Leadership Think Twice Before Adopting The “Ship Or Die” Mentality Editor’s Note: This guest post is written by Uzi Shmilovici, CEO and founder of Future Simple, the company behind Base CRM. The “Ship or die”, “Done is better than perfect”, “Just ship” mantras have lately become a part of many startup conversations. The problem with these mantras is that they glorify the act of shipping while ignoring the fact that shipping is only the means to create value but not the ultimate goal of a startup. Unfortunately, repeating these mantras might have a dangerous effect. The advantages of shipping it There’s a reason why the concept of shipping it became so pervasive. The main reason is that shipping feels great. The risks of just shipping it Here’s the thing though. Shipping the wrong thing — if you didn’t think through the product/feature you are shipping, you might end up shipping the wrong thing. Returns on quality Let’s talk about quality. On that, no post about quality would be complete without a Steve Jobs quote: Quality ! Finding the right balance
Recruitment Things Entrepreneurs Should Avoid When Raising Capital Editor’s note: Contributor Ashkan Karbasfrooshan is the founder and CEO of WatchMojo. Follow him @ashkan. Alright, in my last post I argued that bootstrapping is just as over-rated as raising venture capital. But for those who decide to pursue fundraising, here are some things entrepreneurs should avoid when raising capital. For all of the talk about how much excess capital there is, it’s actually hard to raise capital because very few projects fit the VC profile—even though many VC-funded projects come across as frivolous, me-too projects. Life’s unfair. Do VCs Really Make a Difference? In Chamath Palihapitiya’s leaked email to AirBNB’s Brian Chesky, he wrote: I’m all for getting the best valuation you can, minimizing dilution and maximizing control (…) I don’t believe investors add much to a success story, so minimizing their impact is a great strategy when you are onto something that is working. What You Need To Accept (it’s the system) There are some seemingly unfair things about VC:
The Most Important Phrase You'll Ever Say in a Meeting blogs - 10 Mistakes VCs Make Dave McClure posted a rambunctious article last week on things VCs need to change in terms of process and procedures. It was spot on. Today the Mercury News looks into the interesting career of Guy Kawasaki, who by his own accounts is not the most successful VC, but who everyone would agree has had a very successful career (and life). In the article, Kawasaki relates how over the past few years, it dawned on him that “ the problem was the venture capital model itself, which seemed out of whack. ” Like everything else, VC has gone through ups and downs. Frankly, there are many reasons why you should raise VC, and admittedly, there are many reasons you should not. Here are some things I don’t really agree with the average VC mindset, these are probably not Top 10 Mistakes VCs make, but ten mistakes that would be up there on any such list. Google, Yahoo! Is that a coincidence? Most VCs admit that they invest relatively small sums of money across many companies hoping for a grand slam.
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Why Entrepreneurs Fail And Most Startups Are DOA Editor’s note: Contributor Ashkan Karbasfrooshan is the founder and CEO of WatchMojo, he hosts a show on business and has published books on success. Follow him @ashkan. This isn’t an anti-entrepreneur rant. It’s also not a piece to discourage anyone from launching their own business. It’s a warning for those who seek to launch their startup to understand some of the lesser-discussed reasons why 99% of new businesses are Dead On Arrival. As outlined, success is 1) subjective, relative and fluid: i) we define success based on what drives us, ii) but we tend to measure it relative to other people’s success and over time, iii) we convince ourselves to change its definition, revising upwards or downwards, depending on the conditions on the ground. 2) a function of six variables: vision, ambition, determination, execution, timing and luck. Part 1: Before You Launch Your Startup… Sometimes, Macro Timing is Everything Ideally the macro and micro come together at the right time. Wrong Geographic Market
No time? Not enough cash? Try these bootstrapping tips In the summer of 2010 I caught the startup bug. Some close co-workers and I had day jobs that paid reasonably well but weren’t quite as fulfilling after almost a decade in the same business. We were really tired of using bad CRM in our sales team, and had a good idea of what a sales management app should look like: the trouble was that we all had families and mortgages. So we started looking for ways to bring our software to life. Nearly two years later Pipedrive is growing 30% or more each month, and we’re almost cashflow positive — all through bootstrapping. Don’t quit your day job too soon All our co-founders kept their jobs for a full year, and one of them only came on board with the new company full-time in November. Run your own hackathons It’s one thing to keep expenses low, but quite another to build your product at a fast enough pace. Be frugal. Ship and get revenue Use the tools you already have Don’t rent or buy things unless you really have to. Apply for good incubators
Etsy CEO on Building a Lean Start-Up: Deploy, Deploy, Deploy - Lauren Goode - Commerce The key to building a successful, lean start-up is to constantly tweak production and to keep your employees happy, Chad Dickerson says. Dickerson, who is the CEO of Etsy, might know: Since 2008, when he first joined the online marketplace for handmade goods as CTO (and later as CEO), the start-up’s numbers have grown 10 times in almost all categories, from employees to listed items to sales. Speaking on a SXSW panel today called “(Not Just) Sh*t Startups Say: Anatomy of a Rockstar Product Cycle,” Dickerson said he firmly believes in what he calls “continuous deployment,” or making small, frequent changes to production. He bullet-pointed some of the principles of continuous employment, including: Fixing people and team issues first, allowing all team members to play with and offer input on a new product before it’s deployed, and using a “deployinator,” or one-button deploy function, that employees push upon completion of a new project or fix to a current problem.
Go Ask Grandma: How To Design For “Normals” Editor’s Note: This guest post is written by Nir Eyal (@nireyal) and Katy Fike, PhD (@innovate50). Katy is a gerontologist and partner at Innovate50 while Nir is a founder of two startups and blogs about technology and behavior design at nirandfar.com. As web watchers, entrepreneurs, and investors search for the next big thing, they’d be wise to focus on innovations that can be easily adopted by technology novices. Designing with tech novices in mind can mean the difference between staying niche and going mainstream. 1. Don’t tell them “how it works” or “what it is” and certainly don’t tell them how wonderful your company is. Take a look at Twitter’s homepage for new users. 2. We know what you’re thinking. But how do you help new users fall in love with your site? For example, when Twitter’s exemplary on-boarding teaches new users how to use the service, it also asks about their interests and immediately uses this information to curate and personalize the experience. 3. Go Ask Grandma
Entrepreneurs Are Difficult At Best And Abrasive at Worst — Get Over It Editor’s note: Contributor Ashkan Karbasfrooshan is the founder and CEO of WatchMojo, he hosts a weekly show on business and has published books on success. Follow him @ashkan. The greatest entrepreneurs follow their gut and as a result are perceived as difficult at best and abrasive at worst. Most people who know me say I’m too diplomatic, but last week my advisor told me that someone asked him if I was “difficult”. His answer was “if Ash was difficult, I wouldn’t work with him.” I was going to write something on the matter, but felt that doing so would make me come across as, you know, difficult. But after a recent brief discussion this week with a fellow executive ended in disagreement, I thought to myself: “well that guy’s definitely going to think I’m difficult”, even though only a fool would have accepted his offer. It reminded me of that Chris Rock line: “What’s sexual harassment? A Different Kind of 1% Equity Means Ownership to Others; Control to Entrepreneurs Control vs.