StillSecure, After All These Years

StubHub millionaires?

One of the cool things about the first dot com bubble was the "ebay millionaire". These were people who built businesses around selling goods at auction on ebay.  There has been much written and said about the methods of these people and certainly it was a big attraction to people selling on ebay.  I had an interesting plane ride home today where I met someone and discovered todays equivalent. I call it the StubHub millionaire. It  is a testament to American ingenuity and shows that given the tools, people will find a way to exploit and make money.

Up until fairly recently you bought tickets to sporting events and other entertainment from a box office or ticket agent such as ticketron.  The "after market" in ticket sales or scalping as it was called in NY was often times illegal.  There were though some legal ticket brokers that you could buy tickets from. Now with the advent of StubHub and similar type of ticket reselling outlets on the web though, the infrastructure is in place for anyone to sell tickets on line.  You would think that most of these people selling tickets were people who had either extra tickets to an event or perhaps a season ticket holder looking to unload some tickets to help defray the costs. Not the case!

There is a now a whole class of businessman who buys season tickets to multiple teams, sports and cities and than uses outlets like StubHub and others to sell these tickets.  The guy I spoke to today had season tickets to 6 different NFL teams, 3 major league baseball teams and multiple basketball and hockey teams.  Many of his tickets are sold months and weeks before the event. If any are left within 14 days of the event he puts them on ebay.  His average mark up is about 40 to 50% of face value, but by buying season tickets he pays below face, so his actual margin is closer to 60 to 70%. He keeps a few tickets for him and his family to go to a few games a year. 

This started as a hobby for him with Yankee season tickets, but he has done an analysis and compared to what he would make investing that money in the market, he has come out way, way ahead.  He thinks that on a 12,500 investment, he makes about 40k!  That is not bad.  This year when all is said and done he will make six figure income from the resale of tickets he bought.  Think about it, no office or anything.  Just list your tickets and let people buy them.  Take some of the money and buy more tickets.

So what the heck am I doing trying to show people why it is important that they put good security in place on their computers?  There has got to be a better way.

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Mothers, let your sons (and daughters) grow up to be hedge fund managers

When I was a kid it was fashionable to think that your mother wanted you to grow up and be a doctor, a lawyer or some other such professional. A policeman or fireman was dangerous, a sanitation worker did not have much prestige. By the time I was in college, the smarter kids were going to work on Wall Street, instead of going to medical or law school. Later during the dot com bubble, many of the best and brightest were siphoned off from Wall Street to go into technology. It is obvious that bright young adults are going to follow the money. Well if that is the case, there is no alternative but to grow up and become a hedge fund manager according to this article in the NY Times today.

Several of the most successful managers made over 3 billion dollars each last year alone! That is not that their companies cleared 3 billion, they themselves made 3 billion. In fact to make it to the list of the top 25 hedge fund managers in terms of compensation you had to earn at least 360 million dollars last year alone. Think about that in terms of the median American family income was $60,500.00 dollars last year. So ask yourself, what are you doing securing networks or whatever you do. Stop wasting your time and go get into the hedge fund business.

Seriously, think about it. Hedge funds don't manufacture or make anything, they don't sell a product per se. They manipulate money and make bets on what will go up or down. Sort of the ultimate riverboat gamblers. They aren't teaching our kids to be better people, they aren't making the world safe or making the environment better. But the rewards for what they are doing are almost beyond belief. What message does this send as a society? When I see companies that won't spend a couple of dollars to make sure that your confidential information remains confidential and than see these kind of numbers, what does this society value?

But who am I to rain on the parade of these Titans of Wall Street. I am going to go home and start working on my sons to think about thier future. Like they told Dustin Hoffman in "The Graduate", just one word - Plastic HedgeFund!

Who could use some extra cash?

Could you use an extra 2k? How about an extra 5k? Here is the best part, you don't have to do anything illegal and you will actually feel good about doing it!  Here at StillSecure we are growing again.  We have a number of openings up on our web site under the careers section. Every so often we designate certain jobs as "hot jobs".  If you refer someone for one of our regular jobs and they are hired, we pay you a thousand dollars on hiring. If they stay 6 months, we send you the other thousand!  If it is one of the hot jobs you get 5k instead of 2k.  How do you refer a potential candidate?  Easy, just have them send their resume to careers@stillsecure.com with a note saying you are the referrer and your email address, as well as the position they are applying for. Sound easy enough?  I think so.

Of course no offer like this is complete without the fine print. So here it is:

Candidates cannot refer themselves and only the first person or agency to refer a candidate that is hired will be compensated.  If a candidate is already under consideration at the time of the referral under this program, no compensation will be paid.  Referrers must complete a W-9 for tax purposes before compensation can be distributed.  This program will run through April 30, 2008 or until all open positions are filled, whichever comes first.  Specifically referrals must be provided by April 30, 2008 and referred applicants must be hired by May 31, 2008 to qualify. Don't miss your chance to earn some extra cash!

Just kidding, here are the details:

Candidates cannot refer themselves and only the first person or agency to refer a candidate that is hired will be compensated.  If a candidate is already under consideration at the time of the referral under this program, no compensation will be paid.  Referrers must complete a W-9 for tax purposes before compensation can be distributed.  This program will run through April 30, 2008 or until all open positions are filled, whichever comes first.  Specifically referrals must be provided by April 30, 2008 and referred applicants must be hired by May 31, 2008 to qualify.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this program or our open positions, please contact our HR department at careers@stillsecure.com.  StillSecure reserves the right to alter or modify this program at any time by posting changes to its website.  Whether a referrer is entitled to compensation shall be within StillSecure's sole discretion and StillSecure's decision will be final.

Do you have the right stuff?

Let me get right to the point. I hate paying headhunters.  StillSecure is looking for a killer sales person for the Northeast US.  If you are based in Boston or NY, this is a great chance to join our company at an exciting time in the market and our history.  If you think you have what it takes, drop me an email at alan at stillsecure dot com and lets talk.

Is Big Yellow going Pink?

No I am not talking about supporting the fight against breast cancer.  I mean pink as in pink slips. Dan Kaplan over on the SC Magazine News team blog (Dan does a great job on the blog by the way, but the SC folks have not joined the SBN, how about it guys?) has an interesting story up about potential big layoffs coming at Symantec. Dan notes that Symantec went through one round of layoffs back in March, but that the scuttlebutt on this round is that it is much bigger this time according to Valleywag. Supposedly the sales numbers especially in North America are not good. 

Will be interesting to see how it plays out.  Of course the whole economy may be headed to the hopper, including tech.  It may not be just Symantec that goes through some belt tightening.

What are friends for?

My bud Michael Farnum has an interesting, yet naive post up about using friends as business contacts being potentially dangerous.  I think Michael being new to the "sales game" shows that he has a lot to learn about networking (I don't mean ethernet either), friendship and business. Michael's point is that when you "use" a friend to get into a potential new customer account, you run the risk of damaging the friendship if things don't go well.  My reply in short is, "nothing ventured, nothing gained", Michael.  But lets dig deeper.

I think there is a ton of business done through friends and acquaintances making introductions. In fact it is the norm rather than the exception. I also think it says a lot about you and your friends expectations around your friendship if you think that the fact that your companies products or services didn't work as planned would kill your friendship.  In sales this is a classic example of sales reluctance.  Many unsuccessful sales people suffer from sales reluctance and not wanting to risk a friendship is only one type of it.  Here is a chart inspired George Dudley, the founder of Behavior Science Press.  It is his dirty dozen of sales reluctance as explained by Sales Champions:

The Twelve Faces of Sales Call
Reluctance®

Type	Description	Statistics
Doomsayer	Wastes energy worrying about everything	Loses three new accounts each month
Over-Preparer	Always getting ready; overanalyzes, underacts	Sells only 43% of annual quota
Hyper-Pro	Over-concerned about image and credibility	Presentation skills rated only average
Stage Fright	Uncomfortable speaking before groups	Loses $10,800 in annual gross sales
Role Rejection	Feels guilt and shame associated with the sales career	Four fewer new accounts each month
Yielder	Fears doing anything which might be considered intrusive	Impedes success of TQM programs
Social Self Consciousness	Intimidated by “up-market” prospects with wealth, power or education	Sells 33% less of annual quota
Separationist	Uncomfortable enlisting friends to help network	Loses three new accounts per month
Unemancipated	Uncomfortable enlisting family to help network	Sells 15.5% less of annual quota
Referral Aversion	Hesitates to ask for referrals	Sales 19% under quota
Telephobia	Uncomfortable using the telephone to prospect or sell	Earns $10,000 less commissions annually
Oppositional Reflex	Emotionally unable to allow anyone to manage, coach advise or train	Defaults nine new accounts per year

Michael, you fall under the separationist category.  You are losing 3 new accounts every month!  What is interesting, is if the friends contact you, then it is OK to go in and try to "help" them.  What happens if it goes south from there?  Is your friendship OK because they came to you?  What difference does it make who came to whom.  If both parties recognize you are trying to help and doing your best, there should not be any long term effects to the friendship. Don't worry Michael there is still hope for you yet.

What about the rest of you?  Do you recognize any of your own traits in this chart?  Are any of these holding you back from success?  Don't think it is just selling products either.  Remember in one way or another we are all always selling.

Great holiday weekend, but does anybody care about Labor Day anymore?

Like most of you, I had a great holiday weekend.  Spending time with Bonnie and the kids, swimming, bowling, movies, BBQ, tennis, etc. Watching a little bit of the Jerry Lewis MDA telethon (another big year for Jerry's kids, I hope it will lead to some breakthroughs). You could get real used to three day weekends couldn't you?  Sitting down tonight to finish editing this weeks podcast, I was thinking a bit about the idea of holiday weekends.  It seems that Memorial Day weekend and Labor Day weekend have become the bookends to the beginning and end of Summer.  On Memorial Day, I think most of us get it that it is about a day of remembrance for all of those who have given life and limb so that we may live free.  I am not sure how many of us actually take the time to reflect on that during Memorial Day though.  But I would venture that more of us do that, than take a moment to reflect on the true meaning of Labor Day.

For those who may not know Labor Day was set aside as a national holiday in 1894 to commemorate the organized labor movement in this country.  Through ups and downs, depressions and boom, the American labor movement thrived. In its heyday in the 50' nearly one half of all US workers  belonged to unions.  Of course that seems now like ancient history and no one can argue that labor unions have as much influence or relevance as they once did.  I remember being younger and many older folks arguing passionately about the good or evil of unions.  You don't hear that much anymore. Instead, maybe the holiday should celebrate the American worker who strives to be more productive and competitive in this new flat world (check out Friedman's book in the left column) we must all live in. 

In any event it sure is nice to have the long weekend, no matter how you feel about labor unions, American workers or anything else.  If you are interested in more on the topic, former Clinton Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich has a good blog article up on this subject. I also found an interesting article along these same lines from the Kansas City Star's, KansasCity.com.  Maybe next Labor Day or before, you can take a moment to think about America's laborers and what the labor unions meant to the people of this country.

Who owns your email?

A while back, on a mailing list I am on there was a bit of discussion around who owns your email when you leave a company. In another words, after you leave can an employer look at and use the email addressed to you at that company. Sort of like opening the mail of the people who used to live at your house maybe. Does an employee have a right to privacy if he is using an email address and mailbox provided by his employer?  These are thorny questions best left to lawyers and HR types.  However, I wanted to point out a good article written by my friend Don Ulsch from Jefferson Wells. 

Some of you may remember that I originally got to know Don when him and I had a slight disagreement over the use of blogs by employees.  As is often the case, through that open debate I actually became friendly with Don and he was nice enough to forward along a new article he wrote for bizAZ.  Unfortunately it is not available on line so I have uploaded (Download bizazjulyaugust_2007.pdf) for you to download if you like.  In the article (which is rather short), Don makes the case for how a small business owner can institute open and fair email policies that everyone can live with and can help prevent security and privacy concerns down the road.  Don lays out some good policies and how to implement them.  I recommend you taking a look if you are interested in such a thing.  Also, as Don points out, if you are a small business owner, the email in your employees inbox belongs to you, not the employee.  So for all of you employees out there, remember everything you write can be seen by big brother and belongs to him, if you are using his email box!

Non-work article - Holiday weekend with family and friends

Nothing like a long holiday weekend to recharge the batteries.  Even though I was out in Vegas last week with Bonnie, it just didn't feel like a vacation.  Probably because it wasn't.  I was booked and busy all week with Interop related activities. Anyway, spending the weekend with the family and friends was a great way to deflate and get ready for June.  We really didn't do much. Saturday was spent with the kids doing some gardening and landscaping around the house and then swimming. Saturday night we had a great dinner at a new Greek restaurant here in Boca with our friends Bill and Dori Gerstein.  Then more swimming and parties with the kids on Sunday, topped off by a trip to the water park with the Gerstein's and their children today. Not even a sub-par dinner at the new Outback Steakhouse that opened near our house could ruin it.

One sort of work related thing, was a good conversation I had with Bill about H-1B visas.  Bill is a great immigration attorney and spends a lot of time on H-1B's.  Bill says that the tech industry is single handedly eating up all of the H-1B's and we need to do something about this.  He does not understand why Congress just does not allow more H-1B's if the demand is there.  As a result, either you have the possibility of folks working illegally or of jobs being outsourced out of the country.  Makes sense to me.  You can read more about this on Bill's blog here.

Friends who blog ... and work together

This is not a post about Mitchell.  But most of you may already know what we announced and made official today.  My good friend Martin McKeay has joined our company as product evangelist.  Martin was one of the first people I met through blogging and over time we have developed a close friendship.  Also, over that time I have admired Martin for his ability to take his technical background and marry it to his passion for blogging, podcasting and journalism to become the person he is today. 

Martin's role in our company is to evangelize our products and some of the research that Mitchell's team is working on.  Over time Martin's role will become more defined and I am sure he will be a valuable contributer.  When Mitchell and I were speaking about this role, it seemed a natural to me for Martin. Everything just lined up right, in that Martin was looking to go in a new direction, we needed his exact mix of technical and marketing skills and his web 2.0 chops.  In Yiddush/Jewish there is a word beshert, which roughly translated means, it was meant to be.  Actually the concepts of fate and pre-determination and all of that mystic stuff are rolled in to bershet too.  Bottom line is it it just feels right.

So Martin, welcome to the StillSecure team.  We are proud and happy to have you on board.  We are also sure that you are going to be a valuable piece of the puzzle towards our success. If nothing else, between Mitchell, you and I, we will be well represented in the blog-o-sphere. To the rest of you security bloggers/podcasters out there, not to worry, eventually we will hire you too ;-)

Empty Nest Syndrome

One of the hardest things about founding a company and being a little older than some of the people working there is saying good bye.  Unfortunately I have learned the hard way that sometimes great young people come into your organization and in order for them to continue growing along their career path it becomes necessary for them to move on.  Recently we had two people in our company that have moved on to hopefully bigger and better things.  First was Jeannine our marketing manager.  She has moved onto another company to pursue her dream of working in business development and channels.  We had no openings for her here and she felt it was time for her to go to the next level.  We wished her luck and were thankful for the all of the good things she did for our company.  Now today was the last day for a young gal we hired probably a year or more ago.  Courtney Smith from our PR team has been a great asset to the company and watching her become a real "PR Pro" under the guidance of our director of  PR Sonya Hausafus has been spectacular.  Now all grown up, Courtney is moving on to work in a PR agency to further round out her experience.  Again we wish her well and will miss her and all of the hard work and great things she did here.

I know that this is just the natural way of things but still will miss not working with these great folks on a daily basis anymore.  The good news is that we will hire two new people to take their place and watching them do their jobs and become part of the fabric of our company will be equally exciting.  Plus this month, we are adding someone else to our team who I have known for some time and I am really pumped about.  You will have to wait on that one though.  Until then, Courtney best of luck in your new job and keep us posted on your progress.

A few good men and/or women

Mitchell has a post up on his blog about some new hiring we are doing for the convergence product Mitchell is managing and which is quickly becoming the worse kept secret on the Internet.  It won't be long until Thomas from Matasano tells me that there is actually a web page available with all of the information regarding it if I was smart enough to look.  Anyway, we actually have some openings for our NAC development team as well.  The specific slots and roles are:

• Java developers
• QA engineers
• Linux networking and system admin
• Product evangelist (convergence product)

If you think you have what it takes and are looking for a life changing experience and hooking up with a company that is going places send a resume to careers@stillsecure.com.  If you want to ask me about the jobs, you can also email me directly.