Huh? I’d never heard this word before. But we were recently talking with an angel investor about TigerTag, and how we’re really not harnessing technology (well, a bit…). But rather, we’re harnessing the power of goodwill. Meaning we could throw a ton of technology at this business, but if people decide not to take action and return items - decide not to act on goodwill - then the whole thing falls apart.
He reacted with a smile, and asked if we were familiar with the notion of schadenfreude. That one I remember from my introduction to religion and philosophy 101 class: a German word, schadenfreude means “deriving pleasure from the misfortune of others.” Not the most attractive side of human nature, but a side nonetheless.
His point was this: the opposite of schadenfreude is “mudita.” Mudita is a Buddhist word, meaning “rejoicing in the joy of others.” “Sympathetic” or “altruistic” joy…the pleasure that comes from delighting in other people’s well-being rather than begrudging it.
Deciding to return a found item for no other reason than the simple pleasure of doing good…well, that’s what drives TigerTag. No complex RFID technology, no fancy geolocating triangulation…just people making the decision to do the right thing.
So the more we thought about it, the more we realized this notion of mudita is the core of what we stand for. So when it came time to reprint more tags last week (crunch all you want, we’ll make more), we decided to make a change: we replaced the words “Return for Reward” with “Do Good. Return.”
Just returned from great trip to Los Angeles (the city of angels) where we got the chance to present TigerTag at the first Open Angel Forum - founded by Jason Calacanis.
Jason has done an amazing job in setting up OAF. Not only does he disrupt the existing “Raising Angel Money Industry” - that are profiting on no-cash startups eager to get in front of angels - but, at the same time, he’s setting a new standard for angel investors.
OAF comprises of an extraordinary group of Angel investors. Not the usual suspects of angels with a few grand to spend in cool projects. These guys mean business, they are the Dream Team of angels. By filtering out the “amateur” angels and only including high net-worth individuals with a proven track record of doing startups themselves, Jason has established the best environment for entrepreneurs, not only looking for money but good advice, mentoring and networking.
The OAF event was informal and friendly not only a forum to pitch and get feedback but also to network. These guys are supernodes in networking and we had many great doors being opened following this event.
A quick guide for any of you that might get the chance to attend the OAF event
Know exactly what you are asking for.
Keep your pitch short and to the point – you only have 15 minutes including demo, pitch and Q&A, and you want to make as much time available for the dialog with the angels.
Don’t even try to bullshit these guys. They have been around the block and seen it all – so be honest and get their input on how to fix any broken links.
Tyler Crowley, Jason’s wingman was a great support throughout the event and assisted with super guidance to make sure everything ran smoothly. They together are like a perfect Batman and Robin team (although Jason would prefer a Superman or Star Wars analogy) with their great passion for startups serving as a good sounding board.
To end on a high note we got the chance to be featured on This Week In Startups, allowing us to reach out to a large audience. Once again Jason and Tyler set the scene and allowed us to pitch TigerTag to the loyal followers of TWIST.
I am grateful we got the chance to participate and my journey to LA was time and money very well spent! I am certain that OAF will be a great success wherever it goes and strongly recommend all startups with “Superbowl” ambitions to sign up. Basically you don’t just get a chance to raise seed capital but you also gain access to a great set of mentors and someone that really can help take your company to the next level.
It may not be unanimous the opinion that people are mostly good - I know some of you are skeptical about it. However from time to time we learn stories that remind us that goodwill exists and people will help strangers without expecting a payoff.
I took a cab last night to Grand Central Terminal and as I enter the car I notice there’s a laptop on the back seat. I show it to the driver and he asks me to give it to him because he would drive back to 54th street - where he had dropped off the unlucky owner - and return it. I asked if he knew exactly where the person went and as he assured me I handed him the computer.
First reaction I had was to tweet it, and the tweet ended up on Facebook where some commenters were skeptical the owner would ever recover the laptop. To the skepticals here’s some good stuff.
NYC cabbie drives 200 miles to return $21,000 left in taxi by tourist.
The cabbie drove about 50 miles to a Long Island address he found in Mrs Lettieri’s handbag. No one answered the door at the house in Patchougue, so he left his phone number and drove back to the city. Hours later, he received a call from the family, turned around and drove back with the money.
The Guardian is running a reader poll - “If you found a large wedge of cash, would you return it or keep it?” Here are the results so far.
LIRR conductor lauded for returning lost wallet containing $2,800
Pinkham was humble about his heroic deed, and isn’t even allowed to collect reward money as an LIRR employee.
The latest article featuring TigerTag was published this Sunday at the Coming & Going column in The Washington Post.
Most of us have experienced that sinking feeling: You reach into a pocket, purse or — dare we say it? — fanny pack, only to realize that a precious electronic device has disappeared. But have faith: One company hopes to tap into the public’s benevolent impulses to reunite owners with their lost items.
We’re getting very positive feedback from readers and a wave of new registrations from the surroundings of Washington DC, which shows that Good Samaritans are everywhere.
And forward we move, Harnessing The Power Of Goodwill.
Funny thing, timing. Sometimes it works for you, sometimes against you…and in some cases, it’s just hard to tell.
We launched TigerTag, the world’s free online lost and found, right around the time when another Tiger happened to be in the news. The other Tiger also had a Tag - in his case, sponsorship of a luxury watch brand. And according to just about every news source, he engaged in activities that some folks referred to as, well, “tagging.”
So what’s the point? As CMO of TigerTag, I’m always interested in how unpredictable events like this impact marketing. Celebrity sponsorships are always a roll of the dice. As we’ve seen time and again, no one’s perfect.
Two weeks ago Accenture decided Tiger Woods is not the role model for its brand. Tag Heuer initially announced its support, but evidently time is no longer on Tiger’s side: last week, Tag dropped the embroiled celebrity, in favor of Leonardo di Caprio. Perhaps Leo will more faithfully represent the brand’s values. Of course, only time will tell.
And us? Well, we sure saw a spike in traffic and interest, and we’re just happy to have been stumbled upon. Timing is everything.
A few weeks ago I was at sitting at a bar with a friend when he found an iPhone. He went outside to smoke a cigarette (yes, I know - he said he’ll quit) when he saw this iPhone 3GS lying on the floor. He brought it back to the bar and we examined it to see if there was any sort of tag or clue about the owner. Nope.
We looked around and asked the few people on a couple of tables whether the phone was theirs. Nope.
What to do? “Let’s call the last person the owner called”, I suggested. My friend started navigating on this person’s phone and we felt a little dirty, afraid to find any secrets we should not see about this stranger
He called the last name in the call log. To our luck it was the owner’s wife but let me paraphrase the awkward conversation that followed:
Friend: “Hello”
Woman: “Hello”
Friend: “I just found this phone and I wonder if you’d know who it belongs to”
Woman: “Well…depends. If you’re law enforcement then I don’t”
He explained what happened and she told him she’d try to contact her husband. We had a good laugh and ordered another beer. Thirty minutes later some guy walks into the bar looking around and we waved to him. The owner was back. It happened he was from another state attending some conference and was at the bar a few minutes before we arrived. Didn’t seem to us he would pass a breathalyzer test - which explains why the phone was left behind - but he wasn’t driving anyway. Phone in hands he thanked us and left.
We felt good for being Good Samaritans and for reuniting the phone to its owner. Had the battery died before we found it the phone would probably be sitting at the bar’s office until today.
Today was the official launch of TigerTag to the general public and our team is extremely pleased with the positive feedback we’ve been getting from everyone. It’s been almost full year of hard work throughout the worst economic crisis ever.
TechCrunch picked up the story and wrote a positive post about us. And all their fans and followers have been retweeting the news, which we appreciate immensely.
Feel free to tweet about us and send feedback about the site. Anything, positive or not, helps us to evolve and make the service even better - so what are you waiting?
Some users ask us the question; what is the magic we use or what is this advanced RFID/GPS/Digital fingerprint technology that makes the TigerTag service promise a 75% return rate on lost items?
Well the answer is very simple. There is no magic; there is no advanced technology. We simply make it easy for people to quickly identify and reach out to the owner of items they find. We basically harness the power of goodwill and our experience is that most people actually are good Samaritans. They want to help, and we make it easy for them to do so.
A survey we did earlier this year, clearly emphasized the power of goodwill. Though many thinks of others; that no one would return a phone, wallet or ipod if found on the street, in a taxi or airport, actually 97% of those we asked would return an item they found.
Readers Digest did a street test last year showing the same result. More than 80% New Yorkers would return a mobile phone they found. And the positive findings are actually similar all over the world. In as different locations as Ljubljana, Toronto, Seoul, Stockholm, Mumbai, Manila and New York more than 80% of cell phones where recovered.
Readers Digest 2008
So why do we call it the Lost&Found Network? Well, its straight forward, our TigerTag service is not better than the great people who finds lost items and make an effort to return it to the rightful owner. TigerTag is simply a network infrastructure powering this process.
We believe in the good Samaritan. Harnessing the power of Goodwill.
So you are new to TigerTag, and like the fact that your items now easily can be protected and its free. Then comes the next question - what to tag? Well, there are plenty of things that can get lost, so go at it. Here is a list of items I have tagged. Hope it can serve as inspiration:
Mobile phones
Binoculars
Flash light
MacBook laptop
Macbook power adapter
Watch
iPod
Digital Camera
Digital Camera Flash
Digital Camera Lens
USB stick
GPS Navigation
Car keys
Go tag your valuables - as you can see I do not play golf or tennis. The next items I will tag will be my kids Nintendo game boys and their ipods. Soon you will be ordering additional tags, maybe not just for yourself, but for your family or to hand out to your friends.
After months of preparation - countless hours of development, strategy, messaging and meetings with partners like Amazon, Motorola and FedEx - we’re thrilled to announce the launch of our private beta version of TigerTag!
As friends and family of TigerTag, we’d like you to be the first to try out the site and the service - simply go to www.tigertag.com to get started. If you already signed up at our old site, please re-register at the new TigerTag.com.
Once you sign up as a member, make sure and order your tags. We’ll then send them out, so you can register all your valuables - mobile phones, iPods, digital cameras - anything at all you’d like to tag and hate to lose.
TigerTag works by harnessing the power of goodwill from folks like you. If your item should go missing, anyone who finds it can easily help get it back to you by simply going to TigerTag.com and entering the unique code on your item’s tag. You’re then instantly alerted of the good news, and we take it from there.
Over the coming months, the site’s functionality, usability, and overall experience will continue to evolve. As you explore the site, we’d love your suggestions - feel free to click on the feedback tab on the left side of every page as you see things we need to fix.
TigerTag blog
Just returned from great trip to Los Angeles (the city of angels) where we got the chance to present 
Pinkham was humble about his heroic deed, and isn’t even allowed to collect reward money as an LIRR employee.
The latest article featuring TigerTag was published this Sunday at the 
A few weeks ago I was at sitting at a bar with a friend when he found an iPhone. He went outside to smoke a cigarette (yes, I know - he said he’ll quit) when he saw this iPhone 3GS lying on the floor. He brought it back to the bar and we examined it to see if there was any sort of tag or clue about the owner. Nope.
