The Post Money Value

A Coder Worth Hiring

A guy over on rentacoder.com has this up as his motto:

"Always code as if the guy who ends up maintaining your code will be a violent psychopath who knows where you live" - Martin Golding

Ya gotta love that.

Have a great weekend, folks.

EverNote and Some Lessons for You

There is an interesting product out there called EverNote (thx, Ken).  When you go to the web site, you get nice page and a video which you can view in order to get a view of the product.

This video tour feature is rapidly becoming a must have so people can figure it what you have quickly.  So, some tips are probably in order:

1. Volume.  If you play the video tour for EverNote on a simple laptop with no mondo-speakers or whatever, it is very difficult to hear.  Sounds obvious but it in scanning a bunch of these around the web, this is a more common problem than I would have guessed.

2. Get to the Problem/Solution set quickly.  You can use flash (Tungle did) or a video like EverNote. Either way, doesn't much matter but the messaging remains the same. What's the problem and show me your solution.  The problem is explained in Tungle's demo in the form of meet this person and here is her problem, Tungle to the rescue. EverNote dives immediately into clipping something off a web page and tossing it into big pile of stuff.  In showing this to people, I got "big deal" a bunch of times and had to say, "no, wait, this is cool, check this part out."  The cool part is searching/finding text in pictures. This meant take a bunch of pictures with your camera phone and then you can search this stuff just like it was text.   The ding here was that the "quick" demo took a almost 60 seconds to get to the 'cool' part.  Get to the point, quickly.  60 seconds is a lifetime on the Internet and the 'big deal' factor is an ever present danger.  In this case, the people I showed the video to, assumed it was yet another screen clipping service missing the point of all the other features. 

3. You shouldn't be in show business.  EverNote's voice over is poor. The person speaks too fast, mumbles a bit, and has the volume problem I've already mentioned.  Now, you'll hammer me because this was probably the founder in a garage, no money, 'free' service, etc.  Sorry, that doesn't cut it.  Unless you are a loner living in a cave (with a DSL connection), you have friends, family, etc, that can help/will help for that same 'free' we talk about.  I would argue that there are tons of students out there wanting to be in radio/TV who would gladly help you for a chance to put this on their resume.  In the case of Tungle, she was okay, but used the car phone to record it which somewhat detracts from the message.  My point here is that in both cases, Tungle and EverNote, the demo is an opportunity to get people to go, cool!, and sign up.  Having anything that detracts from that objective is bad.

4. There are no Emmy Awards for this stuff.  As a counter point to item 3, don't get nuts here.  Get to the problem/solution set, do it without distracting the viewer, do it quickly and you will be fine.  This is not, in my opinion, the place which requires millions of dollars to be spent.  The simple thing is to simply put the video/flash demo up and get feedback before it goes live.  I'd argue that both Tungle and EverNote could have (long before the product was available) put their respective demo's up on their blogs for feedback. There is a balance against doing the Vaporware thing and letting your competition know what you are doing/saying, but feedback from the normal person, not the echo chamber and your mom, is important.

EverNote looks cool hope I can try it, Tungle is saving me hours of headaches with scheduling. 

Note: Tungle is a JLA Investment.

More Mail I Love

Embrace failure is a phrase I've been using a lot these days.  When it doesn't work out, dust yourself off, and press on.  These are the kinds of emails I want more of. These are the kinds of folks that are now "seasoned" and now "get it", having their on set of failure points that make them smarter.  Yes, I'm taking the meeting with some enthusiasm.

---------------------------------

From: Scott 
Sent: Wednesday, April 23, 2008 9:00 PM
To: Rick Segal
Subject: Re:

Hi Rick,

I hope things are well with you.  It was great to meet you last year to discuss [].  As you may recall, [] was essentially a laboratory project that we worked on internally and rolled with a ton of organic momentum. 

For a number of reasons that I can speculate, it seems that since launching the product, the growth trajectory stalled.  

I guess that's how it rolls sometime.  I've still been working on the service based customer projects that have been paying the bills all along. 

The reason for reaching out is that I'm in the middle of working on a []

I'm wondering if you'd be willing to vet the business concept and provide early critique/input. 

I'm not looking for capital now but am close to getting the product dev/concept far enough along that I'm looking to a few smart people like yourself who can see through the presentation layer and provide real input.

Let me know if you have some time.  I could send you a short introduction first and setup a call or a meeting to discuss.

All the best,

Scott

------------------------------

Scott's first idea didn't make the cut but Scott hung in there and is still at it.  My kinda guy. 

In my humble opinion, every VC out there should block off a couple of hours a week to simply help out the farm team.  If you are jetting off to France, planning that dinner party, picking out the leather for the jet, that's even more of a reason to help out the next generation.  It was people like Scott that got you where you are and put that expensive car in your driveway. 

Give back a little, it won't kill you.

Attention: Newfoundland and Labrador

My friend and investing pal at Growthworks, Scott Pelton, wanted me to let you know that Growthworks would really like to get some cash working in some start-ups located specifically in Newfoundland/Labrador.

As I've mentioned before, the Atlantic Canada workforce is amazing, the ideas are amazing and the opportunities are there.  If this is of interest to you, contact Scott over at Growthworks or me and I'll forward your information.

Get those business plans in today; operators are standing by.

[updated to correct the New in Newfoundland, sorry!]

Five Big Lessons from the VC Roundtables

I'm back in Toronto after a couple of weeks touring Canada.  While there are some other dates/cities planned, here are five big things I got from all the super smart people I met. These things are from a Canadian viewpoint so factor that in as you read.

1. VC's don't respect entrepreneurs according to entrepreneurs.  Wow, do we have some work to do.  After getting people to open up, there were lots of comments about not returning emails, phone calls, ignoring them in meetings, etc, etc.  We clearly have to do better and treat the entrepreneurs, at a minimum, like customers and fix this perception.
2. Entrepreneurs need the straight goods. All of us can update our respective web sites with very clear guidance on the process and the odds. People were shocked at the 800 deals to 4 funded ratio, for example. Fast no, open process, etc, all can do wonders to improve this environment.
3. VC's and entrepreneurs need to talk early.  I made the case that the early you speak with me the better which apparently was counter to everything others are saying.  I believe that early is better because I can give you feedback, guidance, etc, as the process evolves. I can help you avoid taking angel money and then crushing them in a financing.  People believed I'm the only guy in town that will talk early and that's simply not true.  Ventures West, Celtic House, Growthworks, Brightspark, and many others in this country, are happy to talk with you and give you essentially the no harm, no foul type attention.  Seek them out; you'll be pleasantly surprised.
4. We're in it for the money: that message was not obvious. Lots of folks didn't really understand the venture capitalist are in the business of making money and that means investing into an idea that will turn itself into a pile of money with a 5-7 year timeframe; sooner would be better.  Lots of questions about how to buy us out causes me to make the point here  I made in meetings: If you aren't into taking an idea, giving up some equity and getting to a liquidity event, we shouldn't be an option for your funding.
5. Canada remains the best place on the planet for start-ups and talent.  Not much else to add. I was truly impressed coast to coast, with the talent, ideas and enthusiasm encountered everywhere I went.

More cities coming up.

Random Acts of Sucking Up (or I b Easy)

Meet Leah Plaxton, Marketing Manager for Projjex a web service for project management, collaboration, document sharing, and assorted dating services.  She sent me an email message letting me know that she "read my web 2.0 blog with interest."

The product is very nicely done.  The web site has a nice tour, a blog, and a very fast way to sign up.  The other interesting thing is the fact they keep that tour big and bold on all the pages to try and get you to press the play button.

The company also has some very important elements as well.

 

1. A bald, web 2.0 kinda guy, with those black styling glasses.

2. The obligatory web 2.0 geek who wants to be a rock star, strumming himself.

3. The obligatory web 2.0 open beam, rustic, we spent no money, office look.

4. The enduring mystery of just who is Leah Plaxton.

I had a couple of folks try this product and I'm happy to report they really like it. People I trust so I'm passing it on to you.  I would encourage you to take a peek at the site even if you are happy with your present stuff.  This is a nice clean design, good call to action, and a very good approach to trying to encourage you to play the video tour on the site. 

One nit was that with all these cool, hip, rock star types, your expectations for an amazing video tour are set a little high.  It's all business and points to the problem/solution set as well as a fast walk through of the product. Nicely done, if a bit, err, dare I say, dry.

Back to my email pen pal, Leah. (and some lessons for you, kind reader)

1. I read your blog and thought you'd be interested in... This is good enough. Linking my VC blog to Web 2.0, while flattering, isn't really what I'm about and it tends to make me think I'm being tossed in with the zillion other "web 2.0" bloggers you are trying to reach.  Generic, in my opinion, beats making a boo boo.

2. Canadian Company!  Put that in the email, at least for me, as that's a priority for me.

3. Put a link to your web site in your email. I know, sounds lame, but it is a friction free way to get me there. Note: Leah did this, I'm mentioning it to the folks that make me chase the site down by hacking their email address or using Google to figure out who/what. Most people won't do this including me when I'm busy.

And, finally, to all of you out there that think sending me a note telling me you like my blog will get me to look at something, yeah, it works, I love this stuff.

Okay, I am now off to steal somebody's coat for the trek into Calgary. (And, no, Projjex doesn't really have a dating service but I have confirmed that the air guitar -number 2 above- is looking)

Another Segal Survey - Phone Numbers

I'm freezing my (yeah that too) off here in Calgary.  Lord, who turned off the heat. 

I've been telling folks at the VC Roundtables, watch the trends as early as you can as they will impact your company, your ideas, and the decisions you make.

Consider this experiment/Survey:

I say the following:

"I can be reached at 416-367-2440"

Is that my:

Office, Home, Cell?  (Forget the who cares answer, wasn't part of the quiz)

When I ask 'young people' - those that are or I think are at or below 22- they almost always 'guess' cell phone.  Suits -obvious business people- assume it is my office number and of 40 or so people I asked over the past several days, nobody said home.

I use this an example of what I mean by trends.  If you had been doing this 10 years ago, those 'kids' wouldn't know about cell phones.  Just now in the Air Canada Lounge, some guy in an expensive (one I'll never afford) 3 piece suit just yelled into his phone: "I just sent you a text message with the code and if that doesn't work, I'll facebook it to you."

Yeah, facebook it.

Trends and changes, they are all around you.

Keeping an Eye on Me

I currently use FeedDemon to read/keep up with blogs. It's a good reader that does the job for me since I am bouncing between machines, locations, etc.

I like this feature:

This pops up, from time to time, we I am seriously behind in reading things.  As I showed this screen clip and explained what it meant/did to various people, I asked for an opinion of why they thought the company put the feature into the product.  I got many different answers ranging from friendly software to 'cute' to perhaps a software limitation of unread items.  All interesting but missing what, in my opinion, was a better (potential) reason.

It makes the app sticky.

Think about that for a second.  By putting this feature into the service, it can potentially prevent me from getting frustrated via the overwhelming inbound amount of reading to do which might cause me to throw up my hands, uninstall it and try something else, etc, etc.  It is rudimentary, yes, but the app is free.  Companies like AideRSS goes after attention and flood of information problem from a different angle, for example.

The lesson/question for you is: How do you make sure your customers 'stick' around.  Lots of interesting/friendly/fun ways to do it.

The No Email Thread

No is a not the word you want to hear regarding funding. No is not the outcome of a VC pitch you want.

A fast no, however, is important so you can move on to the next possibility.

When you meet with any VC, you can ask "what is your process" and get some details.  I would urge you follow up with "how fast can you get to a no" question because it should (I hope) remind the VC (me) that your time is just as valuable (or more) than mine.

I try for these types of email threads. I'm not perfect but I try.

-----------------------------------------------

From: Veronica

Sent: Monday, April 21, 2008 10:44 AM

To: Rick Segal

Subject: Business Brief

Dear Rick,

[removed]

I review what was sent and respond with:

From: Rick Segal

Subject: RE: Business Brief

To: Veronica

Date: Monday, April 21, 2008, 2:48 PM

Hi Veronica,

Thanks for sending me a note. This is not something that JLA would consider

investing in.  It certainly is important and as a social media play, I

understand the value, however, it simply doesn't fit with what we are

looking for as part of Fund 4. I appreciate you thinking of JLA.

Best,

>R<

And I get this reply back:

From: Veronica 

Sent: Monday, April 21, 2008 4:17 PM

To: Rick Segal

Subject: Re: Business Brief

Dear Rick:

Thank you very much for your prompt reply and honesty!

Best regards,

Veronica

I think this is simply the right thing to do. A review and if it isn't a fit, tell the person immediately.  All VCs could do our industry a favor by extending this courtesy to people working hard to get a business going. 

Prompt Reply and Honesty, it isn't that hard.  Off to Calgary.