We spend all year building stuff on computers out of pixels and code.  Once a year, though, we all get together and build something we can hold and hand (or mail) to people.  Like our web projects, we try to make things that are creative in their design, intuitive to use, structurally sound, and (on some level anyway) useful.  In the past, we’ve made VigorBalm, Vigoroma, Vigelicous, Vigetags, and VigetRocks.  This year, as Steph talked about on the Viget blog, it’s VigeTurf.

VigeTurf (which we originally called VigeGrow) is a little lawn for your desk.  As with each annual gift, it incorporates the 2 circles of the Viget logo into the package.  Two metal tins have a base layer of soil.  In these tins you can grow a healthy batch of grass in a matter of days.  Prop them up on the little bench we include in the box, and you have yourself quite a little display of growth.  Our hope is that it will be a bit of inspiration for people and businesses everywhere.

It’s about the process, though, not the destination.  Many folks at Viget pitched in to refine the concept, make prototypes, and come up with a fun way to let everyone experience the joy of VigeTurf online — even if you don’t get one in the mail (though if you ask nicely we’ll likely send you one).  Our Durham office filled hundreds of tiny bags with seeds and genuine North Carolina dirt, while the team at HQ completed the rest of the packaging.  Similar to many of our client projects, VigeTurf.com was developed over the past few weeks by a team that spanned both offices.

What should you expect if you get some VigeTurf for yourself?  Here’s an idea:

Only time will tell if folks decide to play along by growing their ‘turf and sending in photos of how it looks.  If they do, we’ll add them to VigeTurf.com and the set on Flickr.  If they don’t … well, we still had fun making ‘em.  Happy Holidays!

“Startups can be run so cheaply now (with open-source software, cloud computing, and virtual teams spread across the Web) that many more can achieve profitability without any VC cash. Up until recently, they still happily took that cash when it was handed to them. But certain classes of startups, especially Web startups, may now find they don’t even need that money.”

He was inspired by Paul’s comment:

“Imagine what it would do to the VC business if the next hot company didn’t take VC at all.”

On the same day, Seth wrote Building An Albatross.  In it he shares an update on the 3 year anniversary of that day we helped Squidoo launch into alpha.  He included this appealing graph:

It was about this time last year that Seth wrote about Squidoo becoming profitable — without any VC funding.  So, how have they done it?  In my interpretation, Seth points to two factors:

1. Business Idea - If you’re lucky, your business idea will be one that can grow almost exclusively based on word-of-mouth, and gets better as it does so.  “Success breeds success” and “the more it gets used, the better it works,” as Seth puts it.  Every business works this way to some extent (e.g., at Viget we’ve grown almost entirely based on happy clients talking with prospective clients), but online “products” like Squidoo, Facebook, and Twitter have this concept baked into the idea — they live-and-die by it.

2. Business Approach - Regardless of your business idea, you have to determine the approach you’re going to take to managing the flow of money.  As Seth points out:

“You need to either raise enough money from patient investors to stick it out… or, as in [Squidoo’s] case, be so lean and efficient that the cost of lasting long enough to make it profitable is one you can handle.” 

In some businesses, the lean approach is a no-brainer.  We never raised any funding for Viget — it’s rare that doing so makes sense for a services company, outside of a typical business loan to get started.  As a result, at Viget we like to say “we’ve been profitable every month because we don’t have any other choice.”  We’ve been pragmatic about spending (i.e., “lean”) from Day One, and still operate that way. 

The approach is simple: make more money than you spend.  Every day.  If you’re fortunate enough to get ahead on earnings, invest them into the business and grow it.  Repeat.  If things go right, over the years you’ll become more profitable and have a company that has real value.  This is the way it’s worked since the dawn of time — it’s the eternal business approach.

Of course, it’s not that easy.  Building a web product these days doesn’t always require VC funding, but it’s not free either — especially if you and your co-founder don’t happen to be a great designer/developer team.  Most concepts still need some kind of funding to get going, and that’s fine.  As the economy improves early-stage investors will get more comfortable again — they might even if the economy languishes.  The amount of capital needed will continue to depend on the compexity of the concept.

At a time when TechCrunch has gone from tracking all the great news of startup funding and successful exits to covering layoffs and shutdowns, Squidoo just keeps on flying along.  Fitting, then, that Seth takes the albatross metaphor to show why Squidoo has worked after Mike used it years ago to predict Squidoo’s failure.  As Seth points out, Squidoo still has a long way to go — but the approach they’ve applied is clearly one designed for the a long-haul.

He’s been eligible for the past seven years, but was passed over each time.    I’ll resist reciting a bunch of relevant stats, but suffice it to say he belongs in the Hall.  It’s no secret that part of why he took so long to be inducted is that he didn’t lobby for his induction, nor did he ask anyone else to.  He played his retirement the same way he played the game: quietly.

When I was a kid, I learned a lot of lessons from Art Monk.  Work hard.  Never quit.  Stay humble.  Let your play do the talking.  If others want to compliment your accomplishments, accept their praise gracefully, but don’t seek it out.  If people want to talk badly about you, take the high road and ignore them.  It’s always about the team, never the individual. 

These lessons were reinforced by my dad, when he coached me in high school (lacrosse, not football — alas, I’m just a li’l guy).  I carried them on when I coached my lacrosse team in college, a responsibility I’ve often credited with helping prepare me for my job at Viget.

A couple years ago I had a chance to meet Art at a local charity event.  I told him that he was an inspiration to me in sports but more significantly in business.  I told him I try to approach my career the way he seemed to approach his, and that I always appreciated his influence.  I also told him that I looked forward to the day that the Hall of Fame voters would wake up and vote him in.  He reacted as I would have expected him to — he just smiled, thanked me graciously, and shook my hand.

So today, congrats to Art Monk, and kudos to the voters for finally seeing the light.

Emily just posted on Viget’s blog some thoughts about what she learned from last week’s Third Third Thursday event.  I admit that I was hesitant at first about the ropes course idea — it just seemed a bit too contrived for me as a team building exercise.  In hindsight, though, I must say … good stuff.  It was fun and exciting (and a lot of hard work) and I felt a real sense of accomplishment finishing what at first seemed downright impossible.  More than just me, the fact that everyone finished — even some folks that had to overcome real fears around heights and giant semi-stable wooden structures — was great to see.

Of course, the highlight of the day was backing up my long-standing claim that I’m still Viget’s Fastest Human.  And since I’m only getting slower these days, even though we’re hiring, fast people need not apply.

Because any time in Colorado is never enough, I’m heading out today so I can spend the first half of the week catching up with old friends and hopefully making a few new ones.  It’s no secret that we (Viget) want to reach out west more as the business grows, and I hope this trip sparks a few more.

The week wraps up with my family joining me for some R&R up in the mountains.  I can already tell that it’ll be hard to come back.

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Magic Johnson was at the line. His free throw bounced on both ends of the rim, and went in. It went in. Count it. Score. But when Magic took the ball, he was clearly disgusted with himself. He was acting like he’d missed.

I remember thinking “what’s he so mad about? It went in.” It had gone in, but it hadn’t gone in the way he wanted it to.

I realized quickly what separates great players in the NBA from all-time great players like Magic: personal standards. The lesson I took away was that your personal standards matter more than everyone else’s expectations of you and even more than the rules that you play by.

At Viget, we talk about having higher standards than our clients, to push ourselves to do great work. I love working with people that are motivated by, above all else, their own personal standards for what they’ll be proud of.

It’s not always about working longer hours or making more money or generally “exceeding expectations.” To continue with the sports analogy, I remember missing lots of shots in lacrosse that I was pleased with, because the mechanics of my shot felt right and I knew it was making me a better player.

The rules of business are even less clear. If you spend your career focused on keeping score the way everyone else does rather than deciding for yourself what qualifies as success (both in daily challenges and as a whole) I predict you’ll ultimately be disappointed. Set your own standards — then always try to exceed them. You’ll be happier and most likely more successful by any standards anyway.

It’s possible that Magic missed the next free throw and smiled because his shot felt right. But I doubt it.

1. They didn’t take VC.  Granted, it’s easier to self-fund when you‘re already pretty darn successful, but as a philosophy (don’t raise money unless you have to) it’s still important.
2. They don’t charge for anything.  Chicago is home to our friends at 37signals, makers of Basecamp, and advocates of the revolutionary (and for some odd reason controversial) idea of making good software and then charging for it — couldn’t agree more.  Squidoo’s model is different, though, and they’ve made it work to a similar end without needing to charge users a fee.  In fact, you get paid to use Squidoo.  We’ll talk about how & when we think that model can work.

Frank & Eric have put together a great line-up.  If you’ll be in Chicago at the end of the month, come on by …

It’s basically — almost exactly, actually – like a high school year book.

It chronicles the life and times of this group of guys as they spent their days going through the ups and downs of Navy life. 

I’ve looked at it before and always suffer the same disappointment: in a book full of photos, there are almost none of my dad.  That’s because he was part of the cruise book staff, so he took most of the photos (he’s the one on the left).

Today, though, I had another thought.  The book itself was something I could cherish and learn from, because it wasn’t a few photos of Pop, it was his work.  He put his time, creativity, skill, and determination into creating this book and making it engaging, funny, and rewarding.  He was motivated to make sure it turned out well because his name was going to be on it, his peers would be experiencing it, and it would be — in some small way — part of his legacy. 

Pop worked on this book before I was born, at about the same age I was when I helped start Viget.  It’s funny to think of us at the same age, working hard on something to make sure we could be proud of the result.   His project at that time in his life happened to be a cruise book as part of his military service, my project happened to be a company (and the many businesses we’ve worked with).

Pop used to say something like “if you’re going to take the time to do something, you might as well make sure you do it right.”

I don’t know that Pop enjoyed being on that cruise, so far from his young family, but the task at hand was to make a good cruise book, so that’s what he helped do.  Had Pop had the opportunity to start his own company then, I would think that mindset — and his creative approach — would have led him to success.

The lesson I’m taking from my dad this year is to do what you do, and do it well.  No matter what you’re doing — whether it’s decorating a cake, playing with your kids, or starting a business– do it your way, the best way you know how.  It might not lead to anything more than a little dusty book full of memories, but at least it will be a book you can be proud of.

We

Laura has a bit of a cake decorating hobby, and she made one for us today.

I, too, like to decorate cakes, so I plan to top her on this effort — but it will be very tough.  That could be one of my favorite cakes of all time!

The afternoon was spent horseback riding, skeet shooting, jeep driving, and generally having fun together outside of work.  We played our annual game of Vigetry (sorry, you’ll have to join us to learn more) and enjoyed a round of toasts that varied from hilarious to sentimental — all great.

As we reflected, I was reminded of all the hard work we’ve put in over the years to get to where we are today.  As I mentioned during the Refresh panel discussion last week, I’ll never be completely satisfied with what we accomplish at Viget — I’ll never say “we’ve made it” – but I will celebrate along the way. 

There were times years ago where you could have easily made the argument that we should have quit.  In fact, looking back, if I were advising me 5 five years ago, I’d probably tell myself to pack it in.  But we just kept working hard then like we still do now, and I’m proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish as a team.  We still have a lot of great work to do ahead of us, but I’m glad we have traditions like last Friday to remind us that hard work pays off and sticking is a good thing.