Wired’s June issue featured an inspirational letter by Louis Rossetto, one of the magazine founders, addressed to his children. The letter ends with this note:

[…]we were often accused during my time at Wired of being overly optimistic. But optimism is not false hope, it’s a strategy for living.

It’s interesting to think of optimism as a strategy for living (and, why not, business). We live in times where some people regard optimism as some kind of delusional behavior or, on a different angle, relate it to an esoteric outlook on life.

It’s important to realize that being optimistic doesn’t mean that you won’t fail. Nevertheless, if your long-run strategy is built on optimism, it means you will keep on trying and, eventually, increase your chances of attaining success.In this article about Top Gun Salespeople, based on Psychological studies, optimism is listed as one of the three critical elements that make a great salesman. And if you conceive “selling” as something larger than getting people to buy products or services, while also encompassing the promotion of ideas, values and yourself, well, a good chunk of optimism (and hard work, of course) can prove adamant to your success.

YDreams has occasionally been described as a company far too optimistic for its context. Well, we’ll take that compliment.

Picture this: you walk into a store and take a ticket for customer service. A462 is your number. You glance at the screen, and A391 is flashing. You look around the store, and all you see are walls that used to be white and 100 people dispersed, some sitting down, others asleep, and a vast majority chatting away on their mobile phones. What to do?

This is the worst-case scenario of a bad shopping experience. The Internet has completely changed the way we shop, and traditional retail is suffering because of that. Many companies have already taken this into consideration, and have altered their stores’ concept, to give people a reason to buy things off of the World Wide Web.

Portuguese telecommunications giant TMN is opening what Portuguese newspaper Expresso is calling “a state-of-the-art shop with distinctive experimentation.” YDreams transported the concept of an interactive playground to a ‘normal’ store, giving people a reason to get off online points-of-sale, and go to the new BlueStore to experience things first hand.

Once inside the store, people will almost be thankful (”almost” because they aren’t crazy) to have their A462 number. The store itself will keep people occupied and interested until their number is called out. There is something for everyone, like the interactive slide that uses sensors to measure speed and will make children want to run even more errands with their parents, which can be considered a minor miracle.

If renewing my passport was this fun, it wouldn’t have expired in 1996.

Darius Mahdjoubi, a researcher at the University of Texas at Austin, believes that YDreams is a “gazelle” type company: one that, after years of consistent development of intellectual property and products, will grow “explosively” in the global market. Darius will actually follow our development in the coming years to verify his research hypothesis.

YDreams founders are determined to contribute towards Darius’ research success. Like many “gazelle” companies before us (most historic tech companies were once “gazelles”), we have a strong vision, superb research and international class products and project development. YDreams intends to be the world leader in the creation of unique interactive objects and environments. References such as NOKIA, Vodafone, Adidas, Nike, Coca-Cola and Portugal Telecom in over fifteen countries have provided YDreams with the required credibility to claim such leadership.

A few months ago we realized we needed the help of a senior manager to take YDreams to the next level. We could not be happier with the person that is now our new Chief Operating Officer: Victor Centeno. Victor brings a wealth of management and marketing experiences from his tenures at companies such as Johnson and Johnson and Diageo in several countries. He will be instrumental in setting the environment for the success of the new YDreams products that will be launched in May 2008.

Not long ago YDreams had to suffer through cramped Portuguese offices located in Lisbon and Caparica. Today we are very happy with our new headquarters located on the campus of the New University of Lisbon in Caparica. The 2000 square meter building houses all YDreams divisions and displays most of our past and current work. YDreamers are also able to use the facility to support extra-curricular activities: our rock band will have a studio; we will have locker rooms for our surfers, bikers, tennis, basketball and football players. There will be also a bio-agricultural field for those inclined to cultivate it.

YDreams has entered a new era.

*[editorial featured on the fourth edition of our quarterly Newsletter]

A bit old (2004) but interesting Ted Talk by Chris Anderson, Wired Magazine’s editor-in-chief and author of the “Long Tail” book and concept – “How endless choice is creating unlimited demand”.

In this particular video, Chris presents the idea that each technology goes through four different key stages – “setting the right price, gaining market share, displacing an established technology and, finally, becoming ubiquitous” - and supports this with the analysis of a bunch of different technologies.

I am reading the book “Cirque du Soleil: The Spark”. It’s a short book about a real organization and real people, showing that creativity and perseverance can make any person have an exceptional and thrilling life. It’s not one more book about management crap. You will find many similarities with YDreams I recommend it to everyone with an open spirit and the will to achieve great things.