A Weekly Dialup

Posted on June 2, 2019

Description:

The last thing I want to do is start a new project because I have a lot going on right now. But I'm excited about an opportunity to use this new app which will add accountability for me and also help make connections between shareholders.



Dialup is an app by Max Hawkins and Danielle Baskin. I met Max when he got press for building apps to randomize his life. It felt weirdly aligned to KmikeyM and we met for coffee a few times. Here is the description of the app:

Dialup is a voice-chat app that calls you and connects you to the people you want to stay in touch and connect with. Whether it's everyone you recently met at a conference, your book club, toymakers, poets, or just you and your mom—Dialup will ring your phone on an automated schedule and pair you in a one-on-one conversation.

Imagine this. Every Sunday afternoon at 4pm your phone rings and connects you to either me, or to a shareholder. You don't know which particular shareholder it will be, since it randomly connects you to someone in your KmikeyM "line". Max has agreed to set us up with our own line in the app, so those that opt in via a special link or code will have access, meaning you can talk economics, hostile takeover plans, or ideas you'd like to vote on with another shareholder.

This vote is to start a weekly KmikeyM line on Dialup in which shareholders will connect with each other (or me) every Sunday (time TBA) and provide Max and Danielle with product feedback. We'll commit to trying it out for the rest of 2019 ten weeks.

This vote will end on June 7th.

Updates:

A few notes of clarification on this vote. There is a KmikeyM slack already, but it's more of a free form discussion. (Join The Slack Here)

The main purpose for using Dialup would be to provide a weekly update. I've talked to Max and Danielle about their plans to enable recording of the calls. I find the idea of my report being a one-on-one conversation with a shareholder a lot more sustainable and interesting than sending out a report or another email.

I also love the idea of the shareholders started to connect on their own. KmikeyM acts as a star network and using Dialup would push us more into a mesh network.

Based on comments from previous shareholders I added a time limit to this post of testing out the use of Dialup for the rest of the year, but I agree a shorter timeframe makes sense, so I'm updating the proposal to be only mandated for 10 weeks (and then we will have a better sense of the usefulness).

I really didn't express enough of my excitement about Dialup and about working with Max and Danielle! I think Dialup is a wonderfully weird way to experiment with voice calls and it's always use software when you have a direct line to the founding team. Plus they are now both shareholders, so we should support them, right? :)


Yes - 2023.0

UserShares
Douglas Dollars 💯 784.0
davehayden ☕️💯 320.0
beau 💯☕️ 200.0
Marcus 💯☕️💼 177.0
Pat Castaldo 💯☕️ 118.0
Robby Russell ☕💯 114.0
Curt ☕️💼💯🌮 100.0
abodens3 42.0
Xavier 38.0
nebiaat5 32.0
stan 30.0
ndbroadbent 20.0
Coburnicus 15.0
Calv99 10.0
reuben 5.0
fradilux 5.0
Jesse Malmed 5.0
reifi 3.0
dbastedo 2.0
maxhawkins 1.0
danielle 1.0
Epiwssa 1.0

No - 1242.0

UserShares
Josh Berezin ☕️💯 639.0
Ryan Feigh 💯☕️ 131.0
UnusualPi 57.0
Lewd 57.0
spy1d 55.0
awmahan 💼☕️ 48.0
XAdrianT 45.0
jwillcox 36.0
jmikeye 29.0
ted 28.0
aaronpk 💯☕️ 26.0
JeffersonNunn 13.0
joshuaberger ☕️ 12.0
rsalsman 10.0
egli 7.0
EyeScream 5.0
mbrooks ☕️ 5.0
imcclintic 5.0
610245 5.0
Henry Chan 5.0
Hett 4.0
bnf 4.0
gavin 3.0
young9599 3.0
A J Cole 2.0
Jashinist 2.0
ctopherwilliams 2.0
jesserifkin ☕️ 1.0
mscholtus 1.0
caleblack 1.0
davidrifkin1 1.0
Gary Pratt 0.0

Past Discussion

UnusualPi (57.0 shares, voted no)
I'd be interested to hear other shareholder opinions on this. On the one hand, it's a novel idea for an aging technology and I can see how it forces a communication. On the other, it seems like this could be a significant detractor from other current projects. A Daily interruption for a one on one conversation with no specific topic or agenda seems very counter productive. I am thinking if there is a need to for a more connected method of communication among shareholders or like minded individuals, more modern solutions may be much more effective, like a discord server or the such.
Mike Merrill 🎖🌮🌴
Those are some of my same concerns! (And just to clarify it’s a weekly call, and we do have a slack instance!)
ndbroadbent (20.0 shares, voted yes)
I installed Dialup after listening to this interview with Danielle Baskin on IndieHackers: https://www.indiehackers.com/podcast/093-danielle-baskin-of-dialup Haven't had a call yet, but it sounds like a fun idea! I'm in Thailand, so I'm not sure if I'll join the KmikeyM line, since the timezones could be difficult. But it sounds interesting!
ted (28.0 shares, voted no)
IMO, if one of the goals is to improve shareholder communication, we should have a forum with discussion threads or allow commenting on votes even after votes close. One of my big frustrations (that falls on shareholders) has been that shareholders vote overwhelmingly in approval of Kmikeym while simultaneously selling shares and lowering prices. Last year, major shareholders dumped large portions of their holdings while voting in favor of KmikeyM, and then HeHateMe dumped all several hundred of his shares while voting yes in the latest. Unfortunately, because of this, I have no way of gauging investor sentiment or understanding the motives of people to invest or sell. For example, I think it’s great if Mike gets involved in a new venture, but I don’t understand how that impacts this project or share value. It would be nice to have an open dialogue where I can see why people are interested in this project.
JeffersonNunn (13.0 shares, voted no)
Setting up a Discord or even a Slack would be a better means of shareholder communications than Dialup...
aaronpk 💯☕️ (26.0 shares, voted no)
I would want some sort of report written up of the weekly calls with kmikeym, otherwise I don't think it benefits the shareholders overall. I'm also not sure that randomly connecting shareholders with each other would benefit us much since we already have Slack. But writing up reports then adds additional time for this project, which I'm not sure is worth it. Committing to something weekly for the rest of the year is actually quite a lot of time. I might be more willing to vote "yes" to this if it were more time limited, like a month or maybe even for a quarter.
ctopherwilliams (2.0 shares, voted no)
If my phone rings, it's typically spam. That's what it has become. I would prefer to focus more on asynchronous technologies like Slack or your site. Nobody waits for their show to come on at 4pm on Sunday and then watches it. They watch when they want to and can. On-demand. I equate a phone call to the previous way of watching TV.
Jashinist (2.0 shares, voted no)
I agree with Aaronpk, and the millennial in me finds phone calls awkward even at the best of times. Out of interest: I know all these polls are yes/no, but is it possible to make a poll with the numbers 1-10, and ask everyone to vote their level of happiness/satisfaction with how things are going? Is that the kind of 'gauging voter engagement' you're looking for?
Josh Berezin ☕️💯 (639.0 shares, voted no)
This strikes me as a distraction.
danielle (1.0 shares, voted yes)
Danielle, co-creator of Dialup here. ?Hi! We’re very excited about the possibility of making a line for Mike and his shareholders. Addressing some of your concerns: 1. Time. We can set any cadence you’d like for the calls. Could be a monthly call. Could be weekly. It’s okay if you miss a call too. Dialup only matches people who pick up. 2. Agenda. Each call begins with an intro prompt with a topic to discuss, selected by Mike. Here’s an example question: https://dialup.com/audio/dialup_kmikeym(example).mp3 3. Distractions. It’s a short 15 minute phone call. Seems less distracting than trying to read 10,000 Slack notifications. Many ideas are better expressed in a quick phone call. 4. Notetaking. We’re considering implementing a feature to take the calls from KMikeyM’s line and turn them into a private podcast. So you can listen to other shareholders’ conversations to gauge their thoughts. No need to take notes. 5. Spam. The caller ID will always say KMikeyM. We don’t use phone numbers, so you’ll always know it’s the line that’s calling. 6. But really, do you want to join yet another Slack or Discord?
Douglas Dollars 💯 (784.0 shares, voted yes)
I see this as a meta-work that doesn't oblige our investment to participate, and further connects the community in a more tangible format than typing at each other. It's reported that people will pay north of four million dollars for a lunch with Warren Buffet, this is a chance for press to pay nothing to potentially chat with our investment, or any of us if so unfortunate. An investor call/hotline of sorts.
Douglas Dollars 💯 (784.0 shares, voted yes)
I would also like to see more long-term investing, but I know that people's lives sometimes require calling in their markers, and isn't something in the scope of this vote.
A J Cole (2.0 shares, voted no)
If you'd promised hot gossip I'd have voted Yes.
davehayden ☕️💯 (320.0 shares, voted yes)
I haven't really looked at this yet (I will, promise!), just wanted to bring it closer to the fence.
Josh Berezin ☕️💯 (639.0 shares, voted no)
I should add that Dialup sounds cool to me! But there are lots of things that are cool that don’t make for good weekly obligations to add to KmikeyM’s agenda.
jesserifkin ☕️ (1.0 shares, voted no)
The reason I like KmikeyM currently is because I can vote / post whenever I want -- but I don't have to be there at a specific time, like I would with a phone call.
Mike Merrill 🎖🌮🌴
Thinking through this discussion a lot and added some additional thoughts to the proposal in the "updates" section.
Josh Berezin ☕️💯 (639.0 shares, voted no)
I've done some more research on Dialup and the founders' related projects. I've come to the conclusion that the primary benefit of this project would be that Mike would have an excuse to get to know Max and Danielle better, who seem like fascinating people who would be great connections for him. I'm still unconvinced that conducting a weekly Dialup session will be a net positive for KmikeyM and shareholders, considering tradeoffs that would have to be made.
maxhawkins (1.0 shares, voted yes)
@Josh I'm thinking along those lines as well I see this project not only as a service for Mike and the shareholders but as the first step in a potentially valuable creative collaboration. Mike and I met after he downloaded the beta of my app, Max, the social network where you can only talk to me. Last year app connected us in a phone call at a random time. We had never met before, but we quickly realized the similarity between our artistic practices. Since then we have been trying to find a way to collaborate but haven't found a way to overlap. When I moved to Los Angeles my computer suggested Mike and I meet at the snack and coffee stand on the third floor of the LA County Courthouse. Mike caught a cold and had to cancel. The next week he tried to reschedule but I was out of town. We've been circling around each other but haven't found a way to work together yet. Think of this experiment not only as a tool for investor communication but as the first step toward a friendship and collaboration. Building out the KMikeyM line will necessitate more communication between Mike and I. This communication could be the seed of a great idea. After all, some of the greatest sparks of insight happen during a chance encounter with a friend, at the water-cooler between meetings, or when your phone rings and serendipitously connects you with an unexpected person.
maxhawkins (1.0 shares, voted yes)
And an additional note about how the app works: It's totally fine if you ignore the call. Only the people who pick up will be randomly paired so you only have to participate if you have the time. People who aren't able to pick up can listen to the podcast instead.
davehayden ☕️💯 (320.0 shares, voted yes)
Yeah, 10 weeks sounds about right