OnlyOnce

Opening Night

Opening Night

My brother Michael, internet marketer by day and a writer by night, had his first play produced last night off-Broadway at the Manhattan Repertory Theater's SummerFest.  The play is a romantic comedy called Fallout, and it's my favorite thing he's written of about 8-10 works I've read over the years, both screen and stage plays. 

This is the first time I've ever had a bit of a "behind the scenes" look at an Opening Night, and it was fun to be a part of it.  When I think about entrepreneurial pursuits in business, I'm not sure this even compares.  For Michael, it seemed to be the equivalent of a company's founding, a product launch, and an IPO -- all rolled into one.  It was more intense than any individual thing I've seen in business over the years. 

And it came out great.  The play was a big success with the audience (and not just among those of us whose last name is Blumberg).  Michael, the director Robin, and the incredibly talented cast did a great job, so much so that the theater company is extending the run to one extra night, this Sunday at 7 p.m., since the three initial nights are sold out.  Anyone interested, the number to call for tickets is 646-329-6588.

Book Short: Bringing it on Home

Book Short:  Bringing it on Home

Silos, Politics and Turf Wars: A Leadership Fable About Destroying the Barriers That Turn Colleagues Into Competitors wasn't Patrick Lencion's best book, but it wasn't bad, either.  I think all six of his books are well worth a read (list at the bottom of the post).  And in fact, they really belong in two categories. 

The Three Signs of a Miserable Job (post, link), The Five Temptations of a CEO (post, link), and The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive (post, link) are all related around the topic of management.

Death by Meeting (post, link), The Five Dysfunctions of a Team (post, link), and Silos, Politics and Turf Wars, on the other hand, are all related around the topic of leading a team and healthy team dynamics.  This latest book, which is the last of his six books for me, rounds out this topic nicely, in a fun "novel" format as is the case with his other books.

The book hammers home the theme of an executive team needing to first be a team and then second be a collection of group heads as a means of breaking down barriers that exist inside organizations.  It also lays out a framework for creating high-level alignment inside a team.  The framework may or may not be perfect -- we are using a different one at Return Path (the Balanced Scorecard) that accomplishes most of the same things -- but for those companies who don't have one, it's as good as any.

The most compelling point in the book, though is the point that teams often make the most progress, change the most, and do their best work when their backs are up against a wall.  And the point Lencioni makes here is -- "why wait for a crisis?" 

At any rate, another good, quick book, and absolutely worth reading along with the others, particularly along with the other two closely related ones.  I'm definitely sorry to be done with the series.  We may try the "field guide" companion to The Five Dysfunctions and see how the practical exercises work out.

The full series roundup is:

• The Three Signs of a Miserable Job (post, link)
• The Five Temptations of a CEO (post, link)
• The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive (post, link)
• Death by Meeting (post, link)
• The Five Dysfunctions of a Team (post, link, Field Guide)
• Silos, Politics and Turf Wars
  

Silos, Politics and Turf Wars: A Leadership Fable About Destroying the Barriers That Turn Colleagues Into Competitors wasn't Patrick Lencion's best book, but it wasn't bad, either.  I think all six of his books are well worth a read (list at the bottom of the post).  And in fact, they really belong in two categories. 

The Three Signs of a Miserable Job (post, link), The Five Temptations of a CEO (post, link), and The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive (post, link) are all related around the topic of management.

Death by Meeting (post, link), The Five Dysfunctions of a Team (post, link), and Silos, Politics and Turf Wars, on the other hand, are all related around the topic of leading a team and healthy team dynamics.  This latest book, which is the last of his six books for me, rounds out this topic nicely, in a fun "novel" format as is the case with his other books.

The book hammers home the theme of an executive team needing to first be a team and then second be a collection of group heads as a means of breaking down barriers that exist inside organizations.  It also lays out a framework for creating high-level alignment inside a team.  The framework may or may not be perfect -- we are using a different one at Return Path (the Balanced Scorecard) that accomplishes most of the same things -- but for those companies who don't have one, it's as good as any.

The most compelling point in the book, though is the point that teams often make the most progress, change the most, and do their best work when their backs are up against a wall.  And the point Lencioni makes here is -- "why wait for a crisis?" 

At any rate, another good, quick book, and absolutely worth reading along with the others, particularly along with the other two closely related ones.  I'm definitely sorry to be done with the series.  We may try the "field guide" companion to The Five Dysfunctions and see how the practical exercises work out.

The full series roundup is:

• The Three Signs of a Miserable Job (post, link)
• The Five Temptations of a CEO (post, link)
• The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive (post, link)
• Death by Meeting (post, link)
• The Five Dysfunctions of a Team (post, link, Field Guide)
• Silos, Politics and Turf Wars
  

Ah, Summer in New York

This graphic about says it all.

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On the Other Hand...

On the Other Hand...

A couple days ago, I wrote about how crummy the customer service experience was with Clear going out of business with no notice and no apology. 

Today my inbox revealed the exact opposite experience:

Greetings from Amazon.com.

 

You saved $1.40 with Amazon.com's Pre-order Price Guarantee!

 

The price of the item(s) decreased after you ordered them, and we gave you the lowest price.

I didn't even know Amazon had a Pre-order Price Guarantee.  They could have gotten away with not giving it to me, and I would have never even thought about it.  Great experience!

Techstars: One Pitfall to Avoid

Techstars:  One Pitfall to Avoid

George and I met with our Techstars "mentee" companies again yesterday.  As was the case with the last meetings, the sessions were energizing and fun and great to see new companies unfolding. One lesson I was reminded of yesterday with both companies is a timeless one, since at least the beginning of the commercial internet:

Don't create a "solution looking for a problem"

I call this the Pointcast problem, after the mid-90s service that pulled headlines into screensavers and clogged corporate networks until the fad passed. 

One of the companies we're working with has this challenge looming in front of them.  They have a very cool concept and technology.  It's clear that it solves some problems, but there are many possible problems it solves, for many different people.

The key to get past this hurdle in the development of a business is to force yourself to articulate one or more very clear, crisp definitions of "it solves THIS problem for THIS person who is willing to pay THIS amount of money to have the problem solved."  Even if you end up with two or three of these statements to then go concept test in the market, at least you will be able to shape your product and messaging development towards getting into the revenue jetstream somewhere, to quote my friend David Kidder from Clickable.

A Clear Problem

A Clear Problem

I got this email in my inbox late last night:

Dear Matt Blumberg,

At 11:00 p.m. PST today, Clear will cease operations. Clear's parent company, Verified Identity Pass, Inc. has been unable to negotiate an agreement with its senior creditor to continue operations.

After today, Clear lanes will be unavailable.

Sincerely,
Clear Customer Support

Regardless of what you think of the Clear service (these are the paid-express lanes in a handful of airports), this is just a crummy way to shut down a business.  Not even a hint of "we're sorry we took your money and are keeping the money and can't give you the service we promised any more."

Maybe this particular situation or Chapter 7 bankruptcies don't allow for much time, but come on.  There must be a more dignified way of shutting down a business.

The Passion of the Specialist

The Passion of the Specialist

I remember once talking to my friend Cella when she was between jobs.  She said she was working out 9 hours a week, which I found stunning at the time.  I try very hard to get 3 hours a week in, and I am usually successful, but it's not without sacrificing sleep and being deliberate about my schedule.  So 9 felt luxurious, but appropriate for someone between jobs.

With that as a frame of reference, I have heard lots of definitions or embodiments of the word "commitment" before, but I ran across another one the other day that I still find mindboggling.  I have a gym friend at the New York Sports Club where I work out -- one of those anonymous friends that people get in New York that's not really a friend.  The guy on the train.  The woman behind the counter at the deli, etc.  People, as Bert & Ernie would say, who are "in the neighborhood that you see every day."

This guy, Jonathan, is a gifted runner.  That's clear from watching him, even on a treadmill.  He runs 6 minute miles without breaking much of a sweat.  And he can go for a long time.  I am only in the gym a few times a week, so it never occurred to me until today to ask him how much he runs and works out each week.  80-90 miles running, and 14-15 hours a week total including weights and biking, was the answer.  He's not training for a marathon, or an ironman.  He just loves running and being in shape.

That's a level of commitment that's stunning and reminds me that we can make time to do anything really well if we set our minds to it and are willing to sacrifice other things to get there.  The passion of the specialist is a rare and special thing -- it isn't better or worse than the breadth of a talented generalist, but it's amazing to see and quite inspiring.

Poking a little fun at VCs

Poking a little fun at VCs

Fred posted a great slideshow this morning of "things VCs will never say."  I can't tell if the show is meant to be serious or not -- some of the things would be great to hear from VCs, some would be terrible -- though Fred's comment at the bottom leads me to believe he thinks it was serious.

At any rate, it reminded me of the brilliant and hilarious "VC Calendar Calisthenics" post of Dave Hornick from 5-6 years ago, which you can see here.  Even if you've read it before, it's worth a refresher.

You've Never Seen a Girl Like This

You've Never Seen a Girl Like This

I played hookey last night and went to a concert in San Diego -- The Laura Roppe band was playing.  Laura is one of my oldest and dearest friends -- we met in second grade and then went to junior high and high school together.  The title of this post is the title of her first album and its first song.  It's also true of Laura -- she's one remarkable person.  Her web site is here. If you like country rock and female singer-songwriter music (think of Shania Twain or Norah Jones as comparables, although Laura is more versatile than both), and if you like discovering new up and coming artists, listen to the samples on her site, buy her album, or find her on iTunes.

I can't possibly do justice to Laura's story, which she tells very nicely on her web site here.  But the short of it is that she is in the middle of a dramatic personal transformation from brilliant lawyer to self made rock star, all while being a great mom and wife and just finishing up an exhausting 6-month successful fight against cancer.  Hopefully that's enough of a teaser to get you to at least give her music a sample!

I've been listening to her music on my ipod for months now, but especially after seeing her perform live last night, I have no doubt that she will be on an international tour within the next 12 months.  She is already getting great buzz and radio play in the US as well as Western Europe, and she's been nominated for a bunch of music awards.

I've never done a music recommendation post before in 5 years of blogging, and I may never do one again.  But Laura's story and music are just tremendous, and her lyrics are just plain fun.

First day at Techstars: Where do you start?

First day at Techstars:  Where do you start?

I'm a new mentor this year at Techstars, a program in its third or fourth year in Boulder (and this year also in Boston for the first time) that provides a couple dozen companies with seed capital, advice and mentorship, and summer "incubation" services in a really well conceived for-profit venture started by David Cohen in Colorado.

Yesterday was my first day up there with my colleague George Bilbrey, and we met with three different companies, two of which we will tag team mentor through the summer.  I won't get into who they are at the moment, mostly because I'm not sure what the confidentiality issues are offhand, but I'll make the first of a series of posts here about observations I make from doing this work.

Yesterday's thought was:  Where do you start?

It was so interesting to meet with in some cases pretty raw companies.  They weren't exactly "a guy with an idea," but for the most part they were <5 person teams with a working code base and some theories about who would buy the product. 

So where do you start on the question of business planning.  Do you dive into the deep end of details?  (What should we charge?  How do I get my first 5 beta customers?  What about this new feature?)  Or do you wade into the shallow end of methodical planning?  (Who is our target market?  What problem are we solving?  How much is it worth to the prospect?  What will it cost us to produce, sell, and support the product?)  We heard both of those approaches yesterday across the three companies. 

My conclusion isn't that there's a single correct answer.  For most mortals, it's probably the case that while it's good to have a product and an inspiration behind it, there's a long road between that and a successful company that requires careful articulation of the basics and a good grip on potential economics before incremental investments of time or money. 

But there are the occasional companies whose ideas are so perfectly timed for such a large market or user base that some of the method can be ditched up front in the name of getting to market (think Twitter or eBay) -- provided that the company circles back to those basics down the road in order to grow smartly over time.

Anyway, it was a thought-provoking day and great to see new entrepreneurs and ideas take root.  George and I have a series of six sessions set up with these companies as well as the full Techstars Demo Day in early August.  I'll try to blog some thoughts after each session.