jonathan eppers

I'm Contrarian by Nature

Wed, 30 May 2012 13:59:26 -0700

Contrarian styles of argument and disagreement have historically been associated with radicalism and dissent.

I was listening to AC/DC’s Pandora station and...

Tue, 22 May 2012 11:11:08 -0700

I was listening to AC/DC’s Pandora station and ‘Thunderstruck’ came on. The first time I heard Thunderstruck I was nine years old riding passenger in my Uncles mint-condition Blue Corvette one hot August afternoon.

I remember the day like it was yesterday. Thunderstruck came on the radio, my uncle reached down and turned it up, way up. He looked at me and said “You ready for this?” and floored the gas as we sped down the dirt road.

I was in Santa Barbara last weekend and I came across this...

Mon, 21 May 2012 09:57:47 -0700

I was in Santa Barbara last weekend and I came across this posting left on a board next to the pier. I really want to meet this Beth. She’s got to be cool right?

Perspective: Avoiding Depression While Not Running a $1B Company

Fri, 18 May 2012 14:43:00 -0700

Perspective: Avoiding Depression While Not Running a $1B Company

It’s cool when you’re asked to represent Geeks...

Mon, 14 May 2012 13:12:41 -0700

It’s cool when you’re asked to represent Geeks everywhere by walking the runway for a great cause. Thanks Microsoft and Bloomingdales for inviting me to rep at the Geek2Chic fashion show in Santa Monica to raise funds for NFTE.

"Simple can be harder than complex. You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it..."

Tue, 08 May 2012 10:13:06 -0700

“Simple can be harder than complex.
You have to work hard to get your
thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s
worth it in the end, because once you
get there, you can move mountains.”

- Steve Jobs, 5/25/98

Go behind the scenes and see the making of the ‘Intimate...

Thu, 03 May 2012 16:35:00 -0700

Go behind the scenes and see the making of the ‘Intimate Moments’ photo shoot.

Huge thanks to the new faces of The Little Black Book - Phillip Alexander and Vanessa Marie. They’re awesome!

Preview shots from my newest app, The Little Black Book’s...

Wed, 02 May 2012 14:42:00 -0700

Preview shots from my newest app, The Little Black Book’s photo shoot. #hot

More photos here

Credits
Male Model: Phillip Alexander
Female Model: Vanessa Marie
Photography: j|r foto
Hair and Makeup: Emerald Monzon

Caine Monroy. An extraordinary 9 year old kid who builds...

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 13:04:00 -0700

Caine Monroy. An extraordinary 9 year old kid who builds cardboard arcade games.

We have a bright future with kids like Caine. He’s my inspiration.

I competed in the SoCal Warrior Dash this past weekend with my...

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 13:25:24 -0700

I competed in the SoCal Warrior Dash this past weekend with my partner and crime. I think I just found a new passion.

Photo: Mike and I after we finished the dash.

Never Give Up. If it’s a challenge, you know it’s...

Sat, 24 Mar 2012 20:45:47 -0700

Never Give Up.

If it’s a challenge, you know it’s worth fighting for. I love this scene from the movie Rudy.

Transcript of a dinner conversation I had with a reporter about Little Black Book

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 15:48:00 -0700

Transcript of a dinner conversation I had with a reporter about Little Black Book:

The redacted transcript of a dinner conversation between myself and Ezra Butler at Kitchen24 in West Hollywood, California. The conversation takes place in a neutral North American accent.

Published on The Kernel Magazine

Three weeks ago I launched an iOS application called The Little...

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 16:47:36 -0700

Three weeks ago I launched an iOS application called The Little Black Book after hearing from several friends that they kept track and stored the most intimate details one could possibly have: sexual hookups.

I’ve been shocked at the overwhelmingly positive reaction the app has received from my friends and from users who have found my email and sent me messages.

I wanted to learn something - so I did something about it.

I looked through the anonymized data that had been entered so far (over 2k hookups!) and came up with a really cool visual that explains what all this means (I hate charts and graphs).

What I found is fascinating.

So here it is. The censored version (because my mom might read my blog).

If you want to see the uncensored version click here.

I’m working really, really hard so it feels good when a...

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 16:45:50 -0700

I’m working really, really hard so it feels good when a friend texts you a message like this one. (like really good).

This hurts.

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 09:59:00 -0800

Sports have been ingrained in my DNA my entire life. I grew up in the Midwest and that’s just how it is.

Today might be the saddest day I’ve experienced and can personally remember when it comes to a loss in sports. I grew up a Colts fan and they’re unlike any other team in the league or for that matter, professional sports. While no single player is greater than the whole of the team, a player like Peyton Manning comes around once in a lifetime. To explain what it felt like to have him on your team, living in your state and bringing something bigger than the game to the sport is nothing more than magical.

For me, Petyon is the embodiment of humility, loyalty, leadership, and athleticism.

Peyton - It was an honor to watch you lead us these last 14 years. I’ll always cheer for you.

Waiting for the inevitable news that Indy is losing Peyton...

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 21:38:11 -0800

Waiting for the inevitable news that Indy is losing Peyton Manning tomorrow.

Sad. Hard. Bummed.

Little Black Book gets a shout out!

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 13:47:00 -0800

It has always been a goal of mine to get a shout out on Techzulu, one of LA’s hottest tech news sites. They gave us a really good write up on Little Black Book.

It starts here:

There was that one night…or was it another night? You just remember you met someone nice and had a great time with. But you can’t seem to remember the details. Wouldn’t it be great if there was an app for that? I mean it’s tough to carry a black leather book in todays “fashionable” tight jeans. So good news there is an app out there!

Read why I built Little Black Book here.

I enjoy long walks on the Internet.

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 15:17:56 -0800

The Little Black Book (iOS)

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 15:01:12 -0800

My latest project is finally here. Download it in the iTunes store.

Official Press Release:

February 26, 2011 (Los Angeles, CA) – Meet today’s “Little Black Book,” an updated, digital book that keeps track of one’s most private affairs. A play on an old classic, this reinterpretation of the Little Black Book now allows those of us with strong sexual appetites to keep track and store our most intimate moments. The Little Black Book App can be purchased today in the Apple App store on your iPhone or iPod for just $0.99 (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-little-black-book/id498807085).

The Little Black Book allows its owner to privately and securely save details of their sexual encounters. Adding what Little Black Book calls a ‘rendezvous’ is brilliantly easy and storing intimate details of each rendezvous is fun and effortless.

Every black book comes with a passcode system, a dashboard that tracks total rendezvous over time, the ability to add in the date, location and details and rate each encounter as well as secure backup that ensures all information is always recoverable in the event the iPhone is lost, stolen or upgraded.

The idea came about after Little Black Book founder Jonathan Eppers found himself constantly fending off questions from his friends about his hookups. “As we all do, we share details of our hook ups with our close friends. I got tired of remembering who I had hooked up with, what we did and where we did it. I basically built the Little Black Book for myself.” Jonathan’s passion for building great consumer products at MySpace and most recently for eHarmony can be seen in the Little Black Book. “I wanted a very beautiful, simple and classy way to store these intimate details. I’m really proud of what we put together in just under a month.”

Jonathan teamed up with friends Stace Baal & Tim Watson to develop the Little Black Book. “Stace and I have been wanting to do something together for awhile. I met Tim through a fraternity brother and he had just sold an iPhone application to Purdue University so I knew he would do a great job.”

“I use the app everyday!” Eppers said jokingly. “Actually I’m quite proud of this application and it’s going to be a lot fun to talk about with my friends.”

So… who’s in your black book?

You can download your own Little Black Book from Apple iTunes store. Just search “The Little Black Book.”

http://www.thelittleblackbookapp.com

###

2011 was a year about people and relationships

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 13:45:38 -0800

2011 was a roller coast of a year for me with a lot of highs and a lot of lows. I guess that’s pretty typical though for a young entrepreneur who is learning on the fly. I had one of the biggest growth years of my life and in the process, as I look back, there are a few things I’ve learned that I’m going to take with me in to this year.

I’ll hit a pretty big personal milestone this year, turning 30 and with the realization that I’ll no longer be able to say “my twenties” I can say that I’ve accomplished a number of personal victories have prepared me for what’s ahead.

I’m really excited and even more optimistic than I’ve ever been (being optimistic is extremely important to being happy and successful) and I’m going to be much more aware and honest with myself about a few things I’ve come to realize this year; some more personally focused and some more to do with what I’ve learned starting a business.

For me, 2011 was a year about people and relationships.

I started a business.

This has been the most rewarding and exciting personal endeavor I’ve ever started but it has also single handedly been the most challenging experience of my life. They say that starting a business is like doing drugs, with extremely high highs and extremely low lows. This has definitely been the case for me. You feel like you conquered Mt. Everest one day, while the next feel like you’re a complete failure (a good therapist is a healthy way to stay on track).

To compensate for this roller coaster of a ride, I’ve worked hard to surround myself with the right people. It hasn’t been easy. It’s the toughest thing about starting a business: choosing who you want to work with. You’d be surprised at the number of people who come out of the woodwork and want to be part of what looks like an opportunity to get rich. I mean aren’t all Internet companies selling for hundreds of millions? Not quite.

Lesson: Hire fast. Fire even faster.

I’ve worked with so many people this year and most of them didn’t work out. Most of them we’re not in it for the right reasons and to be honest, most of them were losers. Harsh I know but it’s a reality of the culture we live in. There are a lot of average people out there who do just enough to do enough.

I’ve gotten much better at choosing the right people to work with and spend my personal time with. I look for people who aren’t motivated by money, who choose themselves to work on things that don’t feel like work, and most importantly who are smarter than me.

Most importantly, and this is the most important lesson I’ve learned, you have to let people go quickly who bring you down - and that’s much harder to do than it sounds.

Losers, like a cancer, can inflict a lot of damage to a company and a friendship. They drain energy, extract the fun and diminish creativity: three things that need to run rampant in the DNA of a company and in friendships.

Celebrate the little wins.

It’s really easy to celebrate and get excited when you do big things, but it’s even more important to enjoy the ride along the way. I’ve found this true both in starting a business AND in my personal life.

Looking back at 2011, the memories and moments that bring a smile to my face today are those that didn’t necessarily result in anything exceptionally outstanding. Most of which were human interactions between my peers and myself. It’s the little things in life.

Never settle. Go with your gut.

As is anything in life, settling leaves you complacent and complacency leads to a lack of passion. I wake up almost every day because I’m passionate about what I’m doing.

My brain never shuts off and it’s constancy firing new ideas, new thoughts and new realizations about life.

The times that I’ve allowed others to steer me in a direction that goes against my gut (and those times happened a lot in 2011) always led me down the wrong path. It’s much harder to get back on the right path when you’ve allowed yourself to get off it.

Simplify.

I don’t do well when I don’t understand something. Complexity adds a layer of confusion and creates a cloud that makes it tough to make effective decisions.

I’ve tried harder to simplify my life this year and I’m doing a much better job at it. This is true in both my profession and my personal life. Less really is more!

Some of the most beautiful things in life are those, which are the most simplified and understated. My outlook on the world has become an oversimplification of how I believe I should live and contribute back.

Believe in something and stand for it.

We live in a world that says if something’s not cool or well received, just change your mind or do something different. While it’s important to push yourself to be more open, understanding and humble, it’s also important to stand for something.

I want people to like me and I’ve spent a number of years trying to make sure people do like me. However, this year that changed because I became much more confidant in who I am and what I stand for. I’ve had to walk away from opportunities, including taking a job with Google, because they weren’t right for me at that moment in my life.

2012.

This year is going to be another pivotal year and I know that when I turn 30 in August and reach the end of 2012, I’ll look back and say, “2012 was the biggest year of my life.”

Thanks for giving me all you got 2011. You’ve made the outlook on 2012 that much better.

Ohhh and maybe I’ll find someone to fill a larger role in my personal life. I think I’m ready for it.