We suck less (as a business book title and other book titles I could write)

I have no intention of writing a book. This blog is as close as I get to being a writer. However, I do feel qualified to write a book. If I were to write a book, it might have one of the following titles or themes:

  • The guerrilla entrepreneur's guide to starting profitable businesses online
  • Choose your organization dysfunction
  • The tie-die millionaire
  • The art of angel investing and poker
  • Great lines to open a company meeting : I had a great weekend and yes, I got laid (by my wife)
  • 1,000 ways companies die
  • A sack of start up advice
  • Why self-awareness is critical to success
  • How the dishwasher saved my marriage
  • The frugal entrepreneur or the scrappy entrepreneur

The entrepreneurs dilemma: on the right path or delusional?

All entrepreneurs face the moment(s) when they must assess the feedback from customers, the market, investors, employees and people in general as to whether their idea is worthy of becoming a profitable self-sustaining business or weather it's just a futile fools errand.  This question comes up more frequently in the early stages of a business as entrepreneurs go through the difficult time of getting a company off the ground. My only comment to entrepreneurs in this dilemma is the advice that the martial arts instructor gave to us regarding our young son's desire to earn a black belt:
"Every kid is capable of earning a black belt. It's usually the parents who get tired and stop encouraging the goal of obtaining a black belt."   It sounded better when he said it-- my point is that at these dilemma points, perseverance is more frequently than not the answer. 

win-win vs win-lose?

There's a lot of business books and traditional business mythology around creating win-win situations. Frankly, I believe in that approach myself and generally take the long view on my work relationships. However, the world is filled with assholes -- and business in particular, seems to give people the license to be even an asshole. One observation that I'd make is that when you take a person who is playing win-win and put them in negotiation with someone committed to a win-lose philosophy --the win-lose operandi wins in the short run much more often than the win-win.
ok -- sorry --that's a mouthful and confusing.
There are times -- when win-win meets win-lose -- and the management team needs to man up (or woman up) and tell the other side that you won't be pushed any further. It's important to draw clear lines of battle in language that the person playing win-lose understands around whatever issue you're facing. The argument doesn't have to result in fisticuffs or a loud argument -- in fact much better if you remain calm and CLEAR -- it's just a matter of drawing a line and not budging any further.

If you're going to break the model, don't just break it a little

Chris and I have been talking about some of our portfolio companies. We came up with this insight (i.e. the title of the post) today in one of our meetings -- and I thought I'd share it with you.  A number of the companies are innovating on standard business models. Inevitably as they innovate, they also retain part of an existing business to be more evolutionary for customers, investors, and employees.  Our thought today is that we should be encouraging our companies to consider when breaking with a traditional way of doing business -- not to break away in a small manner but to make a full push to innovate. Think about all the cell phone innovations that existed before the i-phone was introduced. You probably can't even recall them -- I can't -- but trust me there were lots of innovations. But it wasn't until Apple broke enough of the model to truly stand out. Another way of saying this : if you're going to make a mess, don't make a small one.

Updating your skill set

I asked one of our developers if he was going to attend the Amazon web services conference.  I thought the agenda looked interesting.  He told me that if he worked at a big company --he'd be pitching his manager on "updating his skill set" and being "current on market developments" so he could spend the day working out of the office (not really working). But he works at Lookstat and he's got code to ship and a business to build. I loved his answer -- Casey combines strong technical acumen with a fierce determination to make his business profitable today....and today is everyday. 

Debunking start up myths with real customer research

I have a friend, Jay Haynes, who has been talking to me about the value of customer research in the process of new venture creation.  He talks about how valuable detailed research is into minimizing the risks of building something new that's tragically flawed. His blog is here.   I think he's more right than wrong. Check out his page on debunking start-up myths with real research.

My advice: talk to 20 customers over the next 2 weeks

I had a conversation with a new start up yesterday that is innovating in the recruiting industry.  I asked them how many of the customers that will pay them money they had spoken to in developing their product. I can't remember whether the answer was one or none but I know it was not enough.  They then told me that the main motivator for buying decisions was cost reduction. There was no way they could know this -- it may have been right, but they couldn't know it because they hadn't spoken to enough customers. My advice was simple -- spend the next 2 weeks and talk to 20 customers. Leave your pre-conceived notions at home and focus on understanding their perspective on their job and suppliers. Listen. Take notes. At the end of the process -- thinkin again about the product and business you are building.

Entrepreneurs: nobody cares, be yourself

I've gotten a lot of comments about my 20th reunion photo both online and offline. The photo seems to resonate with people. Well, putting the photo up made me think. I recall when I started abuzz in 1996 with 2 partners. At that time, I didn't want anyone to know that I had worn a tie-die, gone to a Greatful Dead show, or any other activity that wouldn't be "business professional" accepted.
Over time, I've realized as a first time entrepreneur, I spent too much time trying to do what was expected or what was supposed to be "the right thing" that I missed the opportunity to lead by being myself and doing what I thought was the right thing.  Not accepting that I was a tie-die wearing entrepreneur -- was emlematic of my tendency to look outside of myself to others to tell me what I should be doing to lead my company. I've seen this trait in many first time entrepeneurs -- my advice: get over it, you have the answer and even if you don't, be yourself -- you'll have more fun.  

My 20th reunion from Brown University

Just got back to the office after a long memorial day weekend in Providence. I started Brown University in 1989 as a computer science major. I finished Brown in January 1990 with a BA in religious studies -- affectionately known as an 89.5er. It's trite to say, but those four and a half years were some of the best in my life. 
Returning to that place and period of time -- as a 42 year old -- was very emotional. I cried or teared up at least 4 times.  The people that were there helped me define me -- and were present as I defined me.  Sometimes that was beautiful -- and sometimes that wasn't so pretty.
Some take aways from the weekend:

  • People I thought I'd be in touch with forever -- I'm not. I'm surprised at the flow of relationships. Who has been in my life and who is likely to continue to be in my life is not as I expected.
  • It's not about the money.  So much of success in America is driven and measured by money. Money is not and should not be the measure of success -- or happiness.  One of the best conversations I had this weekend was with someone who has been unemployed for 2 years and spent 9 months meditating. He quit his 90K per year job to elect for unemployment because he felt the job was killing the life in him. Pretty fascinating guy. He was amongst the happiest -- if not the "wealthiest" people I met.
  • Life happens to all of us -- parents die, people get sick, people get married and divorced. There is no stopping time.
  • The guys (myself included) were fatter
  • Going back to college is a bit like visiting family for the holidays -- everyone regresses.

Food as a business trade secret

I'm going to let you in on one of my secrets. Food works. As my mother used to say -- "if you can't beat them, feed them".  And she did that well -- she was a master of sweets.  Growing up, we had a cupboard of Hostess twinkees and suzi q's. Our house was the house all the kids in the neighborhood flocked.  I learned early that food could bring people together.
When I started abuzz, I used to say that "the company that dines together, succeeds together". This was my adaptation of my mothers saying. Since that time, I've used food, meals, coffees, wines as a means of inviting people to break bread, have fun, talk and ultimately do deals. In my opinion, food is an underrated and under discussed business tool -- think about it over a piece of cake. And buy your employee or boss a cup of coffee and see what you learn.

Time with my daughter

I had the pleasure of taking Friday off and spending Thursday night and Friday with my daughter.   We had a great time. We went to the Great Wolf Lodge outside of Olympia, WA.  It's a destination resort -- part of a chain of indoor water parks.  We had a fabulous time.  I try to go away with my kids at least once per year if not more -- just the two of us.  If you're in the Seattle area and want a family resort -- Great Wolf Lodge is somewhere between Disney World and Chuck E Cheese -- I know it sounds a bit much...and it probably is....but we had fun anyway!

Place calls to shut down your school -- for just $5

Pretty funny...read it all here

Lundeby, known online as "Tyrone," allegedly had progressed into selling his services as a threatmaker, charging schoolchildren from across the country $5 apiece to place threatening, Internet-based phone calls that would cause administrators to shut down their schools, Wired News reports.

"I heard the prank phone calls he made," his mother, Annette Lundeby, said in the Wired report. "They were really funny prank calls."

Seattle tech community takes a step forward with Seattle 2.0 Awards

I commented earlier this week on how well Marcelo Calbucci publicized the Seattle 2.0 awards event.  Well, no wI want to comment on the event itself. 
Simply put, the event was excellent.  Why?  Because.....

  • Attendance was great. By nominating lots of people and inviting lots of people, Marcelo was able to get critical mass of people to the event
  • Agenda was solid.  Copying the Academy Awards gave the night an air of excitement and pageantry that is rare in the tech industry and almost non existent in Seattle tech scene.
  • Marcelo paid attention to the details. Even the trophies looked cool -- and simple trite plaques .  

All in all, I have to hand it to Marcelo and everyone that helped. It was an event that seemed to pull a normally disparate tech community together.
My suggestions for next year are:

  • Keep the awards event to no more than 1 hour. It started to drag (just a bit) for the last 20 to 30 minutes.
  • Open bar (with hard alcohol) -- charge more but make the event even more festive!
  • More appetizers -- food makes the world go round. Fed people are happy people.