Don’t Drink Your Own Kool-Aid This is a cross post from the Altos Ventures Blog, authored by Anthony Lee. Thanks Anthony for letting us reblog! In my twenty years of working in and with startups, I’ve continually tried to figure out what makes some work and others not. There are myriad factors of brilliance, determination, luck and timing that go into the success equation. By their nature, startups are driven by passion, optimism, persistence, hope and dreams. Company founders and CEOs get employees, customers and investors to take innumerable leaps of faith on the way to fulfilling their entrepreneurial visions. Here are three signs that you might be doing it: 1. 2. 3. How can you avoid drinking too much of your own Kool Aid? 1. 2. 3. Every entrepreneur needs to mix some pretty strong Kool-Aid to persuade employees, customers and investors to come along for the fantastic ride of building a new company. And just for fun… the following video was added by Christine
Les presento el Moleskine Art [Arte en cuadernos de notas] Hermosos Ejemplos de Moleskine Art [Arte en cuadernos de notas] WIKIPEDIA : Un Moleskine es un cuaderno de notas con cubiertas de un tipo de tela llamada moleskin, posee además una banda elástica para sostener el cuaderno cerrado y un lomo que permite que el mismo sea abierto completamente. Los Moleskines son fabricados por Modo & Modo , una empresa italiana; que además posee la marca registrada "Moleskine". El impulsor más famoso del Moleskine fue Bruce Chatwin , que los utilizó en todos sus viajes, y escribió sobre ellos. A pesar de que desde Modo & Modo se proclama que Picasso , Matisse , y Hemingway utilizaban estos cuadernos, no queda claro que se trate de los mismos que describió Chatwin. Modo & Modo explota la imagen de viajero romántico con éxito generando el culto hacia estos artículos a pesar de ser más caro que un cuaderno de notas común. En el fondo son simples cuadernos, que con un precio más elevado, tratan de vender ese sabor romántico o de culto. Vamos a los ejemplos:
The best free cultural & educational media on the web - Open Culture Startup Culture: Values vs. Vibe I hear some form of the following question a lot from founders that are starting to have early success: “How do we hire a bunch of new people and grow the company quickly without losing the culture we’ve worked so hard to establish?” I’ve been fascinated by different company cultures for as long as I can remember (maintaining culture is also a hot topic at our CEO Lunches each month) and I’m frequently asking entrepreneurs to describe the culture of their companies. Over time I’ve come to realize that when you break down culture descriptions you’ll often find a mix of two components: values and vibe. Although each component can have a significant impact on the overall feel of a company, the way you establish and manage the two should be different. Values I think of values as the guiding principals or a code-of-conduct upon which a company was founded and which it operates on a daily basis. The people you hire will come with their own set of values. Vibe
Skate peinture | Quelle est la meilleure façon de peindre une piscine? Basé à Londres, l’artiste D*Face a tout simplement attaché des bombes de peinture sous des skates et a laisser les skateurs faire le reste. (la vidéo est en bas de l’article) A lire aussi : Pas d'article similaire Creative Writing Courses and Ideas: An Online Resource for Writers How To Create A Celebratory Startup Corporate Culture Marc Bolan, lead singer of T. Rex, was a modestly talented glam rocker during the early 1970s who lyrically never had much to say. However, when he sang, “Bang a Gong, Get It On,” he hit upon a key entrepreneurial principle without even realizing it. If you haven't already subscribed yet, subscribe now for free weekly Infochachkie articles! For What The Bell Tolls One of your most important duties at your adVenture is to communicate and celebrate your company’s small wins. Just because a deal is small in absolute terms does not mean it is insignificant. At Expertcity (creator of GoToMyPC and GoToMeeting, acquired by Citrix), I recall running down the hall high-fiving members of my sales team while yelling, “Booyah!” To celebrate our wins at Expertcity, we installed a large iron bell in our tiny kitchen, which was comprised of a filthy microwave, an ancient espresso machine and a dorm-size refrigerator with a broken door handle. The Bell rules were simple. The Bell was not my idea.
20+ New Icon Design Photoshop Tutorials Ok, so this is about icon design Photoshop tutorials… Here, you will find some of the tutorials gathered from the Internet that will help you get the basics and, with some effort, master the techniques of designing your own icon sets for your website or some applications you use. Of course there are various high quality icons already designed and ready to use, free or premium, but it would be more representative for your website to use your own ones, made by yourself while bearing in mind the idea, the concept and scope of your activity. It’s sometimes hard to learn a new thing from the start, not having some skills to rely on, but accepting this challenge can sometimes be very interesting and rewarding, if you succeed in accomplishing it. Also you acquire new, useful skills and techniques that would make you more experienced in the field of design. 10 Tips for Effective Icon Design Professional technique for creating icons How To Make An Icon Create a Camera Lens Icon in Photoshop
The Art of Manliness Six Key Principles to Set Your Startup Culture May 6, 2011 by Marty Zwilling I’m seeing a renewed appreciation of culture and values in business these days. Maybe it’s just another example of nature abhorring a vacuum, but I prefer to think it’s a natural evolution of the pervasive social networking communities, where people relate to and expect to interact with businesses and products they like. Your values as you create a startup are the key to creating an enviable culture that attracts more customers, according to Ann Rhoades, in her book “Built on Values.” I believe in a startup culture that strongly transmits the values of integrity, customer focus, and results. You can’t force culture, you can only create environment. Startups are the only businesses able to set their culture and values from a clean slate. Strategy matters, but without a winning culture and the right values to drive it forward, your strategy will take you nowhere. Other articles by Marty Zwilling. Filed under: Leadership, People & Management
zenhabits Creating Environments That Optimize Creativity and Inspiration Today’s article takes a look at how to help maximize creative thought by carefully structuring the environment around you. Everything from the design of your office to the specific hours of the day that you choose to work can play a key role in how effective you are when it comes time to actually get things done. The essence of creativity plays a very important role in art and design. Consider some of your favorite designs or artists. I’ve gotten into a few ideas regarding workflow and regaining power over your projects. Empowering your Creative Side Often times I’ll read or hear about people questioning their artistic skills. Society tends to lump these folks together, although there’s a lot more in common than creative thinking. Sounds pretty convoluted I know. Developing Personality Once you spend time training your mindset there’s almost nothing beyond your reach. Similarly flexibility allows your creative side to push boundaries and move things about. Check your Biological Clock
Types of Skills Everyone Should Know – Video – Top 100 Important Skills 3. Split Firewood Seasoned splitters use a maul, not an ax, to prep firewood. (With its slim taper, an ax head often gets stuck in the end grain.) Michael Lewis