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I’d like to welcome the world to Entrustet.com. Launching our Beta version last week was the culmination of some 21 months of work. But the thing is, it has never once felt like real work. Okay, maybe there have been a few times it felt like real work, but overall, I feel like a kid in a candy store of ideas.

Looking back on how Entrustet got started, I can’t help but feel almost overwhelmed by the mysterious, yet fateful and obvious way the Universe tends to unfold itself. Whether or not Entrustet ends up being a long-term financial success or not, nothing can deny the silly number of coincidences that have brought it to this point. First, I had to stumble upon that Ellsworth story in The World is Flat. Then, for some inexplicable reason, at the jovial age of 21 I decided to focus all my attention on death. I knew nothing about starting a tech company, and I knew nothing about estate law, but I did know there was a major thought gap in society’s mind: what happens to all our digital assets when we die? After months of Googling looking for someone or some service out there with a solution to this question, I was convinced it did not exist. But I was also convinced a solution was needed–wasn’t it obvious? I remember being kept up at night saying to myself, “this is SO obvious it hurts.”

I believe in fate. I believe that often the path of least effort actually allows the world to unfold in your benefit right before your eyes–that is, if fate is on your side. After losing in the finals of Northwestern University’s Entrepreneur Idol competition, I was THIS close to calling it all quits. I mean, after all, what the hell was I thinking trying to put together a company that basically went against all common thought and law at the time. Moreover, I had no partner, no advisors, no programming experience at all, and most of all, no cash.

But then fate came in. In the next 10 days, three people independently told me I had to meet this kid Nate Lustig. And meanwhile, three people independently told Nate he had to meet me. Needless to say, we met. From there, the pieces of the Entrustet puzzle have fallen together like dominos–all it took was that one initial push and they all followed suit. We found a top-notch programming firm and well-respected Madison law firm willing to partner in exchange for a slice of the Entrustet pie. Two hurdles cleared. Then we found  a free advisory board to basically act as in-house consultants, answering emails whenever we needed and meeting in person once a month. Then a popular blog about the topic popped up, and news articles aplenty showed up all over the place. Then estate lawyers started blogging about the topic. People started wondering about the topic. Horror stories of reasons to protect your digital assets could be found strewn all across the Internet. Then we were asked to speak about the topic at South by Southwest. Then we raised more money than we ever expected to, and then the local government gave us a forgivable loan. It was all topped off by this ABA article and this NBC 15 video.

Whether or not you are a big believer in fate, it’d be hard to deny there is something more powerful moving this thing along than just Nate and me. Although I am a co-founder, I really cannot take all that much credit for Entrustet. This is the product of so many countless people’s hard work, that taking much credit for this company would just be silly. All I can do, and all I have been doing, is sit back, watch, and react as the whole thing continues to unfold right in front of my eyes.

I invite anyone out there reading this to check out Entrustet and let us know what you think. It is in Beta mode, so we’re still working out the kinks, but even in it’s testing state, I am confident you’ll see the value in it. From 18 year olds with 200 online accounts to 65 year-olds with just an email address, we’re all HIWIs.

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Matt Stover missed a critical 51-yarder last night, which was prompted followed by a go-ahead  Saints touchdown drive…so why is Matt Stover a hero? Because he pointed up to the sky when he missed the kick.

So often we see athletes praise god as a go-to celebratory move. But who does it when they miss? Matt Stover does, and seeing it this past Sunday was perhaps the most refreshing move by a professional athlete that I’ve ever seen in my entire life. At the risk of generalizing, athletes are ego-driven, unappreciative, and cocky. It doesn’t take a psychologist to know that all this ridiculous Twitter talk, criminal behavior, and flamboyance is all rooted in an underlying sense of self-consciousness and fear, which serves as concrete evidence that money does not always equate to happiness and inner peace.

But along comes Matt Stover, who pointed up to the sky with a grin despite having just potentially cost his team the Super Bowl (as some analysts and writers would say, but realistically the whole team cost themselves the game). This is a guy who knows how lucky he is to be alive (as we all are), and to be doing what he’s doing. Amazing.

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I’m sure glad my name isn’t Jesse Kennedy Jr., or something to that effect. Do you recognize just how tragedy-laden this family’s history has been? (Note: the graphic I made below is not even the full timeline of Kennedy tragedies)

I mean, what are the odds?

Pretty unbelievable, right? According to NTSB* statistics, the chances of being killed in a plane crash are 52.6 million: 1. Wow. So you’ll notice above that 4 Kennedy family members were killed in plane crashes over a time period spanning just 55 years…AND Edward was in a plane crash, but survived (although his aide was killed in that very same crash).

I mean, this is remarkable. Remarkable to the point where I honestly cannot fathom it. This family has had quite literally the worst “luck” ever. At the risk of sounding esoteric (my favorite opener to a sentence), there is some higher power going on here–something beyond our understanding of the natural 3-dimensional world. I will leave it at that, without attempting to philosophize as to what is going on here, but regardless, I’m glad I’m not a Kennedy.

*Accidents and Accident Rates by NTSB Classification 1995-2004 DOT Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) 1995- 2004

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Looking for a good Blog Topic?

I’d like to think that I’m not the only blogger out there with a laundry list of posts that got started but never finished. All blog posts begin in the exact same way: with an inspirational thought. But in some cases, that inspiration quickly subsides, placing the post into the dark, endless abyss known as the ‘drafts folder.’ It is a hopeless purgatory where neglected thoughts meander aimlessly for the rest of eternity.

But one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, so my hope is to create a place where these unfinished blog posts can go, with the hopes of being picked up and finished by an inspired fellow blogger. Let me give you an example of how this could work. Let’s say I start writing a blog about the Health Care Debate and how it affects Gen Y’ers. Ten minutes into it, I realize that I don’t know even close to enough about the debate to elaborate my thoughts into a post worthy of reading…but someone in one of my social networks might. And when they see this post idea, they run with it, publish it, and get the words out that I sadly never could.

So I’m opening up the floor to everyone out there reading this right now. Submit your ideas by posting a comment to Blog Inspirationville.

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A few weeks back I attended the Patriots vs. Bills Monday Night Football game in Foxboro with my buddy Nate. After the first Patriots touchdown, I noticed the absence of perhaps the greatest sports celebration song in Jock Jams history: “The Hey Song”. British rocker Gary Glitter wrote the song in 1972, and originally called it “The Rock and Roll Song Part 2.” After wild success on the Billboard charts, the “Hey Song” became a crowd favorite at sporting events across the country. But in 2006 the NFL banned the song from all NFL stadiums in response to child sexual abuse charges against Glitter stemming from an incident in Vietnam. Interestingly enough, Glitter had already been charged for child pornography and imprisoned in 1997.

So there’s no doubt that Glitter has made some very unenlightened decisions, and ought to be held accountable for his actions, which is why he has been convicted and imprisoned by a court of law. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that the fans ought to be punished as well. Everybody loves that song! Plus, when “The Hey Song” comes on, it’s not like fans in the stands are turning to one another and saying, “hey, isn’t this by that Glitter guy who got arrested for child porn? If it is, then the NFL must be saying it’s okay to have sexual relations with young Vietnamese children.”

And the NFL is being incredibly hypocritical, as well. Think about the other songs you hear at sporting events. Here are a few I caught playing at that MNF game a few weeks ago:

1. “Put On” by Young Jeezy, who has been arrested twice before. He was charged with carrying a concealed firearm without a permit in 2006, and then convicted of DUI after totaling his Lamborghini in 2008.
2. “Never Scared” by Bone Crusher. Here’s an excerpt from the song’s full lyrics: “So I’m outside of da club and you think I’m a puuuuuuuunk. So I go to my loaded Tech 9 thats off in the truuuuuuuunk. I told that muthafucka. I ain’t never scared (eastside!)…Let a choppa go PLOOOOOOWWW! to yo melon, now the plasma is oozin outta yo cerebellum!” Enough said.
   
3. “Whatever you like,” by T.I. who has been arrested countless times in his life, but most recently for weapons charges. Not just for any weapons either, but rather weapons that no civilian should ever have their hands on:

Look, I’m not by any means whatsoever condoning the wrongdoings by Mr. Glitter. In fact his crimes have introduced an immense amount of negative energy into the world, and directly affected several unassuming childrens’ lives in a horrible way. But if you’re going to ban this song for that reason, then you’d better ban a whole lot more music that’s going on at stadiums around the country. But that option’s not realistic, so I say let “The Hey Song” come back. It’s an American sports classic. There comes a time when political correctness is forced, rather than out of true reason. This, in my opinion, is one of them.

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About a week ago, I noticed new addition to my top navigation bar on Facebook: 70 ‘Facebook Credits.’ Intrigued, I decided to explore further, only to become increasingly frustrated and confused about what these credits even meant, ultimately giving up all hope just minutes later. If you do not see these credits atop your Facebook page, then you are simply not part of Facebook’s trial run of the Facebook Credits program. Turns out that I am one of several thousand ‘lucky’ guinea pigs for the new initiative–standard Facebook beta-testing process used many times in the past.

What are Facebook Credits, anyway?

Facebook credits are a currency for purchasing virtual goods. It currently costs $1 for 10 Facebook Credits, which can be used to make purchases across the Facebook platform for things like gifts, third-party applications and games. As of now, the list of third-party options is short:

- Birthday Calendar
- (fluff)Friends
- GroupCard
- (Lil) Green Patch
- MouseHunt
- PackRat
- Pirates: Rule the Caribbean!
- Robin Hood
- SocialCalendar

So what are people buying exactly with these Facebook Credits? A good example of virtual goods would be cute fashion accessories for your virtual pet, or perhaps a plot of additional farmland for your farm in Zynga’s Farmville game.

Really? Virtual Goods?

Over time, the list shown above is destined to grow…and grow fast. Just how big is the virtual goods market going to be? Many experts point toward the mass appeal in Asia as predictor of potential U.S. market growth. Qzone, Asia’s most popular social networking site, generated $1 billion last year, only 13% of which came from advertisement. Zynga, makers of the immensely popular game FarmVille, claims to have over 50 million users and generate $100 MM across their whole line of games. So yes, people are buying virtual goods…a LOT of virtual goods.

The business models…Ooooohh the business models

Facebook has over 300 million users, up from 200 million just 8 months ago. Yet despite this astronomical user growth, Facebook did not become cash flow positive until this quarter, according to CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Virtual payments offer Facebook the perhaps the most enticing way to become profitable to date. But it is not only Facebook that stands to make bank on this new model. There’s an entire “ecosystem of companies is involved in each microtransaction: PayPal and Paymo handle the money, for instance, and companies such as Blockbuster insert ads and coupons” (quote taken from this article). It’ll be interesting to watch this whole situation unfold, as an American market gets accustomed to the concept in general. In the meantime, there are some companies you may want to consider investing in (paypal, verisign, Facebook (if it goes public), etc.)…but I don’t pretend to be a wealth manager, so I’ll leave that up to you individually.

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The Planet Debate Explained

There has been much debate recently over whether or not Pluto is a planet. The debate began three years ago with the International Astronomical Union’s decision to officially call Pluto a ‘dwarf planet.’ What constitutes a planet, you may ask?

According to the IAU’s definition, it must orbit the sun, it must be big enough for gravity to crush it into a nearly round shape, and it must clear the neighborhood around its orbit. In other words, it must be dominant enough to clear away objects in its orbital space. This last point is what proved to be Pluto’s demise as a planet: There are other competing objects in its orbit (excerpt taken from CNN.com).

But there has been much backlash after that IAU decision:

• Earlier this year, the Illinois Senate adopted a resolution declaring that Pluto was “unfairly downgraded” and restoring “full planetary status” to the celestial body as it “passes overhead through Illinois’ night skies.” It also designated March 13, 2009, as “Pluto Day” in honor of the date that its discovery was announced in 1930. (In case you are wondering why the state is so passionate about Pluto: Clyde Tombaugh, who discovered the planet-now-dwarf-planet, was born in Illinois.)
• Meanwhile, New Mexico’s House of Representatives proclaimed February 18, 2009, as “Pluto is a Planet in New Mexico Day” and praised Tombaugh, who worked in the state for decades and died there in 1997.

Plu•to•phi•les

‘Plutophiles,’ as they’re fondly referred to, have been fighting for Pluto’s respect amongst the international astronomical community ever since the aforementioned Dwarf Planet Debacle of 2006. That’s right, thousands of ‘busy’ scientists and crazy asteroid enthusiasts have been and will continue to pour thousands of hours into carefully crafted arguments on one side of this debate or the other, only to see them go directly into the little green recycling bin at IAU headquarters. These time-wasting Plutophiles have even set up an online petition.

Why It Doesn’t Matter Anyways

Words are overused. Words just attempt to form and shape the world around us into neat, tidy little packages that can be tossed around with ease and are all-too-often overused in general. The IAU definition of ‘planet’ may or may not be the correct definition, and may or may not be any better than my personal definition: “A planet is anything really big and round in outerspace that just looks–I dunno-just looks like a planet?!?!” That said, it really doesn’t matter whether Pluto is considered to be a ‘Planet’ or not. It’s just a definition, pulled out of thin air by a bunch of inside-the-box-thinking scientists.

To the IAU I say, “stop trying to be the be all, end all authority in astronomical decisions, considering that the universe is the something all we Earthlings share equally.” And to the Plutophiles I say, “go use your enthusiasm and sticktuitiveness for something more productive than this pointless, futile, and almost hostile debate.”

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This past Saturday, hippies and historians alike celebrated the 40th anniversary of the legendary outdoor concert known as ‘Woodstock.’ The nostalgia of this 3-day late summer extravaganza seemingly matures with age like a fine Chianti, attracting interest from millions across many races, nationalities, and perhaps most importantly, generations. What makes the event so memorable were all of the intriguing subplots behind the concert itself: the dairy farm the concert was held on, the sheer crowd size (500,000 people), the counterculture movement behind the music, the steady rain and mud, the drugs, the traffic jam, how it became a free concert, and most surprisingly of all, the violence-free peaceful attitude of participants and security staff alike.

Was Woodstock a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of that particular time period–1969 America–riddled with war, social uprising, and fantastically soulful music, or would it be possible for Gen Y to have our own ‘Woodstock??’

I wonder if Gen Y is even capable of having its own Woodstock? I mean, 1969 America was just such an unbelievable time and place to be alive and aware. The collective passion of America’s youth spurred by fears over the impending draft could have provided more uniting inspiration than my generation will ever experience.

Another fascinating subplot going on during Woodstock was the fact that the American ‘hippie’ counterculture movement had little or no idea just how massive it was until Woodstock. As concert co-founder Joel Rosenman puts it, “They had … been reading in the establishment media they were a splinter here and a fragment there,” he said. “And all of a sudden, they get to Woodstock … and saw the entire world as [they] knew it was on [their] side instead of the side you thought it was on. … It was pretty heady stuff.” Would this even be possible with the Internet as it is today? Is it possible that an entire community would be unaware of the proliferation of its own community?

And what would the Gen Y Woodstock look like, anyway? Would it be rap? Soft rock (like the songs in the soundtrack of He’s Just Not That Into You)? Who would perform; Kanye West, or Miley Cirus? And what ‘theme’ would we even be celebrating? The hippies had anti-war as a unifier, what would we use, anti-parents on Facebook?

I’m not sure yet if we could even have our own ‘real Woodstock’ experience, but I do know that it would be awesome. I also know that we need to have our OWN version of it, not a ‘Woodstock re-make’ like Lolapalooza tries all-too-desperately to be.

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Hear my story, feel my pain

I had been noticing lately that one of my very close friends, let’s call him Bryan, had been acting a bit standoffish and upset with me lately, but I really had no idea why this was the case. Although some 3,000 miles apart, we frequently Instant Messaged, emailed, and even found time to speak on the phone every few weeks. So when I came back from a short business trip to a disgruntled Bryan, I was understandably confused…until I realized that I had completely forgotten his birthday. One side of me felt badly, of course. But the other side said,

“c’mon, do you know how much information gets thrown at me on any given day thanks to this godforsaken MacBook? Plus, would a ‘Happy Birthday!!!’ Facebook wall post–which I so strongly despise–have made you happy? Get over yourself, you turned 23, do you want a cookie?”

I needed a plan…

Once I stopped unfairly turning my personal feelings of embarrassment over missing Bryan’s birthday into anger, I vowed never to miss a friend’s birthday again. I needed a plan to make this certain, and I obviously wanted the solution to be as painless as possible.

I decided to go to the ubiquitous Facebook for an easy answer. All my friend’s birthdays are listed on Facebook, so I must be able to leverage this fact into some sort of turnkey solution. I tried everything, although I admittedly don’t know the Facebook settings landscape all that well–something I am very happy to proclaim, by the way.

I tried downloading my ‘Events’ calendar to my ICal, then exporting that to my Gmail calendar and playing with my calendar settings so that I would be automatically notified of birthdays. I tried downloading my Facebook contacts to my Gmail contacts and making my Gmail contacts’ info include birthday reminders, but that require manual entry–something no self-respecting Gen Y’er would dare participate in. By the way, anyone reading this is encouraged to offer a suggestion for a quick solution to this problem.

The revelation of a lifetime

After nearly 2 hours of downloading, uploading, cross-referencing, and copy/pasting, I sunk my fingernails deeply into my scalp and raised the white flag.

Then, it hit me like a Facebook poke; perhaps the much of the time I spend trying to save myself time, is actually ironically a massive waste of time itself!

But I don’t want to revert to those bad old days of having to do things slowly? And god forbid I should every have to do something as repetitious and dull as manually entering already-stored data. That sounds terrible! So, I’m not sure exactly what to do with this epitome, but that’s where I leave this blog post open for discussion. Please, for my sake, and the sake of all Gen Y’ers out there, share your thoughts on this one…and for Christ’s sake, someone tell me how to solve this birthday problem…NOW!

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The resume topic seems to get raised a lot these days, and it’s something I personally have blogged about in the past. Having graduated from UW-Madison just a few months ago, I have engaged in my fair share of  first-hand resume chit chat. I always find it particularly hilarious to engage in conversations surrounding what to include, what not to include, and how to frame items in the well-know ‘Experience’ section. This section is often just oozing with (sometimes obvious) b.s. For example, I know a kid who used to be the go-to hazing coordinator in his fraternity. He spun it off on his resume as “Fraternity Brotherhood Coordinator,” and mentioned such accomplishments as, “helped promote strong sentiments of brotherhood amongst members ranging across all races, income levels, and life experiences” (read: made 20 kids drink Bud Light until they puked and then covered all their hands in honey and had them separate colored sprinkles by hand in the dark). If you’re looking for some guidance in creating convincing b.s. such as this, check this out.

While pondering this topic the other night, all of a sudden it hit me: the best (and worst) resume builder is someone’s blog. Why can it the best? Because having a well-written, carefully considered, intriguing blog can and should be placed in the aforementioned ‘Experience’ section of one’s resume. It shows readers that you take hours out of your would-be free time to critique, entertain, and express your opinion. If you do so in a convincing and mature fashion, I think that this could say as much, if not more than any other piece of your entire resume.

How can your blog be your resume’s worst nightmare? Simple. It’s no different than having a Facebook profile containing pictures of your binge-drinking, juvenille, and prank-laden social life…or is that just my profile? In reality, I’ve made many failed attempts to clean up my profile, only to lose interest rather quickly and meander onto other activities….which is why I choose to be self-employed. I digress. A poorly written blog from a grammatical standpoint shows lack of writing skills and/or effort. Having blog posts with coarse language or questionably racist/sexist/generally biased posts will obviously not look good either. But again, a well-written blog could even potentially outweigh other negatives such as lack of industry-specific job experience offset by relevant and well-written blog posts about the job position’s industry.

Employers really ought to be reading applicant’s blogs more often. They’re already going on Facebook to get ‘impressions’ of Gen Y’ers all the time. We all know how Facebook can wrongly portray one’s image, and what’s worse is that sometimes it’s uncontrollable by any reasonable means short of deleting the entire account altogether–and suffering the subsequent social ramifications of not being on Facebook.

So Perhaps I should rephrase: the most accurate resume builder is one’s blog. If you can accept this as the truth, and then get proficient with that b.s. generator mentioned above, then you’re well on your way to your next resume attempt…and perhaps even a new career!