A couple quotes from Paul Graham about startups that get him excited:
“…Introduce market pricing in worlds that don’t have it…”
“…startups destroying things that everyone thinks works but are artifacts…”
My takeaways:
- Pick a day of the week where you focus on vocalizing the positive contributions team members are making to the company. Make it a habit.
- Feed them. It’s a fancy perk that doesn’t have to cost a lot.
- Know your team’s 5 top personal goals
You don’t need logos. Logos are for insecure people. Just like they were in high school when the cool kids had to wear the right logos on their shirts, shorts and handbags. Show strength & conviction.
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| — | Mark Suster talking about investment rounds with a laundry list of “rock star” investors. I also related to this comment with regards to deciding whether or not to accept my admissions offer to NYU ITP. |
Some choice quotes:
“It’s like the fight club of management: The first rule of the CEO psychological meltdown is don’t talk about the psychological meltdown.”
“Which interpretation was closer to the truth? In the absence of someone to talk to, that’s a question that I asked myself about 3,000 times. As an aside, asking oneself anything 3,000 times turns out to be a bad idea.”
“Tip to aspiring entrepreneurs: if you don’t like choosing between horrible and cataclysmic, don’t become CEO.”
“At times like the above, it’s important to understand that nearly every company goes through life-threatening moments. My partner Scott Weiss relayed that it’s so common that there is an acronym for it: WFIO which stands for We’re F#%ked, It’s Over (it’s pronounced whiff-ee-yo).”
“A Final Word of Advice—Don’t Punk Out and Don’t Quit. As CEO, there will be many times when you feel like quitting. I have seen CEOs try to cope with the stress by drinking heavily, checking out, and even quitting. In each case, the CEO has a marvelous rationalization why it was OK for him to punk out or quit, but none them will ever be great CEOs.”
Is Verge SXSW Interactive or Ted?
The new Verge questionnaire and screening process for attending meetups prompted what I think was a good discussion yesterday about how to best manage a burgeoning startup and innovation community.
I think I have a good understanding of and appreciation for the motivations of people on both sides of the aisle. It’s actually a somewhat old debate that has been going on for about the past 18 months in Indianapolis. Let me tell you where I stand:
- Indianapolis needs a non-exclusive, everybody welcome tech event and I think Verge is in the best position to provide that event
- Indianapolis needs a variety of smaller, exclusive, niche events organized around a specific purpose
- Most importantly, the Verge organizers should be able to do whatever that want with the event. Sometimes that means firing an old customer to better serve another one.
1. Indianapolis needs a non-exclusive, everybody welcome tech event
There is no better place to inspire future generations of entrepreneurs or future generations of “support” entrepreneurs, that is the people who join an organization early on but aren’t interested in ever being founders, than an event like Verge. Being around people who have gone out and started something, successful or not, provides people with role models and the confidence of “I can do it too.”
This also includes people who are “intrapreneurs.” These are the people who aren’t starting companies, but work for big companies and have an entrepreneurial mindset. Micah Baldwin of Boulder, whom you might recognize as a Combine speaker, talks about the important role these people play in every startup community.
I think the new Verge screening process excludes people who might one day be valuable to the startup community and there is no other event to take its place. Some could argue Techpoint should play a role in uniting the larger tech community, but for whatever reason, I don’t think they’re motivated to or they don’t know how to do it in this new world of tech we live in.
I don’t think it’s worth the effort to screen out social media experts and consultants and lawyers just looking for business at the risk of throwing the baby out with the bath water.
2. Indianapolis needs a variety of smaller, exclusive, niche events organized around a specific purpose
We already see some of this in play with events like Indy.rb, Linking Indy Women, Indy Hackers, and the Indy Social Media breakfast. These events are smaller and because of that, they’re naturally exclusive. If you don’t fit in with the group, you’ll feel really uncomfortable showing up. I actually think every motivation for making Verge more exclusive could be better served by an even MORE exclusive smaller event.
3. The Verge organizers should be able to do whatever that want with the event
I’m not just capitulating when I say this is the most important. It is the most important because the Verge organizers are the ones who make this happen and I can’t see them being motivated to keep making it happen if they’re not building something they want to build.
If they decide that Verge isn’t going to be that open tech-event where everyone is invited, then it’s an open door for someone to create that event. I think it will be a lot harder now because it will seem like the new event is just a poor-man’s Verge, but it’s not at all impossible.
Should Verge be more like SXSW Interactive where it gets bigger and bigger every year and the original people complain about all the new “posers,” yet it’s still the place to hear about the biggest trends in tech? Or should it be more like Ted, where a large part of the value is that no one gets through the door unless they’re qualified, thus, you can be 100% certain EVERY conversation is with an A-lister.
Both models have a place in this world.
My biggest takeaway: Get a team of advisors (They had 25 advisors for a 4 person startup) who are people you want to have associated with your product. “Who’s your entourage?”
A problem worth solving boils down to three questions: 1. Is it something customers want? (must-have) 2. Can it be solved? (feasible) 3. Will they pay for it? If not, who will? (viable)
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| — | Ash Maurya in “Running Lean” |
Yes, it turns out he became one of Foursquare’s earliest employees by cold-emailing Dennis and Naveen and selling them on what value he could add.
I think it’s interesting that he sent 8 emails before Dennis finally consented to talking more about possibly bringing Tristan on. I don’t know if Dennis at least replied with “no, thanks” or “not right now” before that 8th email, but I’m not sure I would have cold emailed someone that many times, without receiving a response, before I decided that they really weren’t interested.
One of my resolutions in 2011 is to be more bold. I think cold emailing someone past my comfort zone of “I’m really annoying this person” is a good example of boldness.
At the end of the day one must ask “What’s the worse that could happen if I send this 8th email?”
