye.” “Goodbye,” they all shouted in unison. Pastor Crumb flipped the lid of the casket shut on Fennis’ corpse. It remained propped open by the bulbous toes of his shoes. The shudder chuckled at Fennis’ final gag. Crumb’s belly jiggled with raucous laughter. His laughter cut off as abruptly as hitting pause. His smile fell and the greasepaint did nothing to hide the dour expression etched on his face. “Al Musing, you have been chosen as the guest of honor,” Crumb grumbled. He waved his fingers to signal Popsy away. “A Clown is dead, a human must die. That is the Code to which both our kind are bound.” Al stood up slowly and tore the burlap sack off his head. He glared around the room at each of the Clowns. “You got to be fucking kidding me.” “Do we look like the joking kind?” Blippy asked. Sweet stood and sauntered to the casket. She dragged a wicker basket from underneath its stand and knelt with a smile toward Al before dumping the contents out. Her aquamarine hair tapered to fuchsia ends that acted like arrows directing all gazes to the struggling buttons of her unkempt hobo-chic blouse. It took great effort, but finally Al’s eyes jumped from the cleavage to the cleavers skittering across the floor. They were oversized and ancient, specked with rust and old blood, and accompanied by matching mallets.  “So,” Al cleared his throat, “which one of you makes balloon animals?” “We all do, dummy,” Blippy informed him. “Good. Start with a cock and go fuck yourselves.” Waldo chuckled. “Pardner’s got some guts.” “I’ll be wearing them like a big, pink boa,” Sweet hissed sordidly. The blade of her cleaver scraped a divot in the floor. “I’ll keep you alive while I pull them out, so you can tell me how ravishing I look before I split your skull open.” “As appealing as that sounds, how about we just split and fuck each other silly?” Al winked and blew her a kiss. Blippy jumped up fast enough to knock the church pew over. “That’s my sister, dickweed!” “Your sister?” Al gave the Clown a critical onceover. “Your mom had an affair.” “You sonofabitch!” “Enough tomfoolery,” Crumb shouted. He jammed the revolver into Al’s waistband. “We’re not animals. We’ll give you a shot… but just the one.”  “Fuck it. Why not?” Al pulled the leash off his neck and threw it down. “What’s the game?” “Time for games has passed,” Popsy said. “The Chase begins now. All you got to do is survive until midnight.” Al grabbed Popsy’s hand. The Clown jerked away, but Al held firm and turned his arm over to look at the face of the oversized watch. Forty-seven minutes remaining.  “Probably be easier just to kill you all,” Al suggested. “That’s funny.” Popsy shoved Al away from him. “You’re a real comic… Al.” “Choke on my McNuggets, Ronald.” Al jogged for the doors.  The Clowns set off giant party poppers, showering him with confetti and whooped with excitement behind him. Once he was outside, he took in his surroundings quickly. A polka dot Volkswagen Beetle was parked along the front of the Clown church which looked more like a converted funhouse with its colorful façade and odd angles. It was also smackdab in the middle of fucking nowhere. Rows of tombstones extended as far as he could see by the moonlight.  “Think, Al. You need a plan.” He had a head start, a gun with one bullet, and five Clowns hellbent on murdering him in less than an hour. The outline of a mausoleum caught his eye. “You can’t spell ‘slaughter’ without a laugh.” A train whistle screamed inside the church. Waldo rubbed his ears. “Krusty H. Christ, Blippy!” Pastor Crumb mirrored Waldo. “You dolt!” “Sorry.” Blippy hung his head and tucked the whistle into his overalls. “I just wanted to let everyone know the Chase is starting.” “We’re all in the same room, dipshit.” Popsy slapped him in the back of the head. “Besides, Crumb starts the Chase.” Crumb patted Fennis’ corpse and proceeded to the pulpit. Popsy tapped the back of his cleaver against the metal head of the mallet until he got the precise rhythm. The toes of Clown shoes tapped in harmony with it. Popsy scowled and licked his lips with excitement.  “Strike up the band, we got us a human to kill!” Popsy roared. Crumb pressed the button and “Stars and Stripes Forever” blared to life through the church’s PA system. The four others roared and stormed from the building in pursuit of their quarry.  Blippy took aim and smashed the handle free from the mausoleum door. It wasn’t his first Chase, and the prey usually went straight to the nearest shelter. He twirled the mallet in his hand and kicked open the door with a floppy, torn shoe. Sweet rushed into the building with her weapons at the ready.  The place was empty. The bronze name plates of the dead spread across the two, long side walls and the back wall was occupied almost entirely by a stained-glass window depicting the first Clown at the center and his six disciples in panes around him. Sweet crossed herself and approached the ornate tomb that sat in the center of the room. She took a deep breath and pressed against the top with her shoulder. Its heavy, stone lid scraped open slowly. She expected Al Musing to reach out for her, but nothing happened. She peeked inside and muttered an apology to the skeletal remains within the tomb. Doughy the Mime rested, as silently in death as he had been in life. Sweet turned to her brother and shrugged. “He’s not here, Blippy.” She looked around the otherwise empty room. “Guess we got it wrong this time.” “Rats!” Blip threw his hammer down with a clatter. “I just knew he’d come straight here. Where else could he be?” “Probably headed to the hedge maze. Let’s meet Waldo there,” Sweet suggested. The two tramps skulk out the front door and froze as the lights blazed before them. Circus music sounded from the VW Bug’s horn as it sped toward them, throwing a shower of dirt and grass from its spinning tires. Sweet cartwheeled out of the way, but Blippy was too slow.  “Sorry to Bug you!” Al howled with a laugh. The car struck Blippy low, flipping him onto the hood. His face smacked against the windshield, streaking the glass with his greasepaint. Al smiled at him from the other side.  The car smashed through the front wall, ramped off the tomb of Doughy, and launched into the air. They crashed through the massive window, showering the yard beyond in its psychedelic hail. The car landed hard. The tires exploded, the shocks collapsed, but its momentum kept the Beetle careening forward until it hit the oak tree.  Al batted the air bag down and beat his shoulder against the bent door. It finally squeaked open and fell off beside the car. Al got out and popped his neck with a groan. Blippy B. Cheepskate’s eyes dangled from his skull, forced out by the impact. The rest of him just burst open like a confetti-filled balloon animal and sprayed the area in viscera. Al chuckled. “Guess that answers how many cars you can fit in a clown.” Sweet jumped over the car and slashed at Al with the cleaver. He ducked and rolled, grabbing the car door, and swinging it by the window frame to bat the diminutive nymph away. “Let me get the door for you,” Al quipped. “Hardy-fucking-har-har.” Sweet spat blood. “With jokes like that you could be a birthday clown.” “Do you think I have the chops?” “I’ll give you some chops!” Sweet lunged forward. Al held the car door up like a shield. Sweet’s cleaver cut through the thin metal with ease. Al fell backwards, flipping the tramp over him in the process. He snapped to his feet, but Sweet was up before him and climbed his body. Her stockinged legs wrapped around his neck. She locked her ankles behind his back, twisted her fingers into his mop of blond hair, and squeezed her thighs tighter.  “Lucky fella, dying with your face in my cotton candy.” Sweet laughed maniacally as Al weakened and fell to his knees.  Sweet dropped backwards, grabbing her own ankle to tighten the hold. Al threw ever-weakening punches at her. She drove her elbow into the top of his head like a jackhammer. Al slumped over. His fingers tapped and dragged through the grass for anything that might help.  “Enough clowning around.” Sweet stretched out, reaching for her cleaver. “I’m going to cut off all your appendages in alphabetical orde—arrrrrgh!” Sweet rolled away from Al. She prodded the ragged hole in her thigh tentatively. The human choked and gagged behind her. “Fucking clowns always leave a funny taste in my mouth,” Al coughed, scouring his bloody face with the sleeve of his sweatshirt. Blood spurted between Sweet’s fingers while she worked a fuchsia tie from a pigtail to tourniquet the gaping bite mark. She seized the cleaver while she could and turned around… to find him missing. “Fuck!” Sweet panned around searching for him. She limped back to the church to regroup with Pastor Crumb in case the others failed to kill Al in the allotted time. Someone needed to be there to smash the egg. Whoever it was would become the next Whiteface… and Popsy would not be pleased. It beat the alternative. Sweet stopped in her tracks. Of course, if the human, killed them all, there’d be no one left to laugh for any of their spirits. Sweet gulped at the thought.  She needed to stay in the hunt. Al groaned and rubbed a rising knot on the back of his head. The she-clown had kicked his ass. He needed to fight smarter. If he made it to midnight, they’d all leave him alone. That’s what they said anyhow. If you can’t trust a clown to keep his word, then who can you trust? He crept along the hedge row following the shouted goading of one of his hunters. He slipped through a gap in the wall and realized he was standing in a maze. “Of course, I fucking am,” he whispered.  Well-spaced LED lights shone on the gravel track between the verdant walls on either side of him. They didn’t give him much light, but enough to pick out the deep grooves of cowboy boot tracks. He stayed low as much to keep his eye on the trail as to avoid detection. His sneakers gave him some advantage on the shifting rocks. As he moved through the corridors, the cowboy’s voice grew louder. Then he heard the jingle-jangle of the spurs.  Al sank to his knees and crawled to the edge of another opening, peeking around cautiously.  The boot heel struck him square in the forehead. Al toppled over, blinking spots from his vision. He got to his hands and knees when a kick met his ribs.  “Giddy-up, fuckaroo!” Waldo howled. He watched the rodeo clown—thumbs hooked on his belt loops—dancing closer to him. The tie-dye boots shuffled through the gravel and then buried into his side again… and again. Al tried to escape. Waldo kept pace with the human, kicking him like a soccer ball as he rolled away from the deranged clown. Al felt the poke of branches in his back when he reached the wall. Another solid kick went into his gut. His microwaved dinner splattered the Clown’s boots. “You dirty sumbitch!” Waldo licked his glossy red lips. “I’m gonna line dance your fuckin’ face into pudding for that.” Waldo’s smile faded when he saw the gun barrel jabbed into his crotch. He patted the air and took two steps back.  “Ever seen a clown juggle without any balls?” Al groaned and pressed himself up, keeping the gun trained on Waldo. He steadied his aim between the Clown’s eyes. “You only got the one shot, pardner.” “There’s only one of you.” Al straightened his arm and squeezed the trigger. The flag snapped out of the barrel, unfurling in an orange banner that read ‘BANG’ in purple letters. Al sputtered his lips and shook his head.  Waldo slapped his thighs and whooped happily. The Clown danced in a circle, booming with laughter at the timeless gag. He turned back around and snapped his fingers, holding them at his hips like firing pistols.  The miniature flagstaff rammed straight through his eye. Al swung the dummy revolver like a hammer, driving the spike through the back of Waldo’s skull. The Clown tipped over, the flag sticking out of his face fluttered lightly in the breeze.  “Bang, you’re dead.” The gloved hands burst through the brush and seized Al around the throat. He battered the geometrically-patterned, yellow silk sleeves. His knuckles clanked off the oversized wristwatch. The Clown’s muscles tensed and Al’s face was pulled closer to the protruding branches. Al closed his eyes tightly, feeling the twigs clawing at his lips to get to the soft tissue beneath. “He who laughs… last!” Popsy shouted with a great guffaw. Al reached through the bush and grabbed the first thing he could. Popsy’s laughter turned to high-pitched wailing.  “Let. Me. Go,” Al growled. Popsy’s white-gloved fingers sprang open and Al released him. The human strolled around the corner, popping his knuckles. Popsy rubbed his sore crotch and growled angrily. “Alright, Bozo Big-Dick. It’s just you and me,” he said. “We’re about out of time.” Popsy checked his watch. “Shit. I really wanted to enjoy killing you, but I can’t be late getting back to the church. I spent too many years in the shadow of Fennis. It’s my time to be the Whiteface.” “You killed your boss, didn’t you?” Popsy glared at him quizzically. “How’d you know?” Al shrugged. “Everyone wants to kill their boss.” “You killed Fennis?” a soft, melodic voice said from the shadow between two of the lights. “He was never going to rest until his egg was smashed. That’s why you were in such a rush to kill this human.” “You two clearly have things to discuss,” Al said, holding his hands up defensively. “I’ll show myself out.” “You’re not going anywhere.” Popsy adjusted his absurdly large tie. “Sweet, I understand you’re pissed.” Sweet hobbled forward, brandishing her cleaver. “Oh, that’s an understatement.” “If the human lives, Fennis becomes a Pierrot.” Popsy drew his weapons from his pockets. “We have to kill him first. It’s the Code.” Sweet looked at Al, then back to Popsy. She kicked the gravel with a frustrated shriek. “Two of us have a better chance, Sweet.” Popsy smiled at her. Al took his shot while the Auguste was distracted. He lunged to tackle him, only for the hammer to come down on the small of his back. Popsy drove a knee into Al’s chin. The human wrapped up Popsy’s legs. The Clown shimmied, trying to get his ridiculous shoes through Al’s grip. “Finish him, Sweet!” Popsy shouted. Sweet gripped the cleaver in both hands and raised it high as she stalked closer.  “Break the egg!” Al yelled. Popsy stopped struggling. Sweet lowered her weapon slightly. “Become the Whiteface,” Al said, shuffling his feet under himself. “Stop him!” “No,” Popsy hissed.  He glared at Al, then shot a glance to Sweet. Her tongue pressed against her cheek as she thought it over. If she smashed the egg, she would be the Whiteface and her and Crumb would send him to the Alley for trial. That couldn’t happen. There was only one punishment for jestericide. The thought of such horrors sent shivers up Popsy’s spine and steeled his nerve. He swung his own cleaver. Sweet’s head popped off her shoulders in a fountain of blood. She stumbled about, tripping over Al, and collapsing beside him. The stump gushed, her body twitched… and Popsy laughed malevolently. “Sweetie, you always did give the best head.” Al kicked off, pulling Popsy’s legs out from under him. He grabbed Sweet’s cleaver and swung at the Auguste, slicing the toe of his shoe off, but missing the meat inside. Popsy rolled and kicked the knife from Al’s hand before scrambling back to his feet. Al spotted Popsy’s mallet and rolled across the ground, scooping it, and coming up to his knees in a single motion. Popsy brought his cleaver down for a killing blow. Al deflected it and smashed the Clown’s ankle with the hammer. Al tried tackling him again and was successful. The mallet swung wildly. It struck Popsy’s bright red nose with a squeak that drowned out the crunch of the bone. Al laughed. It was all he could do. Laugh and swing. Hit and squeak. Over and over.  Squeak.  Squeak.  Squeak.  Until Popsy’s face collapsed and the mallet just made a sticky, thick smack with each repeated blow. Al finally stopped and came to his senses. He checked Popsy’s watch and headed back to the church. There was still one Clown left to kill and only four minutes to do it in.  Al stepped into the Clown church and saw Pastor Crumb writhing on the floor. The top of a white head with flocks of orange hair was buried in his abdomen, munching noisily on the Pastor’s guts. The Pierrot lifted its gore-streaked face and hissed. “You must be the famous Penis the Clown everyone’s been telling me about.” Fennis stood in a hunkered, crooked mockery of normalcy. He tore at his clothing, revealing the ‘Farcemeister’ family name across his powerful chest. The Clown’s bared teeth wiggled in their sockets and fell away as fangs pushed through the gums to take their place. Smoke rose from his pores, steaming his greasepaint from his face and taking the flesh with it. Bone showed through in the original pattern of his makeup. The Clown shuddered and his chest tore open with a great blooming flower that spurted its nectar into steaming puddles on the floor. The Pierrot lunged forward. Al cocked back the mallet and took aim at the egg resting on its pedestal. He flung the weapon at it… and missed. The hammer sailed harmlessly over it and struck the massive cross behind the podium. The ornament rocked on its hangers. Fennis drew closer to Al, running with his now clawed hands tearing at the floorboards like a circus monkey. Fennis sprang into the air. The Clown seemed to fall in slow motion as Al awaited his demise.  The cross crashed down on Fennis’ coffin, knocking it into the pedestal and tipping it over. The vermillion egg hit the floor a moment before Fennis landed on Al. The egg shattered, splattering the floor with its gooey, unnatural contents. Fennis exploded. The force knocked Al to the floor ahead of the tidal wave of viscera and blood that washed over him. He worked to untangle himself from a length of intestine and stood up, dripping with Clown goo.  “I’ll probably laugh about this later.” He spat out a piece of flesh and shook his head. “I hate clowns.” Al limped toward the exit. He just wanted to go home—back to his shitty basement apartment with his Hot Pockets and his porn collection and he never wanted to see another fucking clown. He threw open the door of the church and groaned. Sweet was ambling toward him with her head in her hands. Blippy dragged his remains across the graveyard’s lawn. The snapping of the bang-flag blowing in the wind drew his attention to Waldo helping Popsy navigate the headstones. Al slammed the door and backed away from it.  The knob started to turn.  “It’s midnight,” he sobbed. “I made it. This isn’t fair.” “No.” A pair of bloody hands clutched his shoulders and Pastor Crumb leaned close to his ear with a giggle. “It’s a circus.” The door creaked open and the others shambled in. Crumb bit into Al’s cheek and the others closed in around him. Al saw their fangs and the bone showing where makeup had been. There was no one left in the shudder. No one to bring their souls to Joy anymore. Sweet threw her head at him and the damn thing latched onto his chest while Crumb dragged him to the floor.  Popsy stood over him, his words came in a gurgled mess… “Laughter… never… dies.” The End Support Weekly Spooky - Scary Stories to Keep You Up at Night by contributing to their Tip Jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/weekly-spooky Find out more at http://weeklyspooky.com

The boys tackle Global Warming… in their studio, discuss scissor safety, and Dan wants all the seat covers once the pandemic is over.  NFL Network Analyst Mike Garafolo gives his take on Little House On The Prairie, Kidz Bop, Blippy, and explains how he fell behind on Star Wars.  Oh, and he chats NFL TV Deals, Deshaun Watson, and Super Bowl as well.  A special surprise guest gets Dan up out of his seat. . 

It's the end of the year as we know it....And I feel fine!!! It's from a famous song! It's a parody! Look it up! When it comes to finishing up the HELL YEAR!!! you know we had to do it big: deleting the episode we actually recorded by accident, then scrambling to replace it with the Premium episode we recorded the week before, and not having a plan for how to replace that. But you know what, I think it worked out pretty good. That's right, we brought our friends from Blocked Party back to see if they can redeem themselves after a pitiful performance on YKS Millionaire last time around. Did they do it? Did they win the million? Or did they bring shame to their family and podcast and Twitch streams once again? Also is Blippy there for some reason? Yep! Hell of a show, and a hell of a couple guys. Even Producer Dan is in on this one. What da!!!!Music for YKS is courtesy of the Hell Yeah Babies, Craig Dickman, Howell Dawdy, and Mark Brendle. Additional research by Zeke Golvin. YKS is edited by Producer Dan. Exec Producer PBostrom.This week's YKS is brought to you by NordVPN. In my opinion you would have to be certifiably insane to use any other VPN service. Hey man get in that padded room, or if you want the best VPN experience around, take it from your friend JF and head on over to the website I'm talking about. Plus, use promo code YKS to get 4 months free with a 2 year subscription. And that's the bottom line! And coming up on the YKS Premium Patreon this week, oh my god I hope we think of something cause this was supposed to be the show! Fuck!!! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Pentru episodul doi din povestea lor epică, gazdele emisiunii au cumpărat tehnică de înregistrare modernă de la SRI. Deși sunetul s-a îmbunătățit simțitor, nu același lucru se poate spune și despre calitatea îndoielnică a discuției. Ba din contră. Beri: 1. Hopster Pot/ IPA - New England / Thorn Brewing Company - USA - 7 % ABV 2. Pine Bomb / IPA - American / Abnormal Beer Co. - USA - 7,2 % ABV 3. Oatmeal Raisin Cookie /Brown Ale / Cigar City Brewing - 5,5% ABV Lucruri: - ratoni - droguri în pahar - beri americane - Blippy - nebunii anii 2000 - Andreea Marin - Tesla n-are nicio șansă, Minnie Cooper, aia e mașină

Nir’s Note: In this guest post, Abhay Vardhan, discusses how to measure the strength of user habits with cohort analysis and retention rate. Abhay is a founder of Blippy.com and blogs at abhayv.com. Follow Abhay on Twitter @abhayvardhan. A common mistake entrepreneurs make is to focus too much on user growth. Instead, it is often more important to ask: “Is the product creating a habit so users keep coming back?” and “How do we measure the strength of such a habit?” You can read the Nir and Far blog post on: Are Companies Too Obsessed With Growth? How to Measure Habits https://www.nirandfar.com/2013/12/are-you-focusing-too-much-on-growth-how-to-measure-habits.html Nir & Far, a podcast about business, behaviour and the brain by Nir Eyal. If you enjoy this podcast, please subscribe on iTunes and leave an iTunes review. It will greatly help new listeners discover the show. Please visit my website Nir and Far for other info about my writing, books and teaching: http://www.nirandfar.com/ --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/nirandfar/support

EP128 - TopHatter CEO Ashvin Kumar We caught up with Ashvin Kumar at the ShopTalk 2018. Ashvin is the co-founder and CEO at Tophatter an innovative live action site for mobile shoppers.  With the engagement and psychology of a game and the economics of a marketplace, Tophatter generated over $300 million of GMV in 2017 (100% up on 2016) and sells 100,000+ items every single day.  We talked with Ashvin about his background, including his previous start-up Blippy.  The pros and cons of various auction format and how Tophatter appeals to it's entertainment seeking value oriented shoppers. Episode 128 of the Jason & Scot show was recorded on Tuesday, March 20, 2018. http://jasonandscot.com Join your hosts Jason "Retailgeek" Goldberg, SVP Commerce & Content at SapientRazorfish, and Scot Wingo, Founder and Executive Chairman of Channel Advisor as they discuss the latest news and trends in the world of e-commerce and digital shopper marketing. New beta feature, Google Transcription: Transcript Jason: [0:25] Welcome to the Jason and Scott show this episode is being recorded on Tuesday March 20th 2018 I'm your host Jason retailgeek Goldberg and as usual I'm here with your co-host Scott Wingo. Scot: [0:37] Hey Jason and welcome back Jason Scott show listeners we are live live live from shoptalk and Las Vegas excited to have on the show. Ashvin is the top Hatter co-founder and CEO and tophatter is the world's most entertaining Marketplace they've raised over 35 million in venture capital and we're really excited to hear your story hear about tophatter and talk about, marketplaces machine learning in a variety of other topics welcome to the show action. Ashvin: [1:06] Thank you and thanks for having me Jason Scott have to be here. Jason: [1:10] We are thrilled to have you so one of the ways we almost always start out the show is get a little bit of the background of our. So can you tell us sort of how you started your career and found your way to this. Ashvin: [1:23] Sure so I'll let I'll start at the at the very very top so I was born and raised in in Silicon Valley. Local kid that that that never left the Bay Area basically there's there's not too many of us a lot of lot of folks descending on the Bay Area these days so I got to grow up in Palo Alto. Went to Palo Alto High School I was in I was in the valley and that the.com. Bubble and I remember I'm there is just remember there was a big there just weren't enough programmers and like the in hanging like the 99 2000 time and I remember getting your coffee. When your programmers you know how to write Java and I was like. Yes and I had no idea when got a book studied about the week before got in there and started learning job at up the I make great money that sell rather this is awesome and so that's where the bug started for me. Jason: [2:23] Will assume job I was like a required freshman class at Palo Alto High School now. Ashvin: [2:27] You know what's interesting at we we did do a little a little programming it at pellets high school so we had a little bit of that there but not a ton it wasn't quite as in Vogue as it is now. I know I think computer science is like Stanford's largest major by far and certainly the flavor of play for the decade. Yeah so after Polly Went to went to Stanford computer science Stanford actually while I was there I was interned at Amazon. That's where that's where my co-founder and I first spent a lot of time together he was an internet. At Microsoft and I was an intern at Amazon and so we decided to split the difference in. And find a place to live in between the two so we lived in the University District in Seattle. And every every night we come back and talk about the differences between Microsoft and Amazon which is awesome and I had a fantastic 2003. Does neutering there for a few months and it was it was already felt like a fairly big company with a lot of but still plenty of opportunity ahead of them and I remember. I want one thing I'm a Jeff Bezos would talk to the entire episode that has been. Like one of the treats was he come and talk to all the entrance and we talked about some some the company values and that there's two that I'm a really well as a frugality and Trust. And an enzyme I'm ever just wanted to hit like a soda need to go pay for stuff. Jason: [3:55] Obviously like I'm imagining you comparing notes with your roommate and like the cafeteria on the Microsoft campus was a little fancier than the free bananas at Apple at Amazon. Ashvin: [4:04] Do it what about that but what I found fascinating was that they were proud of that fact and so it just it just. You got me so it got me excited. Three different perspective than one person's proud of their reality and Microsoft obviously was touting there free food and free soda just two companies with very very different mindsets obviously. So after I graduated from Stanford where I worked at a small startup Enterprise social networking startup for for 3 years I would some of the so my friends from Stanford is the 3rd engineer. When I join we had about 7 people. I reread the series day we spend three years building the company in about. 3 years 23 years and my co-founder and my current co-founder and I decide to leave our job he went to. You went to a different start up use also 3rd engineer there so between us we had seen a couple we felt like we were the ground for a couple companies. Scot: [5:07] Is this the same guy that was also a Microsoft intern. Ashvin: [5:09] Single room the other after after college to and so after. Scot: [5:13] This is like Millennials like this. Ashvin: [5:16] Under that bastard us. Scot: [5:17] Best friends for life come on get with the lingo your conversation. Ashvin: [5:25] Do we have till we die. After after work it out of respect of guys to come back and jam on ideas together and eventually about two and a half years and we decided that we we want to. Tried on a run so we are we just started working hacking on various different projects and all all we knew is that we wanted to work together and that we wanted to build something fun. I interesting that people are going to like those sort of but that was a starting point but we didn't really know what that look like. And so we just are working on stuff we build stuff and we just put it in front of anybody that would it would see for feedback. We that weed weed send users to it and all sorts of ways that we can find a post on Facebook and post on Twitter viral things to try and get user to user experience. In the process of that was like right around $2,000 this is like the financial crisis. Scot: [6:18] Great time to start compass. Ashvin: [6:19] Yeah. Scot: [6:21] Just leave her jobs and start a company in early 2000s. Jason: [6:24] Frugality. Ashvin: [6:27] Actually move back in with my with my parents my co-founder you move back here. You also trying to save money on on rent so he moved in with his girlfriend at the time. Way too early to move in with a girlfriend and they're married now so everything worked out but. Be trying to be frugal a hack on stuff share with anybody that would see it in the process we met if you see it at CRV and they weren't like they were doing a lot of deals at the time of the crisis. So things are a little slow there and they had a spare office in at the their office is on Sandhill and so is he invited us to come work out of their office. Scot: [7:16] Sweet and nice. Ashvin: [7:18] CBS on basic being in Resident entrepreneur I don't like to say I don't like say unfriend resident because that's like a fancy title where you actually get paid we were at in Resident on foreigners. Jason: [7:27] That's like the difference between a country club and a club in the. Ashvin: [7:29] Exactly. I got a big chunk of our day was figuring out which coffee shops wife I wasn't going to cut out so having like condition Wi-Fi and free lunch actually was really helpful. Scot: [7:46] I spent a lot of time at the Starbucks in Palo Alto on I'm picturing you guys when I go in there it's like funny it's like all these startup books just kind of like you know you can see the founders and they're just like you know. Hey they have big red circles on it. Jason: [8:07] And now everyone has to be in the official Patagonia down vest. Ashvin: [8:11] But siding I stack that standard BC attire. Scot: [8:14] Yeah that's a b c. Ashvin: [8:15] Tina Turner wearing the Patagonia vest. Scot: [8:17] Depth of funny humorous t-shirts yes I write Piper. Ashvin: [8:22] So much of products in 2000 and in 2008. And when the benefits was being a b c Verma said we could we just walked down the hallway and showed us these. The folks there in got their feedback and eventually we found we we built something that they got really excited about that's why if we actually ended up raising money for it so it's probably called blippi, and it was a it was a social network for the type for the things that people are buying so the idea there was that we would. We would Connect into your your Amazon account your iTunes account and we basically passed we published your friends the stuff that you were buying so if you download something about the man so I'm kind of out your friends way of discovering what your friends are by. As I was going by first foray into Discovery shopping and we got really excited about that and and CRV got really excited about that and they wrote us a check to see if from the company and that's how we got started so they put. Scot: [9:25] Serbia's Charles River Ventures for those of you that aren't in that VCU Palo Alto. Ashvin: [9:30] So what we raise money for that and and actually we got a lot of traction initial traction a lot of hype around that product. And 6 months later we raise another round for that sweet we actually ended up raising $12 additional for that. Unfortunately six months after that after spending so this one year into the journey with blippi like we realize it but the product wasn't really going to work. So the retention numbers weren't there the engagement just wasn't there when we tried a bunch of things so by the end of that year we had a we had a lot of money in the bank but filled product. And so we have to figure out what we're going to do next and Mike O'Connor and I we just kind of went back to what we were doing before it was hacking on all sorts of different projects. Scot: [10:16] It's a blippi was a consumer, thing did you try pivoting till like retailers integrating with their platform to do a staring contest. Ashvin: [10:23] Yeah could question so there were a few different ways we could have hit it I think that at that time we we still felt really strongly that we wanted to be if your consumer experience and we didn't want to have a component where we were doing an Enterprise Integrations or working closely with. With folks without us having restaurant user base. Scot: [10:42] Did was of oxidation like to an affiliate program. I think so Jason shares of cool GadgetEase bought I buy it you guys have been coded in the affiliate link. Ashvin: [10:51] That would be one possible promise at scale and then we it was such a treasure Trove of information. Jason: [10:56] I can say there's probably a data play where you're quick. Ashvin: [10:59] It was it was. Is really fun products only only first build it and then other things that we buy every single day at the amount of like apps I download on the Play Store things that I just go on Amazon buy. Based on a recommendation from a friend or you know somebody recognizes me a book I'll just go buy it on the Kindle right now and have so I can have it there with one when I'm on the plane to like you're buying things all the time and are. Product would pull all that information in Niagara that information published in a structured way to other people could benefit from it. Scot: [11:34] Remember Facebook Beacon where they tried this and then a people to buy gifts for their wives or wife's. Ashvin: [11:42] Storage associate with it too but but all in all it was really fun product with a lot of information associate with it and there were a lot of different directions we could take it, the reason why we like there's a guy that had the fun engaging element that also had fantastic quantization potential. If you want use a product then so I can work and then that's where but we found we found it we can get people to initially engaged to the product but we couldn't get them to retain overtime. And so at the end of the year we've had some decisions to make when we decided to have basically Sunset the product and work on other things but we were really excited about probably really excited about the space of Discovery Commerce. I'm just at this the area that we stayed in and we started working on other ideas in an e-commerce so the next idea we tried we tried a bunch of things in between the next thing that we got a little bit of traction was we we we took the idea of Groupon and. Combined it with base e tried to build a Groupon like experience for Etsy sellers because he's at the sellers have fantastic. Merchandise they can make me a sandwich. But I have no distribution so we that will look spell the distribution list. For people that want to be introduced to new types of Pepsi products and so that actually was awesome we lost that in 2011. And I had really great traction for a few months but then a few months in we realize that this is actually hitting a ceiling that we just we can't. We can't attract enough Sellers and we can't get enough people on the distribution list to make this a scale at at a meeting for 8. [13:12] I've been so 6 months after that we realize I can't wait this business or the tapped out even though it had some initial traction and we work and we went back to the drawing board works on a bunch of other consumer. Consumer products all in all in Discovery shopping and then 2012 is when we launched tophatter. And I'm we launched tophatter I had to lift head like a consumer heads consumer attraction in a list that we had not seen before. And then we'd work to my way to work then we work on so many different projects up to this point that when we when we initially launch shop in and saw the numbers were like wow there is something special here, I wouldn't know exactly what about it is Piggly special but there's something really special here that we want to that we want to make sure that we capture in Foster. Scot: [13:53] And so as a as a function or in the consumer space What are the numbers you're looking at so you've talked about you. Retention stuff are you looking at KLTV are you looking at cohort analysis helplessness can't understand how someone building. Ashvin: [14:08] So these days as a as a business scales at those are all really important numbers for us or we look at court we look at when we say chords for provokes international. We look at when a person signs up in month 1 how do they perform in 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 so we look at how that how, how to progress over time. We also look at tactile TVs we look at all that stuff but it's mainly like numbers as rescaled up initially When You're Building Products it's it's a little bit more like trying to find love. Scot: [14:42] Just some Mau movement. Ashvin: [14:43] Yeah you look at you looking for you looking for something special in the product trying to capture trying to capture Magic In A Bottle. And I think if you don't have that initial magic in the model of then all that other stuff doesn't really all that other stuff doesn't really make sense. It's hard to optimize for that other stuff. And so I think the thing that was special. Tophatters at it did have magic in the bottle really early on and and then as we scaled up we use all of you know we look at CAC LTV we look. All that fancy Jazz figure out if we're doing work on the right things. Jason: [15:19] Tell her what's my little bit about tophatter and sore what the value prop is and what what makes you guys doing. Ashvin: [15:24] Yeah so tophatter is a I just got to shopping app I always encourage people to to take to go download the app to get the full experience because it's a it's a it's a very differentiate experience we sell things in an in an option where I'm at. So we're on live auctions 24/7 I think the average eBay auction takes 2 weeks to complete our average auction takes 90 seconds and get us some other price so it's real time is fast. How are average price points 10 to 15 bucks so it's in like an Impulse impulse purchase. I don't feel they can make a decision within 90 second see if they want something. And we sell across the a variety of categories from jewelry to electronics to accessories. Scot: [16:07] It seems like it's raining towards of value kind of consumer, like that wish kind of a Marketplace and you'll see some of that wants to have something cool for like under 20 bucks or something. Ashvin: [16:16] So are consumers also shop at Walmart and Kohl's and and QVC and HSN and yeah it's it's at the dollar store TJ Maxx when these are all these are all of her consumers so they say it's about you wanting to customer. Scot: [16:30] Never while they're there is he's really weird auction sites where you would like by kind of a currency to go to bed and you know I think they gave options are really bad name kind of there. Ashvin: [16:38] And we're constantly kind of fighting yeah so we're like we we had to fight that kind of band brand misperception. Lots of people see that we're not inside that's the first place that's what one of the first question that we get his ass a penny auction sites with a pay for my beds and doing a lot of them are can we make make really clear. Beds are free. Only pay if you win so it's just an old-fashioned auction but it's not it's not an option for. For the reasons of price discovery on most items that we sell their free commodity items it's an option because it's engaging and we find that again we think about how we build an engaging experience that's what we started. It's just fun everything starts at a dollar and so you pick the price they want to pay you know so you like something at a dollar there's no reason why you won't like it at 2 and then if you like it at 3 instead. Scot: [17:26] Is it a 1 winner wins got a thing or is it more of a Dutch auction so if Jason did six and I bid 7 we both kind of win or. Ashvin: [17:32] Right now it's one winner of the challenge too is that is that if there has to be losers in the auction for you to feel free to feel good when you actually win something. Scot: [17:44] That that hurts the you know the pack because she got to go acquiring up cat x x yeah and then it could hurt LTV cuz if I'm a loser lose so many times year. Ashvin: [17:54] Better interest in their data shows that the folks that compete for items are the ones that are there are more likely to come back so if you if you try and win something you win something with no competition less likely to come back and if you competed for anyone, cuz there's a little bit of social validation in the fact that somebody else wanted to sing. Scot: [18:11] I saw an article that said you're you guys had over 300 million in DMV in 2017 it was an idea the sky. Ashvin: [18:18] Jessica sent a scale so we're going to do so last year we did over 300 million in Top by in this year right now like we're focused on doing a billion dollars in 2019 this year will do at least a half a billion dollars. It's a no it's not it's not like an Amazon CEO business but it's not like a small business either so. Scot: [18:39] And your business model is typical take rate kind of a random. Ashvin: [18:43] It's a it's a Marketplace business model we take roughly 25% depending on the category. Scot: [18:49] So then I can figure out your revenues by multiplying GMB by 25% just making sure I understand. Jason: [18:59] That would assume that Scott can do math. Scot: [19:01] Yes and then are you guys a mix of first party and third-party entirely third party. Ashvin: [19:11] It's an entirely third-party give me like our sellers do we sell things ourselves. Scot: [19:13] Yeah yeah. Ashvin: [19:15] So we don't take any inventory your Marketplace we just connect buyers and sellers so we asked her sellers to give us all their inventory so we tell sellers. Give us a spreadsheet everything you got and then destroy those into how we use data. Do we have it we have a big pool of them in Torrey millions and millions of items that we can potentially share with their buyers and then from that we Whittle it down to a small set of a relatively small so excuse that we show fires when they open. Jason: [19:45] So how are you soliciting sellers. Ashvin: [19:50] Are sellers are Swedish settlers faced in the you asked me if sellers we also have a team in China to work with our sellers in China today, about 70% of our sales come from sellers that are based in China and leave it to you in there that helps find and work with our sellers. They're actually found is just. Just looking at the broader internet. And selling like as a as a third-party sell on the Internet it's just very challenging to find places to sell on the internet there just aren't enough places to sell. There's some when we go and talk to our sellers in China they're always looking to diversify where they're selling and nobody wants to just be on Amazon. I prefer for obvious reasons but if you look but you look down unless there's actually not a lot of options Beyond Amazon you got the Amazon you got eBay. You got a Bye Baby I wish the list rise up pretty quickly and so when we come in there and say that we have no we're going to have to I know ours this year and we've got reasonable volume every two years. Because a that good volume and be that they wanted they don't want to be wholly dependent on on their Amazon sales. Jason: [20:58] So when is Big trans here at shop talk has been Ai and machine learning. And you guys are like getting a significant amount of data now so that I imagine within an able the possibility of you ever drink some of those techniques. Ashvin: [21:15] Death till we have it we have a fantastic day it is at and we have a dataset that's that's different and bigger than a lot of e-commerce. Players are size because we've got people spinning history to so not only do we have people buying things we have people expressing interest at various different price points along the way. We have a really expect all data said they're only be getting this to leverage as we get better and better at at machine learning. But for us via the business is only improved as its scale. And I attribute that to obviously improvements in logistics and operations that you get his knee Converse business scaling but just as much to to being able to leverage or data in more intelligent. Jason: [22:01] When are you likely using that for merchandising as well I cute like so you mentioned like there's a big inventory of potential stuff to offer to your buyers. Ashvin: [22:11] Yeah so like internal in our in our company we have nobody we have Noah merchandisers so I think this is one of the one of the Hallmarks as I see it if I can modern. The modern retail company is it is one that's going to use data my data is the new merchandiser us for one of our internal mottos so. And we can we learned this the hard way we actually it a few years ago we we did hire some folks with more traditional retail backgrounds and we had a hard time internally reconciling. The air intuition was laughing right we just had a hard time reconciling that with with the day that we were seeing. And so it's trying to get these Two Worlds 2 that's it come together as challenging but I think just are we got nowhere we're engineer's by training and that sort of our DNA. And out we we like to call the numbers and and and only talk about you comes and retail merchandising is like the core piece of that where we do spend a lot of time. Jason: [23:09] So have you guys developed any of your own models are you using any of the commercial or Open Source Tax like what's the jewels that you're using. Ashvin: [23:17] We use while he's a lot of Open Source. We do use a lot of open source code to take glue iron machine together but we're not using any off-the-shelf solutions for Ray I so we we build their own data model as we've got Folks at experience machine learning. I bet spend time tuning the models and then also thinking about how do we like what what types of data would make this model even better, and how do we go capture that data so a lot of what we talked about internally is Howard data structure and how can we structure it better to make it more effective writing everything. A lot of people ask me about about data and about a I and I always tell them that it just starts with structured data you got to have a data set and you got to have a schema that's easy to work with. Jason: [24:04] We have lots of the sort of more old-world clients in the the starting points for a machine learning isn't even doing any machine. Ashvin: [24:12] That can you get the data. Jason: [24:13] Just about getting a. [24:14] Attributes for your data and another thing we talked a lot about because it's a coming problem is it a government so I can just making sure you have the the right rights to leverage that date on all the way she. Scot: [24:26] She mentioned can I join in on this so you mentioned you get this did data, do you actually didn't go and and go to like the manufacturer and say hey your price is too low if you know you're at $12 and if we did 899 you are model tells us we could sell twice the volume is that is that a example to use case. Ashvin: [24:45] Yes so we have got me so that is like an example of division we haven't actually gotten it we haven't actually done that just yet but yeah if the core piece of our technology is that we can look at it and I didn't estimate the price that were going to get for it so. We like to have a good sense of what we're going to sell something for before we even put it up for auction before I buy or even sees it. And so we can look at our in our million just using save this these are the things that are going to perform well, I'm can we go get them for for better prices or can we how do we make this how we make these price-points works and they're there two ways that we can figure out how to how to make advertise ask you to sell it at a higher. Price that we think we can get a better price for or how do we lower the cost on the supply side. Scot: [25:28] I'm convinced this is what drives a lot of Amazon private label you know the, the brands would tell you that they're just stealing their data and stuff but I think what happens is you know I think Amazon looks at like khaki pants and they see there's this conversion gap down at you know X dollars and then they will go and recruit Chinese sellers to fill that Gap and then. And we're like lahren you know some private label at that price point in there and I think they're looking more of conversion day that you kept getting data with sexy little bit. Ashvin: [25:54] What's interesting about Amazon so like we we get compared to when we talk to investors obviously Amazon's the Shelf in the room and they want to talk about how we are different from Amazon Amazon everything is Sartorius on Amazon. Amazon has his wealth of kind of search oriented conversion day that somebody types in khaki pants and they can see what percentage of the khaki pants search volume has been fulfilled. We don't have that meeting we just have people open up the app and it's almost like a news feed of products and so we have to clean and we have to clean and make inferences in in in different Amazon. Scot: [26:32] So just to change topics little bit so a lot of people contact me cuz I'm known in the marketplace world marketplace. That's great it's going to be harder than you think it is because unlike you know what say you were going to build like a Dollar Shave Club or something like that what's nice about that business is you you you control one side of the equation right you control the supply Dave's go to bring demand. You chose the what I would say is at least twice as hard if not for ex's heart of building Marketplace you have to not only do have to go build the buyer side if you could build the seller side so it's kind of like simultaneously building to businesses and you. There's probably some. Scot rule of the square of the number of sides to marketplaces you know that the exponent of the equation has that been your experience that is kind of getting to the school you're at. Arrow on one side of the boat too hard and they end up going in a circle to acquire all these fires the bars I have a terrible experience cuz there's not enough Supply logo acquire Ali suppliers they won't sell anything till at RIT because I didn't. Selling a product you have some scar tissue to share with us. Ashvin: [27:37] I absolutely I mean this is like this is what working on all the time so try not trying to climb the ladder on demand and Supply at the same at a similar rate. On the challenging and visit this is why it's really hard to grow a Marketplace faster than it is very hard to grow, American pit playset and I can exponential rate it takes time to grow marketplaces until we've been fortunate enough to, the mostly double the business year of the year and even as we try and double the business of feels like the wheels are about to fall off either on the supply side or on the demand side. And interrupt you to see some of the conversations that go on internally it's always will be one channel screaming about not enough buyers in another slack Channel screaming about like not enough to use for a certain type of visors just like, constantly it is it feels like a battle everyday and then when you take a step back and look at the business we actually like. We actually got some stuff done and we grew even though that every single day feels like it feels like a dog fight. Scot: [28:39] Is that the hardest thing about building tophatter or have you been surprised by the back end scale it's taken or the customer Discovery what's been the hardest problem in hindsight that the kind of surprise you. Ashvin: [28:56] I made a promise to be changed your every year right now one of my biggest challenges around is trying to understand or Supply better and if so can I go to the data model we see that are 21 a big challenge is this your process. Dish Network Network routing with this this year is that we are our customers tell us that they want to see more things in the marketplace. When we first launched in 2012 and keep my everything we do is real time so when you open up that app everything that you're seeing is is available right now in this moment is going to sell the 90 seconds or anybody in the world named in the world that opens up the apps in the sea. Scot: [29:29] Just have a QVC as kind of a model. Ashvin: [29:32] It's like QVC. And in a when we first launched in 2012 because we had such a small demand days we can offer that much to fly so if you open up the app in Primetime you know if you open up the app there might be like 5 things for sale. Because that's all that our demand could so bored and that year, going to see more than these five things available and then in 2013 or demand a screw and we can put our supply base also and they said the same thing we want to see little bit more so every year it's it's kind of the same thing this year if you'll stick. because we we see the we see the option to break into all these different categories of issue with this deal that we do have and so, a lot of what we spoke Asana is trying to understand what categories do art buyers want to see, how do we get them how we brought in our category how do we go deeper into categories that we do have to sell better and better things so it's it's, trying to trying to build that Insight while then why like I'll mark while I system is is evolving is it super challenging and we have a pretty big. You're pretty big team of of analyst that. Are there looking at data all the time trying to trying to understand how the system is functioning and build more insight into what we should do tomorrow. Scot: [30:47] We have a lot of entrepreneurial type sellers that sell on eBay and other platforms give us like the Quick 90-second Pitch like how do you pitch a seller to be on your platform. Ashvin: [30:57] Yeah we say jeezy I use give us all your montuori and will we we we we connected with our bye week we look at what are bars in Taiwan. I'm willing to stop everything is going to do on you can tell us also if you've got a floor for the the things that you want to be like that price that you expect to sell it at and we won't listen unless our production models are telling us that it's and it's all about that rice. Scot: [31:19] Set a three hundred million kind of run rate at a lower aov do you have like 30 million to buyers and sellers how many buyers like I kind of wanted to 30 minutes. Ashvin: [31:32] Papyrus like last year we had I mean an exact numbers but last year we had over 2 million buyers on the. Scot: [31:40] Are the churches buying for a minister. Ashvin: [31:42] Did buy a lot of stuff. Scot: [31:43] That's awesome yeah that's cool yeah. Ashvin: [31:45] Dad and Elvia to get to the point like a 10 lb of 10 bucks I got 10 to 15 hours every transaction size to make this business work they better be buying a lot of things, and remember the classic thing about e-commerce businesses, 1015 years ago is the first question to ask you what's your HIV and if you're able V is like in the ten to $20 range like. Scot: [32:07] Does the seller I would ask one thing that scares me is you know I give you all my inventory and I see all the stuff going on there for a dollar can I have a reserve or or do you guarantee if I want 10 bucks you'll deliver 10 bucks. Ashvin: [32:19] Yeah so today on today I currently back a lot of the risk is taken by the sellers but we just Asher sellers that we're not going to run unless we think you're going to get a. We are prediction models think that you're going to get a price above the price that you want but I want to go rolling. Scot: [32:35] Give you a desired price point. Ashvin: [32:36] Writes about wanting a rolling out this year is for us to take the risk and so were you know we got all the data we're confident are predictions into at some point in time we feel really comfortable taking the rest and so from. From from a perspective a seller can treat our platform just like they treat any other. Marketplace so just like you work with eBay just like you were Vans I just give it everything at the best price that you have and what will sell it and will give you the price for it. We also have the option to take apps out on it too so. Scot: [33:05] So if I'm if I've got a like a great price on this widget and we we, do this I know when a lot of sellers are working with like the Amazon and eBay deals team there's a certain kind of death what what kind of depth would you ask a seller to provide do you want like 10 of a widget a hundred a thousand and one. Ashvin: [33:22] So today we don't work with our Salvage closely for volume commitments that's another opportunity we can have so we we anticipate that as we start to take as we start to give sellers commitment and we're trying to get better prices from seller anticipated volume of famous will go. Along with it today we do today we get more volume to the sellers that are willing to take more risks. And they don't have to take that rest me like we're happy to take that risk and so it's a little bit of a kind of value proposition mismatched right now they were excited to address this year. Scot: [33:51] The last one is one of the knocks on some of these folks like an AliExpress or a wish is you in this thing and you you're all excited and then like it takes 6 months for the. How to get to do something you've got that feedback on in and have you work with your sellers on how fast you expect them to ship these things and get them to a consumer. Ashvin: [34:10] So we expect the sellers to ship right away doesn't necessarily mean they're going to get it right away the customers that we have. Longer for value and so we haven't seen the shipping times be a huge problem and I really think there's a Class A customer that wants to get their item right away but those are nicer of those aren't really our customers broadly speed. Our customers though want value one thing that we we sound is that our Logistics are going to improve what scale. And so as we scale up we found that are sellers are willing to open up warehouses closer to the man. And we're willing to give them more volume if they open up their warehouse closer to man into labor faster different ways to get the products to the customers faster and are using a Marketplace model are sellers are willing to, I'm investing that are averaged it just be clear are average time delivery times are in a couple weeks if it's coming from from China and if it's coming from the US with a bunch of our inventory comes from the u.s. to is Justina today. Jason: [35:13] And does the buyers see that delivery time before they did. Ashvin: [35:17] And it's an important component so if we tell our sellers that if you can ship faster you're going to do something more to man on your products. Jason: [35:25] Cuz I feel like that's an incremental fly in the wish model is like you're off and pretty far in the purchase funnel before you find out. Ashvin: [35:33] Yeah you know I think they experimented both ways so I think that take a fairly similar mindset. Some terms of trying to figure out where it where to break this news to the customer quote on quote, and obviously it's it's pretty bad experience if you break it too late in the funnel but I'm sure they're trying to learn to an experiment with where's the right place though. Frostburg to share it right up front so people so we set expectations right away. Jason: [35:58] So you mention in the beginning I always encourage people to download the app so I'm assuming that's just the sort of preferred iteration of the experiences the mobile app. Ashvin: [36:11] Yeah so most of our business is done I mean the real time experience and so we saw things we sell things that are only available for 90 seconds. And so we do have experience but most are web expenses primarily for our seller so all of our seller tools are on the web and that's how sellers access it and our our website works just the same way that are at this. Vast majority of our business is done on our apps on on our Android app Android or iOS. Jason: [36:40] So almost everybody that has a strong mobile experience I get the metrics are. [36:45] They're on the mobile app experience the challenge usually is maintaining that that high active user base on the mobile app it sounds like. [36:57] In your case it kind of matches pretty well to the demographic because he's. [37:02] People that are that are going to want to be frequent purchase orders are you seeing like significant turn like what are you doing and try to maintain. Ashvin: [37:11] Yeah I mean we got a liver specialist Discovery shopping experience together. We focus on engagement I think this is a big difference between us and Amazon we like to ourselves as the anti Amazon. And anyways Amazon focus on making things Amazon focus on the buying experience we focus on the shopping experience. Games on focus on efficiency they want to get you in the app and out of the act like my could you and find something quickly get it boom you're out where the opposite where did we help custom we help our. Jason: [37:41] I want to go lighter. Ashvin: [37:42] Yep we want we. Amazon helps you save time tophatter helps you spend time we want to go for us like we want our customers to be in the eyeball time we want them to be discovering great things even if they're not buying and I were constantly iterating on on that experience. The primary feedback from our customers that they end up turning out is the fact that we don't have the breakfast apply that they're looking for. And every year that challenge every year like we're able to offer more and more Supply obviously we want to have it overnight love love to have it happen tomorrow but it's it's it's just a process of building outdoor supply this. Jason: [38:16] It's interesting the VC's are comparing you to Amazon they may be should be comparing you to like Clash Royale or some. Ashvin: [38:21] Maybe there's a there's a game like experience to us. Scot: [38:27] Chef fortnite wear like everyone's on an island at the Battle for the deal. Ashvin: [38:30] There's a will there's a. Scot: [38:32] Fortnite Meats products. Ashvin: [38:33] People love the competition. Jason: [38:34] Gamification for sure. Scot: [38:36] A quick disclaimer Jason Scott show takes 10% of any ideas that utilize from the show that are lawyers make the same things. Jason: [38:42] Do you disclose like roughly like what the active monthly users are on the mobile app is it like just I'm just trying idea border magnitude vs. Traditional shopping site. Ashvin: [38:54] Yeah I don't want to get there like that monthly numbers. Scot: [38:58] Denis Entre Nos RMA you there. You and you you probably know like time of day. Ashvin: [39:07] They're absolutely is in and where it where are part of our business is making clever matching the right amount of Supply with the right amount of man so we have two man models that tell us. How much how many buyers we expect to be showing up, at this very moment and then what Supply we should be showing in this 90 second time frame so we have these models that tell us how much we should be listening to get that information so we have to know. We had an all the stator in terms of sharing though we sell over a hundred thousand items today and I just give you a sense. Scot: [39:42] Are you limited by the time of anything since 90 seconds there's only so many things you like so many slow. Ashvin: [39:50] One the middle the night there's less people on the side there's like less people on the app. Scot: [39:53] Like let's say there's 10 people on at anyone given second do they they all see the same thing going for 9 year to you now start just going to say there's some point where it starts to make sense to show some audience maybe a ring and another people at electronic item. Ashvin: [40:07] Right so ever so there's there's a everybody has a different sort experience so you can sort down and see you could do that access to everything. But it was me different place in this world so it's personalized to the person the information we have they said about the person based on what's available at this very moment. Scot: [40:25] So you can go broader category and get more personalized and leverage those 90 seconds it seems like. I going deeper would be good too because you know a lot of sellers I've talked to you the kind of have these fees opportunities to. They don't see no volume come in there from you which is like where these deal platforms gets these really crazy great prices. Ashvin: [40:46] We can sell things in volume to it just won't part of the Beauty from my buyer respective is that if you don't win right now you don't know when that's going to come up again. And people in by arbovirus and set reminders on certain items so even if they don't win it right now will send the notification the next time it comes up and sometimes the next time it comes up is in the next hour sometimes it. Scot: [41:05] Never lose our kind of you know to notify them cuz I've expressed interest yeah for the show it the first thing. Ashvin: [41:10] Exactly exactly so so we do we are able to sell things in volume but it isn't this really happen like in the same 90 seconds. Scot: [41:17] What what categories do you want to add the most. Ashvin: [41:20] Your work cited going to break into apparel for us like we find that. We think that the experience that we have or what we're trying to cater to a broad mass-market audience but our audience today is limited by the supply that we do sell so a few years ago we were only selling jewelry, and our audience is 90% women. I'm now we're selling a lot of electronics in her audience is closer to 6040 male female because there is something for guys to buy and sell. I'm excited like break into apparel and a bunch of other categories shoes. Scot: [41:56] Pro tip hair extensions so hair. Ashvin: [42:00] 10% for you guys. Scot: [42:01] Go to hair extensions of the number one seller on AliExpress and it's like crazy volumes there's something about the price point in quality of imported from China hair extensions Jason's more of an expert than I am. Ashvin: [42:13] I got high. Scot: [42:16] It's all about the weave I think you should definitely look at this hair extensions. Ashvin: [42:24] We saw a lot of drunks video. Scot: [42:24] So drones are second only to two hair extensions. Ashvin: [42:30] And I also tried to break in international markets so today were were 85% based in the US we think in many ways the business and be a lot more interesting outside the US. Jason: [42:45] Very interesting is a trance personalized at all I can like do you use what you know about the user to decide what gets merchandise on that home page. Ashvin: [42:54] Yeah we so so there's there's a set of items is available to everybody that's that is on the app at this given moment but we stored it based on the information that we have about you. I didn't know if it's you bid on a lot of electronics items you're probably see Electronics items do kind of times that are available you probably see sword at the top so we do our best to personalize it in that way. We make decisions about the demand that we're seeing today in the supply that we have available we're also. At Ross magnesia know what from that pool we should be listening to sell at this given moment in time. Jason: [43:31] Well this is been super fascinating as men we really appreciate you coming on and talking to us, but it does happen again we've used up all that a lot of time so blisters want to continue the conversation we encourage you to jump over to our Facebook page and if you enjoy Today Show please jump on the iTunes give us that 5-star review and then you can download, tophatter from there. Scot: [43:53] Yeah and obviously people should go in and try the platform do you do you publish stuff online where can people find you online if they're interested in learning more. Ashvin: [44:01] Yeah you can that you can find us on our Facebook page fault on Twitter. Where are we have a were active on medium so we're publishing content everywhere we're also we're also watching it national TV campaign also so we're about to roll out a pretty big TV ad campaigns of silver, TV channel near you too. Scot: [44:21] Congrats I'll be fun I look forward to. Jason: [44:23] Going to star in the first. Ashvin: [44:25] Yes absolutely. Scot: [44:27] Just can you give listeners a little preview of a little little sneak peek. Ashvin: [44:33] Yeah I think the world were appealing to the folks that want to have a fun experience shopping and so. Scot: [44:41] Awesome watching NBA jerseys. Ashvin: [44:43] Not yet. Scot: [44:44] Okay well we really appreciate you joining us I know you've been really busy here at the show out recruiting sellers for the platform so we really appreciate take your time. Ashvin: [44:53] Thank you Jason thanks God. Jason: [44:55] Until next time happy Commercing.

Kooz talks about how his son got bullied at a restaurant, Who the heck is Blippy? Sugar Sugar no papa?! Kooz finds a priceless item and 3 Classic crank calls from...... Dementia Don, Biscuit and Billy BeBop!!!! Please Subscribe!

Harland has a bad experience with the 'N' word, a guy is buried in the coolest way imaginable, and who the hell came up with LOL!!?? Blippy blabby blue! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some people guard their privacy online jealously. As much as they want free email and facebook, they shudder at thoughts of having their data scraped, email addresses exposed, and photos indexed. But the trend of web services is not in favor of these digital hermits. More and more social networks and applications are popping up, allowing users to trade their personal information for cheap and amazing services. One such service – Blippy.com – is like a Twitter for your debit card. Sign up with Blippy, and you can immediately and automatically share info about what you buy, watch, and listen to with your own social network or the whole world. David Hornik loves Blippy. He loves the trend towards radical transparency. And as an investor with August Capital – who’ve helped give life to successful startups like evite and stumbleupon – he’s got his eye on where this trend could be going. And by the way, you can follow what David purchases at his public blippy account. Previous Episodes in this thread: Adventures in Anonymity Part II: The Future of Transparency and How to Stop It – Joel Reidenberg of the Center on Law and Information Policy at Fordham on re-engineering the web to fight transparency’s most dangerous effects Adventures in Anonymity Part I – Sam Bayard, Assistant Director of the Citizen Media Law Project on whether legal action could put online anonymity out of commission

Bu programda blippy.com üzerine konuştuk.Bu bölümü buradan indirebilirsiniz.

Amber and Sarah on LinkedIn's IPO and the impending bubble, Blippy fades away, Groupon and Foursquare might be teaming up, is Namesake a Twitter/Quora hybrid? Is Visibli Rad or Fad? All that and more! Hosts: Amber MacArthur and Sarah Lane Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/tsh. We invite you to read, add to, and amend our show notes.

Amber and Sarah on LinkedIn's IPO and the impending bubble, Blippy fades away, Groupon and Foursquare might be teaming up, is Namesake a Twitter/Quora hybrid? Is Visibli Rad or Fad? All that and more! Hosts: Amber MacArthur and Sarah Lane Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/tsh. We invite you to read, add to, and amend our show notes.

http://www.buildyourownbrand.tv Social Commerce is only starting and is likely to be huge, let's have a look at what it is and what it might become.

Audio File:  Download MP3Transcript: An Interview with Julia Hartz Co-Founder & President, Eventbrite Date: July 12, 2010 NCWIT Entrepreneurial Heroes [music] Lee Kennedy: Hi this is Lee Kennedy, board member for the National Center for Women and Information Technology or NCWIT. And we're here today as a part of a series of interviews that we're doing with extremely interesting entrepreneurs. These are women who have started IT companies in just a complete variety of sectors, and they all have just very cool stories to tell us. Today with me is Larry Nelson. And Larry is from w3w3.com. Hi, Larry. Larry Nelson: Hi, I really am happy to be on this show. And by the way there are so many parents and so many managers and leaders that listen to this show. So that's why we're tapping into all these great entrepreneurs and leaders. Lee: Great. And we also have Lucy Sanders who is the CEO for NCWIT. Thanks for joining us Lucy. Lucy Sanders: Hi Lee. Very happy to be here. And I wanted to mention that very often our entrepreneurs that we interview for this series are showing up more and more on the top 10. To watch the top 10 there, the most in this region, so the women we're interviewing are just top five entrepreneurs. Larry: You bet. Lee: Cool. Just to get right to it today we're interviewing Julia Hartz. And Julia is the co-founder and President of EventBrite. And EventBrite is the leading provider of online event management and ticketing services. Is just a really cool company, and Julia has brought the creative and energy of the entertainment business. She was at MTV formerly. Lucy: Oh wow.  Lee: Welcome Julia. Thanks for coming here today. We're looking forward to talking with you about entrepreneurship. Julia Hartz: Thank you. I'm really honored to be here. Lee: Wonderful. So can you tell us a little bit about what's going on at EventBrite lately? Julia: Oh goodness, a whole lot. Well, we were originally founded in 2006 by my husband and I and our third co-founder Renaud Visage, our CTO. And since that we bootstrapped the company. We were just three people for two years, very product focused. But I'm happy to report that we are now nearing 60 employees. So it's quite a different company today than it was even back in 2008. On the topic side we're just really focused on making life simpler for the organizers, and delighting our customers through innovations of simple tools they can use to publish event pages, promote their events to a wider audience, and sell out their events. So sell more tickets to their events. And we're also now looking at our relationship with ticket buyers. Now that we've helped event holders host over 200, 000 events, obviously that there is a larger accumulation of attendees that are now coming back to EventBrite to find out about more events that they want to attend. So that's a current feature trend that we're seeing. Lee: Well you know NCWIT runs events, so we could well be one of your future customers. Julia: [laughs] I'll give you the sales pitch. Lee: All right. [laughs] Julia: On a different time maybe. [laughs] Lee: Yeah. I would love to hear more. We find that running events can be very time consuming. So it sounds like EventBrite is on to something. So Julia, the first question is about technology. And first of all, how you became interested in technology? And also really interesting technologies that might you see on the horizon that would interest our listeners. Julia: All right. So my career as you said it before began in television. I was a development executive at MTV, and I worked the first season and the first movie of a little project called Jackass. Sorry, I'm not sure if I can say that on radio. And then I went on to FX Networks, and I worked on shows like Nip/Tuck, The Shield, and Rescue Me. So my career there was really high in creativity, and it was definitely pushing me up a little as they were in cable television, and the projects they worked on. But it was very well in technological innovation. So we found it very hard to break the traditional distribution mold as well as the traditional advertising mold for that matter. So my last year at FX I spent a lot of time on product placement, which was sort of a thankless job, trying to make sure that the label of the beer can was pointed in the right direction at all times in a scene. I started to get the inkling that there was something out there that would make me feel fulfilled, and I was lucky enough to meet Kevin about two years before I left television. I was able to see him start a company from inception. I was sold. Two years later I was ready to leave my traditional career and take the leap. So that's how I first got into technology. I felt like it would be something I would feel, I wanted to be ahead of the curve instead of trying to chasing trends, which I felt like we were doing in television at the time that I was working at MTV and FX. Technologies that I think are cool? Kevin is an avid angel investor and adviser. By virtue of that we were really lucky to be involved in a lot of different companies and see a lot of great trends come out of those companies, and very bright people. I always say that what I feel like is cool right now for me personally is not exactly original. But it is in the way of communication and information dissemination and I'll give you an example of how that applies to me and why I think it's cool. We were recently on a trip and our trip itinerary was shared with our family and anybody else who needed no know where we were through TripIt. We were not in touch with our family during the trip so I posted mobile photos of our two-year-old on Facebook so that my mom would know how she was doing at all times. In our company we share information through Yammer and we also share expenses through Blippy. Then, on the social side oftentimes, I'm checking in through Yelp to let people know where I am in case they're in the same area. We live in the city so it's not so large. So that idea that I can instantly broadcast and disseminate information easily and with no friction is really huge for me today being an entrepreneur and a mom. Larry: Well, entrepreneur and a mom, and you got this "techie" background, why are you an entrepreneur? Also tying in with that, what is it about entrepreneurship that makes you tick? Julia: I'm an entrepreneur because I believe that I can change an industry. I also love helping to build something that people want and that's extremely valuable. I feel day-to-day glee in making a difference, in working on projects that are both very large scale and very small scale. I also feel like being an entrepreneur, for me, I feel like I'm part owner in a movement. So I think if I were to sum it up, being an entrepreneur and being a parent, I feel equally about both. [laughs] So EventBrite is very much our baby and there is just something inherently satisfying about working on something that you feel such ownership and passion about. That's what entrepreneurship means to me. That's what excites me about it. Lucy: That's great. So Julia, who would you say influenced you or was a role model or mentor along the way to get into being an entrepreneur? Julia: The reason why I took the leap and didn't hesitate was because of Kevin. Entrepreneurship comes like second nature to Kevin, and he had founded two companies before that. So I really believed that everything would be OK [laughs] and that somehow, someway we would succeed. So for him there was just no question that he wanted to always be an entrepreneur and it was almost like, "Why not? Why not come work for free with me and see what we can do and how we can change the world?" So really he's the one that influenced me first and foremost. Our families really support us along the way. They're very unconditional about everything we do. As far as role models go, we have mentors in Michael and Xochi Birch who are a married couple who founded a few companies. But most notably and recently Bebo, they founded together. They gave us some great advice in the beginning, which was divide and conquer. As a married couple if you're working together never work on the same thing at the same time. Not only is that sort of a recipe for disaster if you're behind the same spreadsheet in trying to share them out, but also you get from point A to point B two times as faster, even maybe faster, because you have complementary skills. And that very much applies to Kevin and I. We divide and conquer in everything we do. At this point in the game we work on very different aspects of the business, and actually get to catch up at the end of the day. And ask each other how each others day went. And my parents are role models because just everything that they've done they've done with a lot of grace. And finally, two-year-old daughter Emma is a huge role model to both of us. Because I think, for me it's because she never backs down from wanting to know why. She doesn't settle for an answer that she can't completely believe. She can definitely be a role model for us in many different aspects. Lucy: Well, I certainly think parenting has taught me up. That's for sure. She probably got a double dose of entrepreneurship. We'll have to see what she ends up starting. Lee: Or determination. Lucy: Or determination for sure. So Julia along the way you've been encouraged, you started a company, you've worked in entertainment, you've had a great career so far. What's the toughest thing in your professional career you've ever had to do? Julia: The only thing that I dread and the toughest part of this gig is coming to the realization that a team member is not a right fit, and having to let them go. And for us it's been, we haven't had to let go many people, and that's great. But it's really hard when you're building a team, because you feel like this is your family. And for me, I feel like each person on our team is like an athlete. I have to keep them like well-feed and you know hydrated, and well, and out of the tabloids. [laughs] I want to take care of everyone who works at EventBrite. And to have to part ways with somebody is by far the toughest part of this gig. Secondly, I think making decisions that I feel like are going to maybe not sit well with our customers. And our interests have been extremely aligned with our customers since the inception of EventBrite. And we really built EventBrite through having a dialogue with our customers and understanding event organizers' pain-points, and how can we alleviate them through technology. But making decisions like pricing changes it's totally agonizing. And we have a story where we went from a freemium service to offering a free service and paid service, to just a completely paid service. And we fretted over it for months. And when we finally reached the decision and pulled that cord, not only did we not see the turn that we had expected, but we saw our conversion go up. Because people who were coming to the site going to have to make that decision over or whether not to sign for the free or paid service. So these kinds of decisions are really tough for us. And I feel like one thing we could have done better is not fret so much over it, and believe in our product, and our ability to delight our customers. Larry: That's great advice. So one of the things we wonder about and always ask and that is if you were sitting down right now with a person who's considering becoming an entrepreneur or just starting to be an entrepreneur what advice would you give them? Julia: I think that if you're going to do it you have to jump in. I mean I feel like when I visualized the leap that I took from a corporate secure job to running EventBrite and working on this project, I envisioned myself jumping in with my eyes closed, head first and all hands and feet in. I mean I don't think that it's possible to have success without completely committing yourself. So whether that is committing yourself completely mentally, or if it's mentally, logistically and financially you really have to put all your skin in the game to actually have a chance. Most start-ups don't' succeed and I think that it's for obviously a variety of reasons. But first and foremost, if you're going to choose entrepreneurship, you have to commit in every fiber of your body. Lee: The word devotion comes to mind. Lucy: Yeah. Julia: It takes a lot of devotion. You can't have one put in and one put out. It doesn't work very well. Lee: So, on the same note what it takes to be an entrepreneur, there's certain personal characteristic that everyone thinks of that makes us entrepreneur successful. What would you say are your personal characteristics that have given you the advantage as an entrepreneur? Julia: So, me personally, I feel like I have a very strong willingness to pitch in. Now, that we are 60 people and our roles as founder, I feel like at this point I do not get in the way of greatness. We hire very, very smart, capable, talented people and we need to let them have their freedom to really change this industry. But on the flip side, I am always willing to pitch in and help so whether that be any sort of mundane task. It is not mundane to me because it contributes towards the success of the EventBrite, of my baby. So, that willingness to pitch in is key. I also have an ability to be objective. So, because of my first start up, I'm not very dated and everything is very new. I try to just come about it and to have a fresh perspective and being very objective about everything that is happening and not ever feeling like we have to be status quo. We are actually trying to disrupt an industry, the ticketing industry, and so to look at it from a fresh perspective is an advantage in many different aspects of running a start up. And, finally I feel like I'm a 110 percent committed. I mean I feel extreme honors over EventBrite in a way of like I really care about it and I care about everybody who works on changing the world with us. And so, commitment and then accountability really being accountable for the bad things and the good things. I think that makes a big difference. Lucy: Julia, you've mentioned that you travel and you mentioned your family and you mentioned your devotion to EventBrite. So, we're curious. We always ask this question. How do successful entrepreneurs bring balance into both their personal and their professional lives? Julia: Right. So, first of all you have to prioritize and you have to perhaps write it down on a white board. What is most important to you and then write everything up. I mean we talk a lot about [inaudible 15:15] optimization here and I kind of feel the same way about balancing your life. For us, it is an interesting talent because EventBrite is very much our first baby and we have and I who is a part of this process. So, instead of dividing them into two things, we feel like we are in it together. Sort of cliché to say but it is very true. It takes a village and for me personally, I have to find my vortex of happiness so that for me is being a great mom and being a great entrepreneur. I have to be confident enough to ask for and receive help from our village of family and friends. And I have to prioritize. And so, I have to note that if push come to shove, what would I do in each scenario and how do that emergency sort of exit plan. That is also very applicable to working with your spouse. And so, I feel like for us, our family and our friends and our daughter, they are in it with us and so they feel invested and understand what's going on as well. Larry: Well, you have already achieved a great deal. You are doing a lot. You are young. You are building a family. What's next for you? Julia: My goal for EventBrite is to grow the service and to the only place you would ever go to buy a ticket for any event you would ever attend. And then secondly, I want to have more kids. Lucy: There you go. Julia: It gets a little bit harder to scale for some reason I don't know. I look at it and I'm like, I am pretty sure one plus one doesn't equal to so we'll see. [laughs] Larry: Well, I've got five kids and my wife and I are in business together so it works. Lucy: I have three. Julia: I need to sit down and pick your brain. Lee: Well, thank you so much Julia for talking to us. We really appreciate it. I want to remind our listeners where they can find this interview. w3w3.com and NCWIT.org and please do pass this along to other people who would be interested in listening to it. Thanks very much Julia. Julia: Thanks so much for having me.  Larry: Thanks, Julia. [music] Series: Entrepreneurial HeroesInterviewee: Julia HartzInterview Summary: Julia is a reformed Television Network Executive and comes to Eventbrite by way of FX Networks and MTV. "I'm an entrepreneur because I think I can change an industry. I also love helping to build something that people want. Being an entrepreneur, for me, I feel like I'm part owner in a movement and there is just something inherently satisfying about working on something you feel such ownership and passion about." Release Date: July 12, 2010Interview Subject: Julia HartzInterviewer(s): Lucy Sanders, Larry Nelson, Lee KennedyDuration: 17:20

This is the 13th episode of the Social Media Security Podcast recorded April 30, 2010.  This episode was hosted by Tom Eston and Scott Wright.  Below are the show notes, links to articles and news mentioned in the podcast: New Facebook Changes – Social Graph, Social Plugins and Instant Personalization.  Here are two articles to […] The post Social Media Security Podcast 13 – Details on the recent changes to Facebook, Blippy CC issue, Bye bye Basic Auth appeared first on The Shared Security Show.

On today's show, Android is the main topic. There's lots of news related to Google's OS, as well as some stories of tech security breaches to make us more paranoid than we already are. Links from today's show are below: • Update: Google Navigation isn't coming to the iphone just yet • Android market has over 50,000 apps • The Nexus One isn't coming to Verizon, Google Recommends HTC incredible instead • Auto app updates in Android 2.2 • Blippy leaks users' credit card numbers • Photocopiers may be retaining your private documents • Lang Lang plays an iPad at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco

This week, the world is mad at Google, Blippy shares your credit card and Halo 2 just won't die!

Welcome to episode #191 of Six Pixels Of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast. This is also episode #25 of Media Hacks. Thankfully, C.C. Chapman came in and was able to host the intro (I was a little late to the call) where we discuss a whole bunch of stuff that surrounds some bigger themes about privacy, security, publishing and opening up the platforms. There's talk about Please Rob Me, Foursquare, Wired Magazine, the TED conference and much, much more. Please note: this episode does have language, so it is not work safe. Enjoy the conversation... Here it is: Six Pixels Of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast - Episode #191 - Host: Mitch Joel. Running time: 42:20. Audio comment line - please send in a comment and add your voice to the audio community: +1 206-666-6056. Please send in questions, comments, suggestions - mitch@twistimage.com. Hello from Beautiful Montreal. Subscribe over at iTunes. Please visit and leave comments on the Blog - Six Pixels of Separation. Feel free to connect to me directly on Facebook here: Mitch Joel on Facebook. or you can connect on LinkedIn. ...or on twitter. Facebook Group - Six Pixels of Separation Podcast Society. In a perfect world, connect with me, directly, through Facebook. Six Pixels of Separation the book is now available. Episode #25 of Media Hacks is coming soon and it features:  C.C. Chapman - Managing The Gray - Campfire. Hugh McGuire - LibriVox - Bite-Sized Edits - The Book Oven. Julien Smith - In Over Your Head - Co-author of Trust Agents. Not present: Chris Brogan - New Marketing Labs - Co-author of Trust Agents. Christopher S. Penn - The Financial Aid Podcast - Marketing Over Coffee.   A new security issue? Please Rob Me. The issue with Foursquare. Hugh thinks he's got some kind of business model with an online social network for burglars. Daring Fireball - The Whole Thing About Adobe's Flash Player Not Having Access to H.264 Hardware Acceleration on Mac OS X. Wired Magazine goes digital. ...And now back to a conversation about the Apple iPad. We are very easy to transfer over to new platforms (even though we claim that we're not). A little bit about the TED conference (what happened at TED 2010 stays at TED 2010 ;). TED Talks - Blaise Aguera y Arcas demos augmented-reality maps. TED Talks - Bill Gates on energy: Innovating to zero! TED Talks - Jamie Oliver's TED Prize wish: Teach every child about food. The truth about Robert Scoble (umm, he's not a Media Hacks listener). What do you get out of conferences and why? Breaking down elitism. Reddit - What's your favourite TED Talk? Hugh spams the podcast with: BookCamp Toronto on May 15th, 2010! A look at Blippy the social shopping engine. Julien is old... and getting older. Reading Whitney - Too Much Information. From now on, Hugh will only shop at the Bible Store. While C.C. will only use the Apple Playboy app ;) Does anyone still look at the general Twitter stream? The beginning of Social Commerce and Social Shopping. Please join the conversation by sending in questions, feedback and ways to improve Six Pixels Of Separation. Please let me know what you think or leave an audio comment at: +1 206-666-6056. Download the Podcast here: Six Pixels Of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast - Episode #191 - Host: Mitch Joel. Tags: adobe advertising apple bill gates bite size edits blaise aguera y arcas blippy blog blogging book oven bookcamp toronto campfire cast of dads cc chapman chris brogan christopher s penn conferences daring fireball digital marketing facebook facebook group financial aid podcast flash foursquare hugh mcguire in over your head ipad itunes jamie oliver julien smith librivox managing the gray marketing marketing over coffee media hacks new marketing labs online social network please rob me podcast podcasting reading whitney reddit robert scoble security six pixels of separation social commerce social media marketing social shopping ted 2010 ted conference ted prize ted talks trust agents twist image twitter web 20 whitney hoffman wired magazine

This is the 9th episode of the Social Media Security Podcast recorded January 26, 2010.  This episode was hosted by Tom Eston and Scott Wright.  Below are the show notes, links to articles and news mentioned in the podcast: Tom and Kevin will be speaking with Robin Wood at Shmoocon Saturday, February 6th at 11am.  […] The post Social Media Security Podcast 9 – Defensio, Blippy.com, Relationships and Social Media appeared first on The Shared Security Show.