Teamwork Unplugged

This week my husband and business partner has been out of town.  In his absense, I have continued to push forward our development and marketing planning.  I have been actively collaborating with some of my vendors (one in Colorado, one in Pakistan, one in Georgia…it’s a small world afterall).  Makes me think a new about teamwork and that business is built one relationship at a time.  As Hugh MacLeod so appropriately drew in this cartoon, “Go team!”

To Do Good

There is a famous company in Silicon Valley who built a business on the supposition that they should “do no harm” or said another way “You can make money without doing evil.”  In their case, it is boatloads of money and I enjoy using many of their products, so they are doing many things right.

That all sounds fine, but it seems to me that there is a higher standard than just to avoid evil?  I don’t want to stop there.  I want to build a business that does good.

To provide direction in decision making during these key stages of planning Remarkable by Creative Outlet Labs, I thought it might be good to get a definition of what doing good is.  The dictionary defines it as “moral excellence” or “of high quality,” among its dozens of definitions.   Useful, but not terribly prescriptive.  The good book speaks of it roughly like this: “In everything, set them an example by doing what is good.  Show integrity, seriousness, and soundness of speech, so that no one has anything bad to say about you.”  This is helpful, as well, as it emphasizes providing leadership, as well as doing good.

How do you demonstrate high integrity and quality in a business or product?  By focusing on customers and providing them tools they can use to make the world a brighter place.  By making “giving back” a key tenant of the product offering and of the company priorities.  By giving voice to people’s stories and memories, because everyone knows someone who is remarkable.

It may be a bit ambitious, but I have faith that a business build on the tenants of doing good, can…well…do good!

There will be more information in the coming weeks and months about the good we intend to do.  In the meantime, subscribe to this RSS feed and I look forward to connecting with you!

Behold the Plan A

The good folks at 37Signals, who it is no secret have greatly influenced my thinking on the topic, talk about the importance of self-funding a start-up.  Outside funding is “Plan B” as they like to say.  They come from a perspective of a start-up founded by developers.  Get 2-3 people, they contend.  Write code.  Get people to use it.  Charge them.  Rinse and repeat.

 

I have been advised by other entrepreneurs that I know to “hold onto equity” (because you can’t get it back easily) and to “hold onto my money” that I might have personally invested by finding a partner who can help me develop a product.    I am not sure how I do both of these things simultaneously, although both are great counsel from folks I trust who have years of entrepreneurial experience.

 

One of the best pieces of advice I received about funding came over a year ago from a serial entrepreneur that I heard speak at a Portland Business Journal event.  He talked about heading up a joint venture between two companies that shared ownership 50/50.  He said when they needed another round of funding, the 50/50 partnership failed to deliver because one company couldn’t afford to invest further, but didn’t want to give up control.  The other company wanted to invest, but was contractually limited from investing more than the other.  The business ended up failing and the take-away was that the capitalization method should match the business strategy.

 

So, what is the business strategy of Creative Outlet Labs and how I am answering the question of capital?  The strategy is simple.  To to good by becoming the leading provider of personal tributes, allowing individuals to appreciate, collaborate, and celebrate those who are remarkable.  To do this, we don’t need to be big.  We just need to be better than the alternatives and utilize all available technologies.  We don’t need to have the most features.  We need to focus and make it easy for people to get from point A (the idea and the occasion) to point B (a finished tribute) in rapid fashion.  We don’t need the backing of a large company to get started and make a difference (although perhaps that is an exit strategy).

 

So, for now, the capitalization plan is to self-fund and retain the equity.  I am a realist.  I know, the business and the products may not always be my baby, but I can ensure it gets off to a good start…narrowly focused on doing good.

She Comes Highly Recommended, but Does She Walk Fast

In my career, I have interviewed dozens of people. Most of have been for roles that are customer facing to some extent, ranging from customer service representatives to general managers. One of the hardest things to assess, especially in a short interview, is cultural fit. My colleague and friend, Jill, went through an extensive management training program at a hotel chain and ran resorts earlier in her career. To do this job well you interview hundreds of people. One of the things that she taught me was to note the pace of the candidates walk. If they kept a brisk pace, this may be an indication that they are high energy enough to thrive in the quick pace of the business and to show an adequate “sense of urgency” to guests. In my experience, this is a good indicator. Sure there are fast talking, fast walking charlatans which are excellent interviewers and poor performers, but the walk test is a good one.

So, what if you are a new business looking for partners and contributors? I can’t always meet the people I am working with and must make assessments about fit from afar. So, what is the virtual equivalent of watching the walk? Seth Godin suggests trial runs. The folks at 37Signals say kick the tires of a development partner by assessing their open source contributions. Jerry Dawson suggests hiring sales people for a short contract before committing. All of these are summed up in the advice, “Look at what they have done.”

As I have been searching for business partners, here are a few tips I can add to this list:

• Look for responsiveness. Do you get replies to your emails in a timely manner? Do they keep their commitments?
• Look for expertise.I got this one from my father-in-law who spent his career in pharmaceutical sales calling on M.D.s. He said that when he first met a doctor, they would test you out by asking you questions that you should know about your drug and the condition it is intended to treat. If you pass the test, they know they can trust you. If not, they take your freebies and never see you again. You can do the same by asking a question for which you know the answer, to see if you like their answer.
• Look for an over-and-above attitude. Are they making suggestions based on their experience that will save you time or money? Do they “get” your business? Are they offering something more? Do they ask good questions?
• Look for hunger. You want partners who want partnership. If you are too small for them to worry about, they won’t. If you are too significant a portion of their business (oh, what a problem to have someday), then they my actively look for new accounts and say “no” to new projects to lessen their dependence on you. At this stage in my business, I need someone wanting to partner with a small company and grow together. And remember, you are not asking favors as it can pay off for both of you. Weiden + Kennedy started famously with a borrowed typewriter putting out copy for Nike. GolinHarris started doing PR for a then fledgling hamburger chain called McDonald’s for a retainer of $500 a month.

What Would You Do, If You Could Not Fail?

I have one of those inspirational cards in my office at work with a phrase like this written on it.  It is from the good folks at Quotables and I have looked at it thousands of times.  It is empowering to contemplate what wild and unbelievable things you could accomplish if you knew success was guaranteed.

 

However, it is easy to fall into two other interpretations of this concept:

1. “What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail too badly?”
2. “What can you do that you are confident about?”

The first is a subtly, but an important one.  The quote doesn’t say “how high would you climb if you knew there was a safety net?”  It says instead, “what would you do if you never needed a safety net?”

 

The second is more tricky.  The quote does not ask you to constrain your dreams to those things that you are reasonably confident that you can accomplish on your own.  It asks for a mental leap of faith.  I, like most people, enjoy working on things that I am confident I can succeed.  I like to play games I can win.  The challenge is to think beyond that comfort zone and think about yourself as more capable and luckier than you have ever been.  This is basically a requirement for entrepreneurs, because the deck is stacked against us, but yet we place our bets.

 

So, if I could not fail, what would I do?  I would start Remarkable by Creative Outlet Labs and do good in the world.  Thank you for joining me on this journey.

 

As an aside, although the card I have attributes the quote to “unknown,” others credit Dr. Robert Schuller with penning the concept (which makes sense considering he is a world famous optimist).

Hello!

This is the first post on what will become a lively feed on the perils and joys of entrepreneurship, as Creative Outlet Labs embarks on a path to product.  You are invited to join in the journey by subscribing to this feed.  Hope you packed some trail mix and your camera, as it will be a scenic trip!