Sunday, October 24, 2010

a bootstrapping startup chick


Bootstrapping has been my game since I’ve started working on startups – and as you know in July, I was no longer part of the luxurious-salaried-with-benefits world. In an effort to live more frugally and off of my savings, I cut down on quite a bit of my extravagances in dining out and shopping. I consolidated bills, got rid of my Comcast cable TV, decreased my phone plan minutes, rode the bus/walked around town, met up with friends for coffee in lieu of lunch and dinners, and cereal (particularly Honey Bunches of Oats – with almonds)became my blood sugar saver. I still have a bunch of expenses going out the door: rent, food, utilities, gas, biz insurance, health insurance, home insurance, car insurance, …

The past two weeks have been crazier for me since I decided that I needed to hustle (as my very close and talented friend, Kate recommended to me) – and picked up a short term gig to build up more savings via some freelance projects. Time was tight back in August/September as it was, see previous post, but now … time is just flying by in the blink of an eye (another post on managing all the different balls in the air coming soon).

Bootstrapping Tips from a Startup Chick:
Here are some tips I’ve picked up along the way on being a bootstrapped startup chick:

1. Don’t be lazy = take the time to look presentable. Being a startup chick = I can dress with more bang and flair – it means I can now shamelessly throw my colorful persona into my wardrobe. [I’ve actually had colleagues/mentors in the corporate world tell me to wear more grey/black/navy/brown – and less pink/purple/red…. = yes… BARF on that!!!]
2. Going along with point #1, before walking out your front door – give yourself a pep talk if you need to, but always go out into the world with a smile, good posture, and determined confidence. I have this note on my door [see picture above].
3. Get some cheap simple business cards – and lots of them. I’ve already run out – unplanned, so now I have to find time somehow somewhere to go order some more. Woot!
4. Coffee and happy hour are the best times to meet up – and that covers the entire day. Just because I’m on a budget does not mean I cannot meet up and be social. Come on – tea costs under $2 even at Starbucks! Happy hours are going on all over town from 4pm to 2AM.
5. Get rid of the cable TV (saving me $65/month) – I didn’t have time before, I certainly don’t have time now. If I’m going to sit and watch anything pop-culture, it’s going to have been curated and recommended by a brilliant connoisseur of media. This means, all the stuff I should watch will already be on Netflix, Hulu, or something of the like (except Glee – which I can watch a day later online).
6. Walk. Take public transportation. Carpool. And for me… ride the scooter after hours because I can park that cute sucker anywhere. Walking will burn those old calories I picked up while glued to the desk in a cubicle when I was once salaried. Public transportation is convenient – and taking it supports our community’s ecosystem.
7. Don’t be cheap, be smart. Budget = yes, cheap = no. Do the right thing when it comes to your family, your friends, your clients, etc…
8. Join the Walgreens Prescription Savings Club. http://bit.ly/Gi1SM.  Serious.



Anyone else have ideas or tips you’d like to share with me?

Hugs,
Arry
[PS also posted on http://www.arryinseattle.com/blog.html]

Sunday, October 17, 2010

incremental innovation


Last weekend, I met the founder of a new business that provides an online trading platform for investors.  A new business taking on well established  companies like TD Ameritrade, Charles Schwab and Scottrade?  I felt my inner critic come out – what’s the hook?  Do we really need another trading site?  Isn’t one basically interchangeable with the other, aside from the transaction fee?   Then I learned that his company had partnered up with a game development company to create a more intuitive, fun and useful interface and that his goal was to get young people more interested in investing.  My interest was piqued – a cross of gaming and investing with the noble goal of getting youngsters financially savvy!  I created an account and played around on kapitall.com, and I have to admit, it was much more user-friendly and visually pleasing that any other platform I have seen.
The question is:  Is improved user experience enough?  More broadly speaking, can a business be built on an incremental innovation over an existing (and widely accepted) product?  Well, the jury is still out on kapitall, but despite our tendency to be dazzled by “revolutionary” and “proprietary” products and to pooh-pooh ideas that are “not unique,” research shows that many successful businesses sell products and services that are similar in function (if not completely interchangeable) with those of other businesses.  Amar Bhide’s work on Inc. 500 companies (companies deemed by Inc. magazine as promising, high-growth companies) showed that 58 percent of the founders said that there were identical or close substitutes in the market for their products and services and 36 percent said that there were slight and moderate differences between their products and their competitors’.  Only 6 percent claimed that they had a unique product or service.   
So, what differentiates these founders from all of the struggling business owners out there who also sell ordinary products?  It turns out that there IS a secret to these high-growth entrepreneurs’ success – exceptional execution.  The takeaway:  You don’t need to have a unique idea to build a successful business, but you have to carry out the idea very, very well.
Mina
(For those interested, here is the full citation for Bhide’s work:  Bhide, Amar.  2000.  The Origin and Evolution of New Businesses.  New York:   Oxford University Press.)

Sunday, October 10, 2010

workaholic schmocoholic


You heard me, workaholic = schmocholic.  All work and no play makes you a very boring person.  I'll also jump in and say you're probably inefficient, ineffective, playing the game of "looking good" with all of that "face time" you're putting in at the office.  You're spinning - making up stuff to do, wasting time, trying to look busy.  That's not busy - that's stupid.  I've been there, I've seen it - I've even done it.  Oooohhh la la, everyone thinks you're a rockstar because you put in 80 or 100 hours at work.  Not me any more.  I'm way too busy.  Recently, my co-founders and I read this great book, Rework and found it to be inspiring - so here's my response to one of the big takeaways from that read. 

The busiest people get the most done.  I'll give you an example from my own life: high school, for me, was a time when I was insanely busy.  Okay - like the other preppy high school kids around, I took all AP classes, played in the school orchestra, enjoyed shopping and eating late night in diners, and baby-sitting here and there to make some extra cash for my shopping-hobby.  Unlike many other kids, I also was governor in the class student government, played in both the school orchestra and the New York State regional orchestra, played in our school pit orchestras, had my own string quartet, was the pianist for two churches, was a competitive pianist as I traveled to New York City every other weekend for piano, regularly did (3-4 times a week) and sometimes even taught Tae Kwon Do (black belt), had piano lessons sometime two to three times a week for four to five hours at a time, taught private piano lessons for 8 students (weekly), was part of the math club + speech and debate club,  did weekly community service working with the area nursing homes and hospital emergency rooms, worked on huge 5 feet by 5 feet paintings for my special advanced art classes, took care of my younger brother, went to Bible study groups, worked at the Empire State Plaza giving tours of Albany, NY, sang in a choir, and still was in top of the class with my grades ...  insanely busy.  Yes, call me an over achiever.  And that's just an example of a high school kid!  I definitely believe this: You want something done, ask one of your busier friends - if they believe in it/you, they will get it done.

Workaholics schmocoholics burn time.  The biggest grievance I had (and continue to have) with working a regular full-time corporate job was with expectations around "face-time".  I get it - sometimes you put in a little more when you start a new job or a new project at a client site until trust has been built, and your reputation (assuming a good one) is confirmed through solid work output and results.  Awesome.  But when you have a work environment or culture where people are counting the hours between when you arrive and when you leave, that's plain ridiculous.  When you have bosses/management praising those that don't know how to manage their time and that are regularly and normally pulling 55+ hours a week at the office, the place has got issues.  That's not busy = that's inefficient.  Billable hours my ass - it's inefficiency.  The "face-time" aka look for that "butt-in-the-seat" attitude disgusts me.  You end up with people creating work, making up work, spinning in circles and spending valuable time on ineffective tasks. If an employee can get the job done in two hours, makes the necessary meetings, gets things done - who cares? 

Click here to read more.

~Arry

Monday, October 4, 2010

Re-working


Hello from Mina.  While my partner has been diligently posting astute observations and thoughts about love and relationships, I have been… well, delinquent.  Not that this is an excuse, but the past several months have been full of changes for our business.  Some very exciting  progress – our off-shore development team finally finished their work!  (About 6 months behind schedule, but hey, it’s done!)   And some not so great news  – our CTO had to leave us for personal reasons.  After “courting” him for months then working with him for another several months, this decision on his part led to soul-searching and strategic re-thinking on my and Arry’s part as well as some inevitable delays just when we had been gaining momentum.   Where are we now?  We were incredibly fortunate that just before our CTO left, we had recruited another developer to become a part of our start-up family.  Michael gallantly and skillfully picked up the pieces, and we are happy to report that we have a team that is even stronger and more committed than ever before.
As our business regains its momentum and as we rally towards our launch, one thing that has helped me get  focused and clear-headed is the book Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson.  This concise and entertaining book was actually recommended by our new CTO Michael (another reason we’re  lucky to have him – he has great taste in books), and as I flew through it, I was reminded of all of my beliefs about start-ups that the past several months had successfully distracted me from.  It really is amazing how much of your own beliefs you can lose track of.   This book on entrepreneurship has 70 and more axioms, observations, pleas and otherwise clever sayings (although the authors would never use the term “entrepreneurship”  as they see it as  “loaded with baggage” and elitist).  Here are a few points from Rework that really hit home for me:
-“Planning is guessing.”  This reminder was really timely as I was pulling my hair out trying to come up with every possible financial scenario and corresponding projections.  Some readers of this blog might remember my post on business plans, but I temporarily got caught up with the need to have some certainty (or as much certainty as possible at the moment).  To do:  Make short term plans; be ready to improvise.
-“No time is no excuse.”  Enough said.
-“Draw a line in the sand.”  This reminds me of Guy Kawasaki’s point that a great business should polarize people.  You can’t be everything to everyone.  Instead, go for “superfans” who will love you and talk about you to anyone with two ears.
-“Embrace constraints.” “Build half a product, not a half-assed product.” Lack of resources can actually be a good thing, and help you be focused or to draw that line in the sand for a simpler product that works supremely well.
-Go for “quick wins.”  Break down projects into small tasks and milestones to build momentum and motivation.  Yes! 
-“Don’t be a hero.”  “Go to sleep.”  I have a real problem with the glorification of all-nighters and other acts of “heroism” in start-ups and the corporate world in general.  True, in some instances, sleeplessness is called for to deal with real crises that require real action immediately.  In most cases, though, (sorry to sound unsympathetic), this kind of heroism can be attributed to the need to create work for its own sake (to brag about being overworked??) and/or lack of judgment about what is important and/or inefficient work habits. 
-Lastly, my favorites:  “Good enough is fine.”  “Launch now.”  No business is perfect, and if every entrepreneur perfected their product before marketing and selling it, we would still be hunting and gathering.  I look forward to our launch, when our product may not yet be perfect but will certainly be good enough.
-Mina

Saturday, October 2, 2010

3 things to look for when choosing your co-founders





This post was inspired by an article I read recently in VentureBeat, with the same title, "3 Things to Look for When Choosing Your Co-Founders".  It's quite eerie and amazing, again, how similar the three things you look for when choosing your co-founder for your business, aka the person you will go into business with – are to the things you ought to look for when choosing the co-founder for your own family and your future, a.k.a. the person you will grow your family with. 

1.       Choose a “friend” – not because they are your friend, but because they have the right combination of absolute loyalty to you and the team, and die hard trustworthiness and trust in you and the team.  Faith.  Commitment.  When the tough get rough, the bank is in the red and the world seems to be against you, will they stand by you?  Will they stick up for you?  Trust is an absolute must-have and without it, a deal breaker.  Take the time to get to know the person, grow the relationship and the trust.

2.       Choose your mirror, not your clone – choose a co-founder with the right combination of skills that complement you and the team. 

Click here to read the rest of the post.

~Arry