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Cliff Shaw on lessons learned and moving forward

December 22, 2007

Cliff Shaw is a Boulder-based entrepreneur that I first met a little over a year ago when he was launching ProtectMyPhotos. Here’s my coverage of that startup in November, 2006. He and his team had a nice earlier success called Family Tree Legends, which exited a few years back. Cliff and his gang also recently launched DocSyncer which is a seamless way to synchronize documents stored on your local machine with Google Docs. DocSyncer works well and it has people talking.

I recently caught up with Cliff to ask if reports that ProtectMyPhotos was now dead and gone were true, as well as to talk a little more about DocSyncer.

Cliff, is it true that ProtectMyPhotos is dead?

ProtectMyPhotos was not to be and is ceasing operations at the end of the year. I take failure pretty well. When something isn’t working, there’s no sense in crying about it - let’s just figure out what we need to do to work towards our next success.

How did you arrive at the decision to shut down?

The decision wasn’t clear cut. Sure, we ran out of money and that helped the decision. However, considering all the hype surrounding online backup, I’m certain we could’ve gotten more. We arrived at the decision when we realized two things:

  • We were bored with backup. What more can you do with a name like ProtectMyPhotos other than just that. Some people are great at running boring businesses - and we thought we could hang with this. In the end, we realized that our creativity was being crushed by an idea that put us to sleep. My business partner and I came to the realization that what fires us up to come to work everyday is the feeling that we can build really cool things that people care about. Sorry but no one is “passionate” about their backup service.
  • Chasing Best Buy. Very early on, we made some connections at the company and started pursuing a multi-million dollar deal to license the service to them under a number of structures (such as bundling it with their hardware service plans). We had a number of executives in decision-making roles using and loving our service. However, after almost two years of pursuit, we didn’t lose the deal - they just couldn’t make a decision. They knew we were the best solution but we couldn’t wait around forever.

Have others made offers to acquire ProtectMyPhotos? Will you go the eBay route worst case?

We’ve gotten a few offers but I’m not sure if any of these will really come through. From the outside, with a 2 person team, we made ProtectMyPhotos look like a heavily-funded market leader. The service had the highest rated user experience (one example: CNET called us the “best photo backup ever”) that was offered in 14 languages. At the end of day, none of this really mattered because it didn’t convert to sales.

I’m not a big fan of the eBay route. Without trying to sell the company on eBay, we can’t know what we would get. However, once we start the process, we pretty much have to agree to the price, no matter how low it is. It would cost us major money and time to even close a deal - what if it was for only $50,000?

What are the big lessons you learned from protectmyphotos?

Several.

  • Don’t chase a single deal, no matter how big the opportunity, if it’s going to kill most of your time. This puts way too many eggs in one basket - a classic mistake in business. Our eyes were captivated by a 7-figure deal and we got tunnel-vision. Big mistake.
  • Don’t over-invest in an idea until the market proves it to you. On paper, ProtectMyPhotos looked like a slam dunk of a business. The market research said 97% of people would be distraught if they lost their photos, among plenty of other stats that looked amazing to us. In the past, I never built a company based on market research and I regret doing it this time. Saying you’re concerned about something does not mean you want to pay to do something about it. People may care - but do they care enough to part with their money?
  • Don’t build anything that doesn’t have a viral component. ProtectMyPhotos had no way to promote itself to the friends and family of its members. We were a private backup service with a very limiting name, which brings me to my next point.
  • Don’t pick a limiting name. Sure, Web 2.0 names can get rather ridiculous. We were trying to make a service that appealed to the masses and thought a simple, descriptive name would work best. The name was deadly effective at telling people what we do. If our business had worked out, I’d be telling people to pick really specific names. However, when it starting looking like we needed to switch plans, we were stuck with this name. Sure, we could’ve renamed the company but that’s even harder when you’re service is being tested in Best Buy stores.
  • Fail quicker and spend less money doing it. We only lost $280,000. That’s a lot of money, no doubt, but we could’ve lost $2.8 million. When I look back, I think we could’ve lost even less money figuring out that ProtectMyPhotos wasn’t going to work.
  • The biggest lesson we learned of all: Do what you’re passionate about. In the startup world, if you’re bored, you might as well be dead.

Great stuff. It’s clear that you’ve thought about these lessons in depth. The fail quicker mantra, while counterintuitive to many, can be so important.

Cliff, are the same people behind DocSyncer?

Yes - the two primary partners are moving to DocSyncer. Our part-time C++ developer isn’t. We’re looking for someone to fill this position now.

DocSyncer seems useful and obviously people seem to like it. The criticism I’ve seen is that there is no supporting revenue model. Can you comment on this?

We love this criticism! It keeps people from cloning us.

Our business model is far better than what people think. There are 500 million users of Microsoft Office worldwide with 100 million of these copies installed in U.S. workplaces. Every year, companies spend billions upgrading and maintaining office software, even though we all know 90% of the features are never used by most people. Microsoft brings in no less than $13 billion in cash every year from Microsoft Office. That’s a lot of money wasted on software that people aren’t even using that much.

Along comes Google Docs, which now has all of the important features found in Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. However, for someone considering Google Docs, Microsoft still has a virtual monopoly over their existing documents. It’s not easy for the everyday person to migrate their entire document library to Google Docs. Until DocSyncer, that is. By automatically uploading all of your existing documents to Google Docs, you can seamlessly migrate away from Microsoft Office. Plus, DocSyncer offers you remote access to your existing document files, mobile access through Google Docs Mobile, and automatic backup with versioning. You can even file associate all your existing documents with Google Docs using our service so when you click on a document in Windows Explorer, it will auto-launch in Google Docs in your browser. And get this: It’s even faster than loading the document in Word.

This kind of seamless experience is where our business model comes in. By removing all barriers to entry to using Google Docs, businesses will have to take a hard look at why they pay $200 for a copy of Office for workers who will most likely never use most of it. The future Enterprise version of DocSyncer will probably cost $25 per employee per year - saving the company a lot of money on Office and boosting productivity by easing document sharing and collaboration. We’ll start with small companies, since the adoption will be easier. We find that most companies are starting to trust having their information stored in the cloud. I personally believe that Google protects my information far better than a Windows computer connected to the Internet ever could. Will certain employees still want or need Office? Sure, but the majority of the market will have a hard time justifying the continual billions spent per year just for a few extra features that most don’t use.

Where does DocSyncer go from here?

We want build a complete document management, sharing, and synchronization company (and not just about Google Docs). We’re in the fund-raising process now, even though we just passed 1 million documents synced and 6,000 users (1600 more than $280,000 bought us in the last business!). Since honesty in the startup world seems like a rarity (everyone’s ego is telling them to hide their faults maybe), I’ll be very frank in saying that we’re having a fairly hard time raising money. I’ve met too many VC’s that would “need” to invest more to make the investment worth it to them. This sounds like the playbook from 1999 - we don’t need more money and wouldn’t know what to do with it. I’ve built and sold 2 successful businesses (with 7-figure exits) on less than $150,000 so I don’t really understand their logic. As for local angels, we just don’t know many of them.

Thanks Cliff. It’s amazing that you’ve passed the 1 million document mark already! Best of luck with DocSyncer, and thanks for your candor relating to ProtectMyPhotos.

Written by David Cohen · Filed Under Blog, Startups |  

Overheard (from far, far, far away)

December 16, 2007

This “overheard” comes to you from Fox Glacier on the south island of New Zealand. We have a day of blogging and reading since it’s raining like crazy here (videos etc on my personal blog, if you care). Our helihike was delayed a day, and so, I have caught up on some RSS reading thanks to Newgator online edition at our B&B. Some interesting stuff I overheard was…

Written by David Cohen · Filed Under Blog, Startups |  

Social music network Iggli nearing private beta

December 16, 2007

igglilogo.pngBefore taking off for some world traveling earlier this month (hence the light posting frequency), I had a quick chat with Tom Higley of the stealthy Boulder startup called Iggli.com. Iggli has been busily building their “social music network” for about a year, and now has ten employees. Originally the company started as Vault Alliance, but changed both the name and the focus fairly early on.

Tom is the only founder of the company, which has been backed thus far by a handful of well known angel investors. Tom previously founded companies such as StillSecure, Service Metrics, NETDelivery and FortNet.

So what is a “social music network”, exactly? Only time will tell - Iggli plans to open to the public in mid-2008, with a limited private beta starting around February. The main thing I wanted to get out of Tom was how Iggli would be differentiated from the masses of other music oriented social networks.

Tom explained that Iggli will go far beyond simply mashing up a social network with content. He insists that it’s a social music network, rather than a music social network. The implication is that iggli will be first and foremost about the music, with social features to support and extend the experience of the music. I also learned that Iggli has forged some strong relationships in the music industry. For example, Iggli plans to include the ability for members to listen to full tracks and to form community around music and artists in ways which the artists themselves will appreciate and support.

Of course, attracting users is always the hard part. While iggli does intend to be a destination site, it will also be distributed through other services such as Facebook and mobile services which can in theory help build a substantial early base of users.

Tom says Iggli will be free to end users and will initially target 18-24 year olds directly. However, a site like this will of course bleed over to music lovers of all ages if successful. That’s a good thing, since Tom has graciously invited me to play with the private beta in a few months time and I’m “just over” that high water mark.

If you’d like the chance to play with the private beta too, you can request it here. Meanwhile, check out the Iggli blog squad which consists of about 20 bloggers in Colorado, LA, and San Francisco talking about all things music and social, many of which are quite interesting.

I’ll post my thoughts on the early beta of Iggli in a few months.

Written by David Cohen · Filed Under Blog, Startups |  

Ken Morse at MIT Enterprise Forum Dec 18

December 6, 2007

Here’s a new entry on the Colorado Startups events calendar. It’s December 18 in Boulder, and it’s called “Critical Success Factors for Startups: An Evening with MIT’s Ken Morse.”

Ken Morse is the Director of the MIT Entrepreneurship Center at Sloan School and the co-founder of 3COM and Aspen Technology. As a serial entrepreneur, Ken is batting 0.833 with 5 successful merger/IPO exits… and a spectacular crash-n-burn. At the Entrepreneurship Center, Ken has kept young by inspiring, educating (and being educated by) the youngest and brightest from all walks of students at MIT. On Tuesday, Ken will share the success factors he’s observed across the myriad of startups he’s mentored and partook. What works.. and what doesn’t. There will also be a mini pitch-a-thon with 3 local startup companies doing a 60-second pitch with instant feedback from Ken.

Come meet Ken and share an evening of enthusiasm in the local entrepreneurial community. The technology-friendly gang at Faegre & Benson Law is generously donating their Boulder meeting place along with plenty of good cheer, hors d’oerves and spirits for all to indulge.

Register to attend here (see rates below).

If you want to pitch in the pitch-a-thon, send your best 60-second elevator pitch by Friday Dec 7 to Jim Pollock at Jim at Highest Mountain dot net.

Date: Tues - Dec 18, 2007
Time: 5:30-7:30pm doors open at 5:30pm for networking
Location:
- Faegre & Benson Law
- 1900 Fifteenth Street (at Walnut)
- Boulder, CO 80302 (parking adjacent to the offices)

Cost
- $25 General Admission
- $10 MIT & Ivy+ Alumni Club Members (and their guests)
- $20 MIT Graduates & BIC, CTEK, CBSA, CSIA, TiE, YEO (and their guests)
- $5 (cheap) for CU/DU Students and Pre-Revenue Starving Entrepreneurs

Written by David Cohen · Filed Under Blog, Startups |  

Active Network acquires Boulder’s RegOnline

December 4, 2007

NOTE: If you’ve seen this post appearing, disappearing, and now reappearing, please chalk it up to me trying to respect RegOnline’s wishes for distributing this information and a bit of miscommunication. Since I’ve now read this news on multiple other sites and know that thousands of customers know about it, I feel safe posting it for good.

After more than a month of secrecy, Boulder’s RegOnline has finally announced that it was acquired by The Active Network on October 31st. Neither company has any news about the acquisition available on their site at this point, so details are sketchy. It’s believed that the value of the acquisition was “significant”, which makes sense as the company was profitable with annual sales estimated between $5M and $10M. RegOnline sent out an email to customers this morning which read, in part:

We are excited to inform you that on October 31, 2007, The Active Network, Inc., acquired RegOnline. The Active Network, headquartered in San Diego, CA, is a leading provider of technology and marketing solutions for event organizers, community organizations and consumer brands that enable and encourage participation…. We will maintain our offices and operations in Boulder, CO, and both Bill Flagg and myself will continue to independently run this division of the Active Network. As we have in the past, we will foster a business model that is focused on customer input and feedback, backed by integrity and respect.

Active has been handling registrations in the past via its Active Sports Technologies web property, which allows members to register sports teams and other events and to process participant registrations. It’s been known to be an aggressive acquirer, snapping up companies such as InfoSpherix for $17M earlier this year. Indeed, many believe that the delay in announcing the RegOnline acquisition has been due to the fact that Active has acquired other properties and was waiting to time the announcements. As more details emerge about this theory, I’ll try to cover them here.

By all accounts, RegOnline is a fantastic company. Customers always seemed to rave about RegOnline, and the company built its foundation on treating employees very well. For example, the company treats employees and family to a free trip to Mexico each year, and also holds regular company “fun days” where the company knocks off early and heads to a baseball game, bowling alley, or a local bar. It’s been my experience that there is tremendous payoff in doing these sorts of things. As you walked around RegOnline, you could tell it was a place where employees felt valued.

I’m sure none of that will change as the company moves forward because Bill and Attila will remain in the drivers seat of this new division of the Active Network. Congrats guys, you deserve it.

Written by David Cohen · Filed Under Blog, Startups |  

Interview with Andrew Hyde of Startup Weekend

November 29, 2007

This post is by Tom Chikoore, a new contributor on Colorado Startups.

One phenomenon that has been quietly taking place in the tech startup world is Startup Weekend. Startup Weekend is the brainchild of Andrew Hyde, a Boulder, Colorado entrepreneur. Startup Weekend’s goal is to bring together a community of people to start a company and create a product in a single weekend. I participated in the first Startup Weekend (in Boulder) and really enjoyed the experience so much that I interviewed Andrew about future plans for Startup Weekend here. Since then I have been following Startup Weekend because I believe that it makes very valuable contributions by invigorating local tech startup communities in the different cities that host Startup Weekend. Startup Weekend has made some great strides since the first Boulder weekend (it is going across the pond to London this weekend), so I decided to interview Andrew for a second time to catch us up. Here’s the interview:


Q: Since our last interview after the inaugural Boulder Startup Weekend, there have been 10 more Startup Weekends for a total of 11 Startup Weekends. That is incredible. How have you been keeping up with all this activity?

The Weekend has an amazing energy that keeps me going.


Q: Please give us a brief description of the 11 companies that have resulted from Startup Weekend thus far?

Boulder (July 6-8)

Company Created: VoSnap

What is it? Social voting by email or sms. Where do you want to get drinks? VoSnap it.

Toronto (September 14-16)

Company Created: LobbyThem

What is it? Push for Change. Lobby your representatives with issues you care about.

Hamburg, Germany (September 21-23)

Company Created:Ededlbild

What is it? Online photo editing.

NYC (September 21-23)

Company Created: FavorEats

What is it? Where do you get the best burger in the city? Food reviews about meals, not restaurants.

Houston (September 28-30)

Company Created: TipDish

What is it? A way for Tippers (PR agencies) to contact Dishers (Bloggers) in a way that is beneficial and non-obtrusive for both parties.

West Lafayette (October 12-14th)

Company Created: ScrollTalk

What is it? Contextual chat room.

Boston (October 19-21)

Company Created: DeskHappy

What is it? An at your desk wellness program, encouraging you to stretch and relax in the middle of the day.

DC (October 26-28)

Company Created: HolaNeighbor

What is it? You define your own community and HolaNeighbor will set up the online community. Find and meet those that live around you.

Chapel Hill (November 2-4)

Company Created: WorkPerch

What is it? Find a place to work for a short period, or rent out an extra desk in your office.

Atlanta (November 9-11)

Company Created: Skribit

What is it? Blog widget for readers to suggest subjects for the blogger to write about.

San Francisco (November 16-18)

Company Created: HelpHookup

What is it? An easy volunteer matchup for Facebook.

Q: Are all the companies still operating or there some that have decided to close shop?

I would say 3 of the 11 are not in a ‘building’ stage right now.


Q: One of the potential exits for Startup Weekend companies is a buyout. Have there been any offers for some of these companies?

We have been offered 2, and both teams said no to the offers.


Q: One of the goals of Startup Weekend is “enhancing the local entrepreneurial community”? What is your assessment of how well SW has done that? After Startup Weekend, would you say that some cities have continued with the entrepreneurial spirit or is it only limited to the completion of the Startup Weekend product?

If you were to ask me what the weekend’s biggest strength was, I would have to say building community. Now that there has been some time between the weekends I am hearing more and more stories of co-founders meeting or companies making new key hires from the event. So that was a really wordy way to say ‘yes it is doing a really good job of enhancing the local entrepreneurial community.’ The weekend goes so far past the weekend.


Q: How effectively do these companies run after Startup Weekend leaves town? Does it remain a development effort only? Is there any business development that continues after Sunday? Are there board meetings taking place after you leave?

It really depends on the town and the climate. Some towns, such as Atlanta, are really hungry for projects and have the talent to deliver. A successful company relies on all departments doing a good job, and a Startup Weekend company is no different. I wouldn’t say there are board meetings, but the core team of each company meets and plans on how to move forward. In Atlanta, the majority of the team is meeting this Saturday to have a workday and a move forward meeting. Very exciting to see communities take off like that.


Q: Startup Weekend seems to have proven that an internet company can be started in a weekend; however, do you think that it has gone as far as proving that a viable and sustainable business can be started in a weekend?

I don’t think there is a get rich quick way to the web. These companies are started and given really good launches into the real world. I have a few ideas of companies that can turn profit in a few days, but I don’t think communities would ever pick these projects, I think they pick projects they want to work on.


Q: Would you say there are entrepreneurial differences between the different cities, regions or countries? Have you made any interesting observations along those lines?

There are definitely differences city to city. The biggest difference I see is some communities have veteran community leaders that openly share their experiences. Some communities don’t have that Feld, Cohen, or Weatherby.


Q: For those cities out there that are thinking of putting together a Startup Weekend, how does a city go about putting together a Startup Weekend? What is the process? Do they need to get authorization from Startup Weekend LLC?

The first step is to see if there is any interest in your area. Check in with friends and co-workers, see if there is any interest. The next step is to contact Startup Weekend and say ‘let’s do this.’ Then the planning process begins. If the weekend is called “Startup Weekend” or similar, than yes, we kindly ask you are associated.


Q: There seems to be two camps that hold somewhat opposing views of what Startup Weekend is all about. One camp values the business and equity structure of the resulting entity, while on the other hand, the other values the community aspect of the idea. Do you see it the same way? How do you bridge the two?

It is like a music crowd, some like the lyrics, some like the music. They can enjoy the same bands, and just as likely one side can hate it and one can like it. It is all about your expectations coming into Startup Weekend. I don’t think you can build a business without putting community first. I see a strong community base as the dream of someone who is business minded, and for someone that is community minded, perhaps their equity will turn into something.


Q: For some time there was some confusion about the equity model of SW. May you take a little time to explain the 5%/45%/50% model?

Shortly after the Boulder weekend I interviews with many of the founders asking them about the equity model and what it would mean if I turned the Weekend into a startup of its own. The response was almost unanimous that I should move forward as a company and that the equity split of 5% for Startup Weekend LLC, 45% for future development of the company created and 50% to be split into the founders of the weekend.


Q: You are also a startup company. People seem to forget that Startup Weekend LLC is also a startup company that is only several months old. What are some of the growing pains that you have experienced? Have these followed the same pattern as the majority of the startups SW has generated?

There have been some really funny moments around this. The biggest growing pain was somehow thinking it was a good idea to book 7 straight weekends (and 9 in 10 weekends). It has been an amazing experience, but without downtime it is really hard to really learn the lessons you need to learn. I do follow the same general pattern weekend to weekend. There is always something new from the past weekend from a lesson learned.


Q: After each Startup Weekend, people are often blog about what worked, what did not work and the lessons learned. Would you say that Startup Weekend attendees have been learning from past experience of preceding Startup Weekends; and is Startup Weekend LLC getting better at organizing events and accomplishing its goals with each Startup Weekend?

Single weekend major lessons are learned from observations, blog posts, and post weekend interviews. The weekend is much stronger than it was in Boulder.


Q: It is interesting to see that as Startup Weekend grows, philosophical debates have also started around certain issues. For example, there have has been some interesting discussions in the blogosphere regarding the role of out-of-towners. In your opinion, should out-of-towners out-number locals? Should out-of-towners suggest ideas or should ideas only be limited to locals? What’s your take on all that?

I would say that 80% of the attendees of the weekends don’t know each other, so I see absolutely no problem in people coming in from out of town. There is really no reason to limit it.


Q: There have been observations regarding the low numbers of women participating at the Startup Weekend events. What is Startup Weekend doing to encourage more women to participate?

I am really starting to do outreach on this topic. There is no reason for such low numbers of women participating in entrepreneurship. I think Startup Weekend is a perfect introduction to entrepreneurship for anyone, especially groups that have not had exposure in the past.


There have been loose associations made between Startup Weekend and TechStars. There is no association between the two, is there? Please clarify.

We are good friends, and there are definitely some similarities and we are both from Boulder. We don’t have any association. David covered it here, I covered it here.


Q: How far do you think we are from a major blockbuster killer app product coming out of a Startup Weekend?

You never know if one is going to happen. I see 4 companies having a shot of really building something that is compelling to a large community base.


Q: What’s in store for SW in 2008? How many cities are lined up so far?

Over 45 cities have shown interest, I am going to let the community decide where we go.

Q: And lastly, what do you say to those who fear that you are basically coming into their town and harvesting their ideas and making money off it?

The weekend is so much bigger than an idea or money.


Andrew, once again thanks for taking time out of your very busy schedule to answer our questions.

Written by David Cohen · Filed Under Blog, Startups |  

Expanding Colorado Startups

November 29, 2007

In the last year and a half, I’ve written about 150 local startups, and have done hundreds of other posts on random startup topics. I’ve done a few surveys, and generally people say “do more of both things.”

I hope that you’ve come to view Colorado Startups as a central source for following the web/software startup scene in Colorado. That’s what I wanted it to become, and I think it has. We’re up to about a thousand RSS subscribers now, and have well over 3,000 unique visitors each month.

It’s time to grow a little and try to do a bit more. I’m happy to announce that I’ve added two contributors to the blog who will be posting on a regular basis.

Tom Chikoore will be focused on interviews (watch for his first one here very soon) and will put more energy into the Denver-specific startup scene. Tom’s a strong writer and has some great insights that he’s covered on his personal blog in the past. He’s worked in large companies and in startups as a software architect and engineer, so he brings a broad set of experiences. Tom also has a passion for giving back to the community and is actively involved on several volunteer boards.

Gwen Bell will also become a regular contributor starting in January. Gwen recently wrote about her impending move back to Boulder. She’s a multi-talented entrepreneur with a great passion for travel that has taken her all over the world. Gwen will attempt to revive the multi-media side of the blog be doing some regular (and fun) video and audio features as well as contributing some bread-and-butter blog commentary on startups in the Boulder area.

Rest assured that I will personally continue to post the same type of content that you’ve been reading all along, as well as act as the main editor for the blog. To avoid any confusion, you’ll now notice that the author of each post is highlighted with a photo and byline.

Please help me welcome Gwen and Tom to the Colorado Startups blog. I think you’ll really enjoy hearing from them both a few times each month. I know they can both help make it an even better source of information on the vibrant startup scene here in Colorado.

Written by David Cohen · Filed Under Blog, Startups |  

Overheard

November 26, 2007

Written by David Cohen · Filed Under Blog, Startups |  

Move over plugoo

November 26, 2007

About a month ago, I stuck a plugoo widget on my blog. It’s cool - it allows people to chat with me while reading my blog, and delivers the messages right to my regular IM client on my Mac, Adium. Not bad.

But plugoo it doesn’t know when I’m there and when I’m not there. Because it often looks like I’m there when I’m not, people feel like I’m ignoring them. This is probably Adium or AIM that is causing the problem, but I don’t really care. I’ve also decided that I don’t really want to be IM’d any time of day by people who read the blog. I love hearing from you, but I’d rather hear from you in the comments or in an email. Real time IMs are just a pain as it often distracts me from what I’m focused on at the moment.

I first started thinking about this two weeks ago after Gwen Bell called out the “plugoo problem”. She swore she wasn’t talking about my blog. ;-)

I’ve also been on a personal productivity kick lately. I’ve been needing to jam more meaningful work into the average day, so I’ve been really optimizing using GTD, Inbox Zero, Calendar Zero, and other similar concepts. It’s made a huge difference for me. The idea of soliciting IMs using plugoo was counter to what I was trying to accomplish.

I still think Plugoo is a great widget in certain situations, such as tech support. It’s just not for me in my situation.

I’ve now removed it from the sidebar and stuck it on the contact page. I’ve put the caveat up that it sucks at presence, so it may look like I’m there when I’m not. But you can always try reaching me using IM if you want. You’ll have much better luck using email on the contact page - I pretty much always answer email.

Hope to hear from you soon!

Written by David Cohen · Filed Under Blog, Startups |  

Tip #3: Listen more than you talk

November 21, 2007

I’ll now continue the slow roll with #3 of my top twelve startup tips from this summer at TechStars.

You’ve probably heard the expression that it’s hard to listen while your lips are moving. While technically this is not universally true (it’s more the talking that matters - moving ones lips while listening is certainly distracting but perhaps less so than actually emitting noise), I still find it to be an excellent rule of thumb.

Assuming you’ve surrounded yourself with great and engaged mentors, you’re probably going to hear lots of advice. The thing that many younger entrepreneurs fail to grasp is that it’s extremely important to internalize the advice so that you can decide whether or not you’re going to reject it or accept it. In order to internalize it, you have to listen to it. A key indicator that you are not listening enough is that you are saying “yeah but” often. “Yeah but” is excellent and very, very necessary. But it comes at the end of listening. Another helpful clue that you should be listening is that someone else is speaking.

Next time you’re working with someone that you respect and taking their advice as data, try this. Listen. Wait until they stop talking. Think. Now speak.

I have always had this problem myself. I’m fairly introverted, but when it comes to being an entrepreneur in a room with a bunch of other entrepreneurs, I’m much more “type A.” I want to get in there. I want to say “yeah but” so often that it nearly kills me. But I consciously practice the art of intense listening.

Too many entrepreneurs that I see just love meetings. They love to debate, discuss, rebut, and repeat. This can be healthy, but ad nauseam it’s not helpful. When this behavior is coupled with crappy listening skills, it becomes downright wasteful and irritating.

This also applies to conversations with your customers. It’s very important to resist the urge to tell them why they are wrong and you are right. My friend Eric Marcoullier said something yesterday that I think generally holds true. I’m paraphrasing, but he said “You will never convince your customer that they are wrong about what they want.” If you are trying, you are speaking for no reason. And, you are not listening.

If you can’t listen, you can’t improve. If you don’t improve, you’re going to die. It’s important not to die. Listening is a prerequisite.

Spend your next day of meetings listening more than you talk. You will notice the difference. Just don’t get in a Mexican standoff with another reader of this blog. That would be weird, what with all that listening and so little talking.

Written by David Cohen · Filed Under Blog, Startups |  

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