Published on April 30, 2010
in Ideas.
We’ve all probably heard that “It’s better to be lucky than good.” For startups, the question is how do you create that “Luck”. Lot’s of very smart people and teams have gloriously failed when it comes to creating companies, while less talented teams have found luck by hitting a market just right, or getting a few things that happen to really matter to customers.
There isn’t a magic trick to creating luck, but here are a few of my thoughts. Try many things and see what works. In an effort to do many things, you might get lucky and find that thing that really changes your business. When you do find that lucky thing that works, do as much as you can of it. Sometimes one lucky thing can take you a long way. Other times you’ll need to hit a couple gold veins.
But here is something to think about. Mediocrity and luck could be an excellent recipe for rapid growth. As an example, Twitter wasn’t very good when it started, but it was lucky.
However, as a business matures and an industry becomes more competitive, you probably need to be really good to survive.
Published on April 29, 2010
in Ideas.
My uncle Tom was a senior executive at Chevron. Before he died, he told me a story about a board meeting where the CEO said there would be massive layoffs. His question was how do we know that we won’t end up with a smaller and less efficient business? When the ad market slowwwwed down, and things got tough, many people went smaller with their online businesses. Which I think was the right call. But. Things are changing. Now may be a good time to look at increasing your size in sales and product development to generate more revenue and achieve more scale. That’s what we are doing at HubPages. During the downturn, we hunkered down, but still grew our audience in a significant fashion. Now we are looking to become a larger and more efficient company.
I’m offering a $5K referral fee to anyone that refers me a Director of Media Sales or refers software engineers. send resumes to paul <at> yieldbuild.com.
Published on April 6, 2010
in Ideas.
I’m in my hotel room and my ATT cell phone doesn’t have coverage, but I noticed I had wifi coverage. So here is the case for Google Voice and Skype. I found a script a while back to use my mobile phone as a modem for my computer. My computer is connected via bluetooth to my mobile phone. My mobile phone is connected to an ATT wifi hotspot. My computer is accessing the internet from my phone. Bluetooth data rates aren’t great, but it looks like I’m getting about 70K - 100K transfer speeds. That’s enough bandwidth to use Skype on my computer. I’ve done about three calls today and it’s working fine. If I were dependent upon ATT mobile coverage, I’d have to leave my hotel room. The other good part is I don’t have to pay for hotel room internet since ATT includes the wifi service with my plan.
Published on March 15, 2010
in Ideas.
This year we saw a whopping increase in our insurance premiums. It turns out our employees are using more health benefits for our small group than what was projected.It got me thinking to see if there is a way to create a healthier work force. It turns out that there is. People that exercise use less health benefits. But, one of the side effects of exercise, besides a healthier workforce, is that some studies show that employees are 20% more productive when they exercise.If we reduced our work day from eight hours to 6.4 hours, required one and a quarter hours of exercise, would we save money with reduced healthcare costs, and get the same work done? Something about the math feels funny, but we might have happier employees. It’s an idea where I like the concept.
Published on March 14, 2010
in Ideas.
The way I like to think about performance management is identifying the driver of the business and aligning performance goals around that driver. For example, on HubPages.com the driver of the business is quality Hubs (Hubs are similar to articles). Once a performance metric is set, people should optimize their work around the performance metric. This is where common sense comes in. You have to take a performance metric and couple it with good judgment. If someone developed a script to create thousands of hubs, we would hit the goal, but the quality would be off. So, constraints need to be put in place.
So for marketing, they have a performance goal of Hubs. Those hubs have to be of a certain quality level, acquired at cost per acquisition price with an expected payback period within a specified time frame, and they must demonstrate good judgment with regards to the company (no gaming the system). Now, that the performance metric is set, startups often don’t have the history of data required to set accurate performance metrics and are often in a state of frequent change. When that happens, sometime performance metrics need to be paused and taken up to a higher level, or reset because a new major variable is understood, so you will need to be flexible.
Let’s say that the business isn’t working out and you’re going to have to pivot. The new decision point is going to be able to figure out if you have a business that is worth investing in before putting performance metrics in place. This is where the ultimate performance management is put in place. Will the company survive? Fail and everyone is out of a job. Succeed and refine performance objectives to drive the business.
Published on March 13, 2010
in Ideas.
Ever notice that one of the few things we buy in the metrics system in the United States is the two liter bottle of Pepsi and Coke. Remember when you were grade school and they taught you that it’s a better system, but we don’t use it in the US? I always thought, why? Unless you work in a lab, you probably have little idea how far a kilometer is compared to a mile, or the volume of a litre compared to a quart. Now, I don’t remember exactly why we don’t use the metric system, but it stuck with me that it’s a better system.What strikes me is that two of the most powerful marketing machines sell the best known metric system based product. I bet they could persuade the US to switch. What if they completely switched to the metric system for all their products? How long would take before middle america was well versed in the system? I bet it’s like a superbowl ad, a few spots on AI, and a couple of twelve packs.Pepsi is running a “Refresh Everything Campaign.” Maybe it’s time for Pepsi to refresh how we measure things in the US . To get us to switch to the metrics system because it’s better. Perhaps there is a marketing campaign in there. ”Switch, because it’s better.”
Published on March 13, 2010
in Ideas.
New Corvettes are fast, beautiful, and one of the best values for sports cars. Read a review of a 2010 Corvette and they’re pretty incredible. The men I talk with about sports cars have gotten the message. This isn’t the Burt Reynolds, hairy chested, gold chain wearing sports car that says - “You’re that guy.” Instead, it’s fast. Even faster than a Porsche Turbo. And. It’s about one third the price, which is much more practical. A combination sports car shoppers appreciate now.Corvette’s biggest problem is the brand. Tell your wife - like I did - that you want to checkout Corvettes and you’ll get that look. Do you want to be that guy? That guy. The one with the gold chains. Ha. Well. No. Not exactly. But, it’s the exact problem that Corvette has. Corvette needs to rebrand - It needs to become the cool, practical sports car, that speaks beyond power and speed to style, comfort and practicality to women. Once women no longer see Corvette as the trademark of “That guy” then Corvettes won’t have to be thirty years old to be thought of as cool.
Published on March 12, 2010
in Ideas.
While I won’t do this scenario justice, I thought this was one of the more challenging management issues I’ve seen lately.
A 20 year employee of a major company has risen to a senior sales role. Two thirds of their territory are performing above plan, and one third below. The one third below is pulling the entire sales organization below plan. The territories that are under performing don’t have any special market challenges - It’s a management issue. The senior sales exec has been ineffective at helping the under performing team. The senior sales exec has 20 years of positive reviews and HR won’t support firing them. The senior sales exec is also well like by their employees and is seen as a positive force in the organization. But, the overall market is growing over 10% and the executives are putting pressure on you to fix the problem.
Big companies can be highly political and even though an employee can be strong in many facets of management, it’s not uncommon for one or two major weaknesses to be present. My take is that since there are strong performing teams that the problem is isolated to a few regional managers. The senior execs weakness is poor performance management. It may be because they’ve worked with the people a long time and feel loyalty to them or because they can’t deliver a tough message. Either way, the senior exec needs help. I suggested two things. One, taking one of the good performing managers and expanding their territory to include one of the poor performing territories. Second, removing the poor management, and hiring a replacement. If the senior exec resisted the help, to place them in another job since you’re unable to fire them.
How would you handle it?
Published on February 1, 2010
in Ideas.
I’m pretty psyched for this weekend’s Superbowl. From the time the Superbowl kicks off, until the the end of the game, I’ll be glued to it. To make this game even better, I should have my new BBQ fired up, and the neighbors seem to be pulling together some great appetizers for the big game.
I have the Colts winning big!
Published on December 29, 2009
in Ideas.
I’m a big fan of GPS on mobile devices. I pay a monthly fee for AT&T Navigator. I remembered that Google announced a free GPS service, so I decided to install the Google Maps app on my Blackberry to see how it stacks up.
My first test with Google Maps found my location without GPS service which is a big plus since my Blackberry tends to get crummy GPS reception. It has a cool street view where you see the actual street where you turn. Very cool. I don’t think this looks good for AT&T Navigator.
