Tomorrow, we are announcing a new change on our website. I can't wait to see the reaction of our members! They are going to love it!
We've been looking for ways to continually make the site more useful for our members. This is one sure to please. More later...
Occasionally, you'll hear stories about the kid who was singing while waiting for the subway. He was overheard by a record exec, and 3 months later had a smash-hit record. The same stories are rampant in the internet space as well.
I've come to believe that most of these are folk legend. While there may be the one-in-a-million success story like this, I believe the real way to find your path to success is unrelenting perseverance coupled with the ability to quickly learn from mistakes and change as necessary.
I've been working on our little company for 2 years now. We hired our first guy (Chuck) about 15 months ago. We continually tweak and change the model and try lots of things, learn, fail fast, and change. Sometimes I want things to happen quicker than they are. I want to feel like we're the next big web thing. But I try to remember that most great companies take decades to become great. Even with the speed and agility of the net, true success takes time. We have to give ourselves that time to grow.
This reminds me of an interview I read on Bono. He said that if U2 was just starting today with the same level of success they had on their first two albums, they would have been dropped, and the band would've dissipated. The record labels today want a big hit, or you're washed aside (sounds like a VC). But because they were given the time and belief, they were able to become what they are today.
While I'm very proud of where we've come from, our company started off making the equivalent of Boy - a bad album with a couple bright spots. But, over time, I know we're going to make our Joshua Tree.
Here's a logical, enlightening post by Bill Burnham on understanding why your VC may be acting like a ding-dong.
The takeaway is that while your company is the absolutely most important thing in YOUR life, the reality is that you might not be that important to the people you've decided to jump in bed with. This isn't anything to whine about, this is just life.
Bill gives some helpful advice on both the financial and organizational reasons your VC may be pushing for a quick sale, turning down a good opportunity, or leaving you for dead. You can't blame them. At the end of the day, everyone has their own best interest in mind. It's human nature.
Trackback: http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/14841/20119806
In a world of constant pressure to maximize the bottom dollar, it's nice to see Jim and Craig's wild success with a very simple formula:
Focus on the customer - keep the site clean - keep troublemakers out.
I love that model...
Enrique was a top-notch musician. He had gotten a music performance degree a few years back, and followed his passion into music. He played all over San Diego, and was the drummer for our regional-touring rock band, Across The Room.
One Saturday afternoon, the band had just finished an acoustic set at a sea-side coffee house. I was the band's very bad lead singer, and I invited him to join me for a margarita (no salt). Enrique couldn't go because he had to quickly pack up his drums, go fill up his tank, and drive 30 minutes to another part of town. He was giving drum lessons to a 12-year old at the student's home.
An hour later, I was sipping the margarita (Patrone) when he got the call. Enrique had driven over to the student's home, and no one was home. He waited, tried calling, but they were a no show. Frustrated, Enrique drove back to the Mexican cantina and ordered a double.
Enrique's Struggle
There, I talked with Enrique about the music business, and the teaching business. He explained to me how difficult it was for him to find students, and for students to find him. You see, most of us who have a passion for music, dance, or another creative outlet are just beginners, and we have no idea where to go, what to look for, and how to learn. So, what happens is we order a DVD, or try to download some guitar tabs, get frustrated, and quit without finding our true artist within.
After we calculated the marketing, the flyers (hanging up at the grocery store), gas money, the no-shows, and the wear & tear on his equipment, we found that Enrique was making less than minimum wage.
I was shocked! Here was my good friend, my band partner, and an unbelievably talented and accomplished artist making less than a Burger King drive-thru worker. He and his wife just had a new baby, and between changing diapers, working a second job, waiting for no-show students, and rehearsing to keep up his art, he barely had time to build his own business and find his own students.
What We Do
It was this day I decided to start the business. It was started out of a genuine desire to help creative people connect with each other. We didn't have the funds or people to blow out an entire active social network, and we would have wrestled with the cold start problem even if we did. So we built slowly - one user at a time.
Over the past 20 months, we've matched enough students to fill a football stadium. These people not only create online friends, but real-world connections. And while that's all good (especially with no financial backing), we're looking to take our business to the next level.
Most music and creative sites are chasing the artists who are really good, cut albums, and need to market themselves. This makes up 3-4% of the entire body of creative enthusiasts. What we do is give a home to the other 96%.
While it's much more glamorous to be associated with a rock star, we feel there is a bigger unmet demand for the dude trying to figure out how to string a guitar.
Xinu Returns is a fast tool to help you see your site stats, check page rank, and see back links - all from one easy-to-use interface. Created on a creative commons license, the tool should be a part of any site arsenal.
Some of the data did not come up when I ran our site through there, but I'm sure they'll work out the bugs.
A post on Robin Good's site explains the wave coming in mobile technology. While I think we are still on a slow adaption path here in the USA, the mobile medium is booming.
Mobile technology is the first that is always on and always with us. Thus, it has the ability for personalization that being tethered to a computer simply does not have.
Mobile media, like the Internet before it, is capable of swallowing all of its older siblings, even the Internet itself.
Another gigantic feature (yet to be used in US) is the micro-payments system built in. Perhaps as more users and regulation come into play, we will see carriers as transaction engines, and even a drop in the amount of commission they take from payments over their networks. I believe that if they took a lot less, more entrepreneurs would find ways to use the phone as a payment mechanism. But, at 30%-40% that the carriers take, it doesn't make it an effective payment system.
I still haven't found a way to build it into our site. Any ideas?
Link: Mobile Phones As Mass Media: Models For Content Distribution - Part 2 - Robin Good's Latest News.
Ning is a site that allows anyone to set up and administer their own social network. It's came a long way over the past couple years. In the past, it was more like setting up your own classifieds section. Not very useful.
With the new roll out, it looks like the team has hit a home run (or at least extra bases). I wanted to try it out, so I set up the Dayton OH Stebbins High School reunion site in about 45 minutes. It was drop-dead simple. Anyone can do it.
I believe that valuable online social networks will mimic real-world networks. It's simply impossible to have 30,000 friends (myspace). Most sociologists agree that somewhere in the neighborhood of 120-150 is the right amount. However, with better tools, this number might increase 25% or more (in my opinion).
This means that most people will belong to multiple online networks (segregated by location, interest, profession, etc.) and these will be smaller networks of 150-250 people. David Silver agrees in his rockin' book, Smart Start Ups.
Congrats to the guys at Ning. I think they've done well with this release.
Carnegie Dale: How to Win Friends & Influence People [AUDIOBOOK] [UNABRIDGED]
One of my favorite classic books - now on my iPhone. (*****)
Michael Covel: Trend Following (Updated Edition): How to Make Millions in Up or Down Markets
The concept of catching market momentum in currencies, futures, and equities.
Chip Heath: Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
This is an addictive, fun, and useful read for anyone who needs to get their point across. In the past, my investor presentations have always been too long. Using the tools in the book, I was able to cut it down in half. (*****)
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