Kimbal's Blog

A Subversive Plot

The world needs more subversive plots like this!

http://www.ted.com/talks/roger_doiron_my_subversive_garden_plot.html?utm_source=newsletter_weekly_2011-12-21&utm_campaign=newsletter_weekly&utm_medium=email

Colorado Cleantech Is Coming of Age

This is a special month for an organization I've served on the board of since its founding, the Colorado Cleantech Industry Association.  For starters, we're holding our first Awards program and just released the 20 finalists.  As I read through the list, I don't see merely a group of local entities doing good, but I see an assembly of truly world-class companies, executives and technologies making a solid difference in the advancement of cleantech around the world. It makes me proud to be part of the organizing team that's making this first cleantech recognition event happen in Colorado.

At the celebration event where we announce the winners, we've invited a close friend and business associate of mine, Ira Ehrenpreis of Palo Alto's Technology Partners, to speak.  He's called a Venture Capital Visionary and a Cleantech Expert in his bio, and I can attest that it's all true and much, much more.  As a board member of Tesla Motors, I've worked closely with him, experiencing his broad knowledge and keen business and cleantech acumen.  It's no mystery to me why our event was sold out two weeks in advance -- the "secret sauce" was being fortunate enough to have Ira Ehrenpreis as our keynote speaker.

Lastly, this month we're rolling out Colorado's Cleantech State Plan, or Roadmap as we often call it.  In spring of 2010, the Colorado Cleantech Industry Association commissioned Navigant Consulting, Inc., to analyze the state’s clean technology core competencies in relation to the competitive landscape; map the state’s assets and barriers; identify gaps; and propose a 3-5 year action plan to continue growing targeted sectors within the cleantech industry.  Key findings of this 5-month, $200K project will be shared at a Colorado State Capitol news conference on October 18th.  We're all clamoring to hear all the details shared at the conference, so stay tuned.

PS: for those that missed it, the Colorado Biz Magazine published this overview of the state of Colorado's Cleantech industry in partnership with the CCIA.  It's a great read, and it's exciting to see Colorado lead the country in so many areas.

 

 

OneRiot is Hiring!

Interested in joining one of the hottest start-ups in the Real-Time Web?  Think you've got the technical chops and work ethic to join our team?  Contact me at kimbal [at] oneriot [dot] com and tell me why you think you've got what it takes.

Here are our open positions in Boulder, CO:

Java 5/6 Engineer

Main Job Duties:
•     Work within a team environment to develop and support backend Server and front-end Web products and APIs
•    Have incredible passion about your profession
•    Collaborate with developers and operations team

Requirements:
•    5+ years JAVA development experience- Must have current working knowledge of Java 5/6
•    B.S in Computer Science, Physics, Math, EE or equivalent experience
•    Strong knowledge of all tiers of Web architecture
•    Strong knowledge of design patterns and highly scalable Web architectures
•    Working knowledge in Java frameworks such as Wicket, Tapestry, JSF, Hibernate, JUnit
•    Strong working knowledge of Unit testing, performance testing and profiling applications
•    Ability to handle the pressure and fluidity of a start-up environment
•    Strong collaborative skills and ability to fulfill multiple roles
•    Entrepreneurial spirit

Desired:
•    Experience in CSS, HTML, JavaScript and frameworks such as jQuery is a plus
•    Working knowledge of multivariate and A/B testing is a plus.
•    Strong scripting skills are a plus.

Sr. Quality Assurance Engineer

Main Job Duties:
•    Provide technical leadership in quality assurance
•    Play an active role both in creating test plans and participating in the testing process
•    Interface with stakeholders to understand and clarify requirements
•    Write and execute test plans
•    Design and complete automated testing
•    Consolidate and report test results

Requirements:
•    Expert in Perl and writing custom tools to automate common testing tasks
•    5+ years of hands on testing experience
•    Demonstrated familiarity with industry and standard test automation tools
•    Strong background Java and Web 2.0 applications
•    BS or MS in computer science or related field
•    Unix system admin experience a plus
•    Ability to handle the pressure and fluidity of a start-up environment
•    Strong collaborative skills and ability to fulfill multiple roles
•    Entrepreneurial spirit
•    Ability to think analytically and see the big picture

-----

Here are our open positions in Palo Alto, CA:

Search Algorithm Developer

Main Job Duties:
•    Work with other technologists to develop search algorithms to improve search relevance
•    Develop qualitative and quantitative models of user behavior
•    Measure and analyze search relevance quality
•    Design tests and analysis to support search product direction, search results improvement and search business goals
•    Become a subject matter expert in social search issues and technologies

Requirements:
•    Experience developing, testing and refining algorithms for search engines
•    Experience improving relevance of search results
•    Optimization and machine learning skills
•    PhD or Master’s in math, physics or computer science
•    Experience developing modern training algorithms and cost functions for tuning search engines
•    Real-world experience working with data and algorithms for search engines, indexes or crawlers
•    SVM
•    Experience with decision trees
•    Ability to handle the pressure and fluidity of a start-up environment
•    Strong collaborative skills and ability to fulfill multiple roles
•    Entrepreneurial spirit
•    Ability to think strategically and see the big picture


Software Engineer- Search Relevance

Main Job Duties:
•    Improve relevance of search results through data collection, analysis and tool development
•    Implement ideas through expert level coding skills
•    Interface between search relevance ideas and production
•    Develop new and innovative ideas and solutions

Requirements:
•    Expert level Java and/or C++ programmer
•    Substantial Perl and/or  Python experience
•    Understanding and development of system architecture
•    Understand trade-offs in system architecture relating to performance tuning.
•    Experience collecting search relevance data
•    Love of developing novel and creative solutions

Cooking the Perfect Turkey: Take 9

I have lived in North America since 1991 and have partaken in the annual ritual of Thanksgiving for 18 years.  After joining a few Thanksgiving dinners and eating dried out turkey with packaged gravy, I decided that there had to be a better way.  I spent the next 5 years trying to convince all my friends that there are tastier ways to enjoy a Thanksgiving meal.  How about duck?  I cooked that one year and half my friends wouldn't even turn up.  Roast prime rib got a better reception, but the sad look on there faces told me that they really did want the dried out turkey.

If only I could win this argument

Then I got married to a wonderful american woman with a wonderful american family and it was clear that I was stuck with turkey for good.  It was the first time I've ever met people that had warm feelings for canned goods.  I mean, how could canned cranberries be better than fresh cranberries.  I was at a loss.  There was no fighting this.  So as the old saying goes, "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em".

That has led me on a crusade for 9 years now to try and make a bird tasty that is bred to be large (the larger something is, the harder it is to cook evenly), bred to have as little flavor as possible (this part I've never understood), and bred to have close to zero fat on it (less fat = less tasty. Bottomline).

You can see my post from last year that talked about the difference between a brine and marinade.  I determined that the brine works better, but it wasn't good enough to make the bird taste good.  This year we went into it with a determination to learn what was good from last year and push the flavor to the next level.  I have to say, I am very happy with the results.  I think we are far from creating the perfect turkey, but what we cooked this week was juicy and well-seasoned.  In the world of turkey, that's a revelation.  Here's how we did it:

1.  Double brine the turkey.  We bought the brining bag and brining mix (mixed herbs) from Whole Foods.  We added two more cups of salt to the brining mix, and two heads of garlic.  Then we brined it for 48 hours.  Twice as much salt and twice as long. Keep the brined turkey in the fridge for all 48 hours.  Put all innards and extras (neck bones, etc.) in the brining mixture as well.  You'll put those in the bottom of the roasting pan to flavor the drippings.

Put the brining turkey in a pan to hold it stable in the fridge and prevent any water from leaking.

On the day - 4 hours before you want to eat:

2.  Preheat the oven the 500 degrees.  About as hot as your oven can go.  Take the turkey out of the brining bag and let it sit in a bowl to allow any water to leak out of the cavities. 

3.  Chop up a large bowl of carrots, onions and celery.  The vegies should cover the bottom of the roasting pan and be about 2 inches deep.  Add two heads-worth of garlic gloves.  Add two lemons, quartered.  The lemons add a nice tartness to the drippings and are a nice aromatic for the turkey (also great when you roast a chicken). Add the innards and extras to the vegies and drizzle everything with olive oil.

4.  Stuff the cavity of the turkey with a cup of fresh chopped rosemary, thyme and sage, and some of the vegie mix.  Place the turkey breast-side down in the roasting pan.  It will go directly over the chopped vegetables.  Make sure the breast is not touching the bottom of the roasting pan (it should rest on the vegies).  Cook for an hour and 15 min at 500 degrees.  Then turn it around and cook it breast side up for another hour - the skin should be nicely browned by now.  This was a 25lb turkey.  And yes, we cooked it in just over 2 hours.  And it tasted great!

Don't ever tie up the legs.  Just makes the legs take longer to cook - which means the breast will be even drier.

Note:  When turning the turkey, use metal tongs and a large metal spoon (no pokey things like forks - the juices will flow out of the turkey).  Put the tongs in the cavity of the turkey, balance with the spoon on the neck-side, and grip, lift and turn the turkey with the tongs. 

6.  Next up, the gravy.  Heat three quarts of chicken stock in a pot to boiling.  After you've taken out the turkey, let it rest on a serving plate with foil over it to keep it warm.  You should have a roasting pan of vegies, innards and extras, drippings and fat.  Put the roasting pan on the stove and cook until the drippings separate from the fat and stick to the bottom of the pan.  You can see if this is working when you try and pour off the fat. If it's clear, then the drippings have stuck to the bottom. If not, then the drippings are still in the fat.  Keep cooking until you have all the drippings (now solids) stuck to the bottom of the pan.  Pour off all the fat and keep everything else in the roasting pan.  Add 1/2 a bottle of white wine to the pan and mix it with the solids until the solids have separated from the bottom of the pan.  Add half the chicken stock to the pan.  Mix and taste.  If you like this taste, then stick with it. 

The gravy gets its flavor from the drippings and the vegies. 

If you want more gravy or you find it too strong in flavor, keep adding chicken stock until you're happy with the flavor.  I prefer a strong flavored gravy, but there is nothing worse than not enough gravy!  Strain the gravy and put it into a pot and bring to boil.  Add flour to the gravy to get to the desired texture.  Start with a quarter cup, stir it in for a few minutes, and test the texture.  Keep going until you're happy with the texture and flavor.  You should not need salt for the gravy, but check it anyway and add salt if necessary.

7.  When cutting the turkey, you might prefer the legs to have a little bit more cooking (they'll be cooked, but will have some red in them). The breast should be perfect.  Our turkey legs this year was perfect, but don't feel awkward about throwing some of the leg meat into a frying pan and cooking it to your desired temp.

8.  Serve the dinner with these brussels sprouts and this stuffing.  They are the recipes from my restaurant, The Kitchen's holiday menu. 

9.  For the potatoes, we used Yukon Golds, peeled them, boiled them in salty water, then riced them (a ricer is the best way to mash potatoes - buy it at any kitchen store), and stirred in cream and butter to taste.  We used 12 potatoes, 2 sticks of butter, and 2 quarts of cream.  Why not.  It's only once a year. 

And yes, we used canned cranberries, and they were awesome.  :)

How to choose the right religion for you...

Boulder: You're not in Kansas anymore...

This is a re-post of a blog that was published on the Huffington Post on Sep 15th.  For the original post, click here to go to the HuffingtonPost.com.

I have lived and worked in Boulder, Colorado for seven years now. Before moving here, I was very fortunate to live in some of the most interesting places in the world during some of the most interesting times. I grew up in South Africa and came of age during the fall of Apartheid. It was an amazing movement to be part of, although admittedly I had very little understanding of the global impact of what was going on. After studying in Canada, I moved to Silicon Valley in 1995 to start my first company, Zip2. Within a year or two I found myself smack in the middle of the Internet boom. By 1999, after selling Zip2 to Compaq, I decided that Silicon Valley had become a different place than when I first arrived, so I moved to New York to find a new life. So far away in fact, that I enrolled in the French Culinary Institute to study the amazing nuances of French cooking. A few weeks after I graduated, 9/11 happened. I lived a few blocks away from the towers, heard the planes crash, saw the towers burn, and saw the towers fall. My life had become all too interesting.

That was when we found Boulder. My wife and I decided to look around the country for a home that would be a better place to have a life, a family, and a business. We discovered Boulder, a small but lively pedestrian town in the middle of the country. Easy to get to New York or California, but not in New York or California. We decided that we'd open a restaurant. The complete opposite of the businesses I'd been a part of (at the time, PayPal, of which I was an angel investor, had just gone public for over $1 billion). Small town, family business ... it was my Kansas ... it was perfect.

When we first moved here I didn't realize or imagine that Boulder had a thriving tech community. Brad Feld and Jared Polis, who I've become good friends with over the years, were just the guys I bought the restaurant from. Both of them are extremely talented internet entrepreneurs and well-known movers and shakers throughout the Boulder community.

My goal was to build a small business and a family life. It was not to be. The Kitchen, which my wife and I opened with our friend and amazing chef Hugo Matheson, was quickly recognized as the pioneer in 'green' restaurants across the country. It received many national awards for its food and community focus. It is the opposite of a small business, employing over 60 people and serving between 3,000 and 4,000 people every week. Boulder was not the small town I had expected. It is a vivacious community of sophisticated people, who have the same aspirations and expectations you find in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. If Boulder ever was Kansas, Dorothy and Toto left that place a long time ago.

Then, about four years ago, some friends from New York came to me with the idea of OneRiot. I had worked with David Mandell, one of the founders, when I lived in New York. They pitched the idea of the realtime web, a place where people on the internet are contributing, changing and consuming information right now based on social interactions. I got so excited I almost fell off my chair. I was hooked on the idea, but was skeptical that you could build a software company in Boulder. I mean ... why would anyone build a software company outside of Silicon Valley? I had experimented with it in New York in 1999, and it was a hard lesson to learn. Silicon Valley is the only place for software start-ups ... or so I thought.

I talked to every CEO and VC I could find in Boulder to learn more about building a software business here. This included my first real introductions to Brad Feld and Jared Polis. Turns out you can build a software business in Boulder. In fact, several folks already had. Looking back, my ignorance was astounding.

I then turned to friends of mine in the venture community from around the country to see if they'd invest in a start-up in Boulder. They would. They did. Boulder was definitely not the Kansas I thought it was.

Here's what I've learned about Boulder since then:

1. The Denver/Boulder area has the highest per capita density of software engineers in the country. Whoa!


2. Boulder has the highest concentration of college graduates in the country (59% have a bachelor's degree or higher -- the next highest is 47%!)


3. Forbes magazine calls it one of the best places for business and careers.


4. It's the healthiest city in the country.


5. It's one of the most bike friendly cities in the country (and after living in California where 20 minute commutes are 'around the corner,' it is awesome to be able to walk or bike to work each day).


6. Boulder is a magnet for interesting people. I've met more interesting physicists, entrepreneurs, designers, investors, and thinkers in Boulder than I have anywhere else. Not only are they here, the nature of the community means that it's easy to bump into folks like this often.

Boulder should be next to the word 'community' in the dictionary. The support we received at OneRiot from the beginning has been amazing. Everyone's door was open and everyone was rooting for our success. In turn, our team at OneRiot has done everything we can to return the favor. Robert Reich, another one of our founders, started the Boulder Denver New Tech Meetup, which now boasts over 3,000 members. Entrepreneurs in Boulder want you to be successful. You want others to be successful. It's really an amazing community to start a company. Due to everyone's efforts working together, Boulder has become one of the top cities to start and build a software business.

David Cohen at Techstars is another great example of Boulder entrepreneurship and community. He brings together 10 young start-ups each year to Boulder, trains them, connects them with mentors, and puts them in front of some of the top investors from around the world at the annual Techstars day in Boulder, in August. If you're building your first startup, Techstars is one of the top incubators in the country. It's just another example of many that have made Boulder one of the most exciting places to work in software in the country.

Boulder is the up-and-coming tech community in the country. Keep a look-out. We're going to be in the news more and more every day. We probably won't beat out Silicon Valley for its financial and people infrastructure in tech, but looking at the overall picture we take Silicon Valley to school.

Disclaimer: I actually don't know much about Kansas. I just heard about it in the Wizard of Oz. It is entirely possible that it is a mecca of software and restaurant sophistication.

For more news and commentary from Colorado, check out HuffPost's just-launched Denver section.

Follow Kimbal Musk on Twitter: www.twitter.com/kimbal

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kimbal-musk/boulder-youre-not-in-kans_b_283677.html

Follow me on Twitter

Username:  Kimbal  http://twitter.com/kimbal

I have been spending the past few weeks on Twitter.  I thought I'd give it a real go after playing with it on and off over the past few years.

Turns out that I like it a lot more than I ever thought I would.  I think the difference is I now have a complete lack of shame. I am completely comfortable telling all my followers the nuances of what I'm eating, from cardboard Starbucks pastries, to hot stone seared toro at Matsushisa in LA.  That and commentary on the lighting in airport terminals really gives you a good idea of the amazing depth of my tweets.  :)

And what's even more amazing, once you dive in, you actually start to care about what other people think about their food and airport terminals.  It's somewhat competitive actually.  'Oh yeah, you think you can make some tiny inane thing worth tweeting about?  Just wait for it.  I can cover the struggles and joys of waiting in line in security better than Ernest Hemingway after 5 G&Ts.'

It's also the reason you've seen less of my blog posts.  I'll still post here, but I'll keep it to deeper insights (like maybe how they could improve the security screening process at airports!!).

So, in the meantime, I'll see you on Twitter.  

Techstars is coming up!

I'm excited to see a new batch of Techstars coming to Boulder this summer.  Last year brought an excellent crop of people and companies to Boulder.  My favorites last year were Foodzie and Travelfli. 

For those who are interested in learning about it, click the badge below:

Heli-Skiing. Yes, it is that good.

About 6 months ago a close friend of mine asked me if I wanted to join him with a group of friends to go heli-skiing this January.  I think I replied in the affirmative within 5 seconds.  I've always wanted to go, but I've never been able to convince enough friends to make it a full group.

Our motley crew

We booked our trip with the Selkirk-Tangiers Heli-skiing group in Revelstoke, Canada.  They rocked and made the trip great both on and off the slopes.  A quick nod to our guides Phil and Paul. You guys kicked ass.

 

Phil waiting for the helicopter to pick us up.  He waits with our equipment while we wait on the other side of the landing spot.

Having never been heli-skiing, I was quite intimidated by the idea.  The only reference I have are the Warren Miller films where you drop from the helicopter 20 feet above the powder, and then proceed to board down semi-vertical slopes with an avalanche following gracefully behind you.  I wasn't sure if I was up for the task, but hey, there are probably worse boarders out there that have heli-skiied, and what's the worst that could happen?  Frozen death by avalanche?  Fiery death by helicopter?  Pretty cool ways to go if I had to choose.

Actually looks pretty cozy doesn't it?

It turns out that the helicopter does land for us learner-heli-skiiers.  And the slopes are quite manageable.  The big deal, and most awesome thing in the world, is the sick amount of powder.  Since I've been a powder hound since I first put on my board, this was definitely not a problem.

The first day the helicopter was grounded because of icing.  Apparently the first heli went up and lost all vision out the front windows because of ice.  The pilot had to fly sideways, looking out his side windows, to get back home.  Not fun and understandable that the pilots didn't want to go out again that day.

The next day we were first up.  We got in the van and drove to the heli pickup point about 15 miles north of the hotel.  The sight of the heli waiting for us was awesome.  Parked right on the side of the highway next to Revelstoke lake. 

 

Heli waiting for us to take us up for the first time.

Loading into the heli.  It's tight in there, so you better like your buddies.

 

The view from the heli as we flew to our first stop.  Did I mention how awesome helicopters are?

Getting ready for our first run above the clouds

Oh yes, I like the powder.

Did I say there was a lot of powder?

Because there was a lot of powder.

Yours truly boarding in the powder

Sometimes the powder is so deep you get stuck.

A little traverse to the deep powder.  Did I mention that we liked the powder?

Heli waiting for us at the bottom.

 Loading the heli.

Another picture of the heli.  Ain't she purdy?

And yes, I did have a good time.

All in all, I found that heli-skiing is all its cracked up to be.  And more.  It also helped that we had a great group of guys and I look forward to making this trip happen again. And again.  And again.

 

The International Lego Crash Competition V

On January 9th, the fifth annual International Lego Crash Competition was held in Boulder, CO.  Sergi Gomis and Fanta Watson hosted the event and it was action, action, and more action.  It is part of the celebration of Three King's Day, and is dedicated to the birth of our savior, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Yay Jesus!

Here's how it works.  You have one hour to construct your lego car out of many thousands of available pieces.  It's competitive and the pieces are first come, first serve.

It can look like anything you wish, and in fact one of the prizes is for aesthetics.  At the end of the hour, votes are tabulated for best looking car, and then they are crashed into each other at high speeds to see which car survives for the next round.

An example of an extreme Lego Crash Car

Here are the rules:
- your car must have a pilot. 
- If your pilot is thrown from the car, you lose the crash. 
- you can only have one pilot
- the car must be about 6 inches by 4 inches in size at minimum.
- you can rebuild your car, after winning a crash with a previous contestant, but it must be ready for the next round (i.e. no waiting around)

I'm sure there are other rules, but those are mostly ignored.  Drinking is encouraged.

The Americans went first...

Against other Americans...

The first crash was spectacular and American Team2 took the round.  Although it is important to noote that American Team 1 felt that they were robbed. 

The Spanish Team lining up.

American Team 3 came in looking ready for battle.

One of the best crashes of the night.  Spain went out after three crashes.  American Team 3 moved to the next round.

Sweeney looking like he has no idea how badly he is going to lose this round.

American Team 4 praying to the Sweet Jesus, our Savior.

Total destruction of one of the cars.  Not sure which as I don't remember. 

The Australian Team coming in strong.

Up against the South African Team (yep, that's me).  Note the beautiful aesthetics of our car.  We won the prize for best looking car.

But we did not win the prize for toughest car.  The Australian Team took our car down in three crashes to move to the next round.

At about this point I stopped paying attention, but I believe one of the American Teams won the final match up, but the Australians went home with the prize (since it was little bouncy balls and they had kids who could appreciate them).

By the end of the night we were all pretty tired.

So that's it for VILCC (Fifth International Lego Crash Competion).  We laughed, we cried, we prayed.  I love you Jesus.

And thanks to Sergi and Fanta for another great event.