Bootstrapper.com - Confessions of Serial Entrepreneurs

As an entrepreneur, one of the most important things is listening to people.  I’ve met a lot of interesting people that have a lot of interesting ideas and get a lot of satisfaction by making sure that I know that they know a lot.  What do I do?  I listen.  (That was a lot of “a lot”’s back there.. stay focused)  Most people that you talk to are dead wrong most of the time, but there is value in what they have to say.  It’s a numbers game really.  If 1% of ideas that you hear are worthwhile, isn’t it worth hearing 99 bad ideas to get to that good one?

My biggest issue is that I’ve already thought about what they are lecturing about so I know why it is feasible or why it can’t be done.  When I was a youth.. just a few months ago… I would often chastise these advice-givers in my mind.  But now that I’m an adult (almost 26 years old… boo hoo), I listen a lot more.  It doesn’t hurt to listen to the advice and THEN ignore it but it’s a disaster to ignore it from the get-go.

So i was told today that I google very well and that she was sure there was a term for that. Now, I don’t know if someone created one already but if not, I claim it “Googly” . If someone Google’s well - he is Googly. End of story. hehe.

So I was thinking about blog systems,  and how the CMS in my wordpress is only the same server as the site so if the site is lagging, i can’t update content well. Is there a system (if not there should be) where I can use the CMS independent of the actual blog?

So contexual marketing has been all the rage in online advertising for the last half decade or so. Whether contexual to you is gator (fine Claria or whatever, 180 solutions (or whatever they are called today) or contextweb, context is king right? WRONG. Now this post is not based on analytical data but on observation but here goes. First off, there are two types of contexual, one is User Theft Contexual (I made this up, feel free to trademark) which is the original gator model of User X is at autotrader so i’ll show a popup for autobytel.com. This is not what I’m talking about in terms of contexual. This post is aimed at the adsense, contextweb type of contexual product, which these days is what people generally refer to in terms of contexual. This is mainly targeting as a result of a hierarchy of categories based on context (keywords/statistical analysis) and there is serious value in this method but I think a lot of us marketers are missing the point. We can sub target a million ways but at the end of the day the most important thing in contexual marketing and marketing in general is HOW THE USER FOUND YOUR AD. I will call this primary context. I will posture that this is more important that any form of analytics. In real life this is akin of seeing an ad for a product vs. a friend who you trust telling you about it. Say for example you’re at an event and the host talks about X, you will naturally think and look into X (you may say you won’t but you will) vs. an ad plastered on a wall somewhere. Primary Context is about how you engaged with the marketing message at the very first touchpoint. This is much deeper than first impressions and is really first interaction. I’d be curious to see analytics where the following scenario is presented: Targeting based on an initial placement which I would use a test a respected site with a loyal audience where the ad reads “recommended by the site” and benchmark it against ads of increasing contexual relevance to the user. I would think the former would be more effective. With that said, I think both together (trust engagement & relevant context) are a slam dunk when used with one another. But if I had to choose one ad to buy I’d go for the ad of greatest primary engagement.  

I just wanted to give everyone a quick update on takesalltypes. A couple months back, we applies for the facebook fund for TAT, thinking it makes total sense given their goals. Well, we just heard back and we’ve made the next stage of their process. Woohoo!!! Thanks facebook, let’s see where this goes? Meanwhile, donations appreciated :) 
Richie

I’ve always admired people who can create value from nothing, in any field, in any context and whatever value means to them.

Once there was an idea . . . then there was liability insurance, after that - office furniture and if you’ve been smarter and luckier than most, “I want business class airfare specified in my contract,” will come up more often than you’d like. For the record, the answer to that one is always, no.

But before there are any of these things, there is a line. One the left side of the line (Point A) is your idea and on the right side (Point B) is the launch of your new, can’t fail, light-up boomerang with FM tuner.

How to get from A to B is where all this bootstrapping stuff comes in.

Here are some random thoughts to keep in mind at the start of your journey:

Persuade:

If you have the passion and an idea worth pursuing, convincing other people of its merits is what it’s all about. Where better to start than with those who can help you get it built?

Besides, if you raise a million dollars and pay handsome salaries to people to build it for you, what are the chances that each of your newest employees is as committed as you are? Zero.

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So I was invited to the DFJGotham.com dinner tonight. DFJ is a great VC firm with some of the nicest people I know running it (not just nicest investors). Genuinely good people. Besides for the good food and wine and getting to catch up with friends and hobnobbing with some of the great people of our little community, Danny the cofounder (and a fellow Yeshivah of Flatbush grad) went out of his way to talk about TakesAllTypes.org (TAT) my non profit with Ben Bergman. It’s really gratifying (and awesome) to see someone take time out of their speech at a capitalist affair to talk about a non profit cause (and even better when it’s mine). I wanted to thank Danny and the team at DFJ (Ross, Jed, Thatcher, Mark, Peter etc…) for the mention and the invite. I had a great time and I highly recommend DFJ.   Also congrats to Thatcher & Mark on your promotions.PS. I was not paid for this post. Go IZEA!  

So one of my friends and partners just did this awesome just post, i think it’s classic and sings the songs of startups very nicely…Ridiculous opportunity for LAMP developer with early stage start-up. Help partners who have already built world-class companies (and sold them), to do it again. If you want a job that you can do mindlessly in between Guitar Hero gigs, don’t read any further. If you want to stretch your brain and get excited about your work every day, keep going. You will be lead developer, VP of Engineering and CTO all in one and all in your spare time.You can do the work from anywhere but you must be available to meet in NYC at least twice a month. No, we ain’t paying your airfare. We’re a start-up.No HTML, CSS or any graphic work or knowledge is required. You are hard-core back-end. Javascript, AJAX, optional.Job duties:Help complete writing (you think, we’ll write) technology specification (SDLC). Architect and help build complex, social advertising marketplace.VERY IMPORTANT:- Expert knowledge of PHP5- Expert knowledge of relational database design and deployment for dynamicsites using MySQL 5- Minimum of 3 years of Object Oriented design andprogramming experience- Knowledge of basic Linux systems administration skills- Entrepreneurial fervor and desire to knock heads together (to get things done)SOMEWHAT IMPORTANT:- Experience with (AJAX) / Javascript /- Familiarity working with the Symfony PHP framework- Experience with one or more or cachingengines, eg. APC, Zend, etc. WE DONT CARE:- You live with your momma- You sing while playing the drums in RockBand- You like cats- You only read non-fiction- You wear chinos and hush-puppiesLots of stock options and an uncompetitive salary.Sincerely,Nate BrochinBootstrapper.comnbrochin@lse.ac.ukPhone: +1 (973) 477-2576Web:    http://www.bootstrapper.com
 

Make no mistake entrepreneurs- an Angel presentation is a war: You as the entrepreneur will be challenged from the second you open your mouth. Not only because what you say throughout your presentation will be critiqued from every angle during the follow-up Q&A session (constructive criticism meant to expose bottlenecks, loopholes, etc), but also because it’s immensely difficult to present a short, concise and easy to understand business model articulating the macro (and also the important micro) parts of your venture within 10 minutes (which fly by quite fast- trust me).

Anyone who honestly believes presenting in front of Angels is easy has a screw or two loose because it’s an enormous challenge to clearly articulate (in only 10 minutes) something you’re so steeped in and committed to mentally, emotionally, financially, etc. It’s very hard to take a step back from being totally steeped in your venture from all angles (such as: mission, niche, scalability, competitive advantages, etc) and put yourself in the shoes of those who will be watching you.

This is another part of the war- being humble, dedicated and confident enough in your venture (and what you’re going to say) to be able to literally have an outer body experience. As an entrepreneur who wants to be in the top 10% of all presentations I’ve seen you must literally go through your presentation (fully) in your head at least 15 times as if you’re watching yourself present to you and other Angels in a large mahogany board room. You need to step back, envision yourself presenting, and critique yourself first. From there, you present to other associates in your venture, friends, family, etc. You should run through your presentation at least 20 times (in addition to the 15 in your head) before getting in front of an Angel Group. It may sound crazy/repetitive/pointless but this accomplishes many things:  

- You begin to visualize how you want to present your venture (tone, posture, slide deck, additional facts/visuals/stats to incorporate or take out, etc)

-  You learn what to say and what not to say through constructive feedback and criticism

- The more you present in preparation for your 10 minutes of fame, the more honed you presentation becomes

- The more you hone your presentation, the more confident you become

- The more confident you become, the more engaging your presentation will be because conviction in a purpose (in this case- getting financing for your venture) is shown subconsciously through your mannerisms whether your realize it or not

Hopefully now you begin to see the steamroll effect that begins to happen (As a side note, if you would like additional information/coaching on this preparation stage (or anything else written in my blog) please don’t hesitate to email me. I’m an entrepreneur myself, thus I’m always willing to help other fellow entrepreneurs- I wouldn’t be where I am without others who’ve invested in me by taking their own personal time to teach me principles such as these). Now back the topic at hand……

Running through your presentation, preparing to deal with follow-up Q&A, etc isn’t the end of the war, it continues: Remember, although there will be an Angel or two who do have specific competencies in the market you’re targeting, the other 20 or so members most likely won’t. Thus, you must tirelessly prepare to go from 1 MPH (articulating the market opportunity and value proposition) to 50 MPH (features, benefits, IP, competitive advantage(s)) to 100 MPH (a clearly articulated SWOT and exit strategy) within 10 minutes.  Learning how to do this not only takes insight and being completely steeped in your venture, but it takes time, patience, reflection, honesty with yourself and (most importantly) the collective acknowledgement/acceptance of the critiques/feedback given to you by family, friends and associates. 

This cannot be understressed: network, network, network.  If you’re going to start a business, then you’re going to need a lot of friends and a lot of people that want you to succeed.  So who should you network with?  Absolutely everyone that you can find.  There is no one so dumb that you can’t learn something from them. That’s pretty much all I have to say about that! 

So I started a thread on the NY Tech meetup list. (As you know, I’m not new to starting controversy on the list) but i thought I would share with everyone this new issue. I posted that I need a killer designer (which I still need!!!)  and someone wrote that I should use 99designs.com to host a contest and find a designer for $99. Then a screaming matched ensued between people that think these things are the devil and between those that love these cheap ways to get free work. Personally, I think every service has its place - if people use them, clearly some people like them but some excerpts for my friends out there …  Mile: But if someone is using a ‘bidding system’ that groups dev-shops against 17yr old high school students and 3rd world development agencies, they seriously have no fucking clue how to run a business.That tells me two things:       a- they don’t have a budget       b- if they did have a budget, they’re so ungodly stupid that they’re going to be a nightmare to work with until they somehow manage to lose their budget…When you bring up spec work like 99designs… i think add to that description the word “unconscionable” Dean: The thing I personally like about using 99designs is sometimes you see bits from each design you like and then you can give the designers who incorporate your feedback into their revisions. It’s a very different process and more beneficial than just using one designer, almost like a ‘group brain’ which delivers better than singular ever could.Dave: I have to say I agree 100% with Jonathan. Apply the 99designs “framework” to your business/industry and suddenly it doesn’t seem so appealing.  Eddie: Jonathan, angry much? Chill, brother, chilllllllllllllll. Jonny: The 99Designs thing is a waste of effort because great design takes skill and time. (You’ve heard of 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration?) When I design for a customer, if they are properly budgeted, even for a tiny project I’ve wrapped my mind and effort around connecting their concept and taste to their clientele. I won’t (and nor will anyone else with a degree of and degree and experience) spend my limited and valuable time playing in some concept.?Dean: If some dude in Hungary or Poland is able o make a living out of it who are you to say that he shouldn’t be able to make his living this way.

Confucius Say:   Great Success Requires Great Focus PS. Repeat 1000X 

So hopefully no one read that headline and overreacted! Well, Jews aren’t quite for sale but for those of you don’t know, I’m helping Frumster.com sell itself. Frumster is the largest Orthodox Jewish Dating Site in the world and the second largest dating website behind Jdate. Why is the company for the sale? The current owner got ADD and started a new company and realized he can’t run both so Frumster is on the block. Why am I helping? Well, while I’m not orthodox now, I was for 7 years and went to an orthodox school, Yeshivah of Flatbush in good ole’ Brooklyn for 12 years. None of my old classmates or teachers would believe that I would be involved with this and I have a business card that says “Chief Matchmaking Officer” - how cool is that? What am I really doing? Helping Ben hold an auction for the company so I get to play investment banker (I always wanted to be an ibanker when I was little).  I suppose I am match making the company and deserve the title. Either way, it’s a fun thing and it’s pretty cool to learn the insides of a dating business. Some of the stories are the wall, maybe i’ll post a few in the future.PS. Stay Tuned for BIG NEWS about my own venture. Richie 

So I was called a neurotic Jewish Grandma today. (Thank you Jay … now some may take this as an insult but not I, I think its a complement (this is coming from someone whose biggest complement is to call someone Crazy). Jay said the following to me today “Please stop acting like an old Jewish Grandmother.” Separately, he said to “Stay Focused.” Well, I will venture to say that every entrepreneur has a little bit of neurotic jewish grandma inside of them. When have you met an entrepreneur that is what the outside world would call sane? On the flip (investor) side, I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone that was sane either. The ADD gene runs in both families it seems. So Hip Hip (and hope not to brake em) Hooray to every Jewish Grandma like me out there! PS. When is someone going to listen to me and build StartupShrink.com 

I am finishing up a 25 day visit to Costa Rica this week, coming down to meet staff etc. in the new office that I have.  My business partner is a Tico (native Costa Rican), and I have learned alot from him over the last few weeks. Our office is basic. Lots of recycled hardware, usage of older monitors etc. etc. etc.. It started when I took my first call and I could hear the motorbikes ride by through the louvered windows and someone asked me where I was. “I cant work with SOUNDS from the outside coming in to my phone call”, I said to my biz partner JosePablo. He shook his head. When I sat down at my desk space with my Fancy Shmancy new black MacBook, it really stood out amongst the older technology. “This isnt going to work” I thought. I started to hunt for a power plug and had visions of my 22 Inch widescreen monitor,  ergonimic keyboard, and my oh so comfortable mouse back home. “I have to work like this for a MONTH?”.  I mentioned to my business partner that if I am going to be doing extensive work down here, I am gonna need to go out and get myself some “stuff”. He looked at me like I was nutz as he typed away while sitting on his 29 dollar Ikea (EPA down here) chair, uneven small desk and circa 1998 Dell 17 Inch.  “Why Man? what stuff do you need?”, he said. I replied, “I need to get some equipment to accomodate my needs, this is too uncomfortable”.  I started to continue explaining, but then it hit me. This guy is doing a GOOD Job. Our business here is new, and we  agreed we have to spend the least amount of money as we can while we get off the ground. We are BOOTSTRAPPING. I started to feel like a spoiled Gringo (American) brat as I reminised about how I use to have to work 10 years ago when I started my company out of my 1 bedroom apartment. Back then if I would have had half of what we have here I would have been ecstatic and felt like I had something good going on.

During my travels here, I realized that this way of working is common. His father for instance has a multimillion dollar Teak Wood plantation. If you judged the man by his accomodations based on the Super Startup standards we are use to you might judge him wrong or think less of him. Because money, equipment, qualified help, and opportunity are harder to come by here, people think differently, they act differently and they definitely SPEND differently. Things are recycled, and great care is put in to defining expenditures that are NEEDED versus luxurious.  Bootstrapping here is often the only way for anyone to get anything going.

As I prepare for my departure back to my comfy office back in the States, I realize that this experience has been good and that I have had a good opportunity to “go back in time” to my roots a little bit as a Bootstrapper. So fellow Bootstrappers! lets learn a lesson from our brethren in developing nations.  Be careful about how you define your needs and what you need to get the job done. I know based on these experiences I will spend a little more time on it from now on.