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Check-in #2, March 21, 2012
So it’s the first day of spring, and it has been over a month since my last check-in. A lot of shiz has developed in that month. I have been to a few bunch of meetups, read a couple books, went to SXSW Interactive (insane!). However, I still haven’t started anything…
Books Read This Month:
- The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki gave a ton of value.
- Rework by 37Signals…twice.
Next Months Books:
- Running Lean by Ash Maurya.
- The Startup Owner’s Manual by Steve Blank. I could have gotten a free signed copy at SXSW but I didn’t want to carry it.
Events:
- Lean LA: LA Incubators and Accelerators.
- SWSW Interactive
- Lean LA: Fireside Chat With Eric Ries
Upcoming Events:
- Marketing for Small Business: Building a Brand Through Social Media
- Digital LA - Start Engine: Biz + Programmers Workshop
What did I learn this month?
That is a good question. What did I really learn this month? I read some stuff, went to some events, but I am having a hard time finding some concrete and insightful shit to say here. I am definitely getting a better learning more about the start up scene. It kinda reminds me of what I imagine the entertainment business is like. Everyone in LA is an actor, or an entrepreneur thinking they can shmooz their way to the top. I can see now how it really comes down to initiative and actually doing something. So many people can talk, but it is all about the ones who take action.
SXSW was a huge inspiration. I learned a lot from the panels, but I also learned a ton about networking and just making relationships in general. It is all about being a leader and initiating. Especially when networking. Just walking up to someone and saying hi is perfect.
Social Media is fun. I went from 1 to 50 followers on Twitter this month. Paulo Sellitti got me addicted to live tweeting at SXSW. I love it when I tweet something smart and it gets re-tweeted a dozen of times.
Most importantly, I learned that I am not going to learn much by studying and shmoozing. I just need to start something. Now.
Whats next?
I want to use the books Running Lean and The Startup Owner’s Manual and go through the motions and test my idea. I want to document all of the exercises that I go through and post them here.
I am going to keep going to meetups and events, working with social media and building my personal brand, and blogging and documenting my journey.
Follow me on twitter: @ben_mcmaster
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SXSWi Lessons Learned
I am not sure what I was expecting from my first SXSW experience, but those expectations were definitely exceeded. Somewhere between the inspiring panels, meeting amazing people, and dancing my ass off, I may have had the best time of my adult life. In other words I can’t complain, but here are some things that I learned that will make next year’s experience even better.
Book early, and book downtown. I didn’t even decide to go until 3 three months before. That is too late. Book hotels now, because they will fill up. You want to be downtown especially. Paulo Sellitti and I stayed in the Days In Crossroads seven miles away from downtown. It took forever to get in and out of downtown with R&R shuttles. Getting a hotel downtown is my goal for next year.
Fly in early on Thursday. Everything starts on Friday, but it’s nice to check into your hotel and get your bearings and have a nice dinner. Paulo and finally got to the the Days In at midnight. We were starving, so we walked 20 minutes to Denny’s in the rain. Sucked. Then I had a Grand Slam, and everything was awesome again.
Plan to wait in lines, and make it fun. Grab a beer for the line, and always talk to the people around you. Offer to buy them beer and share any secrets you have learned about parties, etc. DO NOT CUT IN LINE. I did it once. Then I felt like an asshole. It is hard for me to talk to strangers. It’s even harder when I feel like an asshole. Be rad to everyone and cultivate a spirit of giving all the time. This will help you in networking. It is so much easier to talk to people when you feel good about yourself.
Plan your panels, but go with the flow. Get the SXSW Go app. On the flight over to Austin read all the panels and favorite the ones you want to go to. If they sound really cool or there is a celebrity panelist, then get the EARLY. Duck out of the current panel you are in to be the first in line. I couldn’t get into a few great panels, and it sucked. But then I just went to another panel that was on my favorites list.
RSVP to all parties. This seemed pointless to me, but people were checking. Everybody else is doing this too. There’s even a site that will auto-rsvp you into Facebook and Eventbrite parties: getwillcall.com/sxsw. Even though you RSVPed doesn’t mean that you are going to get in. Get in line very early. I was first in line for the Mashable party and that party ruled. Free booze while Bootie DJs played mashups made dance party insane. I was fist pumping harder than the Sitch.
Panels VS Parties: Parties win. SXSWi panels are fucking inspiring, but creating new relationships is even better. If you’re thinking about leaving a rad party just because you want to hit that 9am panel. Don’t. Stay at the party, get drunk, and make some new friends. Update: my good friend, Balind Sieber, says it’s all about the parties: “fuck the badge”. It’s expensive, and you don’t need it to get into most parties. He has a great point, but I loved the panels too much. I am going to get a badge next year. Update: Dharmesh Shah wrote on OnStarups.com that big parties really aren’t his thing. Here are his tips to getting the most out SXSW without going to big parties.
My new good friend Paulo Sellitti adds this huge tip: Explore the sponsor lounges. They are a great place to score free food and booze, especially when you are rushing to get in line for that next great panel, and you’re starving and desperately need a beer.
Guys: you don’t need anything with you during the day but your wallet, smart phone and its charger. Walking around Austin, standing in line, going outside/inside bars totally sucks when you are carrying stuff. I hate carrying stuff. I didn’t even take a free signed copy of Steve Blank’s book because I didn’t want to carry it around. I am pissed now that I have to buy it, but it was the right move.
If you ever need a cab, walk to the Four Seasons to get a cab. It is impossible to get a cab anywhere near the convention center or 6th street.
That is all for now. If you have any other awesome SXSW stories or tips hit me up on twitter: @ben_mcmaster
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Review: Rework
Review: Rework Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
This book spoke directly to my soul. Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson from 37signals are pure punk rock. They are real, refreshing, concise, and they call out the bullshit that surrounds the startup scene. I love to hear it.
Rework is less of a “how to” and more of an inspiration and a wake up call. Right off the bat they tell you to Ignore the “real world”. One of my favorite quotes from the book: “The real world is not a place, it’s an excuse.” How many people told you “that would never work in the real world”?
I used to think that failure was a good thing. You learn and get stronger from your mistakes. Right? Rework says Wrong. You get into the pattern on failure. You don’t learn what to do, just what not to do. It makes sense.
Like Guy Kawasaki, they don’t put much stock in business plans. Infact Rework calls them business guesses. Planning actually gets in the way of being flexible to open to market opportunities. You have to be able to improvise and pick directions that make sense today.
More Punk Rock: Growing your company is overrated. Workaholism is bad. “Entrepreneuer” is a term that should be retired and replaced with “starter”.
I need shit spelled out, evidentially. Stuff that should be common sense is an epiphany to me. Rework’s chapter Scratch Your Own Itch states that the best ideas are the ones that you would use and gain value from. That is the best way to get 100% behind your idea and be able to be passionate and influential. That is how to attract super fans. Duh.
It seems that every start up raises money. Watching the Shark Tank on TV makes me think that the only way to create a business is to use other peoples money. Like Guy Kawasaki in Art of the Start, Rework says “Outside money is Plan Z”.
More tips: Build a product that is amazing at it’s core purpose. You can’t do everything. Sell your by-products! There is a by-product to almost everything you do. Sell them. Pick a fight! Stand up against a competitor. This is will get attention.
I love-love the chapter called “Under-do your competition”. This confirmes one of my ideas. I want to start a property management software product. All the products currently on the market do everything you would possibly need. Which makes them a pain in the ass to learn how to use. Thus creating a niche.
Again, like Guy Kawasaki’s idea of being a Mensch, Rework gives a simple tip to building an audience: Out-teach your competition. Give away your best ideas and help people get to where you are.
As I go through this book I am reminded that there is so much damn value. I would love to keep going and just sumerize the whole book, but I think you get the picture. I would say buy the book, get the eBook for you iPad or Kindle AND get the audio book. I plan to revisit Rework at least a few more times.
Follow me on twitter: @ben_mcmaster
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Be a Mensch
Review: Art of the Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything by Guy Kawasaki
All and all, this book was great, but a bit over my head at this point. This is the type of book that I will revisit, and continue to glean value every time I read it.
I love Guy’s tone in the book. He is all about creating real sustainable value and meaning. In fact he shows that all great ideas:
- Make meaning: Create something that makes a world a better place
- Make mantra: A shorter, more powerful version of a mission statement.
- Get going now: Start creating.
- Define your business model: You have to figure out how to make money.
- Weave your mat: Define all your milestones, assumptions, and tasks you need to create an organization.
Guy then goes into the Art of Positioning. He talks about seizing the high ground by mapping out quality’s to aspire to: Positivity, Customer-centric, Empowering. He talks about finding and niche and finding the perfect name for your business while admitting the problems with his own business names.
In Guy’s eyes, the pitch is more important than the business plan. In a whole chapter on Pitching he goes into detail of the perfect pitch down to the minimum font size on the Power Point slides. However, the most important is pitch constantly to practice: 25 times minimum before your ready.
I always thought that the business plan was so important. That that one document would be the cornerstone to whole startup. Guy shows how it has become nothing for than a formality in the process, and advocates creating the pitch first then writing the plan. However, writing a plan is still an extremely valuable exercise. It brings the founders together and forces them to think as a group and get on the same page…literally.
Guy hates idea of using other peoples money, bootstrap as long as you can. Think big, but start small. He talks about building a bottom up forecast as opposed to a top down, that is, instead of forecasting based on a theoretical market, forecast based on the minimum number of sales per month that would have to happen to grow the business at a modest rate.
The last half of this book is something I will definitely revisit soon, and then again after I get my ideas defined and my pitch created. There is some good stuff, and I will go over them briefly here.
The Art of Recruiting chapter had a ton of value talking about how to find the best fitting people for your organization. For example, hiring someone with a brilliant resume that has worked at huge companies, may not be well suited for a startup. Also, hire “infected” people: hire people that really believe in your startup’s mantra and that your organization can change the world.
As I write this I am realizing how much value was really in this book jeeze..
The Art of Raising captal has some amazing insights in the VCs and angels and how to pitch to them. He also stresses that you must understand what you are getting into when talking other peoples money: you give up control.
His chapter on branding also has some great insights. He is all about recruiting evangelists of your product or service and helping them build a community around your business. He talks about how to deal with the evangelists not by paying them, but by paving the way to build community.
His final chapter is on obligation… In order to be really successful and influential, you must be a Mensch: yiddish for a person who is ethical, decent, and admirable. This word sounds a little weird to me, but this is where guy gets a little spiritual, and I love him for it. In order to be a true mensch you must always do what is right. Mensches observe the spirit of the agreements and not just the fine print. Mensches always pay for what they get, and they always focus on what’s important. A mensch is full of gratitude and pays back society. Mensches teach and give…
I want to be a Mensche. I am a Mensch.
Follow me on twitter: @ben_mcmaster
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What makes a business “matter”?
What makes a business matter?
I am quite obsessed with this question lately. I read Blake Mycoskie’s book, Start Something That Matters, last week. if you read my “about” section, I made an attempt to define what “matters” means to me: (roughly) a business that matters utilizes core values of accountability, responsibility and authenticity and fosters true connection and collaboration. As bullshit as that sounds read aloud, I liked my definition at the time I wrote it. I still like it, but then I read Mycoskie’s book and felt a little confused.
Mycoskie doesn’t answer the question directly. I thought he was going to say that only startups that incorporate giving into their business models “matter”. He talked about Tom’s story of One for One and other companies with giving models, but he also told stories of companies that do not have giving models. Giving is great, and if I can work that into a great idea for a web based product then fuck yeah. So what does make a business matter?
Maybe this question is just way to subjective. Over a glass of cabernet sauvignon at Bigfoot West on Venice Blvd, Aimee Parker helped me understand this problem a little better. She said that it is all about intention. That’s simple, but it’s a great point. If you have an intention to truly improve people’s lives and add real value then you can start something that matters. The more I thought about it I realized that it’s great, but incomplete. It’s not enough to have a good intention. Everyone has good intention. As your business grows and pivots, and other interested parties join your movement, I can imagine that original intentions tend to get cloudy fast. You must have the balls to drive that good intention through each iteration of your business and never loose site of your original vision. Then you will have created a company that matters.
Whoa… so I guess that’s it. What makes a business matter? It is a business started with an intention to add real value and improve people’s lives while having the courage to drive that founding intention through each iteration of the business. Bam! (Of course we could continue another level and define “real value” and what it means to “improve people’s lives”, but I think I’ll save that for another time).
Ok McMaster, break this book down.
I liked it. I was a good read full of inspiring shit. It was a little fluffy, but I tend to like that stuff. And, I had some great take-aways:
- The Story of Toms: Simple and brilliant.
- The power of story: Mycoskie really drove home how important it is to have a story that connects with people, and how important it is to share the story.
- Cool tips on being starting and running a business on the cheap with creative ways to save and/or get stuff for free: maximize social media marketing, gifts from other partner companies that believe in your mission like insurance, legal, promotion, car rentals, samples, etc. Compete.com tells you web analytics of other web sties…good for checking out competition. SpyFu.com gives you the ability to check out competitors’ online advertising spending, keywords, ad-word details.
- He also goes into great ways to build a great company culture. The most important: Foster Trust. Be open with staff including showing emotion, giving away autonomy, and trust that your employees will grow into their positions.
- Build trust with customers: proactive customer service, be transparent, and use your own products.
- Giving: One for One is not the only model. You could give your products/services to other charitable companies doing the leg work i.e. form giving partnerships. Give more than money, and don’t ever give if it cost the recipient time or money.
Follow my ass on Twitter.
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Event Recap: Learn about the new LA incubators/accelerators
Event Recap: Learn about the new LA incubators/accelerators with Los Angeles Lean Startup Circle.
Damn I feel green. The event was amazing, but I feel like I have a lot to learn. I wish I could just immerse myself in this world already. It is so damn fascinating.
Tonight was all about learning about the accelerators and incubators in LA. Eight, white, Gordon Gekko dudes sat on a stage and fielded pretty interesting, profanity filled questions from Dave McCLure of 500 Startups.
Here is the list of Accelerators/Incubators:
- Amplify
- Idealab
- K5
- Launchpad LA
- Mucker Labs
- Originate
- Start Engine
- Upstart
What did I learn?
- These guys make all sorts of deals, but they are usually in the 50K range for 6%-8% equity.
- Social Discovery applications are super crowded.
- Social Gaming is very interesting to the Accelerators.
- These guys will fund someone with just an idea on paper, but then they base the decision solely on the strength and experience of the team. If you don’t have much clout, then you need an MVP (prototype or minimum viable product).
Who did I meet?
- Mary Villarta: She is working on an event planning application called iEventCloud.
- Kyle Michelson: He is working on a social discovery application called Instameetwhere people can video chat with other people with similar interests.
Questions I have:
- What is Common and Preferred equity? There was a lot of mention here. I need to read up on Venture Capital.
- What is the difference between Accelerators and Incubators? They seem pretty much the same.
In closing, thought tonight was really f*cking interesting. It was my first view into the world of Accelerators, Incubators, and Venture Capital. I could feel the amount of talent and energy in the room from 300 of the most ambitions people in LA. I could also feel how the VCs on stage loved the game of funding and building startups. I can imagine how fun and addicting it could be. Tonight gave me new energy into realizing my goal to start something of my own.
As always, if you have any tips, suggestions or any feedback please email me at ben at benmcmaster dot com. I would love to hear your advice.
Follow me on Twitter: @ben_mcmaster
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Check-in #1, February 6, 2012
Check-in #1, February 6, 2012.
This is my first of many monthly check-ins along my journey: My official starting point.
Ok. What do I have right now?
- A huge desire: I want to create a profitable company… So that one day I may travel and work anywhere in the world at any time i.e. the South of France.
- A Filter: My company must provide real value and improve peoples lives.
- Ideas: I have 2 good ideas with serious potential. I haven’t vetted them fully, nor have I tested an assumption or hypothesis, but my mom seems to them. Some say that entrepreneurs that don’t share their ideas are like comedians that don’t tell their jokes. I couldn’t agree more. I will share these ideas in their own posts soon.
- I have read a few books on the subject of entrepreneurship: Start Your Own Business by Entrepreneur Press, Start With Why by Simon Sinek, E-myth by Michael Gerber, E-myth Mastery by Michael Gerber, Crush It! By Gary Vaynerchuck, The Lean Startup by Eric Ries, Start Something That Matters by Blake Mycoskie
- I geek out on Hacker News every day.
- I follow some pretty inspiring entrepreneurs and developers on Twitter.
- I have six close friends that are entrepreneurs.
- I attend startup events: Teens in Tech LA Conference 12/17/2012. I was skeptical at first. I really didn’t think I was going to get much out of the conference. But it was quite the opposite. These kids are crushing it, and showed me I have a lot to learn. Plus I won a free 500 gig hard drive from the raffle.Australia Days Pitch Competition at Blank Spaces: Super interesting to see companies give their pitch in 10 minutes or less. Saw the founders of Roams. Pretty cool app. I need to go to more of these.
- I plan to attend these upcoming events: Los Angeles Lean Startup Circle: Learn More about LA incubators/accelerators: This one is crazy. This event is sold-out, and people are pleading for more tickets. I could probably scalp mine a chunk of cash. Pretty excited though. I want to be extra social. SXSW Interactive: I am so fucking excited for this. It will be my first time visiting Austin. Plus I hope that I am going to meet some great people, see some inspiring shiz, and party all nerdy.
Ok, cool. Where do I want to go next?
- Get on top of my social media and build some Klout: Share more, write more, blog more: I basically just need to put myself out there and start attracting and meeting brilliant people. I am pretty damn good at meeting girls on OK Cupid, so this shouldn’t be that hard.
- Finish my personal portfolio site: Oh I want it to be sexy. It would be nice to get an award or two for it as well.
- Continue exploring the start-up scene. Attend events and classes and practice networking.
- Flush out my ideas. Create business plans and Minimum viable products to test on potential users.
If you have any tips, suggestions or any feedback please email me at ben at benmcmaster dot com. I would love to hear your advice.
Follow me on Twitter: @ben_mcmaster
