Category: startups

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?

What if email came first?

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

What if email was invented before the telephone? It would have been viewed as a ‘reasonably’ innovative business tool. Better than traditional mail certainly. Also better than a telegraph message.  We would have become quite reliant on it given the advantages it has over other forms of written communication.

 

Imagine if the phone came next, after email. Imagine the conversations we would have had as we spread this idea and new product virally…. just stop and imagine for a second what the conversation might have been like the first you were told about ‘the telephone’:

 

“There’s this amazing new service called a telephone! It’s a killer app. So cool. Each phone can be directly connected to another phone just by dialing numbers. Then, you can have a discussion with the person at the other end – in real time. A live conversation. No back and forth required. No confusion in what the written words mean. You can hear peoples emotion… It’s really great. You’ve got to get one. It’s so much better than email!”

 

So why are we emailing people when we can call them? Is it but covering, fear of direct conversation, laziness?

 

Startup blog says. Call first, communicate directly. Pretend the phone is the new technology.

 

 

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.

Great Quote

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

“Being busy is a form of laziness – lazy thinking and indiscriminate action.”

 

Timothy Ferriss

 

Startup blog agrees, and adds – if we blame our employers for the above, there’s no locks on the door…. and we’re still being lazy.

the old school

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

I love lots of stuff from the old school, including but not limited to:

 

Old school break dancing

Old school pinball machines & arcade games (think Galaga)

Old school computers (think Commodore 64)

Old school rap music (think Grand Master Mel)

Old school Airline service & the general airport experience

Old school hamburgers from the local greasy Joe’s

Old school cartoons

Old school slow food & home cooking

Old school architecture and buildings

 

 

The truth is the new versions of these are often better, more advanced, cheaper and more useful. (some not)

 

The reason we love old school stuff more than the new versions is this:

The original version was ground breaking. And ground breaking is exciting. So it builds an emotional connection.

 

Startups out there – become the old school 20 years from now, by being ground breaking today.