You should figure out websites that have affiliate programs, force the requester to choose a website, and when you end the text message, include the website to add some validity. Including the well-known brand will seem like it comes from a more legitimate website than you (no offense).
For example:
"Hey Andy!Someone shopping on Zappos.com for you and wants to know your shoe size. Reply with your size (ex '9', '10.5')
Also, when you send back the sizes to the requester, you could include an affiliate link for the site they requested to help monetize.
It's great that Eric Ries used his own lean startup methodology to figure out what influenced people to buy the book.
Eric built a website to take pre-orders so he could A/B test the book's cover, title, and marketing to figure out how to get as many preorders as possible, Since preorders count as orders when your book launches, he managed to become a best seller.
If you were applying to work at my start-up, chances are I would try to find you on the Internets anyway, and I would greatly appreciate you saving me time by just providing me your information up front.
If you provide me links, it also ensures I find the right accounts for you, and not someone with the same name. Finding the wrong accounts and thinking it's you could mean the difference of me actually calling you or not.
StackExchange accounts relevant to the position you're applying for are also good to include (if you use the service).
Thanks for the comment and you make a good point. I guess what my main point was that you should pick one thing to focus on once you know what the optimal thing to focus on is.
Imagine the Odeo team split their efforts between Twitter and their first idea? I doubt Twitter would have became the site it is today if that happened.
It's supposed to be an online version of Grimlock from Transformers. He's part of a clan or robots that all talk in third person and have broken English.
That being said, I thought it was a thoughtful read with good points, and absolutely hilarious. I've spread it to 5 of my start-up friends who would get the Transformers reference already.
People love personality in products, like the MailChimp helping you along when creating your email newsletter, or w00ts hilarious product descriptions. Wufoo even does this by having a t-rex be the log in button and a title tag that says "RARRR!"
I think you should trial run every employee before hiring them full time if possible. Sales people can lie about their qualifications just as much as any hacker. In fact, it might be easier because the hacker's work is most likely to be publicly online.
As a fellow founder, I experience the ups-and-downs of the start-up roller coaster everyday. One of my favorite quotes from Founders at Work comes from Joe Kraus, one of the creators of Excite:
“The hardest part in a startup is that you wake up one morning and you feel great about the day, and you think, “We’re kicking ass.” And then you wake up the next morning and you think “We’re dead.” And literally nothing’s changed. You haven’t made some big deal, you haven’t sold something new. Maybe you wrote a few lines of code over the course of that last day. Maybe you had some conversations with people, but nothing’s really moved. It’s completely irrational, but it’s exactly what you go through.”
It's easy to let yourself get down in the dumps by what other people say. One bad though of defeatism can ruin you entire day. It's also easy to combat it in a few small ways:
- Commit code everyday - If you do this, you'll see your small gains adding up, have a record of what you've learned, and everyday feel like you've made at least some progress. Even if it's a small change (changing a color on a button you've been looking at for weeks), nothing makes you feel better than commit and deploying code.
- Find a great cofounder - If you're serious about starting a new start-up (or just learning more in general), find someone to go into battle with you. You'll feel off each other's energy in a ying-yang sort of way. When you're bummed, their natural tendency will be to protect you and pump you up. When s/he is bummed, you'll do the same.
Find a rock - Not many people talk about rock's as a necessary part of starting a company. To me, a rock is someone who you trust greatly, is a good listener, and is removed from the business. It can be boy/girlfriend, husband/wife, friend, mentor, practically anyone. The key to a good rock is they are objective, a good listener, and won't even judge you.
Just start - There's nothing like finding out whether you should go on the journey than to take a few steps and see how you feel.
If jumping back on the start-up roller coaster is what you want, then enjoy the ride.
I just saw Sam Altman speak at YCNYC and I was impressed. I have never actually met him or heard him speak before Monday, but one of his stories really stuck out and went something like this:
"We were trying to get a big client for weeks, and they said no and went with a competitor. The competitor already had a terms sheet from the company were we trying to sign up. It was real serious.
We were devastated, but we decided to fly down and sit in their lobby until they would meet with us. So they finally let us talk to them after most of the day.
We then had a few more meetings, and the company wanted to come visit our offices so they could make sure we were a 'real' company. At that time, we were only 5 guys. So we hired a bunch of our college friends to 'work' for us for the day so we could look larger than we actually were. It worked, and we got the contract."
I think the reason why PG respects Sam so much is he is charismatic, resourceful, and just overall seems like a genuine person.
At Startup Bootcamp in Boston last week, Charlie Cheever from Quora said that even the people you hang out with influence and shape your product.
My take away from YCNYC last night was that PG is a cult leader who attracts the most talented, serious, and relentless entrepreneurs and accepts them into the program.
Those founders thrive off the community's energy and hold each other accountable to actually build something people want. They learn from each other and share in the hardships and successes. Building a start-up is hard, and it takes support to make it through the bad times.
We all like to be around people who are like us, so it's not surprising that the YC alumni are all long-time friends after the program ends.
Amazing job YC - You built something founders want.
I just heard Drew Houston of DropBox talk in Boston at StartupBootcamp and this resume rings true to what he said.
The reality is that every founder starts in the same place and at the same point, which is completely clueless. Apple, Google, Yahoo, Oracle, Facebook and many others were started by first time founders in their 20’s. Facebook was just a project that Zuckerbug was hacking on, and he didn’t’ set out to redefine the face of communication. He had done 7-8 other projects before that, and the difference with Facebook was that 90%+ of Harvard students sign up in two days.
Something all new founders should remember is that no one is born a founder.
Your point is very true. They hope to stimulate innovation in Boston through the competition, but the main goal is to stimulate innovation nationwide. One of the winning teams last year, RelayRides, recently opened a second location in California, so you're not limited to Boston.
There really is no strings attached to the money if you win. You could go to Vegas and put it all on black if you wanted (although the judges would probably sense that was the plan you wouldn't make it through).
P.S. I was on a winning MassChallenge team last year (Rentabilities)
I was a $50,000 winner in MassChallenge 2010 and it's a great organization. I've written a few blog posts on my experiences there. Hope they are helpful:
For example:
"Hey Andy!Someone shopping on Zappos.com for you and wants to know your shoe size. Reply with your size (ex '9', '10.5')
Also, when you send back the sizes to the requester, you could include an affiliate link for the site they requested to help monetize.