When we started Bawte, all I dreamt about was landing that first huge whopper of a customer.  I remember landing our first customer with my last business quite vividly. It was Estwing Hammer. They called up and left our sales person a message saying they would like 1 of what we were selling. At that point we were elated and scared.  Elated because that is what you dream of. Scared because, now what do you do?

A guest blog post from Christian Renaud originally posted to his blog on January 21, 2009.

There are good things and bad things when discussing the trade-off between privacy and transparency.  Back in the days when I frequented many a Santa Fe Institute lecture, there was lengthy discourse about The Beer Game, which simulates a distribution system for beer sellers with knobs to allow for certain levels of transparency from retail to distribution to wholesale.  The point of the exercise is to determine 'How much transparency is too little, and how much is too much'.    If you don't expose your retail demand in a timely fashion, you end up having no inventory.  If you expose too much, you end up 'flapping' your distribution chain with wild inventory swings.

I think back on this exercise frequently when it comes to the Internet+Social Media, and the blood/brain barrier of privacy and transparency.  Should I share my trip details, or keep them private?  What efficiencies (e.g. catching dinner with friends also in town) do I miss by omitting my travel plans from my blog, etc...

Britax Child Safety, Inc. announced today that it is conducting a voluntary safety recall on select Britax Boulevard 70-G3, Pavilion 70-G3, and Advocate 70-G3 convertible car seats in the USA and Boulevard 65-G3, Pavilion 65-G3, and Advocate 65-G3 convertible (infant/child) car seats in Canada manufactured between June 1, 2012 and August 31, 2012 with the following model numbers:

USA: E9LJ91A, E9LJ91M, E9LJ91S, E9LJ92E, E9LJ93P, E9LJ93S, E9LK91A, E9LK31A, E9LK31Q, E9LK32D, E9LK32Z, E9LK33Q, E9LL11A, E9LL11Q, E9LL12D, E9LL12Z, E9LG81A, E9LG83N, E9LG83P, E9LG83X, E9LG83Y, E9LL21A, E9LL23P, E9LL23Y

Canada: E9LK11A, E9LK11M, E9LK11S, E9LK13P, E9LK13S, E9LK41A, E9LK41Q, E9LK42D, E9LK42Z, E9LK43Q E9LG91A, E9LG93N, E9LG93P, E9LG93X, E9LG93Y

I came across something the other day which is wicked unique and damn near genius.  Oh and it is good news for startups.  I came across a site called Mobile Futures (www.mobilefutures.com).  Before I go deep into what Mobile Futures is, let me tell you about a pain I have.  On a daily basis, I try to convince very large brands to work with us.  Most every brand that has given me an opportunity to speak is impressed and loves the idea.  That being said, getting to that point is laborious.  Finding the right person and getting them to spend time on a startup...very tough to do.  When I do get to the right person, moving from "Awesome idea!" to "Let's implement." is another struggle.

This may be premature or maybe I should have been doing this already. I have to apologize; while I have built many companies in the past I have never done one quite like this.  The principles are the same, but the timelines are dramatically different.  For example, in my past businesses we have always grown very much organically.  As revenue increases and customer count increases, so do employees.  We always worked lean, but as demand increases, it is natural to start splitting up functions and having more dedicated resources.

So I arrived home from work one night and as I progressed from the "drop zone" to the kitchen something immediately caught my eye.  I am a pretty observant person and when things aren't right, I notice them.  A light bulb goes out.  I notice. Something rearranged differently on the counter; I can pick it out.  So within the first 2 seconds of entering the kitchen I noticed the plastic vent cover on our GE microwave was missing.

The first day of TechCrunch Disrupt is in the books and we have already had the opportunity to pitch Bawte nearly 100 times.  We have had other startups, entrepreneurs, investors, large tech companies and consumer products companies stop by our little piece of Startup Alley.  TechCrunch Disrupt has certainly been an ideal platform for fine-tuning a quick, succinct message that highlights all of Bawte’s main benefits.

So it has been a very hot summer.  It seems as if for most of the summer the highs have been in the mid to upper 90's while breaking triple digits at least once or twice a week.  You add some humidity to the pot and it feels like you are burning up once your skin hits the light of the sun. So it goes as no surprise that with the added heat comes substantial personal swampiness.  To counteract the feeling we do things like take more showers.  We may lather on the deodorant a bit heavier as well.  I may have done both.

As many of you know who have used Bawte, it is pretty interesting to see all the different things people buy and tag.  We have had people tag every thing from gum to Google TV's and everything in between.  To say it has been pretty cool would be considered an understatement.  In an effort to further engage and promote the use of Bawte, we are releasing our badges to the public.  Now, we are not going to tell you all the badges and the criteria to get them, but we will let you in on our inaugural badge...the Thirst Quencher by Kum & Go.

This part 1 of a fictional series that goes over life moments and how Bawte plays a part.

For those of us who went to college we remember that time, that feeling of graduating and leaving the protected confines of school for 'the real world'.  Uncertainty, excitement, a nervous energy of things to come.  On one hand you are leaving a very comfortable place that, up to that point, has comprised almost 20% of your life (some of us longer ).  But on the other hand you are making your way in the real world.  Gone are the milk crate couches, old TV's and cheap (often much too dirty) cookware.  What's next is a time of building.