Rules of Thumb Archives - Page 18 of 18

Applying the “Agile Manifesto” to Software Startups

Rules of Thumb, TwoWeekSaaS / By Sean Murphy / March 22, 2007

What follows are some quick thoughts on how to apply insights from the “Agile Manifesto” (see also Martin Fowler’s excellent essay on “The New Methodology” for a nice overview of what agile development entails) to early stage software startups. Value This More In Preference To Individuals And Interactions Processes And Tools Working Software Comprehensive Documentation Customer Collaboration Contract Negotiation […]

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Getting Early Feedback

3 Early Customer Stage, Customer Development, Rules of Thumb, skmurphy / By Sean Murphy / February 28, 2007

Getting early customer feedback is critical to fine tuning your product so that you can scale up. The temptation is to use a on-line survey tool to save your time, but I think for your early customers a questionnaire may only give you the answers that you are looking for, not the information that you need.

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Julian Fellowes on Persistence, Getting Started, and Logical Consequences

Quotes, Rules of Thumb / By Sean Murphy / February 23, 2007

Commentary on Julian Fellowes answers to 3 interview questions about the need to get started, persist, and accept the logical consequences of your choices.

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Kierkegaard on the Art of Helping Others to Understand

Books, Favorites, Quotes, Rules of Thumb / By Sean Murphy / February 13, 2007

An excerpt from Soren Kierkegaard writing on helping others to understand. The key is to start from a deep understanding of the other person’s world view. This echoes Steven Covey’s fifth habit: “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.”

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Pixar’s Ed Catmull Highlights Value of Post Mortems

Events, Rules of Thumb / By Francis Adanza / February 1, 2007

A summary of a keynote by Ed Catmull at The Annual Stanford Entrepreneurship Conference. Catmull is the co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios.

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Beyond Google: A9, Citeseer, and Krugle

Rules of Thumb / By Sean Murphy / January 25, 2007

I had lamented that I always Google too late, but lately I’ve been getting better. Here are some tools to use beyond Google and LinkedIn for searching for different kinds of specialized information. A9 let’s you search the contents of any books that Amazon carries, all of Amazon, and another 500+ specialized information sources. Citeseer,

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3 Ways to Build Credibility with Prospects

Consulting Business, Rules of Thumb, Startups / By Theresa Shafer / January 14, 2007

Here are three ways for building credibility. Referrals A referral is an introduction to a prospect with an endorsement. A referral allows you to borrow credibility from a trusted third party. They spring from shared success with your customers or former co-workers, someone who knows your potential and can vouch for you or your team’s

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People Manage People, Tools Manage Data

Rules of Thumb, skmurphy / By Sean Murphy / January 8, 2007

“People Manage People, Tools Manage Data” is a very good rule of thumb for guiding your sales and implementation efforts for a new system. People Manage People, Tools Manage Data This was a principle for systems design suggested in a talk I heard 15-20 years ago. I can no longer remember the speaker’s name but

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Tips for Hiring and Firing a Sales Person

Events, Rules of Thumb, Sales, skmurphy / By Sean Murphy / January 4, 2007

Peter Bakonyvari, VP Sales at JPMorgan SymPro, explains the practical realities of building a sales team: In particular firing a sales person.

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Iterating Towards Bethlehem: Michael Sippey at SVPMA 8/2/2006

3 Early Customer Stage, 4 Finding your Niche, Events, Quotes, Rules of Thumb, skmurphy, TwoWeekSaaS / By Sean Murphy / January 3, 2007

In “Iterating Towards Bethlehem” Michael Sippey addressed making the shift as a product manager. from packaged software to hosted services.

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You Need to Be a Little Crazy

Books, Quotes, Rules of Thumb, skmurphy, Startups / By Sean Murphy / December 27, 2006

Theresa heard a radio interview with Barry Moltz in 2003 and suggested that I get his book. In December 2003 I purchased a copy of You Need to Be a Little Crazy and when it arrived from Amazon I put it on my to-be-read pile where it languished until early this morning when I read

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Plus Minus People

5 Scaling Up Stage, Rules of Thumb, skmurphy, Startups / By Sean Murphy / December 22, 2006

“Plus Minus People” make a strong initial impression but once you start working with them (or you hire them) you realize that they have a negative impact on the team.

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12 Books For the Busy CEO Tonight (Mon Dec-11-2006) @ SDForum

Books, Events, Rules of Thumb, skmurphy / By Sean Murphy / December 11, 2006

12 Books For the Busy CEO: spend an hour and leave with a summary of key marketing insights and some rules of thumb for successful innovation in Silicon Valley. You might even identify one or two books that you haven’t read that will be worth your time over the Christmas holidays. I will cover twelve

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Going Pro

Rules of Thumb, skmurphy, Startups / By Sean Murphy / December 7, 2006

Going pro means learning how to deliver the results required. Some key points to remember as you ask folks in larger firms to take a risk with your new offering or service. They are from a March 1993 column entitled “Going Pro” by Asa Baber.

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3×5 Cards

EDA, Rules of Thumb, Tools for Startups / By Sean Murphy / November 28, 2006

Always carry 3×5 cards with you wherever you go. I keep a handful in my shirt pocket and jot down those sudden inspirations or solutions to small problems that I would otherwise quickly forget.

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Email Overload

Rules of Thumb / By Sean Murphy / November 27, 2006

Email overload has become an overused term. But I find myself with an inbox hovering near 6,000 messages (5932 at the moment) and so I have to make some serious changes.

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Nesheim vs. Cowan on Bootstrap Economics

Rules of Thumb, Startups / By Sean Murphy / November 24, 2006

This post contrasts two views of bootstrap economics. John Nesheim is unabashedly anti-bootstrapping, David Cowan is more positive.

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Bruce Mau’s Incomplete Manifesto for Growth

Blogging, Rules of Thumb / By Sean Murphy / November 14, 2006

Bruce Mau wrote 43 statements in 1998 to articulate his beliefs, motivations, and strategies in what he called “An Incomplete Manifesto for Growth.” His focus is on “growth” in the sense of increasing both craftsmanship and artisanship. I have selected eight that I think are the most applicable to folks in software startups. I kept the

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Continuing Education In Entrepreneurship

Events, Rules of Thumb / By Sean Murphy / October 10, 2006

Startups offer a continuing education in entrepreneurship but effective entrepreneurs learn from other’s experience in addition to their own.

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I Always Google Too Late

Rules of Thumb / By Sean Murphy / October 2, 2006

Triggered by “Google Me This, Batman” I will try and make some different points. I don’t know how many times I have come back from an meeting (or event or trade show) with business cards or notes on my 3×5 cards and run the people and company names through Google to discover things that would have helped

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