Schappi

How To: Fundraising for Your Hardware Startup

Fri, 18 May 2012 12:29:13 +1000

How To: Fundraising for Your Hardware Startup

YOUR STARTUP’S TOP 3 PRIORITIES

Fri, 18 May 2012 06:01:14 +1000

YOUR STARTUP’S TOP 3 PRIORITIES:

Once you have built your product and it’s in the market, there are only three things that matter:

distribution (getting the product into users’ hands)
engagement (validating that you’ve built the right product and that users are using it)
monetization (making money from those engaged users). This is your strategy.

Employee Motivation

Thu, 03 May 2012 06:55:36 +1000

Employee Motivation:

Jim Collins in Good to Great and Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer in The Progress Principle both interviewed hundreds of managers and employees, analyze thousands of employee journal entries, and concluded that motivation is a waste of time — employees aren’t motivated by motivation. Rather, the right people are self-motivated and the key is just to stay out of the way and focus on not demotivating people.

Questions Asked by Professional Investors

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 14:57:00 +1100

Top VC Questions

Who is your real customer? [“Who Cares?”]
Why can’t they live without it?
How will the venture reach all the identified customer segments?
How will the much does it cost (in time and resources) to acquire a customer?
How long before the customer sends the business a check?
How many Widgets do you need to sell to break even?
What are the key customer tangible and intangible factors that anyone has to provide in order to succeed? [What is the “whole product”?] What are your customer’s values?
How are pricing decisions made?
What are your unfair or sustainable competitive advantages? What are the barriers to entry?
What are the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors?
What else do you have besides technology? What do you better than any other company? Is this a product or a business?
What do you consider to be your Company’s greatest weakness? What has the key management team accomplished in the past? Who else needs to be on the team?

Company:

What do you better than any other company?
What else do you have besides technology?
Is this a product or a business?
What are your unfair advantages?
What is your organization’s uniqueness?
What do you consider to be your greatest weakness?
What do you have that will enable you to shift gears if the market is a lot different than you plan on?

Customers:

Who is your real customer? Network Manager or Application Manager? What industry groups are they drawn from and what are the overall trends? How are they doing it today?
Why/how will they use your product?
Why can’t they live without it?
What does the market want?
What pain is so high that they are willing to come to you? How intense is the pain?
What motivates your customer to buy?
What are your customer’s values?
Who are your early adopters and why?
Who is your mainstream market?

Sales & Channels:

How will customers buy your product?
How will customers become aware of your product?
Who will they call for technical support?
How long does the purchase decision process take?
What are the key variables in the buying decision? (price, service, features, reputation,
credit terms, delivery speed, or relationship with Salesman)?
Are buying decisions affected by advertising or sales promotion?
What is the degree of brand loyalty among customers? How is it measured or determined? What methods are used to lock customers in?
What would be required to persuade the user of a competitive product to switch and how
much would this cost?
How important is personal selling to this customer? How good does the salesperson have to be?
* How many Widgets do you need to sell to break even?

The Whole Product:

What other products/accessories will customers buy to completely fulfill their needs? What are your customer’s intangible needs?
What is the “whole product”?
How is the product priced?
What are the expected future price trends? How are pricing decisions made?
Is quality the key to the sale of the product?

Competition:

Who are the major competitors at present?
Are there any expected new entries or other potential competitors?
What is the financial strength of the present competition?
What is the relative ease of entry into the field?
What is the importance of intangibles such as lead time, goodwill, patents? What are the barriers to entry?
List all of the major industries in which this product is sold:
How does the company compare with competition in each of the following categories? - product features - market share - marketing capability - production capability - financial resources - financial management - R&D capability - Overall management strength

Red flags in emails to angel investors

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 21:15:23 +1100

Sending an email through a service.
Financial consultants.
Really long messages.
Too early.
Not having links ready to go.
Hyperbole.
Not being able to describe what it is.
Not in my target areas.
Obviously not personalized.
Pressure.

via gabrielweinberg

"don’t worry about the mosquito of techcrunch trolls, focus on the raging rhinoceros of..."

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 08:50:21 +1100

““don’t worry about the mosquito of techcrunch trolls, focus on the raging rhinoceros of user-indifference that is charging at you at full speed””

- Paul Graham

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 09:47:46 +1100

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, first published in 1989, is a self-help book written by Stephen R. Covey.

The First Three Habits surround moving from dependence to independence (i.e. self mastery):

Habit 1: Be Proactive

Synopsis: Take initiative in life by realizing that your decisions (and how they align with life’s principles) are the primary determining factor for effectiveness in your life. Take responsibility for your choices and the subsequent consequences that follow.

Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind

Synopsis: Self-discover and clarify your deeply important character values and life goals. Envision the ideal characteristics for each of your various roles and relationships in life.

Habit 3: Put First Things First

Synopsis: Plan, prioritize, and execute your week’s tasks based on importance rather than urgency. Evaluate whether your efforts exemplify your desired character values, propel you toward goals, and enrich the roles and relationships that were elaborated in Habit 2.

The next three have to do with Interdependence (i.e. working with others):

Habit 4: Think Win-Win

Synopsis: Genuinely strive for mutually beneficial solutions or agreements in your relationships. Value and respect people by understanding a “win” for all is ultimately a better long-term resolution than if only one person in the situation had gotten his way.

Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood

Synopsis: Use empathetic listening to be genuinely influenced by a person, which compels them to reciprocate the listening and take an open mind to being influenced by you. This creates an atmosphere of caring, respect, and positive problem solving.

Habit 6: Synergize

Synopsis: Combine the strengths of people through positive teamwork, so as to achieve goals no one person could have done alone. Get the best performance out of a group of people through encouraging meaningful contribution, and modeling inspirational and supportive leadership.

The Last habit relates to self-rejuvenation:

Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw

Synopsis: Balance and renew your resources, energy, and health to create a sustainable, long-term, effective lifestyle.

Source: Wikipedia.

"I think we will succeed in this market place, because we’re a software company and everyone..."

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 09:43:43 +1100

““I think we will succeed in this market place, because we’re a software company and everyone we’re going to compete with are hardware companies.””

- sj on iPhone

"The difference between invention and innovation is that you execute, you bring an idea in the market..."

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 12:10:24 +1100

“The difference between invention and innovation is that you execute, you bring an idea in the market place.”

How to Win Friends and Influence People

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 07:44:03 +1100

Written by Dale Carnegie and first published in 1936, it has sold 15 million copies world-wide.

The major points in the book are:

Fundamental Techniques in Handling People

Don’t criticize, condemn, or complain.
Give honest and sincere appreciation.
Arouse in the other person an eager want.

Six Ways to Make People Like You

Become genuinely interested in other people.
Smile.
Remember that a person’s name is, to that person, the sweetest and most important sound in any language.
Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.
Talk in terms of the other person’s interest.
Make the other person feel important – and do it sincerely.

Twelve Ways to Win People to Your Way of Thinking

The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.
Show respect for the other person’s opinions. Never say “You’re Wrong.”
If you’re wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically.
Begin in a friendly way.
Start with questions to which the other person will answer yes.
Let the other person do a great deal of the talking.
Let the other person feel the idea is his or hers.
Try honestly to see things from the other person’s point of view.
Be sympathetic with the other person’s ideas and desires.
Appeal to the nobler motives.
Dramatize your ideas.
Throw down a challenge.

Be a Leader: How to Change People Without Giving Offense or Arousing Resentment

Begin with praise and honest appreciation.
Call attention to people’s mistakes indirectly.
Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person.
Ask questions instead of giving direct orders.
Let the other person save face.
Praise every improvement.
Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to.
Use encouragement. Make the fault seem easy to correct.
Make the other person happy about doing what you suggest.

Letters That Produced Miraculous Results

This section was included in the original 1936 edition but omitted from the revised 1981 edition.

In this chapter, notably the shortest in the book, Carnegie analyzes two letters and describes how to appeal to someone’s vanity with the term “do me a favor” as opposed to directly asking for something which does not offer the same feeling of importance to the recipient of the request.

Seven Rules For Making Your Home Life Happier

This section was included in the original 1936 edition but omitted from the revised 1981 edition.

Don’t nag.
Don’t try to make your partner over.
Don’t criticize.
Give honest appreciation.
Pay little attentions.
Be courteous.
Read a good book on the sexual side of marriage.

Creativity requires isolation

Sat, 26 Nov 2011 21:23:00 +1100

Creativity requires isolation

Apple's three A's used to alleviate customer concerns.

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 09:11:46 +1100

A - Acknowledge that their concerns are valid.
A - Align with the customer, agreeing that you would feel the same were you in their shoes.
A - Assure the customer that you will be able to solve their problem to their satisfaction.

Apple's Retail Customer Service Approach

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 09:10:20 +1100

A - Approach the customer with a “warm welcome”
P - Position, Permission, Probe — Tell the customer what you want to do, ask permission, and then ask them questions to determine their needs.
P - Present the appropriate product solution that fits their needs.
L - Listen to their concerns.
E - End with a fond farewell and an invitation to return.

You could even use this as a framework for creating customer service emails.

Markkula's Marketing Principles

Sat, 29 Oct 2011 01:03:24 +1100

Walter Issacson’s blog talks about when Mike Markkula first started with Apple he wrote his marketing principles in a one-page paper titled “The Apple Marketing Philosophy”. There were three key points:

Empathy

We will truly understand their needs better than any other company.

Focus

In order to do a good job of those things that we decide to do, we must eliminate all of the unimportant opportunities.

Impute

People do judge a book by it’s cover. We may have the best product, the highest quality, the most useful software etc.; if we present them in a slipshod manner, they will be perceived as slipshod; if we present them in a creative, professional manner, we will impute the desired qualities.

"Kitsch is “the absolute denial of shit"

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 11:34:34 +1100

“Kitsch is “the absolute denial of shit””

- Milan Kundera

"People appreciate it when you have an opinion."

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 22:32:51 +1100

“People appreciate it when you have an opinion.”

- Dave L Jones

"It’s okay to say I don’t know. Especially with clients."

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 10:57:27 +1100

“It’s okay to say I don’t know. Especially with clients.”

- Marcus Schappi

Fletcher's angry list of startup rules

Sun, 16 Oct 2011 08:24:01 +1100

Fletcher's angry list of startup rules:

1. Your idea isn’t new. Pick an idea; at least 50 other people have thought of it. Get over your stunning brilliance and realize that execution matters more.
2. Stealth startups suck. You’re not working on the Manhattan Project, Einstein. Get something out as quickly as possible and promote the hell out of it.

3. If you don’t have scaling problems, you’re not growing fast enough.

4. If you’re successful, people will try to take advantage of you. Hope that you’re in that position, and hope that you’re smart enough to not fall for it.

5. People will tell you they know more than you do. If that’s really the case, you shouldn’t be doing your startup.

6. Your competition will inflate their numbers. Take any startup traffic number and slash it in half. At least.

7. Perfection is the enemy of good enough. Leonardo could paint the Mona Lisa only once. You, Bob Ross, can push a bug release every 5 minutes because you were at least smart enough to do a web app.

8. The size of your startup is not a reflection of your manhood. More employees does not make you more of a man (or woman as the case may be).

9. You don’t need business development people. If you’re successful, companies will come to you. The deals will still be distractions and not worth doing, but at least you’re not spending any effort trying to get them.

10. You have to be wrong in the head to start a company. But we have all the fun.

11. Starting a company will teach you what it’s like to be a manic depressive. They, at least, can take medication.

12. Your startup isn’t succeeding? You have two options: go home with your tail between your legs or do something about it. What’s it going to be?

13. If you don’t pay attention to your competition, they will turn out to be geniuses and will crush you. If you do pay attention to them, they will turn out to be idiots and you will have wasted your time. Which would you prefer?

14. Startups are not a democracy. Want a democracy? Go run for class president, Bueller.

15. You’re doing a web app, right? This isn’t the 1980s. Your crummy, half-assed web app will still be more successful than your competitor’s most polished software application.

12 Lessons Steve Jobs Taught Guy Kawasaki

Sat, 08 Oct 2011 15:57:51 +1100

12 Lessons Steve Jobs Taught Guy Kawasaki:

1. Experts are clueless

2. Customers cannot tell you what they need

3. Biggest challenges beget the best work

4. Design counts

5. Big graphics, big fonts

6. Jump curves, not better sameness

7. “Work” or “doesn’t work” is all that matters

8. “Value” is different than “price”

9. A players higher A players

10. Real CEOs demo

11. Real entrepreneurs ship

12. Some things need to be believed to be seen.

Two Strikes and You Are Out

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 19:23:19 +1100

This gem is from the Tech Stars book Do More Faster.

If a person screws you, give ‘em a Yellow Card. If they do it twice, give them a Red Card and don’t deal with them again.