Where the cool kids are
I don’t know when exactly the “tech support” dudes became the cool kids, and, yes, I’m aware of Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs and their legions of admirers. But I got to see the new frontier up close last week at DCWeek, which stands for Digital Capital Week, and was held, whodathunk!, in DC.
So the weeklong program, presented by Ford, was sort of like the TED talks meet your college campus — a sensibility underscored by the atmosphere in Artisphere, a supercool sculptural space filled with offbeat artwork and a lounge serving up drinks, grub, wifi (duh?) and, last Thursday, DCWeek’s “core conference.” It’s arguably the coolest space in DC, even though it’s in Arlington. So you’ve got folks in their funky sneakers and disheveled clothes hanging out there, looking like the 2012 version of the kids on Saved by the Bell. Actually, didn’t the nerdy guy end up doing porn? You see how nerd pressure leads to overcompensation? Some labels die hard. So, back to DCWeek, where all the nerds are saved by themselves if not the bell and looking like millionaires under 30. You do this by being as insouciant and irreverent as possible. Cue the “fireside chat” that closed the core conference. In his interview of Ben Milne, the founder of the online payment portal, Dwolla, Andrew Warner brilliantly notes that despite Milne’s success, he dresses like one of the rabble rousers in “Occupy Wall Street.”
And so you’ll forgive my taking some latitude as I blog about attitude. It’s not far from the M.O. prescribed by Justin Timberlake in the movie, “Social Network.” I freaking love that movie. Milne, incidentally, uses the real curse words. A lot. We get it. You don’t play by the rules cuz you’re making your own. And, you know what? I think that’s great. Whether you like it or not, the economy is moving toward entrepreneurship, and that gives you and me the freedom to hustle and live by the thrill and risk of our own charted courses. But we don’t all have to be high-tech priests and priestesses.
Sorry, this is starting to sound like a commencement address. I just would hate for the nerd kingdom to be the next bastion of snobville. DCWeek was definitely the place to be if you were remotely plugged in. But with everyone so wired in high-tech hipdom, man — I haven’t felt that uncool since middle school.
Look out, Zipcar, and why we need partnerships between big guys and small fries.
GM’s getting into the car-sharing business with its new partnership with San-Francisco-based RelayRides.
(By the way, what is it with company’s names these days — if you’re not smushing two words together, each with the first letter capped, you are apparently not cool. We should probably become PomeranceAssociates. Kidding.)
Anyway, this move underscores a key strategy that can bring great success to both the mainstream heavyweights and the new ventures. It’s called partnership, and it works beautifully. The startups get much needed backing and credibility, while the big corporations get an injection of cutting-edge cool. You’re seeing this happening on a very big scale in the media industry as mainstream publications try to co-opt the viral fandom of independent and hypercool agents.
The importance of such partnerships was eloquently argued in a recent Forbes piece by Rachel Sheinbein, a partner at the San Francisco-based venture capital firm, CMEA Capital, and also a friend of mine from college. Her article is below as is the Automotive News story on the deal between GM and RelayRides.
So hooray for GM on undergirding a small player in the business. And please don’t change your name to GeneralMotors.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2011/09/26/why-big-companies-need-to-partner-with-cleantech-startups/
http://tinyurl.com/5w8puvk
Who knew grout would be so much fun?
Well, we had a blast last night at the Do-It-Herself workshop at The Home Depot, where I was representing LittlePINKBook.com, a daily tip sheet for working women, to which I am delighted to contribute.
Naturally, I was clad in pink for the occasion. Whoever said pink clashes with orange was so wrong.
Anyway, Home Depot gave us a great welcome.
Truly, you couldn’t help but be excited because the employees were totally pumped. We were welcomed warmly by a veritable HD cheerleader — “Smile for Atlanta!” she said, snapping our picture. A fabulous hostess, she offered us a wonderful range of junk food in the way of chips and soda — ok, there was some “green tea” ginger ale. Regardless, it felt like a birthday party, maybe even mine.
At first it was just me and another lady, in a “You Suck” t-shirt. Don’t let the shirt fool you, though. She was awfully nice, even took that first picture of me.
But slowly, slowly people gathered around or looked on. One man came up to ask where he could find the Do-It-Himself Workshop. But no such luck. Our teacher, Mario, who had to fend off others trying to nab our refreshments, told him to come back for the general workshops, held each and every Saturday. So back off dudes, the Do-It-Herself party only happens thrice a year. This was ladies’ night at the HD.
In fact, when the supervisor, Erik, welcomed us, he teased us that we’d have gloves and all that so we wouldn’t be dirty for when we went back home to our husbands. 
Sigh. still working on that one.
It was all a ton of fun, and there was plenty of joking around as we got our hands dirty. I mean, look at our teachers. How could you NOT have fun with these guys?
That’s Mario, to the left, and Erik on the right, in case you can’t make out the writing on their aprons.
Our project was to tile a floor and wall. We worked with a board and grout and tiles and the spacers you use to get everything coordinated and just so. After we sandwiched in each square of tile, it was time for the level to see if the flooring looked even. I was very pleased to see that my level was perfect.
The best part, however, was that it was truly fun. And we all had so much fun together. One of the ladies asked me if we were coming back this Saturday.
Meanwhile, check out our finished product!
Turns out it’s not so hard to Do-It-Herself. It just takes a little gumption. But we ladies already knew that.
Danke Schoen
You know, it’s impossible for me to write “Danke Schoen” without trilling “Danke Schoen, daaaarling, Danke Schoen” to myself. Hopefully, no one else can hear me.
Anyway, Danke Schoen is meant for all the good people that The Washington Auto Show delegation got to meet and greet at the Frankfurt Motor Show last week. Sorry if you’ve been following this blog with eager anticipation for up-to-the-minute reactions about the show. But this is a p.r. agency, not a newspaper. Barbara still has jet lag.
Moving on. The senior delegation from our show, which included D.C. city officials, met with lots of heavyweights in the auto industry, in other words, our movers and shakers met with other movers and shakers. We even had the honor to meet U.S. Consul General Edward Alford at the U.S. Consulate in Frankfurt. Our team also reconnected with friends from Better Place, which provides services and networks for EVs, and met up with leaders of OEMs and their major suppliers and partners, like Johnson Controls.
The bottom line of all this shmoozing comes down to this: we’ve successfully amped up our presence to hopefully draw all the right players — the trailblazers and rump shakers (sorry, just seeing if you’re paying attention) — to the 2012 Washington Auto Show. You see, we want to transform this industry to bring about a world where personal transportation is clean and green. At stake is nothing less than our health, environment and national security, not to mention our economic edge. To make that happen, we need political leadership and legislative muscle. And because of our show’s address — ahem, Washington — we are uniquely poised to join policy and industry together to expedite great progress.
That said, here’s a pic with, from left to right, Tom Kowaleski, VP of BMW Group Corporate Communications of North America, D.C. City Councilmember David Catania, Washington Auto Show Manager and dearest friend Bob Yoffe and Councilmember Vincent Orange.
And here’s a shot of that highly-anticipated Ford Evos, we talked about earlier. Remember the one Ford thinks will seduce us?
Are you trying to seduce me?
“We’re not going to Frankfurt to provoke people,” J Mays, Ford Group Vice President for Design tells The New York Times. “We’re going to Frankfurt to seduce people.”
And so the Evos concept car is unveiled ahead of the Frankfurt Auto Show.
Well, bring on the car love, baby. The Washington Auto Show’s executive team will be in Frankfurt to get romanced by the Evos face-to-grill. We’ll report back with impressions from our fearless leader, Barbara Pomerance, to see whether or not she has a crush on the new car.
http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/30/ford-previews-the-evos-concept-ahead-of-frankfurt-auto-show/#more-120421
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