Please visit the new Knightly News.

Thanks!

This is a business thought, one that a would-be entrepreneur should heed in choosing a partner or an investor. Very much applicable for those who are intending to put up a relatively high-stake, high-risk venture.

I picked this up from a book I recently finished reading —”The New New Thing” by Michael Lewis. I wanted to get this book when it came out of the press in 2000. When it did, it became a New York Times Bestseller. When I was in Singapore last year, I saw the trade paperback reprint of the book. I thought of getting it, but had to hold myself back as it was much more expensive compared to getting a copy here in our good ole bookstores (yep, books come out cheaper here in the Philippines).

Anyway, to the gist of my post…

In the book “The New New Thing”, which was an account of Jim Clark’s celebrated life as a technology entrepreneur. Jim Clark is the legendary founder of three multi-billion dollar companies in Silicon Valley, namely: Silicon Graphics, Netscape, and Healtheon. He is often regarded as the one person who “rewrote the rules of American Capitalism” and who is, thus, credited for making the Internet IPO boom possible in the 1990′s.

Clark had an uncanny ability to spot the new new thing out of the conceptual clutter. And as soon as he identifies an opportunity, he moves onto the task of building a business around such. His ideas are always radical, ambitious, and unheard of. As such, a business built on such ideas made the venture entirely risky as they are untested and have never been done before.

To which he offers this piece of advice — that is, an advice to those who wish to take on risky undertakings with the hope of eventually pulling it off and reap the windfall of high reward (that comes with any high-risk endeavors).

Clark liked to say that human beings, when they took risks, fell into one of two types, PIGS or CHICKENS.

“The difference between these two kinds of people is the difference between the pig and the chicken in the ham-and-eggs breakfast. The chicken is interested, the pig is committed. If you are going to do anything worth doing, you need a lot of pigs.”

In my personal experience, I’ve found this literally and figuratively true. It may be bad for your personal diet, but it will be very good for business.

And I’m very happy to say that we’ve already kicked the chicken out.

In an NBA Season that saw a record number of deals and a slew of blockbuster trades happening one after the other, the relatively inactive Golden State Warriors, which only made a couple of Free Agent pickups (apart from the draft picks they signed), has proven that playing an intact roster (from the Pre-Season, that is) for the full duration of a regular season can pay dividends by reaching the Western Conference Finals for the first time since Rick Barry led the underdog Warriors to a 4 game sweep of the Washington Bullets en route to their lone 1975 championship.

All too often second-guessed during the Pre-Season and Regular Season, the reclusive Warriors GM, John Knight, finally spoke to the press about the seeming “stand still” and virtual non-movement of personnel in the Warriors Organization. “I have gotten a lot of interesting suggestions and recommendations from basketball experts the whole season to tweak and even overhaul our line-up, especially with the wave of trades happening around the league. But we, as an organization, wanted to see how our current roster will develop into a well-synchronized and cohesive team, especially with the fact that we had all the valuable pieces of the core team in place. Chemistry was and is number 1 in our list.”

Unknown to the multitude, the Warriors’ GM got its share of trade offers, but promptly rejected most of them, opting to stick with the current roster and see how the budding chemistry pans out. GM Knight confirmed with reporters that he used Al Harrington and Stephen Jackson as trade baits at one point in the season. “This was done at a time when we were having troubles with the rotation as we wanted to insert Marco and Brandan into the picture to help in their development as future cogs of the team. We spoke to both Al and Stephen about it at that time, and they understood the situation. Only after a team powwow, just weeks before the trade deadline, that everybody came together and decided to stick it out and gut it out for the playoffs.”, Mr. Knight quipped.

What a “powwow” that was…

Golden State surged in the Pacific, and gave Phoenix, their Western Finals opponent, a great run for their money for the Pacific Division plum. The stronger and more talented Suns won the Division (4 games ahead of the Warriors), but had to settle for a 2-2 season series with the rag-tag bunch of “Road Warriors”. This year’s Western Finals showdown will be very interesting, with both teams employing the same brand of fast-paced offense.

Just last season, the Warriors were the typical Don Nelson run-and-gun, high-octane, and all-offense team. This year, however, the ever-innovative Coach Don Nelson, tweaked his strategy and opted to couple that offensive prowess with intense defense, allowing the opposition to shoot only at 42% from the field (second only to the Utah Jazz’s 40%). Asked about this quite “unusual” tack, Nellie replied tongue-in-cheek, “Well… I’ve been reading some business books and magazines during the off-season. And I’ve gotten to learn this stuff about improving profitability… that is… to get the most margin out of your business, you have to increase the revenues (PPG) and limit your expenses (PPG allowed). Given that we’ll have a hard time limiting our opponents score with our fast-paced offense, we just concentrated on the derivative of the PPG allowed —- the FG percentage.” An interesting business lesson applied to the game of basketball.

Now, after finishing the season with a 46-36 record and placing 4th overall in the Western Conference seeding, the Warriors immediately buckled down for work, battling their inter-state rivals, the Sacramento Kings, to a gruelling 4-2 decision. The Warriors took the regular season series vs. the Kings: 4-0. But Baron Davis, the team captain said, “We all know that those series don’t count. Things change in the Playoffs. And you saw that the Kings were mighty strong against us. It could have gone either way. It’s about gutting it out. Giving your 101%.”

In a much-awaited showdown of 2 defensive teams in the Western Conference Semis, the Warriors’ energy proved too much for the holder of the League’s best record, the Utah Jazz. The Warriors posted a huge psychological win in the first game, lambasting Sloan and his wards with a 105-76 rout. B-Diddy erupted for 24 points and 17 assists, while Matt Barnes and Al Harrington took turns in containing Kirilenko to 4 of 18 shooting from the field (en route to 10 points). “We knew a lot would be resting on AK’s shoulders, having been named as part of the league’s 1st Team. We were there to make life a little bit harder for him”, Barnes said in a post-game interview. Kirilenko had another miserable one in Game 2 as Utah suffered a close defeat, 86-88. In the 3rd game, Sloan managed to resurrect his beleaguered Russian star to post big numbers together with his other stars (Camby, Boozer, Hughes, Williams) as 6 players posted double-digit point totals. In this game, the Jazz outrebounded the Warriors, 58-44, but the Warriors’ Defense kicked up a notch usual, forcing the Jazz to shoot only 38.2% from the field. The din in Oracle Arena also helped the Oakland Cagers convert 10 triples (10 of 17 from beyond the arc) compared to the Salt Lake City Boys’ 3.

By the time the Jazz got to post a win in the series (a 106-82 trashing of the Warriors at Oracle Arena), it was a case of reporting to work too late.

The Warriors wrapped up the series with an 89-85 win at Salt Lake City, and finally avenging their Western Semis loss to the Jazz a season earlier.

“It feels great to finally go to the Western Conference Finals! Doing it against our tormentors last year and this year’s best team make it even sweeter!”, said a visibly relieved Al Harrington who was still wearing a protective mask to secure his fractured nose which he injured towards the end of the regular season.

“It’s not yet over. We’re definitely happy for the moment, but it’s not yet over. Phoenix will be a great challenge for us. Containing their frontline is a tough hurdle. We’re up to the task,” Nellie said, obviously referring to the terrible troika of Amare, Dwight, and Peja.

Asked about what he thinks made the difference at this point for the Franchise and which team they wish to meet in the Finals if they ever advance, John Knight waxed philosophically with this answer, “It’s all about staying true to what you believe in. I believed in my line-up, imperfect though it may be. We just played the hand we got, and worked ourselves up. As I said, chemistry is important and will be our priority. As for the NBA Finals… Hell, I don’t want to even think about it. But if I were to dream it now, I wish we can face the team we faced 22 years ago. It’s been over 2 decades since we last went to the Finals and won the championship. It’ll be quite a poetic and sweet justice if we win it against the same team we won against. Albeit, they have a different name now.”

Will the Warriors make it all the way to the NBA Finals? Will John Knight get what he wished for, that of facing the Washington Wizards? Or will he face the tested Tim Duncan and the Celtics?

—————————————-

Got you there. This is a Franchise Press Release posted at the Basketball Exchange SIM League, which is already in the NBA Playoff period.

To find out which Teams made it as Division Champs, Conference Champs, and NBA Finals Champ, go to the Basketball Exchange SIM League Home Page.

There are also rumors of GCash implementing a FEE for those who Cash-in (i.e. put in money into their GCash wallets) even if it’s paid in cold cash over the counter at any Globe Business Center.

Moverover, there are also rumors that this same CASH-IN FEE will, actually, be forwarded to the GCash payor (so that the GCash payor need not pay the 1% CASH-OUT fee anymore).

If these new policies are going to be implemented, then these may be the reasons why the GCash system has been quirky for the past few days.  The GCash system may have been undergoing maintenance to incorporate new policy.

This is okay, in my opinion.  But what is not okay is the fact that there have been no announcements or updates from GCash about the planned changes in policy.  A simple text message update would have sufficed so that all concerned are well-informed.

Again, these are all rumors… as heard thru the grapevine.

If there are any GCash users out there, we’d appreciate your feedback if these rumors are, indeed, true.

We’re still virtually unsettled in this new abode and have still to put things in order.

One of the downside of being part of a connected world is the downtime you are bound to experience once you get yourself uprooted and re-rooted on new soil.

Too bad that the new locale where we are situated in right now is not part of SkyCable Gold and ZPDee Cable Internet.  Hence, we had to settle for a downgrade, in the case of SkyCable (as they can only offer SkyCable Silver in our area… That SUCKS since we lose the privilege of watching Discovery Channel and Disney Channel — for my kids, of course .  And we have to look and apply for a new broadband connection since ZPDee cannot extend their coverage to accommodate our need for internet access.  That sucks again.

Now, it’s taking forever to apply for a new PLDT line and DSL connection.  I have to prepare the proper documentation, present the requisite sets of valid IDs, proof of income, and proof of billing.  I now have to wait in line (long queues are a given in any PLDT business centers) and wait for 2 weeks to process our application.

As of this date, I have yet to submit the application.  What with the piecemeal way that PLDT customer service assistants on the phone and at the business centers provide the requirements.  I have so far made 3 trips to their branches.  Each trip is a discovery… I’ve discovered that I still need this and this and this for them to process the application.  If they can only work on their customer service engagements so that potential customers will know, in one go, all the mandatory application requirements right off the bat.

You may ask why I didn’t bother to even check PLDT‘s website? I did!  It’s an excruciating experience to just look for the application requirements page.  You have to wade through all the clutter, make countless clicks, and end up not finding that page at all!  What compounds the sitch I am in is the fact that our case is somehow unique as I need to apply for BOTH a new landline and DSL connection.  Given this, I would need to sift through two (2) websites and still not find the answers to my questions.  These are the reasons why we ended up calling 171 AND going to a business center for details.

A convenient way of doing it will be (if I may suggest, based on experience):

1. Make the website as uncluttered and as friendly as possible.
2. Update websites with the latest promos and information.
3. Allow for submission of requirements online (you are only asked to accomplish the online application form in the case of myDSL)
4. Allow for payments online.

Oh well… Have to go back to the business center to submit our COMPLETE application requirements.  Hope it gets processed soon.  Otherwise, we’ll have to endure being left out of what’s happening in our connected world….

It was a busy week last week and will be a busy one as well the coming two weeks.

I will still try to post to my committed number of one a day after this entry. Do expect my final installment to my series on Philippine Basketball and my take on what the Telcos of our country need to offer the consumers and businesses alike in the field of mCommerce.

In the meantime, many thanks to those who continuously check on Knightly News.

Since the ascendancy of the internet age and the proliferation of available content online, I have slowly, ever so slowly, got accustomed to devouring bits and pieces of information while connected to the net.

So far, I’ve made great strides. I’ve devoted countless hours and consumed nuggets of wisdom, of information, of news, and such reading blogs of all sorts and articles from the mundane and trivial to the deeply philosophic on the internet.

But all these information, which I can, oh so easily acquire cheaply and easily, can never replace my love and passion for books.

I have a rather modest collection, with a good 20 or so books still unfinished (now this is a bad, bad habit to have and one that I intend to eradicate). I always make it a point that I have books inside the car, inside my laptop bag, inside the bathroom (yes, making full use of my “downtime”), and beside the bed. This way, I get to pick up a book and continue reading.

One can never argue against the fact that great men and accomplished individuals have behind them a stack of, a library of books even. Their minds have been taken to places they have never been, have been provoked to debate a thought or idea by someone as fictional as the White Wizard in Middle Earth, have been immersed in a culture, heretofore, unknown, have been prodded to place himself in another man’s shoes and take an altogether alien view of the world.

One acquires bits and pieces that fuse together over time and spill over to eventual expression and execution, creating form from substance which the bound pages supply. One obtains a set of morals or guide posts that govern day-to-day decisions as well as strategic maneuvers for the foreseeable and unforeseeable future. Books are the first step to accomplishments, setting into play the all-important translation of abstraction to application.

A book read, they say, is a trophy. A collection of books, a worthwhile pastime. And to most, amassing a collection that can rival a small library or even a big public one is a show of one’s erudtion and a proven testament to the great book lover’s legacy to the world.

The promo is your usual “get a raffle ticket for every P XX.XX of purchase” (in this case, purchase of any of the participating Baby Brands’ products like disposable diapers, infant formula, baby products, etc.). The raffle ticket is your usual raffle ticket with the following to fill up:

NAME : (Write your Full Name)

ADDRESS : (Write your Complete Home Address)

AGE : (Write your Age)

CONTACT NO. : (Write your Mobile Phone or Landline #)

CHOSEN BABY PARTNER : (Write the Name of the Baby With the Cutest Picture Submitted for the Contest)

SIGNATURE : (Affix your Signature)

The lucky shopper receives a P50,000 prize on draw dates, and the Chosen Baby Partner, whose name is written on the raffle ticket of the drawn winner, also gets P50,000.

Can you spot the promo design flaw?

You guessed it.

Babies with very long names have a smaller chance of being chosen and written down as a baby partner on the raffle ticket by the shopper.  Hence, lesser probability of winning.  Imagine, if a shopper had 15 or even 20 raffle tickets, and that shopper had to fill out each of the blank spaces above plus the name of the baby of their choice, whose name happens to be 20 to 30 characters long, he or she would rather pick the baby with the shortest name (even if he/she doesn’t have the cutest photo) to save time and effort filling out the entry, drop the ticket, and go home, right?

Every baby would have an equal chance of getting picked if the promo assigned a number or a letter to each baby photo.

I bet you Irish Dizon will be winning quite a lot of P50,000 cash prizes….

By process of elimination, you may know which Telco this is.

Cash, Money… what else? Currency? Coins? Moolah?

I wonder how they will call this new service?