The Bootstrapped Startup 50

September 27, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

Bootstrapped Startup 50

Readers and friends, we’re getting ready to undertake a massive journey together. I’m preparing to start a lengthy series of posts that I’m calling the “Bootstrapped Startup 50″. The BS50 is a series of 50 posts about the process of creating your own bootstrapped startup, from the ground up. There’s a lot about the company building process that I haven’t written about, so this will be a great, structured way to get that information to you.

I’m hoping that it will be informative enough to give anyone a great foundation with which to build their own successful company. As always, I look forward to your questions and comments. Let me know what you think about the concept and whether or not you think it will be helpful.

The series will start in the next few days and you’ll see 2 or 3 posts per week, so it’ll take about 5 months to get through everything. I’ll have posts that aren’t part of the series sprinkled in throughout, so I won’t just be writing about bootstrapping.

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Web Apps That We Currently Pay For

September 21, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

monopoly-outsource

I use a lot of different web apps to manage things at MediaLeaf. We try to use 3rd-party apps whenever we can to avoid reinventing the wheel. We don’t have the manpower to be spending time duplicating the functionality of others, so I typically don’t have a problem paying monthly for tools that are useful to us.

I love promoting the great work of others, so I’m going to give you a rundown of all the great apps that we use regularly. The list only includes the apps that I currently have paid accounts to. I have free accounts for many other apps. I’m probably also gonna forget a couple of apps. Here goes (in no particular order):

  • Mailchimp – The best marketing email platform around
  • Followup.cc – I’ve written about Followup.cc before.
  • Tout – Simplifies the process of sending repetitive emails. I use this for finding leads.
  • Basecamp and Highrise from 37signals – All of the 37s products are exceptional and need no introduction.
  • Endicia – Handles all of my mailing needs
  • ThinkVitamin Membership – Great set of training resources. I haven’t used TVM anywhere near as much as I need to.
  • Zendesk – I should get a volume discount at Zendesk due to the number of helpdesks I have setup with them.
  • SEOmoz.org and DIYSEO – I have 2 different apps for tracking/optimizing SEO. One day I’ll condense these down into just 1 app.
  • Beanstalk – Hosted SVN solution that works really well for us.
  • Postmark – Great system for handling all of our transactional emails.
  • Hootsuite – The best social media management console.

If you have an app that you’d like me to consider then feel free to email me.

Image credit: Scott Ingram Photography on Flickr

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Time is Your Most Precious Asset

September 19, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

Couldn't resist it!

Never has the title of this post bene more true than in the last few weeks. I’m juggling a lot of MediaLeaf projects and I’ve recently purchased a new home, so time has definitely been a diminishing resource lately.

Times like this are a good opportunity to take a step back and look at everything you’re doing. Is everything that you’re working on directly related to your bottom line? When you’re pressed for time, as all of us are, it’s hard to justify spending your work time on anything that isn’t directly related to your bottom line or charitable pursuits. Here are a few ways to make sure that you’re focusing your energy and time most effectively.

Record Everything

For a few days, or even a whole week, keep a notepad with you and record all of the tasks that you spend your time on. You don’t have to keep diligent records of how long you’re actually spending on a task, just record what the task is. At the end of your experiment look through the list and see what unnecessary items you’re doing. There’s bound to be a few things that can either be delegated or ignored altogether.

Delegate More

Many founder and CEO types have problems delegating, especially in smaller companies. You’re used to doing all of the work yourself and feel most comfortable that way. I used to have that same problem, but over the years I’ve realized that there just isn’t enough of my time to go around and that I have to delegate low level tasks.

Delegating also means not spinning your wheels trying to figure something out. If you’re working on a project and run into a problem then it’s OK to get someone else to help you. You don’t have to waste time just so that you can figure it out yourself.

Focus

This one goes without saying, but it’s particularly hard for me. I have a tremendously short attention span, so it’s hard for me to concentrate on one task for more than 3-4 minutes at a time. I’m constantly playing with new methods and tricks to lengthen my attention span. If you have focus and attention problems then keep trying to make improvements. I’d love to hear your suggestions in the comments.

Image credit: blinkingidiot on Flickr

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Social Media Fatigue

September 6, 2011 by · 2 Comments

after the heat

Recently I’ve been afflicted with a wonderful disease that has given me more time to concentrate on work, family, and basically everything else that’s important. Social media fatigue isn’t really a disease, but it feels just as real. For the last few weeks I just haven’t cared enough about Twitter/Facebook/G+/whatever to check in on everyone or post updates myself. I’ve shared a few links, but that’s largely been it. It’s draining to wade through the thousands of informational blurbs that I see each day, even more so to react to them or talk about it.

There’s a cycle that I appear to go through. For a while I will be constantly conversing on Twitter, then inevitably I’ll peak and start slowing down. Eventually I’ll get to a point where I’m just burned out on social media and need to get away. Turn off the phone, close Tweetdeck, and live life a little more.

Where Do I Go From Here?

I’m going to try regulating my social media consumption a bit to see if I can level out the ebbs and flows of my personal social media tide. I’ll limit the time I spend conversing and reading each day. I’ll probably even try sharing fewer links for a while. Hopefully these small changes will allow me to avoid the fatigue altogether.

Your Advice?

I have a feeling that it’s something many experience. What do you do when you get burned out on social media?

Image credit: IntangibleArts on Flickr

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All-Time Great Books on Sales

August 31, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

als het me nu nog niet lukt!

I know nothing about sales, at least not the formal sales methods used by the pro’s; I readily admit that. I am, however, very good at selling things. So it makes perfect sense to me that reading some of the best sales books ever written should have some positive impact on my sales abilities.

I had no idea what books to try to read, so I did an experiment. I went to Quora, posed the question, and waited a few months to get a decent amount of responses. The Quora community was even nice enough to summarize the answers and choose the top recommendations. Here are the results.

Top 5 Sales Books (as recommended by Quora users)

 Next Up

Now I want to read each these books and see what I can learn from each and put into practice. I don’t do a lot of direct selling, but I’m hoping the principles will be generic enough to apply to the online startup world.

Your List?

What are your top sales books? What advice have you learned from the book(s) or do you have about sales in general? Comments welcome!

Image credit: Frans & all on Flickr

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Don’t Be Like Weather Reporters

August 27, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

Every year during hurricane season we’re given an opportunity to learn a little bit about authenticity. TV weather reporters dream of the day they can cover a hurricane from some wind-ravaged location. Unfortunately, it appears that much of the time during their broadcasts they are intentionally exaggerating storm effects. The reporter will appear to be barely able to stand, having to lean into the wind to keep their footing… and then you see an 80-year old strolling by.

Inauthenticity Can Kill Your Reputation

Just ask the weather industry… They are hearing it from all angles since the end of the Irene’s threat.. Viewers feel inauthenticity. Media outside of the weather industry feel it too.

Similarly, your readers and customers can spot a fake from a mile away, so you have to continually strive for authenticity and trust.

Your Thoughts?

Have you ever learned a lesson the hard way related to authenticity?

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The Case Against the MBA

August 23, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

Nuffield College

MBA programs have been much maligned recently, especially in tech circles. The prevailing thought is that business schools push you through a cookie cutter program that doesn’t prepare you especially well for the types of challenges that you’ll find in modern businesses.

Peter Thiel famously became the face of the anti-MBA movement recently when he unveiled his “20 Under 20” program, which aims to radically advance the tech industry by enticing great, young thinkers away from college. Thiel says “The Thiel Fellows will change the world and call it a senior thesis.” Brilliant.

Startups Care About Skills, Not Degrees

The startup industry is focused solely on results and growth. For this reason alone whatever degrees and letters attached to someone’s name on a resume don’t matter much. If you have the skills necessary to do the job then there’s a great likelihood that you’ll get hired. Even in a “hire slow” company skills should be the single biggest factor in hiring decisions.

Business Schools Need to Evolve

An undeniably large transformation has taken place in the business world in the last 10 years, thanks in large part to the lowest barriers to entry for new businesses ever. Companies are so ridiculously easy and cheap to start now than everyone is thinking about it. Business schools have to embrace this changing business landscape and start producing a larger proportion of entrepreneurs.

Harvard (and I’m sure a few others) is starting to take notice and focus more heavily on entrepreneurship. They’ve recently created an Innovation Lab program and promote their entrepreneurship program more prominently. They say that by 2008 50% of graduates had become entrepreneurs by their 15th reunion, but that timeframe should be much faster. 10 years from now 50% of graduates should be on their way to entrepreneurship as soon as 5 years after graduation.

Your Take?

What do you think? Do business schools, as they are currently constituted, provide enough value for students that they make sense? How do you think business schools should evolve?

Image credit: SBA73 on Flickr

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The Kenny Powers Motivational System

August 19, 2011 by · 1 Comment

Eastbound& Down

Kenny Powers (from HBO’s Eastbound & Down) has a propensity for quotability that’s second to none. Many of his best one-liners and quips are related to motivation and his general awesomeness. Between the frequent bouts of drug and alcohol use Kenny lays down teachings that make a lot of sense for everyone, especially people in the business world.

“Fundamentals are a crutch for the talentless”

The most successful startups, the ones that get all of the press attention and the ones that have crazy 10,000% yearly growth, are all based around exceptional products and experiences. They’re led by visionaries who want to dramatically shift entire industries and paradigms.

The lesson: startup founders need to go for it. Use the skills and tools that you have available and aim for the fences. Don’t worry about always playing by the book.

“I’m a champion” and “I’m a bulletproof tiger man!”

Self-confidence is an invaluable asset. Everyone from CEO’s to developers should be confident in their abilities and decision making.

The lesson: confidence pays great dividends. It makes everyone around you feel better, and confidence is contagious.

“From this moment forward Kenny Powers is just like everyone else. Normal. Not special. No hopes. No dreams. Pretending to be happy when he’s really super sad. Just an average guy with exceptional hair. Nothing more, and nothing less.”

Even Kenny Powers loses his mojo and confidence from time to time. During his darkest hour he contemplated just giving up his dreams of getting back to the majors and settling. This happens to everyone, especially overworked startups founders. Stick to the plan and you’ll eventually rise back to the top, a la “La Flama Blanca”.

The lesson: Don’t lose the faith. Keep working, keep plugging away, and you’ll get closer to your goals.

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Hire Slow, Fire Fast

August 17, 2011 by · 1 Comment

Portfolio Mailer

One mantra for quickly growing startups is “hire fast, fire fast”. Is that really the best approach to staffing a growing startup? Hiring with abandon may sound cool, but it’s counterproductive to team building and likely means that you’re missing out on some great candidates.

Don’t Skimp on Interviews

All companies should strive to only hire the best of the best, the A+ employees. It’s hard to do that if you hire someone just for the sake of hiring quickly. How much more time does it really take to interview five candidates for a position instead of two or three? Interviewing fewer candidates practically guarantees that you’re going to make some major misses in your hiring, which also gives time for the A+ talent that you didn’t interview to find another company.

Hire Fast Is Simply An Extended Job Interview

Hiring quickly means that either you’re desperate for the manpower or that you’re not doing a thorough job in your evaluations. “Hire fast, fire fast” is just a less efficient way to evaluate candidates. Here’s how I see the job interview going for a company that’s rapidly scaling…

Company: You’re super awesome at Rails/NoSQL/node.js/other cool tech, right?
Candidate: Yes
Company: You’re hired!

Then comes the real interview, a few days or weeks actually performing the job. If the new hire doesn’t mesh well with the team or doesn’t live up to expectations quickly then they’re fired.

Hire Fast is Inefficient

It’s a tremendous waste or resources to hire someone, train them, and then fire them after just a few weeks. Not to mention that it wastes the candidate’s time, makes them start the job hunt again, and possibly puts a negative experience on their resume.

Fire Fast

Every company should implement a fire fast policy. Regardless of how an employee was hired the relationship can go unexpected ways. If an employee’s work quality isn’t up to your expectations, and coaching hasn’t helped, then it’s time to cut your losses and move on to someone else. There are plenty of people out there in the tech world looking for jobs, so companies have the luxury of being picky.

Thoughts?

What hiring approach does your company take? Are you hire fast – fire fast, hire slow – fire fast, or something more traditional?

Image credit: scottkellum on Flickr

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Why You Should Ignore Bad Press

August 9, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

042810Pave-11

Time for a little against the grain advice. The common response to bad press and criticism now is to face it head on, own up to the problem, take responsibility, and be as transparent as possible. The utopian approach is all well and good, but I believe that in many situations the proper response is to simply ignore the bad press and criticism.

Don’t Validate the small issues

Any time that you (your company) responds to a criticism you are validating it. If there is a criticism that is definitively unfounded then it’s OK to say that, but if the criticism is valid then the best response, at least initially, is to ignore. When you make a public response to a criticism you are validating the issue and giving the party making the allegation all the power. Unless the criticism is coming from an outlet with a huge following then ignoring will usually lead to the problem just going away.

Here’s an example: If your app has a bug that’s being discussed on a forum then you should work as quickly as possible to fix the problem, without trying to join the conversation. Once you fix the problem the forum’s users will see that and the tone of the conversation will change. They will suspect that you’ve heard their complaint and addressed the issue, but they won’t be sure. For all they know it could’ve been a temporary issue or something maintenance related. If the issue continues to spread to other forums, blogs, or social channels then it may be time to start rolling out the public relations campaign to respond The goal is to act quickly to resolve the issue to keep it from ever reaching the masses in the first place.

This Isn’t Always The Solution

If you have an issue that’s gaining widespread attention then you should immediately seek to gain control of the issue. If there’s a bug to be fixed then fix it and respond. If you have a business practice that others are maligning (right or wrong) then you should wait a couple of days, and if the issue is still there, you should formally respond. It’s OK to defend yourself. In today’s uber-politically-correct world people forget that they actually have the right to defend themselves. You don’t have to just sit back and take the criticism. If you want to fight the allegations then you absolutely should do that.

Bringing It Home

What’s your response when you start receiving bad press? Do you immediately respond? I’d love to hear your experiences!

Image credit: HPUPhotogStudent on Flickr

Filed Under: CEO, Marketing, Misc, Tips and Tools · Tagged With: , ,
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