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Brent Lamphier (Athleon)
Average of 2 posts per month.
December 31
, 2008
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01:34 PM
A few different companies. I found the differences interesting: Nike:
"To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world.
If you have a body, you are an athlete."
Adidas:
The adidas Group strives to be the global leader in the sporting
goods industry with sports brands built on a passion for sports and a
sporting lifestyle. Version #2:
Our mission is to become the best sports brand in the
world. To that end, we will never equate quantity with quality. Our
founder Adi Dassler was passionate about sports. For Adi, the athlete
came first. He gave those on the field, the court and the track the
unexpected and the little differences that made them more comfortable
and improved performance. This is our legacy. This is what the brand
stands for. This will never change."
Under Armour (in all caps): TO MAKE ALL ATHLETES BETTER THROUGH PASSION, SCIENCE AND THE RELENTLESS PURSUIT OF INNOVATION 
Reebok:
Reebok's mission is to always challenge and lead through creativity.
At
Reebok, we see the world a little differently and throughout our
history have made our mark when we’ve had the courage to challenge
convention. Reebok creates products and marketing programs that reflect
the brand’s unlimited creative potential.
Puma:
PUMA has the long-term mission of becoming the most desirable Sportlifestyle company.
Asics:
ASICS, an acronym derived from the Latin phrase, Anima Sana In Corpore
Sano - a sound mind in a sound body. Staying true to the philosophy by
which it was founded, every ASICS innovation, every concept, every idea
is intended to create the best product. Our mission is to become the
number one brand for the sports enthusiast. To accomplish this, we
pledge to continue to make the best product; striving to build upon our
technological advances and pushing the limits on what we can learn from
the body and its needs in athletic gear. We pledge to bring harmony to
the body and soul.
November 27
, 2008
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09:04 PM
Big congratulations to the University of Washington women's cross country team who just won a national championship this past weekend. One of a few bright light in the currently abysmal Seattle sports scene.
November 12
, 2008
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12:51 AM
Now that Athleon has some money in the bank...meaning I can afford to buy lunch every now and then...the 'you're blessed and you can afford to help others' voice in the back of my head has started speaking again. Some small number of people give to a non-church charity every year (5 some odd % I believe), and, outside of my church givings I can actually REMEMBER every single time I've been charitable with anything but change. That fact, combined with my increasing love of entrepreneurship, has lead me to seek out amazing charitable organizations to give a small amount of money (very small really) out of every paycheck to. Most of us who are building a business are doing it for some combination of fame or wealth...yet a lot of really, really cool entrepreneurs are starting something with no real option for wealth involved. So, over the next however long, every paycheck (our payroll is done bi-monthly) I'll let you know which really cool charity is getting the small piece of my hard earned cash. It's the same amount every month and as of now I'm not planning on doubling down....I realize that giving a bigger sum to one charity may be more beneficial, but I'm seeking out cool charities in quantity. If you have a group I simply MUST donate to let me know in the comments below. Otherwise, go change the world however you see fit. There are absolutely no rules to this simply organizations that do something good for somebody else (and hopefully tell me exactly where my money is going...transparency is a very good idea). They may help starving children in Africa, or people 2 feet way in Seattle. No rules. I want to find orgs who are as passionate about what they do as I am about what I do....and maybe help a fellow human being or two in the process. (P.S. While it doesn't really count, my first bit o cash went to the candidate I supported in the November election. It AMAZES me how much money Mr. McCain and Mr. Obama spent on advertising against each other...perhaps giving to the guy outside my local starbucks today would have been a better use of my money).
November 4
, 2008
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06:38 PM
Yep, I'm a 20 something who voted. Coffee's on Starbucks for me today. This is the most exciting, and disappointing, election cycle I've ever followed (granted, I'm young). I love John McCain the man. If I had a top ten list of people to met he'd be on it. I don't care if you don't want him to be president, you have to respect the guy. If not, get Faith of My Fathers on Netflix. Though it may not turn out to be...at the time, I thought Sarah Palin was a brilliant pick, and I loved the risk factor. The John McCain campaign, however, has been making me quite angry. Meanwhile, Barack Obama, the man, is amazingly engaging and inspirational. He's exciting, personable, and has speech traits that I've found myself emulating when I give presentations. His running mate, Joe Biden, I find quite funny (in a good way) and was my favorite of the democratic candidates early in the cycle. The Obama campaign, however, has been making me quite angry. But, such is politics. Now, I don't understand why you wouldn't vote, and I think it's at the core of what we are as Americans. However, if you don't want to vote....don't. If you don't care, don't vote. If you have something better to do, don't vote. It's a free country, and you have every right to vote, to not vote, to get your nails done, or to watch football instead. If you don't care enough to vote, me trying to force you is not going to spark something inside of you. I don't know how you can not care enough to not vote....but if you don't care, fine, don't vote.
November 4
, 2008
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01:01 PM
Great quote from the blog at 37 signals: "Figure out the absolute least you need to do to implement the idea, do just that, and then polish the hell out of the experience" -John Gruber Harder said than done, but something to think about.
October 12
, 2008
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11:12 PM
There are a lot of free web services and I use a very small hand full of them. I also run one of those free services and am truly thankful for every individual using my service. Craigslist, a free service with so many users they probably should care less if I use it...tells me they really appreciate it every time I post something there. Just like the lady selling corn at the street fair. How often do YOU tell your users/customers that you really appreciate them?
October 1
, 2008
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10:33 PM
October 1
, 2008
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05:46 PM
While I personally still buy books rather than reading them on the Kindle, I think it's a brilliant idea.
Had my first 'she's using a kindle in a normal book situation' encounter today when the woman next to me on the bus was reading off of Amazon's device.
The next moment I looked though....she was asleep, and the Kindle was coming dangerously close to falling out of her hand.
I guess you can change how books are read...but the words on the page (or screen) can be just as boring as ever. Does the kindle have 'the book I'm reading made me fall asleep' drop protection?
August 27
, 2008
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02:38 PM
Still fuming over NBC not allowing me to watch their Olympic coverage without knowing the result beforehand, amongst my internet wanderings last night I set out to find the presidential candidates' television ads. Many hate them but I find them interesting...and...well...when you live in a state that is the antithesis of 'swing' you have to actually ask to watch campaign commercials. All politics aside...found something extremely interesting on the candidates sites: Barack Obama greeted me with a video required my email to move ahead (which I on a second trip found out wasn't true, but it was not obvious how to go straight to his website). JohnMcCain went straight to his page, where I was greeted with a BRILLIANT option, and what I wish NBC would do on NBCOlympics.com 
John McCain actually ASKS me what I am!! Am I a supporter? Am I undecided? or Am I Unregistered to Vote (he's obviously missing a few options but you get the point). I didn't play around the site much but I hope those options then give you a different "John McCain experience" I really want NBC to ask me if I've seen an event or not, and then let me watch it. I have no idea who won many of the medals, even with the Olympics over, and would definitely go back and watch some of the events. Not if the result flashes across the screen as I watch it though. Well done McCain's website people. Well done. NOTE: I was slightly off on Obama's site. If you click on a GOOGLE ad, you get the personal welcome message and need to enter your email (click on his logo uptop to skip). HOWEVER if you go to his site directly it's a picture of him and Biden, again asking for your email, but there is a 'skip signup' button.
August 25
, 2008
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11:28 PM
The Olympics this year were fantastic. As much fun to watch as any I remember (which, granted, starts somewhere between Barcelona and Atlanta). NBC offered an unbelievable 'complete Olympics,' with 3600 hours of coverage between its multiple television channels and its website, nbcolympics.com. TechCrunch called NBC's web strategy a failure. Despite having to download silverlight (which gave a great picture) and a difficult UI, I thought it was successful. It gave me video options on demand, which is nice for a very busy startup founder who can't follow Bejing time. But. But. But.
What's wrong in the above picture? Do no sports fans work at NBC??? What's the most important thing when watching a sporting event? Chips? Beer? Recliner? How about NOT KNOWING THE OUTCOME BEFORE WATCHING THE GAME. Why....why....WHY did NBC tell me the outcome of the game/event/race/Michael Phelps spectacular that I was watching???? WHY? They probably lost 20+ hours of my viewing time (which my company benefited from) because...well...it's much less fun to watch an event you know the outcome of. I missed the basketball final. I would have watched it. But no. Even though it's midway through the first quarter....the video player finds it important to tell me that "US survives to beat Spain for Gold" and then scrolls: Watch the NBC replay of the United States battling, but then hanging on to claim the gold medal vs Spain. I WAS ALREADY WATCHING!!!! This actually ruined the greatest moment of the Olympics (thanks Jason Lezak) for my girlfriend because...well...as she was watching that amazing finale the outcome was scrolling on top of the screen. Lezak's amazing finish was a lot less exciting when you saw the result during the first leg of the relay. It would have been so simple. Go to NBCOlympics.com. There's a welcome screen. It says 'Don't show me any results' or 'Show me results' and then you click one of the two options. Then it goes to identical screens, the scores are just removed if you click the first option. Seems so simple, and would have gotten a LOT more pageviews from me.
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