Hungry Yet Humble

The other day, I had the pleasure of moderating a panel on raising capital for a mobile startup, hosted by MITX and The Capital Network at the Microsoft Cambridge research facility.

The panel was great and the audience asked a ton of questions. I was glad to have participated. I tried to follow Guy Kawasaki's advice on how to moderate a panel and I think it went well.

A big bonus from attending the event was to see the new MIT Sloan building from a new vantage point.

Here is a pic of it from Microsoft's offices at One Memorial Drive. Awesome view and the new building is huge! It will be so cool to see it once it's done.

Combined with the new MIT Media Lab building down the road, this new facility will anchor the next generation of the East campus of MIT.

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I gave a talk at Techstars in Cambridge on Monday and it was so great to feel the energy and excitement in the air. Techstars selected 9 super interesting companies to get some funding, office space, and mentorship for the summer. The cool thing is seeing these startups interact with eachother - really so amazing to see.

 Entrepreneurship is alive and well in Cambridge and Boston!

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Most of you who have seen this person in action would probably agree that Michael Scott, Regional Manager of Dunder Mifflin, Scranton, is one of the top business minds of our generation.  But you might not immediately think of him as one who embodies many of the traits of successful entrepreneurship.  I am writing to show you that at least to me, he is a fantastic entrepreneur role model.

Here are the top 5 Entrepreneurial Lessons that I have learned from Michael Scott:

• Love your customers – there is an old saying about business: “Love your customers, not your customers’ money.”  Michael Scott shows a consistent focus on his customers over the years.  For example, he routinely remembers small details about his customers’ personal lives eg. a daughter’s allergy or a story about a fish that a client caught.  If you look at the success that great customer-centric companies such as Zappos have had, much of it can be traced back to their obsession on customer satisfaction.  In fact, the company that recently acquired Zappos, Amazon, has long had as their key company mantra, “To be the best customer service company in the world.”  That just gives me chills :)

• Love your employees – Michael Scott sincerely loves his team.  With respect to team building in a startup, there are tons of schools of thought ranging from “if they don’t hit their numbers, shoot ‘em!” to “this is a family and we’re in it together forever”.  There are certainly tough decisions to be made along the way as a company grows and evolves, and making changes is hard.  But keeping employees best interests at the center of your evolution as much as possible will help keep the culture and the vibe right. Just ask Michael Scott.
  

• Love your company – how many of us love our companies as much as Michael Scott?  The guy is a frickin zealot for Dunder Mifflin!  When he served as a guest lecturer at evil Ryan’s business school class, he left the room after saying in response to a doubter of Dunder Mifflin’s viability, “Dunder Mifflin is the future!”  His passion and loyalty to Dunder Mifflin is something to sincerely admire.

• Have a sense of humor – If Michael Scott were not regional manager, he would most likely have had a successful career in standup comedy.  The guy is a comedic genius.  From his use of the words “nebulos” and “prodigal” to him saying that he wants to donate hospital wings someday and be known as a great “philanderer”, Michael shows us that it is critical to not take things too seriously (or to study too hard in school).  I don’t know of an environment that is more cause for roller coasters of emotion than the startup world.  Humor can help take the edge off and Michael certainly tries to keep it light.

And last but not least, especially since in a startup, an entrepreneur (in my opinion) has in fact many bosses, ranging from your board members to your investors to your customers to your team members, the most important lesson that I have learned from Michael Scott is:

•   Don’t sleep with your boss
  

See, Michael Scott is a fantastic entrepreneurial mentor.  This goes to show that you can learn something from anyone and from any situation :)

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The other day, I saw this 60 Minutes piece on the potentially world-changing work of Sirtris Pharmaceuticals.  Sirtris is developing compounds that attempt to prevent and even possibly treat various diseases of aging, including diabetes, Alzheimer's, and cancer.  There were acquired by Glaxo Smith Kline in 2008 for $720 mm.  I was fortunate to have played a very small role at this company during the early days, and I wanted to write a bit about it, because it is such a great example of entrepreneurial success.

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As I was thinking of writing this post, I was sitting in my hotel room at the Nantucket Conference, a gathering of a small group of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and industry professionals, all united by the process of value creation.  Of course it took me a couple extra days to actually get these thoughts down, but here goes.

One of the observations that struck me during my time at this conference is the unique vibe between entrepreneurs and their oft-sought-after investors, the venture capitalists.  For example, there were a few panels that got a little heated when the topic of "common share holder value preservation" came up. 

As with any relationship between groups of people, each is unique.  But at its most general, the dynamic between entrepreneurs and venture capitals can be described in my opinion by one word: imbalance.

What do I mean by "imbalance"?

In general, the relationship going in isn't equally weighted.  Why?

1) Venture capitalists go into to deals with their Eyes Wide Open.  They have likely studied the space and other companies in the space.  They've backed companies before.  Venture capitalists look at more deals in a month than a typical entrepreneur will work on in a lifetime. 

2) It can take an experienced venture capitalist a few minutes to do a first-pass evaluation of a deal (based on team, market, idea, timing, overall opportunity) and get a sense for next steps, but it takes an entrepreneurial team years to build products, hire and shape a company, devise a strategy, and create real sustainable value. 

3) Venture capitalists become EXPERT at evaluating deals.  Few entrepreneurs are "expert" at raising money.

4) Venture capitalists are experts at negotiating venture financing deals.  They've seen many different types of deal structures and have experience with what works and what doesn't work.  Entrepreneurs have some experience and if they are lucky they have a sense of what they'd like to see happen.

5) Deals typically have "down-side risk protection" built in to protect the investors' downside in case things don't go well.  Entrepreneurs' only downside protection is the fact that it's usually not all their money at risk :)

6) The venture capitalist will likely join your board.  The board's main responsibility will be to fire/hire the CEO.  If this position is currently held by you, recognize what you are getting yourself into.


So what can you as an entrepreneur do to get the relationship to point where there is more balance?


1) Go in with the proper expectations.  You are asking someone else to put up the money for you to pursue your dream.  That money isn't free and it's not an obligation that you take it; it's a privilege (as long as you choose the right partner).

2) Build the onion.  Get the best advisors to advise you and help you figure things out.

3) Get initial support and be in a strong position to demonstrate progress.  Early angel investors can be great for giving you some headroom while you are prototyping or getting initial customer traction.  More traction = more leverage = more interest in your deal = more competition for your deal (even in this environment, some deals are getting done) = better deal for your company.

4) Realize that if things go well, everyone will (hopefully) be happy, but if things go badly, everyone will lose out.

5) Understand venture capital deal terms and focus on the totality of the deal, not just the valuation (preference, participation, drag along, board voting, board composition, option pool, etc).

6) Have a great lawyer + advisors who can review all your term sheets and deal terms.

7) If possible, be personal friends with a venture capitalist (who you will never pitch for money) so you can ask for inside tips on the process and on deals etc.

8) Consider yourself fortunate to be in the position you're in, and know that the VC's who back you will be lucky to have backed you!

9) Be high-integrity and sincere always.  Depending on which type of entrepreneur you are, you'll likely be seeing these folks again and again. You'll probably have multiple chances at bat.  Entrepreneurs everywhere will be rooting for you!


Not sure if this is helpful, but the imbalance in the relationship between entrepreneur and VC is real.  If you can go in with your Eyes (not) Wide Shut, you'll have a better shot at having a good outcome.


- brian

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I was speaking with an old friend the other night about his attempts to get a startup off the ground in what I would gently term as a "cataclysmic" economic environment.  It's been tough for him, as it's been tough for so many of my friends and so many others out there.  I figured that I would write something up and share it to see if it might be helpful for others trying to get things going during this tough time.

As for why I refer to the current climate as "cataclysmic", I would point to the key word of the times: FEAR.  Everyone is afraid of what they don't know, what could happen next, what happened already, what news has come to light, what news has yet to surface, which jobs might get hit next, or worse, which other industries will dramatically change.  People are frozen when it comes to combining FEAR with Money and Decisions.  Investors, angels or institutional, are hesitant to make risky bets in this kind of market. This climate of course causes issues considering that essentially all startups are risky bets (though with potentially outsize returns) in any market.

Why start something now?

This topic deserves its own post, but people are striving to start companies now because of one of several reasons, depending on which Class of Entrepreneur they are seeking to be.  People might see opportunities created by this unique and difficult period in time, or they may recognize a new problem that just has to get solved.  Others are just trying to figure out a way to make money so they can be more independent.  In times like these, sometimes you have to Survive before you can Thrive.

My friend's startup dilemma

This friend of mine is a great guy. He is a brilliant thinker, problem solver and engineer.  I always have thought of him as a bit of a "programmer philosopher".  He has started several very interesting projects and is currently working on several new ones.

As he and I got to talking, I could tell that he was a bit frustrated by how hard it it's been to get any of his projects funded.  Some people have a talent for fundraising.  They can convince people of a vision for a new market or a new tomorrow.  Unfortuantely, my friend is not an expert fundraiser.  He is a fighter though, which is great, and he's already come farther than a lot of people would have come given the circumstances.

 

My friend the fighter

As an example of the 'fight' in him, he had been working for years on a project that had a very grand vision.  He had been banging away on it off hours, weekends, and whatever time he could find.  But after years of hard work, the project hadn't taken off and he was stuck in a bit of rut.  Instead of throwing in the towel, he decided that he needed a change of scenery and a fresh start.  He picked up and moved from Boston to San Francisco.  

We can debate the relative strengths or differences between the Bay Area and The Boston Area for starting companies :) but that aside, I was super impressed that he just picked up and went.  He found renewed energy, met a bunch of new people, and had a chance to explore a new city.  A change was exactly what he needed (in my opinion). 

 

Struggling to raise funding

So he's in this new environment and he's meeting all these new people.  He has been working on all these new ideas, and as I was saying before digressing, he shared some of them with me.  I listened to his description of his ideas and I took a look at some of his presentation materials.  What he had to say was quite interesting and I think he could be on to something with some of the stuff.  As we were talking though, he was expressing some frustration about the fundraising process.  I could tell that it's been tough on him.  He said, "It's the classic chicken and egg problem.  We can do so much if we just had the funding.  But we need to show progress to get funding."  He is essentially working on 4 concepts and was hoping to raise enough funding to try a bit of each to see which one got the most traction.

There is only Chicken 

I completely sympathize with my friend's situation.  It's so hard to try to play the movie forward to try to predict what will happen with your various startup ideas.  And, it can be very frustrating to try to raise funding.  Fundraising for a startup is a little like prepping and hosting a big dinner party for a bunch of guests.  You put a lot of time into it and you try to figure out what people might want to eat or if there are any dietary restriction.  Then when the big day comes, many of the guests do not show up!  And the guests that do come often complain about the food :) 

 

When you have been deep in the analysis and planning around your startup for weeks/months/years, it's incredibly painful to have people poke holes at it after hearing about it for just a few minutes.  But it's critical to try to detach yourself from the situation and try to write down the key themes of the concerns.  Often times there might be a few gems to think through.

As I listened to my friend explain to me his ideas, I felt that it was critical to lay it on him straight.  I told him that though it may feel like a Chicken and Egg situation to him with respect to fundraising, it's really not.  Not in this kind of cataclysmic environment.  There is ONLY the Chicken.  Why?  Because in order to attract interest from investors in this kind of environment, you have to be able to demonstrate progress of some sort:

- Your idea has to be thought out

- You have to have spoken with some prospective (or better yet current) customers

- You have to have a prototype (or better yet, Beta Users)

It's all about Building the Onion, and in order to attract funding, the pre-funding onion has to be a lot more built out than before.

So what can he do?

If you are like my friend and are faced with the reality that it may be very difficult to raise outside capital (other than from close friends and family) in the current economic environment, you may have to make some tough decisions.  In the case of my friend, I suggested that he narrow down his efforts to focus on the best ideas (ideally, 1) behind which he can apply more muscle.  I tried to walk with my friend through the ideas he's working on to look for a few critical screens:

1) Which idea has a big potential market?

2) Which proposed solution could attack a clear and straightforward SINGLE problem?

3) Which concept can I get off the ground in Phase 1 with relatively little money?

4) Which one has had the best reaction from potential customers or people knowledgeable about the industry?

5) Which is most timely and is attachable to big moving trends in the market?

6) Which project has the most chance to be a Chicken and not just a shiny egg?

 

Can he scrape by?

I personally think that if my friend could scrap for a little longer and focus totally on one of his ideas that passes most of the above screens, he could demonstrate enough progress and learn enough about the market to be able to raise money in a few months.  It's tough to have to give this type of advice, and I know firsthand how hard it is to live with the uncertainty of a future without a safety net of a salary and healthcare.  For the most part, people who have been able to take a chance and start something have had a few things in common:

- Incredibly low personal burn rate

- Supportive family or a partner/spouse with a steady job and healthcare

- If you're lucky, at least 1 year of savings to live off of while you're trying to work on your idea

- Insatiable drive to succeed

 

My friend has a low burn rate and he's got the drive, but he is hurting for money.  I suggested that he accept a job offer that he has to work at a finance company while he hacks at night. 

 

This may sound like a cop-out, but when you are dealing with real people and real lives, it's so hard to give the kind of advice that some of the big guys have given.  To paraphrase these big guys, "Grow some cojones, and go for it".  In this case, my friend has been going for it for years now and he's been struggling.

 

All I can tell him is 1) be smart about where he's focusing his energy 2) lower his expectations about fundraising 3) build something 4) learn from the market/users 5) demonstrate some progress 6) hang in there

 

I wish that I had something more inspiring to say to him, but in this case, as I've said, There is only chicken.  Fortunately, despite this environment, I think that he's the kind of person who can get something really interesting hatched.

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The question many people have is "Are these business plan competitions worth it?"  Or is it a waste of time to enter?

In my opinion, any chance you have to use a "forcing function" like a contest-entry deadline or a big pitch to an investor to bring together your thoughts on your business idea is great.  I wouldn't say that you need to take the time to write a full business plan - in fact, I generally recommend against doing a full business plan as nimbleness and iteration is the name of the game.  But getting your vision organized is critical.

Additionally, a great aspect of business plan competitions is that it helps you get various team members together to see how you work together under the pressure of deadlines.  And on top of the experience, you get often useful feedback from judges about your plan, and often you can squeeze free or discounted services from sponsors (such as law firms).  Scrappy is good!

So how did it go for us?  We ended up being one of a handful of “internet/software” companies to make the semi-finals.  And though that may not sound like much, it was part of the validation that I took heart in as I was trying to “build the onion” and gain confidence in the concept.  I remember how excited I was to hear the “Visible Measures” name called as a SemiFinalist.  I literally had no idea what to say (winners were called down to do a quick elevator pitch for your idea).  After I spoke, I texted my friends, I called my parents.  I was excited.  Now, big entrepreneur guys may never have to go through the “building the onion” phase.  I have friends who have raised millions of dollars with not much more than a powerpoint deck and their reputations.  But for most of us, these validation points can help us gain confidence to go for it.

So in conclusion, I think that events like business plan competitions are incredibly helpful for the pressure, teamwork, and feedback and I think there is very little downside to entering them.  Don't expect to win though!  Low expectations = lower chance of disappointment :)

MIT really provided me with a framework and a supportive environment to try to succeed.  I hope to pass along some encouragement to those trying to go for it now.

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I spoke with a friend yesterday from grad school who asked me about starting a company.  When people ask me about what it takes to start and grow a startup, I always think about “Building the Onion” - it’s a phrase that I thought of a while back to describe how entrepreneurs should maybe try to think about getting something going or getting something growing. 

  

1. Starting with the germ of an idea and building around it
2. Getting some validation from folks you know (and hopefully trust/respect) to see whether or not you’re on the right track
3. Arming yourself with the proof points that will give you the confidence to take a leap and go for it
4. Convincing a partner(s) to come on board who really help take the idea and turn it into something
5. Mapping out your initial understanding of the market to see if there really is an opportunity
6. Sketching out a prototype to determine feasibility, possible costs, or timeline
7. Speaking with mentors or trying to recruit advisors to help you along the way as your idea evolves
8. Evolving your idea and plan as you speak with more people
9. Getting something up and running for users to see or play with (if feasible)
10. Recruiting investors (angel or venture) to buy into your vision for the future :)
    

So why do I think of it as building an onion?  

It’s hard sometimes as an entrepreneur to gauge progress.  Let’s say you’ve been working your butt off for the last few weeks.  Maybe you still have a day job and are working nights and weekends.  You might be thinking to yourself, “Have I moved the needle forward in the last three weeks?  I’ve worked a ton, I’m tired and sleepy, but what I have really accomplished?”  Sometimes you get discouraged.  You show your idea to someone who “doesn’t grok it”, you get frustrated that people can’t see how big your company could become, you don’t get support from your friends or family who want you to take a different, potentially safer path.

I remember back when Visible Measures was just getting started.  Every person I talked with about the general concept was in a way a chance to build the onion.  If people liked the idea, I could feel my own confidence level rising.  I know that many entrepreneurs talk about how they are unstoppable in their dedication to their ideas, but I’m just being honest in saying that sometimes I needed a little support and validation.

In terms of advisors, it was major validation to be able to recruit well-respected people like MIT Professor Edward Roberts to first be an angel investor and then a member of the board of directors.  I was able to tell people in the local area that Ed was involved and that would immediately get people's interest level piqued.  Sometimes, building the onion can be all about gathering enough positive data points to be able to demonstrate that you're on to something that other people find interesting :)

How about trust?

The friend with whom I spoke yesterday asked me about confidentiality agreements and such when seeking advice from folks.  It is my belief that in a scenario where you are trying to build the onion by getting help or advice from friends or advisors, trust is critical.  You are the person needing help.  Assuming that you are talking with people that you know or who people you trust referred you to, in general, I would say that it’s better to trust than not to trust, as you are hoping that people put their trust in you too.

If you can envision Building the Onion as you are getting started or as you are building your business, maybe it can help you keep track of the little steps you are taking each day.  And maybe that is the type of scorekeeping you can leverage to stay on track even as the road looks long or challenging.

Brian

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I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what makes a great entrepreneur and the motivations behind why someone tries to become one.  People have been asking me for advice on starting companies or raising money, and I’ve been giving talks at various events about my humble experiences as an entrepreneur.  I found myself often struggling to answer broad questions and provide blanket statements about what works and what doesn’t work, without some sort of “situational context”.  By situational context, I mean if you’re trying to start the next Google or if you want to start a new shoe company.  After a bit of thought, I’ve come to the conclusion that there are really 5 “classes” of entrepreneurship with different motivations for each.  I hope to spur some discussion on the topic, so I’ll dive right in:

The Five Classes of Entrepreneurs

I. Opportunist – Class I Entrepreneur
II. Lifestyle Entrepreneur – Class II Entrepreneur
III. Problem Solver – Class III Entrepreneur
IV. Visionary – Class IV Entrepreneur
V. Game Changer – Class V Entrepreneur

Maybe I’ve been hearing too much talk about “Magic the Gathering” cards in the office lately, but I organized the “types” of entrepreneur into Classes.  In my opinion each “class” represents a different level of goal, motivation, and outcome, and it is certainly possible for people to progress from one level to another.

I. The Opportunist Entrepreneur (Class I): The Opportunist recognizes that a particular situation presents an opportunity to make money and goes for it.  The opportunity could be selling umbrellas on a rainy day, offering ice cold bottles of water in the middle of summer, or jumping on a hot and timely trend and offering some sort of related service.  Many entrepreneurs get their start this way, as the best “opportunistic” opportunities often do not require much start up capital and often have a sense of urgency about them.

An experience I had as an Opportunist was during college.  It was the early 90’s, and people were using usenet newsgroups as the web was still in the lynx/mosaic phase.  I was a big fan of sportscards (baseball cards etc) and recognized an opportunity to take sportscard inventory from local card dealers for teams and athletes that were locally not in demand (eg. 49ers cards in Boston don’t often sell well) and sell them over the Internet.  I was able to pay for a lot of my college expenses with this little hobby business.  My desire to start a website that would enable me and my friends to trade goods online is a whole other story, however :)
Skill required: 3 / Endurance required: 2 / Foresight: 4

II. The Lifestyle Entrepreneur (Class II): The Lifestyle entrepreneur wants to build a business to be his or her own boss, work with his or her friends/family, or pursue an engaging but not all-consuming business opportunity while still maintaining balance in ones life.  Many Lifestyle businesses are bootstrapped to begin with, because if there was outside funding in the business, there would often be outside pressure to build the business faster or achieve some sort of a financial exit.  A lifestyle entrepreneur could be doing anything from running a successful (and fun) restaurant to operating a software business.  Perhaps the critical defining characteristic about a lifestyle business is that it is run to solve for the benefit of work / life balance or personal gratification rather than for growth.

I worked for a Lifestyle Entrepreneur once and it was an eye opening experience where I learned about people’s different motivations and goals.  I personally can totally respect people who seek lifestyle business balance.  How much money does a person really need?  And at the same time, not everyone wants to be retired at 35, so why not try to do stimulating or fun work and still get to play around as well.
Requirements: sustainable business; life goals.

III. Problem Solver (Class III): The Problem Solver case starts with a person who can’t seem to get his/her mind off a problem until they’ve figured out a way to solve it.  And then they cross into becoming a Class III entrepreneur when they resolve to do something about it.  Many companies get their initial start with the goal of solving 1 problem.  This fact is significant.  To me, when friends or friends of friends ask me about business ideas or starting companies, and they have all these different ideas or solutions thought up – I get concerned. Pick one problem and start from there.  If you can solve that problem (and enough people have that problem) then you’ll likely have a business of some sort.  

Visible Measures got started this way.  When we sort of figured out a problem we wanted to attack (understanding user behavior) we narrowed it down to the field of online video as a way to hopefully be able to build up some traction and expertise.  To get going as a problem solver takes focus; to create and grow a problem solving business takes all of the traits of an entrepreneur.
Defining trait: Hunger for improvement

IV. Visionary (Class IV): The Visionary thinks they can see the future, a future world that is more efficient or more open or more collaborative.  Since the Internet first rose from academic curiosity to phenomenon to business critical infrastructure, there are been several visionary companies who were ahead of the curve including Napster (P2P and freedom of music), 6Degrees (social linking), Altavista (parallel search), Friendster (social networking), and Second Life (virtual worlds).  All of these companies share several common traits: strong visionary entrepreneurial roots, game changing impact and potential, and a struggle to cross the chasm into long term viability.  In some ways, the Visionary does the most to help the entrepreneurial community because so many of us draft behind the trailblazers who innovate and forge ahead in front of us.  
Legacy: The world (or at least people’s perception of what is possible in it) has changed.

V. Game-changer (Class V): The game-changers are the entrepreneurs that we read about every day, and are often people long-admired by students and fans of business innovation.  For me, I have always been amazed by the accomplishments and drive of leaders like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Larry Ellison, and others.  Not withstanding whatever debate there may be about a person’s or company’s business practices, Class V entrepreneurs have not only taken products, technologies and even industries to another level on the innovation curve, the ones I respect the most have done it day in and day out for years.  Larry & Sergey are now in these ranks and Mark Z. is definitely on his way. 

To me, a critical factor in going from Class IV to Class V Enterpreneur is the notion of "sustained innovation".  To burn brightly only to flame out a few years later doesn't make the cut in my opinion.  If Facebook has 500 million members a few years from now and is the dominant social networking platform on the planet, then Mark Z has clearly achieved "game-changer" status. 

I think about how Steve Jobs once said that the death is the destination we all share – so “have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
Longevity: At least a decade of sustained innovation. Impact: Wow.

Those are the 5 classes of Entrepreneurs that I came up with.  I’m curious to hear what you think.

And as Steve Jobs once said: Stay Hungry.  Stay Foolish.

(or try to be “hungry yet humble”)

- Brian

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Please DIGG this post to show your support!

Being an entrepreneur isn’t usually easy.  You’re often fighting uphill battles to educate your market, build customer acceptance, overcome technical challenges, win over investors or other types of supporters, shape a great team and culture, and much more.  But for the most part, I feel so fortunate to have a mostly equal shot in our society to have the opportunity to work passionately and to pursue my entrepreneurial dreams.  

So with that as a backdrop, today I felt my temperature rise a bit when I saw Miley Cyrus and her “controversial” photo where she and her friends mocked Asian Pacific Americans by pulling their eyes back to “slant” them.

Here is the photo:

Gut reaction = upset: I have to admit that after seeing this I was a bit upset.  Seeing some kids doing dumb things isn’t so uncommon, though it did remind me of some not so pleasant grade school memories.  But the thing that really upset me was reading some of the commentary around the photo: I was shocked that there is SO MUCH DEBATE as to whether this photo is offensive or not.  Are you kidding me?  I’m reading commentary on the Interwebs from people who are saying, “Oh come now, this is nothing, it’s not offensive.”  

Excuse me but the “targeted audience” should ultimately be responsible for determining as to whether this is offensive.  Believe me, every Asian Pacific American, or more properly, every Korean American, Chinese American, Japanese American, etc. who has been taunted or made fun of in a similar fashion most definitely finds this incredibly offensive.  I don’t care if it’s Miley Cyrus or not so much as I care that people understand how offensive and demeaning this type of behavior is.

My personal experience is that racial taunting sucks: I grew up as one of the few non-Caucasian students in a upper middle class suburb of Pittsburgh, PA.  I have admit that for the most part, I had a pretty great upbringing.  Most of my classmates were good people and I got along with most everyone.  However, I did have some classmates, in addition to random strangers on the street or at the pool or at the park, who would make fun of “chinks” or make “ching chong” noises either about others or in front of me. The most ignorant would go so far as to make fun of me directly, calling me a “gook” or worse.

As a young person, I mostly tried to help these folks understand that I didn’t enjoy their taunts, and that they were being offensive.  When it got bad, I did sometimes react with anger, physically confronting the worst of these “people”.   But the first rule of fight club is that ‘we do not talk about fight club’ :)  And like any entrepreneur/person worth his salt, I realize that this type of physical confrontation is just not a reasonable or a “scalable solution.”

Racism is personal and offensive: Still today, I witness firsthand that racism is still prevalent and personal.  If I’m out at a bar with friends for example, depending on the bar, the time of night, and the location/city, there is probably a 1/7 shot that some drunk guy will say something racist around me or to me that will make me want to step up and put the guy in his place.  But again, I realize that this is not a scalable solution.  What is one to do?

My Caucasian buddies often tell me to ignore it.  Some have even gone so far as to say that I am overreacting.  But they admit that they have never experienced this type of offensive racist behavior.  It’s actually sort of hard to put yourself in someone else’s shoes in this type of situation in America.  I realize that.  This lack of comprehension is exactly what is causing the debate about whether the photo above is offensive.  So please just trust me, unless you’ve experienced it, keep an open mind.  And please don’t tell me if I should be offended or not!

Debate over this photo demonstrates ignorance: Some responders have pointed out that there is a male in the photo who appears to be of Asian/Pacific descent in the photo and that this would seem to excuse the participants in the photo.  I am being blunt here but, are you kidding me?  I have friends who are African American, Israeli-American, or even Italian or Irish American whose parents and grandparents have described to me tales of how poorly they were treated in the past under various circumstance, and how they often had to “grin and bear” it when confronted by a large group of the “majority”.  Well, I’m not grinning and bearing it.  I can’t stand it frankly.  The ignorance must stop.  Some people even blame this guy for not standing up for himself.  Excuse me but is it really his fault that this photo was taken?  Come on!

Everyone is in their origins an immigrant to America.  That is what makes us the most innovative and entrepreneurial country (arguably) in the world.  But in that context, people every day call others spic or a wop or a kyke or a n*gger or whatever.  Is that we are about?  Is that any different than squinting your eyes and calling me a chink?   Is any of this acceptable?

Something more fundamental needs to change: I believe that the core issue is education and mainstream media adoption.  As an entrepreneur, you are constantly searching for patterns to study what has worked before and what could work in the future.  In this case, I look at examples of groups such as Jews, African American, Irish, and even woman that have become more and more accepted or at least well-represented over the years.  For example, in movies from as recently as 10-15 years ago, now-obviously offensive portrayals of Jews, Blacks, and other ethnic groups were commonplace.  But as Jews and Blacks in particular have achieved more and more prominence, with more political and media influence, their perspectives are at the least much more represented to (and hopefully understood) by mainstream people.  Can you believe there was a time when woman couldn’t vote?  Now, it seems to hard to remember, but in all honesty, we’re still in the “startup stages” when it comes to the understanding of other cultures.

Bottom line: Mainstream America’s understanding of Asian Pacific American culture and perspective is very far behind.

To see what I mean, here is another example of similarly offensive and racially insensitive behavior:

Meant to symbolize Peace? Do you remember this from the 2008 Summer Olympics?  This is the Spanish Men’s Basketball team posing to “honor” their sponsor, the Chinese Sports Apparel Company Li Ning.  What a show of sportsmanship and world unity!  To me, this was almost laughably horrible.  But there was relatively little public condemnation about this behavior, and Spain’s team issued no formal apology.  They mostly brushed it off saying, “we didn’t mean to offend.  It’s not a big deal.”  Unacceptable!!  See, but this is my whole point.  It was tremendously offensive to the millions of people of Asian and Pacific decent who were outraged at Spain’s cultural insensitivity and rudeness.  But there was no media or political call for a formal apology because the mainstream media does not understand the perspective of the Asian American minority.  

Cycle of Racism Repeats Itself: Asian Pacific Americans have only just begun to crack into the mainstream media and political consciousness.  We need to increase our social and media standing.  But people in general need to try to see the patterns of racism repeating themselves over and over every generation or so.  It’s always some group that gets subjugated only to gradually claw into the mainstream, leading to increased understanding over time.

In 40 years, will the perception of Asian Americans be different as the perception of African Americans has evolved?  I truly hope so.  Like any entrepreneur I’m filled with a disproportionate amount of optimism.  I’m hopeful that Asian Americans will be much more accurately represented as individuals, and family members, and neighbors, and friends, and lovers, and siblings, and mentors, and children.  That we will be judged based on “the content of our character” - and that more and more public examples will help mainstream America understand that that is what they need to try to do.  In 20 years, what kind of world will my son experience?  Will people call him a “gook”?  Will people still debate whether or not photos like these above are to be offensive to him??  

We need to take a stand against ignorance and closed-mindedness.  This insensitive and uneducated behavior and lack of understanding is the basis for conflict, strife and even war.  We truly cannot achieve peace without understanding.  As I an entrepreneur, I know that you have to carefully choose your battles.  To me, I feel that this one is too important for any of us people who HOPE to ignore it any more.

UPDATE: A friend of mine who is gay just emailed me to tell me that when he goes to a bar, the odds that someone says something homophobic is 1 in 2.  Yuck.

UPDATE: The OCA (Which is dedicated to embracing the hopes and aspirations of Asian Pacific Americans) and many other Asian American activist groups has demanded a formal apology from Ms. Cyrus.

UPDATE: Miley says she's sorry that some people took her "goofy faces" out of context.  Groups like the OCA are understandably not satisfied.

UPDATE: Miley finally says she's sorry.

UPDATE: Margaret Cho throws down over Miley.  Nice!

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