Author Archives: john

7 lessons to survive the next dot-com bust

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Got your own online startup? Perhaps you’re building Zillow with millions in venture funding, or maybe it’s just you and your passion for furniture porn and other guilty pleasures. Either way, you’ll find something useful from the following list, which came straight from the mouth of a veteran online entrepreneur who’s been there, done (and still doing) that, and has the scars and successes to show for it.

These tips are from a recent NWEN breakfast talk by Ben Elowitz. Ben’s currently the founder & CEO of Wetpaint, a wiki company based here in Seattle, and was responsible for much of the success of Blue Nile and Fatbrain (I used to love that site). If you can’t learn something from what he’s got to share, you’re probably in the wrong business. :)

Here’s the list, adapted from memory:

  • What gets you hot and bothered? Consumer or enterprise? Products or services? Profit-driven or world-changing? Everyone’s got their own preferences – just know what gets you going before jumping into a new idea, or you may run out of passion before you get to the finish line.
  • Find a good sherpa. You wouldn’t climb Everest without finding the best sherpa possible, why start a business without doing the same? Pick someone who’s got a ton of experience, loves mentoring new entrepreneurs, and has the connections to help you move your business forward. This person doesn’t have to actually be an entrepreneur.
  • Think leverage. Selling and shipping heavy books (Fatbrain) for tens of dollars per order was tough, and took lots of people. Selling and shipping tiny diamonds (Blue Nile) for thousands per order, with a smaller team? Brilliant. Think about how to build your business to apply maximum leverage with your limited resources (money, people, time). This is something Justin and I think about all the time with Menuism.
  • Relationships and references matter. There are countless options for service providers for your business. When picking someone you may have to lean on, remember your relationships, and get lots of references. You don’t want your support network to fail you at the worst possible time.
  • Bigger isn’t better. Big teams are great for powering through the initial “build it fast” phase, but then what are they gonna do (besides burn through your cash)? Stay lean and mean, and hire only when it’s painful not to.
  • Be deliberate. Like it or not, your company will take on your personality, so think carefully about what image you want to project. Cost-conscious? Workaholic? Alcoholic? Your pick – just be ready for the consequences.
  • Nothing’s bold when everything’s bold. You’re not trying to be everything to everyone, so figure out your differentiator. It doesn’t have to be some crazy new technology – just pick the one thing that you’re gonna do better than anyone else in your market.

Thoughts? Got your own list of tips/advice? Let us know in the comments.

-john

Celebrating likemind(ed) people

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likemindWorking from home can be mind-numbing, so I usually jump at the opportunity to leave the house and meet new people. I wasn’t exactly jumping this morning to make an early trek into Seattle to check out my first likemind meeting, but afterwards I was really glad I attended.

According to the website, likemind is “an opportunity to enjoy coffee and conversation.” Friendly, chatty folks have free coffee (hooray for sponsors) and meet other similarly gregarious people in one of 32 different cities across the world. Justin attended a Chicago likemind a few months back and recommended it, and I’d second that opinion. Attendees tend more towards the creative types, which is a refreshing alternative to other meetups I’ve frequented lately, and they aren’t that likeminded – that’d make conversation excruciatingly boring. :) But they are similar in having the right attitude, which is what makes it work.

Likemind’s been growing rapidly since starting last year, and today is likemind’s first birthday – congrats to founders Piers and Noah. They’ve got a good thing going, and it’s something folks in Seattle should definitely check it out. Hopefully I’ll see you at the next one.

-John

The cheekiest (and most effective) online ad I’ve seen – the Toto Washlet

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“Buttcheeks? Are those really… buttcheeks?”

Like most people who spend any amount of time online, I’ve become desensitized to online advertising. When viewing sites nowadays, my brain subconsciously identifies those IAB-standard graphic ads and blocks them from my attention. And the ones that expand to cover meaningful content just have me hunting for the tiny “x (close this)” link.

So I was surprised to find myself mesmerized by the set of flashing, shifting, smiley-face-wearing buttocks blatantly plastered all over the pages of Salon and other (reputable) sites this morning.

toto

Upon very careful inspection, I saw it was an ad for the Toto Washlet, an all-in-one toilet seat/bidet/dryer. While other expert blogs had mixed opinions about the ads, I think they’re fanny-tastic. They’re eye-catching and simple, and combine sex appeal with humor better than anything I’ve seen in a long time.

It turns out these online ads are part of a larger campaign by ML Rogers in New York, which launched today by unveiling 2-story buttocks in ads overlooking Times Square. Given the placement of the physical and online ads, the message is certainly one of high-end luxury. The Washlet website, www.cleanishappy.com, fleshes it out (har har) – pleasant faces and voices match the pleasant buttocks, and soothing music prepares you to revel in the life-changing abilities of a fancy toilet seat. The um, tongue-in-cheek attitude is obvious on the site as well, with statements like “Washlet’s the bathroom fixture with one fixation… your happiness”. I love it – maybe one day I’ll get one to celebrate Menuism.

Flash and flesh aside, the ultimate measure of an ad campaign is sales and awareness. Time will tell how well this campaign translates into sales of the product – I’ll check back on it in a few months. But as for awareness, I bet this is gonna be successful – you’re reading this, aren’t you?

What other catchy campaigns have you seen?

-john

Attending Bootcamp for fun, profit, and accountability

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Coming off the fun time we had at Tech Cocktail 4 last week, we’ve been following up with all the great contacts that we made at the event. One of the nicest guys we hooked up with at Tech Cocktail was Mike Carruth, founder of Digital Bootcamp, a Chicago training facility that offers courses for the aspiring online creative. We visited the Digital Bootcamp offices twice this past week, for very different reasons.

John, Mike & Nano

The first was due to pure luck – Digital Bootcamp’s demo was right next to ours at Tech Cocktail, so on a whim I entered their raffle, where you guess the number of Digital Bootcamp dogtags in a big mason jar. Who knew that jar could hold over 600 dogtags? I ended up with the closest guess, so over the weekend we visited Mike (while sporting my Menuism tee) to pick up my prize – a nifty iPod nano. Sweet!

If that was all there was to say about Digital Bootcamp, this would’ve been just a “yay-I-won-something” post, but it’s definitely not. Besides being a successful entrepreneur (DB’s going strong after 15 years), Mike hosts a monthly “Circle of Progress” Entrepreneur’s Meetup group, where entrepreneurs of all backgrounds meet to keep each other accountable. Justin and I attended last night and found it helpful. There usually aren’t many people around to keep an entrepreneur on track, so having a support group of some kind, structured or not, is critical to keeping things rolling. The “Circle of Progress” records member’s monthly commitments, so it’s easy to track what’s been accomplished or not, but the most valuable aspect is simply declaring publicly what you intend to do in the coming month and what you did and didn’t accomplish last month – peer pressure and public humiliation works wonders. :)

Justin and I have tried on and off to do something like this with our networks in Seattle and Chicago, and hopefully seeing what Mike’s done with this group will be the kick in the butt necessary to get something really going. Mike’s doing some neat stuff here in Chicago – if you get a chance drop by the DB offices and have him show you his neat auction purchases. :)

More on accountability to come!

-John

Menuism beats out Highrise at Tech Cocktail 4!

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Chicago, IL (AP) April 13, 2007 — Coming off a wave of solid growth fueled by a clean site redesign and exciting new features, Menuism.com ran away with the title of “fan favorite” at last night’s renowned Tech Cocktail 4 event. Menuism dominating the shell-shocked competition, including the notable new 37 Signals product, Highrise. Attendees were attracted by Menuism’s eye-catching booth setup and demo video, swayed by the suave pitch of the co-founders, and finally sold by the valuable giveaways offered by the alluring web debutante.

“Menuism rocked the house at TC4!” exclaimed one attendee who asked to remain unnamed. “It seemed like they were everywhere – I couldn’t resist being lulled by the sweet siren song of Menuism gospel. It was like those Highrise guys weren’t even around at all.”

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Well, that’s how I imagine a PR firm would have spun it. We did attend and demo at Tech Cocktail 4 last night at John Barleycorn, and here’s the real breakdown of how it went:

  • Tech Cocktail is renowned, and was fantastic last night. The venue in Wrigleyville was perfect, with plenty of space (and drinks) to accommodate the huge crowd.
  • Menuism did win the crowd voting last night via Interactive Mediums‘ neat SMS-based voting system, but it wasn’t a blowout victory – the race was pretty tight with the other demoing startups, including the cool guys at ParkWhiz.
  • Highrise was scheduled to be demoed last night, but those guys couldn’t make it in the end. There’s little doubt they would’ve been the most popular demo there – the 37 Signals guys are icons of the web world, and Menuism‘s built on the framework they created. Highrise itself is a neat product tackling a real tangible market opportunity, so kudos to them.
  • Justin and I did snag a great demo location, taking over a small bar on the side of the room but the only thing we had on tap was Menuism propaganda. :)
  • Our booth was eye-catching, but probably because it looked like something from a high school carnival – paper tablecloths, orange helium balloons holding up printed signs, and laptops looping a video slideset about Menuism. And the “valuable giveaways”? Lifesaver mints – avoided by all. :)
  • We did talk about Menuism to lots of people, which I felt was the best part of Tech Cocktail for us. Practice really does help when it comes to networking and talking, and we were better this time around, but still far from totally comfortable or relaxed. Any smoothness was probably due to the free booze.

That pretty much covers how TC went for us last night. We were looking forward to it all week, and as we were looking for supplies and setting up it totally felt like something out of the Apprentice. :) Here’s a representative picture of our setup, with me posing for the camera while Justin’s in the background, demoing his heart out. :)

Like many other companies there, we held a raffle to try to get more attendees to talk to us, with our prize being a $50 restaurant gift certificate. Congratulations to Clint from Stone Ward for winning our raffle – we’ll be in touch with you soon. =) We were able to meet a bunch of great new contacts, visible in card form here.

tc4 cards

If you were there last night but didn’t win our $50, never fear – you can still win $50 in our monthly Food Fight Contest for April. We’re looking for the best salads around, so just review some salads and you’re automatically entered!

You can read more about TC4 with writeups by hosts Eric, Frank, and on the Tech Cocktail blog. All in all, we had a fantastic time at Tech Cocktail 4, thanks to the grand efforts of Eric and Frank. Thanks guys!

-John