During the last year, I’ve spoken to numerous investor relations officers (IROs) on the topic of social media and investor relations.  IROs tend to be the last holdouts within a company’s communication teams to embrace changes in the communications process.  Fear of the SEC due to the possibility of these changes leading to disclosure violations.

My friend Mark Long recently asked me about networking in Los Angeles. Mark is a CTO, see, and his company, PortBlue , was recently acquired (congrats, Mark!). After transitioning to the new team, Mark was left to wonder, what now? Where do I need to go to meet the people that I will “build the next big thing for&# ? It sounds really cool.

One of my favorite Pinky and the Brain episodes features Brain creating a Papier-mâché copy of the Earth, luring the entire population to mock Earth by offering free t-shirts in order to take over the real Earth. By simply offering something free, Brain was able to lure mankind out of their homes, up a ladder and on to a fake planet. Sound familiar?

Editor’s note: This is part 6 & 7 in the series of Lessons Learned:  Easy tips on how to create and grow a social media program. This series includes a discussion on the following topics: Create a Social Media Policy. Research your business. Set goals. Write an Editorial Calendar. Create content. Start the program. Handling mistakes and attacks.

Editor’s note: This is part 5 in the series of Lessons Learned:  Easy tips on how to create and grow a social media program. This series includes a discussion on the following topics: Create a Social Media Policy. Research your business. Set goals. Write an Editorial Calendar. Create content. Start the program. Handling mistakes and attacks.

One of the topics that came up in my post Mobile Internet Apple Facebook was around open vs. closed platforms. This issue comes up at the start of almost every new startup company in a variety of forms. m constantly struggling with trying to figure out the best way to pull together solutions, especially with how fast things move. That’s it.

I’ve been having discussions with several people recently about the role of the CTO (Chief Technology Officer) in very early stage companies. In December 2007, I described how I commonly take on an Acting CTO Role in a Start-up. used an image from Roger Smith that describes the varying roles of a CTO as the company matures. Gap closed, right?

A post by Fred Wilson pointed me to Dave McClure's Startup Metrics presentation. This is a great presentation and one that I'm going to point out to startup / early stage company CEOs. This kind of a simple model also helps: Define the early proof points for the company. You only build what you need to prove that model. Great stuff.

I generally am working as an acting CTO for about 3-4 start-ups or other companies at any one time. was just talking with someone who asked me to define how that could work and what they meant. Great question. Roger Smith ) This helps explain where I normally play. During Stabilization, often the focus is transitioning to a full-time CTO.

Because I was the Acting CTO for eHarmony at it's start, I quite often get introduced to people who have an idea for a startup company that is based on some kind of matching algorithm. They describe the company as the eHarmony of careers, clothes, jobs, college, tutoring services, doctors, service companies, investments, etc. That feels powerful.