Official Richart Ruddie Blog - Internet Entrepreneur

Perspetive on Game Developers in 2023

In 1990, almost one-third of households in the U.S. had a Nintendo

 

That was more than the number of households that had a computer, which was 23%.

 

Today 84% of households have a smartphone. If you're a game developer you have a bigger opportunity than Nintendo did 32 years ago. Given that you could start a game development company or make a game and launch it on Android and iOS stores you would be able to reach 84% of the U.S. population. For a nominal cost this is pretty astonishing the reach..

What Ever Happend to Evernote?

While we may be saying the same thing about clubhouse in 5 years. In 2011 I remember driving down the 101 in Santa Clara County in awe of all the big tech companies with their campuses or office buildings and EverNote was one of them. I never used the service till just now and hadn't heard about them nor have I seen their building in Silicon Valley recently but the website and app are still live so it's wading along somewhere I must assume.

The Viewpoint For Tech Startups in Q4 2022

Saw this and thought it was interesting in how much a landscape can change in roughly 1 year. Again when you think about how much of the world can change and adapt in the course of 1 year things don't seem so drastic. This was a great excerpt that is helpful for viewing valuations, growth, and business models in the tech space in 2022 and beyond.

"Investors are moving away from "growth at any cost" towards "growth at a reasonable cost"... Of course, it also depends what stage you're at.

Bootstrapping a company until you get closer to the $20 million a year in recurring revenue and then look to take on private equity partners or outside funding. If you can target a goal where you end the year with zero profit and maximize growth to that point.  If you can show 5% cash EBIDTA and roughly 30% year over year growth.  

The big question to ask while on the journey is how much quicker can you grow with additional capital and leverage? If the answer is not astronomical it may be better especially with depressed valuations at the moment to grow smart and not raise outside funding. Of course this all reflects on the total addressable market size for your enterprise.

VC's at the end of the day though prize growth and that is valued much more than profitability with the caveat that you can turn the switch (think Amazon's ability to grow and switch to profitability when they want) and there needs to be "levers in place where you can relatively easily slow growth and increase profitability .

For example, a company which is growing at 40% with zero profit whose Customer Acquisition Cost to Average Sales Price ratio is off the charts (high) would likely not be seen nearly as favorably as one whose metrics are more reasonable... after all, if you were to spend $100k to acquire a new client who pays $20k per year... even with high retention.

If your growth has slowed down and your company is flat but you've maximized your profitability and you've managed to achieve 40% ebitda, then it's still a great company but the buyers' would likely be different (strategic or financial vs. growth equity buyer). In this scenario, both a strategic and growth equity values might be comparable but the financial buyer might be much less."

Andrew Chen Covers Some Trends Happening Now

It's a difficult landscape for many right now. The best entrepreneurs and companies can persevere and the weak ones will get swept up by the storm and taken out. Andrew Chen formerly of Instagram & Uber works for Andressen Horowitz now and covers great thought leadership angles in the venture capital world. In his latest newsletter he covers a myriad of complex trends that we've run into over the last 2 years.

While the world experienced a fundamental shift with covid-19 and the remote work trend that only accelerated and helped big tech, small tech, and emerging tech startups. Now the biggest hurdles for new products and advertisers is dealing with the Apple Privacy Changes on ad networks and the removal of some cookies with Google's ad-tech. Another trend popping up in 2022 is the stingy venture capital landscape where valuations are being cut in half so you have to do twice the amount of revenue to achieve the same valuation and in a downward cycle where inflation is on the rise and expenses are being cut that becomes quite difficult.

In addition Andrew Chen says that hiring freezes that are happening the big question mark behind the future of web3 and metaverse plays and how leaders will reinvent themselves similar to the smartphone and mobile app store boom we saw in the early 2010s. The new environment is rapidly taking shape and as Andrew says "it’s critical for teams to take a pause, figure out a new approach, and build towards the next boom."

Google Gets Sued and Loses Over Failure To handle Right To Be Forgotten Requests Properly

This is a doozy of an article with Spain taking the lead and suing Google and loses over 10 million Euro's because they are sending the right to be forgotten removals and requests overseas to the Lumen Project in a sneaky but creative effort to keep the stuff they really don't want to delete online. This time they got caught with their hand in the cookie jar as their usual protection with the Irish DPC taking years to handle and review a case is also being sued by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties over its slow movement on issues relating to Google complaints which may or may not be on purpose but from my friends who work at Google they sound off that the company isn't so "Don't Be Evil" anymore...

Full article can be found here: https://www.cpomagazine.com/data-protection/spain-hands-google-e10-million-gdpr-fine-for-violation-of-right-to-be-forgotten-rules/

"Spanish data protection authority Agencia Española de Protección de Datos (AEPD) called the two infringements that led to the GDPR fine “very serious.” Both relate to Google’s transfer of EU citizen data to an academic research project based in the United States.

The decision centers on the Lumen Project, an ongoing study conducted by Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center and supported by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The project, which began in 2001, collects cease-and-desist letters related to online activity with an eye to determining any effect they might have on free speech. Google has contributed to the archive since 2002, first motivated to action when the Church of Scientology filed bad faith takedown requests in order to silence websites critical of them.

The Lumen Project has typically focused on takedown requests made under the United States Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), but has also begun collecting data deletion requests made by EU citizens under the rights granted by the GDPR. The first of the Spanish regulator’s findings was that Google could not demonstrate a legal right to pass these requests on to a third party, as it was not providing users with notification or a choice.

The AEPD also found that Google tripped over the “right to be forgotten” granted by Article 17 of the GDPR by putting the deletion request itself, and the attendant details, beyond their reach. The form that users were asked to fill out to request removal of their data from Lumen Project was also found to be faulty and confusing in its structure.

While AEPD has little recourse directly against Lumen Project, the organization has said that it has honored a request by the AEPD (via Google) to delete the data of users found to have been communicated to it without a legal basis. Google has said that it is reviewing the AEPD’s GDPR fine and that it is re-evaluating how it shares data with Lumen Project in light of the decision.

One of Google’s two prior GDPR fines also related to the right to be forgotten, but in that case a de-indexing stipulation for search engines that was first established in 2014 (and later incorporated into the GDPR terms). Sweden fined Google the equivalent of about $8 million in 2020 over failure to keep up with de-indexing requests in a timely manner and failure to remove the full range of web addresses attached to certain requests.

Jurisdiction and efficiency of GDPR fines called into question by Spain decision

The AEPD judgment is noteworthy not just for being a rare GDPR fine for Google, but also for shining a spotlight on a bottleneck of cases created by the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC)’s lead role in regulating cases involving the tech giant."

The Company That Social Engineered Florida Phones in 1988

Back when you used to call the operator to connect for long distance calls they would ask you which carrier you would like to use. It was a Bell South or Bell Atlantic. In today's world it's do you use AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Cricket, US Cellular etc.. I don't actually know the different carriers as this was before my time but from the sole article left online about it from The Sun Sentinel details how a company KTNT Communications took advantage of companies who couldn't decide and said "I Don't Care" or they said "It Doesn't Matter" and when you said either of those two lines you would have misintentionally been requesting to use one of those services.

Phones had Phreakers and all sorts of interesting hacking back in the day. Today we deal with Sim Swaps and exploits so the hacking has just evolved.

That controversial plan by KTNT Communications who was a Texas company got deferred at the Florida Public Service Commission back in 1987 and even drew the ire of the Florida Attorney General.

For the old but interesting article you can find it here: https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-1998-08-27-9808260540-story.html

Other similar stories would be Domain Tasting or Domain Kitting & Phreaking.

South Florida Startups to Watchout For

Bizjournals covered the South Florida Startups to watch out for in 2022. Some of them I tangentially know. For more information read the article: https://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/inno/stories/inno-insights/2022/01/06/22-south-florida-startups-to-watch-in-2022.html

What makes a great city?

Having local art shows, live theater, concerts, family festivals, food trucks, car shows, unique restaurants, and more activities are the things that I would look for when rating a city. It's nice when a city has a style of architecture it's known for. Whether it's Bay Windows in San Francisco or Art Deco in South Beach these little things that distinguish a city along with well known landmarks can make a big difference on a great city versus a mediocre.

Having both local alliances that help put on events as well as private and motivated companies that work on getting permits and building out events really makes a difference. I remember when I was growing up in Baltimore and going to a kite festival, The Maryland State Fair, The Enchanted Forest and Renaissance festivals.

I hope that other Florida entrepreneurs that are also part of the FLVEC  connect to put together great events that make a lasting impact on the residents and visitors in their area. Fort Lauderdale has been burgeoning with new great restaurants and events happening in and around the Las Olas area. I've compiled a list of activities, museums, attractions, and things to see in South Florida from Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade counties.

If there are additional items that you recommend find me @ Richart Ruddie on Linkedin, Twitter, or Facebook and send me a message with your suggestion.

Walk Las Olas

Morikama Japanese Museum

Rusty Pelican Restaurant

Mai Kai Polynesian Restaurant

Everglades Park

Atlantic Avenue

Vizcaya Museum

Coral Castle

Ann Norton Sculpture Garden

Venetian Pool

Fairchild Botanical Gardens

Kampoong Garden

Coco Walk + Coconut Grove

Cornell Art Museum

Nova Museum of Art

Boca Raton Beach Club & Resort

Norton Museum of Art

Perez Art Museum

Superblue Miami

Design District + ICA Museum

Wynwood Walls

Walk Key Biscayne Lighthouse and Eat on the Water

Walk Brickell Key

History Museum of Miami

Bass Museum

Wolfsonion Museum

Museum of Contemporary Art

Jewish Museum of Florida

Shops at Merrick Prk

UM Lowe Art Museum

Mizner Park

City Place + Clematis

Worth Avenue

South Pointe Park

Lincoln Road

Mermaid Lunch or Dinner on Ft. Lauderdale Beach

Water Taxi

Murder Mystery Dinner

Local Cuban or Peruvian Cooking Class

Upper Buena Vista

Boat Rental

Miami Japanese Garden

Joia Beach & Deck @ Island Gardens

If you can't afford expensive things it may no longer be a problem in the future

So if you can't afford to buy a fine painting or an asset as a whole in the past you had to find joint investors or raise money. Now with the decentralized future we may be able to purchase things as a group using decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO) and other creative financing mechanisms. Like people who think it's crazy that we used to have pay per text message or pay extra to make a long distance call that was outside of our region or even area code we one day may be shocked that we couldn't raise money via a DAO in the past to purchase something. Here is a excerpt from a recent VC Letter with places where you can engage in fractionalized ownership. Why it matters High-quality assets tend to have above average returns. Problem Most of us can't afford to buy fine art, an entire commercial building, or a billion dollar company. Solution Fractionalization democratizes ownership. Don't have millions for a Rembrandt or a Monaco condo? No problem. Buy shares instead. Players Platforms: Fractional.art: Buy, sell, and mint fractions of NFTs. Royal: Buy ownership in songs directly from artists. Republic: Invest in startups, real estate, and crypto projects. FranShares: Earn cash flow from franchises without operating. Pacasso: Buy shares in a second home. Tokenized assets: House of Tiara: A CryptoPunk bought by Crypto Cookout. ConstitutionDAO: An attempt to buy a copy of the US Constitution. CryptoPunk #7171: A fractionalized hoodie punk. Trippy Apedog: A pair of NFTs from BAYC and BAKC. DAOs: WhaleShark: DAO with a token backed by NFTs. Crypto Cookout: A group that pooled funds to buy several CryptoPunks. PleasrDAO: The group behind iconic NFT purchases. CityDAO: An experiment in decentralized land ownership. So in a way buying ownership in the above may be like buying stock in a company and saying that you own a piece of Apple or Tesla.

Clubhouse Heading to the Dog House?

Is it time to ring the trouble house alarm and discuss? After getting off to arguably the hottest start of any startup and sky rocketing to a fast valuation of $4 billion with no revenue but some of the biggest and brightest names in the VC space. Now however a recent report discusses the slow down and this is just as they roll out replays which is a way for clubhouse creators to distribute their content. Replays will allow those who create audio content on their platform to record the rooms and repost this content on 3rd party platforms. The issue is why did they take the radio approach and something ephemeral and pivot now?

 

Why it may be too little too late to get out of the Dog House for Club House?

With Replays, creators can now share their conversations and audio on other 3rd party platforms that have the ability to amplify their reach exponentially. This includes all the biggest social media names who have already copied their idea such as: Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. So now they can connect with their fans through their base on these other sites (reminder Clubhouse has <2 million MAUs).

 

So Replays 101 is a podcast like feature and if they utilize the new startup from David Sacks and Jason Calcanis (did I spell that right J. Cal?) they can turn audio directly into a podcast. "Replays also allows creators to pin links to specific segments, skip to the next speaker, see who’s joining the conversation, and see total attendee counts. Listeners can tune in at 1.5x or 2x speed, pause, and create 30 second clips from the recording. The downside is that creators cannot receive tips through Replays like they can in live conversations." So why take away the monetization ability?

So is all of this too little too late? Replays sounds great but why didn't they keep the ability to reward creators? Think about Youtube and why people create content and upload music videos on there? It's cause they are getting rewarded each time you listen. Why stop that at any point of the funnel in the clubhouse funhouse?

So how bad is the downward trend for the formerly most popular app of 2021? In April 900,000 people downloaded clubhouse on an invite only basis. Not bad? Well 2 months before that 9.6 million people downloaded the app on iOS only. In April they were still getting upwards of 10 million active weekly listeners but as of summer time it has dropped down to only 2 million. 

The challenge is it went from the newest cool kid in the school to a high school drop out looking to get it's GED. The flop may be that they can't keep up with the biggest tech companies that typically only get a 1 year head start before their ideas are copied (Jeff Bezos used to say 2 years but that number has dropped significantly as we now see).

Are the copy cats the problem? I think it stems more from the alienation of Android users. With that kind of funding and valuation why didn't they get into the Google play store sooner? By the time Spring ended they rolled out the Android app but it's fanfare was starting to dwindle instead of using those extra 10 million users globally to fuel further growth. So while that was stagnant Twitter which already had an Android app rolled out Spaces, telegram a global privacy chat platform launched Voices Chat 2.0, and then Facebook did Facebook with Audio Rooms, Discord launched Stages, well you get the idea right? Did I mention Spotify laucnhed Greenroom as well?

So the invite only on Clubhouse was good at first but hurt their growth... By July they dropped the invite only codes.

They stopped having high quality conversations on the platform. So better payment to those attracting listeners should have been done, dropping the invite only earlier, stopping hate on their platform was listed as a risk, and not rolling out Replays sooner. 

So while I would love to see other startups succeed and everybody can be a Monday morning quarterback. This should give some perspective on Clubhouses Dog House Days.

-Richart Ruddie

The Future of Ransomware

Future Feedback From The Wall Street Journal

Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported on the first alleged ransomware death, after a cyberattack at an Alabama hospital. Readers shared their thoughts: "This is the same type of issue other industries have encountered when something was built, say an airplane, using 'old' technology, like conventional landing gear. When the plane crashes on landing, the family sues the manufacturer for not using the latest design. Same with the hospital, if they had not done everything to secure their systems, they are at fault. Perhaps it will encourage others to get their security act together." —Archie Minneman, Florida "As our way of life goes digital, cyber risk has become critical. Ransomware attacks are the most serious form of cyberattacks. A lot is required to be done to ensure critical infrastructure systems are protected against such attacks." —Nimmit Jhaveri, Mumbai "Any patient at this hospital who required telemonitoring should have been transferred to a hospital equipped with monitors and knowledgeable staff. I am a retired nurse practitioner with OB/GYN experience and this baby should have lived." —Marcella Rice, New York I think as ransomware has become a common lunch topic we will see serious action taken by companies who do not protect themselves and leave not only their company vulnerble but put their clients at risk will see hefty fines and regulation that they will have no choice but to go that extra length to secure the best they can. As we all know however it's impossible to fully protect against hackers. - Richart Ruddie, Florida

The Cliff Stoll KGB Story

Since the early days of computer connectivity there has been hacking attempts and no story is more exciting in the early days of breaches than the story of Cliff Stoll. A University of California Berkley scientist who's budget was slashed and he ended up in the computer center and was notified of a .75 cent charge that was unaccounted for that led to a wild science goose chase over a period of 6 months that ultimately led to the arrest and prosecution of 4 western Germans that were selling computer breached information to the KGB. One sadly mysteriously died by being burnt in a forest and the reason was never confirmed if it was self inflicted or done as a way to send a message. None the less watch the classic film the real life Cliff created:

Sega Game Channel Ahead of it's time.

The Sega Game Channel was ahead of it's time and introduced us to streaming games downloaded through it's own power supply and coaxial cable back in 1994 and lasted until 1998 with 250,000 subscribers Sega really has been ahead of it's time with multiple innovations and inventions that they introduced. Imagine if they worked on a video streaming license deal using the same technology that the Sega Game Channel offered. They would have taken on Blockbuster (until Blockbuster introduced their own) and we may not know of Netflix today.

Watch this video for an overview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07LLuBf_PEM

 

Also read: The Sega Game Gear Paved the way for Nintendo

That Random Hubspot Email from April MaClean

April MaClean reached out to say en route to Miami but emails got crossed potentially or everybody in the Miami area received? Did anybody else get this random email?

 

FWIW it's worth I played along and said Can't wait to see y'all.

How the Sega Game Gear Paved the Way for Nintendo

As Sega always brought the best out of Nintendo they learned a lesson when the Game Gear came out chewing through batteries and having only 4 games after two years versus the Monochrome Game Boy with hundreds of games. As the Game Gear ultimately failed and the Game Boy is still a classic today we have a lot to learn from this. That lesson is that Nintendo doesn't need the best graphics but they need to appeal to their fanbase with their less superior technology with top tier assets such as 1st party game library. They feed their millions of fans what they want and it works for them. They learned this after the handheld competition and have followed the playbook ever since.

In business you can follow the same strategy. It doesn't need to be pretty it just needs to work.

You Can Download Adobe Acrobat Reader 1

You can still download Adobe Acrobat Reader 1 for those looking for that tech nostalgia: https://winworldpc.com/product/acrobat-reader/1

I've heard that Adobe is...

NearbyHQ may be the next biggest public benefit company

Excited to see how April's company grows and this is my personal reminder to re-check this in time: https://nearbyhq.com/our-story

Transmira Has The Chance to become Oasis

From the book turned Steven Spielberg film Ready Player One Transmira a North Carolina based startup has the opportunity to become one of the biggest companies in the world if it can execute like it's recent investor Calvin Ayre did with Bodog in the early 2000's making online poker and casinos accessible to everyone. 

He was a Costa Rican legend and if it weren't for over-zealous regulations he would've become one of the richest people in the world. Transmira is now going to combine AR/VR/XR and Blockchain technology. 

Time will tell on this one: https://transmira.com 

What Happened to Heavy.com's Piece About Wikileaks Exposing WaPo Corruption?

Was just cruising around the internet and found an old article mentioned that had a tie to Wikileaks. The piece was done by Heavy.com but when I went to Heavy.com's article it was deleted. As you know newspapers rarely ever delete anything. Wikileaks is still up and the Archive.org version of the piece is up still.

WikiLeaks List: Most Damaging Emails About DNC, Clinton, & Bernie

DNC Party with the Washington Post: Was It a Joint Fundraiser?

An email titled "WaPo Party" between two DNC staffers brings up the question about whether the DNC was planning a party with the Washington Post. The email is hard to read due to HTML coding, but the original message says: "They aren't going to give us a price per ticket and do not want their party listed in any package we are selling to donors. If we let them know we have donors in town who will be at the debate, we can add them to the list for the party." Jordan Kaplan, the National Finance Director for the DNC, responded: " Great - we were never going to list since the lawyers told us we cannot do it." Read the email on WikiLeaks here. (WikiLeaks)

 

You can find the original article still here (please note it may disappear from there too: https://web.archive.org/web/20171110054754/https://heavy.com/news/2016/07/wikileaks-emails-clinton-bernie-list-directory-photos-most-damaging-worst-rhode-island-delegate-fec-jvf/3/)

Only one BIG PROBLEM --- THE ARTICLE IS MISSING

Obviously there is a ton of corruption at the Washington Post and in anything political. What I find interesting is that if you go to Heavy.com and ask them to remove an article they will most likely deny you. Too many double standards.
https://wikileaks.org/dnc-emails/emailid/2699

Congrats to Ubicquia Local Fort Lauderdale iOT Startup Raises Series C

Nice to see a local Fort Lauderdale venture picking up a nice funding round. This local Florida company is a smart cell and smart grid technology company that just raised $30 million dollars in a series C funding round led by Fuel Venture Capital. To date they have raised $60,000,000 in funds since being founded in 2014 (why am I just now hearing about this company?)

The last fund raise was 2 years ago when CEO Ian Aaron joined the company 3 years developing internet of things sensors and devices. Aaron's focus has been to develop commercial products and building out a solid team here in Fort Lauderdale (which can be hard to find top talent down here outside of sales in my experience).

The Broward based company's smart city platforms plug into current streetlights to provide the critical services that include light control, video A.I., and public WiFi. They operate in over 100 cities from across Latin America & the USA including South American Countries Chile, Colombia, Central America's biggest Country Mexico, and of course here in Fort Lauderdale.   

“We plan to leverage our position for streetlights to help develop 5G faster,” Aaron said. “It is a big challenge to find the sites and get the permitting. What we did is plug in a small cell, shorten the process by over a year, and reduce the cost by 25 percent of what they would have paid.”

The company is just now starting to deploy at scale and will go into 2021 with a sizeable backlog of booked orders pending installation, Aaron said.

“I love that we make cities more connected,” he added.

Myself Richart Ruddie a Fort Lauderdale investor and entrepreneur look forward to seeing Ubicquia grow.

This Ruling Led to the iPod and iPhone

Think of a world today where the most complex phone we have is the Blackberry or a Nokia device. Sounds like an even worse version of 2020 but if it weren't for this favorable ruling against the RIAA detailed here: https://cyber.harvard.edu/is99/RioSpaceShifter.htm then that might have been a reality today. The reason is that the recording industry tried to say that having music on your portable MP3 player was illegal piracy. If supreme court ruled in their favor than we would not have legally been able to use iPods which led to the iPhone, Apples, growth, and all the amazing things that our smart phones help us do today.

Maybe it's a stretch where I'm going with this but very plausible when you think about how important of a ruling this was.

Novinite Calls Richart Ruddie Cyber Security Expert

I've found a few good bug bounties and understand the importance and a depth of knowledge concerning Cyber Security but wouldn't quite say I'm am expert by any means especially compared to some of my Defcon friends. None the less thank you Bulgaria: https://www.novinite.com/articles/205948/Cyber+Security+Expert+Richart+Ruddie+On+Why+Bulgaria+is+a+Growing+Tech+Hub+For+Outside+Investors

Hawaii Only Has 1 Cable Working Underseas

Crazy to read and think that Hawaii could lose internet connectivity... Two of the three cables that Hawaii relies on to keep data flowing are nearing the end of their useful lives and are in desperate need of repair but recent global and civil matters are causing a disruption in the repair. 

The third is newer, but its ownership is tied up in a bankruptcy proceeding. 2 of the cables are 25 years old and one failed twice (requiring repair) in recent years. Facebook and Google, who have been laying the more modern undersea cables, bypassed Hawaii. The state's Internet access has been strained by lockdowns, telehealth, business scandals, and ageing technology.

First iPhone App Developed Spinners

Just saw a blast from the past the 1st iPhone Application I co-developed with Marc Levinson called Spinners. Watching the video below I'm still impressed 9+ years later.

Spinners iPhone App from Marc Levinson on Vimeo.

https://vimeo.com/29030237

Voyage LA Cites Art Aficionadio Richart Ruddie in New Piece

With an opening photo at the Blackjack Table in Lake Tahoe during a direct sales conference. The risk taker and connected entrepreneur Richart Ruddie sits among a diverse crowd of business men and woman in December 2019 right before the outbreak of COVID-19. While the landscape of business has changed for many including a delay of building out another office and operation in Los Angeles, California expanding from just Fort Lauderdale, Florida and Salt Lake City, Utah. 

The piece discusses challenges in business that include raising venture capital or finding a steady growth pace and learning to be content. There are a lot of other great quotes for an aspiring entrepreneur as Ruddie came from being dead broke 10 years ago to being able to retire now if he wanted to. Read more on the Voyage LA piece on Richart Ruddie and some of the other great pieces where they cover idea makers in and around the Los Angeles area.  





Also I helped pet sit for a sick goat that we lost last week so please send your thoughts and love to the baby goat that we lost during this pandemic amongst the thousands of others who fell ill and have passed.

How To Invest in Startups Post by Sam Altman Explains it So Well

Instead of going through investing in startups from a philisophical standpoint famed investor and excellent blogger Sam Altman has shared his viewpoints from the investor side as opposed to all the content that focuses on the startup side trying to raise capital.

There are so many great points on Altmans blog and in this post particularly with the biggest piece of advice IMO is not only tell the startup how you can help but show a genuine interest and ability to help. Often times a smart founder will take an offer that isn't as financially appealing on paper to get the help of an investor who can truly make a much bigger impact than one who just writes a check.

When we launched and were growing Protos Eyewear we had emails daily from all sorts of investors and partners but ultimately the most important end game contact came from Luxxottica the owner of Sunglass Hut, Ray Ban, Oakley, and just about every other major eyewear brand.

Read for yourself at: https://blog.samaltman.com/how-to-invest-in-startups

2017 a Financial Overview from Bloomberg

Bloomberg just did a great interactive piece covering 2017. There are some key points that stuck out to me:

More money went into startups in 2017 than any other year in history. SoftBank certainly led the way with huge investments in already established startups and Theranos receiving a huge end of year investment. 2017's total was $141.3 Billion invested in startups. 2016 investments paired with 2015 investments. In January of 2016 when I sat in on meetings at Battery Ventures, Sequoia Capital, and Greylock Partners they all said that they were getting back to basics on VC investments. Take it FWIW.

Hong Kong has the highest real estate prices in the world and they continued to climb while their unemplyment continued to dip to only 3.0% where Japan has 2.8% unemployment followed by the US and Isreal at 4.1%, United Kingdom at 4.3% and Germany at it's lowest level since reunification. Apollo Golbal raised 24.6 billion dollars for the largest fund ever.

Student Loans have now exceeded the total size of U.S. High yield corporate market. This is a catch 20/20. Education costs continue to rise so there should be a rise in student loans which has continiously risen since 2005. This also equates to more students in school which is a positive thing IMO. More education typically = better society right?

Art market continues to reach new highs. Salvator Mundi sells for a record $450.3 million dollars at auction. Price was actually 400 Million combined with a 50 million dollar auction house fee. Off the top of my head this was sold to the Louve in Abu Dhabi. The total cost to build this museum was less than the cost of the one painting. The naming rights however are even more than the cost to build the museum. So what is art? Is it a name and recognition? The most expensive piece of art in the world is the Mona Lisa. The auction house did a fantastic job marketing this as the second Mona Lisa and when you have a piece on display for the next 100 years and people flock at $60.000 a ticket to go and see the second Mona Lisa the return on investment and name that the 2nd Louve has made for itself tends to make sense.

Reference:

https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2017-year-in-money/

Q &A With Genius James Simons

A rare glimpse and talk with one of the worlds smartest men Jim Simons who started Renaissance Technologies which is the most successful hedge fund of all time. If you enjoy mathematics then you will appreciate this:

Those Cables Underneath the Ocean that provide Internet Are Improving

The myths and rumors you may hear about where there are cables underneath the ocean that provide internet service throughout the world are actually true. Cool story of the day is that Microsoft is improving it's efficiency: http://www.zdnet.com/article/microsofts-subsea-speed-monster-a-cable-16-million-times-faster-than-your-broadband/

Anything that requires a Database is good for Blockchain

Personal note to review in a decade. Anything that requires or is dependent on a central database is an excellent candidate to be disrupted by Blockchain technology. What industries will be transformed thanks to the ledger?

The Future of Tires

Michelin Tires has been working on Research & Development for 3D Printed tires. Since I have a background in this I found this particually cool. Very excited to see the future of tires and how it will disrupt the "Rim" industry and what new industries and jobs will be created when we have majority of tires being 3D printed vs. not. The only downside currently is the cost to make 3D printed tires as it will be a long time IMO when the cost of rubber tires exceeds the cost of 3D printed tires.

For reference and more information see this article:

https://www.engadget.com/2017/08/07/michelin-vision-biodegradable-3d-print-airless-tire/

Just be a good person - Richart Ruddie

Had one of the nicest compliments this past weekend. A new friend said "Chart do you know why I like you?"

"At the end of the day you're just a genuine person Richart Ruddie"

You're not looking for anything from anybody, you are just here to be happy and have a good time and if you can facilitate others to be happy as well then you do your part to ensure all others around you are happy.

I was telling a new friend as we shared a Lyft into the city about this interaction and he noted that it's great that you can showcase this without trying and others notice. In life I've blogged about making it and then mattering. I strive to reach a pinnacle and a second part of my life where I can matter in making the world a better place and helping to solve initaitves that really matter.

That is why I appreciate the Chan Zuckerberg initiative

"We want every child to grow up in a better world. Our hopes for the future center on two ideas: advancing human potential and promoting equality."

Use your power for good and be genuine and stop wanting something from everybody around you and then you will have found peace in yourself to grow as a human. 

Richart Ruddie in Binary Code

Richart Ruddie 

01010010 01101001 01100011 01101000 01100001 01110010 01110100 00100000 01010010 01110101 01100100 01100100

Richart Ruddie  Richart Ruddie  Richart Ruddie  Richart Ruddie  Richart Ruddie  Richart Ruddie  

Rich Ruddie in Binary Code

01010010 01101001 01100011 01101000 00100000 01010010 01110101 01100100 01100100 01101001 01100101

Rich Ruddie Rich Ruddie Rich Ruddie Rich Ruddie Rich Ruddie Rich

RichartRuddie

01010010 01101001 01100011 01101000 01100001 01110010 01110100 01010010 01110101 01100100 01100100 01101001 01100101

RichartRuddieRichartRuddieRichartRuddieRichartRuddieRichartRuddieRichartRuddieRichartRuddieRichartRuddieRichartRuddieRichartRuddieRichartRuddieRichartRuddie

Chart Ruddie

01000011 01101000 01100001 01110010 01110100 00100000 01010010 01110101 01100100 01100100 01101001 01100101

Related articles

Number of N Shaped figures formed from the set of points

What does Reddit Stand For?

A recent Reddit thread has some thoughts on what it would stand for if it did stand for something and here are some of the highlights:

Really

Efficient

Daily

Distraction

Internet

Tool

(R.E.D.D.I.T.) Reason Everybody Doesnt Do Important Tasks

Read Endless Debates Devoid of Intelligent Thought

Read Everyone's Dumb and Delightful Internet Thoughts

Really elaborate discussions discussing irrelevant topics

Revealing Everyone's Deepest Darkest Internet Thoughts

Redundant Extrapolations Deduced & Discussed by Internet Trolls

Read. Evaluate. Deliberate. Decide. Instigate. Troll.

 

I personally love the Troll comments.

Richart Ruddie - To Be Deeper With You

Ever have certain sayings that you want out of your vocabulary? Certain sayings may affect you negatively and you may not even notice it. For example saying "To be honest with you" might imply that you are not always being honest. Do you want to work with somebody who is not always honest? So I make a conscience effort to say something different and last night heard "To be deeper with you" as an alternative.

Other sayings to avoid: "I had a stressful day" avoid setting off these poisonous sayings that breed negativity and think positively.

-Richart Ruddie

Restaurant Tonight - It's Restaurant Roulette With Uber

Thank you for downloading Restaurant Tonight. Our application gives you the opportunity to play Restaurant Roulette to find a restaurant to eat at tonight and you get to ride there with the well known Uber application. Please provide your feedback, questions, or comments below and we will have a support representative reach out to you right away.

 

For those of you who have downloaded the application and given us great feedback I wanted to extend a special thank you. This is a really cool concept that takes the choice out of picking a place to eat dinner at tonight.

Follow the rest of my posts and entrepreneurial adventures here @ my Richart Ruddie Typepad Blog.

Notarize App Issues

A recent Product Hunt feature on a really cool and innovative idea called Notarize has hit headlines recently. When showcased to friends within my network I was forwarded an email as seen below on some of the Legal issues with the Application. The biggest issue is that it's not seen as a valid notarization by the courts in which it is deemed for.

"legal framework in most states hasn’t caught up with this technological innovation.   The validity of a Virginia or Montana remote notarization for real estate transactions in other states has not yet been confirmed by the courts":

Emailed information seen verbatim below:

To: All Policy Issuing Agents of WFG National Title Insurance Company

From: Underwriting Department

Date: February 19, 2016

Bulletin No. NB2016-02

Subject: Web Cam Notarization

 

 

 

 

A number of our agents have received advertisements from web and app based services that purport to allow a Virginia Notary to “remotely” notarize any document for anybody, anywhere. This is based on a 2011 Virginia law that allows its notaries to make use of video and audio technology on the Internet to confirm identities and allow a party to have their signature notarized without being in the physical presence of the notary.  A similar, but more limited law, was adopted in Montana in 2015. [1]  Some of these advertisements represent that their notary service is valid in all 50 US states and the District of Columbia.

Unfortunately the legal framework in most states hasn’t caught up with this technological innovation.   The validity of a Virginia or Montana remote notarization for real estate transactions in other states has not yet been confirmed by the courts.   Legislatures or officials in Arizona<http://willistonfinancial.actonservice.com/acton/ct/16335/s-00b5-1602/Bct/l-0068/l-0068:7d/ct1_0/1?sid=m4dUyYii1>, Arkansas<http://willistonfinancial.actonservice.com/acton/ct/16335/s-00b5-1602/Bct/l-0068/l-0068:7d/ct2_0/1?sid=m4dUyYii1>,  California<http://willistonfinancial.actonservice.com/acton/ct/16335/s-00b5-1602/Bct/l-0068/l-0068:7d/ct3_0/1?sid=m4dUyYii1>, Colorado<http://willistonfinancial.actonservice.com/acton/ct/16335/s-00b5-1602/Bct/l-0068/l-0068:7d/ct4_0/1?sid=m4dUyYii1>, Connecticut<http://willistonfinancial.actonservice.com/acton/ct/16335/s-00b5-1602/Bct/l-0068/l-0068:7d/ct5_0/1?sid=m4dUyYii1>, Maine<http://willistonfinancial.actonservice.com/acton/ct/16335/s-00b5-1602/Bct/l-0068/l-0068:7d/ct6_0/1?sid=m4dUyYii1>, Nevada<http://willistonfinancial.actonservice.com/acton/ct/16335/s-00b5-1602/Bct/l-0068/l-0068:7d/ct7_0/1?sid=m4dUyYii1>, New Hampshire<http://willistonfinancial.actonservice.com/acton/ct/16335/s-00b5-1602/Bct/l-0068/l-0068:7d/ct8_0/1?sid=m4dUyYii1>, Iowa<http://willistonfinancial.actonservice.com/acton/ct/16335/s-00b5-1602/Bct/l-0068/l-0068:7d/ct9_0/1?sid=m4dUyYii1>, New Jersey<http://willistonfinancial.actonservice.com/acton/ct/16335/s-00b5-1602/Bct/l-0068/l-0068:7d/ct10_0/1?sid=m4dUyYii1>, North Carolina<http://willistonfinancial.actonservice.com/acton/ct/16335/s-00b5-1602/Bct/l-0068/l-0068:7d/ct11_0/1?sid=m4dUyYii1>, the Northern Mariana Islands, Oklahoma<http://willistonfinancial.actonservice.com/acton/ct/16335/s-00b5-1602/Bct/l-0068/l-0068:7d/ct12_0/1?sid=m4dUyYii1>, Ohio<http://willistonfinancial.actonservice.com/acton/ct/16335/s-00b5-1602/Bct/l-0068/l-0068:7d/ct13_0/1?sid=m4dUyYii1>, Oregon<http://willistonfinancial.actonservice.com/acton/ct/16335/s-00b5-1602/Bct/l-0068/l-0068:7d/ct14_0/1?sid=m4dUyYii1>, Rhode Island<http://willistonfinancial.actonservice.com/acton/ct/16335/s-00b5-1602/Bct/l-0068/l-0068:7d/ct15_0/1?sid=m4dUyYii1>, West Virginia<http://willistonfinancial.actonservice.com/acton/ct/16335/s-00b5-1602/Bct/l-0068/l-0068:7d/ct16_0/1?sid=m4dUyYii1>, Wisconsin<http://willistonfinancial.actonservice.com/acton/ct/16335/s-00b5-1602/Bct/l-0068/l-0068:7d/ct17_0/1?sid=m4dUyYii1>, and Utah<http://willistonfinancial.actonservice.com/acton/ct/16335/s-00b5-1602/Bct/l-0068/l-0068:7d/ct18_0/1?sid=m4dUyYii1> have expressly declared web cam notarizations unacceptable in their jurisdictions.  While not specifically prohibited in other States, “remote notarization” is not authorized in any states other than Virginia and Montana.

In many states, if a deed, mortgage or deed of trust is not properly notarized, it is ineligible for recording and/or even if recorded may not provide “Constructive Notice” to a subsequent purchaser or lender.   Both of those outcomes have the potential to lead to a policy-limits claim.   To date, there have been no reported cases construing remotely notarized real estate transactions.

 

________________________________

[1] This Webcam Notarization is not the same as electronic notarization (commonly called eNotarization). With an eNotarization, the documents and notarial certificate are in digital form; the signer and Notary both sign digitally, and are in the physical presence of one another.  WFG agents may rely on eNotarization for any instrument, after confirming that the recording office is able to receive it.

 

The Underwriting Standards:

Until the law catches up with the technology in all states, or we have a definitive Federal Court ruling, WFG agents SHOULD NOT use any of the web cam or remote notary services that does not require the party being notarized to be in the physical presence of the notary to execute and notarize any insured deed, mortgage or deed of trust, or any corrective instrument or other instrument which will form a part of the chain of title of an insured property.   With the lender’s approval, documents which will not be recorded or form part of the chain of title may be executed and notarized using such services.

WFG will rely on the remote notarization statutes in Virginia and Montana ONLY where all of these conditions are met:

1.     The Notary and person whose signature is being notarized are both physically located within either Virginia or Montana at the time of execution.

2.     The affected property is entirely within the state (either Virginia or Montana) where the notarization occurred.

3.     The planned use of the remote notarization service has been discussed in advance your WFG underwriter.  There are very specific technology requirements for a valid remote notarization that must be confirmed and documented.

 

If your search indicates that an instrument back in the chain was notarized remotely or electronically, please contact your WFG Underwriter before agreeing to insure based on that instrument.

 

Please click on the link below to obtain a downloadable version of the National Underwriting Bulletin.

National Underwriting Bulletin No. NB2016-02<http://willistonfinancial.actonservice.com/acton/ct/16335/s-00b5-1602/Bct/l-0068/l-0068:7d/ct19_0/1?sid=m4dUyYii1>

NOTE: This Bulletin should not be interpreted as reflecting negatively upon the character of an individual or entity mentioned herein and is for the sole purpose of establishing underwriting positions and policies reflecting WFG National Title Insurance Company’s best business judgment. The information contained in this Bulletin is intended solely for the use of employees of WFG National Title Insurance Company, its title insurance agents and approved attorneys. Disclosure to any other person is expressly prohibited unless approved in writing by the WFG National Title Insurance Company’s Underwriting Department.

The Agent may be held responsible for any loss sustained as a result of the failure to follow the standards set forth above.

Congrats to Lend Up

Slow and steady wins the race. Will be interesting to see how Lendup changes the landscape for lending with out the interference of big banks. Read the latest article that mentions a Series B investment totaling $150 million dollars that involves both debt and equity.

http://techcrunch.com/2016/01/22/the-loan-dolphin/

Richart Ruddie Profile Defenders

If you have reputation management needs then please see the following places that have covered me through the years for Profile Defenders that include Inc. Magazine, Entrepreneur Magazine, Wall Street Journal, The Baltimore Sun, Sun-Sentinel, The Denver Post, Forbes, and many more. In fact I am such a good brander and marketer that I had a client rank them for a famous celebrity and did such a great job that I took over all the rankings on page 1. The best part is that the client wasn't supposed to be doing that and the celebrity sued him, myself, and a few others. It's a great branding point though showcasing how good I really am at what I do for Profile Defenders clients.

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_21394356/companies-spring-up-manage-online-images-and-reputations

http://www.forbes.com/sites/cherylsnappconner/2013/05/09/the-dark-side-of-reputation-management-how-it-affects-your-business/

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/223128

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10000872396390444840104577548982072928526

-Richart Ruddie

Me leaving Japan back in October.

The Thing About Consistency

Quote of the day about consistency: "The most consistent thing about my life is that its not consistent at all"

 

-Rich Ruddie

X.AI The Future of Scheduling

X.AI's artificial intelligence Amy is like something from the movie HER. It's going to be one of the next big things as they call it. With $12 million dollars in funding and the recipient of some great press already.

It's in Beta form right now and only select users have access to it at the moment as the artificial intelligence is learning patterns and recognizing how best to respond and schedule appointments for it's users.

The software will end up replacing Apples SIRI sooner rather than later. That is my prediction.

 

P.S. if you sign up for Amy from X.AI here is what you receive from Dennis Mortensen

 

"I really appreciate you signing up – and I am thrilled about the incredible demand we’ve seen for our artificial intelligence meeting scheduling solution!

We’re adding busy people as fast as we can every week so hang tight. We’ll send Amy to rescue you from meeting scheduling nightmares soon enough. While you wait, you can check your spot in the x.ai waitlist any time here.

Cheers,
Dennis and the x.ai team :-)

PS. You can read more about how Amy works here - and learn why CBS News said, "Amy feels like the future.""

VPS Pricing Down Below $4.00 a Month?

Similar to how we scoff at the idea of paying hundreds of dollars a month for hosting or registering domain names for hundreds of dollars. It wasn't that long ago when that was a reality but today we utilize $8.00 a month hosting packages from the likes of Godaddy, Host Gator, and Blue Host.

Just announced on Tech Crunch today is Scalleway is offer its own ARM-based servers driving down the price offering a BareMetal solid state drive server with 2 gigabytes of RAM and 50 gigs of storage for....get this only $3.40 a month.

Will be interesting to see how hosting prices out over the next ten years.

New App Ideas

Application ideas just come to you sometimes and others they come as a result of reading a great story and thinking lets do a slight spin off of that. Thats how Tinder came about as a hatch labs project that took a spin on the popular mens dating app Grindr and turned it into the worlds most popular dating application in only a couple of years.

Bar Roulette is a recent idea that my spin off would be creating an application based off of restaurants instead of going to random bars you get to be whisked away to a random restaurant. What do you think? Good idea or not?

What it takes for a TLD To Get Noticed

Google made a big announcement yesterday that they will be separating their companies and new ventures. This announcement by Sergey Brin and Larry Page said that their new domain wil be ABC.XYZ.

The founder of the .XYZ which is not on the same scale as .Com, .Net, and .Org TLD (Top Level Domain) Daniel Negari the registrars operator who could not be any happier and we are happy for him. He was recently quoted in a magazine issue of Wired as saying that "We end the alphabet in ‘xyz’ and we should end domain names the same way.”

Googles newest holding company will be called Alphabet and with the largest internet website and player in the world signaling that they are willing to use a .XYZ domain will quite possibly lead the way to other corporations purchasing extensions that end in .XYZ thus driving the domainers who squat on high end names for years out of business.

 ICANN which stands for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers has been releasing new gTLDs which cost $185,000 for an application and once approved an additional $25,000 a year. This then just sparked an idea in my head that should have went off during the initial announcement in 2011 that this may be a great business model if you can/could have scooped up the better extensions such as .XYZ that will hopefully for Mr. Negari's sake become more mainstream and earn him a nice chunk of change. 

When was the last time you came up with a good .com name and found that it wasnt already taken by a cybersquatter asking a ridiculous amount of money for the name? Look at how Brand.com sold for $500,000 and Bre Pettis who previously owned it was asking $12 million dollars originally according to an inside source I spoke with on the matter but was sold so Makerbot could make payroll and eventually cash out big time ($403 million in stock and options).  In googles case it would be extremely odd if they tried to purchase abc.com which goes to the media and television companies website and Alphabet.com is the car leasing companies official website.

Google could have very easily created Google.com/abc or ABC.GOOGLE.COM but instead they just spent the $9.99 fee and purchased ABC.XYZ and have now possibly opened the floodgates for people to start purchasing .xyz extensions and making it a new norm.

Only time will tell.