DARE, DO!

Success - first step is turning up

I went to Seedcamp week this week. As I am turning up to tons of other events over the next months. London is always summing with energy and opportunity as lots of Europe’s key investors, founders and new talent converge. Being there provides opportunity in itself as you meet so many useful business contacts.

My point is, that the first step in succeeding is simply turning up.

Visibility and reputation are two strong currencies if you want be
successful. Attending events where lots of key people are congregated
allows you to work on both simultaneously. Just being there shows
you’ve understood what it takes, and talking to people allows you to
demonstrate that you know what you’re talking about, which builds your
reputation.

Whether you might need people later to get funding or do commercial partnerships it is always useful to have built a rapport with them in advance.

Lots of the most ambitious founders and investors were there during
the week. Personally I made some useful connections to facebook and a
couple of other services Everplaces could integrate with in the
future. It would have taken many hours of hard work getting these
relationships in another manner. So for me events like seedcamp is
intensified work that allows me to do a month’s worth of relationship
building in three days,

It goes without saying that the value depends on the stage you’re at
with your company. If you still a startup, interested in meeting people
who n fund you further in the future or commercial integration
opportunities then events like seed camp are great. Also if you’re
looking for investment opportunities. But at other stages of your
company there are other just events you should be visible at.

So, I highly recommend turning up! In my book it’s the first step
towards succeeding. Because you never know which opportunity you
might come across. The only thing you can be sure of is that you won’t
meet that opportunity if you stay in the office.  

The six weapons of influence for a launch strategy

According to Robert Caildini six weapons of influence exists. I’ve been looking at them as we’re deciding how to launch Everplaces. Here they are, in order of importance for launch strategies. As I see it anyway.  

Social Proof - People will do things that they see other people are doing. So, all your friends are using it then you’re probably going to want it too. This is hugely influential in launching and marketing technology products because people want to be the first among friends. 

Liking - People are easily persuaded by other people that they like. (Apparently this also goes for people they think are hot!)

Scarcity - Perceived scarcity will generate demand. For example, saying offers are available for a “limited time only” encourages sales. This is the concept behind the “by invitation only” launch concepts

Authority - People will tend to obey authority figures. Think celebrity/ expert endorsements of a product. If Jack Dorsey wants it. I want it too!

Reciprocity - People tend to return a favor, thus the pervasiveness of free samples in marketing. Networking is partly based on this principle. 

Commitment and Consistency - If people commit, orally or in writing, to an idea or goal, they are more likely to honor that commitment because of establishing that idea or goal as being congruent with their self image. So Robert says. I have no idea what that means.

Want to learn more? Interesting article by Smashing Magazines here on building viral webpages

Follow suggestion for launch strategy: 
@smashingmag 
@renate 

Co-working spaces work

If you want to create a place where entrepreneurship thrive then dont forget space. A close proximity to other entrepreneurs is a vital part of building a strong startup. 

“One of the most important, and underrated, aspects of entrepreneurship clusters is location. Entrepreneurs don’t need “teaching” so much as space. A place to gather, share ideas, experiment, fail, and settle on an innovation.” says Naeem Zafar from the University of California Berkeley. Here’s why: 

Proximity to talent brings on innovation. If you put the right people in a room together they will automatically start to innovate. Entrepreneurs that sit together help each other, give feedback, suggestion and both technical and business assistance to each other. You just have to make it possible. 

Faster development time. Because you get instant feedback, you reiterate faster (you tend to be to close to your own product to be able to see many issues). But more importantly, because you help each other with technical problems and choosing the right infrastructure and software you save time researching and learn from others experiences and mistakes instead of waiting to having made your own.

It’s a smoother ride. Creating a subculture where everything is possible makes you more optimistic and happy during the process. Especially when things are rough it is important to have people around you who still applaud you for having taken the risk. 

You think bigger. Every time a startup close to you achieve a milestone you will be propelled to work harder and faster yourself. Entrepreneurs are competitive by nature. And they constantly raise each other’s level of ambition, just by being close together (if they can get a million users, so can we!) 

It’s easier to attract talent. Hubs attract talent. Rockstars want to work with rockstars. Being in a cool space with lots of other startups will make people want to be a part of the overall atmosphere, including talent you weren’t hot enough to attract on your own. 

Along the same lines: This piece on the difference between Silicon Valley and the rest of the world: http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/08/the-5-secrets-of-silicon-valley/242958/

(non) disclaimer: I am a co-founder of Founders House, a co-working space for tech startups. My own startup Everplaces sit there. I’ve also been a part of creating Copenhagen School of Entrepreneurship. This is why I know this stuff works. Founders House is full (packed in fact) so I am not writing this to attract tenants. We simply don’t have to do that, startups come to Founders House because it works. 

How to make people want to join your team

A few months ago I wrote how “people join teams but leave bosses”. Today I stumpled upon Instagram’s blog and was inspired to write a little about getting people to join your company in the first place, as their blog is a great practical example.

* Make it a nice place to be - People are emotional creatures. We are not motivated by money (no one worth hiring is motivated by money) but by belonging to something bigger than ourselves. You have to make your work place a dynamic, fun and inspiring place to be. In instagram’s blog they write about what they eat and drink there, it makes the office seem cosy. 

* Give the company personality - a company must have a soul, which sets the tone. In the Instagram blog they choose a very down to earth, friendly tone. Quirky stunts like bacon studded donuts makes the place seem a flaky and fun. The old “which car/dog/country is your brand” question can help you determine the personality of your company. A blog is really useful to communicate in this casual tone, especially with this many photos.

* Expect excellence - talent attracts talent, so by setting your standards high and hiring a little bit better than the current team in every recruitment decision ensures you end up with a group of people who learn from each other and are continually driven to excel. Our internal drive to excel is one of the most motivating factors around. The requirement for excellence starts today. In Everplaces we have had to say goodbye to several team members already. And we’re not even launched yet! I dont know if Instagram does this, but given they were a team of four people supporting a community of 6 million users I would hazard the guess that they are pretty good:) 

Image: mikeyk @shayne @keven @josh from @instagram

Follow: http://instagr.am/blog/

At @founders house where @everplaces live, we have a dog called Bacon. A quirk which I love. 

Networking 101. And why developers hate it for all the wrong reasons

The reason developers, and many non-business people, hate networking because the terms is largely misunderstand and misused!

Somehow networking has the sound of being a calculated, cunning persuasion of getting people do what you want them to do (somehow implied that this is the opposite of what they want to do). This is, however, totally wrong.

I wish we could find another term for networking. Something that indicates that is essentially just means; being friendly, talking to people you meet, make the effort to get to know people a little, and when trust naturally builds, it then brings on a natural inclination to help each other. 

People who think that bragging at conferences, talking to big shots at a cocktail parties or being connected on influential strangers on social networks is networking have completely misunderstood the concept. Networking is about trust and mutual understanding. After all, you have no inclination to help someone out you dont know or dont like….

I think the reason developers hate networking is because they think they have to entertain hot shots they have nothing in common with with witty oneliner or deep business insights. Of course that feels impossible! Anyone would be intimidated by that. What you actually have to do is just to create relations with people once or twice removed from your current circles. Create relations with people with whom you have something in common. Not nearly as scary. 

Networking 101: 

• Talk to people where you can create an actual rapport. So people you have something in common with or you are interested in. Dont talk to people simply because they are important. 
• Try to help people around you. (this is essentially the whole point of networking). Referring someone who needs a babysitter, spending 15 minutes explaining a piece of software to a colleague etc. Give a little bit where you can. It can be anything.
• Make an effort getting to know the people around you a little better. As you make friends it may turn out you would like to help each other. 
• Keep in touch (shocking how crap people are at this). Make sure you add people on social networks after meeting them, and then send a quick message every now and then when it makes sense (like, I am in London this week, lmk if you have time for a coffee. Or, saw you launched the new version, looks cool) 
• Understand it works like karma. You dont get it back from the people you give it to. I.e. the more you help, the more people will help you. But generally not the same people. And not at the same time.

I will bet you that if you follow these simple rules you can double the joy and help you get from your network by the end of the year. As long as you remember that networking is a nice thing. It is about helping each other!

****

Some people who understand the anatomy of positive networking perfectly:

@PaulaMarttila Swedish/Finish queen of contacts

@arican Ari Wegter, Entrepreneur. Founder of Lovefilm

@saxberg Natasha Friis Saxberg. Entrepreneur

@svenningsen Kenneth Svenningsen. Investor/ tech product guy

@hulthin. Kasper Hulthin. Podio

Most VC’s I know are excellent netoworkers 

Quality, not quantity is the power of networking!

It never ceases to amaze me who random people think they can “connect” with me by just befriending me out of the blue on some social network. This is a complete misunderstanding of networking.

This morning I just went through my invitations to connect on LinkedIn. As usual there were half a dozen invitation from people I dont know who are. Who hadn’t even bothered writing a message of why I should connect with them. (I mean, the least you can do if you want a stranger to connect with you because you need something from that person is to introduce yourself. Basic courtesy and manners stretch to the web, surely?)

Here is what people dont get. Network in about trust. People help people they trust and whom they can vouch for. I will only introduce you to people I know, if I am convinced I can trust you not to waste their time.  

So connecting with someone on a social network is *not* a short cut to getting access to important or well connected peoples ressources. It is simple an address book style list of people you’ve already made the effort to get to know and with whom you have a level of trust and understanding. 

In my world a strong network is not only important, it is essential for succeeding with your venture. So it is an investment (which I also happen to give me great joy, I love talk to interesting people). If you want to be well connected start making the effort. It is not going to happen by itself.  It is like an intangible credit system. It work like karma; you start helping others today, then one day you will start getting help back.

To finish off, I am more than happy to help people I dont know. I do that more or less daily. But I help the ones who make the effort to introduce themselves. I love helping nice people. 

Humility leads to success?

“Beauty is a gift. Intelligence is an investment. Wealth is a result. Humility is an achievement”.

Recently Lars Hindrics of HackFwd, posted this quote on twitter. It made me think of how humility is the undervalued quality of successful business-builders.

My experiences:

• The most really successful people are laid back and easy going. (not least visible in Silicon Valley where billionaires dress like colleague students and you can strike up a conversation with a 2.0 rockstar in any given bar - often unknowingly). Successful people don’t have to demonstrate it all the time.

• Humility mostly comes *after* success. (Lars, for example, founded and later IPO’ed the social network Xing (sometimes called “the German LinkedIn”) as the first 2.0 company to go public in Europe). People still fighting to become successful help no one. And they never have time. Pride surfacing as arrogance?

Arrogance is when you still don’t know what you don’t know

I have a pocket theory that humility / arrogance comes in circles. As you move cyclically between starting something new to feeling you master the discipline. However, you never truly master the discipline, and every time you realise this you regain humility.

Most people start humble, but turn arrogant

It starts early. I speak to entrepreneurs in the early stage of the process all the time. At this stage people are driven, focused and humble. When they then have their first experience of things going well they often turn into arrogant little know-betters. They now believe they now master the game. (Later they will gain enough insight to realize that what they know is only the tip of the iceberg. At this stage founders regain humility, thank God!)

The smart kid figures it out

Unless you’re a complete idiot, these circles of arrogance should stop after a few rounds. By then you should be able to conclude that you are not smarter than everyone else, and that being a nice guy, helping others as you help yourself, is the most sustainable way of growing a company and as a person.

Humility works!

The most interesting this is, that it looks like humility makes you successful faster! (Because people want to help you succeed?) Re Jim Collins “Good to Great” where he proves that companies with humble CEOs (who do what’s best for the company, not what makes themselves famous) are consistently more profitable. Re Tony Hsieh, who built Zappos into one of the most successful e-tailers by building a culture of happiness and helpfulness. So it seems, that karma is also applicable to business.

Some of the good karma startup people out there

Lars Hindrics @LarsHindrics,

Rebeca Hwang, CEO of YouNoodle who helps people every day

Michael Clausen @michaelclausen of Sortedam Ventures who spreads happiness

Rasmus Viemose of Contentcube @rasmusviemose  who makes people smile,

Natasha Friis Saxberg @nfsaxberg and Paula Martila @paulamarttila who share