Who do you call first?

Posted on August 6, 2010 by Brock Blake

I had a great discussion the other day with Geraldine Alias, principal at Volition Capital (formerly known as Fidelity Ventures).  She was talking about her days as a VC and the strategies that set Volition apart from other VCs across the country.  During that conversation, she mentioned something that has really stuck out in my mind since then.

She said, “If we are not the first person that the CEO calls (outside of the internal management team) about questions, problems, good news, etc.; then we feel that we are not doing our job.”

That explanation painted a very clear picture of how important it is to their firm to really partner with their portfolio companies.  That is a real compliment to the team at Volition and their philosophy.  Since then, I have asked myself the question of who do I call?

Obviously, first I start with our executive team.  We all get along very well and it’s a normal daily occurrence to have us talking on the phone at night and/or passing emails back & forth until the late, late nights or very early mornings.  Next, I usually call my wife.  While we don’t get into as much detail, she is definitely aware of what’s happening and provides a nice sounding board.  Finally, I usually call one of my brothers.  I have several brothers that are business executives (Adobe, Wal-Mart, BeachBody, etc.) and another that is an attorney.  It’s nice to get the opinion of someone that is un-biased and can bring in an outside perspective.

So… who do you call?

Posted in Entrepreneurship, Venture Capital | View Comments

Michael Gerber at Angel Investor of the Year Luncheon

Posted on May 6, 2010 by Brock Blake

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the FundingUniverse CrowdPitch event we hosted at Inc Magazine’s GROWCO conference.  Well, after the pitching event, we had the opportunity to spend some time with Michael and get to know him a little bit.  First of all, the guy is as nice as they come.  He was sincerely interested in learning about Alex (my business partner) and me, and interested in FundingUniverse.

Well, that first introduction has now led into bigger and better things… and we are excited to announce that Michael Gerber will be the keynote speaker at FundingUniverse’s upcoming Angel Investor of the Year Award luncheon!  Here’s why Michael is such a stud:

  • He’s authored 13 books on entrepreneurship — the most notable are the The E-Myth Revisited and The Most Successful Small Business in the World.
  • He’s appeared on BusinessWeek’s best seller list for 28 consecutive months!
  • Currently a NY Times Best seller
  • Founder of E-Myth worldwide with over 70,000 clients in 145 countries

As you can see, we are pretty lucky to have him here in Utah!

We are also excited for our 2nd annual Angel Investor of the Year event.  Last year, Scott Frazier from the Utah Angels won the prestigious award with Greg Warnock being named the Mentor of the Year.  If you know of any angels in Utah — please nominate them here.  If not, plan to join us on June 23rd at the Grand America for the luncheon.  We had over 300 people in attendance last year and we expect around 500 this year.

Posted in Entrepreneurship, FundingUniverse | View Comments

FundingUniverse IdeaPitch is Launched — Win $2k!

Posted on May 3, 2010 by Brock Blake

As of 5 pm this afternoon, you now have the chance to post your business/business idea onto IdeaPitch and win $2,000.  We just released the new FundingUniverse Facebook app that will be a idea competition that happens every 2 weeks.  It’s simple…

  1. Record a video
  2. Post it to FundingUniverse IdeaPitch
  3. Get as many people as you can to vote on the video
  4. Video with the most votes (after 2 weeks) wins $2,000
  5. Rinse & repeat!

There are no strings attached — we don’t get equity in your company, nor do we expect you to pay it back as a loan.  For the next two weeks, we are opening up to friends and family — so get your ideas & videos going.  Good luck!

Posted in Entrepreneurship, FundingUniverse | View Comments

BoomStartup Launches in Utah

Posted on April 19, 2010 by Brock Blake

I’m pretty excited about what’s happening with BoomStartup.  John Richards and Robb Kunz, 2 active investors here in Utah, have taken the lead on putting this program together and am excited to say that I’ll be involved as a Mentor-Investor.  Don’t know what it is?  Here’s the overview from their website:

BoomStartup, a mentorship-driven investment program for Utah, needs you startup software business’ application now.  Startup software businesses can receive $15,000 of capital investment, $15,000+ of in-kind services, and mentoring from some of the state’s most successful entrepreneurs and mentors.  In exchange, BoomStartup gets 6% common equity in your company.  This is all based on successful models working around the country, like TechStars (www.TechStars.org).  The deadline is this coming Sunday (April 25) at 11:59 pm, but it is highly recommended to get the application in earlier so it gets the most consideration possible.

Who is Eligible?

Anyone who meets the basic requirements.  In a nutshell, you need the qualify as follows:

1.  The founders include at least one biz guy and one tech guy (a real programmer).
2.  The tech founder has at least 20% ownership in the company.
3.  The founders will devote full-time attention May 17 through August 20.
4.  Your product/service is largely driven by software.
5.  Your business intends to stay in Utah after the program.
How to Apply and the Process
It’s an easy one-page application (www.BoomStartup.com/apply).  As soon as it’s received, it will be evaluated based on (1) your team and (2) your idea.  After that, you may be invited to a half-hour due diligence meeting.  If you are still in the running after that, you may receive an invitation to be a participant.

Boom startup overview

View more presentations from bjb84.
Posted in Angel Investing, Entrepreneurship, Technology | View Comments

GROWCO, FundingUniverse CrowdPitch, and Michael Gerber

Posted on March 22, 2010 by Brock Blake

Last week, we had the chance to work closely with Inc. Magazine/Events to host a FundingUniverse CrowdPitch event at their national GROWCO Conference in Orlando.  Overall, the event was a huge success and we had a lot of fun.  Here are a few highlights:

  • 4 awesome companies that pitched to a crowd of 450+ audience members.  Companies included:
    1. TripWare — cool technology that books your entire trip & creates an expense report in 3.5 mins.
    2. Regreet — a green greeting card company that allows you to re-use greeting cards and track their journey online
    3. Xit Poll (Cleva Technologies) — kiosk-like portal that takes surveys from customers in a retail location
    4. HighPoints Learning — online technology that provides affordable tutoring to k-12 students — WINNER OF THE $50k in prizes that we gave away!
  • Star-packed panel of heavy hitters included:

    1. Norm Brodsky, founder of CitiStorage Inc (and sold for $100M+), and columnist for Inc’s Street Smarts
    2. Michael E. Gerber, author of the best-selling book “The E-Myth“
    3. Steve Mercil, Founder/CEO of the largest angel group in the world (RAIN Source Capital)
    4. Andy Craig, Co-Founder of Elevator Speech
    5. CJ Wilson, angel investor and investment banker from Florida

It was a lot of fun to see the FundingUniverse brand gain so much traction in the national spotlight.  Michael & Norm had a great time on the panel — in fact, they were having a “Grumpy Old Men”-type -spat in front of the audience which made it fun and interesting.

After the FundingUniverse CrowdPitch, Alex and I had several discussions with Michael Gerber and his team and are excited about some potential partnership opportunities that may arise their.  Michael is a brilliant man that knows the world of small business.

Posted in FundingUniverse, On The Road | View Comments

The Importance of Student Entrepreneurs

Posted on March 22, 2010 by Brock Blake

I love student entrepreneurs.  It seems like I’ve been spending quite a bit of time recently with various programs to help and support student entrepreneurs.  I’ve spent several hours at BYU helping with their Business Plan Competition (we hosted a SpeedPitch event, provided coaching to the student teams, and I helped to judge the applications to narrow them down to the top 8 companies).  In addition, we were supportive to Weber State’s entrepreneurial program to help with their Idea Competition as well.  Finally, we are also very engaged in the UtahStudent25 competition as well.

Let’s just that entrepreneurship is alive and well among Utah’s university programs.  I’ve seen so many fantastic entrepreneurs with great ideas and I love being a part of that.  I guess that the reason that I’m so passionate about helping student entrepreneurs is because I truly believe that the best time to start your entrepreneurial career is either while you are in school or just after you graduate.  Here are a few reasons why:

  1. Getting out and starting a company could be the greatest learning experience that you’ve ever had.  I’m not sure if there is anything that compares to real-world entrepreneurial experience to teach you about business.  It becomes apparent very quickly what is “academic” vs what is “street smarts.”
  2. You don’t have a lifestyle to maintain.  Most students are used to living in apartments, eating ramen noodles, and riding the bus.  This type of lifestyle is key to the success of a boot-strapping entrepreneur because you are doing everything that you can to stretch your dollars.  On the other hand, those that start their business later in life have a mortgage to pay, kids to support, and a lifestyle to maintain.
  3. You won’t waste a lot of time wondering whether or not your are an entrepreneur. How many people do you know that have spent their entire corporate career wishing and/or talking about getting out on their own on being an entrepreneur?  All too often, those same people make the jump only to find out that they don’t really like being an entrepreneur (for whatever reason).  If you give it a run just out of college, you have the opportunity to figure out if this is the type of lifestyle you want to live and still re-vert back to a great corporate career if that’s the decision you make.  I’d also venture to say that the experience will set you apart and help you land a corporate job.
  4. You’ll have time to recover. Going along with #3, you’d still have the ability to recover financially the rest of your career if you start and fail young.
  5. You have more energy. Entrepreneurship is full of ups and downs, high mountains and low valleys, exciting times and disappointments, early mornings and late evenings… you get the picture.  When you are young, I’d venture to say that you have more energy to be able to handle all of the challenges that come with entrepreneurship.
  6. It’s sexy! Ok… I don’t really know how else to say this, but you all know what I’m talking about.  There is definitely a group of young entrepreneurs that attract attention from the community and form a bond.  I know that I am good friends with a lot of other young entrepreneurs because we are all going through some of the same challenges.

If you can’t tell, I’m a big proponent of starting your entrepreneurial career when you’re young.  In fact, I just realized that half of our management team started their entrepreneurial careers when they were students!

Posted in Entrepreneurship, Learning | View Comments

FundingUniverse acquires TwitJump!

Posted on February 11, 2010 by Brock Blake

Well, it officially came out this morning on Techcrunch that FundingUniverse has acquired the social media analytics company TwitJump.  As part of the deal, Alex Lawrence, a local serial entrepreneur, will be joining the FundingUniverse team as a board member and Chief Evangelist.

We’re super excited about this announcement as this technology is one small piece to our ever-growing strategy to help small business owners.  Over the 2 years, we have really expanded our vision from the original idea to help entrepreneurs connect to angel investors.  That is still at the very core of what we do, it’s just that now we can do so much more.  We’ve taken a broader focus to small business funding and have added over 400 banks across the US to our platform.  We can now help business owners navigate their way to obtain SBA loans, unsecured lines of credit, business credit cards, equipment loans, alternative loans, and equity investments.  This alone has made a huge impact on our ability to increase the number of companies getting funded.

We’ve also expanded our product line as to help business owners grow their business.  For example, it many cases, business owners need to lay a stronger foundation before approaching a bank to get a business loan.  This may include getting a website, writing a more solid business plan, and/or improving their marketing & sales strategy.  We can now identify the needs of the business owner and then figure out efficient ways to offer them what they need.  By so doing, this improves the business owner’s chance to succeed.  A by-product of that is an increased chance of getting approved for a business loan.

That’s where TwitJump comes into play.  We are excited about the opportunity to really help up and coming companies increase their social media strategies to increase their customer base.  Unlike anything theretofore, social media has evened the played field to allow small businesses to play on the same level as large companies.  If used correctly, we feel strongly that small businesses can use social media strategies to attract new customers and increase sales.  We have already seen many case studies from clients (chiropractors, restaurants, tech companies, etc.) that are proving out our assumptions.

You’ve also heard that we are expanding across the US.  We have already hired reps in Arizona and Colorado, with the hopes to get 3 more reps hired within the next couple of months.  It’s an exciting time right now at FundingUniverse and I’m enjoying the ride!

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Now Hiring! Please Comment, Email and/or Forward…

Posted on January 25, 2010 by Brock Blake

FundingUniverse is on a tear.  I will be posting periodically with various positions we will be hiring for.  Feel free to email me – bblake AT fundinguniverse DOT COM.  We offer a really cool place to work, great benefits, a stable and successful company, with a fun group of nice people to be around.  Sounds decent enough, eh?

Here are some of the details:

Senior PHP Developer
PAY:  $55,000 – $75,000 DOE

Description:

Lead a team of developers building an exciting new site from the ground up.  Plan, track, and develop along with the team during sprints.

Experience:

  • 3 years minimum PHP 5 experience
  • OOP expertise
  • Experience with PHP frameworks (Kohana, Code Igniter, Cake)
  • MYSQL, with experience planning and deploying databases
  • Solid UI skills
  • HTML/CSS/Jquery experience
  • Experience prototyping and planning large consumer web apps
  • Rapid development (SCRUM) experience preferred

Bachelor’s in computer science, information systems or other technical degree a plus.

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FundingUniverse expanding across the U.S.

Posted on December 11, 2009 by Brock Blake

Great things are happening on the FundingUniverse front.  It’s been a while since I’ve provided an update so I figured that I would talk about some of the exciting things that are happening lately.

  1. Great team. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, so much of a company’s success depends on the quality of talent that you can attract.  Thus far, we have a tremendous team in place and I’m excited about the results.  When you have talented individuals around you (we added a new addition within the last couple of months — see here) that surpass expectations on a regular basis, it motivates you to be at your best — that is happening right now with our team and it’s exciting to be a part of it.
  2. Expanding product line. Over the past year, we have really rounded out our offering in order to be almost a full-service business solution for our customers.  What I’m most excited about is that we are constantly adding new funding resources to our model to help out more and more business owners.  Recently, we’ve landed a partnership deal with an aggressive SBA lender and now more than 70% of the clients that we send their way are getting approved for a business loan.  Instead of just helping on the angel/VC side of things, we can help a lot more entrepreneurs in a variety of ways.
  3. Opening up new markets. Over the past few months, we’ve been pushing hard to open up new markets in Denver, CO; Phoenix, AZ; and Portland/Seattle.  We’ve got great partners in each of the region (including Amazon, GangPlank, NOW advisors, Jive Communications, SEO.com, Newswire, etc.) and it’s allowing us to do some fun things at our CrowdPitch & Speedpitch events in those regions.  Not only have we announced that all of our events will be FREE from now on (for everyone in attendance), we are also giving away a $15-$20k prize package for the winner of each event!  This has attracted the attention of ABC phoenix and others.

Need your help: We are hoping to have 8-12 offices open throughout the US by the end of 2010 — if you live in an area outside of the above mentioned markets and are interested in being our local market rep (or know anyone that might be interested), please let me know!  We are always looking for good talent.

Posted in Angel Investing, Entrepreneurship, FundingUniverse | View Comments

A little bit of rivalry fun at the office!

Posted on December 5, 2009 by Brock Blake

For those of you that know me well, know that I’m a die-hard BYU fan.  It would be a very rare occasion for our family to miss a BYU football game.  You should also know that the BYU/Utah rivalry is one of the most heated rivalries in the country and dominates almost every conversation in the state of Utah no matter where the setting (work, school, church, etc.).

So this year, I decided to start the fun on Monday morning by bringing BYU football sugar cookies for everyone in the office.  Afterward, I sent out an email to the entire company announcing that it was “BYU week.”  Here are a few things that followed:

  • On Tuesday, our admin brought in UofU cookies and gave them to all of the employees
  • Our CTO, Trent Miskin, played a nice joke and replaced our company logo (on our website) with the BYU logo.  The funny thing is that only those within our office network could see the logo.  Most people didn’t know this and were shocked that we would change our FundingUniverse logo with the BYU logo for ALL to see!
  • Then, the other developers swapped the BYU logo with the UofU logo AND made it so everyone’s computer background was changed to a UofU picture.
  • Finally, on Wednesday afternoon (the day before Thanksgiving), my admin planned a fake meeting for me out of the office so that Alex (my partner) and the rest of the FundingUniverse team could do this:

Believe me… I was shocked! I couldn’t believe that they painted my office! That being said, I seriously thought it was hilarious and wasn’t upset for a second. Since then, everyone was asking how I would get him back. I had quite a few ideas on what to do, but I figured that the scoreboard was good enough. Since BYU won 26-23, here was my response:

At the end of the week, it was just all good and fun and I can’t wait until next year.  All I know is that between now and then… BYU has all the bragging rights!  GO COUGARS!

Brock Alex Rivalry

(Don’t you think Alex looks great in that BYU shirt?!!)

Posted in FundingUniverse, Personal | View Comments

It’s all about talent

Posted on October 21, 2009 by Brock Blake

I have always known this, but it has become 100% apparent that so much of success is dependent on the quality of talent that you have leading the ship.  Talent is an interesting thing to define:  talent isn’t experience, talent isn’t age, talent isn’t about the same skill set (all CEOs, etc.).  To me, the best team consists of a strong combination of the following characteristics:

  • A strong combination of experience (people that have “been there, done that”) and energy (those that don’t care how it’s been done before — they push limits and find solutions).  Interesting enough, I wrote a blog post about this some time back.
  • A combination of people that have VERY different skill sets.  This is key.  Each member of the management team should have very different things that interest them.  The more diverse the skill set, the more you appreciate each other.  In addition, it allows each to really focus on the areas that allow them to succeed.
  • A team that is ultra-driven (as opposed to those that are just there for a 8-5 job).  When one member of the team decides to take his/her contributions to the next level (i.e. performance is high), this automatically will motivate the team around him/her to step up their game.  This only happens when the team is very driven.
  • A team that is full of problem solvers.  This characteristic may be the most important attribute that sets the “A” players from the “B” players.  When someone is a problem solver, they don’t get stuck on hiccups/challenges.  They don’t come to management to ask how to solve each problem.  After being assigned a task, they won’t stop until they figure out a solution.  I love problem-solvers.

There’s no question why investors always say that they’d rather invest in an “A” management team with a “B” idea than a “B” management team with an “A” idea.  “A” teams will figure out how to make the “B” idea a success while “B” teams will figure out how to make the “A” idea a failure.

What other attributes have you seen in great teams that I am missing?

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UtahStudent25 Awards Gala– November 5th

Posted on October 20, 2009 by Brock Blake

Yesterday, we had another committee meeting to discuss the details of the upcoming UtahStudent25 awards gala.  If you haven’t heard about this awards program, you’re missing out.  Led by BYU Professor of Entrepreneurship/Angel Investor/good friend John Richards, the idea is to recognize the state’s student entrepreneurs.

Utah Student 25 is an awards program that recognizes the top student-founded businesses in Utah, encouraging growth and interaction with Utah’s renowned entrepreneurial community.

The goal of the Utah Student 25 is to encourage growth and entrepreneurial activities in the state. We help student entrepreneurs get the recognition they need to thrive, as well as provide them with resources to contribute to Utah’s economy and their communities. Winners receive recognition, significant exposure, and opportunities to interact and mingle with successful Utah leaders, including entrepreneurs, angel investors, and venture capitalists.

I’m excited to be a part of the committee and am especially excited for the awards gala that will be held on November 5th at the Grand America Hotel.  If you are interested in attending, you can go here to register.

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Coming to an area near you

Posted on August 26, 2009 by Brock Blake

I’m in the Portland Airport writing from my new iPhone (which I love). We are just leaving town after hosting a LivePitch event here in conjunction with PortlandTen, NedSpace, Stoel Rives, and Lunch2.0. We had around 125 people in attendance and saw 5 pretty awesome companies pitch.

I love these events. I love seeing the passion of the entrepreneur in action. I love to see the vulture and variety that is so apparent in various cities throughout the US. I was especially excited today because we announced to the group that we are looking to expand permanantly into the NW and hire someone up here — and we had a lit of interest.

We are also looking to go to other markets also: Colorado, Arizona, and SoCal to name a few. If you or someone you know is interested, let me know.

Each person that we recruit in the local market will be focused on 3 things: community development (angels, entrepreneurs, universities, business organizations, etc), events, and attracting new revenues. Let’s be honest, it’s my dream job! :)

After leaving events like this, i’m reminded how much the business community needs them. We need to move quicker to spread them out to our already-existing custers throughout the US. Here we come!

Posted in Entrepreneurship, FundingUniverse, On The Road | Tagged , | View Comments

Top 15 Finalists for Angel Investor of the Year Announced

Posted on June 18, 2009 by Brock Blake

The organizing committee of the Utah Angel Investor of the Year has announced the top 15 finalists.  Here is the list:

  • Alan Hall
  • Craig Earnshaw
  • David Carter
  • Gary Williams
  • Hal Widlansky
  • JD Gardner
  • John Richards
  • Kent Thomas
  • Kyle Love
  • Mark Madsen
  • Martin Frey
  • Nobu Mutaguchi
  • Robert Kunz
  • Scott Frazier
  • Warren Osborn

If you are in Utah, the event is next Tuesday — make sure you register!

  • Tuesday June 23rd
  • 11:30 am to 1:30 pm
  • Hilton Alpine Room, 255 S. West Temple, SLC, UT
  • $25/seat, $200/table (includes lunch)
  • www.investoroftheyear.org
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Current State of Angel Investing

Posted on June 17, 2009 by Brock Blake

I mentioned a few weeks back that we were conducting some in-depth research on Angel Investing.  Well, on Tuesday, we shared some more information with the world as the Utah Valley Entrepreneurial Forum asked us to speak on the “State of Angel Investing in Utah.”

Here are a few highlights of the presentation:

  • 60 active angel investors surveyed
  • The economy significantly affected angel investing as of November 2008
  • Average number of angels/deal = 4.26
  • 72% of investments had a pre-money valuation between $750k and $3M
  • 85% of angel investments were less than $1M
  • 55% of investments were in software/technology/SaaS deals
  • 65% of investments were some type of preferred equity

Intrigued? Feel free to download the “State of Angel Investing in Utah” via PDF.  Please make appropriate attributions.  :)

DISCLAIMER:  This data is still very early in the process.  We are still collecting data and I am definitely not a statitician.

Posted in Entrepreneurship | View Comments

Angel Investor of the Year — Utah

Posted on June 17, 2009 by Brock Blake

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been working with the local community to put together the first-ever Angel Investor of the Year Award here in Utah.  We’ve partnered with several entrepreneurial-minded organizations to put it on and, thus far, it’s been a great process.  Nominations were open for about 6 weeks and it was amazing to see the variety of nominations that were submitted.  From the most well-known angel to the “under the radar” individual — we received them all.

After receiving nominations, our organizing committee interviewed each of the nominees to find out responses to questions like:

  • Tell us about how you got into angel investing?
  • Tell us about your portfolio companies and investment history.
  • What are your motivations for angel investing?
  • etc.

As you can imagine, they have been some fascinating interviews!  Anyway, the committee has met and narrowed down the list to a group of finalists — which should be announced tomorrow.  Stay tuned!

Oh yeah… one more thing.  For those of you in Utah, the can’t-miss award luncheon will be next Tuesday (June 23rd) at the Hilton in downtown SLC.   Click here to register.

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The angel investor survey says…

Posted on April 8, 2009 by Brock Blake

At FundingUniverse, we are in the process of doing an intense research study on the current Utah angel investment market.  We are partnering with the heads of each of the angel groups to gather the information.  Here is a quick teaser on more information to come:

  • 93 Utah investors surveyed
  • 49 investors said that they are still actively investing (52.69%)
  • 2 investors said that they were syndicating deals, but not leading any new ones (2.15%)
  • 21 investors said they are no longer investing (22.58%)
  • 21 investors said that they are not making any investments outside their current portfolio (22.58%)

I have spoken to several people about this survey and have received drastically different responses.  One of the questions that I have is:  given the current state of the economy, are those statistics more optimistic or less optimistic that you had expected?

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Interesting Investment

Posted on April 7, 2009 by Brock Blake

I received a google alert today that linked to this article mentioning that the Tech Coast Angels (the largest angel group in the world) funded BikeStation.  The press release boasts their first “triple bottom line investment benefiting people, producing profit and saving the planet.”

First of all, with the economy and all, I’m stoked to see any press releases hitting the wire of companies receiving angel investments.  However, I was very surprised to see TCA making an investment in what seems to be a high-end bike shop/storage station.  Don’t get me wrong — I love the concept, but it doesn’t fit into the typical angel investment mold.  Some of the questions that I have:  how large is the market?  What’s their sustainable competitive advantage?  Will they really be able to return 10x the investment?  How long will the station be relevant?  Hey, it could just be a nice PR play.

I think that it is brilliant PR by Bikestation to push such a strong green message — it’s such a hot trend right now that even NBA bball players are wearing their green initiative t-shirts.  In fact, I heard from an executive several weeks ago who told me that they tried raising investment capital for about 6 months without any luck whatsoever.  Almost hopeless and ready to give up, they decided to go back to the drawing board and re-brand the company to be green.  2 months later, they again hit the funding trail and the reception was completely different and — you guessed it — they raised a few million.

I may not completely understand the investment, but I give props to the team at Bikestation and wish them the best of luck.

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Have you unlocked an iPhone 3g?

Posted on January 1, 2009 by Brock Blake

So…as you can tell by my last post, I’ve been looking into getting an iPhone.  The only problem with getting an iPhone is the requirement to switch to AT&T/Cingular.  I’ve been on T-Mobile for years and have been happy with the quality of service and the affordable rate plans (you can’t beat 1500 minutes for $39/month).

So… the question I know have is… have you (or anybody you know) unlocked an iPhone to use on the T-Mobile network?  If so, could you please tell me the risks of doing that?  Or even better… convince me why I shouldn’t?

Thanks for your help in advance!

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Disappointed with the G1

Posted on December 29, 2008 by Brock Blake

A few months back, I realized that I was coming up to the end of my contract with T-mobile.  I have been a loyal T-Mobile customer for nearly 10 years.  (A good friend of mine and I won cell phones after winning a flag football tournament.  At the time, T-mobile was VoiceStream and has since converted to T-mobile.  Anyway…)

When I found out that my contract was coming to an end, I was debating whether to switch to At&t so that I could get the iPhone or stay on T-mobile and get Google’s new phone — the G1 (I’ve had the Blackberry Pearl for several years).  I decided that it would be worth it to wait for the release of the G1 to see what kind of reviews the phone gets compared to the iPhone.

When the phone was finally released, I was really surprised disappointed.  The phone has received mixed reviews (by experts and normal users) and pales in comparison to Apple’s sleek & sexy iPhone.  Personally, I haven’t ever heard anyone speak highly or recommend getting a G1 — the release was almost anticlimactic.  After looking at both carefully, the bulkiness of the G1 put me over the edge and I’ve decided to pick up an iPhone.

At the end of the day, I guess that I’m disappointed with Google’s first attempt at a phone.  Google does so many things well (email, calendaring, search, photos, groups, etc.) and I am an avid user of most of their applications.  Because I love their user experiences and their easy-to-use software programs, I had high/unmet expectations for the phone.

That being said, the functionality of the G1 appears to be fairly impressive… maybe Google ought to hire a few creative designers from Apple?!

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