Blogstream of Brandon Zeuner

Posterous is growing up. Custom theming and a better user experience is their latest offering. It's the simplicity of Posterous that makes it so elegant. 

     

Click here to download:

Gigya_is_the_Plumbing_for_the_.zip (81 KB)

I learned of Gigya back at Demo in early 2008 when we launched Flypaper and saw a demo of an incredible back-end to Sprouts widget creation tool. Sprout was able to show us where their user's widgets were traveling, living and how they were performing. It was Gigya's Analytics powering this visual buffet of data. At Republic Project we used the Wildfire feature to power the sharing behind our artist widgets and now we are experimenting with their Socialize product to power sites and other widget projects. 

Gigya's Wildfire

In a nutshell Wildfire boosts widget distribution by enabling users of the widgets to easily install those widgets in places they want them, including more than 70 social networks, blog platforms and bookmarking sites – all without leaving the site or app. It helps to: 

A great quote from Sergey Brin about conducting business in an economic downturn in Google's 2008 Founders Letter:

"Nonetheless, I am optimistic about the future, because I believe scarcity breeds clarity: it focuses minds, forcing people to think creatively and rise to the challenge."

Official Google Blog: The 2008 Founders' Letter

Why, all of a sudden, is everyone an “expert?” Every month, I run across hundreds of Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn profiles that claim "expert" in the bio. Whether or not to follow or friend a person back is largely based on whether or not they make the expert claim. To me, the expert claim immediately tells me you are not an expert. Experts don't make claims. They don't have to. They’re recognized by others as an expert. Real experts may acknowledge it. They might say, "oh, I guess I am an expert," and without actually claiming it themselves, move on and let others tout their expertise. 

Twitter is chock-full of so-called social media experts, SEO experts, Internet marketing experts, network marketing experts, wine experts, mortgage experts, real-estate experts. You name it, if there is an expert out there, likely they found Twitter as a home to spout off about their awesomeness. 

On the flip side, I met with a buddy a couple of weeks ago who asked what I thought about calling himself an “M&A apprentice." He went on to explain how he’s always learning. That he’ll never be an expert. However, if you knew this guy's background, you'd agree that he's no novice. He is an expert. He’s led over 23 successful M&A's for major corporations and startups. He’s taken 2 companies public and has created more wealth for his investors and shareholders than you can imagine. He is recognized as an expert by his entire industry, yet his bio and words claim "apprentice." So, next time you think you have to  dial up the “expert” card to gain credibility, remember that most experts don’t make the claim.

Starting on September 5th I went on a social media diet. My Macbook Pro logic board bit the dust and up until yesterday I was pretty much machineless. Okay, I still checked in on emails and a few social sites, but i did very little by way of production. My diet was purely consumptive. So, I am back on board with a sorta working machine. Still working out the kinks. Time to start producing again. Oh yeah, was the break worth it (even though it was kinda forced)? Definitely!

"In a start-up company, you basically throw out all assumptions every three weeks."
-William Lyon Phelps

"Running a start-up is like being punched in the face repeatedly, but working for a large company is like being waterboarded." -Paul Graham (Ycombinator) 

This quote doesn't need much more explanation. It's one of my favorites. 

Disclaimer: This is not meant to be a stab at my older colleagues & mentors who maintain the ‘agile’ mindset. “Grey” is a metaphor. This post picks a fight with conventional mindsets in startup. TBH, at 35, I’m not a pup myself anymore and have met plenty of twenty-something entrepreneurs who operate with the old school mentality.

Right now - in tech - it’s not cool to be ‘old school’ like it was pre 2000. If I had a dollar for every time I heard someone tell me, back then, I needed more “grey” in my executive team, I could have funded two startups. And when we did add “grey” to our executive team, we were completely underwhelmed and very frustrated.

More and more, it’s apparent that “grey” does not mean “better.”   The plates have fundamentally shifted underneath us all and yet the ‘old school’ still think the old rules apply (some of them, anyway).

Here are 21 paradigm shifts that seem to recreate themselves most often when comparing the old with the new:

Paradigm #1 – Startups can be built and launched for under $500K (it’s the new $5M).

Paradigm #2 – No one really cares about how big your staff was at “successful startup A” and “shitty startup B.” TBH, the bigger the staff, the bigger the perceived weakness in your ability to build a company without loads of capital.

Paradigm #3 – Valuations are based more on market reality and less on the team’s experience and solutions that seek problems. “We’ve done this before” weighs less if the market can’t support the idea.

Paradigm #4 – We now launch imperfect products. Velocity means months, not years. 

Paradigm #5 – You’re not good enough to have an executive assistant until the profit from your production can pay his/her salary.

Paradigm #6 – Creating politics in the office to get “more productivity” is obsolete. Mainly, because our offices are more virtual and mobile. 

Paradigm #7 – Meetings are few and far between. We usually can launch a new feature before your “assistant” can coordinate a meeting across the 4 time-zones we all live in.

Paradigm #8 – Open, transparent and authentic wins over closed, cloaked and robotic. 

Paradigm #9 – An MBA or previous career at McKinsey mean very little.  (Not taking a shot at people who accomplished earning an MBA or who were part of the McKinsey DNA, I’m taking a shot at the people who think you need these credentials to run a successful startup)

Paradigm #10 – We hire less and hire slow. Testing future employees with contract work is the only way to go. 

Paradigm #11 – Picking fights in the marketplace, whether it be against conventional thinking, approaches, and even competitors, is the way of the web.

Paradigm #12 – Abandon the “big idea” and “swing for the fences” mentality. We’re happy with realistic returns (base hit exits, Baby).

Paradigm #13 – We “fuck up fast” (thanks, @ryanswagar) and reward for mistakes made quickly and handled with quick action 

Paradigm #14 – Hand waving is worthless. Do something!

Paradigm #15 – Hierarchies are for people who like to hide from execution and probably have “small wieners.”  Again, do something!

Paradigm #16 – Buying an iPhone and connecting your Bluetooth headset, walking around spouting words like “Web 20”, “Mashup” and “Cloud” do not make you new school.

Paradigm #17 – 6-legged sales/bizdev/dog & pony calls (Ari Gold is probably the only guy who can still get away with this) have been replaced by GoTo Meeting, Skype and fair deal terms.  

Paradigm #18 – Burn rates are not a sign of rapid growth. Don’t use the term loosely. (I am not saying our starts don’t have burns, but we do everything in our power to keep them low.)

Paradigm #19 – Narrow focus is good. Solve a problem not the world’s problems. (General rule of thumb: “And” statements don’t work well when positioning) 

Paradigm #20 – Stealthmode is an oxymoron on the open and distributed web. Being open and casual – hence, “open web” is not a bad thing.

Paradigm #21 – The workplace should not be hostile, especially because we spend more time there than we do at home during this phase. Unless you’re in the trenches with everyone else, sleep deprived and drinking Red Bull, you haven’t earned the right to run around, yelling at people to get shit done, depriving them of sleep and an opportunity to recharge.

Congratulations to Bob Walsh (@bobwalsh)on publishing his Web Startup Success Guide (to which our company venture51 was a part of).

As someone who’s in the middle of working with several tech startups, I can say that the stories in this book tell the real story of what it means to get a startup launched and the tools that are available. I highly recommend it to anyone thinking about starting a software/tech company, because it will give you a great insight into what to expect and where to turn to.

Three types of people should read this book ASAP -- people who are:
1. Thinking about creating a tech start-up, or working for one
2. Want to understand the real inner workings of a tech-startup
3. Older schooled techies who want to be exposed to the new opportunities in startups

The book is especially timely in these days of "Web 2010” as we exit the hype of “Web 2.0” and have to start producing results, faster and cheaper. As the hype-to-reality index returns to normalcy, "Web Startup Success Guide" includes many insights about how to give your startup the legs it needs to thrive in the economic downturn.

   

Click here to download:

The_Web_Startup_Success_Guide_.zip (218 KB)