It’s been a year since I started using Twitter to post quotes for entrepreneurs. I realize now that using Twitter, while encouraging me to collect more new quotes, forces me to focus on ones that will fit into a 140 character limit. I am thinking of re-titling this “Pithy Quotes For Entrepreneurs” where pithy means …
I ran into an entrepreneur last night after the IEEE-CNSV “Service Economy” event who had been to a Bootstrapper Breakfast but had had to shut down his business. He asked me “I don’t have much to say right now but I get a lot out of the breakfasts, can I still come?”I said “Certainly. Not …
One formulation of Conway’s Law is that communication problems in an organization will manifest in their finished products: communication channels matter.
Key take-aways from “Eight Rules for Prototyping” by John Hanks and Todd Dobberstein. A prototype is used both to assess technical feasibility and to provide a demonstration to a customer to get feedback. Customer development is a sequence of prototypes.
Some output formats to consider your application, they each have different properties and affordances and are not easily substituted for each other : Screen E-Mail Projector Print Fax Screen Most common way that users will interact in everyday use. This is how many prospects will view the product. E-mail output options Simple hypertext (e.g. URLs …
Building on yesterday’s “A Too Common Conversation of Late” here are some additional suggestions and advice for the newly unemployed. The loss of structure can be crippling. Get active and stay active. Unplug your television and visit the library. Make a list and read 5-10 books a month. Reconnect with old friends at least once …
What To Do After the Layoff Fairy Taps You on the Shoulder Read More »
Layoffs continue to encourage old friends and co-workers to reconnect and many to consider–somewhat involuntarily–an entrepreneurial phase for their next career move. I spoke to three people today who had been laid off in the last month or so. Here is the summary of some key suggestions the three conversations: If you are considering joining …
We live in uncertain times, both in terms of the economic and technology transitions that are underway. I offer two rules that I use to navigate by.
I came across a very thought provoking approach to customer development, or at least offering consulting services for customer development (a subject at least of personal interest to me). Juan Paredes’ “Spanish Method” is outlined in his “First Iteration of a New Minimum Viable Service“: I don’t price by project or by hour. I price …
Spanish Method: Pay For Customer Development Per Iteration Read More »
We have done three other events like this in conjunction with sponsoring organizations like Innovation Denmark, SDForum, or Startup Epicenter. Participants have told us that they had three benefits. In reviewing another firm’s website and providing concrete feedback, they developed new perspectives on how prospects and other visitors might assess their own site. There are …
Joshua Schacter’s “On URL Shorteners” is a great examination of the likely outcomes from the proliferation and use of URL shorteners. There are three other parties in the ecosystem of a link: the publisher (the site the link points to), the transit (places where that shortened link is used, such as Twitter or TypePad), and …
Joshua Schacter: URL Shorteners Considered Harmful Read More »
We had a great “Getting More Customers” workshop yesterday. It was our first time using the Pacific Business Centers location in Palo Alto and it worked out well. We used their boardroom and it made for a comfortable setting. This was the first time we’ve used a large flat screen TV monitor instead of an …
