Archive for March, 2008
Purpose, business, and values
Mike | March 29th, 2008We have been re-thinking lately whether crowdSPRING needs or wants a “Mission Statement.” Although we had rejected the notion a number of months ago, we are wondering whether it might have value for us. Many businesses have one, but many more choose not to (whether consciously or not) . After bouncing this around a bit, [...]
3 weeks. 337 Entries. 3 Winners.
Ross | March 27th, 2008How better to test crowdSPRING’s model for buying creative services than on ourselves? The last time I purchased web design services (several years ago), my law firm paid $10,000 for one designer to prepare three homepage concepts. I disliked all of them. The designer was good and the designs were not bad. But my choices [...]
Listening
Mike | March 22nd, 2008Iteration: (n.) \?i-t?-?r?-sh?n\ A procedure in which repetition of a sequence of operations yields results successively closer to a desired result. From latin iterum “again.” In the mathematical sense, to “iterate” is to go through a routine over and over, using the output of one step as the input of the next – Isaac Newton [...]
Protecting Your Creative Works
Ross | March 20th, 2008The Internet has changed our lives. It has also made it easier to copy, distribute and profit from someone else’s creativity. Although people know that taking someone’s iPOD without permission is theft, many people forget that taking an article, graphic, logo design, illustration or photograph found on the Internet, without the permission of the author, [...]
About Respect
Ross | March 10th, 2008We often forget that for every Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant, there are countless others who love to play basketball, play the violin, write, draw, design, make music, govern or create unique things. We forget too that there was only one Michael Jordan, one Leonardo da Vinci, one Si Da Ming Zhu, one Josephine Baker, [...]
On Collaboration
Mike | March 7th, 2008“I am a screenwriter, which is half a filmmaker…. But it is not an art form, because screenplays are not works of art. They are invitations to others to collaborate on a work of art.” – Paul Schrader I grew up in the film industry where one’s success, even survival, depends in large part on [...]
Creativity and Community
Mike | March 6th, 2008“If you’re going to create, create a lot. Creativity is not like playing the slot machines, where failure to win means you go home broke. With creativity, if you don’t win, you’re usually no worse off than if you hadn’t played.“ – Scott Adams Every day at work we eat lunch together. We take 30 [...]
Halfway There
Ross and Mike | March 4th, 2008“When you have completed 95 percent of your journey, you are only halfway there.” – Japanese Proverb What could be more natural than a trial attorney and an entertainment industry veteran teaming up to start an Internet business in Chicago? In 2006, Mike believed that a film industry workflow developed over the previous 100 years [...]
