Well, it’s IBI time, ladies and gentlemen! That means you won’t see too many updates from me in the next 7 days, as I’m going to be pulling 14-16 hour days at the conference. willfe just called and he’s already there. I’m headed out in a couple hours; I’m on a plane with willfe’s roommate Phil and a guy (Eddie) who just bought a Treo 650 (I think.)

People keep asking me what IBI is. It’s a giant entrepreneur group (12,000+ members) that holds week-long conferences in LA 5 times a year. This month (1204) there should be 400+ people attending the entire week and 1000+ people who will fly in just for next weekend (the weekend part of the conference is free for returning grads.) The conferences are aimed at creating contacts and business opportunities for the members, and there’s a very cool motto in effect: “Cooperation, not competition.” This means that during that 7-day stay, everyone puts their competitive edges aside and works together with everyone else to make all dreams come true. I personally know a guy who has raised some $8 million through IBI, and capital isn’t the only resource there — the true resource is people who are absolute geniuses in their particular fields who offer free consulting with no stipulations as part of IBI. It’s a very powerful atmosphere, and I love the great energy that shows up in LA as everyone realizes that their dreams can come true…and how to make them come true (IBI calls it “sequencing”; it teaches you how to answer the question “What next?”)

There are local IBI groups that meet all over the country if you’re interested. The link in my sidebar will take you to the national IBI home page, where you can find a group that meets close to you. In the Bay Area, there is a Palo Alto group (my home group) and a Marin group, with Pleasanton, San Francisco, and (possibly) San Jose groups opening in 2005. The weekly meetings are always free to attend; the conference in LA costs money, but it’s worth it.

Love all of you, and see ya on the flip side!

Instead of going to the party at Andrew’s house tonight, I went and saw Valorie at the hospital. She gave birth this morning. Cameron is a healthy baby boy weighing 7 pounds, 6 ounces. He’s absolutely beautiful. I got to see Valorie’s parents walk in and the looks on their faces. They are grandparents for the first time! Doug (Valorie’s husband) was there, too, and he was beaming. Valorie was still in some pain, but the kid was so happy and peaceful that it made her feel better.

It was really special to be there for that. I have never really seen and held a newborn (little Cameron had spent fewer than 12 hours on this earth when I picked him up.) I guess tonight I realized that I really do want kids someday. Kids are very special creatures, and there’s something magical about looking into a tiny face that has never really known all of the trials on this earth. I have to say that I am moved.

I have so many more things to say, but I have to write quickly since I’m busy. I would like to mention that I have lost 14 pounds in the past 6 months! I can now fit into a size 6!! That means one thing: I’M GOING SHOPPING!!!!!!!!!!

Wooooooooo!

You know, there are a lot of ways I have found out reasons that people aren’t happy with Simpli. But when I have to find out about it by reading your blog, that’s when I say you’ve gone too far.

This person, “victim” (heh) of a server move (a move, I might add, that upgraded his site for free from a PIII to a dual Xeon with a much nicer control panel), didn’t even bother to email us and say that something was wrong. No, he just switched hosting companies, and he’d been hosting with us for about 2 years. Guess what… that’s the second blog I’ve read recently of that nature.

This is the real problem in this industry. It’s so easy to switch hosting companies that people don’t take the time to actually work out issues; they just leave. It really bothers me. I know it shouldn’t; “that’s business” and so on. But it does. It’d be one thing if we were a multi-national billion-dollar corporation with hundreds of thousands of customers. But we’re not. I know every one of our customers on a first-name basis. I would hope that this would extend a little bit of faith in their direction. But no, when something goes wrong, they just leave.

I know this doesn’t apply to all our customers. (Some have had a relatively trouble-free ride with Simpli, and some have been through hell with their hosting for various reasons and are still hosting with us.) But at least have a little consideration and dignity and send me a personal email explaining the problems (preferably with a big red flag in the subject line, as I get hundreds of emails a day) and take the time to work it out and give us a chance. Sheesh.

Quick update. I just got a phone call. The woman introduced herself as “Sue”, a bankruptcy attorney in Oakland. I had no idea who she was until she said, “I heard you were interested in the office furniture?”

The company whose office we are taking over is in bankruptcy, and Sue is in charge of handing out their possessions. She said that I needed to go in there and take an inventory of all items, then send her a list of everything I wanted (she recommended that we take everything), and she’d give notice to their creditors. The creditors then have 20 days to accept or reject the offer (she said she’s never heard of anyone rejecting a reasonable offer.)

There are laptops, desktop computers, big servers, switches, a conference table, desks, phones, and chairs sitting in that office. I’m going to take Brandon in there this week, scope it out, and submit a ridiculously lowball offer for the entire office (off the top of my head, I’m thinking $5000 or less.) It looks like I may just get the entire shebang.

Wow.