Miles To Go.

Epic Cover from Popular Mechanics c’94

Ever wonder what goes on behind the scenes when you pull up some information on your mobile device or tablet like today’s Weather Channel outlook or last nights scores on ESPN? Ever been annoyed by the ad intruding on what you want to look at, or if it’s behaving but not being relevant at all. What goes on behind the scenes, in about 1/1000th of a second, is a remarkable battle for the right deliver a message from someone who wants to engage you.

Flattered? Well you (and about 6 billion other people) are one of the two pillars that anchor a giant eco-system that is defining our times. Congratulations.

But the pipes that run between the brand that wants to reach you and the mobile device you are looking are new, not fully developed, filled with billions of dollars, and clogged with FUD. For the un-initiated, that’s Fear-Uncertainty-and-Doubt. When it gets solved, it will mean more and better content supported by relevant and timely ads that actually add to the experience.

In the meantime, let me (try to) explain what we (the businesses behind this) are working on to bring you to that point…

The pipe is all the different ways a brand can reach a consumer on a mobile device (explained below). The hold up revolves around people’s natural resistance to change, and their comfort with the familiar. I’m not immune to that, and I can remember a turning point about mid-way through the dot-com era when I lamented to a few of my old school buyout friends “remember when we used to be able to buy a company and phone it in for 5-10 years without anyone messing with us”?. Thomas Friedman got that right in his World is Flat, stating that our ability to learn and adapt will become the greatest skill set for the modern world. As markets and models change overnight, those that resist change and evolution will inevitably become a smaller and smaller island, if not altogether sunk. And who’s to blame for all this?

The information super highway for one. And for two, creative destruction went from Generational to 140 characters. Which brings us back to mobile ad-tech.

For an outsider, there is nothing more exciting than the tectonic shift of time spent from TV and PC to Mobile and Tablet. Though I write this on a PC (Mac) there are fewer and fewer tasks that get completed in front of this screen. And the brands that want to reach me are beginning to figure this out: the ads are getting smarter, more relevant, less intrusive and – dare I say – value ad on occasion. And this is done without cookies (on mobile) but with many more interesting parameters. But, like the internet’s early days, it’s still got a long way to go.

Segue here for first timers: my theory remains that as consumers get access to more information faster, they want more information, faster. And, like the internet, they will not like to pay for any of that. So the brands who want to access those consumers will subsidize that content with advertising support. And one way or another, that’s how we’ll roll for a while here.

So why do outsiders and first timers make such a big deal about the complexity and fragmentation of the mobile ads ecosystem? FUD. Listening to the CM Summit – thanks Google for the live stream- Luma’s Terry Kawaga  (start at 1:17:45) uses a showman’s flair for ridiculous sound effects and funny mash-ups while drawing out the following truth: there are only two pillars in digital media, consumer and brand. Everyone else is an enabler to that connection. If you get confused while looking a LumaScape, just repeat the preceding sentence. Here are the rest of the players, per Terry:

• Publishers create content of interest, where consumers flock like birds of a feather.
• Agencies create interesting ad units, and control lots of ad buys
• Networks buy and sell the remnants the publishers can’t sell themselves
• Exchanges automate the process
• Data targets users for more unique ad delivery

My world. Welcome.

And if you are gazing upon the Mobile LumaScape for the first time, you might say I guess I won’t be able to phone it in for 5-10 years without anyone messing with me. So this is where it gets interesting, as Terry again point out. Those enablers between the consumer and the brand tend to welcome the newbies with the following line

Oh, yes it’s very confusing. Give me your money and I’ll make it better.

Which is a lazy way to look at it. Yes, there’s a bunch of logos up there but he has the basics in the right place: Consumer and Brand. In between, there are a bunch of petri dishes founded by innovators, funded by vc’s, helping find better solutions between the two. But playing the game of fear (this is so confusing) and hero (but I can save you, give me your money) will not advance any of the said petri dishes. What will advance and differentiate them is seamless integrations between the petri dishes such that a brand can plug-in and gain the benefits of any and all of the innovations that allow it to best reach the consumer at the best time with the best ad.

And all this will normalize into something pretty logical I think. Just look at the same video at 1:28:00, about pop-ups. They were hated online, and they eventually receded or were trimmed back. They are no less hated in mobile, and likewise they will not win by dominating the screen. They will win by being relevant and timely and reaching the consumer when they need it most.

So that’s what’s going on each time you pull up a page on your mobile.

~~

While not mentioned directly, I’d be remiss if I did not disclose I founded a mobile ad-tech company that powers several logos above: Mocean Mobile.

360 respect for Someone that looks up to you

I recently read “On Raising Boys” and it brought out some very interesting points that I think apply to start-ups as well. One of the three key phases to development for a boy is having mentors in his teen years that are outside their main family unit, that have perspective, and come with authority in some field.  He can rely on this guidance to make important decisions outside of his direct family unit while building interdependence and confidence on his own.

Same goes for mentoring entrepreneurs.

I recently wrote about my mantra of Discover. Develop. Deliver. Which in very broad terms means I am always looking for young-at-heart entrepreneurs with fresh ideas. But equally important is the willingness to develop themselves  their product, the message, etc.

So here are some experiences I have drawn from mentoring lots of entrepreneurs over the years:

Know what you are mentoring to

Sounds crazy, but often the mentee does not know what they want out of the relationship. “Sounding board” is often the catchword for “ I need someone to talk to”. Rather than that generalization, I find I have always been more effective when we focus on a specialty need. It could be finances, business models, business development, partners, motivation, time management, you name it. But knowing what the mentee wants out of the relationship allows me to think on their behalf through the lens that they asked for guidance.

I don’t give personal advice when business advice is asked for- or vice versa.

I try to share my experience wherever possible. I tried this… I realized this…. I once had trouble with this… so that the entrepreneur can see things through another lens, and not be defensive about hearing “you should do this.. try this… break that. Entrepreneurs are tense enough; they don’t need an office parent telling them to eat their vegetables. I was reminded recently of one of my classics in this category: breakfast begins at 8. I work with so many younger entrepreneurs, who has a quite different idea of “bedtime” on “school-nights”. Rather than try to correct that behavior, I simply scheduled important meetings at 8am. They soon got the message that no matter what is done the night before, the bill is due in the morning. Here’s the link from Richard Dinan ‏ breakfast is at 8

And I try to help people discover the talents within themselves by asking questions. Lots of questions. Lots and lots of questions. Eventually, we run the table from vision to execution and are ready to make some bold decisions. Having what Covey called “the courage of our convictions” means all the available facts have been surfaced, and intelligent discussion held, and the best course chosen. It’s never a lock, but it sure helps to enter the rapids with some sort of thought out plan.

And, most importantly, I try to behave like someone whose opinion is often sought. That’s perhaps the most important lesson of all.

Work with a mentee that actually is coachable

Some mentees want window dressing: so-and-so is on my Advisory Board. Some want a sounding board, but have their minds made up anyways. Some are just lonely. To me, neither are a great use of mentor time.

The mentee that has a thirst to learn, a gift for presenting situations with options, a curiosity to experiment and learn gives the mentor a sense of usefulness that is so key. Good mentees have the elements of challenges or opportunities worked out in their minds, but often lack the confidence to make a decision or fear some blind spot they haven’t considered. Those are great examples of where mentoring can really help cut to the chase, or save some dead ends.

The biggest gift you can give someone is to beleive in themselves – AJ Joshi

If you are doing it to make everyone money, let everyone know. If you are doing it for charity, make sure it’s worth it.

 Ah yes, why do we do this. Mentors are rarely ever paid by the hour (though some coaches are, but I contend that is different). I mentor a lot of CEO’s and Founders where I own stock in the company and have quite a vested interest in their success. So by teaching them, I expect to add value to my position. Sometimes, the lessons actually shrink value in the short-term; but that’s why they are called lessons. The worst sin there is to repeat them. Good way to lose a mentor relationship.

But some mentor relationships are just plain charitable. While I have very little free time to take on non-commercial mentorships, sometimes I run across someone who I really believe in, and believe they could use my help. I guess the key point there is that both mentor and mentee know what the other is doing it for, and the ground rules are set and respected.

I’ve been told that time spent and value delivered does not necessarily correlate: you can do just about anything in two minutes… if you spent thirty years perfecting how to do it.

Austin has a groove

I hadn’t been to Austin for SX for awhile, and the differences are palpable. Each of these observations deserve a post on their own (blog tonnage warning), but here’s the brief from the plane

1: These kids won’t lap their Parents, but they’re over it

UT Spring break notwithstanding, SXSW trends pretty young but not tragically hip. I’d call it self-sufficiently hip. Perhaps its a stack of student debts, lack of faith in future entitlements, or a crap job market but most everyone here lives and breathes self-reliance. Kinda reminds me of KFAC in some ways.

No, they likely won’t end up better off than their parents but they have founds ways- ingenious ways – to have a share in interesting events, luxuries and experiences. It is the walking personification of the asset light generation, a veritable ride-sharing, house sharing, tab splitting mobile-social-fueled existence. You can see it in the number of backpacks lugged around. The premium real estate around power outlets. The use of timely information to scout out clean bathrooms and taco trucks still serving food. Maybe this generation can’t get what everything they want, but they sure use information to get what they need.

2: Booze may work for inspiration: but Coffee is for Execution

Ok, close to SxCentral (Dirty 6th or perhaps Rainey) the parties roll on late into the night. Bold dreams do emanate from these spots, no doubt. But who will do them? No-one with a hang-over I assure you. Life is not a Reality show perversion of how things get done. The business still happens the next morning, by guys sipping coffee and probably not wearing skinny jeans . I noticed on Don Dodge on twitter, who has backed his share of great SXSW start-ups, hits the parties for a few pics but probably doesn’t extend the night further… unless the band is good. He’s one worth following.

3: Mobile Social Local drives peer actions

Even Steve Case does sharing

And how. In this urbania of the future, I can’t remember anyone who didn’t whip out a smartphone every 90 seconds. Pedi-cab drivers checking directions. SXSW’s checking in on panels, flash mobs, and open bathrooms. Cops, using video. Really no surprise there. But when asked, how many of them pay for apps or subscribe to content the answer was rarely anything but “what?” (see #1 Above).

This of course, drives a few of the major theses of my activity: mobile, social and local will be supported by increasingly relevant and targeted ads. It would help if they were displayed in appealing, but unobtrusive ways but that’s on its way as well. While I was there, I saw a stat that online screen time had yielded to mobile screen time. Revenue isn’t that far behind. Mojiva is ideally positioned for both.

I also noticed that a huge focus of the Sharing Economy conversation (aka Asset Light, Collaborative Consumption, Peer to Peer Economy- talk about a naming clusterjam!) is all about Trust. How will Sharing grow if every transaction comes with the doubt and questioning that goes like this : I know I will make (save) money on this, but might I die doing it? News from the washington Post this weeks kinda underscores the point. Who is behind that screen? Can I just rely on the one network to provide that data (and are they conflicted b/c they want the transaction)? Isn’t there a repository of all the identity, behavior and transaction data that sits with a third-party and can quickly display a dossier on a potential counterparty? I had a back and forth with FAKEGRIMLOCK (yes, all caps please) about ways the Sharing Networks might be compelled to share their API toward this end (his suggestion was a ray-gun).  Leah Busque from Task Rabbit mentioned TrustCloud as an option in her panel on sharing- no ray-gun needed. She’s a nice lady and a great entrepreneur.

4. Space: the Everest of STEM

The biggest draw, by far, was the rockstar Elon Musk. And his expertise and passion for Science, Tech, Engineering and Math overfloweth. PayPal, ok. But this guy has Tesla and SpaceX rocking along while parenting five kids. The sheer out-of-this-world challenges this guy takes on, and the STEM talent he draws to do it should be an analog for our entire workforce. Learn STEM, and develop a passion for it. Pursue bold visions.

5. Being Top ten in the information race hardly matters

Just ask #11 in line at the taco truck at 3am. Not so long ago, information was valuable for a lot longer, long as your counterparty didn’t have it yet. Now, most information travels so fast and is so complete that is becoming commoditized. So what counts anymore? Speed, and creativity.

Sam Lessin had a brilliant talk on this BTW. And ironically but perhaps not un-related, his dear departed father Bob wrote a small treatise (Lessin’s Lessons) on what is essentially the asset light generation I discuss above. Great read if you can still find it- self published of course. Ahead of his time. Sam is a great continuation of his legacy.

If everyone has about the same information, at the same time the people who will extract the most value from it will be those that get it first, those that understand it first, and devise a creative angle to use it. It’s an interesting leveler of the playing field.

So that’s the quickie from SXSW. More to come on each of these. But my takeaway for the week is “Live in the future: build what’s missing”.

My Frequent disclaimer: I own equity in TrustCloud and Mojiva. 

Krish, Miles, Dan (who is in a rare moment of overdressed) in 2008

This past month marked the fifth year of working together with my two co-founders at Mojiva: Dan and Krish. If I were a DJ spinning vinyl to sum up those days, I would drop the needle with Bob Seger’s Against the Wind. With a few edits…

It seems like yesterday
But it was long ago
[Mobile] was lovely, she was the queen of our nights
There in the darkness with the radio playing low
And the secrets that we shared
The mountains that we moved
Caught like a wildfire out of control
Till there was nothing left to burn and nothing left to prove

Call it founder bias, nostalgic, or just plain sappy but it is amazing what’s has actually gone down in sixty short months. No one has been in mobile very long- old timers can claim ten years, most likely five is when the early scouts hit the beach. Apple was just about to launch the iPhone and end the carrier’s dominance of the “deck”. Premium publishers that took down minimum guarantees were not getting repeat business. Android didn’t exist. There were no apps, and no tablets either. No one knew the difference between online ad-tech and mobile, and how soon they might converge. Wow, that world was simple! It’s now Flintstones vs. Jetsons!

First thing we did, of course, was to name the damn thing. It may sound like a whim, but we actually worked hard to craft a name that had meaning- at least to us three. MoJiva was a mash up of jivan, which is a Hindi god (we favored the elephant Ganesh) and Mo for mobile of course. The good thing about crazy names is they are always available at register.com. And everyone has remembered us since.

We gave Krish $300k and 3 months to build the mOcean platform (he’s had a bit more budget lately!). In light of what developed, that amount just seems ridiculous. But that’s how it went down, and build it he did. We served 3M ads a day by month 3, and we felt like we were on fire. Three months later, we raised Series A from a strategic VC and hired a rock star CEO. Dan got going on Biz dev, and we went on a run. I can’t even begin to list the milestones along the way: often it seemed like we were on a runaway train, fixing the front wheels even as we were shoveling coal, painting the cabins and losing luggage out the caboose. Such is the world of start ups and technology. It takes a strong stomach and a keen eye for the rewards at the end.

And I remember what she said to me
How she swore that it never would end
I remember how she held me oh so tight
Wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then

Against the wind
We were runnin’ against the wind
We were young and strong, we were runnin’ against the wind

Amazing what you can accomplish when you don’t know any better. Everything we did was against the odds, let alone the wind. And now its five years on and we just completed another monster milestone year. We are now part of one of the best teams in Mobile ad-tech, over 100 strong. We’ve booked 100% growth for four straight years, and we now serve over 1,000,000,000 ads a day. Yes, that’s a billion ads a day. I had to write that out. In the December rush, we were serving 35,000 ads per second in virtually every country in the world.

But what makes me most proud is the team that we have built and what THEY have accomplished, sometimes by adding people, sometimes by subtracting. From day one, folks walk into our office and universally say Wow! This place is cool- I’d love to work here. Yeah, it’s packed now and someone needs to do the dishes. But we have a wonderful HR effort that backs it up with training, 401k, healthy Mojiva, Core values we live by, peer awards, leave bonuses, flex time, A Player recruiting… and a very open environment where every suggestion to make it better is heard (ok, not all are actionable), and we truly believe in the value of their equity, cause we all own it.

It’s flattering and humbling to consider this came from our DNA, and that vision we cobbled together 5 years ago is still going strong today. There’s more to the song of course, and there’s more to the story to be told. But I want to stop here and tip my hat to my two co-founders and say wow: we helped build that!

Nice job guys!

I’m about the x’s and O’s. She’s about 1′s and 0′s. (Notre dame photo)

I was saddened to hear of the death of Manti Teo’s girlfriend. It was a moving story of courage and recovery for Manti, and  demonstrated the empathy possible in a close knit nation called Notre Dame.  A truly moving story in time for the Heisman Media machine’s annual award.

And after the fact, it turned out to be all bullshit.

Manti was catfished in a hoax, whereby the girl he met online was… not what she appeared. I have written about this phenomenon extensively since the movie Catfish hit the screens a few years ago. Manti was focussed on x’s and o’s, she was all about 1′s and 0′s. If I recall, thousands of people wore lei’s to mourn the loss (of his mother as well) at a game, and the cameras couldn’t get enough of it. It has happened since, and it will happen more until people realize that, for all the time they spend online, they have to build and monitor a trust system they can rely on, or face the consequences of what is called Peer to Peer “P2P” risk. In short, buying through the classifieds has risks that don’t exist at Bergdorfs. And there is simply no way that could have happened if she had a TrustCard, or he had asked for one. DISCLOSURE: I am an angel investor in the sharing economy, including TrustCloud.

We are being more mobile and social everyday. believe me, I sit at the vortex of some 100,000,000,000 mobile impressions per month at Mojiva. People should start growing accustomed to being fooled with 1′s and 0′s, or not be shocked with the consequences. Manti is a telling tale for what is surely coming for most of America (except the jaded metro-skeptics) as we use mobile and social to power our interactions. Consider what Manti represents:

• Most of America still harbors vestiges of Classic Innocence that wants- indeed hopes- that what you see is what you get.
• Time demands and focus elsewhere – Manti had his dreams, and he spent 99% of his time (ok, still not enough) on his football. An expert on one field, but a rookie dater. And not much of a fact checker either.
• Doesn’t have time to track down all he sees online – and who does? And how would you?

It can suck to get catfished. Because we WANT to trust the peer to peer relationships we develop online. Sometimes, it means the car you rented on a sharing site comes back smelly. Sometimes worse. I’ve written extensively about the whoopsies in the Sharing economy here, here and here. Kickstarter has its case of the week, where Seth Quest may or may not have been forthcoming with his bona fides. And now on to dating, the ultra peer network  where Barry Diller will hook you up with a CRAZY BLIND DATE. Hmmm, can you say risk?

This will continue to accelerate as sure as mobile and social keep generating more P2P opportunities. And the risk will not be mitigated until there is a portable trust solution that people can rely on to quickly vet P2P prospects, reduce friction in transactions, and provide a trail of digital footprints if something goes wrong.

Until then, would someone please get Manti a real date?

BTW; The P2P networks have been working on trust within their networks, but unless they become the AMAZON of P2P, people will begin to demand that their virtuous data is partially theirs, and easily portable. More on Data to the people another time!

Pretty much sums it up.

A recent post had me going on about my three word manta: Discover. Develop. Deliver.

I’ve been fortunate enough to be around five companies from founding to past the Dunbar line, and that’s where the people stuff gets real interesting. (see the Develop section of the post). Well, 2013 started out with recruiters ringing employees and we decided to fight for what we value: A Players.

Ironically, just as you are seasoning a team and kicking into growth mode, the rest of the market often takes notice and starts trying to poach your best. The more competitive the marketplace, the worse the soliciting gets (I’ll submit mobile ad-tech ranks right up there). It won’t stop, so what we have done is create every possible intangible and tangible benefit to being happy while working with us. So here’s what we’ve done at Mojiva for example, to deal with it:

First, I learned more about the Dunbar line, a fairly interesting social study about leading groups.

Dunbar’s number is a suggested cognitive limit to the number of people with whom one can maintain stable social relationships. These are relationships in which an individual knows who each person is, and how each person relates to every other person. No precise value has been proposed for Dunbar’s number. It has been proposed to lie between 100 and 230, with a commonly used value of 150.

As we were approaching 100 employees I worked with my co-founders and core team to describe our core values. Everyone knows we try to govern by those values; it’s an early test as to whether a prospect matches up well with us (and if not, it’s eventually not going to work anyways). Once in the house, we all try to live and work by them. I’m proud to share them here

BOLD & NIMBLE // 360° RESPECT // INNOVATE // OPEN // SCALE AND BE PROFITABLE // LAID BACK LEAN FORWARD // TEAM UP

Next, I worked with our HR team to come up with every imaginable intangible program for start-ups (many of which I have to credit my EO group, Maximus for the ideas). We have bi-annual MAPs that people can self-assess their skills against their peer’s assessments, and identify places and skills to improve. We have bi-annual performance reviews, but so does everyone. We have Quarterly peer awards, where individuals are nominated for recognition (and swag!) by teams for their superior effort. We have a recruiting and retention program fashioned after GH Smart’s Who process, where most everyone who interfaces with new hires has a say in their fitness for offer. We have a 401k. We have a disaster recovery program that had 100% check-in within 3 hours of hurricane Sandy. We pay bounties for finding, and keeping people rated A Players. We have a cool office in SoHo. We have a 90 day leave bonus (yes!) where we actually look at people’s mojo after a quarter and offer them to leave if they want. We figure the cost of searching, recruiting, and training a new hire is expensive, so if they don’t confirm a perfect match in 90 days the company will suffer going forward. Better to part ways sooner.

But far and away, the reason people want to be around is to make their dent in the sky. We really believe that what they do in the coming years will echo through the rest of their careers. Working at a mobile ad-tech company growing 100% is about as exciting as it gets. They can point to that and say “I helped build that!”.

So if you’re looking to hire away someone from any of my portfolio, rest assured: we know who the A Players are, our core values are matched, and we serve them well. Most are just too busy for the flattery, and rarely do they take calls (we have a program for that too).

Face it: if your are a recruiter calling, you are likely speaking to someone who is not many of the above, and you will likely overpay for them. Happy hunting.

Meet Fake Grimlock

Mary Meeker just called it: Sharing is now a megatrend.

In her wildly popular bi-annual prognosis, Meeker points to the demise of asset-heavy life especially among 20 somethings wherebye sharing economy and  smartphones free time and money, creating an asset-light generation.

So how does this relate to virtual dinosaurs and dating? Hang on, let me tell a good story. Dialing it back a bit, I was watching Cat in the Hat with my son this morning and began to wonder about how that famous tech character might teach us something about a this big trend, now that Mary called it. Suppose I pose these questions abut the tech world’s favorite virtual persona Fake Grimlock… as only Dr. Seuss could:

Would you meet him in a mall? Would you pass him in the hall?
Would you let him drive your car? Would you let him drive it far?
Would you let him watch your pet? Would he eat them, hmm, sure bet?
Would you let him tutor the kids? Could you, would you blink an eyelid?
Would you let him sleep upon your couch? Would he scare you with those teeth- Ouch!
Would you date him late at night? Would you lend him money? Right!

Which means, essentially, if you were going to do a “Sharing Transaction” with an unknown Peer, do you trust the person behind fake grimlock? He’s extremely well known in a small circle of tech entrepreneurs (and deservedly so- he’s hilarious in a CAPSLOCK kinda way). But my point is, there are millions and millions of Fake Grimlocks out there.

From Spencer 323232 on gMail to Pineapple88 on EBay, people have for more than a decade created and maintained personas and avatars for everything from virtual gaming to very real Craig’s listings. Taking it back to Dot.com days, we used to hear the reason the internet was popular was … no one knew you were a dog. People could go online (Chatrooms!) under any handle they chose and behave pretty much with impunity. It was the digital equivalent of turning out the lights at a teen mixer. Stupid ideas came and went, as did plenty of fortunes and not a few great companies. But the ability to take on an alias, or even build an avatar in another parallel world lingered as a quaint benefit from back in the day. To some gaming sites, it’s a hell of a business that virtual world.

But now comes along Social, Mobile and Local where a billion people share their profiles, activities, photos and innermost thoughts with perhaps way too many friends. Privacy was redefined, or its boundaries were pushed out by the devils favorite vice, vanity. Rachel Botsman called it early with her Colaborative Consumption moniker, and subsequently has talked about trust within peer networks a lot. Now, as big data companies are starting to realize this data is meaningful, strong voices are pointing out that people should own their own data. Tim Berners Lee is one such voice, having started what I call the “Data to the People” movement with this Guardian interview. Add to this a rich mix of a green consciousness, underemployed/over-indebted college graduates and a sluggish economy and you get the Sharing Economy a/k/a the very more wordy Collaborative Consumption. Al it needs now is some glue, or as Neal Gorenflo recently said in a post to Shareable Magazine the dramatic transformation of the economy that’s needed is not going to happen until a large coalition begins to work together.

This is precisely why companies like TrustCloud, Connect.me  and MiiCard are helping stitch together a trust and reputation metric for the Peer economy. Basically, in 2012 everyone knows you are  dinosaur, and if you are transparent enough with it, more and more people are ok with it. So, for argument’s sake, let’s say Grimlock does not want to reveal his identity, but he wants to claim credit for all the good things he has done online. He has a ton of influence and follows (you can see that from twitter or Klout) but maybe he also contributes to Stack Overflow and helps out on GitHub under Grimmy22. Maybe he maintains an ebay account where he is top rated as a seller, but under FakeyBoy101. He has a few verifiable email addresses, and actually lives somewhere under the name Human B. Good. What if Human B Good claimed all that data and consolidated in one place- without actually divulging that he was Grimmy22, FakeyBoy101 or any other avatar. But he claimed the credit for all the good things he does for the community under whatever name. If he was transparent enough to verify and share his human identity, he’d be golden, or the human behind him would be. And all without blowing the connection to the mysterious Grimlock. Here’s my point: thousands of people every week are coming to that conclusion and getting TrustCards.

So… let’s look again at these peer transactions

Would you meet him in a mall? Would you pass him in the hall? 

This is the perfect CraigsList question. If Grimlock offered me $100 cash for my old iPhone in some dodgy exchange in the mall parking lot, it’s a pass. To much risk there. But if Human B. Good made the same offer (and had claimed all the virtuous data Grimock threw off), it would be a different story.

Would you let him drive your car? Would you let him drive it far?

This is the GetAround/Relay Rides/ Ridepost question. As Anotonin Leonard’s partner Benjamin Tinq (both OuiShare guys) remarked, “Ten years after Jeremy Rifkin wrote The Age of Access, shared mobility is fundamentally changing the way people think about car ownership, among other things. Especially the younger ones, to whom owning a car has lost its appeal of independance, which is now embodied by electronic and social media devices. So you want me to hand over the keys to  a $30k asset so Grimlock and his monster buddies can go up skiing Vermont for the weekend, and he will give me… $30 per day? Can you say asymmetrical risk? And for some extra credit reading, has anyone really looked at their insurance coverage when you turn your car into a small business. The answer is pretty disappointing (and the backup from the sponsoring sharing network won’t be good for much either, especially as that risk scales). But Human B. Good give me a better feeling about his identity, interactions and behavior with his TrustScore. Perhaps things would have been better for HighGear had they such a system in place. RideShare is already doing this, and more will follow I think.

Would you let him watch your pet? Would he eat them, hmm, sure bet?

Talk about precious assets! I would not turn Baxter over to Grimlock for fear of dinner! Rover.com is already onto this, and has trustscores flowing out to their 70,000 dog watchers nationwide. Essentially, people Human B. Good would get the job, and Baxter would come home safe (and incidentally, my home would be safe, seeing as how Human B. Good has the keys to the house).

Would you let him sleep upon your couch? Would he scare you with those teeth- Ouch!

This one comes right out of AirBnB’s book- and Wimdu, LoveHomeSwap, HomeAway, InterHome and lots of others. While millions of room nights have been booked, as the early adopted give way to a more mass acceptance of “crashing on the couch”, so to will a demand grow for “who is this”, and from both sides of the transaction. AirBnB has had its “Ej Incident” and the “Hookers on Holiday“, which at the very least left a bad taste (sorry) for the hosts. I’ve heard there are plenty more where those came from. But there is risk on the guest side as well, just ask the poor blokes who wired in advance for their Fun and Sun Holiday in France and got… (sorry) just pictures for their trouble (the house did not exist), and the hosts, well what do you think? Again, no keys in this scenario for Grimlock. Human B. Good, more likely.

Would you date him late at night? Would you lend him money? Right!

So after the roundup of the “Sharing Companies”, it makes sense to imagine the other places that a trust and identity system could help other Peer economies. While I have heard stories of young ladies throwing themselves at Grimlock at his personal appearances, I’m not so sure that is scalable. Dating is the ultimate peer transaction, and one where a few simple verifications would do a world of good. To wit: a) does the guy really make $100k+ and b) are those photos of the girl recent or retouched? Likewise, peer lending could be greatly enhanced with a similar solution. Of course, the incidence and transaction data that flows back through the intake API becomes crucial to the richness of the scores.

So to wrap this one in a bow… there is a great saying about trust and context: I would trust my dog with my life, but not with my hamburger.

Grimlock has done a good many great things for our tech community across a few social networks. He is known to the community, and he adds to it. And that’s fine for the virtual world. But for the rest of us, so much of our lives pass between the virtual and real worlds. And many of us have piled up so much virtuous data, it’s time to start harvesting it, claiming it and organizing it in one place that makes it useful to a variety of networks.

We all have our data from our own versions of Grimlock out there. Start using it.

 Full disclosure: I mention TrustCloud here. I am an angel investor in same.