Pandora Is Intentionally Annoying Users With Non-Relevant Ads

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Pandora

Pandora was one of the early players in streaming radio. The platform was innovative and instantly popular among younger demographics. Walk into a collegiate library during exam time and it seems like every student has headphones on with Pandora turned up.

One of my favorite features on Pandora is the song recommendation algorithm. In recent years the algorithm improved with the addition of a machine-learning element (thumbs up or down for each song as it plays). My pre-selected stations (Notorious BIG, Beastie Boys, Machine Gun Kelly, Corey Smith, Justin Moore, and Bruce Springsteen) are a staple during running sessions.

While the streaming music is enjoyable, everything comes to a screeching halt when an audio advertisement plays. Not only does the ad interrupt the lyrical genius flowing from Biggie’s mouth, but the ad itself is rarely relevant.

As an entrepreneur I understand the need for ad-supported business models. Pandora needs to make money. As a consumer I refuse to pay to make the platform ad-free. Just my personal preference but plenty of people are obviously willing to pull out their wallet.

The ad interruption wouldn’t be that bad if they were at least relevant. Recently I have heard multiple ads for Amazon Mom and tampons. In the past I’ve had divorce lawyers and daycares solicit me. How that is related to Beastie Boys and Bruce Springsteen is escaping me. Through conversations with friends, similar reports of obnoxious, non-relevant ads continued to be uncovered.

Time for my conspiracy theory! What if Pandora was playing unrelated advertisements intentionally to increase their conversion rate? If you wanted to annoy the shit out of someone with mom and tampon ads, there is no better audience than one listening to Machine Gun Kelly. So Pandora annoys me and I convert to a paid subscriber – all is good in the world.

This is would be an epic (yet commendable) ploy on Pandoras part if true. I would even become a paying customer, as a reward to them, if the company came out and admitted this. The chances of us ever finding out the truth are slim. Each time an ad plays, you will become more and more paranoid. I’ve been doing it for the last 3 weeks. Apologies for driving you crazy in advance but suck it up and admit “They got me, bro!”

Do you think Pandora’s algorithm needs work or they are intentionally annoying their listeners? Share your thoughts in the comments or tweet me @APompliano!

Filter Easy Is Hustlin’ It’s Way To Success

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filtereasy

Last fall I spoke at the Collegiate Entrepreneur’s Organization meeting on NC State’s campus. After the talk, two students approached me claiming they had a revolutionary idea. This is not uncommon after most talks or events.

At first, I thought “novel idea but these two frat stars aren’t going to be able to execute on it.” Well I quickly learned not to judge a book by it’s cover. Frankly, I don’t make assumptions about entrepreneur’s abilities anymore because of Kevin Barry and Thad Tarkington.

Today I’m happy to announce the launch of Filter Easy, an automated home air filter delivery service. The problem is homeowners are horrible about checking and replacing the air filters throughout their house. By not changing the filters, energy bills can increase double-digit percentages.

Kevin and Thad found a solution to prevent homeowners from wasting money monthly. After testing the market with a simple “prototype”, they were accepted into The Iron Yard’s accelerator program. For the last three months, these two energetic entrepreneurs have been hustling their asses off and created a scalable solution poised to disrupt the sustainable energy vertical.

Here’s the catch – Remember when I met them last fall? They were college students. Shortly after seeing the opportunity and getting accepted into the accelerator, they dropped out! The first time they told me, I thought they were crazy. After watching their execution, I feel differently. They’re hustlers at heart and I’m rooting for them.

Next on the growth plan is to raise a seed round and accelerate the implementation of their customer acquisition strategy. I’ll be one of numerous individuals advising them. While I’m sharing my knowledge, they have renewed my confidence in young founders.

Check out their site and let me know what you think. They’re moving back to the Triangle and will be another great asset to the growing ecosystem. And yes, I’m biased because two unassuming kids with an idea have gone out, worked their asses off, and proven to me that the American dream is alive and well!

If you have feedback or are interested in investing, please get in contact with Kevin, Thad, or myself.

Top Programmers Should Be Treated Like Professional Athletes

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nerd playing sports

Professional athletes have unique jobs. Many of them spend hours a day training. Both physical and mental conditioning. Everything from weightlifting and running to film study and playbook memorization.

The best players end up being compensated millions of dollars during their professional careers. Teams and sponsors want to do everything in their power to protect their “investments” and ensure on-field production. These protections come in the form of insurance policies or provisions in the athletes contract prohibiting certain activities.

The insurance policies might cover a stud quarterback’s arm or an elusive running back’s legs. Without the physical ability, many athletes become useless. An injury would be devastating to both an athlete and a team. Prohibitive policies within contracts might prevent an athlete from riding motorcycles, sky diving. or traveling to war zones on mission trips.

So what the hell does this have to do with tech talent and startups? After recently being forced to type with one hand, I’ve seen my production levels drop. I type slower. My quality of work has decreased and the amount of errors have increased. Luckily most of my job consists of email because if I was top programming talent, I’d be useless.

This leads me to the question of whether startups should take out insurance policies on their top talents’ fingers / hands? Should we begin to place prohibitive clauses in our contracts? For example, I tore the ligament in my finger playing flag football….yes, seriously!

Personally, I don’t think the injuries happen often enough to warrant the insurance, but it is a case-by-case decision. If a specific developer is mision-critical, insurance may not be a bad route. As for prohibitive clauses, I highly discourage them. The competition to land top talent is fierce; any negative aspect to a job may be the deal breaker. Again, I think that the injuries are too infrequent to require specific clauses. These worries may be before their time, but should be considered by every founder and team.

What do you think? Should we begin worrying about preventive measures to ensure top talent’s help? Share your thoughts in the comments or tweet me @APompliano.

Beardvertising: Novel idea or next great marketing platform?

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In order to increase revenue most companies must reach their target audience at the right time with the right message. To accomplish this effectively, its important to test and iterate continuously to find what works and what doesn’t.

It’s highly recommended to measure everything you possibly can when building a company. There are always limited resources to draw on, but maximum results expected. Keeping this in mind, I was intrigued by the explosion in interest of Beardvertising.

Credit to agbeat.com and beardvertising.com.

Credit to agbeat.com and beardvertising.com.

Beardvertising is the act of “paying epic beard owners to wear ads.” As the proud owner of an epic beard every Fall, I can attest to the attention these rugged feats of man-azing (man amazingness!) garner. It remains to be seen whether the creation of BeardBoards (think billboard in a beard) is effective but theres no denying its creativity.

The leading company, Beardvertising, claims both A&W Restaurants and Eagle One Automotive as early partners. Solid traction for a novel idea. I’ll be keeping an eye on the progress of this innovative advertising approach and am definitely cheering for these epic beards to reign supreme!

 

What do you think of Beardvertising? Does the general idea turn you off or are you intrigued to see one in real-life? Share thoughts in the comments or tweet me @APompliano.

 

Pomp’s 25th Birthday Wish

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Every year my birthday comes and goes without much fanfare. For the last 7 years I have been deployed overseas or conducting US Army training. This June 15th will be the first in almost a decade that won’t involve me wearing a uniform.

Instead of asking for gifts or throwing a huge party, my 25th birthday wish is to make a $2,500 donation to the Wounded Warrior Project. Many of my friends have benefited from the Project’s work. So many courageous men and women have sacrificed so much. By leveraging the amazing people I know, my goal is to show these warriors that they are never forgotten!

If 100 people answer the challenge and donate at least $25, we will reach the $2,500 plateau. In order to get 100 donations, I figure the campaign opportunity must be presented to 10,000 individuals. This conversion rate of 1% is definitely attainable.

If you are reading this I ask you to do 4 things:

  1. Go here and donate $25 to the Wounded Warrior Campaign
  2. Share this link on your Facebook page
  3. Tweet this link through every account you have access to
  4. Email this link to your contact list

Together we can all make my 25th birthday wish happen in 25 days.

Please let me know if you have any questions and I thank each and every one of you in advance! Email me at anthony.pompliano @ gmail.com or tweet me @APompliano!

My Personal Support Team Is Better Than Yours

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Recovery from Surgery

Entrepreneurs are notorious for wearing many different hats. This jack-of-all trades approach allows teams to stay lean and effective. My rule of thumb is that if you can’t do something well, go out and recruit whoever does it best. Adding rockstars to your team is essential when preparing to success.

The startup team gets tons of attention, while an entrepreneurs most important team goes almost completely unnoticed. The personal support team can be a huge factor in the success of a founder. Recently I had surgery on my non-dominate hand. Post-surgery I’ve been left with a cast that goes from my fingertips to above my elbow. Not exactly the easiest thing to maneuver with.

Faced with some unique adversity, I’ve been overwhelmed by the response of my personal support team. Everyone from my parents to girlfriend and best friends to brothers, they have gone out of their way to help me. These acts of kindness include cooking meals, helping me get dressed, keeping me on my medication schedule, driving me around, and just generally keeping me in good spirits.

The team is so dedicated that they have even helped me type emails and other documents while I dictated the text. Unfortunately I’m typing this one-handed because I couldn’t wrangle any help at 6am on Saturday morning! With that being said, I would be drastically less effective without this amazing support team.

Take the time to invest in your personal support team and ensure they know how grateful you are to them. This article was inspired by the desire to publicly thank my team for their unselfishness. Each one of them is a complete rockstar and I’m blessed to have them in my corner.

If you read this and realized you need more individuals on your personal support team, shoot me an email or tweet me. I’m more than happy to help where I can!

 

Television Is Becoming Archaic Right In Front Of Our Eyes

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Photo credit to realscreen.com.

Photo credit to realscreen.com.

On Wednesday, both TNT and TBS announced plans to live stream their content 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If you don’t include Bloomberg, they are the first networks to make the streaming content decision.

As soon as I heard this I knew one thing – We are closer than we think to television becoming obsolete. With services like DVR, Hulu, and Netflix, viewers no longer need to endure commercials nor sit at home on the couch to digest content. Ad-free viewing can be accomplished from a television, tablet, phone, or game console. Expect to see more networks follow suit with this live streaming announcement. The entertainment and media business has always been an arms race.

So what is stopping me from selling my TV on Craigslist or donating it to a poor college student? Sports. None of the major networks have figured out how to consistently stream games in real-time. There are plenty of apps or box scores, but I want the TV experience on my phone / tablet.

If Netflix or Hulu can create a solution that solves this specific problem, they will win the battle for market share. The sports development will finish the disruption of television and turn TVs into archaic pieces of technology. Think larger versions of a rotary phone!

 

Anthony Pompliano is a military vet turned tech entrepreneur. You can follow him on Twitter @APompliano.