Crazy Great Times

Nine months into my new gig things are starting to really heat up. We had a fantastic web and client release last week that so far have gotten great reviews from our users. That makes all 24/7 work worth it.

We have also announced our expansion into Europe which is my old home grounds. Europeans will love our service since publisher’s over there are even stoggier then here in the US.

And there are tons more good stuff in the pipe which will keep me busy for the next few months. But that’s life in a startup. You make a bet, break the rules and work smarter and faster then the current incumbents to win. Anyone that’s not living on the edge is just waisting space and time.

2 Months Later

I cannot believe that I haven’t written a post for almost two months. That didn’t even happen when I semi-retired last year. We’ll I’ve been busy as hell, working on getting our client and web releases out as well as charging ahead on what’s next in the product pipeline.

It’s been a very productive and creative period. I’ve rediscovered the earlier Genesis (1969-1975), Rush and Judas Priest thanks to my buddy Sam. I’ve had friends and family swing by almost every weekend and I’ve been reading up on things (scrum, French politics, 70s progressive rock, the Inklings et cetera) as well as getting my Netflix on. I even think we went down to LA for a crazy weekend in May. Hard to remember.

The Clash is Live

Man, three weeks after the launch of Black Sabbath we are rolling out The Clash. That is hyper speed and supremely impressive. I’m starting to feel the right kind of urgency and focus as we had back in the early days of the Internet.

I once in a while run into other folks that work at new startups (post bust) and most of them are doing 9-5 and justify that by now it’s different. No way – if you want to survive and grow in a cut-throat marketplace you have to run faster, better and smarter than any of your competitors. I don’t buy the 9-5 story – any company that foster that kind of mentality will die.

It’s all about speed, execution and teamwork!

My Nocturnal Adventures

One of the first thing that one of my old Yahoo! managers said when he came onboard was that he wanted people to be committed, not just engaged. Then he told the story about the chicken who is delivering eggs but survives and the pig the sacrifices himself to deliver ham. The chicken is only engaged but the pig is committed. You get it.

That story took me back to my college years when we used to stay up all night to get our university magazine ready for publishing or when we planned new projects during the weekends. The use of the night-time was showing true commitment to the current mission at hand.

These nocturnal adventures continued as I ventured into the mid-90s startup world of Stockholm. We stayed up until the work was done. When you are committed, there are no rules when you should go to work or when you should quit. You keep charging ahead until you are either done or dead tired. Then sleep and repeat.

So as I have slowly getting used to being back in the startup world over the past few months I’ve also started to use nights and weekends for work. Our future is like an unpainted canvas and as any artist knows: creativity never sleeps.

So this past Saturday I woke up at 2am in the morning and realized that my head was full of ideas. I grabbed a coffee, the laptop and got to work. That was one of the most creative sessions I’ve had over the past few years. My commitment – I realized – came from being trusted, empowered and accountable for my work but also from really caring about the outcome.

I think the nights and the weekends are crucial to the success of a startup. That’s when you get time to look back at the past week, get overall perspective and think about the future. If you live in an entrepreneurial network – as I do – it’s the best time for sharings and learnings. It’s also the best time to get work done.

Black Sabbath

It took eight weeks, most weekends, night and days to get here but it was all worth it. A new milestone is reached in time for this long weekend. It’s count down, clean up and release party on the agenda for today.

And it’s live!

Book Widgets Are The New ISBN Identifiers

I authored my first book a few months ago, about our sabbatical in Argentina. It’s a 40-page, hardcover dynamo story about the Missus’ and my photographic experiences in Buenos Aires with surroundings. The reviews have been raving – both from mother and mother-in-law.

As most people on this globe, I’ve dreamt of being published. You know having an ISBN number, being found on Amazon et cetera. So I subscribed to their Merchant Pro service for an introductory price of $19.99 per month and started to upload my book with all associated data. Now, I thought I would be properly exposed to their 29+ MM users world wide and the dream of infinite richness would be reality.

I learned that I didn’t have to have an ISBN number but did realize that I had to add 50% on top of the production cost of my book to get to break-even. Furthermore, how would people find my future bestseller? There is no way that I could compete with the bigger publishing houses and their relationship with Amazon for potential readers eyeballs and wallets.

That’s when I realized that my blog will probably deliver more sales than Amazon, just by adding a promotional module in the sidebar, linking to my Blurb Bookstore. That’s cause my blog is my community, where I interact with friends and family. They are the most likely book buyers of my literary and photographic musings. They are my long tail!

If they like my book, then they will probably recommend it to their friends and family. That means that my URL at Blurb is more valuable than mine at Amazon but it’s much cheaper – it’s actually free. That means that I only need to sell a fraction of books to make the same profit. And over time, my audience will grow and I’ll finally become filthy rich.

Small, agile musings…

The last few weeks have been very busy at my new gig. We have been exhibiting our products at Macworld and Imaging US, planning for a new release and getting some new folks on-board. Staying focused on execution is the key survival strategy for a startup. Speed is everything once you have stepped out in the marketplace and banged on the jungle drum.

All that and more has resulted in fewer blog entries. It’s not that I’m thinking less or have fewer opinions about things, just that I’ve prioritized work over my writings. But here are a few bullet point:

• Peter Jackson deserves his additional $250MM from New Line. The co-chairman Bob Shayne thinks Mr Jackson is greedy and that he has gotten enough money. Anyone that cannot see through that lame argument – when has a company ever said that their profits are enough? – should be locked in. Bob, give Jackson his money so that the world can enjoy the Hobbit. (I’ve heard that New Line no longer has the rights to The Hobbit after 2007 so this media outburst could just be some stalling tactics.)
• What is up with the weather in California? I did not move her to have to walk to work in 38 degree cold winter weather. It’s just not right.
• Barack Obama – the whitest black man on the globe – is running for president in 2008 and I think he’ll win. Just think about how cool the newspaper headlines could read: Obama captures Osama – not beating around the Bush!

At The Macworld (SF Jan 9-12)

I’m experiencing my first Macworld as an exhibitor. It’s quite an exhausting experience. I spent 5 hours in our booth today, answering questions about our software and handling our free shipping cards.

But it’s cool to talk to current and future users about what matters to them, what pain points they are experiencing and the needs they have. And it’s really awesome to work on a product / service that matters to people, that touches their heart and mind.

Off again tomorrow and on Friday for more user mingling. Rewarding and tiring at the same time.

A Great Complement And A Few Christmas Thoughts

The other day, during one of our regular morning chats, one of my co-workers and fellow team member shared one of the best complements I’ve ever gotten. He said: “Don’t take this the wrong way but all of my buddies that have reported into a Swede had one single complaint.”

“Why are Swedes so wishy-washy, insisting on decisions by committee? The whole consensus solution is irritating!”, he said. “You on the other hand, are focused, decisive and not afraid of making decisions.”

Wow, I thought. That is so cool. I’ve always hated the collective decision making and the whole cuddliness of management. I do love great teams and I encourage collaboration but there is a huge different.

If you make decision-making too democratic nothing is going to happen. A smart manager is taking the recommendations from his lieutenants and turning them into even smarter decisions. It is a team effort but it’s also great leadership.

In the end of the day it comes down to trust and clear communication. As a team member you deliver your recommendations and if they clearly lead to better business performance we’ll have a winner.

As a manager you recognize peak performance and great ideas and make decisions that are best for the business. If people don’t like all your decisions – tough! It’s not a popularity contest, it’s just business!

Release Names

Who doesn’t get tired of the old boring 1-dot-5 software names? Well, I did and suggested that we use our favorite (read mine) 70s rock bands in alphabetical order to name our releases from now on. I’m amazed that it caught on and here I am, on a Saturday evening, trying to find songs to match.

It’s not as painful as it seems since I’m having the great pleasure of going through my old albums and realize that I have a load of blues rock, heavy metal, symphonic rock, speed metal, fantasy rock, psychedelic rock, glam rock et cetera.

Here is the list of rock bands:
A – AC/DC
B – Black Sabbath
C – Clash
D – Deep Purple
E – ELO
F – Fleetwood Mac
G – Genesis
H – Heart
I – Iron Maiden
J – Judas Priest
K – Kiss
L – Led Zeppelin
M – Motorhead
N – Nugent
O – Ozzy
P – Pink Floyd
Q – Queen
R – Rush
S – Santana
T – Thin Lizzy
U – Uriah Heep
V – Van Morrison
W – The Who
Y – Yes
Z- ZZ Top

I’m still working through the songs to use for the release parties. Right now on E and there is a tie between Evil Woman and Rockaria.