Brand Autopsy

image from JONATHAN HERNANDEZ

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re: the Starbucks Iced Coffee coupon … if needed, read the background story here, here, and here …

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As someone who helped shape Starbucks field marketing and corporate marketing programs back in the day, I find it incredulous the company would even greenlight this particular Internet coupon. They've seen fake web coupons distributed far and wide on the web before and thus, should have been able to anticipate this mess. While I cannot recall the specific incidents, in the go-go dotcom days, Starbucks used email coupons and learned to expect abuse from customers.

According to reports, the coupon offer was a regional marketing activity initiated in the Southeast region. It was sent to select Starbucks employees who were to pass-it-along to a few of their friends and family. The offer was for a free iced-coffee drink from noon to 9 pm any day between August 23 and September 30.

The problem wasn’t with the email coupon nor the abuse by customers. The problem was with the month-plus long expiry date.

Had Starbucks kept the expiry date short, as in available only on Aug 23 or just Wednesdays during September, the abuse would have been minimized greatly.

I’m at a total loss to think Starbucks marketers couldn’t have anticipated this mess before greenlighting the coupon. The lesson learned here is to keep expiration dates short and contained for Internet coupons.

There’s been lots of chatter lately about Dell’s demise. The company has displeased analysts working on Wall Street by missing sales or earnings projections three times in the last five quarters. And Dell has also displeased customers living on Main Street by producing boring computers and by failing to give prompt, proficient, and enthusiastic customer service.

Writing in today’s Wall Street Journal, Christopher Lawton breaks down the Dell breakdown (free article access here). One breakdown area I found most interesting is where Dell’s desire to gain financial efficiencies resulted in displacing full-time workers in its call centers with less expensive part-time and temporary workers. Lawton explains …

”As the tech downturn ended around 2003, Dell continued cutting costs and focused on being efficient. Around that time, Dell executives decided to hire temporary workers to man their five U.S. call centers, rather than recruit more-expensive full-time staff. By 2005, 75% of Dell's call-center staff -- those who take calls from customers wanting to buy a PC -- were temporary workers. Three years earlier, the majority of those staffers were full-time employees.

The move backfired. By late 2005, Dell noticed its U.S. consumer sales were flattening. Ro Parra, a Dell senior vice president who was asked to look into the problem, pinpointed call-center problems as one cause. He discovered that the temporary call-center workers who wanted full-time jobs weren't being promoted. Turnover in the centers had soared to 300% a year from 30% in 2002.”

Oh my! Turnover rates jumped from 30% to 300% in Dell's call centers. Oh my, oh my, oh my!!!

Dell is learning the hard way that “The Employee Experience Matters.”

Jake McKee’s report from Brickfest 2006, a weekend gathering of adult LEGO lovers, reminded me of another recent gathering of adults who adore another childhood toy—HOT WHEELS.

In a recent article, The Wall Street Journal highlighted Mattel’s Hot Wheels NEED FOR SPEED event in Speed, Kansas. Yes. Speed, KS. Now before you go jumping to Creationist WOM conclusions that Speed, KS is just another attention-grabbing buzz-hungry tactic mimicking Half.com, Oregon and Dish, TX. It’s not.

Seems as though a GolinHarris PR guy was doing a Google search for ‘a town that loves cars’ and up popped Speed, KS. So instead of holding the NEED FOR SPEED event in Southern California, where many Hot Wheels conventions are held, Mattel decided to create a blow-out event in Speed, KS (population 37).

Over 10,000 Hot Wheels enthusiasts stormed Speed, KS on August 6, 2006 to revel in all things Hot Wheels. You can read more about the event in this Wall Street Journal article and in this press release.

The take-a-away for us marketers is the Hot Wheel’s NEED FOR SPEED event is yet another marketing case study in creating community with customers. As Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba note in CREATING CUSTOMER EVANGELISTS …

”Enabling customers to connect with each other and with you provides benefits for all the involved parties. It helps customers … connect with like-minded people for social reasons. For companies, customer communities build loyalty, provide valuable feedback, and contribute to increased sales.

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“Creating community is key to creating customer evangelists Community encourages customers to bond with one another underneath the umbrella of your organization’s goodwill."

It’s official. That Guy with The Nametag can now be called That Guy with a Way Worthy Post we all Should Read. I’ll be chewing on Scott Ginsberg’s thoughts about how it's not the idea that matters but rather, what becomes of the idea that matters. And, I’ll also be chewing on how “It’s not about the nametag.” Great stuff Scott.

Over on the TRIBAL KNOWLEDGE companion website, I’ve added a new feature I’m calling The Starbucks Mailbag. A couple of times a month, I’ll answer specific questions I’ve been asked about Starbucks strategies and decisions. The first question I share my insider thoughts on comes from a Brand Autopsy reader who asks, ”Who came up with the brilliant idea of marketing CDs at the counter? Was it synergy between the record companies and Starbucks or can you trace it to one individual?”

Read my thoughts here.

Last week I highlighted BusinessWeek’s COMPETITION double-issue and in particular, the oh-so chewy guidance of … “Obsess about Customers, Not Rivals.”

Today, Tom Peters has a great riff off a quote from new CBS Evening News anchor, Katie Couric. In the issue, Katie contributes this take on competition in television, "Television is one of the most competitive arenas anywhere. I think the only way to thrive and survive in that atmosphere is to have the love of competition in your blood."

Tom smartly and rightly says, “That quote helps me realize why I don't watch evening news. If your ultimate goal is to ‘compete,’ presumably for ratings supremacy, in my opinion you are/one is doomed to mediocrity.”

He riffs further by saying …

"Here's the sort of thing I dearly wish Ms Couric had said: "Ratings are the least of it. Evening TV news is stale, in the tank, even laughable. It doesn't need a 'cool' or 'refreshing' 'female' anchor. It needs to be blown up and re-thought from the ground up. If the program I anchor looks or smells or feels anything at all like evening news of the Cronkite-Rather era I will have failed miserably and horribly abused a golden opportunity, even if I do edge out the guys at the other networks."

Read Peters’ full post as its loaded with insight.

Echoing some of what I’ve heard Mark Kingdon (CEO at Organic) say in his stump presentation on social media, businesses today must be CONFIDENT in their products and services. That’s because when consumers hijack brands, they can create incongruent (and some might say inappropriate) messages such as this citizen marketer-generated spot for Starbucks Frappuccino.

RSS readers click here to view the video

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As Steve Hall over at Adrants suggests, it’ll be interesting to see how Starbucks reacts. If Starbucks legal department does get involved and tries to pressure YouTube to yank the video, it will only exasperate exacerbate the situation. Instead, Starbucks should do nothing and remain confident in their products.

Ya know … just as professional marketers can create “off-brand” messaging, amateur marketers will do the same. Should we expect anything different? Seriously, should we?

Don’t sleep on BusinessWeek’s summer double-issue—it is chock-full of great knowledge nuggets for us biz folk to gnaw on and gnaw over.The article on creating competitive advantage is particularly worthy of gnawing on and over. Snippets include:

“As hard as it has become to create an edge, some smart organizations are finding new ways to do it. Not for good, mind you -- maybe not even for the years that many companies and their investors have come to expect. But a few standouts are managing to do the next best thing: They keep creating new competitive advantages, over and over, faster and faster.”

“They're organizations that have learned to adjust to rapid social, economic, and competitive changes with relative ease. The most successful among them don't settle for hunkering down in soul-depleting market-share wars to protect an increasingly fleeting edge. Instead they zig and zag with the zeitgeist to keep coming up with new ideas.”

“… in an era when the competitive playing field is constantly morphing, a few key guidelines have emerged for how to stay ahead of the pack.

The article goes on to share five guidelines for creating competitive advantage of which, I’m still gnawing on and over these three:

1 | Don’t Just Get Bigger, Get Unique
This guidance syncs up with my Starbucks Tribal Knowledge of “Make the Common Uncommon.” After all, who really wants to sell a common, ordinary, everyday, me-too product? More important, who wants to buy one?

Michael Porter, business strategy clairvoyant from Harvard Business School, adds the following money quote in the article. “There is no best auto company, there is not best car. You’re really competing to be unique.”

2 | Why Compete? Create New Markets
"Niches are nice, but inventing a new market is whole lot better." Ahh … "Blue Ocean Strategy" at play here. The article rightly touches upon Cirque de Soleil as a benchmark business which created a new market with no significant direct competitors.

3 | Obsess about Customers, Not Rivals
There’s lots of truth in that pithy statement. The by-product of focusing on meeting/exceeding customer needs/wants is the creation of a competitive advantage, while the by-product of mimicking competitors is the creation of a competitive disadvantage. Enterprise Rent-a-Car obsesses over its customers more than it rivals and success has followed. Same goes for Whole Foods Market, The Container Store, and Kimpton Hotels.

InfluxInsights succinctly breaks down five reasons why YouTube and Flickr are resonating with folks. Each of these five reasons played a major role in not just the success of high-tech businesses like YouTube and Flickr, but also in two high-touch businesses I’m very familiar with -- Whole Foods and Starbucks. In fact, I wish I could go back and add this list to my TRIBAL KNOWLEDGE book.

5 Reasons Why YouTube and Flickr are Successful

1| Do Something Better: Find a way or a better way …

2 |Believe in What You Do: Success is a by-product of doing good.

3 | Community is Everything: Listen to your community.

4 | Be Soulful: Even if you sell, like Flickr, don't sell your soul.

5 | Be Authentic: The lack of corporate polish adds to the feeling that there are real people behind the idea.

READ the full posting

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Mucho kudos to Mark Ramsey (hear2.0) for the heads up.

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I’m the commish/chief wrangler of the Marketing Bloggers Fantasy Football League. Yep, marketing bloggers are gonna go head-to-head this fall in Fantasy Football action. (Should be fun, eh?)

We have 11 teams registered right now in a private Yahoo! Fantasy Football league. But … we are looking for ONE MORE TEAM to join us.

To be considered as an expansion team in the Marketing Bloggers Fantasy Football League, you need to first be a marketing blogger. When I say marketing blogger, I'm referring to any person or company that blogs primarily about general marketing, PR, advertising, and branding matters. (Dig?)

Second, you need to add your name, your blog name, and some snappy smack talk in the comments section.

From there, I will arbitrarily select one marketing blogger from the comment list to join us in the Marketing Bloggers Fantasy Football League.

The catch is … you gotta respond before Sunday, August 20. I plan to select the marketing blogger on Sunday.

Oh yeah … you will be competing against these marketing bloggers …

Church of the Customer
Social Customer Manifesto
Brains on Fire
Viral Garden
Airbag Industries
UX Magazine
Casual Fridays
TrueTalk
The DIG Tank
Brand Autopsy
Own Your Brand

For the third year, Fast Company is doing a BlogJam where 40 or so folks are contributing to the FC Now team blog. Don't sleep on the slew of postings from yesterday and fresh postings from today ... lots and lots of good stuff.

I've contributed three postings which I have titled, "Piggyback on Saddleback." In each posting, I share a tid-bit of business advice from an unexpected source. Enjoy ...

Piggyback on Saddleback | POST ONE Piggyback on Saddleback | POST TWO Piggyback on Saddleback | POST THREE

On her Must Read Business Books blog, Nettie Hartsock has posted an interview we did over email. Nettie asked me questions about how companies should view customers and about actions companies can take no matter their size to engender better branding. And yeah, I shared Starbucks Tribal Knowledge throughout. >> LINK to the INTERVIEW <<

Dana VanDen Heuvel is compiling a list of the 50 Greatest Thinkers in Modern Marketing and he’s asking us for help in compiling the list. The first one to contribute was Todd Sattersten from 8cr, second to contribute was me, and third to contribute will be YOU.

So if I’m adding the following modern marketing thought-leaders to Dana’s & Todd’s list, who are you adding?

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Scott Bedbury ... we gotta include the marketer who has helped to make Nike & Starbucks the brands they are today

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Stephen Brown ... a stupendous contrarian marketing thought leader

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Joe Calloway ... his writings on transcending commoditization are brilliant

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Marc Gobe | his two books, Emotional Branding and Citizen Brand, are modern marketing classics

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Jeffrey J. Fox ... so many great books and so many great ideas!

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Naomi Klein ... sure, she bullies brands but Naomi helps to keep all us marketers in check with her "No Logo" marketing musings

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Philip Kotler ... this professor ushered in modern marketing thought from the world of academia

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Andy Morgan ... a super-smart voice from the advertising agency foxhole

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Douglas Rushkoff ... this clairvoyant’s profound pontifications extend well beyond marketing

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Michael Silverstein ... his "Trading Up" thesis supports the go-to-market approach of modern marketing success stories like Starbucks, Apple, and Whole Foods Market

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Tom Peters ... Hello! “The Brand Called You” anyone????

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Sergio Zyman ... the “Ayatollah of Coca-Cola” deserves to be on this list

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From Thursday's edition of the Wall Street Journal [sub. req'd]:

"Car makers are coming out with a host of high-tech holders that can help drinks stay hot or cool and better prevent tipping and spilling by fitting more container sizes.

The 2007 Chrysler Sebring, which goes on sale this fall, comes with a front cup holder that can help keep beverages hot and cold. It can heat to 140 degrees Fahrenheit and cool to near freezing at 35 degrees Fahrenheit. The cup holder cavity contains a heating element made of ceramic, the same material used in hair dryers. When the cup holder's heat or cool feature is switched on, an electric current will either heat or cool the material and help maintain the temperature of the liquid."

Directly applying Seth Godin’s Free Prize-ology has me thinking this high-tech cup holder isn’t the first reason why you’d buy a 2007 Chrysler Sebring. However, it is probably the first reason why you’d talk to others about your new 2007 Chrysler Sebring.

Lewis Green, a former long-time Starbuckian, and I recently traded emails and our conversation turned to identifying other ex-Starbucks partners (employees) who are blogging. I’m sure there are countless former store-level partners active on the blogging but there are seemingly very few former corporate Starbucks partners blogging on either a professional or personal level.

My list of ex-corporate Starbuckians on the blogging scene includes only four people – Paul Williams, Johnny O'Brien, Lewis Green, and me. I’m sure there are more.

So if you're an ex-SBUXer-turned-blogger, let us know. Or if you know of someone who fits this description, let us know. And by all means, if you’re a current corporate Starbuckian who blogs … let us know.

Thanks for helping to quell this marketer’s curiosity.

Since I’m into this blogging thing, a book about business blogging wouldn’t seem appropriate for me. And chances are if you’re reading this, you also do not need to read a book about business blogging. But you probably know someone who does need to read a book on business blogging.

(Come on … we bloggers all have friends at businesses who have yet to embrace the blogging/social media cause. Right?)

While prepping for a presentation I’m giving next month on Applying Online Word-of-Mouth [website | .pdf brochure], I riffled through Debbie Weil’s just published book, THE CORPORATE BLOGGING BOOK, and found it to be the best of the blog book bunch.

(The blog book bunch? It’s becoming an industry in itself as evidence by these books … book one, book two, book three, book four, book five, book six, and more.)

Debbie’s book is the best of the bunch because it’s actionable. She wastes little space in telling stories about blogging and instead, shares practical insight and guidance on all the relevant issues businesses face when deciding how, when, where, and why to blog.

In other words, THE CORPORATE BLOGGING BOOK is chock-full of everything you need to know to better champion the blogging/social media cause at your business. Learn more on Debbie’s companion book website.

I’m receiving more and more emails with auto-signatures from people (mainly media folk) that tell me if the email thread is bloggable or not. These auto-signatures look like this:

this email is: [ ] bloggable [ ] ask first [X] private

Anyone else seeing a surge in such auto-signatures?

I continue to find the conversations on the Starbucks Gossip blog to be fascinating. Hearing perspectives from well-meaning and insightful front-line employees and from interested customers makes for fascinating reading—at least to me.

For example, on Wednesday Starbucks reported same-store sales of only 4.0% for July and its stock price took a hit because Wall Street analysts have grown accustomed to Starbucks same-store sales growing between 8.0% to 10.0%. Starbucks executives were quick to explain the same store sales slide to higher-than-expected demand for Frappuccino blended beverages in the morning daypart. Starbucks front-line employees were just as quick to offer their perspective on the Starbucks Gossip blog.

The Starbucks Gossip blog corralled coverage on the Starbucks stock slide and comments began flowing. When the comments turned to why not just have more employees on the floor to meet the increased demand for Frappuccinos, this smart “Starbucks Manager” reasoned …

“Putting more people on the floor isn't always the right solution. If you only have room for 2 or 3 blenders then adding more people only results in more bumping into one another, dropping drinks, etc. Better deployment and systems from the top down is a way better solution. It drives me nuts when I see a barista standing at the espresso bar with no drinks while his or her counterpart is slaving away on Cold Beverage Station. The espresso barista should help the Cold Bevs until more espresso drinks are called. Or the floater should do just what the title says and float, not just call drinks over.

And yes, we are under a lot of pressure to use as little labor as possible, but we are also under pressure to have what's now called "service with speed." The thing about labor though, is that if you sell more, you can have more labor. The problem is that stores get what I call topped out on labor, meaning, you can't fit any more people on the floor and adding someone else won't make a difference. The funny thing is, store partners have been telling upper management for years that blended slows speed of service but no one upstairs seemed to want to hear it. Maybe they'll listen now.”

Sure ... this Starbucks Manager speaks a lot of insider lingo, but in those two paragraphs we learn more insider information about the Starbucks business than we learned on this week's Conference Call Starbucks Execs had with analysts.

I’ve wondered just how closely the corporate Starbucks decision-makers follow the chatter. This anonymous comment from a potentially veiled corporate Starbucks employee let’s me know someone might be listening …

"and i think that our corporate people are very tuned in to what happens and why things happen. they are not so distant from us like in other companies. but i don't think they often hear frank feedback from employees like they would here. i know they get it from customers - frank as could be, but not the partners. thank you for providing this. it is great”

It’s funny to me. Despite all the processes Starbucks has put in place for employees to provide feedback to corporate decision-makers, the truest feedback channel is outside of Starbucks channels. Starbucks' truest feedback channel is on the Starbucks Gossip blog.

Unbeknownst to me at the time I finished compiling Vol. 2 was that Vol. 3 of worthy Fast Company reads would begin with Issue #73. That’s an important matter because Issue #73 marked a pivotal point in FC’s history. It signaled the end of editorial parentage from Fast Company co-founders Alan Webber and Bill Taylor and the beginning of the John Byrne editorial era.

Looking back now, Byrne’s first “Letter From the Editor” reads like a love letter to the ideals from which FC was founded upon. You can clearly feel Byrne’s unbridled passion for the magazine when he writes …

”In every company, large or small, fast or slow, there are people who buy into our vision of this new world. They are the visionaries, advocates, champions, builders, and trailblazers. They are, in short, the people who do the real work of organizations, the people who lead and inspire all of us with their ideas and their actions. They are also the readers who made Fast Company the fastest-growing business magazine ever…”

Now … no knock against Byrne, but this third volume of worthy FC read is far skimpier than the previous two volumes. Maybe I changed more than the magazine changed. Hmm … Either way, there are still some worthy reads. Enjoy y’all … enjoy.

(Psst … if you need a refresher course, read Volumes One and Two.)

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The Promise of Reinvention
ISSUE # 73 | AUGUST 2003 | pg. 16
Go ahead and click above to read more on Byrne’s love letter to the Fast Company ideals.

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How to Lead Now
ISSUE #73 | AUGUST 2003 | pg. 62
Besides overseeing this issue, John Byrne also wrote a way-worthy article how companies can get extraordinary performances from employees during challenging economic times. In true school FC fashion, Byrne writes, “If businesses are to grow their way out of the current economic malaise, they will have to get more productivity out of their people -- not by cutting and slashing, but by nurturing, engaging, and recognizing.”

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The Price is Right
ISSUE #76 | November 2003 | pg. 83
While at Whole Foods, I hipped some folks to the great book TRADING UP. At that same time, I hipped those same folks to this article from Fast Company on how some companies, including Whole Foods, are able to orbit the low-price strategy hairball.

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The Wal-Mart You Don’t Know
ISSUE #77 | December 2003 | pg. 68
This way tasty article on why there’s a high price to pay for buying Wal-Mart’s low prices spawned a way-tasty book, THE WAL-MART EFFECT. Mucho kudos to Charles Fishman for writing the article and the book. No kudos to you if you don’t read this article.

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Man of Mystery
ISSUE #79 | February 2004 | pg. 78
It’s always nice to learn more about a biz consultant-turned-author you respect and this article sheds light on Ram Charan. The article also sums-up the thinking behind Charan’s excellent book, “Profitable Growth is Everybody’s Business.”

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How to Give Feedback
ISSUE #80 | March 2004 | pg. 103
Do not pass GO! Do not collect $200. And do not give another piece of feedback until after reading Seth Godin’s four rules on how to give feedback.

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Every Move You Make
ISSUE #81 | April 2004 | pg. 73
I got very hip to ethnographic research while at Whole Foods Market. Writer Linda Tischler explains ethnographic research for the rest of us by making parallels to reality TV.

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The Liberator
ISSUE #83 | June 2004 | pg. 82
Consider this article a follow-up to FC’s profile of Keith Yamashita from Issue #64 (Nov. 22). This time around, the article shares some of the super-smart thinking behind UNSTUCK, the book Keith co-wrote with Sandra Spataro. The sidebar piece on “Unsticking Yourself” is way-worthy and super-actionable.

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Putting Customers First: 2004 Customer First Awards
ISSUE #87 | October 2004 | pg. 79
This piece is chock-full of great case-study examples on how/why companies such as Trader Joe’s and Progressive deliver exceptional customer service. A worthy read indeed.

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The Brand Called Us
ISSUE # 88 | November 2004 | pg. 14
Remember earlier I mentioned FC’s editor John Byrne’s love letter to the magazine was worth reading? Well, with love sometimes comes tough love. In this letter from the editor, Byrne tells a compelling story about having to make tough love decisions at Fast Company in order to cut costs to keep the magazine afloat.

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The Accidental Guru
ISSUE #90 | January 2005 | 64
I’m a Gladwell fan. I’ve given Gladwell lots of digital ink on Brand Autopsy. In this article, I learned a lot about the meaning of the man behind the meaningful articles and books he writes.

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Jones' Soda Secret
ISSUE #92 | March 2005 | pg. 74
These days, we marketers are talking a lot about co-creation with customers. Jones Soda has been co-creating with customers for years now. Read how and why.

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Join the Circus
ISSUE # 95 | July 2005 | pg. 52
This is a classic FC article sharing business lessons learned from something viewed far from being a business – A CIRCUS.

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The Art of Service: 2005 Customer First Awards
ISSUE #99 | October 2005 | pg. 47
FC’s second installment of case-study examples on how/why companies such as Cabela’s, W Hotels, Netflix, and Build-A-Bear deliver exceptional customer service.

Blogging from his new residence in Amsterdam, Paul Williams, from the Idea Sandbox, shares some kind words in his review of TRIBAL KNOWLEDGE.

Thanks Paul. And I truly meant what I wrote in my appreciations pages about your influence on helping to make me a smarter marketer. So, thanks yet again.

Seth Godin has a must-read post today on Advice for Authors. If you are thinking of writing or in the throes of wring a book … READ SETH’S POST.

Yeah know, when I began the process of writing TRIBAL KNOWLEDGE, I purposely reached out to other business writers and asked them for their advice. All of the advice these writers kindly shared was instrumental in helping me make TRIBAL KNOWLEDGE happen. Some of the more notable advice I received included …

Dan Pink on writing a better business book …
"Most business books aren't very good. The reason is generally that they don't have very much to say. So don't pad. Don't add filler. Your publisher will thank you for saving them money on paper and your readers will thank you for not wasting your time."

Lior Arussy on writing the book …
"Be yourself. Write from your heart. Don’t copy any formula. Be true to yourself. Write the book you are most passionate about. Trust that everything else will fall into place. Write the book you’d want to buy and learn from."

John Winsor on what good business books are …
"A good business book is a portal for learning."

Nettie Hartsock on what I needed to do in order to actually write TRIBAL KNOWLEDGE ...
"Stop reading business books. Start writing YOUR business book."

For me, Nettie’s wise words rang true as they helped me to understand how I was using the excuse of needing to read business books as a form of resistance to writing my business book. And the understanding of my need to overcome the self-sabotaging power of “resistance” came from Dan Pink recommending I read Steven Pressfield’s THE WAR OF ART. But I should warn ya … reading THE WAR OF ART has the potential to change your life. Trust me. It is way powerful stuff not to be taken lightly.

There’s a worthwhile sidebar column (sub. req’d) in Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal where Bradley Horowitz, Yahoo’s product strategy vice-president, makes some interesting comments as it relates to the kinetic Web 2.0 activity. (As you know, Yahoo has added to this kinetic activity by buying Flickr and Del.icio.us.)

The article highlights that Horowitz’s Yahoo team looks at hundreds of proposals per week sifting through “everything from the ridiculous to the sublime.” Horowitz readily admits he’s tired of seeing business plans from companies saying they are the “Flickr for blank.”

Horowitz’s most interesting comments were in response to being asked, “What’s wrong with someone starting a company just to sell it to Yahoo?” Horowitz rightly says this is what’s wrong …

”You want people in it for the right reason. Selling to a big company typically isn't the right reason. We like people who are passionate about their product. If you have people with a pure financial motive, in my experience, the product suffers. Certainly, someone could figure out a way to scratch a user's itch and sell the product to us, and perhaps it would make great sense. But we are also looking not just for new products but also to be able to bring the world's best and brightest people into Yahoo.”

Horowitz closes the interview with built-to-last advice for built-to-flip focused entrepreneurs …

”Find something you would do irrespective of financial motive or whether it will be the next big thing. In that case, you win either way.”

Follow your folly. Now that’s great win/win advice for all us business folk.