Starting companies is hard.
Building them into sustainable businesses over time is even harder.
Much has been postulated about why one founder flounders and the others emerge as the next Mark Zuckerberg. Some will attribute the difference to smarts, connections, or capital, but a new research…
Tomorrow I begin my MBA summer internship. This veritable rite of passage is one for growth, networking, exploration, and hard work. I’m very excited and honored to being doing my internship with RoundPegg, a TechStars graduate and overall cool place to be. RoundPegg is in the business of helping organizations ensure cultural alignment across the company through hiring, training, and assessment tools. I am tasked with helping the team develop a strategic partnership and sales process, and wearing whatever hat needs to be worn on any given day. Exciting stuff! It’s a great company, amazing team, and exciting product. I’m thrilled to be a part of it!
Many updates to follow.
These are just a couple of photos from a recent roll of Ilford HP5+
Previous two: Grandpa’s workshop
Bump
Classic
A few months ago I picked up a Mamiya 4b rangefinder for $8 at a thrift store. I threw in a role of AGFA HDC200 to give it a test. The result? Bad focusing. As you’ll notice, all these pictures are out of focus. I’m not a great photographer, but I’m not THIS bad. But the colors came out great.
Only post-processing are a tiny bump in saturation and contrast using the Flare App for Mac. Normally I do black & white, so I’m not versed in color film post-processing.
Giving his March 3rd primaries victory speech, Mitt Romney proclaimed “People will look at high gas prices, a start to ask themselves if they want four more years of this.” Oh Mitt, Mitt, Mitt. You were educated at Harvard, and probably learned about micro- and macro- economics from a Nobel Laureate at some point. You know better than this!
First off: Yes, I know it’s just politics. So let’s take that rebuttal out and just talk economics.
The whole gas prices issue has nothing to do with oil supply or availability of other types of raw fuel. People talk about drilling for oil and energy exploration, but that completely misses the point and currently has nothing to do with gas prices. There are two primary reasons why gas prices are as high as they are: 1) Refining Capacity, and 2) Global demand.
Reason #1: The U.S. refines a lot of gas. In fact, we’re one of the largest refining countries in the world, and our refineries are operating at full capacity. However, refineries are routinely being shut down because they are no longer cost-efficient for companies to use; they lose money for every gallon of gas they refine. The result is that a scarce resource has become even scarcer. Diminishing supply.
Reason #2: The oil & refining companies are actually exporting gas from the US to international countries. The reason? In Britain & Europe, gas prices are reaching $10/gallon. So why would a company keep their gas here in the U.S. and sell it for $5 when they can add 75 cents in shipping to their individual gallong cost of goods sold, and sell it for $10 in France? If I’m the company, I do business where there are premium prices. The result is that demand here in the US remains constantly high, but the supply is leaving our shores for more profitable markets. Increasing international demand.
So we don’t have an oil availability or government/president problem here in the U.S. , we have a refining capacity constraint problem.
Mitt, I’m a lowly University of Utah MBA, and even I know this. C’mon!
Yesterday’s announcement that Jonathan Schwartz just launched a new startup, CareZone, has been lingering with me for the last 24 hours, and something keeps telling me I want to be a part of this. So this is my open letter for a summer Business Development Internship at CareZone. I would love to work with your team (Jonathan pretty much shored up my admiration with his resignation haiku tweet), and help take this thing to market.
Nutshell of CareZone: CareZone is a paid service that helps people manage the caregiving of dependent parents/adults, as well as children who require extra attention and planning. It’s a fantastic idea, and desperately needed. I know here in Utah this is a HUGE issue, as there are tons of caregiver households struggling to adjust to the aging population.
There are several reasons I want to do a BizDev internship at CareZone, but perhaps none so strong as my own personal reasons. Currently, my father-in-law is fighting a losing battle against stage four pancreatic and colon cancer. At this point, it’s not a question of if, but rather when. Looking forward, the aftermath of this situation is that none of the other families are in a position to take care of my mother-in-law, thus it is going to rest on me and my wife. Honestly - as a thirty year old MBA student - this feels like a looming albatross. Knowing there are resources such as CareZone out there helps alleviate anxieties about these future responsibilities.
So CareGiver, send me to Seattle, Palo Alto, Sarasota, or Wichita; I don’t care. I want to be your BizDev intern this summer.
If you actually get this, hit me up on Twitter @Scott_Rafferty.
My buddy and co-founder Tyler fired off a tweet that triggered a slew of thoughts about how websites are violating my senses; the most common victim being my hearing. You’ve all seen them; the website that has the video ad, the elevator music for a day spa, or the most annoying of them all - the creepy video person talking directly at you.
Senses play a big part of the online experience. Of course sight is chief among the senses; if your website looks good to me and triggers a serotonin release, I’ll stay and enjoy your website. In fact, I’ll probably return (assuming the content adds value to me in some way). Some of the best websites to experience this are Core77 and Dezeen. I love these sites, and I usually land there once a day.
However, hearing is a sense that many websites and advertisers assume the right to violate. When they blast some ad or music at me once, I’ll let it go. A second time, I start to get annoyed. A third time, there won’t be a fourth. A great example of this is the Salt Lake Tribune. Every visit to the site subjects me to Utah Jazz and other ads, sometimes at the same time! So guess where I go for my Utah news? KSL.com (which has a couple of strikes against it, too!)
So what’s my point? If you have a website where you count on providing quality content to pull in visitors and you rely on advertising dollars for revenue, focus on creating a good overall sensory experience for your users. Don’t violate their ears and serenity by blasting them with audio advertising; let them elect to hear the sales pitch rather shove it in their faces. Trust me, your users will thank you.
I just returned from an amazing trip to the Bay Area, and my brain is absolutely buzzing. We met with some amazing startups and growing companies, and got the chance to pick the brains of some of the best entrepreneurs in the area. Here are some of my thoughts about the insights gained from these visits.
Pain Points
We chatted with Ilana, the founder of Weddington Way, which is an innovative solution to the bridesmaid gown problem. The primary theme of this visit was pain points. Ilana led from a pain point, and then developed the product around to address the customer’s pain (and she’s done a great job doing it). This made me realize I need to start looking at pain points, and not just cool ideas (which is a problem for me).
Sensors
It’s amazing how much is around us that we don’t understand. We visited with Tristan Walker, head of Biz Dev at Foursquare. When I asked him what he’s geeking out to right now, he pulled out a slew of gadgets and asked “what do all these have in common? The iPhone.” He then went on to talk about how we don’t really understand the full potential of the sensors within the iPhone. I hadn’t thought about this at all, but now I can’t stop. So much opportunity there if you can just unlock it.
Don’t Be Afraid to Charge for your Product
The most common thematic thread I noticed among these young entrepreneurs was the need to charge for your product. There seems to be little interest in the build-a-base-then-monetize model of startups with these folks. I’ve been on this wagon for years after reading Jason Fried’s blog over at 37 Signals. Build an amazing product and charge for it.
Design
Tristan brought up a great point about some of the great companies and startups that they didn’t necessarily create a new-to-the-world product, but they out-designed everybody else. Being a design nerd myself, I was happy to hear that I’m not the only one who believes that. Design better than everybody else, and you will win the customers.
There you have it. Love to hear your thoughts.
I’m now a walking online stereotype - the guy who likes to blog, but let’s two months pass between posts. So here’s my excuse: crap’s going on.
School: Wrapped up the first semester of grad school. Three more to go. It’s the one thing that takes up the most time right now, but I feel is actually a sidenote to what I’m trying to accomplish with my………
Startup: So after evaluating nearly 100 different ideas I’ve had over the last year or so, I’ve narrowed it down to one, a SaaS product. I’ve got a founding team with a marketing genius and a wizard coder. I just got back from Silicon Valley where I talked to some VC’s and entrepreneurs about it, and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Even got some “let’s talk once you get your prototype out and figure out your sales channels.” I’ll talk to anybody about it, but I’m not publishing it onto the internet yet. If you want to know, email me and I’ll love to chat.
Photography: I now have about 15 rolls of film that need to be developed. I have been using my Canon S95 a lot lately, but nothing replaces the feel of film. Also, Salt Lake City isn’t the best or most eye-inspiring city to shoot in, so I’m not sure how much I’ll actually like from the film. But stay tuned. Here’s one of the better half during the holidays.
And to finish, here are my new year resolutions:
* Start a company (stay tuned about some exciting news about this)
* Drink more water
* Fit into the Brown Suit (not a euphemism)
* Watch less TV
* Create a low-maintenance side stream of income
* No sugar from February on
* Take a photo a day (Probably post it on here or somewhere else)
* Spend the summer somewhere fun
Cheers!
The best leadership book out there is one that 95% of you have never heard of. It’s called Management of the Absurd by Richard Farson. It this gem, Farson discusses the many paradoxes managers face in leading organizations. The very core concept of the book is this: Leaders don’t face problems within a vacuum, so to think there is a single “leadership model” is absurd. Rather, Farson arms the reader with an insightful lens through which leaders can view their workplace, employees, and situations.
The best part about this book is that it is simple and efficient in deliver; Coaching point - brief explanation - short story. It’s a very quick and effective read. Go buy this book. You will not regret it.
