Startup life in NYC. A pagerank 0 blog.
Entrepreneurship
Use the right tools
01 year ago
This sounds so dead obvious that most people will probably think about not even reading this.
Read it, and use it to refresh your frame of thought on the issue. This is one of the most important parts of building anything.
Every tool has trade-offs. In the software world, that trade-off is usually related to how much it can do, compared to how much effort it takes to do it.
If you want a house, you could start with:
- Atoms. It's possible, and they can certainly be combined to make yourself a house, but this is going to take wayyy too long.
- Raw materials. This is certainly reasonable, and strikes a balance. You can build the house you want without going too deep.
- Pre-fabbed frame. This is even faster and cheaper than raw lumber, but you're losing control over what your house looks like.
- A house. Hey, nobody said you can't just buy the house. Of course, you now have no say over the details of your house.
Software works in much the same way. If you want a website that does a specific thing, you could write your own webservers in assembly if you were insane. Likewise, you could just go out and buy a pre-written package that does what you want. The problem with innovative software, however, is that it doesn't already exist, at least not your vision of it. This is the point where people say "Ok, well, what are the biggest pieces that exist for each part that I need? I'll just stitch them together!" Stop. Seriously. Stop right there.
This sort of "greatest common factors" solution is often right, and can save you time. On the other hand, it can also lead you down a maze of problems that you may never return from. Every time you take on a 3rd party component, you become dependent upon their choices and design decisions. Depending upon the component, this can be good and bad. It could mean that you get free new features down the road as they are added. It could also mean that you have to manage through 12 layers of abstractions just to use the 5% of that component that you actually need.
Don't re-invent the wheel, but also don't go buy another wheel when all you needed was the spoke.
Pivot time
11 year ago
Well, I'm certainly glad I made myself establish a business case before I got busy coding. Turns out I showed up a bit late to the party, and the competition is pretty nasty.
The general gist is that I've been working on the details for an event discovery platform. The kind of web-app that helps you answer the question "What am I going to do Friday night?" I think the idea is still strong and valid, but a major wrench got thrown in my execution plans by another website that I just found. The website in question is taking a very different approach to the problem that I was, but they're solving the same problem nonetheless. In short, they're killing it. It's well-designed, well-executed site, with money, a multi-man team, and a backing design firm. Their adoption levels are insane in their target market, and they're obviously working feverishly on ramping up even more, expanding into other geos as appropriate.
My execution plan had been to execute in focused geos, building out to a larger scale system, as I could support it. Since I live in Hoboken, and it's an incredibly lucrative market for the bar/event sector, it seemed like the perfect geo #0. Well, hats off to EatDrinkHoboken.com for a great execution in this space.
Could I toe off against them and give it my best? Yes, and I think I could give them a real run for their money. On the other hand, this uphill battle just got a lot steeper. Jumping into this arena just turned from a "step in and dominate with a superior product" to "struggle for survival and market-share with a very worthy rival." The term "eat my lunch" comes to mind. I could choose to target another geo as my starting point, but not living in whatever geo that is puts me at a major disadvantage. It limits the amount of face-time I get with business owners, and I lose the subtle "feel" of the area that only a resident can have.
I believe that my original solution is still valid, but the road to it just got WAY rockier. For a one-man shop working off bootstraps, I don't think it makes sense to pursue anymore. I think it would take a 4 man full-time team to really do it well and stay on top. As I don't have the money to employ that, raising capital would be the only way to go. That's going to require a rough prototype. Quite frankly, I don't like the idea of developing a prototype that turns out useless if funding doesn't come through. Too many variables that I have no control over and are general long-shots.
Time to pivot and re-visit options.
I’m on a bus
11 year ago
by Mike
in Entrepreneurship
I'm on a bus. This ain't a trolley, it's as real as it gets.
I'm on a bus. Mother F'er, don't you ever forget.
I'm on a BoltBus up to Boston for my cousin Brad's wedding. Should be a fun family get-together, one I'm looking forward to.
I'm writing this post about customer service because, quite frankly, my experience with BoltBus thus far has been pretty terrible in that department.
From a business sense, some things are a no brainer. For instance, if there is something that costs you nothing, yet improves your customer's experience, you do it. Good customer service usually doesn't cost anymore than bad customer service. The same problems come up, and it's probably going to require the same sized staff to handle them. The difference is in the opinion that the customer has of the experience.
Smile, be nice, don't hate your job and your customers. It can be that simple. If people feel like they're at the DMV every time they interact with you, they'll start avoiding it like the DMV.
Obviously, it's better to go beyond that. Delight them and they will tell others. The will continue to patronize your business. They will be excited when you roll out new products and ways for them to give you money.
I think the problem with BoltBus is that they view themselves as an operations company. They focus all of their effort on maximizing efficiency. The problem is that their customers are not seats, they're people. I don't think BoltBus has any problem filling those seats right now, but they're selling themselves short. A little better service, and you will establish a very powerful and defensible customer base. At this point, I'd be happy to give MegaBus a try, even if it cost me an extra $5.
Adeo Ressi on “How to launch with less than $2,000″
01 year ago
by Mike
in Entrepreneurship
Well worth the 27 minutes if you're in the early development stages. I wouldn't take it as gospel, but it's a simplified roadmap to adapt to your specific situation. Presented by Adeo Ressi of the Founder Institute.
I’m a Developer
01 year ago
Starting a business means that my roles just got very generalized. It's all on me now, so I'm going to call myself a Developer. I'll be tackling a combination of Software Development and Business Development, so it seems apt. Toss some Market Development in there and we really got ourselves a party.
For this week, I'm sticking with the business side of things. No point in jumping the gun on writing code. Running full speed won't get you across the finish first if you're running in the wrong direction.
What have I been working on this week? A business plan.
I've heard a lot of talk in the tech community like "Don't bother with a business plan, just make a great product." I think that's a cop out. How long does it really take to write a business plan anyways? You can crank a rough draft out in a day. The benefit is not even the product itself. There is a disconnect between what you think, and what you can verbalize. Getting your idea into a formalized document helps with that. It forces you to organize your thoughts, articulate your assumptions, and nail a stake down on your priorities. That articulation is incredible content as you form your image. Trust me, the elevator pitch that gurgles out of your head is nowhere near as nice as one that was cherry-picked from the best ideas in your business plan.
Software development before you have a vision for your business is just an engineering way to procrastinate. Code is easy, business is hard. Cry about it, then go write your business plan.
Flying solo
01 year ago
This is a post I've wanted to write for a while now, but there were a bunch of things up in the air. That's all been figured out now.
I'm starting a business. Not just developing a software product (been there, done that), but starting a business built upon a software platform.
What's this business do you ask? Well, it's in the event-planning space. Yes, I know it's already crowded, but what space isn't on the internet. I believe that I have a better take on it than the companies already out there. I might share details here as I go forward, but I'm not ready to spill the beans quite yet. If I know you in person, expect to get my elevator pitch and be asked for brutally-honest feedback.
I'm sharing this announcement because a significant amount of my blog posts in the near future will be revolving around this leap. I'm certainly not going to structure it as a "how-to" for starting your own internet business, but more of a travelogue about what I'm putting into it. Feel free to follow along at home while I take the plunge full-time.
Feel free to share this with anyone else you know who's in the same boat or is thinking about it. I'd love to hear from people who have done this before.
Note: Yes, that's me bungy jumping. Yes, it feels very much like what I'm doing now
Why your startup should be using MongoDB
81 year ago
Here's a hint. It isn't because it's better than (insert-your-brand-here)SQL. I'm not even going to address that debate right now. It simply has to do with product iteration.
I love MongoDB as a technology, but I'm not even going to argue this from a tech perspective. The point that I want to address here is pivoting. MongoDB scales, it shards, it map-reduces, yadda yadda yadda. I love it for those things, but for a seed-stage startup, it's single biggest asset is the fact that it is schema-less, and does it beautifully.
SQL is phenomenal for enforcing rigidity onto tightly defined problems. It's fast, mature, stable, and even a mediocre developer can JOIN their way out of a paper bag. Save it for your next government defense contract. Build your startup's tech on the assumption that your business premise will change, and that you need to be ready for it. Your data schema is a direct corollary with how you view your business' direction and tech goals. When you pivot, especially if it's a significant one, your data may no longer make sense in the context of that change. Give yourself room to breath. A schema-less data model is MUCH easier to adapt to rapidly changing requirements than a highly structured, rigidly enforced schema.
This advice applies equally to great solutions such as Cassandra, CouchDB, etc. Whatever your flavor is, make sure to give yourself options. Use the most powerful and flexible technologies available to you. If a startup decided to develop their core technologies in C, under the pretenses that "It will handle more traffic per server," I'd laugh in their faces. You won't get that traffic if another company comes along and can crank out better features, and ten times faster than you. Pre-optimization is at the heart of all software evil, and it applies to data design as well. Bring SQL back into rotation after you've found your market, and a specific project calls for it. When you're first searching for that market, use the most flexible tools you can. Use tools that let you move fast, and allow you to salvage as much work as you can from efforts that dead-ended or required a pivot.
The new web: B2E
01 year ago
Business 2 Everybody is the current hot trend in the technology world, though no company will tell you that or use that term.
There are still plenty of companies trying to sell products and services to both consumers and businesses, but the hot properties realize that the web is largely about connections and information. Most money is still spent in the real-world, not online, yet almost everybody spends at least some of their time online. Businesses like Foursquare, Gowalla, Ubercab, HotPotato, Facebook, Yelp, and hundreds of others are building business models on the premise that if you can connect consumers to brick-and-mortar businesses, you can make a lot of money, while benefiting everybody. I'm not talking about throwing up some banner ads and calling it connecting. I'm talking about rich engagement that makes the web property an important channel in acquiring and keeping real consumers with real money.
B2E is exciting because there is literally not a single person in the world that these companies do not want as a customer (at least in the long run). The market is astronomical, and the game is afoot. Who can provide the richest tools, the most engaging product and the most useful information to consumers? Although eyeballs is an over-rated metric, sheer volume commands the power to truly monetize the other side of the coin, business clients. Having the power to trigger, lure, and influence desired demographics is like a superpower to a well-run business. "So, you have a really great bar. What would you pay to tell a huge chunk of your target market know how much they would love going there?" Everybody wins, so nobody even thinks twice about sending back some of that profit to the referrers, the men in the middle.
It is essentially the next evolution in affiliate marketing. Gone is the individual, beating down doors with a sketchy link, trying to make a quick buck. The latest version is a large, faceless connector that gets to know you, provides you with useful information that you want, and helps you to make better decisions that enrich your life. That information just so happens to greatly help the business that you are introduced to. My favorite thing about information is that it is rarely a zero-sum game. The connection platform has just made itself invaluable, by creating true value out of nothing.
P.S. I think defining B2E as "Business 2 Employee" is narrow, short-sighted and wasteful of a potentially great acronym. Thanks Wikipedia.
Venture Cartography
01 year ago
A visual map of the VC landscape. Currently representing SanFran, NYC, and Boston.
Be honest, and don’t bite off more than you can chew
11 year ago
by Mike
in Entrepreneurship
Be honest with yourself and others. Stand by your commitments, execute swiftly, and always follow through.
Nobody likes a talker with no action. Regardless of how much you actually accomplished, you'll look like a talker if you over-promise and under-deliver.
Do what you do before deadlines, under budget, and with exceptional quality. It's actually not hard if you are honest from the beginning on what is reasonable.