Hi, everyone:

I've been learning so much lately, and one of them was about making a post go viral on LinkedIn that allows you to game the LinkedIn algorithm to get your post to go "viral". Once I learned about this tip, well, there's "knowing" a tip, and there's actually knowing it because you've tried it.

So I tried it.

And I recorded the results and shared it with everyone, because, why not? As our 4 year old #theLentil says, "Sharing is caring and helping is caring." 

So here it is:
The LinkedIn Effectiveness tips: I learned more about LinkedIn as a social platform and decided to try it out. Here are the rules I learned/tested out: 

-- Longer posts, all text preferred.
-- Don't include photos, don't include links - LinkedIn doesn't want people to go away from Linkedin's website.
-- Only use 2-3 hashtags (and I've learned since they may have removed this preference around hashtags from their algorithm, but I have not tested it to confirm yet.) 
-- There's a golden hour, that's the 1 hour after you post that's the most important. I pinged 10 folks to "like" my post and comment on it during that 1 hour (thanks friends.) Repeat: folks must LIKE AND COMMENT on the post during the first golden hour. LIKE AND COMMENT.
-- Ideally, do this more than once, with more regularity for optimal impact.

Quite interesting, eh? I typically average about 50-200 views/post, so through this test, what I saw was that it really did significantly improve my reach on my message.  Below are the details.

Here's a link to the original Test post I did on LinkedIn to see if this actually did work (and embedded below so you can see the post that I did).  You'll see that I did a long form personal mini-essay with only a couple of hash tags, no links, and no images: 

Here's a link to the LinkedIn post where I recap my learnings/observations if you want to see it: 

Hope that helps someone. Let me know if you want me to participate in any of your posts - just tag me or send me a message with a link to the post, and I'm happy to LIKE AND COMMENT on your post to help you in your golden hour.

Warmly,
​Arry 

P.S. Also, there's a hack on the no links in the message "rule". Do the post without a link. Post it. Then after it's posted, go back and edit the post, and add in the Link. I haven't tried this out, but supposedly this is the workaround. 

Believe it or not... It's been a little over a year that I've been making all of the hand-soap in our home (and homes of extended family). Due to experiencing some very extreme prolonged stress (and then ending up with PTSD - had over a year of EMDR therapy with an excellent army veteran guy, so feeling much better), I ended up with head-to-toe psoriasis in 2018.

Then I found out I was pregnant. High risk pregnancy due to lots of things going on. (Don't worry, #theQuinoa is doing awesomely awesome.)

Then I learned about all the literal "crap" and chemicals that go into soap. ----> So that was it, I decided, we literally needed to "clean up" at home. Yea no more store bought shampoo nor conditioner for me. No more store bought body soap. I think I still smell ok. Hey, I'm Korean - so I got lucky in a lot of ways. I learned about the ingredients that go into soaps. I read this giant book about essential oils. Then I started selling the soap (small supply, not full time, just for kicks). These days, the soap is going by much more quickly with everyone washing their hands and faces multiple times a day, every day - I think about how many exposures are we getting  to the harsh chemicals. All of those chemicals end up in the sewers... 

Things to think about - are you using clean soap to clean these days? Look at the ingredients.

Anyways, one of my "hobbies" 2018-present that I wanted to share. Crazy how little we know and how much we assume in the things we do every single day.

Next on the list... figuring out gardening. I've never ever had a green thumb... any tricks? If I had even more time, I'd love to have chickens and fresh eggs. I know a bunch of y'all have done that - and I'm so jealous.

Maybe I'll trade you handmade CLEAN SOAP for FRESH EGGS? ​

--Arry

​PS. Or trade you SOAP for a cool-er logo? Thoughts on the version 1 I created with free software? 

The advertising world is fraught with problems of fraud, complicated supply chains and lack of control over data privacy. Not only are advertisers losing more money to fraud than ever before, they’re also losing control over ads because of an increasing number of middlemen in the supply chain.

The good news is that blockchain technology has the potential to solve these problems. Here are three important ways blockchain can provide more transparency and trust in the digital advertising industry.

1. Increased Fraud Prevention
Ad fraud is a huge problem in the advertising industry today. Exact numbers vary from source to source, but it’s been posited that as much as 36% of all digital ad traffic could be fraudulent. Mobile ad spend hit $40.1 billion last year. That means approximately $14 billion of all mobile ad spend is potentially fraudulent.

The solution lies in blockchain as a digital ledger of transactions. Every transaction of a digitized product is stored on blockchain as an immutable record, which means that nothing can be faked or changed after the fact. Each transaction is recorded only when all parties agree. The ledger is decentralized, or shared in real time by all participants. This means that no single party can unfairly influence the results.

Because of its transparency, this technology has the potential to allow advertisers to more easily monitor where ads are going and what happens to them. Blockchain even has the power to provide information like bid price, where impressions are coming from and how many times an ad is viewed.

2. A More Transparent Supply Chain
The supply chain for ads is dizzyingly complicated. What used to be a simple transaction between advertiser and publisher now involves supply-side platforms and aggregators handling ads along the way. Advertisers often don’t know exactly what happens after an ad leaves their hands.

Because of this, many advertisers now feel they don’t have control over their ads in how they’re presented, bid on or distributed. They may feel powerless because they’re unable to choose which steps, or even how many steps, an ad should go through before it’s put in front of consumers.

Blockchain’s decentralized ledger makes it possible to record every party who has touched the ad from advertiser to publisher. This allows advertisers to regain control of the supply chain by making it fully transparent.

3. Improved Data Privacy
By now, everyone in the advertising world has heard of Cambridge Analytica. Users are warier than ever of the way their data can be used against them, and governments are beginning to respond with their own policies for data protection such as the General Data Protection Regulation.

One problem is that people tend to enter the same sensitive information on multiple websites. Most people do not understand where their data is stored and how it might be used. Since the data is stored by multiple organizations, a security weakness in any one of them could lead to stolen data. It’s no wonder that people are opposed to providing advertisers with personal information.

Blockchain technology offers the possibility of a safe place to store sensitive information. For example, a highly encrypted, decentralized database of personal information eliminates the need to enter the same data multiple times. People can access their information with a private key and choose what they share and with whom.
​
Advertisers, on the other hand, can use blockchain to demonstrate to people how their personal information is used, making it clear that they’re using data in a safe and helpful way.
These measures could potentially increase users’ trust in advertisers. And with the ability to control exactly what they want to share, people may be more inclined to share basic information that allows advertisers to show them the ads they’re most interested in.

-------------------------------------------------------

Originally published at www.forbes.com on September 20, 2018.Here’s the original link: https://www.forbes.com/sites/theyec/2018/09/20/why-advertisers-cannot-ignore-blockchain-technology/#7645b6766f12

Video of Women in Blockchain that was made for the Blockchain NW conference here in Seattle on September 10-11, 2018.

" I'm excited because the more opportunities where we can bring thought leaders, people that are really active in the technology space in Seattle.  You know that Seattle is the hub for cloud technologies, artificial intelligence, which means we are at the hub of technologies when it comes to the digital evolution with cloud, devices, mobile, machine learning, data data data, which is the heart of blockchain.  So it's gonna be really exciting to bring all of these thought leaders, have us trade notes, build those relationships and work together in building the new future."  --Arry

I pushed and pulled and fought as hard as I could to create something out of nothing.  I met some very talented and inspiring people along the way.  Thousands to people were part of this journey, and I could not have gotten anywhere as far as we did without everyone.

• Advisors like Gina Cuff and Hoon Kong.  Advisors that also personally invested themselves into the company like: Jonathan Sposato, Barbary Brunner, and Rob Adams.  Even informal ones like Leo Novsky and Travis Jones that helped me navigate those tumultuous waters.  I worked for Logic20/20 from 2011 to 2014, and they have continued to support me even after leaving the company in ways that I will forever be grateful for - Thank you Christian, Ellen and Travis for everything.  
• Investors like Gary Rubens, Heather Redman, Rebecca Nordlander, and Rudy Gadre that go above and beyond with the quality time they spend with you.  Gary would take me out to hit golf balls for hours while coaching my golf swing and my business acumen.  Heather Redman would take me to go get our nails done.  Barbary who would take the phone call day or night, within hours of needing help.  Man, I remember the day Rebecca called me and said, "I woke up this morning and decided I'm wiring you money.  Go out there and make it happen!"  She's awesome.   Rudy, heart of gold and one of the best brains out there.
• Past employees, founders and team members like Stuart Owen, Christie Tarazon, Sean Zhong, Gina Cuff, Melissa Glidden, Arianna O'Dell, Hoon Kong, Jon Peck, and Valentine Gunko.  So many memories.  The other co-founders: Stuart is raw talent and incredibly smart.  Christie not just talented, but my goodness, one of the strongest women I know.  What Christie endured and pushed through during that first year is super human stuff.
• Lawyers like Lee Schindler and Adam Phillipp.  They are absolutely my go-to humans when on a startup journey and would not go anywhere else.  
• Accelerators and incubators that gave us a shot like 9Mile Labs and 500 Startups.  500 Startups where all of this startup theory really landed.  Hard.  Very pregnant.  So much truth and learning.
• Family and friends that helped give us hope, especially when times were REALLY tough.  Susan L. who surprised me with gifting requests and proactively gave so much insightful feedback.   
• Partners like butter LONDON, and B&H Photo Video that went above and beyond to help give the business shape and life.  B&H Photo Video Yosef called me days after our first ad-hoc meeting and gave me tips that ultimately gave birth to our beautiful business model.  Oh, and Stacy Kincaid who worked with us during the Providence Health relationship.  Really good people left and right.
• Most importantly, my husband, @luggagedonkey.  He covered so much on the family and home front, with our baby, my in-laws, my mother, my brother, everything.  And he cheered me on so fiercely, there's no doubt that he's my co-founder in anything I do in life.  The best kind of co-founder one could ever ask or pray for.

Spring to Summer of 2016 was really hard.  I thought I could be superwoman, having just given birth to my Lentil - that with the help of my awesome team, we could pull through this together.  Deep post partum depression.  I spent the summer of 2016 in a deep depression.  Deep despair.  My husband often had to peel my salty existence off the floor and into bed.  I did not feel like I even deserved to be alive.  I often thought the world, my husband, Lentil, everyone would be better off without me.  A waste of space.  Unworthy of the air I took in.  I looked at the sweet innocent face of Lentil and would end up crying because I felt I did not deserve to be his mother.

My advisors and investors starting sitting down to give me the "talk" in 2016.  They told me it was okay - to close it down and give them the write-off.  They told me to get going on the next startup because that one was the one they wanted in on.  I tried for one last hurrah in the fall of 2016, with my "AJ" by my side (thanks to my investors, especially Rudy, for giving me that one last swing at the ball).  Fall of 2016 was not the season of generosity and giving.  Power was changing hands - and the air was filled with emotions between the Clinton versus the Trump camps.  

​January - March 2017 I spent most of it on the verge of tears or crying my face off or finding a place to belong.  I'd be fine, and then while brushing my teeth with my husband in the bathroom, I'd tear up.  Standing in the kitchen I'd tear up.  I tried to get "out there" and involved in the community to pick up my spirits.  I tried to do this "Red Scarf" thing which was all about giving it forward to another woman entrepreneur.  I spent a bit of time doing office hours.  I put together events.  I volunteered to help the Riveter launch.  I did consulting on the side.  I advised any startup that came our way.  I really wanted to help this tiny little startup company called CakeCodes (which later became Storm and one I am part of today).  

And here we are.  May 2018.  I should really have called it quits back in the Winter of 2015/Spring of 2016.  I definitely should have in the Summer of 2016.  I absolutely should have sometime in 2017.  It is now officially May.  We are in the first week of May 2018 and I am finally officially and publicly - calling it done.  

Hope this post helps someone out there.  If you ever want to talk, please do not hesitate to reach out to me.  It is so lonely being an entrepreneur, a founder, in startups, being a founder CEO, raising funds, doing the grind, having employees, figuring out how to be a mom as a founder, all of it.  The emotional depression and the depth of despair that one experiences is so great, I wonder how many of us are suffering silently. 

Hugs to you out there trying to change the world.

​--Arry
​

I'm literally trying to breathe again.  Find that emotional and mental space to feel like a human being, not a machine.  I don't remember what it's like to be me anymore.  I've become a different person, again.  Each of these intense journeys reshape the person you are - and it takes a bit of mental/emotional "integration" time to bring yourself back into being a whole person again.

Doing an ICO, is not for the faint of heart.  It's not for the sensitive or the self-conscious.  It's not for those that do not have the stamina.

All I can say, is since May 2017, it's been a lot of back-breaking long hours.  Weeks on weeks away from family, away from husband, and away from my toddler.  It's wake up to sleep, nonstop work.  At the worst point, we were taking 1.5-3 hour naps at a time working around the clock for weeks on end.  

Oh yea, and the crazy schedule.  Greece, UK, Switzerland, Cayman Islands, United States, and all over.  

Trying to breathe again means forcing myself to not open the phone first thing in the morning.  It means giving myself permission to eat lunch (again).  It means giving myself permission to call a friend I haven't spoken to in over 8 months.  It means giving myself permission to cook dinner for my family.  It's been REALLY difficult getting back to a normal human life.  The past 8 months have taken a hard hard hard hit on my family, my husband, and my toddler - also my in-laws and my mother who've stepped in to help the family as I've been working so much.  

Thanks for being on this journey with me.
​Arry

This is a repost of an article that was published in Tech.co.

Pitch competitions are about having fun, knowing your hook, and building meaningful relationships.
​
Recently, I met up with Cassie Wallender, co-founder and Chief Product Officer at Invio Inc., a company on a mission to target and eliminate clinical trial inefficiencies that slow or block new medical innovations by lowering the cost of clinical trial data while increasing the quality.

I met Cassie through the Red Scarf Project (#theRedScarfProject), a movement about women paying it forward to support other female entrepreneurs. When we met up, we traded notes on what it took for her team to win Seattle Angel Conference (SAC), a recurring Seattle angel-driven event where the investors create an LLC, engage in due diligence of the applying startup companies, and ultimately pool funds to invest in one of the presenting finalists.

Here are some tips to help you win your next pitch competition:

Focus on Fun and Growing on a Journey, Together
Angel conferences are one a great place to learn from both the perspectives of a new founder and a new investor. The process takes you through a journey of discovery and constructive feedback. You go through multiple rounds of pitches until the final six companies stand and make their pitch before all the members of the SAC.

Tip: Always bring at least one other person to all meetings and pitches to focus on taking notes, eavesdropping on the crowd, and talking to investors about what’s working (and what’s not). Regularly triangulate with your team member to figure out how to adjust in real time during the event.

Have and Know Your Hook
The teams that don’t advance often are trying to do too much. They come off as unfocused and undifferentiated. Pitching is sort of like dating — you have to be interesting enough to warrant a “next date.”

Tip: The basics of communication and presentations are important. For example, know your market size and details of the approach used to get that number. Use 30-point font with a high contrast background on all of your slides. Demonstrate through each and every action that the team is coachable and of high integrity. Trust is an important part of any sale.

The focus and goal of your pitch shouldn’t be several steps ahead to win the entire competition. The focus and goal of each pitch should be to get to the next meeting.
 
It’s All About Human-to-Human Relationships
​The journey of winning a pitch is actually much more about the authentic relationships being built through every action (or inaction), than just winning at the end of the day.  That way, no matter what the outcome of the pitch is, the experience, the learning and the relationships built will help you and the team grow. Show up early, stay late. Work the room as a team. Touch hearts and demonstrate that you are a trustworthy group of good people.

Cassie mentioned that they had also met with folks outside of the SAC meetings. This was a critical strategy they had to build trust with the people of SAC, giving them one-on-one time to ask questions. They also figured out who the fund manager was that way.

Tip: Don’t talk to the other companies or teams pitching/presenting. (This isn’t to be mean or taken personally. There’s limited time to get and demonstrate value.) Focus on building the relationships with the people who can impact your business (in this case, it’s the angel investors.) Be present. The keyword is focus. Focus on speaking with the cynical angel investors and really understanding why they disagree. The cynical ones are the ones who will likely be vocal later when you’re not in the room.

Be a Team
Have at least one other founder in the room as often as possible. This will double the impact that you have in the room and can talk to more people about your company

Tip: Brag about your team members. Brag about the team members who are not present. Talk each other up. People respond to anyone talking another person up. People don’t respond to bragging.

Know Your Numbers
Come prepared with detailed numbers, especially market size. I’ve learned it is important to be able to quantify the problem size.

Tip: Be able to speak to the methodology used to arrive at assumptions and hypothesis. Make sure all of the numbers and your story line up. Make sure you’ve done the research and have traction to show that your assumptions and hypothesis are sound. Find a good lawyer who will be able to partner with you in navigating funding.

Designate the most organized one of the team to keep everyone on track in terms of the legal documents, the process and presentation documentation.

At the end of the day, doing any kind of pitch or presentation is similar to being good at B2B sales. While the word “sales” may turn off many folks. To me, it is really important to remember that behind any business are real people. People buy from people. Focusing attention on building human trust and consistently demonstrating that is a solid way to ensure success for yourself and your company.

It'sSomeone just asked me how it's going. Usually people, including me, respond with, "great!" ---> I didn't this time. Thought I'd share with you verbatim what I actually said and how I'm actually doing (and with continual appreciation to my dear husband Daedalus who's been my rock, so steady and unwavering in his support of this person that is me):

"My heart is heavy. I think I'm on the brink of tears at any given moment. I'm still hopeful (I don't know why). :)"

I posted this on Facebook earlier today.   Yes, there's a smile-y face at the end of it.   Both feelings at the same time, positive and negative, happiness and sadness, hope and despair, ...  I'm feeling all scrambled eggs inside.  It's been tough, especially this past week.  My family is going through some very challenging times.

Well, it's the end of the end of the day, and out of nowhere, all these people, some close, some random, some far far away, and some acquaintances commented.  I'm kind of in awe.  Awe. ... or like, "awwww....."  

So this is what love is, right?  This is what being a community is about, right?  Is this real?  I feel like there's real hope for humanity.  Conservative, liberal, green, blue, tall, old, young, city person, world traveler, small town, man, woman, ... we're all in this thing called life together.

​--Arry

It must be the season or something.  I feel like there's just too much noise.  There are too many distractions.  This is the home screen on my iPhone 6plus phablet BEFORE I made the change.  

This is my NEW home screen on my iPhone 6Plus phablet.  I focused on only keeping apps that I 1) use every day or should use every day, or 2) apps that I really enjoy or want to prioritize up in my life.  Somehow, Amazon.com has made the cut but they just make it too freaking easy to get all those shopping errands (household items, diapers, etc...) done with 1 thumb.  And, dudes and dudettes, I love Words with Friends.  :)  Turned off the notifications on most of the apps.  I just don't want to know.  I have to do that to email too.  I generally don't enjoy emails, text messages, ... actually, I DESPISE Facebook messenger, and voicemails.  

Most of this (80%)... will get deleted if I don't try it within a few months.  Even if I do try it, if I don't use it again, it will get deleted.  A few items are just "hanging out" here.  The Settings and the Calculator are exceptions - it's just I don't want them on the main home screen.

And yes, there's our baby Lentil's face there, reminding me that there's much MUCH more to life than social media or online videos.  

There REALLY is such a thing as TOO MUCH.  Too much noise in the world today.  We're all paying attention to the wrong details about what matters.  We'll see if this helps me.  I'll report back in a few weeks on this.

--Arry

I'm sharing with you an email I just wrote and sent out to our greater community and team today.  If you feel compelled and want to join in - shares, "likes", retweets, and all comments/suggestions gratefully welcome.  


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Hello Everyone!

Would appreciate your help in evangelizing our newest local brand team to join the #Gifting Movement with GiftStarter, Sturtevant's!  We are absolutely very happy to add them to our #community of AWESOME brands with truly wonderful PEOPLE: (butter LONDON, icPooch, Restrepo Leather,Seneca & Spruce, B&H Photo, ... and more, with more coming!)

Personal Note: 

Thank you for being a part of the GiftStarter #community and #movement - to bring the power of family and friends together for each other.  The #community and #people coming together is everything to us and the brand partners we work with. After all, without each other, what do we have?Life is about those #human moments of meaning (something I've been thinking about more and more as time flies by). 

And really, personally, I have been feeling that time scarcity in this life we have together. The message (thanks to my mother) that has been with from the time I was growing up and is getting louder as I get older, is that for those of us that have been #blessed and are able, it is our responsibility in life to enrich the lives of others as much as we can, every day. We can make a difference, together.  #PeopleMatter 

Suggested Shares to Share the Snow Gear News (Facebook! Twitter! Google! Whatever your preferred sharing medium is):

• #Snowboard + #Skiis at @SturtevantSport! Group #Gifts made easy and #AWESOME w @GiftStarter! http://www.sturtevants.com/ #GiftsMatter 
  
• #OMG #Winter! - group #gift a pair of #SKIIS or #SNOWBOARD at @SturtevantSport w @GiftStarter. http://www.sturtevants.com/ #GiftsMatter 
  
• HOLY SNOW!!  @SturtevantSport and @GiftStarter have an #awesome group #gifting experience. #GiftsMatter http://www.sturtevants.com/ 
  
• Freshen up ur #SNOW #GEAR! @SturtevantSport + @GiftStarter w #awesome group #gifting. #GiftsMatter http://www.sturtevants.com/ 
  
• #SNOW #GEAR - Do it #TOGETHER with @SturtevantSport + @GiftStarter! http://www.sturtevants.com/ #GiftsMatter 
  

Thank you in advance!

Warmly,
Arry
-- 
ARRY YU   Co-Founder, CEO
GiftStarter.co