Classic Dean Wareham 01 California (All The Way)

The spectacular and swift dismantling of News Corps’ News of The World and the once unthinkable fall of Mubark from power in Egypt show that both were never really stable.  They only had the illusion of stability.  The uneasy complicit peace of UK politicians and the tabloids dovetails with the self preservation motif of the Egyptian masses.  Until they both imploded overnight.  In both cases smallish cracks in the detentes opened massive fissures and realed just how fragile those ecosystems were.

So- ask yourself this: where is your underlying product instability, market approach weakness or revenue model risk.  What simple but powerful event could create near instant upheaval in your business (or your life).  Sometimes upheaval is a catalyst for change for the better, but it can also be massively destructive of your carefully architected bubble.  In no cases is it ever fun to be caught off-guard and go instantly to DEFCON 1.  Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to institutionalize a culture that defuses structural tectonic pressure and thus creates stability and a platform for massive lastinggrowth.

Because everyone loves lists:

1. Identify and neutralize your weaknesses before they get exposed and you can substantially weaken the tectonic pressure that may be building beneath the surface.

2. Run “what-ifs” in your head and with your team.  ”What if:” our biggest customer(s) cancel, our servers go down, some employee quits, our partner decides to compete with us…

3. Thinks 2-5 steps ahead and go to where you want the puck to be, not where it is.

Be intellectually honest with yourself- then set about to change before change sets on you.

Now I’m ready to fly:

Attention all marketers and tchotchke makers- can we please do away with this item.  Who (in the US) would possible want/need/use/not have this.  Why do people keep sending these to me (or anyone).  RIP Modem dongle.

Off the new deeper and more complicated Bon Iver album Bon Iver: Calgary

Off the new Dawes album: 

I spent this past Saturday speaking at a great event in Boston called RamenCamp.  The name comes from the most core staple of food for bootstrapping entrepreneurs and it was put together by a great group of aggressive up and coming digerati in Boston.

I spoke about sales and market strategy (slides here)- specifically talking about how to look at market segmentation, test hypothesies about market fit and work a pipeline to close business to validate or invalidate your theory.  I also talked a bit about practical tools to help get the job done and some general strategies for customer development.  But no talk to aspiring entrepreneurs is complete without at some point taking a deeper dive into the fabric of what compels individuals to leave the safe havens of their jobs and risk it all in the eye of the hurricane.

I think we managed to touch on it at the very end of the talk.  Someone asked a question about compensation and equity at a startup and I replied that the dirty little secrete of startups is that people don’t work for money or equity.  They work for a greater purpose, for personal and professional growth, to be part of something bigger than themselves…to make a difference.  That is why people start companies and why other people want to join them.  We are social creatures and we implicitly understand that the sum of the parts can be greater than the whole.  That’s what drives startup people.  Make a difference.   Be part of something bigger.

Money is important, but purpose trumps cash all day every day.