Field notes from a five-time founder on AI, operating, and building companies that compound.https://adil.io/https://adil.io/writing/dtc-podcast/https://adil.io/writing/dtc-podcast/I had a great time earlier this year chatting with DTC Podcast about Klaviyo’s evolution as a B2C CRM. Catch the video version of the podcast below. 00:00 – Why Klaviyo is a data company at its core 02:05 – Adil Wali’s journey from ModCloth to Meta to...Thu, 21 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/thetaedge-in-beta/https://adil.io/writing/thetaedge-in-beta/One of my investments, ThetaEdge, is inviting a select group of beta testers to help validate the product. If you’re sitting on stock that you don’t want to sell, but you do want to make income from, ThetaEdge is for you. Automated options trading...Wed, 20 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/venturefizz-meet-the-executive/https://adil.io/writing/venturefizz-meet-the-executive/I had the pleasure of talking with VentureFizz, where we chat about Who is Klaviyo? My Role and Responsibilities My Background & Path to Klaviyo The latest at Klaviyo Why now is a great time to join KlaviyoWed, 20 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/klaviyo-acquires-gatsby/https://adil.io/writing/klaviyo-acquires-gatsby/Klaviyo acquires Gatsby!Tue, 19 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/thoughts-on-the-market-october-2022/https://adil.io/writing/thoughts-on-the-market-october-2022/September was a rough month for the equity markets, with the S&P 500 (-9.34%) and Nasdaq (-10.61%), marking the worst monthly decline since March of 2020. In our April letter, we called for a 3250 downside target on the S&P 500. In our June letter, we said...Wed, 05 Oct 2022 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/thoughts-on-the-market-september-2022/https://adil.io/writing/thoughts-on-the-market-september-2022/August was a very interesting month for the markets, marked with meaningful volatility with a ~9% range from the high and low of the month. The ultimate question that the market was (and maybe still is) trying to answer: Was the recent rally a bear market...Tue, 06 Sep 2022 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/thoughts-on-the-market-august-2022/https://adil.io/writing/thoughts-on-the-market-august-2022/July was a very positive month for the markets, meaningfully reversing the trend we saw in the first half of the year. The primary causal factors seemed to be: A 75bps rate increase from the Fed that was accompanied by what many perceived as a dovish pivot...Wed, 03 Aug 2022 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/thoughts-on-the-market-july-2022/https://adil.io/writing/thoughts-on-the-market-july-2022/The market has moved down somewhat quickly in the first half of the year, and while many of the downside catalysts remain unchanged, it’s important to remember that the market doesn’t go up or down in a straight line. Bear market rallies can be equally as...Sun, 03 Jul 2022 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/thoughts-on-the-market-june-2022/https://adil.io/writing/thoughts-on-the-market-june-2022/Our views have remained consistent throughout the year, and we reiterate them today. We started our January 2022 letter saying: It’s been a rocky start to the year, and while some believe we’ve hit the bottom already, we feel the potential for a downside...Wed, 08 Jun 2022 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/how-to-make-a-market-pullback-work-for-you/https://adil.io/writing/how-to-make-a-market-pullback-work-for-you/It’s been a rough few weeks in the market, and I don’t believe it’s getting better for a while longer. I hate to join many others in sharing my pessimism about the near-term, but all the indicators I follow point toward a meaningful pullback. But while the...Thu, 19 May 2022 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/thoughts-on-the-market-may-2022/https://adil.io/writing/thoughts-on-the-market-may-2022/I’m an investor in an early stage global macro fund. Each month, we publish a newsletter with our thoughts on the market and our fund’s performance. I’m now publishing an edited version of that newsletter here, so a broader audience can participate in the...Tue, 17 May 2022 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/thoughts-on-the-market-april-2022/https://adil.io/writing/thoughts-on-the-market-april-2022/I’m an investor in an early stage global macro fund. Each month, we publish a newsletter with our thoughts on the market and our fund’s performance. I’m now publishing an edited version of that newsletter here, so a broader audience can participate in the...Fri, 01 Apr 2022 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/thoughts-on-the-market-march-2022/https://adil.io/writing/thoughts-on-the-market-march-2022/I’m an investor in an early stage global macro fund. Each month, we publish a newsletter with our thoughts on the market and our fund’s performance. I’m now publishing an edited version of that newsletter here, so a broader audience can participate in the...Tue, 01 Mar 2022 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/thoughts-on-the-market-february-2022/https://adil.io/writing/thoughts-on-the-market-february-2022/I’m an investor in an early stage global macro fund. Each month, we publish a newsletter with our thoughts on the market and our fund’s performance. I’m now publishing an edited version of that newsletter here, so a broader audience can participate in the...Tue, 01 Feb 2022 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/thoughts-on-the-market-january-2022/https://adil.io/writing/thoughts-on-the-market-january-2022/I’m an investor in an early stage global macro fund. Each month, we publish a newsletter with our thoughts on the market and our fund’s performance. I’m now publishing an edited version of that newsletter here, so a broader audience can participate in the...Sat, 01 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/these-valuations-make-no-sense-part-1-shopify-and-slack/https://adil.io/writing/these-valuations-make-no-sense-part-1-shopify-and-slack/These Valuations Make No Sense, Part 1Wed, 11 Sep 2019 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/payment-solutions-in-the-sp-500/https://adil.io/writing/payment-solutions-in-the-sp-500/To me, there are two business models that work at-scale in consumer internet. The first is advertising and the second is payments. I was thinking recently about how many companies are starting to think actively about payments as both a business model and a...Fri, 06 Sep 2019 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/tradewars-and-bitcoin-part-3/https://adil.io/writing/tradewars-and-bitcoin-part-3/Why Crypto? Easy money through loose monetary policy and increased trade war pressure have created a credibility problem for central banks and governments behind major national currencies. That’s bullish for major cryptocurrencies, which have emerged as...Wed, 04 Sep 2019 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/tradewars-and-bitcoin-part-2/https://adil.io/writing/tradewars-and-bitcoin-part-2/In the first part of this series, I covered the basis of China and a national Cryptocurrency. In this part, I’ll cover bitcoin as an alternative to Gold. Bitcoin as an alternative to gold The Internet has enabled new, transnational groups with loyalties...Sat, 31 Aug 2019 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/tradewars-and-bitcoin-part-1/https://adil.io/writing/tradewars-and-bitcoin-part-1/When explaining bitcoin’s latest run of price appreciation, several analysts emphasized concerns surrounding the trade war, contending that economic uncertainty was driving investors to the digital asset as a potential disaster hedge. “Bitcoin has the...Mon, 26 Aug 2019 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/gold-in-a-world-of-uncertainty/https://adil.io/writing/gold-in-a-world-of-uncertainty/Gold prices are continuing higher this week after reversing earlier weakness. This strength is being propelled by a weaker dollar, lower demand for risky assets, and plunging U.S. Treasury yields. The US equity market weakness in recent days has attracted...Fri, 16 Aug 2019 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/the-next-chapter-deeper-in-payments-and-fintech/https://adil.io/writing/the-next-chapter-deeper-in-payments-and-fintech/I knew at then end of 2017 that I wanted to transition my career from plain old Commerce to FinTech, Payments, and Investing. This is why, in 2018, I set out to build an open-source blockchain protocol (called Merit) that pushed the boundaries of social...Thu, 15 Aug 2019 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/how-cryptocurrency-mining-works/https://adil.io/writing/how-cryptocurrency-mining-works/Surprisingly, not the way you might think. Cryptocurrency miners aren’t digital laborers toiling away in a distant virtual mine. There are no encrypted pickaxes, digitized mining helmets and indeed no veins of binary-driven gold waiting for discovery....Fri, 15 Jun 2018 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/top-brands-that-accept-cryptocurrency/https://adil.io/writing/top-brands-that-accept-cryptocurrency/Like many people, you might think of cryptocurrency in terms of a purely virtual, digital commodity. However, you may be surprised to find out that there are more and more major companies willing, even eager, to deal in digital currencies. Here are some of...Wed, 13 Jun 2018 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/the-best-kept-secret-in-crypto/https://adil.io/writing/the-best-kept-secret-in-crypto/Anonymity is not the same as obfuscation Cryptocurrencies have generated a lot of excitement over the last year or so, especially with the phenomenal price surges experienced in 2017. The ability to conduct peer-to-peer transactions through the blockchain...Mon, 14 May 2018 00:00:00 GMTcryptoCryptocurrencysecrets in cryptohttps://adil.io/writing/when-are-we-going-to-learn/https://adil.io/writing/when-are-we-going-to-learn/Cryptocurrency is supposed to be decentralized Getting it all wrong When Satoshi first wrote the Bitcoin whitepaper in 2008, she challenged the banking system as we know it. She draws reference to the inherent weaknesses of the trust-based model. The whole...Wed, 28 Feb 2018 00:00:00 GMTBitcoinCryptocurrencyICOhttps://adil.io/writing/are-free-returns-right-for-your-customers/https://adil.io/writing/are-free-returns-right-for-your-customers/It’s one of the big questions that every online retailer faces – should we be offering free returns? Whether or not free returns are even viable for your business is, of course, specific to your business model, but I can guarantee that they’re something...Fri, 26 Feb 2016 00:00:00 GMTbrandinglogisticsreturnshttps://adil.io/writing/when-should-you-take-your-retail-business-global/https://adil.io/writing/when-should-you-take-your-retail-business-global/You’ve got an awesome website. A phenomenal product. Loyal customers. A growing domestic business. The next major question you are likely to ask yourself is: when should I start selling globally? The allure of a global market is simple – for businesses...Sun, 17 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMTglobalgrowthoperationshttps://adil.io/writing/gilt-groupe-acquisition-and-what-it-means-for-flash-sales/https://adil.io/writing/gilt-groupe-acquisition-and-what-it-means-for-flash-sales/Hudson’s Bay recently confirmed its acquisition of Gilt Groupe for $250 million earlier this month. As a company that has raised $300 million in venture funding, this is clearly a disappointing outcome for Gilt. I remember meeting executives at Gilt back...Sat, 09 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMTflash-salesgilthttps://adil.io/writing/competing-in-retail-in-an-amazon-world/https://adil.io/writing/competing-in-retail-in-an-amazon-world/Phew. This is a big topic. This post will be the first of a series on the topic. In case you haven’t been shopping on the internet lately (or paying attention), Amazon is CRUSHING it. The company has done a phenomenal job of increasing its footprint in...Tue, 08 Dec 2015 00:00:00 GMTamazonbrandingtechnologyhttps://adil.io/writing/what-to-look-for-in-third-party-logistics-3pl-providers/https://adil.io/writing/what-to-look-for-in-third-party-logistics-3pl-providers/As your retail business continues to grow, you will probably find yourself considering using a third-party logistics provider as opposed to fulfilling your orders in-house. Third-party logistics is a big industry. In 2014, the Global 3PL Market expanded to...Sat, 05 Dec 2015 00:00:00 GMT3PLlogisticsoperationshttps://adil.io/writing/how-to-build-a-retail-brand-that-engages-millenials/https://adil.io/writing/how-to-build-a-retail-brand-that-engages-millenials/Engaging millennials is one of the most compelling and complex topics of modern retail. I’m often in conversations where people talk about how hard it is to appeal to millennials, and how it’s even harder to keep millennials as customers over the...Sun, 29 Nov 2015 00:00:00 GMTbrandingecommercemillenialshttps://adil.io/writing/ecommerce-buy-buttons-and-true-social-commerce/https://adil.io/writing/ecommerce-buy-buttons-and-true-social-commerce/For many years, we’ve talked about the rise of ‘social commerce.’ People have predicted that our social networks would curate products for us and that the lines between content, community, and commerce would blur and eventually become unrecognizable. While...Sun, 15 Nov 2015 00:00:00 GMTbuy buttonsecommercesocialhttps://adil.io/writing/performance-linked-incentives-for-engineers/https://adil.io/writing/performance-linked-incentives-for-engineers/A friend recently asked me about how I might define performance for web developers. It was an interesting question coming from one startup founder to another. He was concerned with how to present performance-based incentives to his developers when...Thu, 12 Dec 2013 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/mobile-ecommerce-old-but-still-intriguing-news-part-two/https://adil.io/writing/mobile-ecommerce-old-but-still-intriguing-news-part-two/Before I begin, I want to give a quick shout out to Clay Allsop at Propeller for pointing out that there are companies out there helping retailers and shop owners differentiate their mobile and web platforms. I’m excited to see the cool implementations...Sat, 07 Dec 2013 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/mobile-ecommerce-old-but-still-intriguing-news-part-one/https://adil.io/writing/mobile-ecommerce-old-but-still-intriguing-news-part-one/In the wake of this year’s Black Friday/Cyber Monday stats, I want to talk about mobile commerce: the truths, the questions, and the abundant opportunities. I’ll be honest, the importance of mobile commerce isn’t escaping anyone playing the eCommerce game....Wed, 04 Dec 2013 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/the-new-world-of-e-commerce-an-increasingly-competitive-landscape/https://adil.io/writing/the-new-world-of-e-commerce-an-increasingly-competitive-landscape/To begin, I’d like to say, “I’m back!” I’m committed to being a better, more frequent, blogger. Instead of simply stating publicly that I’m going to try harder (which I’ve done before…and failed), I intend to simply prove it. Stay tuned and see if I’m...Wed, 27 Nov 2013 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/gigs-the-new-hope-for-twentysomethings/https://adil.io/writing/gigs-the-new-hope-for-twentysomethings/I read an interesting article today in the WSJ that talked about the growth in unemployment rate among today’s recent college grads. Nothing super-surprising here. However, I was impressed to find that the President of the New York Fed, William Dudley,...Fri, 28 Jun 2013 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/missionaries-and-mercenaries/https://adil.io/writing/missionaries-and-mercenaries/John Doerr, the prolific investment partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) who backed Google, Amazon, Intuit, and Twitter, popularized the terminology around ‘Missionary’ and ‘Mercenary’ entrepreneurs. He described the stark differences between...Thu, 20 Jun 2013 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/sxswi-hardcore-vs-casual-games-and-gamers/https://adil.io/writing/sxswi-hardcore-vs-casual-games-and-gamers/I’m in an interesting talk at South by Southwest Interactive (2012) put on by Jack Buser and Scott Rohde (from PlayStation). I figure it makes sense to write a few live thoughts as I’m listening since it’s turning into a pretty lively discussion. This may...Sat, 10 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMTcasualcoregamingnaturesocialhttps://adil.io/writing/sxswi-how-to-get-users-addicted-to-your-content/https://adil.io/writing/sxswi-how-to-get-users-addicted-to-your-content/I love addiction; perhaps because I have a very addictive personality. As such, I was drawn to the talk here at South by Southwest by @taraattrulia about engineering addiction. She’s going pretty fast, so I will. Starting out with the definition of...Sat, 10 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMTaddictioncontent strategyhttps://adil.io/writing/how-hunger-factors-into-success/https://adil.io/writing/how-hunger-factors-into-success/I was enjoying dinner recently with an investor friend of mine and we got to talking about the importance of hunger when building a team. It seemed to make sense to both of us that you want to find people who are hungry – who really want to do something...Tue, 11 Oct 2011 00:00:00 GMThungerstartup successteam buildinghttps://adil.io/writing/sometimes-entrepreneurs-need-to-downshift/https://adil.io/writing/sometimes-entrepreneurs-need-to-downshift/Most entrepreneurs I talk to seem to think there are two speeds when it comes to their business: fast and faster. The reality is there’s an appropriate speed for each stage in an entrepreneur’s journey. You really can go too fast at times. The early stages...Fri, 02 Sep 2011 00:00:00 GMTvelocityhttps://adil.io/writing/why-whats-best-for-the-person-is-always-whats-best-for-the-company/https://adil.io/writing/why-whats-best-for-the-person-is-always-whats-best-for-the-company/I often get asked, “What do you do, what’s best for the person or what’s best for the company?” Or, “What happens when what’s best for the employee isn’t best for the company?” In my mind, doing what’s best for each individual person in an organization is...Mon, 29 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/why-we-dont-know-what-we-want-to-be-when-we-grow-up/https://adil.io/writing/why-we-dont-know-what-we-want-to-be-when-we-grow-up/Someone mentioned a research study to me that demonstrated people are terrible at predicting what makes them happy. If you survey them, they’ll list what they think would make them happy, but they don’t actually know. In fact, Daniel Gilbert, author of...Thu, 25 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMTmaking transitionspredicting happinesshttps://adil.io/writing/its-a-great-time-to-start-a-company-wrong/https://adil.io/writing/its-a-great-time-to-start-a-company-wrong/A lot of people liken the ability to raise money as a strong indicator of great timing to succeed as a startup. I can see the thinking behind that logic. At one time it was really hard to raise startup capital because the landscape was just so competitive....Mon, 08 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMTstartup successtalenttractionventure capitalhttps://adil.io/writing/the-solution-to-premature-commitment-bias-starts-with-a-k/https://adil.io/writing/the-solution-to-premature-commitment-bias-starts-with-a-k/As you may have noticed, I have recently found myself consumed by the problems facing technology entrepreneurship today. In particular, it’s the amount of sheer waste that gets to me. As I’ve mentioned before, the real tragedy here is all of the time that...Tue, 02 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/sweat-equity-and-the-success-disequilibrium/https://adil.io/writing/sweat-equity-and-the-success-disequilibrium/Startups are a funny thing. The amount you learn in the first 24 months after inception is enormous. You discover all the best kept secrets about entrepreneurship that no one teaches you about when you are first starting out. One of my favorites is a thing...Mon, 01 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMTentrepreneurshipsuccess disequilibriumsweat equitysweat parityhttps://adil.io/writing/so-lo-mo-lol/https://adil.io/writing/so-lo-mo-lol/A lot of things are sort of funny right now with respect to technology entrepreneurship. One of those things is apparently called SoMoLo (or SoLoMo or MoSoLo, depending on who you talk to.) I was talking with a VC friend of mine who brought up the idea of...Wed, 27 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMTirrationalitySoLoMostartupshttps://adil.io/writing/the-irrationality-of-entrepreneurship/https://adil.io/writing/the-irrationality-of-entrepreneurship/I am convinced that entrepreneurship is far from a rational pursuit. I am also pretty sure that I’m not the only person who thinks so. I’ll put it simply: the numbers are stacked WAY UP against you. the personal, professional, emotional, and financial...Mon, 25 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMTbusiness ideasentrepreneurshiprationalityhttps://adil.io/writing/empowerment-is-everything/https://adil.io/writing/empowerment-is-everything/If I were to simplify the world into two types of teams, I’d have to say there are extraordinary teams and then there’s everybody else. If you want to build an extraordinary team, empowerment is a requirement, not an option. Ownership and empowerment Think...Fri, 22 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMTempowermentownershiphttps://adil.io/writing/control-the-narrative-become-a-product-evangelist/https://adil.io/writing/control-the-narrative-become-a-product-evangelist/Through a recent newsletter from the Silicon Valley Product Group, I came across a great article by Marty Cagan about, product evangelism, which I see as essentially helping people to imagine the future and inspiring them to help create that future by...Wed, 20 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMTcontrolling the narrativeproduct evangelismhttps://adil.io/writing/ideas-are-worthless-execution-is-everything/https://adil.io/writing/ideas-are-worthless-execution-is-everything/The thing that always surprises me is that entrepreneurs are so protective of their ideas. They don’t want to talk about them for fear that you’ll steal their idea and claim it as your own. They won’t give you the time of day unless you agree to sign an...Wed, 13 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMTentrpreneursexecutionideashttps://adil.io/writing/where-should-product-management-live-on-the-org-chart/https://adil.io/writing/where-should-product-management-live-on-the-org-chart/I think it’s surprising, given how critically important product management is to most tech companies, how few people really know anything about it. A lot of companies (including tech companies) either don’t have a Product Management person or the Product...Wed, 06 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMTproduct managementhttps://adil.io/writing/premature-commitment-bias/https://adil.io/writing/premature-commitment-bias/I’ve had the pleasure to be part of several startup ventures and advise on several others. The one thing I think nobody really talks about is the bias that entrepreneurs here in the Silicon Valley have to prematurely commit to an idea or company. Something...Tue, 28 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMTpremature commitment biasSilicon Valley startupshttps://adil.io/writing/customer-service-vs-irrational-client-demands/https://adil.io/writing/customer-service-vs-irrational-client-demands/Trying to deliver great customer service without bowing to irrational client demands takes a somewhat tricky balancing act and some courage. The truth is, the customer is NOT always right. At end of the day a lot of companies have adopted this sort of...Fri, 24 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMTcustomer servicehttps://adil.io/writing/the-importance-of-servant-leadership/https://adil.io/writing/the-importance-of-servant-leadership/Sometimes the concept of servant leadership doesn’t get enough attention. When it does, most people understand the buzz wordiness of it but not its actual meaning and somehow like it to the “Are you a maker or a manager?” question. The key to fully...Wed, 22 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMTleadershipmanagementservant leadershiphttps://adil.io/writing/product-management-is-about-product-discovery/https://adil.io/writing/product-management-is-about-product-discovery/I’ve always believed product management is all about discovery. As time goes on, I’m seeing that others are also beginning to get on the bandwagon and think it’s a cool thing to believe. But I get confused because there are still so many people –...Thu, 16 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMTproduct discoveryhttps://adil.io/writing/prepare-for-meetings-death-by-meeting/https://adil.io/writing/prepare-for-meetings-death-by-meeting/In his essay, Maker’s Schedule, Manager’s Schedule Y Combinator’s Paul Graham points out that managers’ schedules and makers’ (i.e. programmers’ or writers’) schedules are quite different: Each day, managers’ schedules are cut into one hour intervals. You...Mon, 13 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMTmeetingstime managementhttps://adil.io/writing/not-all-experience-is-created-equal/https://adil.io/writing/not-all-experience-is-created-equal/In my earlier post What would I look for in a co-founder?, I talked about some lessons I’ve learned along the way and the type of person I’d be looking for in terms of experience. That got me to thinking about technical experience in general and how not...Wed, 08 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMTdesirable co-founder traitsexperienceintrospectionhttps://adil.io/writing/parts-of-management-suck/https://adil.io/writing/parts-of-management-suck/Management – or at least the path to management – is a funny thing. Traditionally, the path to career advancement has meant that people start out as individual contributors. There’s only so far they can advance as “doers”, so they strive to move up the...Tue, 07 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMTmanagementmentorshiphttps://adil.io/writing/what-would-i-look-for-in-a-co-founder/https://adil.io/writing/what-would-i-look-for-in-a-co-founder/One of our investors asked me an interesting question recently: If you had to do it over again, how would you describe the background that you would have loved to have coming in as the technical co-founder of Modcloth? What technical skills as well as soft...Thu, 26 May 2011 00:00:00 GMTdesirable co-founder traitshttps://adil.io/writing/the-importance-of-employee-recognition/https://adil.io/writing/the-importance-of-employee-recognition/I think employee recognition is an area that’s grossly undervalued, both by managers and by people in general – especially when it comes to knowledge workers. Knowledge workers get paid reasonably well. If not, they know they can go somewhere else and make...Mon, 23 May 2011 00:00:00 GMTemployee recognitionmanagementhttps://adil.io/writing/managing-stress/https://adil.io/writing/managing-stress/I saw an interesting article recently titled “What is the Most Difficult CEO Skill? Managing Your Own Psychology” by Ben Horowitz on TechCrunch. In it, Horowitz talks about the stressful aspects of being a CEO (there are many) and shares some techniques he...Thu, 19 May 2011 00:00:00 GMTstresshttps://adil.io/writing/a-followup-on-rapid-prototyping/https://adil.io/writing/a-followup-on-rapid-prototyping/In an earlier post, I offered some thoughts on rapid prototyping. I mentioned my preference for the “high-fidelity prototype”, which leaves very little room to the imagination and provides users and stakeholders with a realistic sense of the user...Sun, 15 May 2011 00:00:00 GMTdesignprototypingtestinghttps://adil.io/writing/management-by-walking-around/https://adil.io/writing/management-by-walking-around/Easily, one of the most fun parts of my job is management by walking around (MBWA). It’s not just fun, but its also quite effective as a tool in leading organizations. My experience, however, is that its an underutilized tactic. And for those of us who do...Thu, 24 Feb 2011 00:00:00 GMTleadershipmanagementmbwahttps://adil.io/writing/what-is-net-promoter-score-nps-and-how-is-it-used/https://adil.io/writing/what-is-net-promoter-score-nps-and-how-is-it-used/I first read about Net Promoter Score on Eric Ries’s blog almost a year ago. I found the concept to be really compelling. In recent conversations with lots of budding entrepreneurs, I have realized that not everyone is really familiar with NPS. So I...Tue, 18 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMTcustomer satisfactionNet Promoter Scorenpshttps://adil.io/writing/stop-trying-to-be-the-smartest-person-in-the-room/https://adil.io/writing/stop-trying-to-be-the-smartest-person-in-the-room/One of the most interesting things about hiring extremely talented people is that they, often times, have extremely large egos that come along with their talent. Working on building a rapidly growing company has certainly opened my eyes to this interesting...Wed, 12 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMTegohumbleleadershipservant leadershiphttps://adil.io/writing/some-thoughts-on-rapid-prototyping/https://adil.io/writing/some-thoughts-on-rapid-prototyping/So I have made my feelings regarding functional specs pretty clear already. It’s clear to me, and a lot of other folks, that prototyping can be a very powerful way to capture requirements. What I have been thinking more about lately is, “What is the best...Tue, 21 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMTdesignprototypingtestinghttps://adil.io/writing/filling-in-the-gaps-with-experience-design/https://adil.io/writing/filling-in-the-gaps-with-experience-design/The design of experiences is sometimes a mystical field of work. There are so many acronyms for similar or overlapping types of work that may affect the user experience: IXD, UXD, IX, IA, IAD, UX, UXR, VD, etc. No matter what your title happens to be, you...Sat, 18 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMTdesignuser experiencehttps://adil.io/writing/kanban-and-agile-software-development-part-3/https://adil.io/writing/kanban-and-agile-software-development-part-3/Where we left off In the introductory Kanban post, I provided some background on Kanban and in Part 2, I went on to discuss several ways Agile and Kanban have been put into practice together, including examples of some of the several different ‘flavors’ of...Thu, 02 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMTagilekanbanhttps://adil.io/writing/kanban-and-agile-software-development-part-2/https://adil.io/writing/kanban-and-agile-software-development-part-2/Where we left off In the introductory Kanban post, I provided some background on Kanban in order to give you some context for how Kanban might be used in an agile software development environment. Now I want to provide some insight on how Kanban is...Mon, 22 Nov 2010 00:00:00 GMTagilekanbanhttps://adil.io/writing/kanban-and-agile-software-development-part-1/https://adil.io/writing/kanban-and-agile-software-development-part-1/I’ve never made it a secret that I am a fan of agile management practices, both inside and outside of software development. Historically, however, two things within the agile space have always been a little bit frustrating to me: First, folks too often...Tue, 16 Nov 2010 00:00:00 GMTagilekanbantpshttps://adil.io/writing/how-to-know-what-is-worth-fighting-for/https://adil.io/writing/how-to-know-what-is-worth-fighting-for/Effectively managing conflict in the workplace has been a topic on my mind for some time now. Having a new topic on your mind is kind of like buying a new car; you start to notice it everywhere. Now that I am thinking about effectively managing conflict, I...Sat, 13 Nov 2010 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/the-right-way-to-fight/https://adil.io/writing/the-right-way-to-fight/The term ‘conflict’ typically carries with it negative connotation. But it’s something I have been thinking a lot about lately, and I feel like conflict is not necessarily a bad thing. As our company continues to grow at a very rapid trajectory, there are...Wed, 20 Oct 2010 00:00:00 GMTdebatehealthy conflictinnovationhttps://adil.io/writing/your-culture-really-is-your-brand/https://adil.io/writing/your-culture-really-is-your-brand/I read an interesting article titled “Brand Is Culture, Culture Is Brand”, which examined the relationship between the Human Resources and Marketing departments in an organization. The premise of the piece is that, in the new paradigm of business, these...Mon, 18 Oct 2010 00:00:00 GMTbrandculturehrmarketingservant leadershiphttps://adil.io/writing/throw-out-your-product-specs/https://adil.io/writing/throw-out-your-product-specs/I don’t like requirements documents. There, I said it. I’ve been thinking about this latently for a number of months now, but all of this thinking really caught up with me this weekend. We’ve been thinking a lot lately about evolving our product management...Fri, 15 Oct 2010 00:00:00 GMTagileixdprdsproductprototypesspecshttps://adil.io/writing/magma-rails-is-happening-right-now/https://adil.io/writing/magma-rails-is-happening-right-now/I am thrilled to see the agenda for Magma Rails coming together. I have a real sense of pride in the fact that I helped start the company (Crowd Interactive) that is putting on the first ever Ruby on Rails conference in Mexico! What’s more is that it...Thu, 14 Oct 2010 00:00:00 GMTcolimacrowd interactivedevelopmentmagmarailsrailsrubyhttps://adil.io/writing/the-new-hardcore-gamer/https://adil.io/writing/the-new-hardcore-gamer/I am currently at the Rise of Social Commerce conference here in Palo Alto. I was just listening to a talk by Manny Anekal, the Director of Brand Advertising over at Zynga. He said something that really struck me. He said that the hardcore gamer is being...Thu, 07 Oct 2010 00:00:00 GMTgamingsocial commercesocial gaminghttps://adil.io/writing/product-management-vs-interaction-design/https://adil.io/writing/product-management-vs-interaction-design/One of the questions that gets escalated to me most often these days is some permutation of, “What is the difference between product management and interaction design?” It is particularly hard to answer questions like “where does one end and the other...Wed, 06 Oct 2010 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/rise-of-social-commerce/https://adil.io/writing/rise-of-social-commerce/I was fortunate enough to be invited to sit on a panel at the Rise of Social Commerce conference here in the bay area this week. I’ve been so busy lately that I haven’t actually had the opportunity to check out the conference agenda until recently, and I...Wed, 06 Oct 2010 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/if-you-cant-nap-meditate/https://adil.io/writing/if-you-cant-nap-meditate/Recently, I wrote about how advantageous I feel naps can be, and how thrilled I am that there is some evidence to support what I’ve suspected for some time now. Unfortunately, whether the day is just that hectic, or I’m simply not in the mood, there will...Tue, 05 Oct 2010 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/building-a-workforce-of-one/https://adil.io/writing/building-a-workforce-of-one/As I have seen our company grow, I have been thinking a lot about the best way to serve its employees. One lesson that I have repeatedly learned is that people are very complex and different. I am continually taught new lessons about how what works for one...Thu, 30 Sep 2010 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/hedonistic-pricing-and-the-problem-of-shared-cost/https://adil.io/writing/hedonistic-pricing-and-the-problem-of-shared-cost/I was reading this great blog post about the problems with estimating business value by Mike Cohn, and found that it identified a problem that has been nascent in my mind for a little while now. I won’t summarize the whole blog post here (you should just...Fri, 24 Sep 2010 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/how-to-successfully-integrate-into-a-new-company/https://adil.io/writing/how-to-successfully-integrate-into-a-new-company/New team-members are not created equal I’ve had the opportunity to evaluate and hire around thirty very talented people in the last few months, and it has been a pretty eye-opening experience for a lot of reasons. Perhaps the most interesting reason is the...Wed, 22 Sep 2010 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/why-you-should-insist-on-taking-naps/https://adil.io/writing/why-you-should-insist-on-taking-naps/I read a great article by Tony Schwartz in the Harvard Business review about why companies should insist on their employees napping in the workplace. Those of you that know me well can imagine my delight! I have been napping consistently for about 4 years...Tue, 21 Sep 2010 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/a-culture-of-innovation/https://adil.io/writing/a-culture-of-innovation/I’ve thought a lot lately about innovation and creation. There are lots of ways that we can try to improve our total creative quality and output as an organization. The first, and most obvious choice, is to try and find and surround ourselves with...Sat, 18 Sep 2010 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/the-five-stages-of-creativity-are-not-just-for-writers/https://adil.io/writing/the-five-stages-of-creativity-are-not-just-for-writers/I said in my recent post that creativity an innovation are the key factors of success for entrepreneurial businesses, going forward. I still mean that. And the more I think about it, the more I have come to believe that it’s actually true. If you want to...Thu, 09 Sep 2010 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/design-thinking/https://adil.io/writing/design-thinking/Designers don’t just ‘throw sparkles.’ In the last post, we explored some of the differences between entrepreneurship today and ten or so years ago. As I think about how creativity and innovation seem underrated, it gets me to thinking about the way that...Sun, 05 Sep 2010 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/the-new-critical-success-factors-creativity-and-innovation/https://adil.io/writing/the-new-critical-success-factors-creativity-and-innovation/The world of entrepreneurship today is very different than it was in 1999. The cost and time related to developing web applications are both much lower today than they were years ago. That’s not to mention that entrepreneurship has grown considerably in...Sun, 29 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/nice-guys-people-dont-always-finish-last/https://adil.io/writing/nice-guys-people-dont-always-finish-last/I think every american high school male, at some point, has a jaded ‘nice guys finish last’ phase. It’s 2 parts sulking and 1 part being bitter that the world is not fair. I was no exception. I remember how sure I was that there was a correlation between...Sun, 01 Aug 2010 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/forming-storming-norming-performing/https://adil.io/writing/forming-storming-norming-performing/So, I have been in social situations with fellow managers and have brought up the topic of group development and the model of ‘storming, norming, and performing,’ and no one knew what I was talking about. So I figure it’s a fun topic to blog about....Sun, 11 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/creative-and-engineering-how-different-are-they/https://adil.io/writing/creative-and-engineering-how-different-are-they/I often hear practitioners in creative fields (such as photography, design, and writing) and engineering fields (such as development, QA, systems, infrastructure) talk about how different they are from the other group. This is sometimes in reference to...Mon, 05 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/focusing-on-architectural-debt/https://adil.io/writing/focusing-on-architectural-debt/My last few posts introduced technical debt and then explained what you should do about it. This recent theme hasn’t completely satisfied my desire write about the topic because I think there is a lot more to this ‘debt metaphor’ than most realize. So I’d...Thu, 01 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/what-you-can-do-about-technical-debt/https://adil.io/writing/what-you-can-do-about-technical-debt/In my last post, I introduced the ‘technical debt’ metaphor and talked a bit about why it makes a lot of sense. In this post, I’d like to dive into why technical debt is so important and what you should be doing about it. Why is technical debt important?...Sat, 26 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/technical-debt/https://adil.io/writing/technical-debt/Oh, the power of metaphor. I have been thinking a lot about how powerful metaphors go a long way in creating effective communications and laying the foundation for solid teamwork. One of my favorite metaphors currently is the term ‘technical debt.’ It...Wed, 16 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/goodbye-work-life-balance/https://adil.io/writing/goodbye-work-life-balance/Why ‘Work-Life Balance’ is a bad phrase We’ve been talking a lot lately about building a great business that endures here at ModCloth over the last several months. One of the phrases that often comes up in this context is “work-life balance.’ The more I...Sun, 06 Jun 2010 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/great-startup-idea/https://adil.io/writing/great-startup-idea/As our business continues to expand, we have been facing some interesting new challenges and opportunities. One that has been on my mind a lot lately is cross-site collaboration. But no good solutions exist that enable us to feel a little bit more like we...Thu, 27 May 2010 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/agile-design-continued-thinking/https://adil.io/writing/agile-design-continued-thinking/In my last post, we just began exploring the idea of agile design. The quick conclusion was that there are significant similiarties between design and development as creative processes. Agile thinking can be effectively applied to both. The big question is...Sun, 23 May 2010 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/agile-design-myth-or-reality/https://adil.io/writing/agile-design-myth-or-reality/So, I have been fortunate enough to be part of a lot of conversations with a lot of smart people recently. A good number of them have been centered around one topic: agile design. For me, it’s sort of funny that this topic has come more and more into the...Sat, 08 May 2010 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/mentorship-vs-management-solving-the-problem/https://adil.io/writing/mentorship-vs-management-solving-the-problem/Ok, so in my last post on the subject, I outlined the core problem surrounding mentorship and management in most businesses today. This problem is seen everywhere from startups to bigger companies, but is probably most prevalent at larger organizations....Sat, 24 Apr 2010 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/mentorship-vs-management/https://adil.io/writing/mentorship-vs-management/A surprising number of companies get management completely wrong. So many companies, in fact, that I hesitate to write this post because I wonder if I am going to be giving away some sort of secret that no one in the ‘corporate world’ seems to know. The...Sat, 17 Apr 2010 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/live-blogging-from-ias-10-designing-for-emotion-and-flow/https://adil.io/writing/live-blogging-from-ias-10-designing-for-emotion-and-flow/I’ve had the opportunity to sit in on some really interesting sessions here at IASummit 2010. I have never tried to liveblog from a conference before, but why not start now? Here are my notes from the “Designing for Emotion and Flow” talk by Trevor van...Sun, 11 Apr 2010 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/create-brand-advocates-not-enemies/https://adil.io/writing/create-brand-advocates-not-enemies/This past weekend was full of unpleasant customer service surprises for both my wife and myself. While my initial reaction was anger and frustration, I have since calmed down and thought about what I could take away from the experience. The short answer...Wed, 07 Apr 2010 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/agile-office-space-continued/https://adil.io/writing/agile-office-space-continued/Ok, so I have had the opportunity to sink my teeth into workplace design a bit more in recent days. My recap of requirements is as follows: We need collaborative space — so that people who are working on laptops/workstations can work together seamlessly....Mon, 05 Apr 2010 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/agile-office-space/https://adil.io/writing/agile-office-space/I had a remarkably interesting week. First of all, I realized that we needed an office space last month here in San Francisco. (At ModCloth speed, we need everything last month!) With the rate at which we are planning to hire, it’s critical that we find a...Sat, 03 Apr 2010 00:00:00 GMThttps://adil.io/writing/why-no-one-thinks-about-usability/https://adil.io/writing/why-no-one-thinks-about-usability/I’ve been in the software development business for a while now. And the lesson that I have learned, and re-learned, more than any other is simple: Usability is WAY MORE important than everyone thinks.Sun, 28 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT