No names - no pack drill to protect the innocent, but prompted to write this because while it is sad, I don’t like history to be rewritten.

The official statement reads that it has declared bankruptcy because of “poor economic conditions since Covid and increased costs and delays associated with expansion plans.”

Sure - and - it was clear when I talked to them that the company had a difficult route even before Covid. Capital investment needed was massive to deliver the physical spaces needed to conduct the business, meanwhile the funding being raised was easily an order of magnitude too little to deliver on the promise.

Covid might have accelerated the demise but it was plain for anyone to see with even a tad due-diligence, which continues to remain in short supply.

Not only that …

“The group had one facility and was in the process of setting up two larger ones in xxx and xxx, while also developing an online app that would …..”

It’s over 2 years since I last talked to them - but at that time they were ‘working on an app’. How long does ‘an app’ take?

He was the bestselling poet in American history. What happened?

Was never a fan - and hadn’t thought of him for decades - but there is no doubt that at the time he was big.

Just one paragraph that opened my eyes …

In the mid-1960s McKuen discovered the Belgian singer Jacques Brel and his fellow chansonniers, performers in the story-song tradition who were popular in the cabarets of Europe but hadn’t yet made inroads in the U.S. market. McKuen translated and sang a number of Brel’s songs, and fully rewrote Brel’s song “Le Moribond” as “Seasons in the Sun,” which was recorded by the Kingston Trio. (It would later be a No. 1 hit for the singer Terry Jacks.)

… in my mind, Scott Walker and more recently Marc Almond were the two ‘Walker Channelers’. Never had any idea that Rod was another.

This post was getting too long and confusing in draft mode. So - instead I am writing a short post and will then append with comments to cover off each point I want to make. A living post if you will!

The genesis of the post is that @dave commented on one of my posts about Feedland suggesting that I publish a post about Feedland here.

First off, I am a big fan of the functionality of Feedland and in awe of how @dave - much like @manton - just keeps delivering enhancements and extensions to his world without the teams of hundreds - if not thousands - that VC backed startups seems to ‘need’.

As an ex 1999.io user (I was there before MicroBlog properly launched) .. I recognized the interface immediately. There is a style that Dave uses. Not my favorite - but I appreciate the consistency.

I found it pretty easy to set up Feedland - and it ‘just worked’. Since then, there are things I have discovered that would make for an even easier life (at least if you were talking about my life that is).

I will post thoughts into the comments below in an attempt to keep simple and less ‘rambly’.

I wrote a long email to Substack last week with a combination of personal comments together with some comments received from readers.

I opened the email with;

“No questions - but definitely a lot of input. Most of which I have written to you about in the past and generally received a ‘thanks we will let the dev team know’ kind of response … and then nothing.”

Precisely one week later a template response …

“We will pass your feedback along to our Product team. However, please note their team does not respond to messages directly, so it is expected you won’t receive a follow up. “

#NailedIt - other than I wasn’t expecting to wait a week for a template response.

“To get deals over the line in today’s high-pressure sales environment, sellers must undertake new, challenging activities outside their comfort zones. The ongoing need for agility is taking its toll: In a recent Gartner survey of more than 900 B2B sellers, 89% report feeling burned out and 54% report actively job seeking.”

“nearly six in 10 sellers describe the leadership of their sales organization as not understanding what “really” motivates sellers.”

“Sellers experiencing drag are plagued by workday boredom and distraction. They procrastinate. They “go through the motions” to satisfy activity-tracking requirements. Meanwhile, progress on true priorities languishes.”

and and and … you can read it all on HBR

.. meanwhile the word ‘buy’ appears once in the entire article … and even then … well see for yourself

“Maximize seller buy-in by being transparent.”

That is the only reference to ‘buying’ is the need for the sales person to have buy in to what leadership is up to.

‘Customer’ is mentioned 7 times …

I am at a loss to understand how to improve the sales process without really talking about the buying process and customers … I know crazy talk right?

ANARCHY

Then again, the article was written by a bunch of Gartner analysts.

‘The Information’ reports this morning (my bold)

Uber said its mobility division (the ride-hailing business most people know the company for) brought in $3.8 billion in revenue in the most recent quarter, growing 73%. But baked into that number is $1.1 billion flowing from a change earlier this year that prompted Uber to start recording all the fares it gets in the U.K. as revenue, instead of just the take rates remaining after the company pays its drivers.

I assume this is because Uber lost the battle in the courts about whether the drivers worked for them or were independent in the UK. So - if they work for them, then the whole ride is revenue. BUT - there will now be a flip side to that, in that there are now a whole lot of expenses on the other side that need to be taken out.

Is there an accountant in the house that is tracking the shenanigans that is - and seemingly always will be - ‘Uber’.

In many ways the 1619 Project is focused on unpacking actual history from the American narrative of history.

Meanwhile, I continue to be bowled over by the story/stories that are emerging in Rachel Maddow’s new podcast. I am so often amazed that I jump onto the internet to cross-check what I am hearing but the fact is that though the Ultra Podcast is telling a different story - it is again focused on unpacking history from the American narrative of history.

Unlike the 1619 project - Maddow’s story is much more recent and there are many accounts, news items, photographs and stories just out there for anybody to read and hear. Maddow has just done a great job in connecting the dots - because it is all otherwise ‘hidden in plain sight’.

It’s too obvious to go into the parallels of these stories from the late 30s and early 40s to the more recent stories of the late 10s and early 20s.

What is mind-blowing is that until Maddow came out with this podcast, this whole sad thing was buried, lost and forgotten.

My prior posts re Ultra …

• October 11th
• October 15th
• October 19th

An old adage - but is ‘top of mind’ recently.

• If the IRS want ‘a little chat with you’ …. would you ‘do some research’ and then take the case on, or go find a tax accountant?

• If you needed medical attention would you have a friend ‘check out the symptoms and then diagnose you - or would you go to a doctor?

• If you were sued for malpractice … get a lawyer - or ‘bone up’ on what youneed to know

…. you know the list is endless.

There is a tech podcast I listen to regularly - and a recurring theme is the difficulty of doing sales and marketing …

The solution - apparently - is to do some internet research - and ‘fix the problem’.

As I say - recurring.

I don’t listen to every edition - but I listen enough to be confident in my assertion that ‘they have not ever reached out to a professional sales / marketing person that could help them and I wonder why this is?

I do lay part of the blame at the feet of those people who lead those disciplines. I do understand that there are schmucks in those two worlds that makes you wonder how they make a living - but we also know there are bad lawyers, bad accountants, bad doctors ….

But Sales and Marketing? It can’t be that hard … I’ll read up and solve my problem.

Meanwhile

I find that it is tech-oriented people who are particularly flawed when it comes to this kind of ‘thinking’ - and I use that word loosely.

Anyway - that’s all I have to say. Right now I have an app to build this week. It’s all worked out. This afternoon I am going read up on java and python. Then tomorrow I will build my prototype. Should be all done by the weekend.

I mean - it can’t be that hard can it?