Dorm Room Tycoon

Austin Sarner

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:50:22 +0000

Avoid the trap of cycling through flashy apps and getting stuck in Apple’s sandbox.

Stefan Sagmeister

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 14:21:55 +0000

It helps if you really want this. Some sort of hunger or desire to do good work is very helpful. You need to have common sense and an ability to get things done. You need to be unstoppable, in that you can climb walls and overcome hurdles.

Michael Birch

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 11:24:35 +0000

Don’t give up. Building a successful startup is like waiting for a bus. Bebo was our third attempt. It’s only a matter of time until the right one shows up.

Tamar Weinberg

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 02:37:28 +0000

Remember that social media communities are real relationships and real conversations, and you should treat them as such. It’s not a me, myself, and I mentality. It’s about the collective, the community, and the common good.

David Allen

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 01:06:22 +0000

The best way to take control of your life is to start with an acceptance and inventory of your current realities – especially those things that seem meaningful to you. That can start with a “mind sweep” of all the things that have your attention, and should also range into all the areas of your life and work that signify areas of interest and accountability. What are you being held accountable to be doing well, at work? What are the parts of your personal life that have your attention? Then decide the next actions required or desired about every single one of those things that you assess should be different. Build in a systematic way to keep all that reviewed, and trust your intuitive judgements about what you then decide to do.

Daniel Burka

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 20:48:03 +0000

Get your idea out in front of people as quickly as possible. It’s tempting to think you can anticipate how people will use your application, but you’ll always be shocked by what people actually end up doing. That shock is part of the excitement of building for the real-world.

Vitaly Friedman

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 19:11:12 +0000

As creators and as builders of the Web, we should be proud of the work we are doing and we should stay consistent in whatever it is we are doing. It’s very important to say “No” and focus on your work, trying to make the best you can for your potential clients and customers.

Scratching your itch is a great motivation for building useful and successful products. However, delivering value and meaning is much more important than trying to be cool and impressive. Believe in your values and make sure that your customers can understand and appreciate them. And stay committed to your values because that’s what people will remember and appreciate, and that’s one of the reasons they will keep getting back to you.

Jim McKelvey

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 13:31:56 +0000

Start small and solve a problem that you care about personally. Revolutions are always bottom-up.

Mike Maples

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 19:35:42 +0000

Big waves are driven by discontinuous technology changes. The key is to find a discontinuous technology change and time it just right. For example, in social networking, Tribe and Friendster were a little too early. Facebook and LinkedIn were just right. Twitter happened a little later. After that, it became very very difficult to build a social property of consequence. The key thing to remember is that when everyone starts talking about the wave, it’s too late.

Brian Wong

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 17:42:47 +0000

Go wild and let go. Usually the most audacious ideas are the ones that get noticed. Just remember: the minute you feel like you’re building a tool and a feature rather than a game changer – it’s probably an indicator to stop and to reconsider.

Jeff Lawson

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 16:24:29 +0000

Designing intuitive APIs is hard, but my recommendation is to make sure your API makes sense as a user of your system, not the designer of the system. Design the API first. Many API developers release an API that’s based on their internal models. But you may suffer from the curse of knowledge, so make sure you think about how your customers will perceive your domain objects.

Luke Wroblewski

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 14:27:37 +0000

Designing web applications for mobile platforms before the desktop enables you to take advantage of explosive growth, useful constraints and innovative capabilities. Mobile growth provides opportunities to increase engagement and create a better overall experience for your users. Mobile constraints force you to design web products that are focused, fast and frequently used. Mobile capabilities open up different ways of thinking about interactions between people, data and their immediate surroundings. So what are you waiting for?

Chris Wanstrath

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 12:35:45 +0000

Make sure you don’t prioritize growth over your core competencies. Don’t hire the best people who apply for jobs, hire the best people you can find. Don’t add people just because you can, add people because they’re going to strengthen your business and make your company more awesome. Everything is so fragile in the early days – it’s important to think decisions through, even if they seem obvious at first. Just because another company did something doesn’t mean you should or shouldn’t. Use your brain.

Hiten Shah

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 23:08:07 +0000

Just like most things in life, building a product on the web is a learning process and you can’t have the answers from day 0 but you can have the right attitude to help you discover the right answers. Instead of worrying about being right, you should embrace being wrong and focus on falsifying your hypothesis.

Oliver Reichenstein

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 12:48:14 +0000

Don’t focus too much about what you see. Look at what people do with their hands. Don’t offer many ways to do things, offer one good way.

Ryan Freitas

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 12:55:47 +0000

Before you start sketching, pay attention to what catches your eye. Snap pictures, build collages, put together a mood board – whatever you need to in order to narrow down examples of the kind of products that produce the kind of visceral response that you’d like your idea to engender. This step is 99% preparation, and as such can be frustrating for first time designers – you want to jump to the heart of the process, but what you really need is to sort out your own inspiration. Copy liberally if you need to. Rip other ideas off. And then iterate, iterate, iterate. Make it yours by taking away everything you don’t agree with, and polishing the pieces that make sense.

David Cohen

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 21:31:18 +0000

Make it your goal to build a long term relationship with the mentor instead of focusing on what you can get from the person in the first meeting. Most importantly, make it easy and rewarding for the mentor to help you. Since you’re likely dealing with a very busy person, don’t ask for coffee or lunch. Instead, offer to come to their office for a 15 minute meeting. Do your homework in advance, and arrive with a short and specific agenda that leverages the relevant experiences of the mentor.

Om Malik

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 16:55:15 +0000

Be brief in your pitches. Less than 200 words outlining who, what and why. And preferably options on “when.” I prefer to do face-to-face conversations with Founders/CTOs/CEOs. Telephonic conversations are good when we are discussing something more time sensitive that needs a more immediate interaction. Please don’t pitch me with your story, less than 24 hours before the news release. I don’t really do news release rewrites. Refer to my blog for more information.

Max Marmer

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 13:41:11 +0000

Entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart. It is a life encompassing sport full of trials and tribulations. But if you dare to embark on the perilous journey you will find an opportunity like little else for authentic self expression, self discovery, and world altering impact. Commit to preparation, commit to learning, and when the time is right, don’t forget to leap.

Philip Beresford

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 15:14:01 +0000

The entrepreneurial rich have ambition, energy and the confidence to succeeed when mere mortals would have given up. They can spot markets to enter well before the rest of us. They can grow their businesses by inspiring their staff and finding the right people to delegate management responsibility to.

Steve Jobs

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 11:34:37 +0000

You can’t just ask the customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they’ll want something new.

Seth Godin

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 10:09:08 +0000

You don’t need any advice, you just need to decide.

Jason Fried

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 18:32:59 +0000

Writing is overlooked as a game changing skill. Those that can write clearly and expressively are a limited few. If you can practice your writing skills and pay attention to great writers, that will pay off significantly over time. Improving your writing skills is probably one of the best things an entrepreneur can do. Everyone should read this - Revising Prose

Rand Fishkin

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 12:30:31 +0000

Many startups believe that a great product is all they need to succeed, but in my experience, a great product with no marketing is a recipe for disaster. You need to reach customers, and SEO/social/content/etc (all the principles of “inbound marketing”) are extremely powerful if you can execute properly. You can read a debate I had on this topic with Union Square Ventures’ Fred Wilson.

Andy McLoughlin

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 11:00:32 +0000

Firstly, ask yourself do you really need to be there? Setting up an office in the US is time consuming and costly. If you do decide to set up shop there are a few things you’re going to need:

A US company. We used Orrick Corporate Lawyers in London to set this up. We’re incorporated in Delaware with a license to trade in California.
A visa. There are a ton of options for entrepreneurs including the L-1, E-2 and O-1. Use a specialist immigration lawyer to assist with your application. Recommendations include Goeschl Law Corporation, Dunbar Harder, and The Wright Law Firm . Be warned – visas are time consuming and expensive to obtain.
Payroll, healthcare and a pension plan. There are a ton of providers for each but we used a company called HSP who will act as a broker / intermediary for each.

Sir John Hegarty

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 10:39:09 +0000

What the person does, the demands they make on the agency, the creative leadership they provide, the quality of work they insist on, are all fundamental to the success of the business. Also remember the size of your future will be determined by your enthusiasm, daring, vision and luck (so, get lucky).

Sean Ellis

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 11:27:12 +0000

A critical mistake many startups make is trying to force growth prematurely. This is frustrating, expensive and unsustainable – killing many startups with otherwise strong potential. Success rarely can be forced; generally success needs to be finessed. If you have the right product serving the right need, you’ll have a fighting chance at sustainable growth.

Erik Spiekermann

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 22:43:38 +0000

Learn, learn, learn. And travel.

Ethan Marcotte

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 17:27:00 +0000

As I said in the interview, every responsive project should really start with a sharp focus on content—that is, ensuring what’s on the page is valuable to all readers, regardless of their device or context. As for resources, I recommend reading the blogs of Jeremy Keith, Trent Walton, and Andy Hume —they’re doing some great work with responsive design. And hopefully my book provides a decent introduction to the topic!

Jude Gomila

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 15:42:25 +0000

For UK entrepreneurs, network up with the UK entrepreneurs in the Bay area before you come out. Make sure you are prepped on the Visa rules. Come out here with an agenda or vision.

Joanne Wilson

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 21:13:53 +0000

Follow your passions. If there is an area that you really want to work in then pursue that until you find a job in that area and preferably go work in a start-up. Be true to yourself. Work hard, play hard and stay focused on finding the opportunity that makes you happy be it starting a business, working in a start-up or taking time off to figure it out. Being happy is key.

Elliot Stocks

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 17:17:58 +0000

Type is all about the details. Get the details right and everything else will follow. It should be the foundation element of any design, so we should design from the type outwards.

Dale Stephens

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 16:06:08 +0000

Raise your voice. Half of the challenge is having the courage to speak up. The second half of the challenge is saying something contrarian. People will disagree with you and that’s good. The minute people stop calling you crazy you’ll know you’re doing the wrong thing.

John Carlton

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 19:12:25 +0000

People won’t spend a nickel or invest time to prevent anything but once something breaks, they’ll spend everything they have and focus completely on fixing it. Your best prospects will always be experiencing some level of trauma. A high level would be a health problem. A low level of trauma might be needing an oil change in the car before a long trip. There’s an interruption in the smooth flow of their life, and they want it corrected. Fast, easily and at a bargain if possible.

Guy Kawasaki

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 01:15:27 +0000

Give up the illusion of control. Omniscience and omnipotence are illusions. You can’t know who can and will help you. Nor can you control people you don’t know. Sure, create the marketing, branding, and positioning that you hope will work best, but then let it rip and flow with the go.

Steve Krug

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 15:48:08 +0000

Just do it, as the Nike ads say. If you haven’t done usability testing, your site is nowhere near as good as it can be. Keep the testing as simple as possible, so you actually do it. Testing with three users will expose more serious problems than you can fix in a month. And *don’t* put off fixing serious problems just because they’re going to be fixed in your planned redesign. Tweak them right now. (There’s always a tweak that can mitigate a serious problem, even if it doesn’t fix it perfectly.)

Will King

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 15:03:25 +0000

If you are seriously thinking about starting your own business, then you must be 100% clear that whatever it is, you are intending to do, it is a product, service or business that has the following attributes:

A) it’s something somebody wants
B) that nobody has
C) and is priced for profit
D) as well as being priced for sale.

This 20s ‘MBA’ – if you follow it – can help you avoid a lot of heartache down the track. Our original shaving oil had all of these attributes, and although the market didn’t exist before we launched it, it came to own 100% of a market niche and allow the development of a larger brand based on the original performance of the King of Shaves shaving oil.

Wally Olins

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 17:58:45 +0000

Come and see me or, better still, my company – Saffron Brand Consultants.

Robert Richman

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 13:49:41 +0000

Business is about creating an experience for people, because it’s feeling that drive us. Think about how you can create a great experience for both your customer and your employees, then make a bold promise and deliver on it.

Pete Barry

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 17:13:09 +0000

Great ads (and products) start with a great idea. So always think first, and design later. Start with literal, obvious ideas and then say the same thing in different ways. The more ideas you generate, the more likely you’ll come up with a great one; a promise that rings true with the consumer and makes it hard to deny. (What Economist reader doesn’t want to be seen as intelligent, successful and worldly? How can watching a gifted, drumming gorilla not make you feel all warm and chocolatey inside?) A brand is not what a product is, it’s what it represents. So even if your product is not unique, your thinking can be. All you need is a pencil and paper.

Noah Kagan

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 15:00:35 +0000

Help and educate your user in a way that has not been done before. Don’t follow the status quo of just blogging boring content. Stand out and go the extra mile in educating them. In return you will position yourself as the go to place.

Jessica Mah

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 13:59:32 +0000

Focus on improving your user funnel before spending time or money on marketing. Find ways to convert a higher percentage of new visitors into active users, and repeat this process until you hit diminishing returns. Survey your users to see that they’d recommend your product to a friend. And only if most of them say yes are you ready to scale your user acquisition.

Ryan Carson

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 14:53:47 +0000

Don’t trust banks. They don’t give a shit about you and they won’t help you unless it’s financially viable for them to do so. Use them for what they’re for, but don’t expect any back up. The best protection is cash in the bank.

Jacob Cass

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 14:30:33 +0000

The biggest piece of advice that I would give an upcoming designer comes in a ‘package’ based from the little things that I have learned over my short career as a designer. These would be perfect for someone just starting out: Don’t undervalue your work. Seek criticism, not praise. Always keep learning and don’t be a static learner: do this by reading books, magazines, blogs and by practicing. Collect and share things. Teach others. Never give up. Keep practicing. Again, keep practicing.

Steve Blank

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 22:45:29 +0000

Startup are not smaller versions of large companies. A startup is a temporary organization that searches for a repeatable and scalable business models. Large companies execute known business model. Customer Development is the process startups use to search for the business model. Agile Engineering is how startups build their product.

Stuart Jolley

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Tue, 31 May 2011 14:20:38 +0000

You have to believe in yourself and your idea. Enough people will tell you it wont work, so back yourself 100%. You need heaps of passion, enthusiasm, common sense & commitment to succeed. A business rarely becomes successful over night, so you have to work hard at it, constantly redefining what it is you’re trying to do/sell or offer. Always think long term as well, how can this business be truly great in 5-10 years? Don’t just do it for money, aspire to be excellent within your chosen field and money will naturally become a by product of your success. Finally, just go for it! Life is too short to wonder at 80 yrs of age, should I or shouldn’t I have started that business idea.

David Hathiramani

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Tue, 31 May 2011 13:46:58 +0000

Be very confident in your idea initially. You can try gauging it with your friends, or setting up a market stall. Once you are confident go for it. Lot’s of people will tell you that it is not possible but be undeterred and give it a good go!

Andrew Warner

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Tue, 31 May 2011 12:55:29 +0000

Ask for what you want up front. Be like a well-designed landing page, the kind that can get strangers to give up their email addresses or whip out their credit cards. Ask very clearly for what you want and make it easy for people to say yes. If you do that, you’ll be miles ahead of all those wishy-washy people who waste everyone’s time because they think they’re doing us all a favor by piling on the words before they come out and say what they want.

Eric Ries

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Thu, 19 May 2011 18:17:44 +0000

Get out of the building. Very few startups fail for lack of technology. They almost always fail for lack of customers. Yet surprisingly few companies take the basic step of attempting to learn about their customers (or potential customers) until it is too late.

Robert Brunner

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Mon, 16 May 2011 08:52:17 +0000

Be focused on driving business growth through the quality and relevance of the experience you provide in your products and services. Never sacrifice this to make gains. Make the gains from doing it right.

Jon Steel

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Thu, 12 May 2011 07:19:15 +0000

Pitching is all about desire and chemistry. Clients can sense division and uncertainty like dogs sense fear. This is why I recommend that pitch teams are small. The best pitches are made by people who know each other well, and like and respect each other.

I have a simple rule: the idea has to be agreed one-third of the way through the process. The second third of the time should then be spent blowing it out in every direction. And the final third must then be devoted to preparing the presentation. Too many agencies try to make their idea perfect, when it doesn’t have to be perfect. It just has to appear better than the ideas presented by the other agencies.

Daniel Brusilovsky

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 10:24:07 +0000

One of the biggest pieces of advice that I took away from being an entrepreneur, especially a young one, is to never let people discourage you from your idea, even if they don’t believe in you. If you believe in your idea enough to risk it all, then you’re ready to go for it all. The last person you don’t want believing in your idea is yourself.

Adam Cooke

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 10:18:19 +0000

Don’t overcomplicate your ideas from the start. Keep things simple and don’t try to do everything at once. When your project has some users, you can ask them what else they want and add it then. The most valuable thing you can have is a usable product, nobody likes lists of features without something to play with.

Nick Paulson

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 09:37:10 +0000

Make a great product and never stop believing in it. Your product is your child, never neglect or forget about it or there will be problems. Find a great team that believes in your product as much as you do, and run with it, never stop.

Tim Van Damme

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 09:00:24 +0000

A lot of people want to be the best at what they do as fast as possible. While this might be possible, it’ll turn you into a one-trick-poney. Take your time, be patient, and always keep learning. This’ll give you a much more solid foundation for the future. Focus on what you want to achieve, go for it, don’t look back.

Alexander Osterwalder

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 17:10:56 +0000

Go out there and try. Don’t obsess about your potential competitors. Focus on the jobs you’re trying to get done for customers. Prototype, prototype, prototype your ideas to learn and improve rapidly. And don’t hesitate to do things differently. Differentiation pays!

Andy Budd

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 16:36:11 +0000

If you’re a designer or developer, cultivate a broad set of skills propped up by a couple of specialisms. So pick one or two things you enjoy and become as good at them as possible. Know your limitations and surround yourself with experts in other fields who compliment your abilities and you can learn from.

If you’re an entrepreneur, hire people smarter and more talented than yourself. Give them time, trust their judgement and get them to help you make smart decisions. Good things take time and come from deep collaboration.

David Hansson

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 15:40:33 +0000

Stop making excuses for why you haven’t started something yet and just go. Everyone has the spare time to get a side business off the ground if they choose to make that time.

Ben Bodien

william.channer@gmail.com (William Channer) — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 14:37:09 +0000

Don’t be afraid to fail, because making mistakes is the best way to learn and a lot of lessons can only be learned the hard way. Always plan ahead and think your big decisions through carefully, but don’t get hung up on endlessly designing and building something – it’s better to launch early and make corrections based on real world data. Above all else, have fun, because when it stops being fun then it’s time to start doing something else instead.