Tag Archives: lean startup

Eventful Days
and the Business Pivot

August 26, 2011 View Comments

Rob Mulda leaves slashdot.org…
Steve Jobs resigns from Apple…
and Paul Graham grows his startup army at Y Combinator…

It has been an eventful day in the world of business and startups… and it has got me thinking about change and specifically business changes and pivots. Which brings me to:

Pivoting Your Business to a Higher Level | Business Pivot …
A business pivot is an operational change driven by a combination of observation, information, and inspiration. With the pace of change today, it should be considered regularly by all businesses.

http://www.bcbusinessonline.ca/management/business-planning/pivoting-your-business-higher-level

Our Business Pivot to Freemium: Insights from the Process | The …
Last week, author and tech fan, Tom Taulli of Forbes posted “Should Your Company Go Freemium”, a summary of discussions we have had on the topic. Genius.

http://www.genius.com/marketinggeniusblog/5266/our-business-pivot-to-freemium-insights-from-the-process.html

The Pivot With Aaron Batalion of LivingSocial
LivingSocial CTO and Co-Founder Aaron Batalion shares the story of how LivingSocial changed it’s business or in lean startup terms “pivoted” to become the social commerce business they are today at the Tech Cocktail Startup Mixology Conference in Chi…

Pivot and Profit – The 3 Key Habits of Success for Entrepreneurs

Think you’re an entrepreneur? Do you have the passion to go the distance and share that with others? What about the boring stuff, the organization and delivery of a business that creates replicatable, predictable results? Blog post at declandunn.com …

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Obviously, LivingSocial is one of the biggest business pivots in recent memory. You may or may not remember them from their Visual Bookshelf app on Facebook a few years ago. It let you post a list of books you’ve read and the stuff you’d like to read to your profile. It was sort of fun, if you read a lot or cared what your FB friends were reading.

Later they came out with PickYourFive and a few other poll-type apps for Facebook and then a couple of years ago, folks really started to take notice when they acquired BuyYourFriendADrink. (Because really, who wouldn’t want to buy their friends a drink, right?  Especially when they send one back to you. Not to mention that some of the drink choices were hilarious in aืd of themselves. Virtual party, actual fun.)

After their success with BuyYourFriendADrink, they launched a daily deals business and now they’re projected to make $500 million this year. From a less than thrilling app about a bookshelf to $500 million in like 3 years. Is this the most dramatic business pivot in history or what? Possibly not but it’s certainly the most interesting.

LivingSocial recently launched a Family edition and plans to launch a college edition for their daily deals as well. They’re working on expanding into new markets and countries and show no sign of slowing down.

Chris Dixon (from Hulu and other startups fame) said “In my experience, the most common mistake is to pivot too late.”

So I’d like to hear from you… have you pivoted a business? Was the pivot successful? What are some other great Business Pivot stories? You all know how much I love a great success story…

 

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Best Fiver You’ll ever Spend – Outsourcing Secrets

August 19, 2011 View Comments

The days of hiring expensive copywriters and SEO “experts” may be coming to an end as more and more talented individuals are showing up and offering their services on Fiverr.com (and some of the fiverr clones such as fourerr, tenbux, and gigbucks).

The premise of fiverr is pretty simple: people post “ads” for things they’re willing to do for $5. You can find everything from pictures and videos of hand-written marketing messages on body parts to handmade crafts people mail to you. But for our day-to-day purposes of running a website, there are several different types of “gigs” (that’s what they call a “job”) that meet our needs very well.

Some highlights of the Gems on Fiverr.com:

Writing, Copy Writing, Spinning
You can find a variety of different writing jobs folks will do for $5. The average is about 500 words of “unique” content for $5. You can also get folks to rewrite your PLR or other content, and you can find people to “spin” you articles (for use with auto-submission software such as SEnukeX, Article Marketing Robot, UAW, and AMA. You can even find folks to ghostwrite ebooks for you (although that generally costs multiple “fiverrs”).

SEO and Marketing
Along with the writing jobs, there are a variety of different things you can have people do when it comes to your SEO. You can find people who will do a variety of backlinking and article marketing campaigns for you. And when it comes to Marketing, you can find just about anything you can imagine. Social networking friends, fans, subscribers? Done! Craigslist posting? Done! Your website name written in alphabet soup? Done!

Website Design and Maintenance
Have your HTML code written, checked, debugged and more.  JavaScript, Mobile App, C++ questions? Ask away!

Multi-Media
You can even find folks to work on your video, voiceover, transliteration or other multi-media projects.

 

QUICK TIPS for Getting the Most out of your Fiverr: 

  • Special Requests – If there’s something you’d like done but you can’t find it, ask for it! Find the “gig” that’s similar to what you’re looking for and then message the provider to ask if they can do whatever it is you’re looking for. You can also post what you’re looking for in the green “request gigs” box in the lower right hand corner.
  • Due Diligence – Always check a seller’s rating and feedback before you order. Just click the seller’s name to go to their profile, and then look for the “Rated: ___%” in the upper right hand corner of their profile. That will give you their overall rating. Then for the specific gig you’re considering purchasing, check the feedback. On the gig page, scroll down to “Latest buyers’ feedback” to read what people who have ordered that gig had to say about it.
  • Give it to Them! Once you order a gig, you’ll be sent a message from the provider letting you know what information they need in order to complete your order. Be sure to read it carefully and to send them whatever they need.
  • Ask Questions – If you have questions about a gig, ASK! Don’t ever assume that reports will be provided unless the listing specifically states that they will be. Most providers are happy to answer questions (and if they aren’t, then you should probably be looking for someone else anyway!)

 

How to
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Is Your Office a Hot Mess?
6 Creative Ways to Increase Productivity

August 9, 2011 View Comments

 

Being productive at work can be difficult in this world with so many gadgets intent on distracting us. For folks who work from a home office, add to that the frustrations of trying to separate work and family and trying to keep a space that’s dedicated to work… and it’s no wonder so many of us end up with offices that are more “hot messes” than they are “productive work environments.”

Top 6 Ways to Shape-Up Your Office

  • Kid-Free Zone – Untold numbers of folks work at home today, and in the world of startups, that’s generally how most of us keep working, often indefinitely. When you work at home, dedicate your office as a kid-free zone. The very last thing you need while trying to secure financing or land that new client via video chat is to be stumbling over toys or getting your valuable work documents and contracts drawn on or misplaced.
  • Think (c)Lean – This should already be second nature to the Lean Startups out there, but it may take a bit of getting used to for the rest of us. This means getting rid of stuff you don’t need in your office, and keeping only the things you do. You don’t necessarily need to throw stuff away or donate it all to charity, but take a good hard look at all of the stuff in your office and determine honestly how much of it you actually use for work.
  • Headphones (Noise-Cancelling or otherwise) –  A lot of folks who work at home struggle with maintaining focus. Especially if your spouse, children, or other folks are around while you’re working. It can even be tough to ignore the neighbor’s unreasonably loud conversation or the passing traffic or other sounds. Headphones can help you focus. Just make sure you don’t plug in music that will tempt you to sing along as that can be more of a distraction than the neighbor’s dog barking.
  • Get Up, Stand Up – Standing up while working can improve your productivity and health. Recently, researchers have discovered that many people are more likely to increase their productivity if they stand up while working. This may seem a bit counter-intuitive, especially for those of us with what some may call a “desk” job but there has been a recent influx of office furniture which supports the standing positing.
  • Get Natural – Hopefully you already have plenty of natural light in your office. If not, you may want to think about opening things up a bit. Natural light, especially during sunny days, can help energize you while stimulating productivity (not to mention that Vitamin D, which is absorbed from sunlight, is necessarily for proper health).
  • Slow and Steady Wins the Race – Stop trying to do everything at once. It’s great that you’re passionate and ready to change the world, but Rome wasn’t built in a day, my friend. Even when it comes to implementing these creative strategies for increasing productivity, don’t try to do them all at once. Trying changing just one thing at a time. Once you’ve gotten that one thing down pat, move on to the next one. It takes approximately 21 days to start or stop a habit. Give yourself time to start some great ones.
How to
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