Chris Sacca's 'What is left?'

Seriously, you can't touch this . . .

My job can be so exciting. I get to work with some of the brightest minds and most accomplished luminaries in technology, politics, and business. I am consistently humbled and feel lucky for the opportunities I get.

That said, of all the folks with whom I have interacted in the last couple of years, almost no one has impressed me more than MC Hammer. Yeah, that's right, MC Hammer.

I recently invited Hammer to Google to check the place out and meet some folks. The guy has opinions on everything, but particularly likes to think about how broken the music industry is today from the perspective of the artist. It didn't surprise me that he had he head around that space, considering he has been in the business for years. Yet, I will admit to initially underestimating Hammer as a technologist.

As we spoke it became clear that from WiFi, to video compression, to secure payment systems, Hammer is a geek, and a well-informed one at that. As we walked across the Google campus, Hammer told me he had been there years ago when it belonged to SGI. Back then, he visited to better understand how his videos could be viewed by fans on the Internet. Rather than rely on just reading about streaming video, he wanted to go to the source and get the scoop firsthand.

Anyway, the visit was a blast. While moving through our building and cafeteria, Hammer attracted more handshakes and autograph requests than most world leaders who visit. We had lunch with 15 or so Googlers and Hammer held court. They were rapt with attention for over an hour.

Bottom line, five things worth noting about Hammer:

1) Hammer is a man of action - During lunch, we were talking about Blogger. Hammer told us he wanted to learn more about this and understand how to set one up. I told him I could put together a meeting next week, blah blah. Without hesitation he said "Why not now?" I was caught off guard. Have I become the slow bureaucrat that pushes off meetings until next week? Yikes. I cancelled my next appointment and took Hammer immediately to Blogger HQ where Case and Goldman put together a sweet blog for him and linked it to his T-Mobile Sidekick. (blog url coming soon)

2) The world loves Hammer - As we walked around the Googleplex, it was amazing how many international Googlers recognized him and came up to say hi and give him props. Asians, Africans, Europeans. They were all excited to see Hammer.

3) Young people dig Hammer - I was suprised to see how young a lot of his fans were. I mean, many of the adoring masses were 22 or 23 years old. That means those kids were 7 or 8 years old when "U Can't Touch This" was hot. I asked a few of them what the deal was. Did they remember Hammer from back in the day? A few claimed to. However, most told me that Hammer was all about the 80s, and the 80s are back.

4) Hammer is a master marketer - He has a new album in hand. (We heard some tracks. It's hot. Very well produced.) Following his trademark style, the hooks to his tunes are very catchy and easily repeatable even by the most soulfully challenged. On top of that, Hammer has a few new dances up his sleeves. Hopefully, he will unleash them soon so we can all clue in before holiday party season is upon us.  Either way, I predict good things for this album.

5) Hammer is a nice guy - No matter how many times people interrupted for a photo or to ask him to sign something, Hammer was beyond cordial and went out of his way to make them happy. It was amazing how polite and cheery he was with everyone. So cool.

The man is too legit.

(stop sign photo credit Afroswede)

UPDATE: Hammer is easily the coolest blogger I know. Check his stuff out here: http://mchammer.blogspot.com/. His voice is so sincere, he posts regularly, he interacts with his commenters, he even leaves audioposts. So awesome. Way to be, Hammer!

Startup School - An Inspiring Room Full of Hackers

Many people working for a relatively large corporation might bristle at the prospect of speaking face to face with 500 hackers with an average age of 22. I had exactly that opportunity this past Saturday as an invitee to Paul Graham's YCombinator Startup School held in Harvard's Science Center. Hands down, it was one of the most enjoyable experiences of my career.

The setup was simple: pull young aspiring entrepreneurs from around the world into one place and give them 36 hours of relentless exposure to tech luminaries, IP attorneys, serial entrepreneurs, VCs, and corporate sellout interlopers like me. The speakers ranged from Woz, who gave a fantastic account of the early Apple days to Stephen Wolfram, Sergey's first 'boss', who remarked that Sergey still owes him some deliverables. (I will be sure to let him know.) Olin Shivers gave a wonderfully ominous account of taking venture funding that contained one slide titled: "VCs – Soulless Agents of Satan, or Just Clumsy Rapists?” One for the scrapbooks, to be sure.

As I entered Harvard Science Center's Room B, where the event was held, I was instantly struck by the sheer energy of the crowd. It was between speakers, and the ambitious gaggle of hackers was comparing screens, showing off mashups, and climbing over the seats to continue protocol preference debates in closer proximity to their combatants. No one was running off to check in with their assistant or jump onto a mindless conference call with sales finance.

As speakers sequentially took to the podium, the students took to their seats, but by no means did the activity die down. The glow of screens (from a refreshingly Powerbook-dominated audience) revealed an array of real-time collaborative note-taking fora virtually assembling the room's minds in a concurrent recording and discussion of the event. Rather than laptops providing an instant messaging fueled distraction from the content, as is often alleged in schools (and in many of the meetings in which I sit at work) and where their use is being restricted, these kids were actually using them to dive even deeper into the content of the speeches. Every aspect of the proceedings was noted in real time and then integrated in a bevy of wikis that covered everything from speaker bios to where the parties were later that night. I relished when it was my chance to speak. Such open and idealistic minds looking back at me.

Having spent so many days speaking to relatively jaded trade conference attendees who half-listen to me, perking up only when my speech intersects with their pre-hardened agendas, it was a treat to be in a room of eager and ambitious geeks. So what did I have to say? Well, I think that others have covered topics such as how to start a company more thoroughly and with more authenticity than I ever could. Mark Fletcher, founder of Bloglines, is one of my favorites on this theme. (via Andrej) The 37 Signals guys are also getting a bit of worthy press for a recent interesting take on minimalism in entrepreneurial software efforts. I took the opportunity to consider the underpinnings of Google's success and describe a few potentially overlooked five cent nuggets from our experience:

Start! - Just get going. Don't waste a lot of time writing business plans or strategic roadmaps. It actually takes a lot of conceit for any of us to think we have a space so figured out so well that we know what the next five years will look like. Instead of spinning wheels, just start coding.

Solve User Problems! - What to code? It always shocks me how meek some hackers are about determining what to build. It seems we have created a technology culture where the MBAs and their Powerpoints somehow suck all the air out of the room and leave geeks feeling inadequate. Actually however, no one is better suited to invent than users of technology who realize that the user experience can always be improved. There is always the temptation to start from the money and work back to the user, but this never bears remarkable fruit. Instead, start with what is broken today. Fix it, and you will be richly rewarded.

Go Big! - While I love that the Internet has enabled the emergence and growth of niche businesses, I still believe that the most alluring opportunities for real hackers lie in building applications (and infrastructure/platforms) that will benefit hundreds of millions of users.

Stay Cheap through Demo! - I see too many entrepreneurs these days feeling they need to build an entire company to support what is essentially a feature of a larger search engine or portal. It depresses me to see creative people wasting productive cycles on the mundane aspects of building full companies. YCombinator gets this. Their Summer Founders Program gives kids stipends of a few thousand dollars each to build baby companies over a two month span. No directors of HR, no accounts payable. Just sheer pragmatism and code intended to create working demos. When talented people are allowed to focus on their core competency without distraction, cool things happen.

Geeks rule! - Echoing my earlier sentiments that we frequently confuse whoever is loudest with being the folks getting stuff done, we can't forget that is actually the geeks who rule technology. More than ever, thanks to cheap/free development environments and powerful hardware, individual developers are empowered to have direct, scalable, and meaningful impact. I don't want to completely dismiss the ecosystem of those of us on the periphery of coding - businesspeople, VCs, lawyers, consultants. However, I think all of our hand waving can often discourage the guys and girls who lie at the heart of technology. As such, I believe that all the venture money in the world is no substitute for talent.

Food! - This may seem like a non-sequitur, however too often we forget about the human and collaborative nature of what we do. There is nothing like a free breakfast/lunch/dinner to bring folks together, loosen them up, and encourage sharing, debate, and brainstorming. Too often, I hear people remark that they expect us to cut out the free food now that we are a public company. I don't blame them for their shortsightedness because I think the last bubble burst ingrained in each of us a healthy skepticism. However, food provides a cooperative, egalitarian, and participatory foundation for everything we do. For a few thousand dollars per employee per year, a workplace can feel more like a home, or better yet, a community for the mind. In that light, it is worth noting that Google didn't wait until the company was rolling in dough to start meals. I believe the first chef at Google was approximately employee #40 or #50.

Be Open! - I mean this is many senses of the word. First off, most literally, there are few reasons not to use open source software these days. It allows you to scale faster and leverages the collective expertise of developers around the world to advance your project. Open source software also maximizes the chances that your code will integrate well with an eventual acquirer. Beyond that though, openness should be a characteristic of your business at all levels. Be transparent to your users and listen to their feedback. Be clear with your team and employees and inspire their trust.

Following the talk, I spent the next two hours in the hallway of the auditorium answering questions, hearing pitches, and seeing demos. With this crowd, I could have stayed all week. Congrats to Paul, YCombinator, and to the participants themselves. I have already heard from many of them, and I expect we will all continue to see great things from this gang.