Android Business Models
I’m usually quick on my toes and my brain synaptics usually work great, but lately I’ve been experiencing *brain farts* A brain fart I suppose, is nursing slang for *momentary loss of memory*. Well, we used it a lot in neuro.
I attended
DroidCamp (Barcamp) in Berlin two weeks ago because I wanted to connect with Android Developers. If you’ve never been to a
Barcamp, it’s an unconference. The people that attend dictate the topics or sessions that will be presented all on that same day.
It was my first Barcamp (DroidCamp) and I wasn’t planning on doing anything, other than attending the sessions and networking. But, people were going up writing down and announcing what sessions they wanted to present and I knew I should be doing the same thing. I knew I just had to take the opportunity to let people know about What’s up, Android and what my goals were.
My session took place in the third spot in one room. I had attended the session before mine to get a feel of what it would be like. The people ahead of me prepared a powerpoint slide but the projector was not working so they basically had to do their presentation solo.
Gee, I didn’t have anything to present. I just wanted to attend DroidCamp. Well, I got out my EeePC and powered up Open Office and created 5 slides. 3 were graphics only and two had text (one sentence each). I figured, I’d have something on the screen while I was talking as a background.
I’m not a shy person. In fact, I’m use to talking to large numbers of people. But, this wasn’t a presentation in an industry that I was familiar with, and it wasn’t in a country whose native language was English. I was in Germany, speaking to a group of German tech, mobile advertising/marketing people.
The room filled up fast. I had 12 minutes to spare before my session started, and the projector was set up and the openoffice impress presentation I prepared in 10 minutes was ready to go.
So …. I decided to do an Android Cheer. You know.. the one where we say, “Give me an A” and the crowd is suppose to say, “A!”.
me: “Give me an N”
crowd: “N!”
me: “Give me a D”
crowd: “D!” and so on.
Well, I simply got stares.
That’s okay. Techie guys aren’t use to being expressive vocally in public. I did get a few participants but … here’s where a small “brain fart” kicks in.
Culture difference. I realized later that Germans are not aware of that cheer. DOH!
I found this out when someone
twitpic’d me and titled it, “Carmen spelling Android”.
At first I didn’t get it, but then later, I realized that to Germans, that was all I was doing .. spelling the word Android. LMAO!
Lost in translation?????
Anyway… towards the end of the session someone from Auto Scout 24 asked me bluntly, “By the way, what is your business model?”
“Huh?!” I didn’t say that, but my face must’ve looked like I said that.
My response: I don’t have a business model.
Auto Scout 24 dude: then how do you expect to make money?
me: I don’t ….
Auto Scout 24: then … (he was most confused at this point, as I am sure the crowd was as well)
me: I just want to make cartoons so that android developers can log on once a day, look at the cartoon and laugh.
Auto Scout 24: then what is this session about?
me: I want to connect with android developers, to introduce myself, tell them about What’s up, Android and to let them know that I can help them find niche markets for their apps.
Auto Scout 24: but surely you need to make money. You need to eat, you need to pay our rent. …
*sigh*
I won’t go into my personal situation here. But indeed, I DO need to eat. It was never about the money for me. While some girlfriends went after guys with a certain net worth, I always went for the guys that made me laugh.
It was never about the money and standing their being humilated for a few minutes by this German Auto Scout 24 guy that obviously wanted to assert his male ego and see me be put in a spot .. made me re-affirm my values, right in front of everyone in that room.
I stood confident when I said, “It’s not about the money. I’m just here to help out because I believe in the Android Movement and I believe in the empowering opportunity that open source services can give to people and the world … “
The session was not a disaster as it may seem. A marketing guy from Italy came to my aid and told the Auto Scout 24 dude, “I don’t think you understand what she represents. I don’t think you realize the value of what she wants to bring to android developers. Look at this room. There are all guys in this room, I see only 3 women. Men need to learn to listen to women and to learn to understand their ideas because men only think one way .. usually just money, money, money but women see things in another way….”
Wow.
Auto Scout 24 dude then asked me: Would you make me a cartoon?
me: Of course!
Auto Scout 24 dude: How much will you charge?
me: *huh?!* nothing.
Auto Scout 24 dude: Nothing?!
me: nothing.
Auto Scout 24 dude: But why?
me: If you were listening to what I was saying in the beginning, I already explained why I was here and how I got started creating android cartoons and what I wanted to so with them.
Because I want to make people laugh. What’s wrong with wanting to make people laugh?
*sigh*
This was a great learning experience. It reminded me that there will always be men who want to put women down. It reminded me of what I really stood for. It gave people the opportunity to see my genuiness. Actually, people came up to me throughout the course of the afternoon and also the following day at
DroidCon wanting to connect with me. That made me feel good.
When you’re in a country where you easily get lost in translation, it was nice to know that honesty, sincerity and laughter still meant the same thing.
Now … the major *brainfart* was this: I didn’t realize that Auto Scout 24 dude asked a stupid question. You know how they say that “no question is a stupid question?”. Well, in hindsight, his was.
1. How dare you ask someone what their business model is, in front of a crowd.
2. How dare you ask someone what their business model is, in an industry environment that everyone is still trying to grasp and figure out.
3. Twitter didn’t have a business model.
4. He clearly was not listening to me. I told the crowd that I make daily android cartoons to make android developers laugh – hmmm, laugh. Comedians make people laugh and they also make money. The good ones anyway.
The good news is, I now have a business model. Sorry Mr. Auto Scout 24 dude, I will not tell you what it is.
