An old cowpoke strategy

"Wow, that's really ambitious."

"You're ambitious, I'll give you that."

"Whew. Isn't that really ambitious?"

"I buy everything you say. But that's really ambitious."

am·bi·tious     ( P ) 
Pronunciation Key  (m-bshs) adj.

1. Full of, characterized by, or motivated by ambition.
2. Greatly desirous; eager: “I am not ambitious of ridicule” (Edmund Burke).
3. Requiring or showing much effort; challenging: an ambitious schedule.

Connotations (mine): Crazy, Quixotic, Barking at the Moon, Over the Cliff, Lunatic.

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If it sounds country man, that's what it is. It's a country song
Kris Kristofferson, on "Me and Bobby McGee."

We've been going through a difficult, but exhilirating and important process the past few weeks. I've been elaborating on our concept to lots of smart media and business folk and saying, "Here it is. Pull no punches. Be aggressive. Kick our ass. No sunshine. Tear us apart."

I was expecting more operational and conceptual pushback -- people don't care about local news; the incumbents are just fine, thanks; pay-for-performance is daft; our team isn't right; etc.

That's not what I've gotten. What the ubiquitous "they" say, from journo pundits to media moguls to other-industry moguls, to curious reporters comes down to the same thing:

Ambitious.

Well, yeah. We knew that.

As I've said before, we're not a neat fit into the mold of the other hyperlocals/ Citizen Journalism sites. Since we're Dallas-based, I'll provide a cowboy analogy:

The pure hyperlocal; pure web; pure user-generated sites may well be the a future. But as far as a business model goes, they're a far piece out there ahead of the herd. They'll make good on the head that are up there with them, and until the rest of the cattle catch up, they've got a small, potentially profitable rodeo. Actually, they've got several of them, because at this level there are multiple players.

The mainstream media has most of the herd. And they're a monopoly. But, the MSM is starting to slow down, and a number of head are starting to slip out, moving towards that far-away herd. There's been a trickle that's now becoming a flood.

Our strategy is to head 'em off at the pass.

That's why we think we need professional reporters and a daily print edition. We're not trying to be one of several ranchers fighting for the disparate parts of the herd that are way ahead. And we know we can't fight the MSM where they stand now for the bigger piece of the herd.

In other words, we're hoping to use some different models and technology-enabled (but not technology-created) strategies to fill the role of the "secondary papers" that have disappeared over the past twenty years. Like the Dallas Times-Herald here. Then, catching the herd as it slips away from the MSM, we'll use every bit we can of what the "far ahead" guys are doing to try to pen up the herd before they get ahead of us.

Yeah, I know I'm stretching the analogy pretty thin, but I think you get the picture.

Hell, yeah, it's ambitious.

We wouldn't have it any other way.

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Some other takes on ambition:

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.

          Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)

A man without ambition is dead. A man with ambition but no love is dead. A man with ambition and love for his blessings here on earth is ever so alive. Having been alive, it won't be so hard in the end to lie down and rest.

Pearl Bailey (1918 - 1990)

And, a song that's been ratling around in my head while writing this.