"Pivot." It's become a buzz word among startups thanks to Eric Ries and his lean startup language. It can often be overused and in the process be stripped of its meaning. But the principle remains invaluable for startups, and large companies for that matter, to constantly embrace change. What you set out to do will probably look nothing like what you will be doing in 3-5 years. Embrace it.

This post will take more of a case study approach, introducing three "graduated" startups that started as something very different than what eventually made them big.

Continue reading "Lean Startups: Part 3 - Startups That Pivoted"

As discussed in Part 1 of Lean Startups, learning quickly is imperative in bringing an idea to a productive and successful product. An important piece of the learn, measure, build loop is learning from the very start of any idea. The question is, how do you test your idea and learn from potential response? Enter: The Magic Test.

The Magic Test--a recipe designed and supported by Eric Ries--entails attempting to sell your idea as "magic". Before jumping into discussions about features and functionality, think of your product as solving one or two major pain points magically. You don't need to tell people how you're going to solve their problems just yet--at least not until you know that people are interested in that problem even being solved. Simply put, if people won't buy magic to fix their problem, then they won't buy your product.

Continue reading "Lean Startups: Part 2 - The Magic Test"

"Buzz buzz buzz" goes the lean startup movement. This ideology, led by Eric Ries, focuses on learning from potential users and iterating through quick builds, and has been in the spotlight recently. I will spend a couple of posts explaining the most important and useful shifts in thinking that could shape your startup.

One of the most unique contributions that Ries makes to startup methodology is a flipping of the normal "Build, Measure, Learn" loop.

Continue reading "Lean Startups: Part 1 - “Learn, Measure, Build”"

A question that plagues startups from day 1 is: how am I going to pay for anything? There are numerous different capital structures and forms of investment, but it seems like the hot topic is making the case for IPOs. While it seems like the next best thing to sliced bread for many, I sought to answer the question: is going the IPO route really worth it for startups?

Most of my college education was focused on econometrics and statistics, so instead of attempting to provide anecdotal case studies (which can vary drastically), I sought to collect data and provide empirical evidence that would provide insights on whether the act of an initial public offering (IPO) would increase or decrease operating return on assets (a measure of efficiency) and revenue (a measure of growth). This post summarizes my findings.

Continue reading "New Study: IPOs Now More Attractive for Startups"

During this month's MSM meeting we discussed the current state of blog coverage for products and services and how to shape stories to fit tech bloggers’ appetites. As blogs have transformed into more of a mainstream news source, it has become harder to gain the attention of the tech bloggers whom you wish to cover your product or service.  We came up with answers to common questions you might ask when figuring out how to sell your product or service to bloggers

Continue reading "Middle School Marketing Recap: Getting Blog Coverage"

During this week's MSM meeting, we honed in on developing marketing and promotion strategies for web startups. We demoed and discussed Viget's very own SpeakerRate to bring focus to the conversation. Great feedback and application-specific insights boiled, but some points are useful to any web startup looking to make its way in the flood of such ventures. Here are some key takeaways:

Continue reading "Middle School Marketing: Strategies for Web Startups"

This morning a friend sent me the link to Vintage Ad Browser, and I wanted to share. According to the web site,

This site aims to collect vintage ads from a variety of sources, including comic books, CD-Roms, websites, APIs, your submissions, book, magazine & comic book scans, and more. 

It's inspiring and outright fun to browse the retro/awesome/ ingenious/heartwarming/hilarious/etc. ads from the the last +100 years. Some of the ads even offer the option click through to purchase a print. Here are some gems I found during my exploration:

    1908 - what does "serviceable" even mean...?

Continue reading "Vintage Ad Browser"

1. Both are super into raising awareness about stuff that others need to be made aware of
2. Both love blue-collar work. Neither have done more than three minutes of it
3. Both recycle other people's creativity and pawn it off as their own
4. Both love their low necklines - especially the dudes
5. Both are 100% incapable of being swayed by advertising
6. Both suck at parties - one won't shutup, one won't talk
7. Both like old crap, but neither have any idea why
8. Both could do a better job at whatever it is you're talking about 
9. They're the first person to hear about everything that you have ever heard of
10. Both love something more than life itself until someone else finds about it. Then, they are both really, really over it
11. Both spend enough on coffee (organic coffee, mind you) to feed a small nation
12. "What's that Apple thing called again? Yeah, that. I love that thing"
13. Giant, black rimmed glasses are a requirement. Prescriptions are optional
14. Both love the idea of smoking
15. Both use as many large words as possible (especially "post-modern"). Neither know what those words mean (especially "post-modern")
16. Somehow or another, both wear New Balance's. This still befuddles me
17. Both care about the environment so much they watched "An Inconvenient Truth"

And for the record, I probably fall into both of these categories, making me the worst person alive.

Continue reading "What Advertisers and Hipsters Have in Common"

This morning's Middle School Marketing discussion centered on Augmented Reality. For those unfamiliar, I found this definition on Augmented Reality from Gary Hayes helpful:

Information, 3D models or live action blended with or overlaid onto the physical world around us, in real time. A camera & attached screen is used to view the combination of real world and metadata or rich media. Devices or systems commonly used for AR include:

• Mobile devices with inbuilt cameras such as iPhone, DS Lite, PSP or Android

• A head mounted display HMDs (eg: glasses or futuristic contact lenses) attached to a wearable networked computer

• A PC or Mac with webcam

• A games console with camera accessory

• A large TV screen with advanced Set Top box and Web cam

• Others in development

Continue reading "Middle School Marketing: Augmented Reality"

PSFK (my favorite "blog", hands down), has teamed up with Redscout to create a video series entitled "Spur", the focus of which is to look at the digital planning industry/career.

In their own words:

Over the next two months, PSFK will be hosting Redscout’s SPUR video series. It will explore the intersection of brands, strategy, innovation and the world of account planning. We hope to spark a lively discussion, and inspire those working in the field.

Check out episode one, Is Planning Impotent?", it's got some very interesting remarks:

Looks like the Go Google campaign is working.

Despite heavy lobbying from Microsoft, L.A. City Council voted to outsource email and other apps to Google. Wow. 

LA is the second major city behind DC, who signed up last year, to go with Google in the larger struggle for the estimated $20-billion market for email and office software that Microsoft now dominates.

Under the deal with L.A., Google will provide e-mail, calendar, online chatting and other services to the nation's second-largest city. In terms of numbers, that's 30,000 city employees! Many of whom (I'm guessing), probably didn't even know Google had such services. Aside from the press and the money, this win goes a long way at legitimizing Google's enterprise solutions.

One can't help but feel slightly bad for Microsoft who seems to be taking hits from two of the web's biggest players: Google and Apple.

Google Opt Out Feature Lets Users Protect Privacy By Moving To Remote Village - The Onion

If you're interested in reading something legitimate about Google's Behavioral Targeting, you might enjoy these posts:

• Data Sharing and Privacy Concerns
• Does Google Ad Planner = Privacy Concerns?

How do you get people talking about cheese? More specifically, how do you get people talking about Wisconsin Cheese? You could post a lame banner about how their Cheddar is better than your Cheddar. You could Tweet about how great Wisconsin Cheddar is. You could ask bloggers to talk about how great Wisconsin Cheddar is.

Or, you could create a branded utility in the form of a microsite that is humorous, useful, interactive, helpful and interesting. And that's exactly what Shine Advertising of Madison, WI did by creating the Cheese and Burger Society.

First, what is branded utility?

An overarching concept focused on providing meaningful marketing that improves people's lives and adds value to the user.

The Cheese and Burger Society microsite does all of the above, and here are some additional reasons why I think this idea nailed it:

Continue reading "Cheese and Burger Branded Utility Microsite"

This weekend Matt Dickman, Paul Isakson, and Seth Godin wrote three excellent posts along the same vein that are worth checking out. We wrote a few similar posts recently, so I thought I'd aggregate them for your reading pleasure. Here's the theme:

Strategies should never be limited by the toolset. Yes, toolsets can inspire good ideas but, once again, we should start strategic planning by asking questions like,

“What will truly involve the user? How do we connect them with our brand? How do we connect with them? How do we improve their lives? How do we surprise them? How can we help them overcome their problem? How do we achieve our/their goals?”

The problem occurs when we start with tactics - when we start by asking questions such as, "How should we use Twitter?" As Godin puts it,

In my experience, people get obsessed about tactical detail before they embrace a strategy... and as a result, when a tactic fails, they begin to question the strategy that they never really embraced in the first place.

Enjoy the posts:

• When Tactics Drown Out Strategy - Seth Godin
• Want Better Digital Strategy, Ban Seven Dirty Words - Matt Dickman
• Fish Where the Fish Are...Or Not - Paul Isakson
• Ideas Should Drive Tactics. Tactics Shouldn't Drive Ideas - Josh Chambers
• Don't Let Tactics Supplant Creativity - Josh Chambers
• Establishing Your Brand's Message Before Jumping into Social Media - Anjali Merchant

Not everyone's product, service, or company is as groundbreaking and sexy as the iPhone. What do you do when your product or service is boring?

Differentiate.

Godin defines it as a Purple Cow, Neumeier couples it with four other requirements for an awesome brand, and Trout says "Differentiate or Die." They all agree that in order to have a brand that people connect with, you have to find something to differentiate yourself.

Continue reading "Differentiate"