Being a geek, I keep all the relevant numbers encrypted in my Palm Treo (using SplashID... I really hope they're doing an iPhone version!), but rattling off a ten-digit number doesn't do much good when the clerk at Barnes and Noble wants to see your card.

In preparing for the switch to an iPhone this weekend, I started thinking. Why not carry images of all those cards instead?

Here's the video of the result:

(Sorry that it's a little fuzzy. I didn't want to recreate redacted versions of all my cards.)

Getting there is simple.

First, scan all your cards, front and back, on a flatbed scanner, at 200 dpi. (Actually, I didn't do my credit cards, since I'm waiting for someone to come up with an encrypted version of this hack.) You'll get a scanned page with multiple cards on the page.

Then, open the scan in Photoshop (or whatever image editor you like) and scale it so that each card takes about 470 pixels horizontally. You can do math, or you can just do trial-and-error. In my case, I found that scaling the image from 1700 pixels across to 1150 pixels worked well. Be sure to check the "Constrain Proportions" and "Resample Image" boxes.

Now select a rectangular selection tool and, using the pulldown menu, lock it to a fixed size of 480 x 320 pixels (the size of the iPhone screen).

Now play cookie-cutter... center the rectangular selection over each card image, copy, and paste each one into a new GIF file. Make sure to get the backs of cards where that information is relevant.

Save all these images into a folder. Launch iPhoto (on the Mac... I'm not sure how this works on Windows, but I'm sure you'll figure it out) and import that folder. Rearrange the images to taste.

Now, in iTunes, sync that photo folder with your iPhone.

Here's what you get:

Every card is displayed as a square icon. Most are recognizable, even at this small size.

Tap on the one you want, and you get a very legible version of each card on your iPhone screen:

And you can double-tap to zoom in, so you can read the fine print without your glasses!

In the zoomed view, I've been able to get a barcode scanner to recognize the image.

I hope this is useful to others out there. Now... someone wrap some encryption around this so that someone stealing my phone doesn't wind up with all my ID numbers!

But, hey, it was a year ago today that Jeff Haynie (with a nudge from Lance Weatherby and a few others) nudged me into starting this blog.

I'm not the most prolific of bloggers (although MarsEdit helps immeasurably; highly recommended!), but I get a lot of positive comments... occasionally from people I don't even know! So I'll keep going as long as people see value in it.

As noted earlier, I've moved the Georgia Tech-specific posts to our new GT VentureLab blog.

Suggestions are always welcome, either via email or through the Skribit box to your right.

When I teach my classes on entrepreneurship, I always have at least one student protest my statement that "Spelling counts." Especially when they're not native English speakers. "It doesn't affect the meaning! And it certainly doesn't affect my ability as an entrepreneur!"

Sorry, folks, but spelling does count. Not because correct spelling is a virtue in and of itself — William Shakespeare couldn't spell his own name, when he wasn't busy taking credit for the Earl of Oxford's plays — but because of what it says about the person sending me the document. Usually the CEO.

If you send me a document that says "Our plan estimates there costs to be..." or "the product and it's derivatives," you are telling me that (1) you don't have good attention to detail, or (2) you're in a hurry, and (3) you don't know when to ask for help. None of those make me want to invest in you.

Ditto for other errors and inconsistencies. If your executive summary says you're raising $1.3 million, but page 17 says you're raising $1.5 million, I'm not going to care which number is right — I'm going to care that they're different. If your month-old printed plan lists four founders, but your new PowerPoint presentation lists three, I'm going to wonder what happened to the fourth person... and he or she is guaranteed to be my first reference call!

(All of these errors are from real business plans. And note that running spellcheck wouldn't catch any of them!)

When you're sending out a business plan for investment, you're supposed to be putting your best foot forward. Remember when your mother said "You only get one chance to make a first impression"? She was right. If my first impression of you is a document with errors in it, that colors my opinion of you and your company. If you're not going to sweat the details here, what are you going to do when negotiating a sales contract, or an employment agreement, or preparing a presentation for a key client?

Also, you want me to be concentrating on the substance of your plan, not the appearance. Stumbling over inconsistencies (like flipping back to compare two numbers that ought to match, but don't) take me out of the "flow" and make me think about the document, not the content. Not a good idea.

Nobody says that you, yourself, have to be a champion editor and proofreader. That may not be your strength (especially those non-native English speakers mentioned above). What I am saying is that, if it's not your strength, get help! One of the key skills of a successful CEO is being able to recruit talent... this is your first test. Ask your spouse. Ask your friends. Ask your professional contacts. If all else fails, pay someone. But by the time you commit your plan to print (or PDF), it should be a compelling narrative of your vision for your company... not a minefield of distracting errors.

That being said, sometimes I won't be able to resist. Like this link to 43folders on "email bankruptcy"... deleting everything and starting over.

Good quote:

Email is such a funny thing. People hand you these single little messages that are no heavier than a river pebble. But it doesn’t take long until you have acquired a pile of pebbles that’s taller than you and heavier than you could ever hope to move, even if you wanted to do it over a few dozen trips. But for the person who took the time to hand you their pebble, it seems outrageous that you can’t handle that one tiny thing. “What ‘pile’? It’s just a... pebble!”