Category: Customer

Game Changing

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

Sometimes we convince ourselves in the early days of our start up that the fun stuff is most important. Yes it’s seriously important, and it’s partly why we decided to leave the cubicle.

 

But the biggest reason we left cubiclesville was because we wanted to win. We wanted to do something, change something, prove something and achieve success which other corporate plankton couldn’t claim on our behalf.

 

That said, we ought ask ourselves this:

 

Is what we are doing Game Changing?

 

Will what we are spending investing our time on today be the thing that ensures we win the game in our web domain, category or industry?

 

 

Fact: When Youtube launched there was over 450 other video sharing websites. Youtube won video sharing for these reasons:

 

1.      They had the simplest user experience

2.      They had the most videos uploaded

 

That’s it.

 

So – are we investing our day on Game Changing activities, or just passing time?

Entrepreneurial Focus

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

We’re entrepreneurs – we’ll have different objectives. but generally we’ll want to do one of the following:

 

Build a business (revenue focus)

Change behaviour (social focus)

Introduce a new method (technology focus)

 

It’s important we know which ones apply. The we ought remain focused, and ask ourselves if what we are doing today leads to revenue, creates social awareness or drives usage of our technology.

 

 

Why everything matters

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

Here’s a list of things which actually do matter:

 

Our diction and vernacular

Our personal presentation & dress code (Doesn’t mean a suit, but to wear what we wear well, have a sense of style)

The way we engage people and treat them

Our smile and attitude

How neat  and organized our workspace is

Being on time

Our posture

Knowing our next steps every day

Making sure our technology is in working order

 

All these things and others, matter all the time. Not just the day you have to do it right, have the big VC presentation or the day you’re meeting your biggest customer. 

 

And here’s why – they’ll become habit. Good habits. And when things are habit, they’re performed much the same way – time and time again.

 

If we do them well when it doesn’t matter, we’ll do them well when it does.

Losing the plot – MTV

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

I found out the other day that MTV used to play music videos… here I was thinking that the ‘M’ stood for ‘Miscellaneous’

 

But seriously, they have lost the plot a little. It’s rare to turn it on and find a song playing.

 

It’s one thing to diversify revenue streams it’s another to forget why you are there in the first place. And this is why alternatives like VH1, Music Max et al had room to move into the market in the first instance.

 

I get my music from youtube now – on demand. Simply because none of the music channels on cable (pay TV) cut it anymore.

 

 

Sure, evolve, but don’t forget why your business / brand / startup exists.

Being liked

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

Being liked gives you a shot at being good

 

They’ll never find out how good you are at…

 

Selling

Marketing

Coding

Inspiring

Directing

Funding

Presenting

School work

Entrepreneurship

 

…..if they don’t like you.

 

They wont listen to you, if they don’t like you. In start up land, we need to people to listen to us. Listen to our ideas. Listen to our vision.

 

Consider the following example: In a job or at school our manager or teacher didn’t like us, and we got poor results. Then the next  year we have a new manger or new teacher and miraculously the world turned in our favour. We got results. We didn’t change. We had the same skills, we had the same attitude and we had the same abilities. The people around us changed. We had someone who liked us.

 

Sure, it’s impossible for everyone to like you – but there are some things we can do to increase the probability of being liked….

 

…and the most important is ‘move on’ when we’re under tutelage of jerks.

 

 

 

Reliability

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

4.17pm – Get email from friend advising of a small bug on rentoid.com

 

4.17pm – I email my main guy from my tech team to ask him to check it out  

4.21pm –  I receive email from my tech guy saying – bug fixed please check it!   

4.23pm – I email my friend advising that it’s all fixed saying – ‘my guy is quick.’ 

4.25pm – Friend emails me back saying “..Wow… that’s amazing.” Blog worthy!! 

As above.

Never underestimate the power strong relationships within supply chains. Strong relationships build efficient supply chains – not the other way around.

More ‘Badvertising’ – Cadbury trucks

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

After the viral success the Cadbury Gorilla achieved, there is nothing to like about this follow up advertisement.

 [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX7dFmxqb60] 

According to startup blog here’s why:

  • Poor branding, the brand is just an addendum
  • There’s no real link between the category, chocolate consumption and the advertising idea
  • It’s not particularly sneeze worthy (using a Seth-ism) and slightly boring
  • The budget seems a lot bigger than the idea 

Start up lesson: Sometimes big budgets can be a disadvantage.

Given I’ve recently consulted for Cadbury, you can be sure my opinions on this blog are real and never contrived or influenced.