Author: Melih O.

Fatherhood, Uncategorized 2 comments on It’s a boy!

It’s a boy!

Micky and I are pregnant a second time.

I know, it’s shocking. We were shocked too. And so has everyone been who has heard so far. But it’s going to be amazing!

Today we went to the pre-natal folks to get our last ultrasound. To say we were nervous is a massive understatement. After Amelia’s oemphalocele, there hasn’t been an ultrasound machine that hasn’t made us nervous. As fate would have it, we were in the same room with the same ultrasound tech who found the problem with Amelia. Too many coincidences to really get comfortable.

Amelia was with us, and we were giving her a play-by-play of what her new sibling was showing off. We started with the spine, and worked through to the heart, various organs, 10 toes, 10 fingers, and then we shut our eyes so we wouldn’t see the sex.

We wanted to know everything was okay first.

Dr. Goldberg, with whom we’ve been through a lot, came in, and told us that everything looked great. We then excitedly, the three of us, got a peek at the little guys boy parts. And we smiled. And now we’re going to be four.

And it’s going to be amazing 🙂

just thinking out loud, Uncategorized 0 comments on Open letter to Netflix

Open letter to Netflix

Dear Netflix,

Looks like the competition is heating up. In the words of Gandhi, the fight has begun. It’s been quite an impressive ride though. Your stock price. How you’ve pushed the competition to bankruptcy. Quite impressive.

If you want to win the next round (which by the way is probably the final round of this bout), then you have to massively improve discoverability.

Netflix does a few things very well.

1) Netflix is on all devices
We moved to Roku just about one year ago. It’s fantastic because between Hulu Plus and Netflix we have almost everything we need. Yeah we’ve added Amazon Instant for some newer releases, but I know those are coming to the previously mentioned channels.

On top of that my PC has Netflix. My iPhone and iPad have Netflix. If I hooked up my XBox to do TV, then that would have Netflix. It’s a truly universal platform, and that’s awesome.

2) Netflix recommends wonderfully
Between the fact that I watch a bunch of documentaries and cop TV shows, and the fact that Micky watches a lot of cheesy Rom-Coms, Netflix has us figured out. Their selection isn’t great today (see next point), but of what they have they are able to categorize and relate it to what I’ve seen.

Netflix hosted a massive competition to improve their recommendation engine by 10%. It took 3 research teams over a year to put together the right algorithms, but they did it. It has definitely proven to be a competitive advantage for Netflix, and hopefully the million dollar prize has treated the competitors well.

3) Netflix is very aggressively going after content
Netflix just signed an extremely big deal with DreamWorks and is demonstrating a clear desire to increase its streaming catalogue. The competition is heating up, and so the price  is going to increase as well, but based on CEO statements Netflix is up to the battle.

This is really going to make the platform that much more compelling. However, the one thing that you do horribly is discoverability.

A movie platform, to be successful with discoverability, has to make it easy to search in any dimension that I want that I associate with the movies even after I discover the movie that I think I’m looking for. Movie title, actors, directors, genre are the obvious search topics that are most obvious. Today, you can search on those dimensions, but for Netflix search and discoverability are not the same thing. It’s not delivering the content that matters. Right now the web interface sucks, but it still gets the movies in front of me.

It’s all about how I interact with the content once I’ve had it presented to me. Give me cross-links on top of the movie that I’m looking at. Is it the actor that I’m interested in? Is it the location? What about the writer? Or the style of comedy?

How can you, Netflix, not have this data? And beyond that, how can you not encourage me to build such verticals into queues which are, “Melih’s Caribbean Instant Queue” or “Melih’s Witty British Humo(u)r Instant Queue”. I can have a movie night around self-categorized, self-discovered films, and, oh by the way, it makes Netflix that much smarter.

Also, please make this available on the Roku. Discoverability is even worse on devices than it is on the PC. But that’s a topic for another day.

Sports Stories, Uncategorized 0 comments on Gosh I miss college basketball

Gosh I miss college basketball

Between NC State beating Georgia Tech tonight (which we desperately needed to keep NCAA hopes alive), and the quality of the last 4 minutes of the Duke/UNC game, I’m reminded how much I miss college basketball.

I genuinely believe that it is the purest form of the game. The level of athleticism in the ACC is amazing. The quality of the coaching is spectacular. Each game means something, and that’s what keeps me on the edge of my seat. Being a spectator for my whole life, and a photographer on the sidelines during college, has taught me that it’s a game where the buzzer is the only barrier between a team and the opportunity to snatch victory on any given night. That is truly a beautiful thing.

The thing is I’ve lost sports a lot since moving out to California. I used to spend hours at the Rudino’s in Waverly Place just watching sports. I’d be there with my dad, or with my buddy John Gottshall. It was awesome. The thing is that Micky isn’t really into sports, and not having cable makes it hard to keep up.

In losing sports, I’ve gained a ridiculous amount of time for other things – building my own projects, writing this blog, learning to play guitar. I love those things. I’m also much more likely to do a sport whether it be running, golf, or soccer now that I’m not constantly planning my day around watching sports.

That said, it’s weeks like this one where I say to myself thank goodness for ESPN3, and an Austin Rivers 3-pointer.

Fatherhood, Uncategorized 0 comments on A sunset over the Pacific

A sunset over the Pacific

I came home today, and took Amelia to the ocean. We watched the sun set over the Pacific as the low tide took the ocean away from us and towards the horizon.

There’s a break about 40 yards out where the waves climb up as if there’s a ramp that blindly throws them in the air only to leave them with a long fall on the other side that wasn’t expected.

When you sit on the beach and look through those waves at the setting sun, there’s a calming effect. It’s a moment I wanted to last forever, but as quickly as the sun sets the moment disappears with it.

Every time I look at Amelia I realize just how ethereal everything actually is. Her entire life can be summarized as a series of moments built on top of each other but simultaneously forgotten as soon as the next one arrives. There is no need for memory. Only for experience.

I’ll remember every single one of these moments, and she’ll remember not a single one. Our first kiss. Our first sunset over the Pacific. The moment the doctor told us it was a girl. The first time she held my finger.

And when she does begin to remember, it will come from her own eyes, and her own world view. That’s a beautiful thing, but something that is solely hers. I don’t know how to share those moments with her. Maybe time will teach me, or maybe I’ll always be an outsider, but regardless of the outcome the fact still remains.

Through this series of moments, I am just a flicker. But the sun set was beautiful.

Fatherhood, just thinking out loud, Uncategorized 0 comments on A very un-Super Bowl weekend

A very un-Super Bowl weekend

We had a great weekend.

I think because we avoided the Super Bowl. You see, I’ve really lost my interest in watching sports since being out here. If you get me in front of a TV, then I still love it, but I can’t plan around it anymore. There’s just too much to do in life.

What did we do instead?

Brunch with a dear friend. One of my best friends from Raleigh, John Gottshall, is in town through Tuesday. We took him to the top of Twin Peaks, which I’d never done before, and it was quite awesome. One thing that wasn’t was the $4.50 hot dog, but that’s San Francisco for you.

And all of that was just Saturday!

Today we trekked into Sonoma and Napa hitting three wineries, two tours and a great two hour lunch along the way. Micky and I are members of the Hess winery, and I love it. The art is cool. The wine is easy to drink. Really great place to take folks.

When we got home Miss Amelia went straight to bed. She’s now rolling onto her stomach to sleep that way using Boomer as a pillow. Her little butt is sticking straight up in the air like a teepee. It’s quite cute really.

John and I watched the last two drives of the game, and then we all had burgers, fries, and fantastic conversation.

What more could a weekend be?

New Year Resolutions, Uncategorized 0 comments on 2012 Resolutions

2012 Resolutions

A new year, and a new set of resolutions.

I had a lot of fun with last year’s resolution, but didn’t quite cross the finish line. It turns out that writing 10 minutes worth of comedy that people will actually laugh at is REALLY hard. Nonetheless, I met some awesome folks, and the guy who runs the SFCC is a great guy. I’d highly recommend the program to anyone who has public speaking problems, wants to learn how to add comedy to their daily routine or is just looking for a new hobby. Definitely a good crew to be around.

This year I’m focusing much more on myself, and asking myself to commit to a healthier future. I am… giving up fast food!

I’m not giving up every fast food restaurant out there. I’ll still eat at Bojangles or Chik-fil-a, but other than that, I’m done. It’s been pretty hard so far, but I’m definitely getting there. I think it could be a real game changer.

My second resolution, which is much smaller in nature but equally worth noting, is shaving at least every other day. I want to be consciously coming into each day, and I think that shaving is, for me, a way of not letting the day catch me by surprise.

I feel good about my resolutions this year, but I’ll definitely update all as the year progresses!

Fatherhood, Uncategorized 0 comments on You can walk before you crawl, but should you?

You can walk before you crawl, but should you?

Watching Amelia Rose grow up is a fascinating exercise in humility. We are truly brought into this world in as useless a form as is possible. And yet, we immediately challenge the world around us to explain itself. First through sight, and then through some combination of touch and taste.

The phase we’ve just entered with Amelia Rose is mobility. Explore the world through a sense of mobility which enables independence and a sense of adventure. And so enters the age old adage that one should learn to crawl before they attempt to walk.

It turns out that that adage is misleading.

You see, it’s entirely possible to walk before you crawl. Amelia Rose is doing her darndest to do just that. Given enough help, she’ll definitely get there. So why all of the emphasis on learning to crawl first?

The danger isn’t that she learns to walk. It’s that she never learns to catch herself when she falls.

So my job is to catch her when she needs a net, but to let her fall when there’s a lesson to be learned. And somewhere in between she might learn to crawl, but I know she’ll find her way onto her feet and into the next adventure.

Oh baby, the places we’ll go!

Becoming a PM, Uncategorized 3 comments on Trying to get to “just right”

Trying to get to “just right”

Hunch co-founder Chris Dixon wrote a blog post about the “Goldilocks Principle“, and how it affected their relationship with customers as Hunch pivoted from a B2C to B2B offering.

Hunch was in the position of being “too hot”. I think that OpenTok is still in a position of being… not “too cold”, but I’d revise it to actually be “not quite cooked yet”. In lean startup methodology, I think that we’re still a “nice to have” as opposed to a “must have”.

I’ve spoken a lot with my fellow PM Andrew about what it’s going to take to make the OpenTok platform cross over to that sweet spot where folks understand that not only do they need live video to be a part of their applications, but that they need live video as powered by TokBox.

It’s a tough problem to solve when you’re creating a market. The real value of face to face communication can only be experienced, it can’t be sold. And that makes it difficult to try to hand wave one’s way to a deal or partner launch. At the more abstract level, you need to convince someone that something they never knew they were missing is actually a critical component of the product that they live and breathe every day. That’s pushing water up a hill if ever there was an example.

All of that said, we’ve done a few things that have really started to help move the needle for us. Better demoes, live demoes and improving quality of partners, and with it testimonials, have all helped with the “you’ve got to see it to believe it” problem that we were having. Those were big steps forward, but I don’t think that they are the real game changers.

The biggest game changer, in my opinion, is what we didn’t do.

Not doing has two components – what you actively chose not to do, and what came to you outside of your control.

We chose not to wait
I can definitely say that I disagreed with the TokShow plug-n-play application. It felt too close to what some of our favorite partners were doing. I don’t actually believe in grey areas, and a lot of the defense around the app used grey area arguments. I’m of the opinion that you make a decision consciously, and that you confront the known consequences of that decision.

Why was the decision right, and I was wrong? Because the opportunity wasn’t a need; it was a flash in the pan. This is where I truly realized that we weren’t a “must-have” platform for anyone yet. But the transition across that proverbial chasm required that when there were flashes in the pan, we caught them.

Is it possible to grow organically, and really let the market come to you? Yes. Disqus did it. But that just wasn’t in the cards for us, and so we didn’t wait.

Our competition arrived
I don’t know how many people thought that video chat was relevant before July of this year.

Yeah some phones had it, but not really.

Yeah Skype had it, but that didn’t live in the browser nor did it integrate into other applications.

And then Google Hangouts landed, and the Facebook+Skype integration followed. And then it got interesting.

Our competition has arrived.

We chose not to be afraid of specialization
I think that I was under the impression that a platform had to solve all problems to all people. It worried me that at times we were making trade offs and decisions that applied to certain verticals, and helped certain partners.

I now realize that platforms never start as all thing to all people. That’s way too difficult a problem for day one. Instead the early adopters of a platform help to shape and define the path from from where we are to where we are going.

It’s still our job to be the conductor, but every now and then there’s a soloist who needs the opportunity to shine for all of us to get to the next level.

New, unforeseen use cases emerged and we did not ignore them
We spent almost nine months on the archiving infrastructure. We did a lot of things wrong (and that’s coming in a new post). The one thing we did right was listen.

During our beta program a new use case emerged; we rapidly iterated and got the stand-alone recorder and player to our developers.

I don’t know that if we had allowed ourselves to be (a) consumed by a desire to singularly focus and (b) driven by a need to launch we would have made the same decision.

Instead we chose not to ignore the blinking light off to the side, and it has brought the archiving API into many more applications as a result.

I haven’t read the remainder of Chris Dixon’s blog series about the journey that Hunch has taken in getting acquired by eBay, but I wonder if NOT doing played as integral a role for Hunch as it has for TokBox.

I do know though that when we look back at what got us to the “Goldilocks point”, not doing will have been as important as anything we did on purpose.