Thanks for reading on!

I know my friends, family and associates fall into various categories of interest - some just love the fact I remembered them with a holiday "card", some appreciate the quickie details (Hi Mom!) and a subgroup want to a bit more. A number of my high school friends have recently joined Facebook and reconnected - and they invariably ask how I do all the things I do.


Truthfully, I have no easy answer - I just do. But I can say that I love doing what I do - and the work, the people and the accomplishments continue to help me grow (even at my advanced age! <wink>). What happens next will continue to grow - especially as I continue to focus on solving the problem of engaging people on the 'net and offline - using the tools of social media, intelligent databases and some simple engineering creativity.

But, let's get to the story of 2008...

Recap prior to January:

Last year's letter mentioned this company I was working with, Rocketseed, which had me traveling to London and South Africa for technical due diligence and helping to evolve their product in the market. Around the same time, I was working on resolving an issue from the past year that was becoming quite the time sink.

January to March:

New Years 2008 - I looked at 2008 with optimism and hope - NYE was a night of salsa and Asian dining with my friend Sanford (yes, there is another) and watched as the moon take up the sky that brisk January evening.

I continued to work with Rocketseed, evolving into product development for the application, as well as revising the website and the business model.

In February, I followed up on a promise to be in San Francisco for a friend's birthday - VK Jones, one of my PhD buddies who was hitting the big 4-0. Aside from having a great time with a bunch of Stanford and Web 1.0 friends I had not seen in a while, I also got to "geek out" at SuperHappyDevHouse (a concept I would like to expand to NYC).

As I was getting ready to return from San Fran, I got word that my grandmother Renee passed. So, a quick change of a ticket and an insane red-eye had me home for the funeral. Renee was an incredible person who had been battling breast cancer for some time. She was always there with an offer for food and affection, and I miss her.

Soon after the funeral, March came in - and it became a pivotal month for me with a long-standing political issue finally getting resolved. Around the same time, a Presidential campaign was sniffing around asking if I would submit my resume for becoming their CTO, but the campaign had a number of great choices - and I was not involved this cycle. But, instead of working the campaign, I was at Cooper Union when he came to the Great Hall to present his thoughts on the economic crisis which, at that time was simply simmering. It was something to see (and you can too - to the right). The quarter ended on a magical note when I watched the wedding of two friends of mine, Jeremy and Lisa, who had a simply incredible wedding that left me (and the rest of the guests) breathless.

Around the same time, BarCampNYC happened which gave me a chance to discuss a concept I had been brewing about for sometime - the idea of the Speed of Memes. The thought goes - if one could model networks like we do physical systems (with the concepts of inertia, friction, and gravitational forces), we might be able to intuitively grasp the effectiveness of message or political campaigns in different communities. The concept has incredible applicability with political campaigns, new product launches and other marketing efforts - and, in introducing it, brought me to the attention of a potential client.

April to June:

In April, my year filled with great energy which allowed me to move forward on a number of projects. Projects like:
  • HealthPoint PA
    HPPA is a site that I modelled after the Sayfie Report - where people could come and learn about various health care issues that were important in Pennsylvania politics (one of my clients and business partners) and be able to get editorially relevant content rather than searching themselves.
  • Triage / Levity / Improv
    Through one of my business partners, I worked with Triage/Levity/Improv - where Levity is a production house (with clients like Jeff Dunham and Jamie Kennedy), talent and booking agency and also contains the largest comedy club network in the US. We were working on developing a new website and other systems for improving their business (soon to come).
In the beginning of the year, my friend Stacey had won a round-trip, all-expenses paid trip to Sydney, Australia with her company and she invited me along. At the same time, my client Rocketseed needed some market work in Sydney and Melbourne, which allowed me a chance to learn first-hand about the Antipodean market and catch up with a buddy from London. These strange and wonderous people we call Aussies - very entertaining in their natural habitat. Check out the photos to the right, or check out the Flickr collection here.

We also made a stopover in Christchuch, New Zealand to see an old PhD friend of mine, Dr. Geoff Chase. Geoff is happily cranking out incredible academic papers on system theory and decision simplification of complex medical issues/decisions that have, in the past, been made exceedingly complex. Geoff and his students are coming up with some highly innovative concepts that both improve patient longevity and reduce costs in healthcare. All this from a Control Engineer who designed an active earthquake stabilization system for tall buildings back in when we were both in Palo Alto.

June also was spent in San Francisco at Supernova 2008 - where the Power of Networks was topic of discussion. I spent much of the time blogging about the event - and listening to a number of amazing speakers. Additionally, I was asked by Robert Scoble to come to fastCompany.tv and discuss with him and Shel Israel the concepts of "coworking" and our efforts in NYC.

July to September:

Toward the end of June, I was introduced to a new company - Hemisphere No Brainer (yes, that's their name!) which is a digital marketing company that focusing on mobile. Frederic Guarino, one of the team, saw my presentation on the Speed of Memes and asked me to meet with his company. I joined a project where I was asked to clarify the concepts of Web 2.0 and social media to the Managing Directors of adidas Asia. adidas has been very successful in the Asian Market, and they are faced with the increasingly fast pace of engagement marketing on the Web and on mobile platforms. Over the course of a month, I created a quick and dirty explanation of Web 2.0 and the ideas behind "engagement marketing" and how the Web world had changed in the past six years. You can see it here.


Because of this project, I was lucky to be in Beijing during the Olympics - spending time in Hong Kong and Beijing with the team from Hemisphere (nope - no events, all work). Beijing had changed in the two years since I had been there last - I remembered all of the contruction that was going on then. They did an amazing job in getting ready for the Olympics. The presentation itself was very well received - and the MDs were hilarious. Attentive, absorptive and awed - at the enormity of the problem at hand - how to engage their customers in a fashion they had not done before.

While I was in Beijing, an old high-school friend who works for the Democratic Committee invited me to the Democratic Convention in Denver. It had been a long four years since I had been part of this circus - and needless to say, I was impressed - and frustrated at the handling of the ticket distribution. I was writing a blog post at one time to explain what the Convention is like - only metaphor I could think of was trading baseball cards when you were little. First, you have to know someone who knows someone. Then, if you want to trade-up, you have to have something to trade - whether it is money to bundle for a funmdraiser, extra tickets, or some other form of social capital. Not an easy task, mind you. I got to see the second day and the last day - being very fortunate to get some incredible tickets/seats in the stadium (thanks David!), sitting behind Senator Claire McCaskell who (and I am not kidding) cried when Senator Obama officially accepted the nomination.


The entire affair was awe-inspiring - one I am glad I experienced.

When I returned from Denver, I got feedback that the meeting was such a success that they wanted a followup on my presentation at the adidas Regional Meeting to discuss how the three major markets (China, Korea and Japan) use the web and how to engage them. With the help from other sources and friend online, I was inspired to create a presentation on engagement in these markets - using dance as a metaphor to understand how to truly engage. You can see this presentation here.

Since I was on the other side of the world, and a simple two hour flight across the water, I hopped over to Chennai, India to meet with another friend of mine, Dave Wallack. Dave and I have worked on various political efforts, and he is now working on delivering a Kiva-like model for small villages within rural India. Using ideas borne from Daily Kos and Talking Points Cafe, we are working on constructing a Huffington Post-like site - which I will tell you about when the launch happens. I spent time visiting the rural areas and have some amazing photos from the trip (see the Chennai photos here).

October to December:

When I got back from Chennai, I was fully expecting to take some time off and work for the Obama Campaign in Florida. I had set up some housing, gotten some idea of what they needed, and was ready to go. And then the impact of the stock market hit.

Two of my clients, Improv and Rocketseed, reacted to the market and brought both of my projects to a halt (though you can see the finished Rocketseed site) and, I suddenly thought the reminder of the year was going to be quite desolate. But after 60 days, I secured the role of Interim Chief Marketing Officer for a startup and have been working with Jeff Dunham's teamon launching his new website and managing video distribution and monetization strategy (read: how to make money off the archived videos).


As November started, I was proud to be the "Deputy Mayor" of a new coworking space created with one of my business partners, "Mayor" Tony Bacigalupo. This new space, New Work City, is a terrific locale (in the SoHo/West Village) for people who need temporary or flexible space in what is normally a very expensive real estate market. For $200 (part-time) to $550 (full-time, dedicated) per desk, the business is showing promise (going cash positive in the first month) and could become a viable model for other locales (check out the blog). We are thinking about growing the model and securing government and/or private sector support.

I have been somewhat active in the NY Tech community, helping expand the role technology startups have traditionally played in NYC - helping to shape the discussion on how NY Tech organizations should work with each other. We have a newly elected NY Tech Meetup Organizer, Nate Westheimer, who I am looking forward to helping to improve the lot of our technology ventures.

As the month wound down, Thanksgiving was spent with my family in South Florida, finishing the night by playing one mean game of poker with my extended family. December has been quite busy - winding down for the new year, building up for 2009.

What's Next?

So, what happens next? Next year looks like there are some interesting opportunities coming up - spcifically consulting in social media and the grey area between technology and marketing - which is where one of my personal projects is focusing on. Again, I can not discuss it much - but it is benefitting from the attention the Obama Campaign gave to technology and online organizing. More in the next couple of months.

My social life? Single - and always happy to connect. My friends and family are doing well - Andrew, Miriam and the kids are great in Gainesville, and Mom and Blair are great.

And, as always, please, keep in touch. I'd love to hear how you are doing - and am always ready to read your stories.

With joy for this upcoming New Year,


+1 (650) 533 5893 (CA cell)
+1 (954) 323 4450 (FL business number)
+1 (646) 290 8933 (NY business number)
   www.whoissanford.com (Personal Website)

Leads or suggestions to Sanford's search are not deductible for federal income tax purposes.
Sanford Dickert, 235 West End Avenue, Apt 5H, New York, New York, 10023, U.S.A.