Word of Steve

An NYPD Volt. Loving the fact that they made it a point to...

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 23:08:59 -0500

An NYPD Volt. Loving the fact that they made it a point to highlight the brand.

Who was the brainiac behind this one…

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 22:56:21 -0500

Who was the brainiac behind this one…

Now that’s what I call a holiday video.

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 22:01:00 -0500

Now that’s what I call a holiday video.

An interview with one of my all time heroes, Mayor Mike...

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 01:14:00 -0500

An interview with one of my all time heroes, Mayor Mike Bloomberg, and what his game plan for the future of the NYC tech community.

Hyperlocal Marketing

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 14:08:26 -0500

I was in Ann Arbor the other day and something very interesting caught my eye at the local Mejers (The Midwestern Walmart for those of you who don’t know). It was a Maker’s Mark bottle… but unlike one I’ve ever seen before. Instead of having the signature red wax seal, it had a blue and yellow one. Then it hit me. The bottle took on the team colors of the University of Michigan Wolverines.

It’s little things like that help a consumer pledge their allegiance to a brand.

Read while you wait for your food. The genius of distraction.

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 14:26:35 -0400

Read while you wait for your food. The genius of distraction.

Even the little things can use some innovation.

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 11:12:27 -0400

Even the little things can use some innovation.

Steve W hits on one of the points why I looked up to Steve Jobs...

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 15:17:00 -0400

Steve W hits on one of the points why I looked up to Steve Jobs so much…

GoGo

Sat, 03 Sep 2011 21:11:00 -0400

I’m writing this from 30,000 feet above sea level as I am flying home from a weekend’s gig. Technology truly is amazing.

Here's To Steve

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 06:55:28 -0400

Mr. Jobs, I would not be the curious, passionate, or motivated person I am today if it was not for you.

Thank you.

"Expertise is a posture as much as it is a volume of knowledge."

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 12:37:00 -0400

“Expertise is a posture as much as it is a volume of knowledge.”

- Seth Godin

Why People Follow Brands

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 20:41:27 -0400

Why People Follow Brands

What could this mean…

Sat, 18 Jun 2011 10:47:04 -0400

What could this mean…

"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education."

Sun, 05 Jun 2011 03:20:35 -0400

“I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.”

- Mark Twain

The Next Steps

Mon, 30 May 2011 04:34:30 -0400

Oh man. The day has finally come where I, Steve Guttbinder, am now a graduate of Baruch College. Sure, it took five years but they were some good ones. I’ve had the chance to make a lot of my dreams come true and meet a lot of great people along the way and now it’s time to take on the next big item on my to-do list; starting my own business. I’m extremely excited to announce that I’ll be taking on this venture with Ben Guttmann.

Over the next few months we’ll be figuring out exactly what our new business, currently with the working title of The Digital Natives Group, will be doing. We’ve got a few options and we’ve even been approached by a potential investor/mentor who has a great deal of business knowledge in the area that we’re planning on getting into. Things are really looking up at the moment.

For those of you who are wondering what’s going to happen with Guttbinder Consulting, don’t worry! I’ll still be in full swing solving IT and creative issues until everything gets sorted out with this new business.

Stay tuned, we’ve got some exciting stuff that’s about to happen.

Calling It Quits

Mon, 30 May 2011 04:32:13 -0400

If there’s one thing that I learned this year about business it’s that you have to know when to let go.

During the first half of my last semester at college I dedicated most of my time and energy to the Undergraduate Student Government. It was an unpaid gig but I loved it. There was nothing more than what I wanted to do than to help build a brand and make our school a better place. Things were great and our agenda was vast, but at a certain point I lost faith in certain competencies with our team.

We were getting what we promised in our election done but it was what I personally wanted to accomplish that went beyond what we pledged that drove me to question my service with the organizatoin. Perhaps it’s the overachiever in me.

When things were clear that my time was better spent outside of USG, I realized that I needed to leave. It wasn’t easy as the responsibilities I carried were significant and the projects that I was leading could not be managed or followed through on by others.

I was scared. I’d be letting a lot of people down, most of all, a person in particular who I thought would be my business partner in the future. It was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make (quitting has never been easy for me) but I did it. I was disliked for quite some time but things eventually were worked out. I went on to do my thing which in turn led to many new opportunities for me and my future entrepreneurial life.

Lesson to be learned, sometimes you have to let go. I wasn’t comfortable with the progress the team was making so I had to leave. Hopefully I won’t have to make this decision again, but if it ever does come up, I know what decision to make.

"There’s nothing cheap about loyalty."

Thu, 10 Feb 2011 17:24:13 -0500

“There’s nothing cheap about loyalty.”

- George Clooney in “Up in The Air”

Hello Folks!

Thu, 20 Jan 2011 10:50:00 -0500

Welcome to Word of Steve, my blog about technology, branding, and entrepreneurship. You can ask anyone in my immediate group of friends that this post has been due for a long time coming. Being the crazy amateur strategist that I am, I needed to give this whole blog thing some extra thought and really figure out what type of lens I wanted to write through. I mean, why should I write about things that the rest of the Internet covers so well?

For one, a lot of it has to do with the fact that there aren’t too many blogs out there that speak to what inspires the little guy to rise on up. Sure, you have the success stories from Facebook, Tumblr, and pretty much every other company that’s covered on TechCrunch, but what I aim to do is give all of you a little taste of what goes on in the mind of an entrepreneur who’s just starting up.

I’ll be shedding light on some of the best tools that help jumpstart businesses, giving my opinion on the little things that can make or break the brands we love or hate today, and walking you through my thought process as I give the whole entrepreneurship thing my very best.

So there you have it. See you guys at the next post!