Yum, I'm feeling rich, even if it's only because Allan has set me a smart fee! I'm going to shut down the computer and head out for sushi!
MAY 29: Romeo, Romeo, is your name domain-able?
What does it say about two people that they are driving between Verona and Milan talking about company names? Are we nuts? Or is the soloing dream so intoxicating that it can bleach out the Italian countryside Avram and I have come here to see? Even though I am not a company, I will be a Web site someday soon! I need a name the way nations need a flag. Color! Rallying point! Cool material! The best names Avram and I come up with on the drive blend the old and new: Amalgamated Thinking. Acme Ideas. Avram suggests Modern Thought. "I've got it: The Electric Company!" "No, I don't like it," Avram says. "Well, so what? I love it." "How about 6Degrees?" Avram says. "You're a modern content provider, an Internet site, and you will connect people with old ideas and classical thinking. You'll bring people to the future by no more than six degrees of separation. A content company is a connectivity company."
Oh yes, I like it. It has a familiar sound and is very positive. When we get to the hotel, I log on for a search. There is already a crowd of Web sites called Six Degrees. "Too much competition. Better find another name," Avram says.
JUNE 1: A name!
The name came to me yesterday: Rubicon. The red river Caesar crossed when he left a smaller life for the biggest challenge of all. The Rubicon is the symbol of a person's commitment to a big idea. Caesar put his identity at risk to create something new. It's the perfect symbol for a soloist who's out to engage people in big new challenges. Crossing a body of water is an ancient heroic act: one is transformed. The crossing changes you.
But what I really love is that the name is a play on Rubin, with the insertion of "Co." I am not a company; I just contain one! I checked the Internet to see if anybody has dibs on the name, because the Web site will be an important marketing tool. Turns out there are sites for Rubicon and Rubico. So the name for my Web site will be TheRubicon.
Now I have to get it registered. And designed. And I have to see how I feel about wearing the name in public. Will it sound good when I say it out loud? I'll test it out on a few friends. When I started Currency, I called Don Burr, founder of People Express, to ask his opinion of the name. He said, "It's good; it's got fur." "Fur?" I asked. "Layers," he said, "depth, many meanings." Ah, June. Good time to try on fur.
JUNE 4: Crossing my own Rubicon
Just sent a new letter out to Paula Kelly, my chosen designer. (This would be my second try at getting a logo design.) She's off searching for Italian maps to see how the river was portrayed. I ask her to make sure that the image for my logo has a crisp modern look. We have been arguing over the contract. I want all rights to the logo, and to protect myself from being charged for time that only she can measure: Is time spent thinking included in her fee, for example? From now on I will write the contracts myself when hiring vendors. That way my concerns are protected, not just theirs. Contracts are so one-sided: the contract writer holds all the cards, and the client is the dog on the leash.
It's been a rough morning, waiting to hear from Avram while he took his bone scan to be sure the prostate cancer hasn't spread. I'm exhausted from the worry.
JUNE 11: Danger, territory of the high and mighty
Early breakfast with David, who has also struck out on his own, except with a partner. We agreed that our challenge is in how to "productize" ourselves: Can a person keep her face public without having to get on a plane every week to deliver speech after speech? Products will do that for you, David says. We come up with a solution: each of us will create our own cassette series and sell it at a high price, not as entertainment but as a course in imaginative capital. Great idea. We both feel taller and walk our separate ways into the sunshine. Five yards out I wonder how I'm going to find the time and investment capital to create such a product. I can hear the same downpour strike David. I hate having ideas that are too big for me. Will there ever be a time when there will be the staff and the money to do something big and yet not compromise the freedom of soloing?
JUNE 12: Down with the soloist's flu
There aren't many days when I feel too emotionally sick to work, but this is one. I feel smaller realizing what opportunities are closed to me. "You have a great network," Avram says, "but you don't use it. If you did, opportunities wouldn't seem impossible.
"Look at the places you are speaking. Get a list of speakers in advance. Call up their office and let the assistant know you'll be speaking at the same event and book some of their time.
"I'm not saying, 'Go begging.' If you network right, you don't have to ask for anything. You'll be there when opportunities come up. It's like learning a new language. You have to practice everyday. When you go to dinner and sit next to someone, ask them if they know of any companies looking for women to serve on their boards. If you ask 50 times, you'll learn to ask 100 times. All it takes is for you to get one position and do it well; then you'll be recommended to others."
JUNE 13: Rowdy penthouse views
I've reached the top of the Parker Meridien hotel, and the crowd is the Internet's finest, the glory boys of the new medium. I've come aboard a pirate ship. They mean to wrest control of the media from the Time Warners of the world.
Sat next to Dave Wetherell, the Henry Luce of on-line media. Runs an incubator that has given birth to eight on-line companies, including GeoCities. By the time dessert is delivered, I've gotten up my gumption. I ask if one of his companies is looking for a board member. He says yes and gives me the name of the Password. Just like that! Am I really on my way to a board seat?
JUNE 16: The call
