Carl Fudge
March 12th, 2012 | Filed under: Motiv | No Comments »
Billy Beane || Photo: Daily Beast/Taylor Richards Glenn
In the movie Moneyball, Brad Pitt plays the role of Billy Beane, the GM of the Oakland A’s baseball club who used non-traditional analysis (and a brainy Ivy League sidekick) to outwit his rivals. By systematically finding undervalued players—diamonds in the rough such as the “fat catcher” Jeremy Brown—Billy was able build a team that could compete with big money teams such as the Yankees at a fraction of the cost.
Nowadays, many pro sports teams are using principles of sports analytics, and the field continues to grow. There is no greater proof of the field’s growth than at the annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, held last weekend in Boston. For a weekend in March, over 2,000 people—including GMs from pro sports teams, ESPN SportsCenter anchors and hundreds of sports geeks from places like MIT and Harvard—come together to discuss all the latest ways to use data in sports, from player performance to ticket pricing.
Due to a well-timed project with a client in the sports industry I was luckily able to attend the conference in the name of “research.” The fact that my favorite sports writer Bill Simmons (who refers to the conference as “Dork-a-palooza”) was in attendance, along with the GM, former coach and former shooting guard of my favorite basketball team was just a fortunate coincidence. In fact, Rockets GM Daryl Morey (an MIT Sloan alum) co-chairs the event and has written about his thoughts on analytics in the HBR blog.
Here are some of the innovation needs I noticed at the conference and indeed problems that we here at Motiv would love to help solve:
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Carl is an engagement director with overall management responsibility for the various work streams involved in our consulting work.
Carl Fudge
March 7th, 2012 | Filed under: Motiv | No Comments »
Those of you who follow this blog know that we’re big fans of food, social innovation, and giving back to our community. A few weeks ago we were able to combine these passions by taking a team field trip to the DC Central Kitchen (DCCK) and learn about their innovative approach to philanthropy. You know, its not all work and no play around here.
Motiv listens attentively to Brian MacNair, Chief Development Officer of DCCK. //Photo: Motiv/Ian Campbell
Thanks to Brian MacNair and the team at DCCK, DC is a better place. Instead of ending up back in jail, people are ending up in behind the stove. But before if you think this is just a well-run soup kitchen? Think again.
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Carl is an engagement director with overall management responsibility for the various work streams involved in our consulting work.
Carl Fudge
January 6th, 2012 | Filed under: Motiv | No Comments »
Two startups have caught my eye recently. While they don’t have big names yet, you can expect that to change quickly.
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Carl is an engagement director with overall management responsibility for the various work streams involved in our consulting work.
Carl Fudge
November 16th, 2011 | Filed under: Motiv | No Comments »
When you hear the name Washington, DC, what comes to mind? The White House? The Capitol? The Pentagon? They probably should–not only is DC home to some of the most recognizable government buildings in the world, but the US government is also the single largest employer of DC residents. In total, 38% of DCers work for the government, and many others work for government contractors, big law firms and non-profit associations. So where do private businesses fit into the mix and what does AOL, a tired, old dialup internet provider have anything to do with the scene?
The truth is that Motiv’s location in DC makes us somewhat of an anomaly. Many of our competitors choose to be in places like New York, San Francisco or Chicago – business “hubs” that are also vibrant centers of education, culture and innovation. At times, I feel a bit isolated in DC, as there are few others who speak the same language, but recently things have been changing and I think DC is on the cusp of a revolution of innovation and startup activity.
Leading the charge is Living Social, the daily deals site now valued at $3 billion based on recent rounds of VC funding. Living Social’s 29 year-old CEO, Tim O’ Shaughnessy, cut his teeth at… you guessed it, AOL. After graduating from Georgetown University, he managed product launches at AOL before moving on to lead the consumer products team at Revolution, a DC-based VC/PE fund started by AOL Billionaires Steve Case and Ted Leonsis. In fact, Revolution is not the only local fund focused on the DC area, GroTech Ventures has made a similar commitment to local innovative startups too. Continue Reading»
Carl is an engagement director with overall management responsibility for the various work streams involved in our consulting work.
Carl Fudge
October 24th, 2011 | Filed under: Motiv | No Comments »
Today marks the 101st day of the NBA lockout – a labor dispute between the owners and players that has caused the first two weeks of the season to be postponed. Despite several rounds of negotiations, the most recent of which lasted over 16 hours straight, the lights are still off in the arenas, no sneakers are squeaking and no basketballs are swishing through any nets.
As established in a prior blog post, I’m a big sports fan, especially basketball. I’ve always loved hoops, ever since the mid 1990’s when Michael Jordan’s spectacular athleticism and overall dominance was a reason why many people across the world felt similarly passionate about basketball.
The popularity of the NBA is at an all-time high as a new wave of talented stars such as DC’s own Kevin Durant (pictured), interesting subplots like the conspiracy of the Miami Heat and the unprecedented international appeal have all played their part. Why the owners and the players would prefer to damage the NBA by prolonging a lockout for nearly four months is beyond most people.
The most contentious issue to-date has been how much of the “basketball-related income” or BRI should go to the players and how much should go to the owners. Negotiations arrived at a standstill when the players refused to accept anything below 53% of all revenue and the owners refused to offer them anything above 50%. Continue Reading»
Carl is an engagement director with overall management responsibility for the various work streams involved in our consulting work.
Carl Fudge
September 28th, 2011 | Filed under: Motiv | No Comments »
Sometimes you read a blog post and it captures an argument so thoughfully that you can’t really top it. That’s how I felt when I read a recent post by Dan Pallotta, an expert in nonprofit sector innovation.
Pallotta critiques a 2006 Wired article that slams former Apple CEO Steve Jobs for being a “single-minded capitalist” due to his failure to donate significant sums of his wealth to good causes based on publically available lists [note that this article does acknowledge the possibility that he gives anonymously].
Pallotta argues rather than counting his contributions to the world in terms of the dollars he has donated, we should instead focus on the amazing innovations he has brought to market through Apple. Thanks to Jobs, we have computers that don’t crash, and smartphones and tablets that open up access to information on the go –many of which are making differences to lives through their use by doctors, aid workers, charity leaders, social workers, students, and so on (not to mention innovation consultants!).
While some argue that Jobs should have spent more time giving away his wealth over the last years, Jobs apparently felt he could do more good by doing what he does best, and expanding Apple.
To read Pallotta’s original post, click here.
Carl is an engagement director with overall management responsibility for the various work streams involved in our consulting work.
Carl Fudge
September 8th, 2011 | Filed under: Motiv | No Comments »
A few weeks ago, ABC showed an hour long special called “i.am.FIRST – Science is Rock and Roll” – a program dedicated to inspiring the next generation of innovators, scientists and entrepreneurs.
Will.i.am at the 2010 MTV VMA's
The name, “i.am.FIRST” came about when pop singer Will.i.am from the Black Eyed Peas collaborated with serial inventor Dean Kaman, who created the Segway, amongst numerous other pieces of technological wizardry. So the story goes, will.i.am was so fond of his Segway that he Googled the name of the inventor and called him out of the blue.
“FIRST” or “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology” is a robotics competition started by Kaman that has so far not been able to gather the attention and publicity that Kaman believed it deserves. Now 20 years’ old, this year’s FIRST competition featured 200,000 students from over 57 countries all interested in robotics and engineering.
FIRST took place this year in the Edward Jones Dome, normally the home of the NFL St Louis Rams and featured an Olympics-style series of competitions and events, such as one where robots competed as teams to arrange inflatable shapes in the formation of the FIRST logo. Continue Reading»
Carl is an engagement director with overall management responsibility for the various work streams involved in our consulting work.
Carl Fudge
August 22nd, 2011 | Filed under: Motiv | No Comments »
Last week, after weeks of secret talks, web juggernaut Google announced plans to acquire Motorola “Mobility” (otherwise known as the ones who make the cell phones).
What will the search giant do with Motorola Mobility?
At a price tag of $12.5B cash, this is no small investment and many have questioned the logic behind it.
There are however some good reasons why Google pulled the trigger on this deal. From now on, Google will be able to dream up the ideal mobile experience for its consumers and then design smartphones and operating systems that are perfectly balanced in terms of form and function. If this approach sounds familiar, it should – this is the model that Apple uses for its iPhone, now the best-selling smartphone in the world. Continue Reading»
Carl is an engagement director with overall management responsibility for the various work streams involved in our consulting work.
