Well I am very excited to let everyone know that we are are launching our newest application with Dank Apps called BE SANTA. This is something that I am very excited about and we are def testing the Facebook landscape a little bit with your Virtual and Real goods ideas. Jason Beckerman and the entire Dank Apps team has worked really hard on this now it is up to the users. I did a little video blog to talk about the launch that day. As you can see my family and I have a lot of fun and my brother and sister wanted to get in on the action. 

Today is our last day in CO and I am very sad. It was a great trip and I am energized and excited about the future of our company. More importantly I am positive that building a company with my two best friends was the smartest most rewarding thing I have ever done. 

So we are spending the next couple of days at a nice Condo in Colorado. The Carrot Creative Colorado Condo if you will. This little work trip could not come at a better time. The three of us have been working insane amount of hours and need a break to clear our head and remember that we are best friends that share the same vision of building something awesome and positive together. I have included a little video showing off the place.  

This week, I attended ad-tech in New York City. I, along with the rest of the Carrot Crew, was interested to see how the advertising and marketing industries are responding to the emergence and progression of Web 2.0 tools. And although I was unable to attend the entire week’s worth of events, my overall impression of the conference is that the advertising and marketing industries still do not “get it”when it comes to Social Media. I attended the conference with good friend Danny Epstein, the CEO of Pmbuzz.com, a nightlife social network based in New York City. While it was great to talk with Danny, the majority of my day was spent in the Expo listening to advertising companies, about fifty that I spoke with, drone on about the same diluted niche services and mass publisher marketing without properly knowing how to access the value of Social Media. I felt like I was in high school all over again, listening to my “wise beyond his years” biology teacher tell me why biology was important but never showing me how this information benefited me.

After attending similar conferences on the west coast, meeting business professionals that understand the importance of Social Media and how to effectively leverage its benefits, I assumed that the same atmosphere would transcend to New York City at one of the most revered Ad conferences. Once again, the old adage about assuming stands true. Yet, while I was overly disappointed in the Expo, I remain resilient in the notion that there are a lot of talented and savvy business professionals on the east coast that know how to leverage the power of the Social Media to promote quality products.

On a positive note, I was able to get tons of free SCHWAG…I like that word…I bet its not the last time I will be talking about it. 

Wednesday evening I had the opportunity to attended Facebook Developer Garage in NYC with Jason Beckerman and Mike Radparvar. As part of a global effort to link Facebook-minded business professionals with developers, the event was held at Daylife.com’s new headquarters. A huge thank you goes out to DayLife for providing a great venue for the event. If you would like to keep track of future Facebook Developer Garage events, and you are in the tri-state area, check out the Facebook Developer Garage Group.

Overall, we enjoyed the Garage as it did provide for some new insight into the future of the Facebook platform, some libations and plenty of my favorite food—pizza. However, it was apparent that not everyone present was as committed to creative, quality content for Facebook as the Carrot Crew is. I can always expect to get a hearty chuckle out of these events, watching business slicksters in expensive suits beg and plead with young programmers, sporting a Home Star Runner T-shirt and ripped jeans, to get rich quick in the “Facebook Craze.” Still, there was a decent amount of new information available and always opportunity to connect with like-minded Facebook professionals.

I, along with Jason and Phil from Dank Apps, presented the LOTTO to the Garage and it was well received with congratulations and constructive comments. And, yes, we did give a small plug for any designers or developers interested in working for a cutting-edge, fun company, to join the Carrot Crew or Dank Apps. After the presentation, we grabbed a few Brooklyn Brews with a great crowd or developers, designers, professionals and friends alike.