Better is the enemy of done
Image via Wikipedia
Author Jim Collins once noted that 'good is the enemy of great' having in mind that companies that 'do well' rarely have the incentive to really innovate and push things to the limit. I however more often have in mind the phrase by Voltaire - The better is the enemy of the good. So often I struggle to make a sales document perfect, to take care of the layout, to explain everything in detail. I'm a perfectionist, with all the burdens of that word, and believe me - the final result is rarely perfect. My point is - in B2B no one really cares about the perfection of the sales pitch - people are too result and value driven to care about the bells and whistles. Even in startup/VC pitching you will get better results with a good product and black-and-white slides than with mediocre product all wrapped up in celofane.
I was really impressed by the marketing style of the guys from Automattic/Wordpress. One email, the offer (including the pricing) in bullet points, no formatting (plain text), no images. It was actually easier to digest, forward around and make comments because of all of this. Such style removes all of the reasons for procrastination, speeds up the work (you can keep offers like that in your 'canned responses' in Gmail) and makes tracking everything easier (no files flying around). But most of all - it is faster to get it done. And sending 10 imperfect offers to prospective partners/clients beats the hell out of sending 2 that are polished - just because of natural conversion, only some of your prospects will be willing and able to purchase/sign at that particular moment. That is why you want to access as many of them as you can. That is why better is the enemy of done.
We are not in a ‘let’s do it cheap’ business
- Image by ~νєℓνєT-∆-Tωєяρ~ via Flickr
Are you proud of using open-source software to leverage super smart and savvy community of developers, or do you live by 'We don't pay for nothing' rule? It's a fine line, but more and more I see startup teams falling into the second category. Leanstartup's popularity, lack of financing and the growing appraisal of bootstrapping your business drove many teams to the 'we will use it only if it's free' camp. Don't get me wrong - watching your burn rate while you still don't have your business figured out is all fine. But writing your own url shortener while you can easily integrate some 3rd party provider with analytics, API and all the bells and whistles you may ever need is another matter. Itamar Lesuisse of travel startup Kukunu once told me - 'If I can save one day of my time because I don't have to install and manage the (project management) software, I'm more than happy to pay $25 a month for the service'. All the services you will probably need for your startup will not cost you more than $100 or $200 a month, and together they will probably save you a week of your time. Startups are all about speed and time is your most scarce resource - remember about it the next time you're analyzing whether the $15 you're about to pay for the CRM is really worth it.
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- Social Travel Planning Service Kukunu Launches, Raises Funding (techcrunch.com)
Why European startups need to stop hiring cheap
- Image by cobalt123 via Flickr
I keep hearing this over and over: 'You know, we're a startup, so we can't pay people much'. Usually it means that you're hiring second class players, people that weren't good enough to get into corporate careers or just all-round loosers. Then you come across startups from US, where the marketing guy has an MBA and experience in working across 3 continents, and the VP of Sales even in random conversations challenges your analytical skills by asking questions like 'what is the dominant group of people (companies) in the room at the moment? (while your biggest problem was the type of booze you should get from the free bar). I have a few friends that do it right - hiring top-notch people, even if they're afraid because of paying them twice or three times market average. These people close sales that were dragging for days. They open doors that were locked for months. They deliver. And other European startups? Hire interns, friends of friends or 'someone that was available'. And never get anywhere.
I understand that you might not have enough cash in the bank - so what? Sometimes the best people are looking for a thrill. Sometimes they don't need to be hired full time, or are willing to work on a success fee (because they know that the success will be there). Or maybe they want a piece of the business they're going to help build. Be creative... seduce them... be willing to share your business. Or you shall perish under the feet of your US based twin.
Pivoting this blog
Originally I started writing because I wanted to spill out some of my creative energy, but also as an online resume where people could get to know more about me, or at least the professional side of me. For quite a while I felt that it's not enough - I always found an excuse not to write, and some thoughts got lost in the everyday todo overflow.
- Image by Alex Osterwalder via Flickr
So the new formula for the blog is more of a daily lessons learned in my work as a business developer for startups and other clients. You won't find (a lot of) juicy stories here, more of a notepad of my experience with following the Customer Development methodology. I don't know if I'll be able to write every day, but this is something I'm aiming at, and I hope that I will have more reasons to interact with my few readers.
On the technical side I moved the blog to WordPress.org, added a bunch of social features and plan to experiment with more. Any ideas for increasing engagement with the audience will be appreciated.
The value of a timely 'F*ck Off'
CC by loush
There is one thing I wish western culture learned from Eastern European folks, and it's being more straightforward. I meet new people everyday. Quite a lot of those new connections can be potentially good for my business. Most of them won't be. I don't mind. It's nobody's fault. My product might not be right for you. You might be too busy to focus on implementing it at the moment. It might not be possible for us to cooperate because of some 'political' issues. It's possible that you simply don't like me. I don't care, as long as you tell me now.
Quite often we end up talking to that Big Important Customer for 6 months, just to hear that 'things have changed' or 'we need to focus elsewhere at the moment', while the answer was obvious from the start. This is why I value the approach that Fred Destin once described in his blog post on The one-sentence e-mail turndown - a quick no is worth a lot more than a nice half year long 'conversation'. But it's a two sided issue - quite often we should move on if the dynamics of the new relationship is not performing the way it should be.
So please Mrs/Mr Important Customer, the next time you get a call from someone that wants to do business with you, and you're not interested, just say no. You don't have to be rude. People will understand (eventually). It will save them a lot of time, in which they can do quite a lot of new business. And if you're the guy being told 'no' within first week of new business relationship - just be grateful and move on.
Networking in Bucharest
A short update about my trip to Digital Marketing Forum in Bucharest, where I delivered 'The simplicity of online advertising" speech for my current employer - online advertising network AdTaily. You can find the full post I wrote about it on Daily on AdTaily - that's where we blog about advertising and, well... blogging.
Below is a short video we shot with Digital Marketing Forum organizer, Cristian Manafu:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZc3fF-2vig]
6 reasons why you need business networking for your startup
Because you do, no question about it. There are a couple areas where knowing people directly is a great help (random order):
- Partnerships
You will need them at some point if you want to grow fast - be it your distribution channel, promotion partner or complimentary product provider - Financing
'We don't invest in people we don't know' one VC told me once - enough said
- Buying
When you're small, have no credit record, and you company is 10 days old it's hard to get good prices, long term payment conditions and any form of exclusivity (which might be important if you're claiming a ma rket niche) - Promoting
It's a lot more efficient to call 3 friends and tell them you're up to something new than distribute 1000 press release messages to industry bloggers. - Hiring
You can't pay them enough. You can't give them benefits. Your promise is sweat and blood. And possible defeat. The've got to like you to trust you
- Selling
Chances are your product can be sold to enterprise customers, be white-labeled or bundled with something. It might not be your ultimate strategy, but anything that keeps cash flowing in is good at the beginning.
So even though you think that in this WebThingy you can Adwords your road to wealth, or Digg your product to fame - think twice. People are using your product. People spread the news about your product. People will make your product. Get to know them. Go, network.
If you strongly disagree - let it out in the comments.
Social Selling
Now this title might seem a bit weird a couple years ago, when you really needed to be face to face with your client in order to make a sale. But today in the time of e-commerce, everything-as-a-service, virtual currency and goods it's not so obvious anymore. Online businesses rarely meet their customers in person. Quite often (if customer is fairly satisfied with the product) they don't even exchange a single word, except for the credit card details.
Thus said, customers didn't stop being people - even if those people represent companies or organizations. How do you make contact with them then? You have e-mail, IM, blogs, Twitter, social platforms and other tools to help you - but do you really use them all? Probably not, and quite possibly you shouldn't. Because what you use should really be contextual to your business, or rather to the way your customers are used to communicate. If you're selling to people in their twenties Twitter will probably work. But if your customers are their grandparents you will have to stick to the old-school like phone or standard mail. In middle ages the best place to communicate with clients was being literally on the streets because that's where they were. And you couldn't send them letters, because most of them couldn't read. That's pretty much the same right now - they can read, they just don't know how to get your message.
So if you're running an online business make sure you let your customers communicate with you pre and post sales in the way that you really thought through and dedicate yourself to. Because if you put e-mail address on your website, and don't respond to it people will be disappointed. And they will let everyone else know about it in their way: Twitter, Facebook or their local BINGO club. Also - make sure it's a two-way and active communication. It's not enough to run Twitter account to broadcast company promotions. You have to react to people's complains or praise about your products. You should participate in conversations that are relevant to your business, even if they're not about you.
Internet is 'the street' of today. Make sure you're really on it. Because being social is not only about the buzzword - it's about communication with people. Your people.
