Ever since the day before kindergarten - god knows how I remember that - I’ve never been able to sleep well the night before starting something new. Well, tomorrow is another new day, but hopefully I will be able to sleep this time.

I guess thats not much of a post. Bare with me here.

A few days ago I looked at my resume from 4 years ago. I had done research  with a business school professor, interned at an investment bank and a  think tank and focused on analyzing major economic policy decisions throughout history in major world powers. At the time, I had done a good job of seeking out opportunities that interested me and pursued them the best way I knew how. Looking at my resume at the time, I was clearly interested in business, government, economic policy and the civic sector.

Fast forward 4 years (and a new election!). Looking at the time since I’ve done much the same - more business, more government, a little less on the civic sector and a little more in tech. I had learned that while I enjoy research if something is done with it, I find it incredibly boring to just read and analyze for the sake of it. I learned that I could never see myself in finance, but I did really enjoy strategy consulting and that as much as I love politics, I’m not nearly conservative enough to work with them all day long. Looking back, I also wish I had spent more time on building hard skills, rather than padding my resume with names and titles.

I can’t help but wonder, as I sit in read articles about the Democratic Primary between Martin O’Malley and Andrew Cuomo and randomly come across my resume from 4 years ago (i.e. now) what I will reflect on. Deep down I think I know what it might be, but I’ll refrain from sharing until I at least get a little deeper into my next bullet line at Kiwi Crate.

But deep down I think I know what it might be.

I’d pardon myself for going off topic, but first you’d have to actually have a topic, so who cares. I’ve been reading a lot about the drama going on at the University of Virginia, where its President Teresa Sullivan was recently forced out due to her perceived lack of vision for the school. Specifically, the rector Helen Dragas believed that Sullivan lacked a bold strategy to move the school through the economic times and the changing landscape of education due to innovations in technology.

The whole thing is a mess, and sounds like a tremendous case study for failure in leadership, strategy and organization. First, the entire ordeal was done in secret. Dragas worked behind closed doors to secure votes, didn’t consult students or faculty and apparently never bothered to meet with Sullivan herself to voice her concerns. Second, rather than at least have a formal board vote following securing votes, Dragas went straight to Sullivan with the threat of removal without any formal meeting to discuss the issue at-large (i.e. she didn’t even bother to tell all of the board members once she had a simple majority). Third, instead of having an open dialogue with the entire community about the strategic direction of the school - much like Dartmouth College is currently doing - Dragas made a top-down swoop when she didn’t see immediate results (Sullivan has been in her post for less than 2 years).

These events have thrown the campus into a frenzy, with donors, students, faculty and administrators equally up in arms. The center of it all is Helen Dragas and she simply cannot stay in her position if the school is to move forward. Governor McDonnell has opted to not “meddle” in the affairs, leaving no outside authority to come in and help remedy this tenuous situation. What the school needs is a strong, effective and courageous leader who does not do things behind closed doors and can effectively build a coalition with all the parties involved and move the institution forward. Helen Dragas is not that person.

I don’t even know the last time I blogged. Or tweeted. Or read Techcrunch (or PandoDaily, it wasn’t that long ago). Or cared to.

After interviewing with seemingly every startup on the planet, I got burned out; I just didn’t care anymore. Answering the same question 10 thousand times was beyond exhausting. And realizing that I didn’t know a single thing, or realizing I didn’t exactly know what I wanted didn’t help either.

Finally, somehow, someway I got hired. Well, sorta. An internship in Product & Marketing, two areas I know jack shit about. My first day was easy enough…watch some YouTube videos. Sure I can do that.

Then came some  questions. Do you have Lean Startup? No. Can you code HTML or CSS? No. Have you managed campaigns before? No. At some point I wondered whether my boss would ask me…well what CAN you do!? (Build federal market entry strategies and write white papers?)

But you know what, I’m going to get up super early tomorrow, buy what I need to buy, read what I need to read and do my best to not make myself look stupid. And for the first time in months, I’m actually excited about tech.

Facebook’s announcement of mobile operating billing is a big one. Not only is it a huge step toward mobile monetization, but more important it aligns Facebook’s growth with what should be a strong focus - emerging and developing markets. While the service helps anyone without a credit card - a sizable number here in the US and other developed nations - it really opens up doors internationally, where mobile devices are often users’ sole banking method. This is particularly true in the high growth areas of Africa, Latin America and certain areas of Asia where Facebook’s penetration still has room for growth.

As Facebook ventures closer and closer to its IPO, it is going to be important that they demonstrate their ability to turn their 800MM+ users into a very sizable profit. They’re acutely aware of their need for strong revenue streams and mobile operator billing - with virtual currency to pay for the platform’s growing plethora of games and apps - is a good move in that direction.

When I first walked into the AOL Ventures space a few months back, I quickly scanned the room to get a handle on what was going on. Perpetually late as I am,  the Location Based Meetup was ending and its organizer was politely asking everyone to begin wrapping things up. Thrown by the scores of entrepreneurs making their final pitches in a cacophony of loud chatter, I tried to make sense of the scene before it came to a close. As I was making the rounds I heard a few all too familiar phrases in the distance that instantly grabbed my attention.

“Oh, you’re a 4? I’m a 10.”

Immediately I thought, “they must ‘ve gone to Dartmouth; normal people don’t talk like that.”

And such was my introduction to Sonar. The brainchild of Brett Martin - the “4” in question (as in graduated in 2004), the app helps you discover the hidden connections you have around you. Much like my ears immediately picked up the idiosyncrasies of Hanover, Sonar looks out for people with whom you share connections – either via Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn.  Powered primarily through foursquare check-ins, Sonar takes location to next level by answering a big question. Where foursquare gives an indication of “how many people are there” and “who is there,” Sonar proceeds to tell you who you know and how you might be connected to everyone else. Via twitter, you can say hello and make connections with people over Sonar’s platform, which for now is completely agnostic and consequently useful wherever you go. After fiddling around with Sonar I quickly became a fan/realized how small New York is. I caught up with Brett– who himself is an encyclopedia of knowledge about the New York tech scene – about Sonar, location and the great opportunities that lie ahead.

Matt McDonald: What’s your take on location? (As in the location based mobile app space, broadly) 

Brett Martin: Location opens up a number of interesting opportunities but it does not in and of itself an application make.  Like social, it will become imbedded in everything.

MM: What are some of the challenges the space is facing?

BM: Achieving hyperlocal density is incredibly difficult.  If your app requires everyone in the stadium to have it before it is useful, you are in trouble.  Location-based apps had best have a single player mode.

MM: What about monetization? How does Sonar develop a viable business model?

BM: There are plenty of ways to monetize on mobile, in addition to advertising.  In-app purchases, premium features, virtual goods, subscriptions, lead gen etc.  Sonar will use a combination of the above.

MM: How do you see Sonar evolving as a platform?

BM: Think of Sonar as a “platform for people nearby.”  If Facebook provides developers access to users’ explicitly defined friend group, we provide distribution to the dynamic group of people nearby your user.  Want to build a business card app?  We’ll help you with that.

MM: Sonar aggregates data from Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to help people find others around them, which is incredibly nifty – but what prevents Facebook and LinkedIn from developing the same function in their native mobile apps? Is that a legitimate threat in your eyes, or do you see Sonar as having a clear distinction?

BM: Facebook is the identity you project to your explicitly defined group of Facebook friends.  Twitter is your public feed of news and commentary.  LinkedIn is your professional web identity.

Sonar is the information & identity that you want to share with the (ever-changing) group of people with whom you are in physical proximity.  It’s a customizable and dynamic based on where you are and who you are with. 

MM: Sonar right now is rather agnostic in branding, and doesn’t favor finding people at a bar any more than finding people at a conference. Do you see the value in targeting a particular function or do you see keeping a broader appeal as a key to future success?

BM: I think the previous question covers this.  I don’t see Sonar as simply a tool to find a date in a bar.  It can and will help with that but Sonar is fundamentally a tool for self-expression, on a hyperlocal scale.  Sonar provides a way for us to digitally express ourselves in the physical world.  /MM

Brett hits the nail on the head in particular on two points: location as an embedded component to our pre-existing applications and the importance of that single player mode.  As we’ve seen with Facebook, Google+ and countless other social platforms, the true benefit comes when they are embedded into our broader world, creating a loop of information between content publishers and the social networks themselves. This is precisely what we are likely to see with the advent and rise of location, and startups should be careful to avoid the idea of creating multiple massive networks that require mass adoption to be useful; there will be plenty of benefit leveraging what already exists – much like Sonar.

Wanted to announce that I’ll be an Assistant Organizer for the Location Based Apps meetup here in New York. I’m excited to work with Michael, Ben and Gauri on this great Meetup!

Wanted to take a quick moment to speak out against SOPA/PIPA. Today, we saw an outpouring of sentiment against this horrid legislation, which soon will hopefully be in the dustpin of history . However, while we can’t allow this legislation to pass, we must nevertheless have a frank and honest discussion about how we can work to evolve business models, transform industries and ensure that content owners get fair and equitable share for the amazing things they create, yet without impinging on the freedoms of the internet. Its a hard task for sure, but its nevertheless something that must be done.

Imagine an app that completely changes the conversation amongst an entire demographic. An app that, in less than 3 years, captures a huge share of its potential market, forces closure of not only preceding websites, but physical establishments, and singlehandedly ushers in an evolution of sorts for folks to meet over the mobile platform. Well that app exists and its called Grindr. Taboo to some as it may be, Grindr has single handedly evolved gay male behavior in a way that surpasses pretty much any variant before it. However, the underpinning elephant in the room – that the app merely facilitates “hooking up” and is too narrow in its appeal– has dogged Grindr and ultimately prevented it from being as big as it could be. Enter Blendr.

Blendr fully realizes what Grindr could be, with a cleaner brand, a broader reach and the true potential to be disruptive. A real-time, location based tool that shows you others around you in a simple and easy to use interface, Blendr allows anyone – male or female, gay or straight – to find others near by. But where Blendr is really different is that it integrates Facebook data along with its own set of interests to truly personalize the app. Instead of assorted faces (or headless torsos), Blendr allows people to have a status, a set of interests, and broader information about themselves for people to see. You can also filter by interest, allowing you to zero in on the types of people you’d like to meet. Near the Met and want to find a partner to see a new exhibit? Blendr can help you. Want to find a new tennis partner? Blendr can do that too. Want to see if there are any alumni from your school at a conference? Blendr could potentially do that as well. As they start to scale and flesh out social network integration, Blendr could really go places. It offers such a seamless and intuitive platform – with a very deliberate and unassuming branding – that the app is definitely positioned to do extraordinarily well. And unlike some other apps, Blendr has the benefit of lessons learned from its older brother Grindr. Which, to be fair, really isn’t all about hooking up - users regularly get notices about LGBT issues, can use the app to get into bars and clubs (a genius idea that creates a real business model) and many simply use it to meet people. Consequently, usage analytics are still incredibly valuable, not to mention the ported code.

The question here is this: can social mobile apps evolve to the point where they’re the primary access point for people to socialize and meet each other? Grindr has proved that on a smaller scale within certain demographics that the answer is yes. The key for the Blendr team is to adjust for the underlying differences between the Grindr market and the masses and see if they can do the same on a broader scale. Frankly, I’m really excited to see if they can do it…and I think they can. It won’t come without challenges though and when I sat down with  Blendr/Grindr CEO Joel Simkhai, he seemed to be fully aware of them. Here is a transcript of our chat:

Matt McDonald: What’s your take on location? (As in the location based mobile app space, broadly)

Joel Simkhai: Geo-social tools are quickly becoming the way people interact and manage many facets of their lives. With Blendr, we’ve pioneered a new category of interest-based networks using geo-location technology to help people make new social connections based on common interests. The app inspires users to search for new friends based on a number of different interests that includes languages, hobbies, music, sports, and even communities. Our goal with Blendr was to create an incredibly fun and engaging app for everybody to be able to discover a more social world around them.

MM: What are some of the challenges the space is facing?

JS: For any geo-social networking app, it’s all about building critical mass in your user-base across geographies.  Any network needs critical mass, but a geo-social network has the extra challenge of getting critical mass locally.  For example, the app is only useful in Sydney, Australia if there’s a size-able user base there.   For us since launch, we’ve seen the strongest interest in US, UK and Australia.  Our goal is to continue to build the Blendr community across key geographies.

MM: What about monetization? How does Blendr develop a viable business model?

JS: Blendr is a free ad-supported app and our goal is really to grow our user-base globally.  We’re continuing looking at ways to enhance the user experience by adding new features.   Some of these features might allow local advertisers to interact with our users in ways that are only possible with a location based social network.

MM: Does Grindr help or hurt Blendr?

JS: When we first created Grindr, I didn’t imagine the success that Grindr has now become, with 3 million users and growing.  Certainly our success with Grindr has afforded us the opportunity, knowledge and resources to invest in developing and launching Blendr.   We also gain the benefits of being able to leverage the technology platform and take what we’ve learned from launching our first app in applying this to Blendr.

So far in the three months since launch, we’ve demonstrated that we’ve created a compelling new app that’s attracting strong interest particularly in the US, UK and Australia as top regions.  In fact, Blendr has been one of the most talked about new apps on iTunes and has been featured as “New and Noteworthy” and “Great Free App” in the app store. Plus, it was also a staff favorite. 

MM: Blendr is relatively feature-rich, with multiple layers to it. Which one do you think makes it most distinctive? Where is the truly differentiated value-add?

JS: While interest categories are the main features of the app, when we first thought  about launching an app for everybody and especially for female  users, security and privacy was our top consideration.   We believe our privacy features are distinctive and an important aspect to the Blendr experience.  Users have total control of their privacy and security settings.  They can choose to hide profile details, change the level of distance accuracy with low to high control settings, and block other users without letting them know, or narrow down or broaden “Who I See” and “Who Can See Me” based on gender, sexual orientation and age.

Another innovative feature of Blendr is that it allows users to see who’s around at nearby venues to keep up on local trendy spots or to discover which spots are hot through the app’s heat map. Users can check-in to these venues or see how many users are already there and chat with them to help decide if the spot is hot enough to go by.

Users can also directly update their other social networks within Blendr. For example, users can update their status on FB, Twitter and Foursquare so it’s easier for everyone to start chatting. Blendr is also on Facebook (http://www.blendr.com/FacebookApp) and the app boasts many of the same rich functionality and features, enabling Facebook users to connect with the full Blendr network. Both the iPhone app and Facebook app is free. MM

Blendr is just one of several apps looking to move social interaction to the mobile platform. Their advantage over others is that they have a head start on understanding just how to do it. While it remains to see whether Grindr’s success will transfer over to the masses, its nevertheless a worthwhile experiment.

Back in college, a friend of mine and I planned a trip to New York. We were really excited. Thumping clubs, table service, exclusive parties…we imagined a weekend where we’d hit the town hard and escape the sticky frat basements and tired crowd of Hanover. Once we got to our hotel room we opened up the computer and did the typical rookie search. We found suggested places to go, put on our best going out gear and hit the town running.

We got in a cab and headed to our first spot. The reviews said the place was always packed and to get there before the cover shot up too much. As we paid the cab fare and stepped out of the car we heard the base blaring and were certain we were in for a good time. With no windows and a detached, muted façade, we had no way of knowing for sure what was going on inside (which just made us want to go in more). After paying $30 each for cover, we did.

It was dead; I was pissed.

3 years later, we have SceneTap. The Chicago based startup would have been the perfect app that Friday night and, frankly, any night for anyone who likes to go out. With real-time demographic information about nightlife, SceneTap arms its users with powerful data points about the best places to go – and not to go – with accurate information on the capacity, gender ratio, median age and drink specials of participating bars and clubs. It captures this data through object tracking cameras, a creepy but nonetheless effective method for now while they prove their concept.

Going out has a high sunk cost, particularly here in New York. And as I experienced that night, you can often be left reeling. Not only did we spend money on cab fare, cover charges, and drinks we felt obligated to buy (because of the cover charges), we had another loss – time. When you figure the $50 we spent on that one time out for no real benefit, something like SceneTap quickly becomes appealing. Not only can the app help you find a good spot, but it can actually save you money. And therein lies such a great appeal.

For apps to be successful – and particularly to effectively monetize – the value add must be clear. For location based apps in particular, where many perceive them to be “nice,” but not “necessary,” articulating the value add is of paramount importance. SceneTap is rare in that it does that just fine and can quantify the value add it provides via preventing foregone spending on places that suck.

I caught up with SceneTap’s CEO Cole Harper and clearly understands that value add well:

Matt McDonald: What’s your take on location? (as in the location based mobile app space, broadly)

Cole Harper: Location-based apps are in a great position to deliver real value to users. Any app that can address the “here and now” aspect of a person’s daily life has potential.

MM: What are some challenges the space is facing?

CH: As a whole, the mobile app market is crowded because there are so few barriers to entry. If you want to win the battle for people’s attention, you need to make yourself a resource they want to use over and over again.

MM: What about monetization? How does SceneTap develop a viable business model?

CH: We receive subscription fees from the venues we work with and also receive funds from strategic partners and sponsors.  We also generate revenue through advertising and coupon sales.

MM: Several people have cited privacy concerns in addition to the camera installation logistics and costs as issues that could prevent widespread scale. Is SceneTap’s strategy to ameliorate these concerns and continue to grow with its current technology or simply utilize the initial technology to prove the concept and look for other methods to cull the data?

CH: When you enter a bar, you hand the bouncer your ID with all of your personal information on it. The only thing the SceneTap system notes is gender and approximate age – we don’t identify individuals. We’re confident in our ability to scale, and we’ve had inquiries from bar owners across the country and around the world.

MM: SceneTap is somewhat different than other consumer location based apps in that it can directly deter people away from certain establishments with concrete data. What has been the reaction from bar owners? How do they deal with broadcasting to the masses that their establishment is empty?

CH: The beauty of the system is that everyone likes a different scene. If you’re after a place where you can find a seat and have an audible conversation, you can select a quieter bar. If you want to go dancing with your friends, you can go for a club that’s already filling up. Essentially, we’re helping match people with the scene that’s right for them. The reaction from bar owners has been very positive.

Harper definitely has a solid vision for the company and it’ll be interesting to see how it evolves moving forward. Needless to say, there are more and more nascent startups trying to tap into this need of “who is out” and SceneTap has one of the more compelling offerings.

Here is hoping it’ll come to New York soon; I’m still pissed about that night.