The plan for today……
“Physics and marketing don’t seem to have much in common, but (Google UK MD) Dan Cobley is passionate about both. He brings these unlikely bedfellows together using Newton’s second law, Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, the scientific method and the second law of thermodynamics to explain the fundamental theories of branding” www.ted.com
Available now in the APP Store!
New Beginnings
The transition from running traditional ‘bricks and mortar’ businesses, typically sectors that have models that are being massively disrupted by technology, to the realisation of a tech dream, is just beginning.
I’d originally started this blog to document the journey, only to find the journey itself becoming an all consuming pursuit. Looking back I wish I’d documented more. I just found my days, my mind, my time wholly consumed by getting stuff done.
Perhaps if I’d blogged more I’d have gotten it done sooner? Reached more people, more quickly?
My biggest challenge proved exactly as I’d imagined. Finding the tech co - founder / s I needed to realise my aims.
I was told in no uncertain terms that I had some great ideas and a clear vision, I just didn’t have the expertise to build product. That was going to be my biggest hurdle to making things happen.
I like hurdles. If you tell me I can’t do something I’ll try and find a million and one reasons to show you that I can. That makes me an arse at times but in the context of this journey being an arse has proved to be invaluable.
A number of lessons from my perspective.
- Network is invaluable. Start with who you know. Ask questions. What do they know? Who do they know? How can that help you realise your aims?
- Know your strengths and max them out. Know your weaknesses just as well and surround yourself with people who fill those gaps.
- Surround yourself with people smarter than you, ask lots of questions, pay attention and learn fast.
I don’t write code. I signed up with Codecademy (it’s brilliant) because I wanted to learn more about what my new found friends were up to. I quickly realised I was never going to amount to much, but I learned at least a little about the world I was now in, the language I would need to speak and the clarity I would need to offer those around me to get things done.
I’ve been referred to some great people who have provided everything from understanding and clarity to sound, brutally honest advice through to inspiration. One and all (and you know who you are) you have been fantastic. Huge thanks to the referrers and the referred!
Things have happened much quicker than I imagined. To slow for my liking (regardless that will aways be the case) but we are all dancing to a different tune.
If you wait for the DJ to spin a tune that everybody loves you’ll wait a long time. Don’t wait. Spin your own tunes loud enough and eventually those that are listening for a sound just like yours will come and dance. Enough of the metaphors, but you get my point. Don’t be a spectator at someone else’s party. Have your own and leave the doors and windows open.
The results so far.
- I have just published my first APP. I have others in development and the prospect of more in the pipeline.
- I have the seedling of a web / mobile concept in development that I am really excited by.
- Another opportunity has just come my way that shows great potential for which we are already at the MVP stage.
Focusing on where I wanted to be, what I wanted to achieve, why I wanted to achieve it, talking about it a constantly to anyone who’ll listen, asking a lot of questions and listening intently has given me opportunities until recently I’d only dreamed off. But as they say, thoughts become things. So they have.
Opportunities are all they are. It’s up to me to make them happen. What I’ve found is that falling in love with the problem, not the solution has proved to be a mantra that will stay with me for a very long time.
The process of re - invention is not complete. It will never be complete. It’s been painful, fraught, financially challenging, intellectually challenging, incredibly exciting, hugely frustrating and massively rewarding. And it’s only just beginning.
"If you hire people just because they can do a job, they’ll work for your money. But if you hire people who believe what you believe, they’ll work for you with blood and sweat and tears.” Simon Sinek"
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(Source: ted.com)
Rethinking Smaller, Smarter Social — Then Rethinking It Again
Back in October of last year, I wrote about one of our early CrunchFund portfolio companies, Everyme. At the time, they were rethinking social networking through the lens of the original digital social network: your mobile phone address book.
They put an app out there and a lot of people were testing it, sending feedback. That’s when the team had a realization: they were onto something, but they weren’t quite there. So they went back to the drawing board and rethought their rethinking of social. The result is the Everyme app launching today.
Address book information is still key, but it’s no longer about recreating your address book to make it social. It’s now about using the connections in there to create small, private networks — called yes, Circles. By syncing your address book information with Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, Everyme can automatically cluster people together and populate some key Circles for you. Your hometown, your college, your current city, your work, etc.
This is similar in concept to what Google does with Google+ Circles, but the key is that most users won’t have to set up their own. And managing them is much simpler. The concept of Google+ Circles is right, but no one is going to manage them. No one does. It’s flawed.
