General

I originally wrote this for the Contactually Blog here, but I’m reposting this to my own blog. Our first and foremost core value is focus on the user. That’s mainly of course manifested in the product we sell and the always-be-helpful mantra of our customer-facing teams. But we know that we needed this a bit more baked into the DNA of the company than what we produce. First Attempts We’ve...

In Ben Horowitz’s Hard Things About Hard Things (arguably one of the best leadership books recently released), one of the early chapters really landed on me, especially as I reflect on the last year. I do think that gratitude is an important skill to have throughout the year – but as I look back, I’m just happy to have survived. While other team members, executives, and founders...

There’s been a great discussion in startup leadership/venture circles about a NYTimes article. Beyond bringing to light a company that made (in hindsight) a series of poor decisions, terrible fundraising terms, and a lack of transparency with employees, it also brought forth a key point for startup employees. The equity in the company, often times dangled as a reason to join a risky venture...

Since Contactually is all about relationship building, many initial conversations I have end up coming back to me and my own social skills. More often than not, it’s assumed that, with my startup’s focus, my role, my involvement as a connector and supporter of the local tech community, and general outgoing demeanor, that I’m a natural extrovert. So it’s surprising for most...

I originally wrote this for the Contactually Blog here, but I’m reposting this to my own blog. Inside Contactually: Our Failed Experiment with Mixed Team Seating In the 3.5 years since the company has started, we’ve had four offices. Our office prior to where we are now was a cluster of individual offices. As we grew and started putting more people into each office, the offices ended up...

“If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.” – Eldridge Cleaver My motus operandi has been to surround myself with the best talent possible – irregardless of any other defining characteristic they may possess (country, race, sexual orientation, affinity for hot sauce). So I never paid attention to any talk about workplace diversity, believing that that was a...

Contactually is currently in the, to quote Jason Lemkin, the Possible, but Painful phase. We’ve long since passed the initial $1M ARR phase, where we became “real.” We’ve nailed enterprise customers. We know how to hire. We have a clear idea of our product roadmap, vision, and strategy. But we’re in the long, slow slog to $10M ARR, where every month is focused not on...

When I was in elementary/middle school, I struggled at math. New concepts would be hard to wrap my head around, I was slow to learn my multiplication tables, and I couldn’t easily memorize things. But while learning the material at the time was challenging, it would all of a sudden be a “no-brainer” in following years, as I was learning more advance topics. Except trigonometry. Screw that. I’ve...