Iman Jalali » Randomness

Bands Pivot Just Like Startups

Iman Jalali — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 17:14:22 +0000

With the start of 2012 I couldn’t wait to ring in the new year with one of the most overused terms of 2011, no not disruptive, not MVP, but pivot.

I was thinking about some of the notable pivots of the year while driving and my mind drifted to the radio playing a song by the Beastie Boys. When the Beastie Boys first formed over 30 years ago they were a hardcore punk band, but almost all of us know them as a hip hop trio. There are many examples of bands/musicians “pivoting” just like startups do throughout the years, Rush started as a heavy metal band and Michael Bolton started off as a heavy metal singer.

Bands in many ways are startups, they’re putting together their own MVP, they’re trying to find their product/market fit and yep, they pivot too. The early adopters are the first fans of the band and so on. There’s a ton of similarities between bands and startups, think about it.

If You’re A Developer You Better Love Your Job

Iman Jalali — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 01:14:34 +0000

The demand for talented developers is huge these days; it’s the equivalent of a nuclear physicist in the Cold War era. It’s a tech nuclear arms race with companies stockpiling talent, poaching away from other companies and my favorite, “no solicitation” agreements between companies to not steal away each other’s employees.

So what kind of position does that put you in as a developer? Well for one, you better be making money. Depending on how talented you are it may be just paying the bills and if you’re super talented and lucky you can start counting down the days till an early retirement. More important is that you better be loving your job. You better be showing up to work every day with a smile on your face, anxious to roll up your sleeves and start coding. You better leaving work anxious to get back into the office tomorrow to start coding again or heading home to get back at it, because you’re so damn passionate about what you’re doing.

If you’re a talented developer and that doesn’t sound like you, start looking for a new job. There’s TONS of companies hiring developers and they might not only offer more money, but you’ll enjoy what you’re doing.

Summit Series – Summit at Sea

Iman Jalali — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 04:52:03 +0000

About a year ago I heard about an event happening in Washington D.C. called Summit Series. The event was described as “an invitation-only event that connects top young minds and inspires a new generation of leaders to succeed in business and in life.” I looked through the lineup and I was in absolute awe… Bill Clinton, Mark Cuban, John Legend, Sean Parker, the list goes on and on with some of the top entrepreneurs, entertainers, authors, athletes, you name it… they were there. I was jealous.

Fast forward a year and I’m on the phone with one of the organizers of Summit Series and he’s inviting me to join them on this year’s gathering, Summit at Sea. I didn’t think last year’s event could be outdone, but wow it looks like I’m in store for a once in a lifetime experience. It’s a 900 person cruise ship filled with an even more impressive roster of attendees and we’re headed off to a private island for 3 days of panels and parties.

It’s about a week away till I’m in Miami and heading out on the cruise of a lifetime. I’m anxious, I’m nervous, I’m excited, I’m hopeful… I just want to meet some incredible people, learn, teach and make friends that will last a lifetime.

Which are you?

Iman Jalali — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 06:15:53 +0000

256 Must-Read Content For All Tech Entrepreneurs

Iman Jalali — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 04:42:44 +0000

Stumbled across this collection of amazing resources for any tech entrepreneur:

Check it out

What’s The Hold Up Yelp?

Iman Jalali — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 05:57:07 +0000

With about 40 million active Yelp users a month and over 15 million reviews it’s time for Yelp to take all that review data it’s sitting on and do something useful with it… like incorporate a recommendation engine. With millions of users having overlap on the places they’ve rated, a recommendation engine could easily take their ratings and match them up with other restaurants/businesses they would probably enjoy as well. Netflix has one of the most advanced recommendation algorithms and they spend millions of dollars a year tweaking it… for a reason, it’s a huge contributing factor behind the success of Netflix. So much untapped potential at Yelp…

So You Want To Start a Web Startup?

Iman Jalali — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 17:17:37 +0000

To some this may seem ridiculous, but I can’t tell you how many times I hear people with similar plans for their startup. Fear the buzzwords… my startup will be the next Facebook, this is a game changer, it’s revolutionary, it’s social media on steroids…. the list goes on and on.

L’Auberge Del Mar – You Rock!

Iman Jalali — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 20:56:13 +0000

I was recently in Del Mar, CA on business and stayed at L’Auberge Del Mar. I had tweeted about the visit and the first night at the hotel I came back to my room to find a couple beers on my desk along with chips and salsa. Nice little surprise… I tweeted and thanked the hotel and said this would be a great nightly service. The following night I returned to my room to find even more beers on ice along with a nice little note from the staff of the hotel.

This was my second visit to L’Auberge Del Mar and I’ve got to say it’s quickly become one of my favorite places to stay in California. Keep up the good work!

How Great Leaders Inspire Action #Marketing

Iman Jalali — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 18:18:03 +0000

“Humanize” Your Business

Iman Jalali — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 06:10:57 +0000

Crain’s Chicago Business did an article this week on our use of social media marketing at Train Signal. Have a read and let me know what you think!

Article – Train Signal Taps Twitter, Facebook to ‘Humanize’ Its Business

Iman Jalali & Eric Munn