Seen at the Denver airport today:

My partner Brad has a great blog about this.  Ugh. 

Today, David Byrne and Brian Eno have released their new album "Everything That Happens Will Happen Today."  I’ve just started to listen to it and so far, it’s really excellent.

The melodies are eclectic, yet familiar and David’s voice sounds the same as it ever was.  And you may ask yourself why this album is so significant and there are at least three reasons.

First, this is David and Brian’s first collaboration in about 30 years.

Secondly, our Foundry Group portfolio company, Topspin Media is the platform behind their web site.

Lastly, if you are a Byrne / Eno fan, you can get exclusive content that includes bonus songs, film and a hardcover book. 

Below, you can check the album out.

While I’m a little late to the party in delivering the news, I wanted to send a personal shout out to the Socialthing! team congratulating them on their acquisition by AOL.

When I met Matt, Ben, Brian and later Joel, I found out from David Cohen that I would be their mentor for the inaugural summer at TechStars.  My initial reaction was that I didn’t like their idea, their direction or their market, but told them that if they could change my mind, then they would be in great shape. 

Instead of pouting, Matt decided to prove me wrong.  He and the team did.  It was a great summer of 2007 meeting with them every week, dreaming about new features and figuring out how to make their idea a business.  Sometimes, I think they only listened to me for the free sushi, but that was okay too.   

Although the 2007 TechStars class graduated, we’ve stayed in close touch and it’s been great to see their progress.  I can think of no better reward than having lunch today with Matt and his family and was honored and happy to get to share part of the day with them. 

Congratulations to everyone.  Here’s to you, to staying in touch and to your future successes. 

I’m sick of the current state of affairs of the U.S. patent ecosystem.  Among my many frustrations, this is certainly high on the list.  My partner Brad also feels the same way.  While Brad has blogged extensively, with some help from me before I wrote my own blog, I’ve been silent lately. 

But I recently heard about a case that made me want to vent.  Get this…

The patent at question is a business method patent concerning sharing confidential information over the Internet.  Yes, someone has a patent on sending confidential information over the Internet.  This is novel?  Like, "duh."  Shame on the patent office for granting this patent.

If that wasn’t bad enough, he is suing a whole bunch of companies (including Microsoft and Monster.com) trying to hold them up for money.  See the filing here.  It is 4 pages long and what probably took this guy’s lawyer 15 minutes to compose will destroy millions of dollars in aggregate shareholder value simply defending this suit. 

But it gets better!  The plaintiff, Michael Powell is a lawyer at Quinn Emanuel, whose wife is his attorney.   According to my sources, he was unsuccessful as an entrepreneur and now with his solely owned LLC that has this one and only patent and no apparent business operations, he’s decided to take his legal education and do something good for our society: becoming a patent troll.

It’s really a travesty that a guy whose couldn’t raise the money to continue to run the business and shut his company down in 2001 waits around 7 years and then files this case claiming that he has a right to money based on an obvious “invention” and furthermore deserves money as a non-practicing entity against companies out there trying hard to run their businesses. 

Mike, you not making enough money as a lawyer?  You really feel like you added value to our society creating this patent?  You really feel this is what the patent system was designed for?  You should be absolutely ashamed.  Congrats on being yet another example of a lawyer giving all the good ones a bad name.  I wish all the best to the lawyers representing the defendants. 

My friend, Carl Rosendahl, has created a very cool video while hanging out in his Los Angeles hotel bathroom the other day. 

For those of you who don’t know Carl, he is quite the photographer as well.  He recently completed a goal of taking a picture a day for an entire year.  He took some beautiful shots. 

I guess the next step is to get Carl to do a music video in Brad’s bathroom.

What you are about to read is for true music geeks.  Read at your own risk if you don’t consider yourself one. 

As a drummer, one of my all time favorite grooves is Jeff Porcaro’s rock shuffle in Rosanna.  It’s one of those beats that my brain can understand, yet my hands and feet can not play.  Technically, I can play it, but I sound like a high school garage band drummer.  Recently, my friend Peter Gotcher, who is also a drummer, and I were lamenting the early passing of Jeff and also how much we loved his Rosanna groove.  Peter passed on some YouTube love in the form of two short videos which show how Jeff put the beat together. 

Video one from Jeff (damn he makes it look easy):

And video two, the Bernard Purdie referenced groove from Steely Dan’s Babylon Sisters.  He is also one funky cat.  Bottom line is that I’m keeping my day job.

Back in January of this year, I got an email introduction from my friend Sarah Reed introducing me to a New York-based company called Ignighter.com.  The premise was simple, yet novel:  current online dating services don’t "work" for the current crop for 20-35 year olds.  Ignighter had invented the concept of "group dating" which they believed was safer, less awkward and more fun. 

At the time, I knew nothing about online dating, but did know that a few sites were very successful (J-Date, Match.com, eHarmony), so I was intrigued with what founders Adam Sachs and Dan Osit had come up with.  I decided that I would present the idea to the graduate school class that I teach at the University of Colorado.  The class overwhelming supported the idea, especially the women in the class.  At that point, I knew they were on to something.

While my partner Seth was out in New York, he visited with Adam and Dan and reported back that he was intrigued and really liked the guys.  Seth and I encouraged them to apply to TechStars as a way of accelerating their development.  After they were accepted into the program, Seth and I were excited to be part of their mentorship team.

During the summer, they’ve done a great of job of completely redesigning their website and technology.  They’ve done an even more impressive job of thinking about the future of their platform and how devices like the iPhone might be a game changer in their industry.  In short, they’ve gone from concept to product in a short period of time. 

This week is their official launch.  They are kicking things off with an event in New York City.  If you are around, you should attend.  I’ve been told that I’m too old for dating target audience, so I’m not allowed to go.

I’d like to congratulate Adam, Dan, Kevin, Nicky (a.k.a "boy genius") and Molly on a job well done.  It’s nice to see the progress that you’ve made while here in Boulder and even nicer that I can now call you all my friends.

Here’s to Ignighter – "Opportunity without Pressure."

A while back, I saw an incredible video on YouTube of Gerry Phillips. I remember a kid in high school who could make farting noises with his hands, but this is pretty incredible and not just because he is a fellow Michigander.  See below and check out his other tunes.  They are all hilarious, but well done.  For you guitar players out there, note that Gerry uses effects pedals too.   For those of you who want to read up on the craft, see this link.  If you like this video, you must check out Sweet Child O’ Mine.

It’s been a bit since I’ve posted a Law Firm 2.0 post.  Most of the reason has been that I’m still getting a ton of inbound calls and emails from lawyers telling me that I’m onto something here and they want to add their two cents to further refine my thinking.  I’ll have several more posts in the not too distant future on what I’m learning. 

However, today is something completely different in the series.  I’m going to take the lawyers’ sides today. 

Lawyers aren’t the only ones to blame on the fee crisis. Clients have responsibilities, too. By proper care and feeding of your lawyer, you will have a much better experience. Trust me, I know.

Here is my proposed Lawyer Bill of Rights that clients should adopt:

1. Make your lawyer your partner. If you don’t want to, you’ve hired the wrong lawyer. That is a “you” problem, not a “them” problem. If you do this, they’ll give you better service and the benefit of the doubt, rather than feeling like a tool in a toolbox;

2. If your lawyers are your partners, treat them like you want to be treated. Have reasonable expectations and realize that they have lives and other clients. Not everything needs to be done today. Give them a heads up when issues arise, not panicked sky is falling phone calls. Nothing will be more appreciated by your lawyer than this. (Okay, maybe paying his / her bills on time);

3. Be transparent with both praise and criticism. Don’t kiss them when they are with you and bash them when they are not;

4. Realize that legal fees are always going to be more than you want them to, but that a great lawyer with a great relationship will add value to the company unlike some other service professionals (cue foreboding music for future “Frustrations” post);

5. Realize that your lawyers are running a business too;

6. Be organized. Run a tight ship. Don’t use your lawyers as secretaries, gophers or copiers. I cannot emphasize enough how much in legal fees you will save by being a good filer;

7. Take your lawyer’s advice. If you don’t want to, again you’ve hired the wrong lawyer. The worst thing a client can do is not follow advice, get in trouble and then have to pay a substantial premium to extricate themselves out of the problem;

8. Get to know your lawyer outside of work. Find out what makes each other “tick” and what common ground you may have. It will make difficult conversations easier if you have mutual understandings and trust; and

9. Realize that change orders cost money. Being an inefficient in communications, emails or bugging your lawyer too much will cost you money. You don’t get to whine about it. If your VC is the problem and they are acting like idiots, than whine to them, not your lawyers. If you don’t want to whine to your VC, then I’m sorry, you are stuck. Again, don’t blame your lawyers.

So this all sounds like touchy feely stuff. How does this save money? Simple. Happy lawyers will work harder, more efficiently, staff with better associates and give you the benefit of the doubt when filling out time sheets for those clients that they honestly like. They might not (want to) admit this, but it’s just normal human nature. Besides, if you treat them right, you have a much better moral high ground for insisting they work hard to minimize costs on your behalf.

For all of you Boulderites, mark your calendars for August 14^th, 5:30pm at the Foundry Roof Deck.  One of the TechStars teams that I mentor, Application Experts (App-X) is having a party to not only celebrate their successful summer in the TechStars program, but more importantly to highlight the importance of the Entrepreneurs Foundation of Colorado (EFCO). 

I’m happy to report that App-X has joined EFCO.  You can get involved too, by drinking free beer.  How?   EFCO will buy you a beer at the Foundry on Thursday night if you sign up to volunteer for their August 16^th event.  Alternatively, EFCO will buy you a beer if you make a cash donation on Thursday night.  They will have a table set up as you walk up to the Foundry Deck. 

Live music will also be present courtesy of Something Underground.  This should be a fun time with friends, colleagues and all for a great cause.  Congratulations to App-X for sponsoring.