A quick note to Jason Calacanis ( this is NOT a linkbait post )
This is an experiment. I want to get Jason Calacanis‘ attention (I’ll get to why in a moment.) No luck so far with multiple tweets or email , and I don’t want to spam Calacanis.com’s comments section with OT personal messages, but Jason said a few weeks ago that these were all weak anyway when compared to the power of the link.
Jason had some linkbait rules which I’m going to follow below, even though this post isn’t about that - - but I’m going to begin by cutting to the chase…
Jason,
I know you’re crazy busy through 7-14-07, so I figured I should risk being blunt and get right to the point, just in case you need to skim the rest of this post. Here’s my 10-second elevator pitch:
Wicked-smart, boy-scout-honest, extraordinarily-energetic, Brooklyn-born*, Stanford-educated, Fortune-500-reference-carrying, wiki-literate, Santa-Monica-resident, poker-and-basketball-loving, internet-geek-since-1990 (me) has just become available and is itching to work on TNBT. You’re one of the savviest players on the web today, so I suspect Project X/Kokua.com could be it and I’d love to have the opportunity to contribute.
May I buy you a a slice at Abbot’s, Dim Sum at Empress, or even just a cup of coffee at the Spitfire Grill (It’s right next to the new Santa Monica dog park if you want to take Toro) and chat for a couple minutes about ways that I might be able to help make your project an even bigger success? Give me a shout if so. I’m also game for a straight-up office meeting or going for a fatblogging-run if either of those works better for you.
*and son of a Brooklyn bartender, actually.
And now to meet my linkbait obligations… :)
- Flattering picture…. check. (sepia-toned even!)
- Don’t start the post by flaming… check.
- Lie about how we hung out together back in the day… unfortunately, as mentioned above, I’m ridiculously honest, so sadly I can’t do this one. If I were going to make up a story, though, it would probably go something like this:
It pains me to say this, but I lost a bet. Way back in his Silicon Alley days, late one night after a party, Jason told me that within 10 years he was going to be a self-made internet mogul, a senior executive at a Fortune 500 firm, a philanthropist AND, last but not least, a movie star.
Calacanis is a very cool guy once you get to know him, but I know good odds when I see them, so I took the bet. And now that he’s appearing alongside Josh Hartnett in the upcoming August, I’ve officially lost.
It would normally pain me more than this to lose a bet, but I admire folks with smarts, hustle, and integrity - and Jason appears to have all three in spades. The latter quality has been most apparent in principled stands he’s taken on issues like Payperpost’s original ethically-challenged business model, YouTube & copyright (issues for which I’m also on the record, and have taken more than a little heat) and other topics related to intellectual property, honesty, and disclosure in the internet age. These are also areas he continues to explore on Calacaniscast (memorably concluding in last week’s discussion with Jay Edelson that, If you fight your users, "you might win the battle, but you’re going to lose the war.")
Cool - I even worked "mention older posts", "slam someone I’ve had a beef with", and "quote from one of my podcasts" in there. Link to a flickr pic (below) and a myspace page and I should be set!.. ;-)
I’m on the road at present, but I realize that time is of the essence here, so figured that I should go ahead and post this regardless. I’m available by cell/twitter/etc. while on the road, and back in the office Monday. I hope to get a chance to speak with you in person, but either way, thanks for taking the time to read this!
Best regards,
Paul
Update: No sooner do I write this post then Jason friends me on Twitter… but on consideration I think the blog is a better venue for this anyway, so I’m leaving it up. I’m trying to walk the line of getting someone’s attention without being a pest, so will send Jason a note as soon as I’m back in L.A. and point him in this direction if he hasn’t already picked it up in one of his feeds by then.
Update #2 (May 12): Updated travel & contact info.
