Why Kickstarter Had To Get More Real

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Well, you probably saw it but Kickstarter is changing their rules on hardware and people have to get real:

  • Risks and challenges must be stated and how they’ll be overcome.
  • Hardware must do what it says it can do, or you can only show what it currently can do.
  • There’s a crackdown on photorealistic portrayals.
  • Changes “bulk” donor benefits (sometimes infamous as appealing to resellers)

First, let me be honest in my assessments – I think the Ouya is part of this.  I trust the Ouya product (in fact I shelled out a $100 donation and if you know me, then you know how hard it is to get me to part with money).  But there’s been rumblings here and there on how it could have been a scam and how others could scam people in similar ways.  The Ouya could be a success that later breaks Kickstarter.

However this is also just part of being more realistic – Kickstarter is pretty successful, and that means they want to be realistic and continue that success.

Success, good publicity, big scores is not the “end” of any venture like Kickstarter.  No one starts with the perfect business model, and even if they somehow did, the changes in the world would make it imperfect in time.  So even big popular hits like Kickstarter have to change.

The lessons to take away from this are:

  • Even successes have to adapt.
  • Kickstarter (and it’s imitators) will doubtlessly keep changing rules – so if you’re using it for your career or projects, remember that.
  • This is a good bit of “ammo” to use at work to show a company getting realistic and changing rules.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.

Recipe: White Bean Rosemary Stew

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A variant on a recipe from Vegetarian Times, this is a pretty quick meal to make.  The original had peppers, which I dislike in some cases, so I focused on tomatoes.

 
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 medium-large sweet yellow onion, diced
1 Tbsp crushed garlic (about two cloves)
1 can (14 1/2 oz) diced tomatoes or equivalent (A bit over 1 1/2 cups), drained.
1 can (14 oz), about 1 1/2 cups, low-sodium vegetable broth
1 can (14 oz) low-sodium white beans, drained and rinsed.
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp crushed, dried rosemary
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

  1. Saute onion and garlic in olive oil until onion starts to soften.
  2. Add tomatoes.  Saute until onions are soft.
  3. Add broth, beans, black pepper, rosemary, stir.
  4. Bring to boil, then simmer, covered, for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  5. Add balsamic vinegar, stir in.  Cook another minute

The results?

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Ask A Progeek: Networking When You Can’t

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Ah, job ads.  How many times they have instructions that have our heads spinning.  Let’s take a look at our latest Ask A Progeek:

If a job posting says that “only qualified applicants will be contacted” and “no phone calls please,” it seems like they don’t want you to contact them after applying.  In that case, how do you follow up? (or should you?)

This is a case of a fundamental job search issue – two different principles colliding.  In this case the rules of “networking” and “followup” with the other rule of “don’t annoy the people who may want to hire you.”  Your job search plans grind to a halt when something like this happens, because where do you go?

Actually you don’t let the problems butt into each other head on – you go around the situation.  Just like any obstacle you find away to go around it.  You circle around the obstacle.

In this case?  The obstacle is the HR department policy.

Now this policy may make sense.  As much as it heads off your plans, they may be too busy, too concerned, too careful, or too antisocial to want you contacting them.  Ask yourself if you were recruiting or hiring, wouldn’t there be situations where you wouldn’t want anyone contacting you?  The answer, by the way, is yes.

So you can’t charge on ahead and bug HR.  So you turn around and find another way to follow up.

The big way is networking.

See you can probably find people at the company you want to work for, or find people who know people there.  These people, if you know them or can get to know them, can follow up with you personally.  It’s not going and bugging the HR department (who are probably overwhelmed), its just good networking

Now this is going to take persistence and can have you running round and round to find the right people.  But if it’s a job you really want, then it’s worth the effort to go around the barriers . . . that they kind of put in the way anyway.

A final tip – no matter how friendly they are on followup, give potential employers MANY ways to reach you – phone, email, web page, etc.  Make it easy for them to get back to you.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.