The Daily Blagica

02 · 14

Through the eyes of 2

Working through the lens of a computer screen has its welcomed moments of these attached images.

My daughter, who is the topic of many a social update, shows me the daily importance of slowing down and taking it all in.

Today, my moment was on the train ride back from HQ. I read a magazine. A paper magazine.

I never knew I'd learn more from a 2 year old than this week.

02 · 08

Hey Sexy Startups, Calm Down. Plan. Think. Grow.

I'd like to take you back to 1999. A need was recognized by some airlines. They got together, threw in some cash, partnered with the minds of Boston Consulting Group and formed a new startup. That startup was Orbitz. The investment was $145 million, give or take.

I started at Orbitz in June 2001, the same month Orbitz officially launched to the public. For those of us who worked at Orbitz, it was indeed a startup feel, but it was a startup that was run by some of the most meticulous engineers, designers and marketers I've known. We had aggressive goals, consumers to answer to and were in an industry in the midst of one of the worst moments in US history, 9/11.

From the moment we went live, the customer experience was thought, rethought and shaped over and over again. We didn't have perfect moments. But we also didn't have some of early hiccups I'm seeing some startups experience today. Privacy snafus, revenue disclosure forgetfulness and the need to be - sexy.

Here's what's sexy. Put your startup minds in the heads of the consumers you are trying to service everyday. What are they doing? What time are they investing in YOUR brand new startup? What tweets and referral traffic are they taking the time to send you? How are you making their experience a reciprocal one? These people are taking the time out of their respective social circles to give you the props and attention that keeps you up in the wee hours, counting the number of times your Twitter handle gets retweeted. Perhaps you are putting this on a competing dashboard with your fellow startup buddies.

Back in 2002, this is what was sexy for me: knowing that I had the inside scoop on the most kick butt airline deal from Chicago to Las Vegas. Knowing that at midnight, I would launch a new ad that would tell the world that there was a price drop on a popular destination. I thrived on getting this information out to people. Sure, we had revenue goals to hit, but we put ourselves in the minds of the people who spent time with us.

We were a startup, but we were steady. We needed to grow fast and we did, but always with a plan. We made mistakes and learned from them.

We wanted to provide the best online travel experience for consumers who carved time out of their day to visit us.

One of the senior execs of those early Orbitz years saw another problem. Consumers were searching multiple travel sites at once. So he left Orbitz.

And started Kayak.

The moral of the startup story? Being sexy has many definitions. Solving a real consumer problem and focusing on THAT is the sexiest of them all.

To fellow Orbitz alum who've gone on to lead and run even more startups in this world, I'm proud to have worked with you when I did. What an amazing ride it was.

02 · 07

Don't forget the middle

I've been having the same conversation with different people these last weeks. There is an interesting trend happening in the digital and social worlds today: the shortage of strong middle tiered practitioners.

On one end, you have hard working fresh faces wanting to learn and grow. They will work and crank out projects for their team.

On the other end, you have high level managers who are considered the big thinkers, but often times they don't spend too much time getting in the nitty gritty.

What the industry needs is a reminder. The junior ad exec needs to be trained to get to the next level of their career, but they also need to remember that they are part of a team. A highly trafficked personal blog doesn't give this group the automatic permission to coast into a promotion.

The seasoned manager and mini celebrity needs to build in time to mentor and guide the next group of leaders. This means rolling up sleeves, assigning projects and following up.

The middle group of managers has a tremendous opportunity to reshape the industry. It's a key stepping stone and the one that will take the most time to get to.

We need more of them.

02 · 03

Matthew Stafford Gets My NAME Right

I had to leave Indy, but my team was able to get Matthew Stafford to do a shout out to me on video.

Yay

01 · 29

The Next Chapter: Gals' Guide is Back

Some of you may recall a project I've been passionately keeping alive when I could. Whether it was during holiday breaks, late hours on the laptop or in between Lily's naps, I wanted to keep Gals' Guide going.

I also faced a challenge. I was a 35 year old woman who still had a lot of news to share about living in the Big City, but writing new content from scratch wasn't easy. The ladies that initial wrote for Gals' Guide had new projects of their own and the world of 20 something blogs were continuing to surge.

No, I needed to do something different and offer a utility that women fresh out of school could really use.

I can't remember how many discussions and brainstorms I had with fellow civic minded folks, developers and my husband (he was the ultimate trooper). Around this time, I discovered the beauty of new data released by not only Chicago, but the federal government. And that data was dying to be crafted in a way that made sense.

Through relentless asking and luck, I found a fellow civic minded developer, Paul. I combed through data sets and Paul brought the tables to life. Once the first versions came back, I was floored. We only took a few data sets as samples, but I finally saw a map of the type of data I could have used when I moved to Chicago.

We are pleased to announce the 'Gals' Guide Map App' (working title).

The idea is simple, but we still need your feedback. Type in an address in Chicago and select various information sets you'd like to learn about. From there,you can overlay Groupon deals and even see which ward you live in. This is the first time I've seen a map that not only shows the name of a neighborhood, but demonstrates the number people living there by age. Wonder how many people walk to work from your neighborhood? This map will show you.

So go ahead. Play around with the app and let us know your feedback (you can do so by clicking the 'feedback' button on the upper left nag). We have more ideas for what we want to pull in here (think UGC), but it's a solid step to help women move to the city with even more context to their neighborhoods.

01 · 14

Snow angel of hilarity

01 · 10

CES, hello from Motorola

01 · 09

Tracking CES with MOTOACTV

I'll be using my MOTOACTV to keep track of my workouts, daily calories burned and steps walked around Vegas.

Learn more about this device at MOTOACTV.com.

01 · 01

Real Social Media from 10 Midwest Companies

Crain's teamed up with Dachis Group and surveyed the social media activities for the top public and private companies in Chicago. I was proud to see my team at Motorola make the list! It's been an outstanding year of challenges, learning and endless amounts of data, but we wouldn't have it any other way.

Other companies listed include Kraft, McDonald's, Sears, Walgreen Co., Deere & Co., Boeing & Co., Allstate Corp, Abbott Laboratories and Discover Financial Services.