Jeff Widman (.com)

(I’d really appreciate it if you would become a fan of facebook.com/mint! See below for details…)

Solving problems is often easier than we expect.  Facing a gnarly problem? Start with this list…
When I worked at TechCrunch, I was told, “Fill out these profiles on CrunchBase.”  It turned out the fastest/cheapest way to get that done was [...]

[My apologies for the lack of artful brevity in this post. I'm just typing this one out on the fly.]

I met Rollan at Pub night–a weekly hang-out of twenty-something Christians in the Palo Alto area.  Rollan was a gregarious Asian, forty-six years old, divorced, with three kids. Despite his age, he occasionally dropped by, and [...]

In October, Matthew Scott interviewed me for his Men@Pause podcast series.
Don’t know that I’m a man at pause (especially given this tweet), but I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.  And it’s not every day you get interviewed by a former Psychological Warfare specialist and combat paratrooper!

The broad topic was Gen Y–specifics included:

Distinctly generational definitions of success
Why [...]

At least once a week someone asks me “How do I become a better networker?”
My opus on the subject.

As long as we live in a resource-constrained world (time, money, etc), we will create filters to separate the top-notch from the tolerable, the Thinkpad’s from the Acer’s, the Nunatak’s from the Campmor’s.
Most of these filters are intuitive, unconsciously acted upon.
I remember hearing a basketball referree, a seasoned college-level veteran, recount how crowds went from [...]

A friend recently asked how to get her own domain name (I am shocked by how few people do this!):
if you’re a non-techie, this is the simplest way to get yourname.com…(and retain a Gmail interface)
if you’re a techie…(you wouldn’t ask)
if you’re heading into the job/contract market, you’d purchase hirefirstname.com…(much harder to miss-spell if spoken in [...]

This is the first, last, and only episode of the Gen Y Marketing Podcast.
In this twenty minute segment, I interview Charlie Hoehn & Aidan Nulman about:

Interning for Seth Godin
Listening to your audience versus doing what you think works
Generation Y–what’s hype, what’s legit
How they define marketing
A bunch of other interesting stuff I can’t remember.

(Hat [...]

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
A friend recently asked about mentoring folks.
Here’s an e-mail I sent several months ago to a guy who is gradually becoming a mentor. We both wanted to make the relationship happen, but we also both lead very full lives.
 
Thanks for the offer to mentor me a little more–much appreciated and it didn’t slip [...]

(Title format derived from SAT analogies–it must be PSAT time because this post is drawing over half my traffic.)
 
When it comes to life, you certainly get your money’s worth!

-Karl Klaesius (friend & mentor)
 
Life is full. Of opportunities. For success. Or failure.But most often. Simply distraction.
 
 
A particular quote keeps showing up in my life:
Be prepared [...]

Two days ago, my sister and I were talking over the phone:
"Jeff, I’m going to these parties with our highschool friends, and they all ask about you. [Thanks guys!] I try to explain, only I’m not really sure… What is TechStars and what are you doing there?"
Well Michelle, here’s the answer.
 
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