New Business Cards

"Don't Throw Your Business Card At Me"
New Business Card On The Way

Another card designed by my friend Jackson Lin. This is two sides. He did it in five minutes while I watched. At the Whole Foods in Union Square. This might be headed to some local printer.

"Don't Throw Your Business Card At Me"

Image via WikipediaI had been meaning to make it to the Dumbo Tech Breakfast MeetUp a long time now, and finally today I did, although I almost did not go: I am not a morning person. The alarm went off at seven, I rolled out of bed 30 minutes later. This was an unusual time. I am so glad I went.

Events: Week Of October 17

I found myself seated next to this hotshot programmer dude. He has already sold a company. I will not go into details. Because he and I will be in conversation mode for weeks.

But the story of the day was this other dude. At one point he simply stands up and says, "Next time don't throw your business card at me, and don't look the other way before someone has been able to give their business card to you!"

New Business Card On The Way

I was surprised. He made it sound like it had been beneath me to take his business card. That is so not me. I eagerly collect business cards. And I am very good at sending out that first email. Sometimes when there has been a backlog, and I can't remember the name to the face, or where I met the person, the email will simply say, it was good to meet you the other day.

"You have a card? Give me, I will take it," I offered.

New Business Card On The Way

My business card over the years has had just one word on it, my first name: Paramendra. But I have come to realize it has not been serving its purpose. You necessarily have to explain to people.

That's my first name. If you google me up, everything about me shows up. My name at Gmail would be my email.

Okay, when you have to say that each time you give out your card, that is not a time saver, and you become bored of yourself. As in, people can google up your name? Really?

Noone else has my first name. My parents saw Google coming.

That is another line I add. But you can say even that only so many times. And it is not like people care.

And so this is my new business card. I just placed orders for 500 cards at Vistaprint.

Now people are not going to get weirded out by my business card. No more.

GroupOn Did Not Launch At South By South West

Image via WikipediaGroupOn has grown like crazy. But it was not launched at South By South West. And I have an observation to make.

GroupOn has this very clear offline component to it. It has hired thousands of sales people. And its customer base is your very average person, the Walmart types. They want to save money. They want to save money on haircuts.

That is why you do not hear GroupOn and South By South West in one sentence. I never have. Because GroupOn's early adopters were not the kind of people who end up at South By South West.

Overall I feel good about South By South West. But I also have a word of caution for the crowd. You don't want to end up in some kind of an echo chamber where you are only hearing each other. It is possible to collect too many business cards. What are you going to do with them? Networking is a good thing overall, but too many business cards can also mean a lack of focus.

Like the Kayak.com CEO likes to say, I don't go to events.