August 9

This was supposed to be a pretty big day since I was going to be meeting with Andre Wechsler of Wechsler's Currywurst and Jimmy Carbone of Jimmy's No. 43.  I was a bit nervous because it was a bit of a big day. Wechsler was an ex-investment banker who decided to open a small shop that served authentic german currywurst (curry smothered german sausages) and beers.  Jimmy Carbone is one of the vanguards of the good beer movement in new york as well as all things local -- local food, local suppliers, local production and putting on lots of local events.  

The meeting at Wechsler's was quite good.  I arrived at noon, before anyone was really showing up and we had a good 35 minute conversation where I picked his brain about his experiences as a small business owner and the financial issues that arose.  The place didn't have AC, so it was muggy and we were both sweating a lot, but the talk was quite productive and he indicated he would be quite interested in participating.  That's a first for us thus far, so it was wonderful to hear.  I left feeling great.  

The meeting at Jimmy's was friendly and quite helpful, but it was clear from the get-go that he didn't believe in the model and didn't find it appealing.  He poured me a small glass of IPA from California and we sat down at one of the tables in front to talk.  He offered me food several times, but I declined because I found it a bit difficult to eat and try to talk at the same time.  I did, however, eat some of his spiced fried hazelnuts, which were awesome.  In the end, I think his greatest reservations was that he was firmly against taking debt for anything if he could.  Loans add fixed costs and the amount of time you have to pay back a loan was more important than the interest rate received.  The inflexibility of loans and the fact that they have to be paid back were major detractors from his ever considering to take a loan and he was pretty convinced that if he ever needed financing at such a low level, he would be able to procure it from a variety of sources ranging from trade creditors to friends and families to any other arrangements he could find.  10K was simply not a large enough sum, because it could easily get taken out on a credit card.

Ultimately, we needed to face a strong headwind on the business model.  We have never been properly challenged and most people we encounter basically see the model the same way we do, or don't dig in deeply enough to really engage with the issues, so having someone hitting the model hard was useful.  Not that it was fun.  I mean, he was certainly a very generous and friendly guy who took an hour out of his day to talk to me, but he didn't really see the merits of the model.   

I had to shake it off, so I played Portal 2 for the rest of the day until I turned back to working on web development some more.  

August 10

Today was a heavy day for web copy writing.  I basically spent 7 or 8 hours thinking through user interfaces, the presentation of information and copywriting the FAQs, describing the business and really trying to cut to the heart of the message.  Selling the concept truthfully and making it compelling is going to be a challenge, because there exist levels and levels of nuance that I find fascinating that no one else will take the time to consider.  I need to sell the central model fast and hard and make it as clear as possible.  Being unusually wordy and precise at times, this may be quite the challenge.

Later in the evening, Ben and I met with a developer named Matt who we had met at the Dim Sum Startup Enthusiasts Meetup.  Matt developed and sold a daily deals site based in DC and they were unusually successful in an otherwise crowded field.  The discussion moved quickly from topic to topic and it was abundantly clear that we were dealing with someone who was extremely intelligent, articulate and thoughtful.  He was also quite friendly and very easy to get along with...all in all, a really great person to consider working with.  We talked through the various issues facing us technically and in terms of the model and he seemed to be quite impressed with how we were tackling the issues we saw and the preparation we put into everything.  It was a great conversation and I'm quite glad to have met him.  Hopefully we'll be able to work with him in the future as we move towards a more technical focus.  

August 11

Today, not so productive.  Just don't really feel like doing anything.  But, I wrote some web copy and will be sending out our incorporation documents for (hopefully) the very last time.  Thank god.  We need to exist.  And fast.