Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about “mega trends” and how to use them when pitching your startup. Investors like mega trends. After all, they’re big. And most of us are aware of them and have been affected by them (or expect to be in the future). Tens of millions of baby boomers getting set […]
Archives for January 2010
What Should I Write About? You Tell Me!
Every blogger suffers writer’s block at some point. It’s inevitable. And extremely frustrating. For some it means months without creating any new content, while others can recover much more quickly. Skribit (the project of Paul Stamatiou and others) is a service that’s designed to help you defeat writer’s block. It also has the potential of […]
Good Business Bad Business
Not all business is created equal. Not all revenue is created equal either. Everything has a cost. Bad business and revenue can cost more than they’re worth to acquire. You need to have clear definitions of good business and bad business for your own company. The definitions can change over time (almost everything does evolve) […]
Free E-Book “ClickPredictions” on Content Marketing Trends
I’m a big believer in content marketing. I’ve produced content to help market and promote my own business, and I’ve seen it used successfully by others as well. One of the biggest challenges with content marketing is that the barrier to produce content online is so low, everyone can do it. As a result, the […]
How to Turn Your Company into a Recruiting Magnet
Recently I presented at the Guelph Technology Economy Conference on the subject of recruitment. I put together the presentation built off of two posts I had written – The Future of Recruiting is Inbound and The Key to Startup Hiring: Build a Magnet. It went well (I think!) and was fun to do. Public speaking […]
How To Implement a Proactive Customer Support Strategy
I’ve said before that great customer support has to be proactive. But what exactly does that mean? The goal of proactive support is to identify and resolve issues before they become problems. In some cases you can be so successful with proactive customer service that you can solve problems before customers even realize they exist. […]
Creating Customer Touchpoints
When was the last time you played Red Rover? The game is quite simple. You create a chain of people who hold hands (roughly at arm’s length from each other) and the other team tries to break the chain of people. Breaking through the chain is usually quite easy. The connections just aren’t that strong. […]
Great Customer Service Drives Revenue and Profitability
Too many people look at customer service as a cost center, when it really should be a profit center. I recently read B-A-M!: Delivering Customer Service in a Self-Service World and it’s an important refresher and reminder of the importance of great customer service. Customer support is something I’ve obsessed over for many years. The […]
7 Key Points for Brainstorming Startup Ideas
One of my favorite exercises is brainstorming startup ideas with other entrepreneurs. You can gain a lot of value from a fresh perspective. When “pitched an idea” for brainstorming or feedback I tend to go through the same 7 key points and questions each time. That tends to spur strong discussion, new ideas and new […]
Startup Children: Introducing Talker
One indication of a strengthening startup ecosystem is when past founders start new companies. Even if those previous companies weren’t successful (although that certainly helps!), it’s a good sign when entrepreneurs keep trying. Another good sign is when startup employees decide to make the leap into startup founders. In fact, I think this is even […]