Category: Business admin

Bootstrapping lyrics

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

We need to look and listen for inspiration all day in startup land. We might just see or hear something that gives us a new idea, new perspective or simply helps us stay motivated. I had one such experience while listening to some Talking Heads when their song ‘Life During Wartime’ came on. Which is fron way back in the 1970’s…

 

I think they’re great entrepreneur / webpreneur lyrics (let alone a funky song). So I attached them below. Hope you get something out of them.

LIFE DURING WARTIME

Heard of a van that is loaded with weapons
packed up and ready to go
Heard of some gravesites, out by the highway
a place where nobody knows
The sound of gunfire, off in the distance
I’m getting used to it now
Lived in a brownstone, lived in the ghetto
I’ve lived all over this town This ain’t no party, this ain’t no disco
this ain’t no fooling around
No time for dancing, or lovey dovey
I ain’t got time for that nowTransmit the message, to the receiver
hope for an answer some day
I got three passports, couple of visas
don’t even know my real name
High on a hillside, trucks are loading
everything’s ready to roll
I sleep in the daytime, I work in the nightime
I might not ever get home

This ain’t no party, this ain’t no disco
this ain’t no fooling around
This ain’t no mudd club, or C. B. G. B.
I ain’t got time for that now

Heard about Houston? Heard about Detroit?
Heard about Pittsburgh, PA?
You oughta know not to stand by the window
somebody might see you up there
I got some groceries, some peanut butter
to last a couple of days
But I ain’t got no speakers
ain’t got no headphones
ain’t got no records to play

Why stay in college? Why go to night school?
Gonna be different this time?
Can’t write a letter, can’t send a postcard
I can’t write nothing at all
This ain’t no party, this ain’t no disco
this ain’t no fooling around
I’d love you hold you, I’d like to kiss you
I ain’t got no time for that now

Trouble in transit, got through the roadblock
we blended in with the crowd
We got computers, we’re tapping phone lines
I know that ain’t allowed
We dress like students, we dress like housewives
or in a suit and a tie
I changed my hairstyle so many times now
don’t know what I look like!
You make me shiver, I feel so tender
we make a pretty good team
Don’t get exhausted, I’ll do some driving
you ought to get you some sleep
Get you instructions, follow directions
then you should change your address
Maybe tomorrow, maybe the next day
whatever you think is best
Burned all my notebooks, what good are notebooks?
They won’t help me survive
My chest is aching, burns like a furnace
the burning keeps me alive

Tech bubble v2.0

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

I recently blogged about the unrealistic valuation of Facebook, seems there’s many who agree with startupblog. Sure web 2.0 is heating up, but as usual they’ll be stayers and those who disappear. The only thing that changes…. This is a really clever and fun parady.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtdV3z9eCm8]

If we want to be here in the long run here’s some simple advice:

Offer a service people need, ensure it has a built in way to make you money, not an exit plan which sells eyeballs – these only work for a few ‘wordbeaters’ (like facebook & youtube).

Market leaders & innovation

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

Guitar maker Gibson has just proven that market leaders ‘can be first to market’ with something so innovative it’s awesome – The self-tuning Les Paul Robot Guitar. Check it out below. 

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UnvIgRAxN8] 

So the next time you’re told it can’t be done in your start up or conglomerate, show them this. Oh, I nearly forgot to mention advertising isn’t required with an innovation like this, their community of passionate users will do that for them. 

Kudos to Gibson. 

 

Simple motivation

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

After a few wins in a start up – one buddy emailed this image to another buddy with the obvious inference that he was “On Fire”

 fireman.jpg 

It didn’t cost anything. It only took a tiny effort, but it helped both buddies stay pumped and work harder on their start ups.

The Pitch

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

A colleague has left the safe confines of his large conservative leading architecture firm to start up his own – K2LDC. So now his new job role isn’t CEO, rather ‘salesman’.

 

So how does an architecture differentiate themselves with their pitch? here’s a tip – it’s not through anything to do with power point slides or boring details. Especially as it concerns visual services such as architecture. It’s about creating theatre, sparking imagination and getting the client into your mind.

 

So K2DLC did this: After a brief discussion at the pitch they left the client with a deck of cards (samples below) with their pictures and thoughts on how to approach the design.

design-process-cards1.jpg

 design-process-cards2.jpg

Result: The client considered what the firm was trying to achieve.  They played with the cards. They put them on their fridge. They put them in their order of favorite. They had an in depth discussion. They took themselves on a visual journey. They loved it.

 

K2DLC won the pitch.  

Pulling Power – Beckham

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

Last night at Stadium Australia two lower tier football teams (Sydney FC and LA Galaxy) played in front of a crowd on 80,000 fans.

The reason the crowd was so large was because of the person in the picture below. That’s it. 

 David Beckham.png 

Start up blog isn’t big on celebrity endorsement, but when someone has that kind of pulling power the possibilities are endless. Especially when the person in question is inextricably linked to the event – the football game – ie David Beckham is a football player. It’s not quite the same as getting an Olympian to sell a car.

The Beckham brand is one of the few sponsorship properties that may just be worth the money. Especially, when it involves the biggest sport in the world, which happens to be a minnow in the worlds largest economy.

Start up lesson:

Don’t get someone to endorse. Get someone who is embedded.