I have been travelling since last thursday. A good friend was getting married in Pennsylvania and I have been making the rounds to visit family in NYC/NJ/PA. After the wedding and a few days of parties, I’ve finally made it to home sweet home.

My raw food diet is now officially OVER. My original goal was to keep up with a 70% raw food diet for 30 days before switching back to a mostly vegan diet, with a point to consumer more water-rich foods than normal (fruits and veggies targetting 30%-50% of total diet, either raw or cooked). I am moving into that phase of my diet right now. After 17 days on the raw food diet I trully felt amazing. I lost weight and was getting stronger. However, travelling around and staying with family has made it hard to keep up this program.

I will be applying what I have learned to the way I eat going forward. Some of the major lessons:

• When you are tired, you must 1) Breath 2) Drink and then lastly 3) Eat….in that order. 80% of the time, #1 or #2 will take care it. The body is rarely hungry (physiologically speaking) when you feel that you are hungry.
• Triple the amount of vegetables you eat. At least. As a vegetarian, I though I ate enough but after some introspection it was clear that I wasn’t eating enough fresh veggies to have any impact on my health. Modern Western nutrition and the food pyramid is wrong. Look at many foreign diets (Asian, Indian, Meditteranean, Middle Eastern) and there is much higher emphasis on whole grains, veggies and fruits. Even in these cultures, the diet is morphing to a more western-based diet that is heavy on meat and starchy food (I mean really…potatoes might technically be a vegetable but come’on…eat some spinach for godsake!)
• Throw out any fruit juice in your fridge: it is pure acid and toxic to the body (really)….only drink fresh squeezed stuff (mmmmm Jamba Juice!). Drink juiced veggies if you can.
• Drink 1 or 2 servings of a “green” drink mix (like SuperFood or Green Magma) a day. It alkalizes the blood and keeps energy levels high without adding a lot of junk calories your body doesn’t need. It also will mitigate skin problems you might have.
• Eat veggies (carrots and broccoli) or a few pieces of fruit for breakfast. Avoid any processed carbs, including cereal or breads; especially in the morning. Once you start creating a high insulin response in your body early in the day, you are setting yourself up for a erratic energy level.
• Avoid dairy if you can. It is tough for the body to digest. If do eat dairy, make sure to eat a big green salad or la big serving of veggies with it (raw or lightly cooked)
• Cut back on the coffee. After a few days on the raw food diet I had so much energy I never needed coffee. It dehydrates you and makes it impossible to maintain a sustained and high level of energy throughout the day. If you want to drink it because you like the taste (as I do), that is fine…just know and be honest about why you are drinkin it.
• The body can operate on much less food than you think, while still retaining strength and keeping energy levels insanely high. The key is to make sure what you eat is very high quality and to get your stomach and gut clean and effective so your body can proerply assimilate what you eat.
• Avoid useless snacking. if you are really hungry, eat a few almonds or a carrot. Avoid that if you can. I watched a lot of the Discovery Channel when I was a kid. I never saw Lions running around snacking on rabbits and lizards. No. They ate meals. I am not saying you need to gorge yourself yourself like the lions. But eat meals during mealtime and leave the snacking to the vultures.

Still keeping up this diet.

I still feel very high energy levels. For example, this morning I got up at 5:20am and felt wide awake. I worked out from 6:30-8am and then had a very long day at work. I left at 9pm and was very busy with several presentations and lots of tying up loose ends before I start my vacation (I am off work for 1 week starting tomorrow!). I felt very alert during the whole day. My eyes also didn’t get tired at all, which normally happens when I am very busy. Also, I haven’t had a sip of coffee in a while. Frankly, I don’t feel like I need it.

Also, I didn’t feel hungry at all during the day. I had a wheatgrass shot and carrot juice at Jamba Juice in the AM, some almonds and pumpkin seeds during the day, and a big green salad at lunch (no dressing on it, just some olive oil). This was enough to keep my energy levels quite high AND even.

I am also noticing a signficiant drop in bodyfat an increase in strength. In my work out this morning (another Static Contraction weight workout with my friend Kris) most of my lifts were stronger by 5-10% over my last similar workout way back on May 30th. I have also been making major progress in my Yoga practice and other bodyweight exercises I do.

I am still planning to keep this up for 30 days. Hope to keep seeing the progress.

Did another test today. My other post has background info.

I actually felt pretty sore this morning from Yoga on Thursday and a few too many beers yesterday (again, I am following a mostly raw food diet for 30 days, not totally raw :) ).

I decided to try it out anyway.

Another week and more gains! Here is the progression:

• April 29th: 20 seconds
• May 9th: 1 min 25 seconds
• May 14th: 1 min 45 seconds
• May 18th: 2 min
• May 23rd: 2 min 6 seconds
• May 26th: 2 min 30 seconds
• June 8th: 2min 48 seconds
• (Today) June 17th: 3min 7 seconds

Now time to finish eating my big salad.

Was eating some broccoli (flowerets) the other day and took a look at the package. This food was one-half protein (measured by total calories)! 3g of Protein = 12 calories out of a 25 calorie total serving.

I always assumed there was some protein in veggies, but I didn’t know the concentration was this high. I realize there may be some issues with the quality of proteins from vegetable sources, but with proper food combining this won’t be an issue.

Looking on the net, I see that the exact percentage of protein depends on if they include just the brocolli tops, the entire flowerette, or the entire stalk. For only the dark green tops you get about 45% protein, for the flowerette you get about 25% (still not bad!).

Here’s a view of the nutritional map for the flowerette. Highly nutrient rich and filling.

Here is a view of the other essential nutrients (vitamins and minerals) in this food:

Now, let’s compare that to some ground beef:

Add to that the difference in fat content; 30-50% for meat depending on the lean-ness vs ~10% or less for veggies; and I think broccoli comes out the winner on this one!

FYI: Check out http://www.nutritiondata.com for lots of great stats on food nutrition.

I am on day 11 of a 70% Raw Food Diet. I feel absolutely outstanding.

I actually hate the term diet. It implies that you are going through some huge ordeal. It implies pain. It implies that you actually need to keep track of things in painstaking detail. It implies that your gains will be fleeting (as most diets are). Regardless, I am still going to use the term. So this “diet” of mine entails eating 50-70% of my diet from Raw and Water-Rich foods. It’s really easy to do. It’s not painful. And the benefits (below) are powerful enough to give me enough motivation to stick with it.
My breakfast and lunches are mostly raw, and my dinners are really whatever the heck I want to eat. Even at dinner, I try to have a salad or some veggies. My typical breakfast is a few pieces of fruit, or a few handfuls of carrots and almonds. Lunch is a big plate of salad with wild greens or spinach, and a bunch of other veggies. I will NOT use any dressing. Instead, I’ll sprinkle some sunflower seeds and olive oil on it. Following this diet is very easy during the work day since we have a killer salad bar. In the afternoons if I get hungry, I’ll have some Odwalla Carrot Juice or a SuperFood drink.

The benefits I am seeing right now after 11 days:

• The interesting thing about this diet, is that I am not at all hungry in the afternoons. I would normally be starving by 3-4pm, even after eating a big plate of food and some other snacks. Not any more.
• I have a much more even energy level. I love coffee and am not avoiding it on purpose, but I haven’t had coffee in the past 10 days at work….I just haven’t felt like I’ve needed it.
• I’m able to wake up in the morning much easier, almost as easy as when I was back in grade school! I’ve actually found myself waking up at 6am and making myself go back to sleep since it was too early.
• I’ve noticed my skin clearing up quite a bit.
• I’ve lost 6 pounds (and I was skinny to begin with) with no noticeable loss in strength
• I have a remarkable improvement in mental clarity

I’ll keep posting as things progress. I plan to maintain this for 30 days and then reassess.

I was watching the sunset with a wonderful friend last night. We were looking out the windows across an absolutely amazing view of the mountains and the water. The sunset was a radiant redish-purple. Everything was perfect….except for a handful of powerlines literally crossing our view of the sun! I was a little ticked. My kodak moment was gone. I couldn’t stop adjusting myself on the sofa to get a better view.

Of course, she reminded me not focus on the power lines, but to focus on the awesome sunset. Believe it or not, it actually worked. After a few minutes, the powerlines appeared to be gone (and no, it was not because I was blinded by the sun!).

At any rate, she reminded me of a quote, which I could have sworn I had heard before, but couldn’t pin down.

“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”

It hit me this morning.

This is a popular saying by Dr. Wayne Dyer. He has several books published and has recently had his “Power of Intention” tv program in heavy rotation on PBS. His audio programs are quite good, and I highly recommend checking out his podcast.

This is soo true. When we focus on the bad stuff, we wonder why the good stuff in life never seems to come there way. Change your perspective and you’d be amazed at how your environment will respond.

OK, enough wisdom for one night. Intense yoga class tonite. I am gonna go rehydrate and go to sleep!

I’ve been on a 70% raw food diet for the past 1 week. I feel absolutely amazing. I have a lot to learn to get my diet really dialed in, but so far so good. I have no intention of keeping a 70% raw food diet forever, that seems a bit extreme for where I am in my life right now, but I do want to sustain a 30-50% raw food diet for the near term and see where it leads me.

Why am I doing this?

I have been lacto-ovo vegetarian for essentially my entire life. It was really the only diet I have known, and I suppose I have felt fine and am fairly healthy. A few years ago I was inspired to go-Vegan by a yoga teacher (Sharon Gannon) and after having educated myself on the issues of sustainable agriculture and mass-market egg and dairy farming, decided to give it a try.

During this period I lost quite a lot of weight, given the fact that I was already quite thin. I went from 145lbs to low 130’s. Many of my friends and family thought that I was getting too skinny. Looking back at pictures of me from that period lead me to believe them now, though at the time I was convinced that I was as healthy as humanly possible. I had insanely high energy levels compared to my vegetarian days, and completed two Ironman Triathlons and a few other ridiculous endurance events during the 1 ½ years I was vegan. I was also working like crazy.

I eventually decided that vegan was not the best thing for me. The straw that broke my back was going to my sisters wedding, and feeling that I couldn’t eat any of the food (many Indian foods use clarified butter). I decided that I would be a “responsible” vegetarian, buying only organic eggs and cheese, and not stressing out if I had a piece of non-organic cake or some cheese pizza at Papa Johns.

That was about 3 years ago. It is amazing how subtle changes can cause major shifts over the long term. It had gotten to the point where I was really struggling to get back into good shape. Throughout the past three years, I have run a few half-marathons, and done some other long distance events (swam across Puget Sound), but I never really felt like I had the energy levels that I had when I was vegan.

Slowly reintroducing dairy into my diet had, over a few years, made me feel like crap. I gained about 20 pounds (some of it muscle as I was lifting) and while I felt much stronger, was more lethargic than I had ever been. Waking up in the morning seemed harder to do. I started drinking coffee to wake up and keep myself awake. I ate food but never really felt satisfied. When you start to think about it; if you sit down and have a Super Burrito at noon, should you really be starving by 5pm? Of course not. It just doesn’t make sense.

A few months I decided to make a change. I started to go back to yoga, and have been increasing the amount of aerobic activity I’ve been doing.

Last week, I made a radical change to my diet.

While I want to get back in peak shape, I want to avoid going to some extreme just for the heck of it. I want to eat in a way that gives me more energy than I have ever had before. I also don’t want to turn into a walking stick of skin and bones. I’ve been searching for the right answer to this question for a while. I don’t know if I have found it, but I feel like I am getting close.

Tomorrow I’ll talk more about the diet I followed for the past week, the effect it has had on me and the science behind it.

I wrote on Tuesday how my 1 rep max for push ups was progressing. The progress has come about by primarily doing static holds in the push up position every other day, along with some cross-training. Today, I did a quick check in on my max time for a single push up hold. Again, read my last post for a note about the technique I am using.

Here is a recap of progress for 1 set max push up reps:

• May 7th: 30
• May 14th: 37
• May 16th: 38
• May 29th: 41
• June 6th: 44

Here is the progress of max time for a single push up hold:

• April 29th: 20 seconds
• May 9th: 1 min 25 seconds
• May 14th: 1 min 45 seconds
• May 18th: 2 min
• May 23rd: 2 min 6 seconds
• May 26th: 2 min 30 seconds
• (Today) June 8th: 2 min 48 seconds

For each of these “tests,” I am completely struggling to keep myself up towards the end of each set and actually stop the time when my arms totally give out. It is pretty interesting to look back 1 month from today and see that my time has almost doubled!

I am excited. Progress is coming along.

I plan to do another 1 set max push up test on Monday.

Yes!

I’ve just started going back to yoga. I used to be a regular, but for the past few years have been too “busy” (lazy) to go. Yesterday was my fourth class in the past 3 weeks. I was totally fried at the end. Every muscle and ligament in my body was screaming. It felt great :)

Would you pay $10 to see a recording of a slideshow on global warming?

What if I said that the presenter was Al Gore?

Think not? I sure did.

I am just imagining the pitch that Al & Co would have made to the movie producers to get this film made and distributed broadly in the theaters. Most people couldn’t imagine anything more boring to do with their time on a Friday night. It would seem so dull and drab that perhaps a few would turn up to see what the gimmick was going to be. Of course, you would expect some super-liberals to take some time out of their busy schedule of saving baby seals and turning over the compost heap to see it; regardless, none of the above would turn this film into a blockbuster hit.

So last weekend, Steve and I decided to check out this film anyway. I was pleasantly surprised. I had no idea that Al Gore was so involved with this movement. Apparently he has been giving a slideshow on the consequences of global warming almost nonstop since the 2000 presidential campaign. He’s travelled the world, presented his pitch over a thousand times (so claimed during the film) and backed up everything with hard data and support from the scientific community.

Gore is very powerful and effective as a speaker. If only he carried this level of poise during the 2000 campaign. The good news is, it is clear that the film is gaining momentum. Positive word of mouth is playing its part. It opened two weeks ago, playing in 4 theaters over Memorial Day weekend, expanding to 77 theaters this past weekend. Next weekend, they expect to play in 130 theaters. You can check out more details about the movie, and just educate yourself on Global Warming at the movie website http://www.climatecrisis.net/.

…with GOOD food.

I am not talking about Taco Bell’s freakin “fourth meal.”

Tonight Kat and I headed out to grab a bite in Queen Anne and of course everything was pretty much shut down after 10pm. Moxie was open. It is a great little place right around the corner from the QFC. The decor is moderate to upscale (great for a date or nice meal). The prices are reasonable, the staff and bartenders are incredibly friendly and they serve a full-menu until midnight every day!

There is a nice bar area or quite table spots. The bartender, Allen, even stays open later if there is anyone who wants to hang out. Totally cool. The head chef is also a part owner. The restaurant has been open about 6 months, and I hope this one sticks around for a while. If you are out and about later at night, be sure to check it out (the sweet potatoe fries are amazing).

I’ve followed Gavin and Jeff’s lead and setup a feedburner account to syndicate this blog.

If you are one of the three people that are reading this blog ….update your feed to:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/Set_higher_standards

Apparently this will let me track all sorts of personal data about you ;) …well, at least I’ll know how many people check in and when. I guess there are other benefits; but I need to bust out my english-geek dictionary to understand them.

gracias.

Along with the static contraction weight training, I’ve been working on bodyweight exercises. If static contraction techniques in the weight room can help you develop more top-end power and strength, I think that bodyweight exercises are great to build lasting strength and endurance. I think the two compliment each other. Plus, it is just so much easier to drop and do a few dozen push ups than to head to the gym.

Lately, I’ve decided to mash-up the two! I have been working static holds into my bodyweight exercise routine.

Most people are familiar with just pounding out push up reps or loads of crunches; but when was the last time you just held a push up for as long as you could? Most people never do this, but I think it might be a great way to stress the muscle more effectively.

The technique is this: after stretching a bit, place your arms slightly wider than shoulder width apart, and lower yourself only 3 inches. Hold this pose. Do not go too far down. Your arms should be almost (but not at) their point of complete lock-out.

The first time I did this I thought I could hold it forever (back on April 30th)….I made it 30 seconds before collapsing. Two weeks ago I made it for 2 min 30 seconds! I have been doing holds since then but haven’t timed myself. Will do a spot check later this week to see where I am at.

In parellel, I’ve been testing my 1 set max for pushups. I have been curious to see how only doing this minimal amount of training would help me progress. Here is my 1 set push up max has progressed in the past month:

• May 7th: 30
• May 14th: 37
• May 16th: 38
• May 29th: 41
• (today) June 6th: 44

I haven’t been trying to set a personal record each time…but it has ended up happenng. Between May7th and today I have primarily been doing static push holds (one hold to failure every other day) in between my one-rep max tests. I have also done (3-4 times) some Hindu Pushups (yoga combo of downward/plank/upward dog), a few yoga classes and 1 full-on weight room session.

The point is, I am finding my self making some reasonable progress by only doing 1 set of static push ups every other day or so. Could I attribute the gains to the other random stuff I do? Perhaps, but when I was really into doing pushups in high school it tool me a very long time to make the progress I have made in the past month, and I worked a heck of a lot harder! I think there is something to this technique.

I’ll keep going and see where it leads me. My personal best for nonstop push-ups is 52. If I can beat 60 using this method…I will be a true believer!

btw….if you are reading this blog, let me know what your personal 1 set max is for push ups; just curious! Pls add a comment to the blog!

I talked last week about my experience with the Static Contraction workout technique. This post follows up on my experience after the workout.

Immediately following the workout I had a very good feeling. I felt moderatly pumped, but not so trashed that I couldn’t function like a normal human being. The following day, my arms (biceps and triceps) were very sore, but my chest and back felt only a little tight. It was pretty clear that my arms were shocked by having to handle that much weight. 48 hours after the workout, my arms were still sore. Three days after the workout, the soreness was pretty much gone.

I haven’t hit the weight room again since the last workout, sticking to some bodyweight exercises and yoga. I plan to try my next weight workout sometime this week. One of the supposed benefits of this method of training is that by putting such heavy stress on your muscles, you should only need to lift about once a week (twice a week if you split your workouts into 2 days hitting opposing body parts). The measure of progress is your ability to lift higher weights, or hold the same weight for longer periods of time. I don’t feel like I have lost any strength in the past week, we’ll know for sure in a few days.

I was talking with a Ed (a co-worker of mine) a few weeks ago and the topic of leadership and management came up. Of course, we naturally started talking about Jack Welch, and his latest book “Winning.” I haven’t had a chance to read it yet, but I have read his other books, and personally think the Audio CD (read by Jack himself) for his book “Straight From The Gut” is one of the best business books of all time. Hearing Jack, in his gruff no-nonsense tone, talk about leadership, is both hilarious and 1000 times more impact-ful than just reading it. It is well worth your time, whether you are working in a big corporation or just looking to motivate yourself, your family or your friends to achieve something worthwhile.

Ed and I were talking about what it is that makes someone a successful leader. He brought up a fantastic point about what made Jack such powerful figure. Keep in mind, Jack Welch was a lifer at GE, starting right out of school at the age of 26 and climbing to the top over a 30+ year career. The point is, Jack Welch has INCREDIBLE FOLLOW THROUGH. Ed mentioned that in his last book, there are a few pages showing memos from some of the Jack’s top leaders at GEs. These memos were commitments the leader’s had made several years prior. Jack had printed these memos, and personally referenced them regularly years after they were made, making handwritten notes on the memos to keep track of progress against commitments.

To think that a CEO of one of the most successful companies on the planet would have this long-term view and make it a point to not only keep, but reference with painstaking detail the important communications he has with his employees….well, it just blows my mind. Most companies have standard review processes, which including some type of goal-setting and ratings against goals. Unfortunately, management rarely keeps these goals top of mind. Pursuit of the next big thing is always seeming to be more important that actually finishing what was started.

You can say Jack was successful for many reasons (charisma, brains, luck, etc) but I think it comes down to two things 1) endurance and 2) follow through. Finishing what you started and having the endurance to do it. Not losing sight of goals and commitments. Measuring progress (or lack thereof) against those goals and commitments. In my last post (peaceful warrior: an amazing film) I mentioned Tony Robbin’s “words of wisdom” that making progress is ultimately what helps us feel not only a sense of achievement from reaching a goal, but a sense of lasting fulfillment for what we have done. Having following through, means that you are able to see exactly where you (or your company, or your relationship, or whatever) are making progress, and where you are just plain old stagnating.

When was the last time you stopped to review goals or commitments you made for yourself (not for your job) and gave yourself and honest assessment? Most people never do, and when it does happens, it is not done consistently. Following through is one of the hardest things you will ever do, but if it works for Jack, it’s worth giving a shot.

I just got back from a screening of The Peaceful Warrior, based on the book by Daniel Millman written over 20 years ago. The film is really outstanding. I recommend that everyone go see it…and tell your friends about it. The sad reality is, movies like this will struggle to stay in the theaters more than one or two weekends. Despite the power and impact of the film, mass market appeal and $$$$ are what the big theater’s are looking for. Hopefully with a strong opening week, the film will be around for more folks to check out. Go see it this weekend! Tell your friends! Take your dogs and cats! Blog about it!
Now on to what I think about it :)

The film, produced by Lionsgate, stars Nick Nolte, Amy Smart and Scott Mechlowicz and is a very well made and powerful movie. The thesis of the film is that “there are no oridinary moments,” and is based on Millman’s own autiobiography woven into a narrative. The storyline follows a Cal Berkley gymnast in his quest to become the best, and the unlikley “teacher” (played by Nick Nolte) that ends up showing him the true way to fullment and happiness.

(picture of Nick Nolte as “Socrates” the gas station….I mean “service agent.” You’ll know what I mean once you see the film.)

The movie is no different to the Yoda/Luke, Mr. Miyagi/Ralph duos we have seen in movies before, but the Peaceful Warrior is able to drive home the message effectively, yet without the pomp and show of an intergallactic battle or predictable david vs goliath sparring matches. Nick Nolte was absolutely perfect in this role. It is great to see him take on this lower-budget independent film. The script was well written, and while I can’t say there were any plot twists I couldn’t forsee, the film was done in a way where you really didn’t care.

Following the film (I saw the showing in a small theater in the Capitol Hill area of Seattle, WA); there was a videoconference live with 7 other sites. In Seattle, a few of the producers were present to take questions. In the remote locations: Dan Millman, all the cast members and many special guests were on hand to comment and discuss their favorite parts of the movie.

Perhaps my biggest suprise was seeing a videoconference feed of Tony Robbins live from Fiji! Tony was a major influence to one of the producers of the film, is a big fan Dan Millman’s writings, and was a big supporter of the film itself. Tony spoke a few words about the movie, and the key messages he hopes we all take away. In a nutshell his guindance was that our lives tend to focus around two things: 1) Achievement and 2) Fulfillment. Achievement is something we are good at, but Fulfillment is something that we often overlook. Achievement is about accomplishing a given end-result. Winning a gold-medal for example. Fulfillment is more of an art, it is about the process of change. It is about making progress. Tony made the point that we are always in one of two states as a human being…progressing or dying…and it is progress that gives us the juice to get excited and achieve great things…while feeling fulfilled. Fulfillment and Progress….Tony’s words of wisdom!

(multi-site videocast with Tony’s oversized head on the big screen!!!)

Of course, the rest of the cast had some great things to say about the film. Lavar Burton was in one of the remote sites and read a few questions and comments about the movie. I got quite the kick out of that…a totaly throwback to Reading Rainbow!

(one of the producers of the film taking questions in Seattle)

So I totally recommend seeing the movie. But be warned…you will actually be thinking about it hours after leaving the movie, so if you are looking to zone out…go catch MI3 and if you are looking to take a nap, go see The DaVinci Code.

I’ve been a regular pandora listener for the past 3-4 months. I have a daily habit. Try it out at http://www.pandora.com and get hooked yourself! Pandora is the brainchild of Tim Westergren, who I got to meet today at Seattle’s EMP. Tim knows music, having spent about 10 years as a rock musician, experiencing life on the road firsthand, living out of a van and travelling the west coast playing gigs where he could find them. He also studied computer acoustics at Standford while an undergrad, and spent some time as a movie score composer (or trying to be one that is!)…experiencing the music industry from multiple perspectives. During the discussion today, Tim talked a bit about his background, the history of Pandora and spent quite a long time taking questions from the other pandora listeners who came out to put in their own personal feature requests.

This meetup is one stop on a nationwide roadtrip Tim is making to informally connect with Pandora listeners. Tim mentioned that one of his first stops in New York City a couple months ago included a whopping 2 people meeting him at a cafe. Today in Seattle he packed an auditorium of the EMP with 150 people! Keep in mind, the meetup was only publicized in a single entry on the pandora blog. Each person who attended also got an e-mail reply by Tim himself. What started out as an informal meet and greet tour is turning into one of the best and least expensive marketing campaigns they could have ever imagined!

As background, Pandora came about as a sideproject, with the original idea being the platform Pandora sits on, the Music Genome Project. This project involves categorization of songs by a taxonomy that captures their essential qualities. The key to the taxonomy, is that each of the 400,000 songs (and growing) in the Pandora database are assessed manually by a trained musician. Each assessment takes about 20 minutes and Pandora has now grown to include over 40 musicians helping to grow what they call “The Genome.”

While the original vision for the project was to create the Music Genome and use it to help e/retailers identify music to cross sell to their customers (think Amazon’s referral engine only much much better), an early attempt at creating a webcast service was soo successful that it has now become the primary business. I highly recommend checking it out. Tim’s vision is to utlimately create a “middle class for musicians” by making more obscure/independent artists more apparent to the masses as a result of the Music Genome and the cross-referencing it enables. Think of it this way, if you are a big Police fan, Pandora will play songs that are similar in “spirit”, including more obscure artists you may have never otherwise discovered.

Some other interesting stats thrown about at the meetup:

• Pandora has over 2 million listeners
• Pandora has over 23 million radio stations created by listeners
• Viral from the get-go: the original pandora.com service was opened to 200 friends and family, the website was password protected so only these people could access it. Within a few days, over 5000 people were accessing the service! This was the original sign that streaming audio was really something they should pay attention to!
• 10% of pandora sessions result in someone buying music using the links to purchase on Amazon.com or iTunes! This conversion rate is incredibly high.
• Pandora makes about 5% per purchase their listeners make on Amazon or iTunes.
• Currently about 70% of their indexed songs are from popular artists, 30% are from lesser-known or indepedent musicians.
• Currently about 70% of incoming songs they are in the process of indexing are from lesser-known or independent musicians!
• 400K songs are currently indexed as part of the music genome project….this is growing every day
• Pandora is funded through a cut of purchased songs, advertisements on their homepage, and use of their Music Genome Project platform by eTailers (Amazon was specifically mentioned) to help cross sell music to their shoppers.
• They currently have 70 employees, and are growing!
• During the dot-com-bust they had to stop paying salaries to keep the business going (they have since made up for that!)

I love Pandora because it plays great music, and helps me discover bands I otherwise would have never known existed. Is there really any better feeling than discovering a cool new song or band? After hearing Tim speak, it is also inspiring to see these guys stick it through for over 6 years since founding the company, pushing through 1) the dot com bust and 2) the flood of music related startups (think Napster et al) and coming out on the other side a success.