Greg Skloot Blog

The Great Idea Misconception

Sun, 12 May 2013 19:00:00 -0400

“All we need is a great idea!”

This is the starting point for most entrepreneurs, and it is quite misleading. A common belief amongst many of us entrepreneurs is that great startups come because the founders woke up one morning with a brilliant idea. The truth is, few companies were born from a single brilliant idea, and you definitely do not need to have a brilliant idea to be a founder.

Instead, great products and ventures come from listening to a customer with a pain point, and crafting a solution that solves that customer’s problem. Instead of starting with an idea, or even a problem, what if we start by picking a target customer?

As an example, suppose we want to create a new product for teachers. We are not teachers and we have no clue what teachers want. So we could consider going through a process like this:

1. Go out and talk to teachers

Cold call them, meet with them, and flat out ask them “what causes you frustrations right now?” Many entrepreneurs skip this step, or wait a long time to do it. This should be #1. They will tell us exactly what problems they are willing to pay us to solve.

2. Discover problems

As we talk to more teachers, we’ll quickly uncover a slew of challenges that they have in their jobs. As entrepreneurs, it is our role to be creative and pinpoint which problems should be solved first.

3. Quickly build solutions

From here, we can build a simple prototype solution and test it with teachers. Let them try it and see if they are willing to buy it. If not, we’ll go back and build something else. This concept is the core of lean startup, a key discipline in building successful products.

4. Woo! We have an entrepreneurial venture and new product

Instead of racking our brains trying to come up with the next brilliant idea, we started with a customer we wanted to serve and learned about their problems. They gave us the ideas, and we used our entrepreneurial creativity and drive to build solutions.

So, when you are thinking about what to do next, instead think about who you want to do it for, and they will guide you towards the right problems and solutions.

A Matter of Attitude

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 19:10:00 -0400

“Is the pizza here yet?!?” I sputtered at the new girl as I ran in and out of 150 Dodge Hall at Northeastern University, preparing for another packed room at the Entrepreneurs Club in the winter of 2012. It was Eileen Han’s first club meeting, and she had emailed me several times before to confirm her attendance. It was obvious that she was nervous; as an international student from Korea, Eileen rarely went to big events with mostly American students, always shy about her beginner English skills. It wasn’t until Eileen sent me the most appreciative follow up email I had ever received, that I even began to comprehend how her attitude enabled her to be so special.

Eileen began to send more emails to members of the Entrepreneurs Club’s leadership team, and before we knew it, everyone knew her name. She would post status after status on her Facebook page, recapping her genuine excitement and gratitude for becoming a part of our community at Northeastern. Truth be told, I had never seen anything quite like it: someone so incredibly excited about EVERYTHING, so visibly thankful for each opportunity she earned - Eileen quickly went from a stranger to a centerpiece in our group. By the end of the year, she was the only member invited to our management team’s BBQ and she received an award for her contributions.

After I graduated and took the helm as COO of influencers@, I knew I wanted the continued privilege of working with Eileen. Thanks to recruiting efforts from Matt Bilotti, Eileen joined our team there as an intern last fall. Similar to the Entrepreneurs Club, she started doing simple things like data entry. She was hungry for more, and quickly took on our accounting, bookkeeping, payroll and bank reconciliation responsibilities. She learned fast and just like at the Entrepreneurs Club, went from stranger to expert overnight. Eileen became known as the “rock” of our team - she would bake a cake when we were struggling with a tough week, and always be there with well articulated words of encouragement, which she called an #Eileenism. Once again, I had never experienced an attitude quite like hers.

Eileen’s success so far can be summed up with one word: attitude. Eileen always, and I mean ALWAYS, has the most optimistic, encouraging, positive attitude. When I am depressed, she is upbeat. She’ll pick you up when you fall and carry you to the finish line. It is that attitude that will enable her to succeed beyond most people’s wildest dreams. Similar to Orit Gadiesh, Eileen’s persistence, genuine positive attitude and caring for others will propel her to the top. Make no mistake - that great attitude will be coupled with a tremendous amount of hard work, staying up after everyone else is asleep to study more english. We can all learn an important lesson from Eileen: if you have the right attitude, you can start with nothing, knowing nobody, and quickly take yourself to a position of importance, where you are respected and valued by all. I’m excited to see all of the great things she does in the future, and I’m proud to call her a friend.

When Cool Doesn't Cut It

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 18:58:47 -0400

I’ve pitched a lot of crappy start-up ideas. Ideas for products that people didn’t want and were unwilling to pay for. Here’s the problem: the people I pitched to didn’t tell me that my ideas sucked.

Especially in the world of student start-ups, people (myself included) have a natural fear of giving negative feedback. We want to be nice and never hurt someone’s feelings. As a result, when someone pitches us a crappy idea, we might respond with “Cool!” or “Sounds pretty neat” instead of saying what we actually think: “That makes no sense, why would you build that?”

As entrepreneurs, we need people to tell us that what we are building makes no sense. Those that tell us it is “cool” and “neat” are doing us a big disservice by sparing our feelings but letting us continue down a potentially wrong path. We need people to challenge our ideas and make us answer tough questions. That is precisely how we learn and get better.

Here is a good rule of thumb: if you ask someone for feedback, see if they do one of these things:

A) Buy your product (if they are in the target market as a customer)

B) Use your product (if they are in the target market as a user)

C) Introduce you to one of their friends that is in the target market

If the person doesn’t do any of those things, your product doesn’t appeal to them. It doesn’t solve problems or add value to them, and they will not buy or use it. Figure out why and pivot.

I challenge you and myself that next time we hear an idea that doesn’t make sense or doesn’t solve a problem / add value to us, tell the truth. Give the entrepreneur genuine feedback that they can use to iterate and eventually build something we will buy.

Sticker Price Trick

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 21:51:00 -0400

The new printer is only $149!

Well, no. $149 is the sticker price. The sticker price is a tool that marketers use to trick us into thinking that purchases are cheaper than they actually are. If you are making purchases for your business, you need to be well aware of this trick and be able to get past it quickly.

The sticker price is actually the first part of a larger, more complex price for most purchases. To calculate what buying something is actually going to cost, add up:

Sticker price

+ Sales Tax

+ Time, cost, and effort to purchase the item

+ Space to store the item

+ Time, cost to clean and maintain the item

+ Repairs

+ Utilities

+ Cost to transport the item

= TRUE COST

Wow. Yeah… a lot added up. The printer actually involves ink, paper, electricity, a spot to store it, time to purchase it, time to configure it, time to teach everyone else how to use it and configure the settings on their computers. This is the thought process that managers need to go through when making a purchase.

So, the next time you are making a business decision on what to buy, make sure you are thinking about the TRUE COST: what is actually going to affect your bottom line.

How to Fire Someone

Sun, 31 Mar 2013 22:00:00 -0400

Strategy, accounting, coding… nothing is as tough as firing someone. This is probably the most dreaded activity for most managers. It was also one of the haziest subject areas when I first started my role as a COO; I had no clue how to deal with it. After conferring with some great mentors and having to deal with firing a couple of times, I’ve learned some points on how to handle it properly. It certainly does not get easier, but here are some of the tips that I learned:

1. Make it expected

When you need to end a teammate’s relationship with the company, it should not be a surprise. That is because before getting to that point, you should:

Meet with the teammate and discuss the issues they are having
Clearly lay out the objectives they must meet to improve and stay on the team
Explain that if these objectives are not met, they will not be able to remain on the team

Keep in mind, if this person is definitely not the right fit for the team, you can provide objectives that they will not likely meet, such as major changes in attitude and personality. When they inevitably do not change, you can point to the warning and have a clear reason for getting to the point of termination.

2. Have specifics

You need to have highly specific reasons for terminating the business relationship, not just “you have been doing bad work.” Instead the reasons should be “You have been 20 minute late 5 times in the past month” or “your sales numbers are 30% below our targets.” This is why it is so important to have clear Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)… you know exactly where you want to be, and if performance is not there, you have a clear reason to make changes.

3. Schedule a time & place

Try to do any terminations at the end of a pay period (usually at the end or middle of the month) and have the teammate’s final paycheck ready at the meeting. It is best to have the meeting in a private setting first thing in the morning. The office conference room is a solid spot, and remember that you and a colleague should be present at the meeting… don’t do it alone.

4. Be honest & get to the point

When you sit down for the meeting, you will be incredibly nervous. The hardest part is the first sentence, so you must get to it immediately. No beating around the bush or small talk, it just makes the whole thing more difficult. I’d recommend saying (credit to Kevin Wang for helping adjust this sentence):

“Unfortunately, things just aren’t working out, and we have to let you go.”

5. End it quickly

If the person starts to argue or ask questions, you respond with:

“I understand that this is unfortunate. However at this point the decision is not reversible.”

6. Finishing up

At that point, you should stand up, shake their hand and escort them out of the building. At the same time, you should have someone standing by to immediately cut their access to company email, files, etc. Any passwords they have should be changed immediately as well. Ensure you ask for their key to the building if they have one, and watch them walk out the door.

This process should be done with courtesy, respect and professionalism. It is highly unpleasant for both you and the person who is being let go. The best defense is hiring slowly (to find the best people) and firing quickly (when it is clear someone is not a fit after all).

Feel free to shoot me an email if you’re struggling with needing to end someone’s role at your company, it always feels good to talk it out. Good luck!

Billing 101

Sun, 24 Mar 2013 19:34:16 -0400

Considering that the lifeline of any business is money, it is pretty important to ensure you bill your customers properly and get paid for the work you do. When I first arrived at influencers@, I had no clue how to do billing properly and my invoices got a snicker or two from customers. Through trial and error, I’ve pinpointed some best practices for billing. For new business owners and operators, feel free to leverage these and make your billing rock.

1. Be plain and clear

I remember when I sent an invoice to Ryan Durkin at Dailybreak and he said something along the lines of “Yeah, my invoices used to look like this too.” It turns out, lots of colors and a sleek design are NOT appropriate for invoices. On the contrary, accountants and operators want the bare minimum: just clear information like the date, invoice #, services rendered and amount due. Skip the fluff.

2. Bill in regular intervals

Most companies pay their bills in regular intervals, so match that with your billing cycle. Sending an invoice weekly can be extra work for your customers, and many of them will only pay once or twice per month. To find a balance between managing cash flow and making my customer’s lives easy, I bill on the 15th and 30th of each month.

3. Set your terms: net 15

Invoices should specify how long a customer has to pay, and potentially offer a small discount for paying early. I usually set my invoices at a term of net 15, which means that my customers are expected to pay within 15 days of the date of the invoice.

4. Gather the tools: Quickbooks

I started with making invoices by hand in Google Docs and Adobe Indesign. Please do not ever do this! Instead, turn to accounting software like Quickbooks Online that manage your invoices, expenses and payroll under one roof. Quickbooks makes it easy to create and send invoices straight to your customers.

5. Deliver electronically

In today’s day and age, invoices should be delivered via email to your customer’s Accounts Payable department, while also CCing your primary contact at the company so they are kept in the loop. I send these invoices from my own email account so customers can reply directly if they have any questions regarding the charges.

6. Allow customers to pay via check & electronically

Most customers will pay invoices via a check. However, for convenience, consider leveraging an online payment system that enables your customers to pay via a bank transfer or credit card. Intuit has one of these systems that integrates right into Quickbooks, and it costs only $0.50 per transaction (no % fee, for real!)

7. Follow up when bills are not paid

Occasionally, a customer might lose your invoice or forget to pay. If so, a friendly reminder via email or call can be used to remind them and ensure that the payment is processed. Quickbooks shows a list of all unpaid invoices and the amount of days outstanding for each, so this can be used as a checklist for which customers need to be followed up with.

10 Lessons Learned as COO of influencers@

Sun, 17 Mar 2013 19:18:00 -0400

It’s bittersweet to share that this was my last week as COO of influencers@. After 1 year with the company, I’ve decided to take a step back and explore other opportunities. This was my first post-graduation role and first time running a real business with employees, cash and customers. It was an amazing ride and I learned more than I could have ever imagined. Specifically:

1. How to hire people

I recruited nearly the entire team… 15 fantastic entrepreneurs, marketers, salesman, operators and more. Creating an interview process, learning about the different recruiting channels and being able to identify proper culture fit were all great challenges thrown my way over the past year.

2. How to do accounting, billing and payroll

When I joined influencers@, I took over all of our accounting, managing the P&L, billing our customers and paying our employees and contractors. I gained a deeper understanding for managing cash flow, properly categorizing expenses and creating sustainable billing and pay practices (pay and bill on-time, collect in 30 days, etc).

3. How to create process for a cranking business

As we grew, I had many opportunities to create processes that made our operations more efficient and cost effective. From our weekly check-ins to one goal a day system, I found numerous ways to boost team productivity.

4. How to manage people that rely on me for a pay check

Managing volunteers at the NU Entrepreneurs Club was very different than our paid team members at influencers@. Knowing they relied on Spencer and I for a pay check added a lot of pressure that I’m glad I experienced as a young manager.

5. How to code software

When the college marketing agency expanded, I realized the necessity for a more powerful way to manage our workflow and track our data. I then sought out to build Campaign Tracker, a PHP web application that managed the entire lifecycle of our business, from event scheduling to payroll.

6. How to recruit developers

Finding capable technical leaders is a challenge for any start-up. I learned how to leverage my network and bring on hackers like David Thor to help create advanced architecture for a web product.

7. How to fire people

I needed to let several people go during my time as COO, and it was one of the harder things I’ve ever had to do. A post is coming soon describing the lessons I learned on how to fire someone properly.

8. How to build a company culture

Culture is key, and at influencers@ there is a unique one. My business-style with Spencer’s wackiness made for a fun and productive work environment. From setting the tone of the office to taking group trips, I experienced culture building at it’s finest.

9. How to engage with vendors

I established relationships with many vendors, negotiated volume discounts and set-up proper processes for paying our invoices in a timely manner. Dealing with other businesses on a peer level was different than the interactions I had as a student at Northeastern - and a welcomed experience.

10. How to setup scalable IT for a start-up

There were many software applications I tested and implemented for our team, from Quickbooks to Producteev. I learned about the value of cloud management solutions like Google Apps (every single file our team worked on was based in the cloud).

I’ll be announcing my next move soon, so stay tuned and please reach out if you have any advice to share.

Most importantly, I owe a huge thanks to Spencer Bramson, who gave me a chance last year to have a shot at running a company. He gave me real responsibility and a fantastic first role in my post-Northeastern career. I know he will go on to do great things, and wish him and influencers@ the best!

An Entrepreneurship Story

Sun, 10 Mar 2013 18:44:00 -0400

Over the past few years, the NU Entrepreneurs Club has grown tremendously. I compiled all of the stories and lessons learned into my first book: Getting Organized. Today, I am thrilled to share it with everyone. In Getting Organized, I write about many of the student leaders who made it all possible.

Check it out and download the free PDF!

Getting Organized... in 2 weeks

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 19:02:00 -0500

One of my most treasured experiences as an undergrad was building and scaling the Northeastern Entrepreneurs Club. It became a success story and enabled many students to pursue their passions and grow as entrepreneurs.

To reflect and share how our team built and grew the club, I decided to write it all down. With 30,000 words later, I wrote a book, titled Getting Organized.

The book is a manual for how to start and grow any student-led group on a college campus, and it uses the Entrepreneurs Club as an example. Throughout Getting Organized, I share stories about members and leaders, while providing step-by-step instructions on how to handle everything from marketing to fund-raising.

My hope is that it helps other student leaders create world-class organizations on their campuses.

Getting Organized will release in 2 weeks on March 10th. It’ll be available as a FREE e-book download.

5 Software Products You Need

Sun, 10 Feb 2013 22:27:23 -0500

Thanks to a world full of eager developers and creative entrepreneurs constantly building new things, businesses have a mountain of low-cost web software products that we can leverage to make our organizations run more efficiently. Since I started as COO of influencers@, I’ve been on the hunt for the best mix of these products to implement for our team. Here are the findings… I hope you can use them for your team as well!

1. Google Apps

This system has become the lifeline of our business. Our email, calendar, contacts and documents all work around the Google Apps system. The only documents, spreadsheets and presentations we make are done via Google Docs, and all other files like photos and videos are stored on Google Drive. Everything syncs to the cloud from my team’s local computers, so it’s effortless to share files, change permissions and collaborate.

2. Producteev

When it comes to social collaboration, Producteev owns it by making it easy to assign tasks, follow up on to-do items and share information throughout the team. Producteev lets us tag different tasks and track what areas of the business are keeping us busy. It also enables us to prioritize what we need to focus on across all of our different business units.

3. Quickbooks Online

All of our financials are run through Quickbooks Online - it is an incredible tool to track expenses, invoice customers, pay employees and more. Everytime we write a check it is logged in Quickbooks, and when our team wants to get a pulse on how our business is doing financially, it’s as simple as clicking “Run Report” in our online control panel.

4. Toggl

Most teams are constantly moving from one task to another. Especially if you are doing those tasks for customers, you’ll want to track time. Toggl is both a web and mobile app that allows us to easily track the time we spend on certain tasks for certain customers. It allows us to effortlessly figure out how much time to bill for when we do design work and more.

5. Pipedrive

If you are selling anything, you need to track the interactions you have with customers in a CRM. Pipedrive makes it simple to track leads, see our sales pipeline and remember who to follow up with. It enables us to have different sales pipelines for different products, compare performance of sales reps and much more.

So, if you are starting a new business and thinking about what software solutions might help you move faster and work smarter, try these out and let me know what you think!

Colossal Customer Service

Sun, 03 Feb 2013 20:00:00 -0500

“We have a problem!” proclaims influencers@ service lead, Dan Wendt, as he hangs up the phone. “The Brand Ambassador who is supposed to do today’s in-store sampling promotion has a family emergency and needs to cancel.” Matt Martin, our account manager, looks at Dan, then back at his computer. “We can’t disappoint the customer, she is expecting us to be there. I’ll do it myself.” Matt says. With that, Matt begins packing his bag for the hour drive to the promotion, knowing that he’ll have a mountain of other work to complete when he is back, and by that time it will be far past “business hours.”

Matt ended up performing incredibly well at the promotion, sampling and selling a substantial volume of product, ultimately wowing our customer. While it isn’t Matt’s direct role to do promotions as a Brand Ambassador, it is most definitely his responsibility to consistently deliver colossal customer service - going above and beyond to keep our customers happy and build strong relationships. This is what makes Matt such a talented people person and an excellent account manager - he will do whatever it takes, even sitting in traffic and driving an hour to a promotion, in order to ensure our customers succeed.

Similar to the attitude at Zappos, it is crucial to strive towards providing world class customer service every time, regardless of the size of the customer or magnitude of the issue. It’s easy to quickly forget this rule and get frustrated, but it is always worth the extra effort to make customer service a top priority. Consider the following to always deliver world class customer service:

1. Customer service is everyone’s job

Everyone at your company should be talking to customers. I know some firms that go as far as having developers speak directly to customers. Whether you are the Product Manager or COO, you should be jumping in to help customers whenever something is needed.

2. The simple things go a long way

Customer service can be as simple as giving a customer a quick call to check in on how they are doing, congratulating them on a big product launch or letting them know in advance if you foresee an issue with their service. You don’t need to spend a ton of time or money to make customers happy.

3. Focus on actions, not explanations

At the end of the day, customers care about results. Spend your time delivering tangible results and actions as opposed to describing what happened in the past or what you can do in the future. Do it now and show your customers that you mean business.

An Opportunity to Fail

Sun, 27 Jan 2013 23:18:00 -0500

David Oates, Ze’ev Klapow and I spent the majority of 24 hours this weekend participating in NU ACM’s Beanpot Hackathon, organized by Wylie Conlon. There were roughly 90 young people at the event, all tasked with rapidly prototyping new software in just 1 day. As I watched demo after demo of incredibly usable products being showcased, I was reminded of the importance of having an opportunity to fail.

I’ve been to start-up weekend style events before, many of which focus on coming up with ideas and plans, usually emerging with a polished slide deck to share with the judging panel. While this is certainly a fun exercise, there is something to be said about taking those ideas and quickly turning them into something real. By having something real and tangible, even if it is crappy, you can gather genuine feedback, and most importantly, you get the opportunity to fail. Ideas on a slide deck are not real enough to fail - they are safe and secure. A prototype on the other hand is real and genuine - it hurts when it is shot down. You are more motivated to fix it and make it better.

So with that said, here is what I learned at the Beanpot Hackathon:

1. You need an opportunity to fail

Make something, don’t just talk about it. Talk is cheap and doesn’t give you a real opportunity to fail. A minimum viable product does.

2. You can create software incredibly quickly

I was amazed by the quality and depth of many of the projects demoed. A huge amount of progress was made in a very short period of time.

3. You can have fantastic results if you’re having fun

The students at the Beanpot Hackathon were coding for hours because it was genuine fun. It was the same stuff that companies pay $100,000 salaries for, and we were all doing it just for fun on a Friday night.

All in all, it was a fantastic experience. Well done to the organizers and thank you to the sponsors. I can’t wait for the next one!

Punctual Payments

Sun, 20 Jan 2013 19:00:00 -0500

There are few things that cause us more paranoia than money. Where is it? How do I get it? Is anyone taking it? When a business provides services and sends its customers an invoice, the expectation is to be paid the proper amount in a timely manner. For some businesses, the timing of payments is a critical component because they need that cash to buy more raw materials to make more products to sell.

One of my responsibilities as COO of influencers@ is to manage all of our vendor relationships, in addition to handling all billing of our customers. Sitting on both sides of the table as a vendor and a customer, I quickly learned the importance of paying on time. Similar to being a good neighbor and not blasting music at 2am, being a good customer and paying your bills on time signals to your vendors that you are honest, trustworthy and value their relationship.

Sometimes, paying on time is not so simple because your customers are waiting for their own invoices to be paid so they can pay you. Consider the follow guidelines to ensure you are a good customer for your vendors by making punctual payments:

1. Organize invoices properly

Whenever a vendor sends you an invoice, be sure to organize it properly so it doesn’t get lost in the shuffle. I work with Eileen Han on our team to log each invoice in an expense form and check that form at the time of each payment period to make sure we don’t forget anything.

2. Keep vendors updated on payment status

Knowledge is power and comfort. Let your vendors know when you have received their invoice and when a check has been sent. If they send you the invoice on the 7th of the month and your company policy is to pay invoices on the 15th, simply let them know that you’ll be sending a check on the 15th.

3. Be brutally honest

If there is ever an issue with paying an invoice, the best course of action is to be completely honest with your vendor. They are business owners too and will likely understand. They might be willing to work out a payment plan or write off a part of the invoice. After all, they want to keep you as a customer and help your business grow so you’ll continue to buy more from them.

4. Treat vendors the way you want customers to treat you

This one is simple - just remember that you are to your vendors as your customers are to you. You would hate it if your customer didn’t pay you on time, so give your vendors the same courtesy that you expect from your customers.

One Goal a Day

Sun, 13 Jan 2013 14:03:29 -0500

“Alright class, settle down!” boomed Chris Walsh, my 9th grade science teacher. As the high school freshmen entered the classroom, the first thing each student did was dart to the right side of the blackboard to look at the day’s agenda. Each morning, Mr. Walsh would write the objective for the day, the specific topics the class would be covering, and that evening’s homework assignment. I headed to my desk, confident I could attack the day’s challenging astronomy curriculum because I knew what to expect.

The daily agenda was one of the most effective strategies I saw a teacher use because it kept the entire class on the same page. Everyone knew what was going on and what was expected of them. Both the teacher and students were held accountable for accomplishing the clear task outlined on the blackboard.

As I thought about ways to use this strategy for my team at influencers@, we ended up trying a new idea deemed One Goal a Day. With the help of Eileen Han and Devon Grodkiewicz, we drew a big chart on the whiteboard next to the door with every team member’s name on it. Next to each name is a spot to write one goal that they want to accomplish each day. As everyone walks into HQ, they go to the chart and write one concrete goal that they want to accomplish by end of day.

What is so great about this system?

1. It keeps people organized

Occasionally, we will get to the end of a day and think to ourselves, “What the heck did we accomplish today?” Writing a goal keeps us on track with a clear path towards exactly what we need to complete.

2. It keeps people accountable

When we proclaim publicly on the One Goal a Day chart that we are going to accomplish something, the rest of the team now knows about it. That social pressure holds us accountable to ensure the task is completed.

3. It forces people to think in the morning

Since writing the goal is the first thing that we do in the morning, it forces us to think about how the business day is going to be a great one before arriving at the office. This way, people are already coming in with a mission, ready to attack it.

What kind of tactics do you use to keep people in your organization on track, organized and accountable?

Exceptional Developers = $explanation++;

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 06:00:00 -0500

“Version Control is an essential part of our engineering process, so I want to make sure you totally understand it,” says David Thor, Lead Developer of ChatterMob, as he begins a Tuesday night lesson on Github for Product Manager Matt Bilotti and I. David proceeds to use a whiteboard to draw out exactly how uploading files and other Version Control tasks are completed. Throughout, he goes slowly and always stops for our exhausting questions. The next morning, I receive an email from David with a new front-end layout he threw together later that night after our lesson.

There are many factors to consider when identifying the best developers, and one crucial element is desire and ability to explain. Similar to Drew D’Agostino, David has an ability to explain complex concepts to technical and non-technical stakeholders. More importantly though, David also has a seemingly innate desire to do so - he prides himself on making wiki documents, doing lessons and even writing detailed articles. At the same time - David is as technical as they come - an architect that has the rare expertise to think 3 steps ahead when building systems that are scalable and adaptable to an ever-changing start-up climate.

When I hire technical leaders, I want them all to be like David - technical masterminds who also crave sharing their knowledge with others. Teammates like David want the entire team to succeed because they make an extra effort to ensure everyone “gets it” and can contribute when necessary. So, if you are a developer and want to be well respected by everyone on your team just like David is for us, consider the following:

1. Document and comment like crazy

When you work through a process, write it down. Maintain a team-wide wiki that is shared with everyone from designers to the CEO. You never know when something breaks and someone random needs to jump in to help - it’s good to have instructions.

2. Spend the extra time to explain

Impatience sometimes gets the best of us and encourages us to keep information to ourselves rather than spend an extra few minutes to explain it to someone who is still learning. Great developers understand the power of collaboration and sharing responsibilities. Explain what you are doing to both technical and non-technical people. Stop and spend more time if they are confused. It’ll enable everyone to make better decisions and ultimately act quicker.

3. Think outside the code

While companies like influencers@ rely on the crank culture to push hard through developing products quickly, it’s important to consider when it makes sense to unplug and huddle with the entire team to communicate issues and come to a consensus before you get too deep into a project and have to refactor.

No More Spreadsheets

Sun, 09 Dec 2012 20:58:00 -0500

“Damn, this thing is tough to look at” I thought to myself as I stared at the Campaign Tracker spreadsheet during my first day as COO of influencers@. This master spreadsheet contained all of the information about the marketing campaigns we were working on and was used to keep track of who is working when, locations, payroll and everything in between. As I scrolled through the seemingly endless spreadsheet I could see lists of campaigns we worked on months ago, stacked next to the ones we had scheduled for the next day. Thinking aloud, I mutter “there has to be another way to do this… it may have worked in the early days, but if we want to scale this business we need something better.”

Part of the job of a COO is to analyze business processes and craft solutions to make them more efficient. Our campaign tracking process was a prime example of one in need of serious improvement. In order to improve, I knew that we needed an:

Appealing view of what marketing campaigns we need to focus on at a given time
Easy way to track which student Brand Influencers are working on a campaign
Automation of the time-consuming billing and payroll process
Effortless reminders for staff regarding when they are working and where to go
Access to rich data and intelligence on what is effective and not so effective on our campaigns

I quickly realized the best way to improve this process was to leverage technology and software, and thus I decided to code my second back-end PHP project, a web app called Campaign Tracker that has left our old spreadsheet collecting dust in the corner and given our team access to unparalleled insight and efficiency for our service business.

The software takes the same data about our marketing campaigns that was initially entered into the spreadsheet and instead stores it in a database. The simple value of this is that we can pull that data out in a variety of different ways and use it to make better business decisions. Using Campaign Tracker, our Service staff can instantly find out which Brand Influencers are the most effective through ratings on each campaign, how much payroll needs to be issued and a wealth of other vital business statistics. Our senior leaders can use Campaign Tracker to get a quick pulse on our Service division’s performance.

I learned a ton from this project, and am proud of how beneficial it has been for our business. I’m understanding more and more how valuable it is to be a ”technical operator” - one who gets both the business side of things and how to use technology to work smarter. I’m excited to continue to learn about how to grow a business and develop great software.

Special thanks to Kirill Klimuk, Drew D’Agostino and David Thor for their selfless assistance on the many code questions I asked them throughout developing Campaign Tracker.

The ROI of Smiling

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 06:00:00 -0500

“Good morning, welcome to Unconference!” I said with a smile as hundreds of entrepeneurs, CEOs and students alike trickled into MassTLC’s signature event of the season.

As a volunteer at the event with Ryan Durkin, my assignment was easy: stand at the entryway and greet everyone that comes in with a smile while directing them into the check-in room. I jokingly thought to myself, “So this is what it is like to be a Walmart Greeter.” But what I quickly discovered is how much of an impact a simple welcome and smile from stranger to stranger is.

If you are in a bad mood, and a stranger is nice to you, you instinctively respond in a nice way back. If you get smiled at, you smile in return and start to feel happier. If someone was coming into that conference after a lousy bus ride or not enough coffee in the morning, my quick smile ensured that they walked in feeling better.

This has important implications for customer service - when one of your customers (sometimes a stranger to you) seems to be on the warpath, ready to scream at anyone from your business, the best way to respond is with shocking kindness and a smile. A straight forward response back that is apologetic, includes action and demonstrates genuine kindness and respect throws anyone on the warpath immediately off.

Bottom line advice:

Smile at everyone
Say please and thank you
Throw off someone’s anger with genuine kindness

So remember, whether it is at an event or in your office, play the role of a Greeter and keep everyone happy.

Student Startup Dilemma

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 06:00:29 -0500

There is a problem with student-run startups: the vast majority of them flop. They rarely move past the project stage and become real businesses. As the former President of the NU Entrepreneurs Club and the founder of multiple “student run startups” like Quiree, I know this problem well, and I want to solve it.

What causes the problem?

NOT talent. Students are as talented, or more so, than their peers who have recently graduated. I’ll hire a student any day of the week and expect huge performance from them.
NOT drive. Students these days are more ambitious than ever. They push and push, with the firm belief that they can do anything.
NOT lack of resources. Here in Boston we have everything from university programs like IDEA to organizations like GreenhornConnect and Venture Cafe, complete with no-strings-attached $10,000 funding grants and access to the best mentors.

Instead, the problem is, overwhelmingly: student startups do not solve real problems.

A real problem must have three key attributes:

Cost people money. (Remember, time equals money.)
Cause people pain.
Cause people to seek an alternative.

The majority of student startups I see—including several of the ones I did myself—focus on alleviating small annoyances and building widgets. A widget is a simple app that might seem novel, but doesn’t really solve anything or have a way of generating cash. These are easy to think of and usually cater to college students. Unfortunately, they are also not designed to grow into the real businesses that student founders think they have the potential to become.

Now, these “startup failures” can still be fantastic learning experiences and I wholeheartedly encourage any entrepreneurial student to pursue whatever project they are the most passionate about. In order to help guide you in the right direction on what startup project to attack, consider the following:

1. Think outside of the campus.

While life may seem tough at times, the truth is college students don’t have a lot of painful and costly problems—except perhaps college itself. If college students are your buyer, you better come up with a compelling product that they need. If they are your user, there must be another group (i.e. businesses, advertisers, etc.) that stand to make a lot of money by paying you for having students use the product.

2. Use the three problem points.

Those three characteristics of real problems should constitute your checklist. Whenever you are considering an idea, ask yourself: “Does my problem cost people money? Is it causing pain? Are people actually seeking solutions?”

3. Gather a ton of feedback.

Email or cold-call your way into meetings with successful post-graduate entrepreneurs in town and pitch them your idea, while also explicitly asking for genuine feedback. Ultimately, you may need to hear that your idea is not solving a real problem, so you can find a real one to focus on.

4. Build something quickly and see if people will use or pay for it.

A pretty good indicator of whether you are solving a real problem or not is if people are quickly willing to try it, use it or even buy it. If this is something that will take you months to develop and years to “monetize,” it might not make sense as a student startup project.

5. Ignore the consumer-web giants like Facebook, Twitter, Groupon, etc.

This one is tough because, as students, these are the companies we look up to thinking, “Wow, we want to be just like them.” The harsh reality is that while these are the companies we see and hear about all of the time, the statistical probability of a student startup turning into one of them is so incredibly low, that it might make more sense to learn through working on something more attainable, and leverage that experience to create the next Facebook. Northeastern student Jacob Mulligan’s first venture was painting houses. He made real money and learned invaluable lessons about how to handle cash and manage employees. This was a fantastic experience and should be looked to as a model.

If students consider these points, we’ll all still learn a ton and maybe even have some new businesses, ready to hire.

Focus for Startups

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 07:00:00 -0500

My head was spinning. Sales seemed to be exploding in growth and service delivery was sprinting as it tried to fulfill all of the new customers that influencers@ marketing agency was getting. My task seemed simple - ensure service delivery can keep up with sales and scale operations to do so. Execution proved to be a lot more challenging and I couldn’t quite pinpoint why. There was more work to do, so we could just hire more people, add a proportional amount of resources, etc. I then stumbled upon an interesting dilemma: sales was selling new stuff that we had never done before. It wasn’t super different, but it was outside of our core competencies, and the processes and people we had in place were not designed/trained to deliver the new services.

While we absolutely wanted to scale our start-up, we quickly learned a very important lesson: sometimes, scaling up is far more effective than scaling out. Instead of trying to add lots of new services to our offerings that require totally different people and processes, we should instead focus on building up ultra core competencies in a few distinct service offerings, and recruit the very best people to run them.

This is all about focusing on a few key things and not trying to be the best at everything. When you are a huge company you can consider being a “one stop shop”, but start-ups just don’t work that way. Just focus on what you do best, the rest will work out.

My Solution for influencers@:

I broke our business down into 3 core service areas (I call them the 3 Revenue Channels). These are the 3 ways that we make money, the 3 things that our service delivery department must be great at and the 3 things our sales staff must know inside and out. Our entire team sat down around the conference table and went over each of the 3 Revenue Channels in detail, and then I printed them out on a 1 pager and taped it to the walls of the office.

The results have been strong: we have focus and a common understanding. Everyone knows exactly what areas we are going to scale in and what our goals are. Now we go make it happen.

Welcome to Backend

Sun, 04 Nov 2012 22:48:00 -0500

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been hacking away at my first web application while learning backend development, and I’m thrilled to release Signin App to the world (well, for now the Northeastern Entrepreneurs Club).

It all started with a business case: the E-Club was growing like crazy last year, and as President, it was tough for me to get accurate insight on how many members were attending our events, which events were the most popular, and what demographics of members our club appealed to the most. We relied heavily on disorganized spreadsheets, creating hours of work for Cory Bolotsky doing V-lookups to get an accurate view of member retention.

So, I decided to leverage software to fix that problem. The Signin App is a PHP/MySQL web application that tracks member attendance for any event-driven organization and shows administrators real-time data on who their members are and how events are performing.

With just the click of a mouse, the E-Club leaders can now find out which events are working, who their most dedicated members are and use that insight to create more engaging events. While the software is being piloted with the E-Club, it could be valuable for many similar organizations.

What I learned:

Coding is incredibly valuable to learn. This app revolutionizes a simple business process.
You need a real business challenge to learn to code. Online tutorials are not good enough.
User feedback is key. I iterated on the sign-in page of the app 4 times before I got it right.

So far, users have signed in using the app 1,500+ times. I’m looking forward to gathering more feedback, iterating and seeing how this project might add value to other organizations.