Trust your gut: avoid scummy online transactions

I was talking to Rahul Pathak, CEO of Lookstat, about ways to increase the number of sign ups for his analytics product. He wrote a blog entry about Microstock RPI and image formats (why it'sn not as cool as you think to be square). This blog entry has gotten lots of traffic because photographers can get some actual data about what formats to shoot in -- very useful data for photographers.  I asked Rahul if he thought about "hiding" or cascading the conclusion of his report until after the user submitted an email. He told me that he had a negative visceral reaction to the idea of scummy online transactions -- I told him that meant he shouldn't do what I was proposing. We laughed. Seriously though -- my instinct to try to figure out a way to get a relationship with people who found value in his blog entry was good. My idea on how to do that was bad -- Rahul's gut reaction was good. This lead the two of us to a few very interesting engagement ideas that Rahul is going to be rolling out over the next few weeks. Stay tuned for good, interesting analytic candy -- and be sure to sign up if you want to have a direct relationship with the CEO who has a gut to avoid scummy online transactions. You rock Rahul. Trust your guy and stay awake.