Shit, I can’t even spell it.
“I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance”- Steve Jobs I’m a strong believer in that perseverance is the underlying trait of any real accomplishment. The ability to recover from failure (however one characterizes a temporary setback) is increasingly more and more critical, and is what...
One thing I believe in – Great companies are founded on one or a few core principles. These could be secrets, facts, guesses, or beliefs about where the ball is heading. Those principles could be ridiculed and trivialized. In our case, it was hated. One of my strong beliefs early on was that email was a big deal, and will continue to be a big deal. For us, it was the best way we were going...
I’ve been wanting to write this post for a while, as it’s something I’ve often stewed about (when in truth I shouldn’t). There are a lot of charlatans in the startup journey. Charlatans that claim to be angel investors, but haven’t written a check in years, if ever. Charlatans that claim to be working on their startup. Charlatans that will happily advise your...
I’ve been involved in numerous ventures and surrounded in a world of startups and founders doling out advice, blog posts, and anecdotes. I read this stuff voraciously, and tried to take it to heart when it was finally time for my at-bat. To no-one’s surprise, the knowledge that “stuck” was the information I was either looking for, or made sense. Other lessons were skipped...
There’s been a little bit written about technical debt in an early stage software product. Technical debt is something we think a lot about at Contactually. Technical debt is a balance of problems that are generated through rapid product development, normally in an early stage product. “Move fast and break things” Given how key it is for a startup to test product in front of...
2011 we started
2012 we validated
2013 we executed
2014 we win
As a startup iterates itself past the short-term uncertainty – where there is no clarity about what you might even be working on that afternoon – systems need to come into place. These systems serve multiple purposes: Introduce medium/long term planning and goals Distribute work amongst a growing team Communicate and get everyone on the same page. Provide a reporting and...
If you’ve read more than a couple of my blog posts, you’ll find that I spend just as much time focusing on more touchy-feely subjects as I do on more tactical learnings. There’s a reason for that, as the psychological state of you and your team has a tremendous effect on your ability to execute, and therefore, the success of your venture. Flashback to late 2011/early 2012. I was...
From the school of interesting ways we’ve failed… There is a vast chasm separating the ability to collect metrics and use metrics. The lean startup canon pushes for being data driven, so you’ll find that every startup has a plethora of people using a plethora of tools to “be metrics driven.” Lots of data. A/B Testing. Multivariate testing. All of this lingo circles around...
As our company grows from three guys on a door desk to something more substantial, we’ve invested a lot of time not just to running the company but about **how** we run the company. That is particularly relevant for the CEO role. In talking to many CEOs and a fair amount of research – it’s clear there is no “right” way to run a company – it all comes down to...