I have been running for a few months now and ran the Rock and Roll Half at Dallas a couple of weeks ago.

For the first time this past weekend, I did a little experiment. Definitely and completely instigated by my man, Pree.

What I found out was rather insane. Hang with me to find out ……

My challenge was to think only positive thoughts while I ran. Only positive thoughts.

If I think negative, I would stop. Positive thoughts? Then I’d run. Run Hard.

Stupid stupid, I thought as I started out.  

Heck, I can’t even get started if I think that. 

Alright, let me get started. I will pretend this will do something for me. 

Alright fine, I am pretty awesome. 

Okay, okay, very awesome.

I have done some sh!t in my life. I think I am pretty cool. 

Yeah. Okay. I was running now. Around the corner from my home.

Keep going. When I get to the 1 mile mark, I start to fly.

Heck, yes, I can fly. I fly all the time. Sometimes I know where I am going, sometimes not. 

Pretty awesome yeah. I think I rock.

Soon enough I was flying alright. I kept on. And on. And on.

And then, I stopped.

I had clocked my fastest 2 miles ever. 

My fastest. By more than 15 seconds a mile. 

Really? Really?

Just thinking positive and moving the sh!t out of my brain let me move THAT much faster. 

well, who am i kidding?

It did just happen.

Indeed it did.

I like to learn by doing. I like to learn by proving.

I had just proven to myself that positivity and believing in myself takes me where I want to go – and takes me there heck of a lot faster. 

I am doing hard things – parenting little girls, running a startup, dealing with life and it’s conflicts. It is time to believe in myself and move the sh!t out of the way.

It is time to run like hell.

It is time for YOU to run like hell.

As of today, we officially have a Mother’s Room at 500 Startups space in MountainView. Yeah!

It probably does not seem like a big deal BUT  …over the years of nursing, bringing up babies, sleepless nights, competitive work environments and now startup life, I know it is the seemingly little things make the biggest difference. The little things that help us get through the day while we focus on the real job make all the difference. ALL THE DIFFERENCE.  Especially when you are a new mom going on 2 hours of sleep a night. #YouhaveNoIdea

I am doubly proud to be a part of the 500 family today. Because we have a Mother’s Room. More importantly because it sends a message across to women, moms and men across the world that being a new mom AND working in a tech/startup environment isn’t impossible at all. If you are @500, you are focused on building sh#t. Mom, dad, single, American, international …whatever you are, who ever you are.

We can talk all we want about equality in the workplace, needing more women in tech startups and how to make it happen, getting more investors to invest in women. It is all great, but when the rubber meets the road and I am already dedicated to this start-up life, it is often the everyday crap that gets in our way. Those little annoyances that shouldn’t be there in the first place. Taking care of these little things is one of the fastest ways to bring about the change with women, tech and startups.

And in case you are wondering, if you are all about getting work done, motivated and driven …then having a couple of kids should only make you stronger and better fit for startup life – as long as you learn to understand what your little everyday needs are and know to ask for it – from your coworkers, significant others, friends and even investors. Sure, kids are not easy…nor is asking what what we need, but then again, we are entrepreneurs.  Entrepreneurs are inherently problem solvers. And that means, getting the unnecessary stuff out of the way so we can focus on our goals and the real issues.

While inspiration is great and I certainly need it, as a mom, I have mostly needed the real stuff, practical no-nonsense help. I do not have time for much else. If you make the everyday stuff a little easier for me, I will be incredibly grateful.

So, get out there and let me know if other startups and incubators have a Mother’s Room?

Technology is everywhere. No matter what field you choose to be in, you will need to know tech and interact with it closely. So, is there any question that coding today is much like Math or English?

Coding is a language. A tool in your toolbox. A way to get things done. Bring ideas into reality. It is what frees you (and the little girls in your life) to have ideas around your true interests and passions.

If a lot of girls get exposed to coding early on, I do really believe it can change the kind of innovations created in the future. Even if girls do not make coding their full time job, it is great at removing perceived barriers in getting products built. It really has been the best thing that happened to my own self-esteem!

Here is the talk I gave at EVOConf about this very topic. I am grateful to all the men and women at EVO for the incredible conversations we had about the topic. It was amazing to see how many people felt the same, connected with the topic and vowed to expose their girls to code …after just a 5 minute talk!

I am also grateful to the women in the femanomics group (started by Tara Hunt) for a very inspiring thread around girls and how to talk to them, stirred by Lisa Bloom’s article “How to Talk To Little Girls“

Less than a week ago, the MeMeTales app got approved in the Apple App Store. It went live Wednesday, May 18th and was on Apple’s New and Noteworthy list under Education when I woke up on Friday, May 20th. We have had hundreds and hundreds of downloads. We force a registration and I have to say the conversation rate for signups has been great – close to 50% (insanely high based on what I have known).

I hear getting on the New and Noteworthy List is kind of a big deal and  number of people asked me how I did it. I am not sure how helpful this is for anyone else or if we just got lucky, but I figured I would share what I know. I did work hard and had a methodical plan around it, so here goes my “how YOU can get on Apple’s New and Noteworthy List”

1. Create a solid app (start 6 months ahead) – We are talking about Apple here, so be sure to create the best app you possibly can. It seems kind of obvious, but really, there should be nothing that you kind of know but just kind of ignore. In early March, I went through this crazy “scrap all features until we have a rock solid base app” phase, when I scrapped pretty much all our features until every little thing in the basic functionality looked great. And then, I slowly added back a few features and some never made the cut. We focused on flawless functionality and great content. If you do not feel like you have created the best app, yo cannot and will not promote the heck out of it and nor will anyone else. So be sure to create the best app possible in the first place.

2. Have a launch plan  (3 months ahead) - Just planning a launch plan will make you think about things, so just sit down and get a launch plan together. Create a spreadsheet with people/connection, a timeline, launch dates way ahead of time. I had this created in December. The date moved by a month and a half twice – once due to changes in Apple’s InApp purchase policy and the second time due to performance issues. But having the plan just time shifted it. We did not try to make the date by eliminating the launch plan or compromising on the beta testing, pre-launch communication tasks etc. It is key to have a minimum of a month between steady app to launch date. An important part of the contact list is really breaking people into your concentric circles starting from your core and trusted network.

3. Do your App Store Research and Prep (10 days ahead) - This is really another blog post all by itself, but do spend considerable amount of time on App Store research. Watch how categories behave closely, choose keywords ahead of time. Prep the app in your itunes account ahead of time too – so all you need to do once you are ready to go is upload the app.

4. Warn your friends, beta testers (2 weeks ahead) - We involved beta testers 2 weeks before app store submission. I feel that is plenty of time if you have had a number of people look at the app while building it and you have a big free app when you actually distribute it to beta testers. 2 weeks ahead is also a perfect time to enthusiastically warn and update friends on your progress and upcoming release. This is SO important because you will not have time to tell the “story” after the app gets approved.

5. Have a Prelaunch party ( one month ahead) - On April 28th, MeMeTales  hosted a prelaunch party + “Bring your kids to work” event along with Thinkspace (our coworking location). In retrospect, that was one of the best things we did. It prepped people for our launch, spread the word and was so much easier to pan and host – big thanks to thinkspace and to the fact that we had actually not yet launched. We shared the party info on facebook and twitter and a bunch of other channels. It was the best non marketing marketing I have done. The kids had a ball and it was the best birthday I have had in as long as I can remember ….it was my birthday!  (but, HUGE thanks to thinkspace!)

6.Use the down time, unplug (day after submission to app store) - One of my friends said the week after we put the app into the App store is the longest week ever. For me, it was a much needed break. Since I write a bunch of the code on the app myself, it gave me the much needed break to go from developer mode to my “vision” mode. I took walks, brainstormed fun marketing ideas and did a lot of random writing. That was really important as it helped me step back and focus on telling the story and recover some energy.

7. Control the launch date (morning after a night of good sleep post approval) - So many things are out of our control. It is pretty awesome that you can actually control the app launch/live date in itunes connect. So I say, just control it The MeMetales app actually got approved Tuesday afternoon. I had initially set live date to today and then moved it back on Wednesday morning just before I got into work. I wanted to sleep over the awesome news of approval, mentally feel ready for the launch. I set the app to go live, took a shower and went into work. It was live by the time I got in.

8. Walk around with a nervous smile( a minute after live and you testing your app) - The first people to download the app were the awesome staff at thinkspace. The app got approved and I had to tell someone. I was excited and nervous. So I run down and start telling the ladies while I text my dear friend Lucrecer. Right there, they all download it and tested it. It worked. I saw it work on more than one device. And I was relieved. The app link is live but not consistent the first few hours after an app is live (some complained that they could not find the app), so don’t even bother sending emails for 2-3 hours.

9. Make a clear ask – Ask people to consider reviewing and rating your app if they like it. Just ask. A lot of people do not know how important it is to rate and review an app. It is extra work that people will not do, unless they are asked. But when you ask, at least 10% of them will do it. And don’t take it personally if people do not. Really. Just thank the ones who do.

10. Gather good reviews before you spread the word to your round 2 contacts (the day app goes live) – By the end of day, MeMeTales app reviews and ratings started to show up. That was when I amplified my efforts to let people know. No matter how awesome your app is, there are some people who will always thing that they are doing you a huge favor by downloading your “average” app. It is a big bad world and you cannot blame people for being skeptical.For exactly that reason, it is much better to wait until a few review show up before yo let them know about your app. I am convinced getting ratings and reviews early are super important.

11. Tell people. Ask them to tell 3 more people – It amazes me that so much of amplified marketing is about educating people. I told a number of people that if they like it they should consider rating/reviewing it. I also told pretty much everyone to try to tell at least 3 people about it and it did not matter what channel they used.

12. Follow up in a non-threatening way ( a day after you have contacted them) – Call people, send them email, tweet a polite tweet and remind them about the app. Seriously, people are so busy that they can use the reminding. A lot of people want to help. A number of people in your core contact group really got in there in the first place because you know they want to help.

13. Be authentic and prompt with Customer Service – When people leave a bad review there is really no way to follow up through itunes as far as I know. We did get and still have one bad review from one person who (intentionally  I think) left spaces in the email id (twice) while trying to register. I scanned our logs immediately after seeing that review and emailed the person (after reconstructing the email) politely to retry. It did not help in my case but I can see how awesome it would be to have someone review you positively after a bad review.

14. Be Flexible - Our official launch was going to be on Monday. To cash in on the fact that we made the New and Noteworthy list, I just went ahead and announced the app. I was not planning a HUGE launch – just scheduling some posts and updates, so this worked out great.

That is about what I did. Lots of pre-planning and leaning on friends and supporters. Organizing people based on launch phase. And giving time for myself. Taking it at a slower pace. Getting sleep the day before the launch. And not taking anything personally. Perseverance is a great friend.

So much of it seems obvious and I wonder if it will help anyone at all, but I do hope it does. And if it did help in some way, don’t forget to go download my app, rate and review it . And tell a person or two about it. Thank you!

Before I hit publish, I want to thank a bunch of people -

1. The MeMeTales team – Rashi for tirelessly managing the blog, the MeMeTales parent committee, advisors – Dwayne (@dmercredi) and Allison McDonald (@noflashcards).

2. Awesome people at thinkspace (Peter, Kristin, for help with prelaunch, being the first ones to download the app and just being an awesome place to work. Really

3. Friends and the women who I first met in the online world – Lucrecer, Jenny Ingram – I want to room with you both every time I go to a conference – never ever want to go to a conference if you won’t make it. #word

4. The Seattle Tech Startup mailing list members who helped me when I put out a cry for help on the mailing list when we had performance issues. I seriously thought I would have no responses, instead I heard from so many. @ggoodale even Skyped with me. Lindsay Harper – founder of Swayable is a rockstar – I cannot tell you why yet, but she is super awesome

5. Adeo Ressi has done a pretty great job with creating a wonderful support community with Founder Institute. So thanks to Adeo and to the incredibly supporting community there.

6. Thanks to Zach the Dog. After Dave Schappell’s doggie registered on MeMeTales was really when we hit Featured spot. All jokes aside, thanks to Dave for bringing the energy, support and attention he provides to the Seattle startup community. Thanks to Marcelo for his incredible events and for creating seattle20 . I am also so incredibly proud and grateful that StartupWeekend folks live right here too.

It is all about products and people that rock.

Disclaimer – The role of sales (bringing leads and customers) is critical in a startup. When I talk of sales here, I talk more broadly – pitching the idea, product vision, hiring etc.

I do not consider myself good at selling at all.Yet, as a founder, especially over the past year, I have learned to “sell” my vision to people on the street, interns, friends and mentors. I have great people on the team, awesome advisors and mentors.  Considering I am obsessed with boiling things down to frameworks, pictures and graphs, here is what I came up with. The explanation follows -

SALES in a startup = part delusion(magic) + part passion + part reason

Selling is perhaps the most important job of an entrepreneur. (And I glad I did not know realize that staring out, since that would have probably prevented me from starting at all.) As much as I seen that it is true, I have never heard stats that say the best sales people make the best entrepreneurs. Good entrepreneurs learn to sell well enough until they hire their first sales person. Seems that it is  about a formula and learning to nail that formula. I have discovered that hack (my hack) over the past 2 years and I hope the next time you have to “sell” (your vision/ raise money etc) as a startup founder, you can work this in.

Selling is indeed the most important job of an entrepreneur.As a founder, you are selling all the time. Every minute. Every day. You are selling when you find partners, hire employees. You are selling when you speak to investors. You are selling to customers. You are pitching your idea, your product and vision, day in and day out.

If you are someone who is just cannot sell, this can be hard.But then, don’t fret. Selling as an entrepreneur is not “sales”. What makes you a good entrepreneur should actually make you a good sales person. This is what I have learned of sales. When I think I cannot sell, I go back to these basics, find the missing components and go back on the road to sell All I do is apply the formula, adjust for shortcomings and get on with selling. Seems easy but I have had to learn that the hard way ….

So what is the formula?

SALES in a startup = part delusion(magic) + part passion + part reason

I use the world “delusion” to mean supreme optimism. I use a negative sounding word just so people understand that there is nothing optimistic about “supreme optimism” when it goes out of bounds

Selling in a startup has 3 parts -

1. Passion/Vision/Mission – This is the STORY. The real reason you are doing what you do. The “need”. Not the numbers, but the story that hits home. You need to have that, at all times.You need a high delusion quotient to get started at all – without which you will always be stuck at the “idea” stage. Over time, if the delusion remains too high, with no Reason to show, the”selling” becomes harder and harder.
2. Reason - The reason is all the practical stuff. The numbers, the business case, the product. It is the part that makes tangibles in a business. The rapid iteration for products is essential so as to quickly grow this. People who raise money on an idea most probably made the “Sell” because they created a super successful startup in the past. (Externality at play then. )
3. Delusion (supreme optimism) is perhaps the most important thing and supremely essential in limited quantities. Nope, it is not a negative thing. At the start, delusion is key to the startup taking off at all. It is the difference between someone who has the courage to start and someone who does not. With time, delusion is becomes essential for your survival as an entrepreneur. Over time, it becomes a differentiator – if combined in the right quantities with the other two. Think Steve Jobs in one of those iPad demos ….

Selling At A Startup is not equal to sales. (The first person I hire will be a real sales person ). I see it as a right mix of delusion(ability to show you can create magic/dream), passion and reason. When you go about your day, see who wants to see/hear which on of these components and craft your “sell” based on that.

What do you think?

As I sit and think back to 2 years ago when I just started working on my business idea, hardly did I know that 2 years later I will be still be sitting here, working on a launch, so furiously. I have pivoted a million(4-5 big pivots) times with the product and though the vision remains the same, the product has been shaped by lessons we learned along the way.

I am shit scared and incredibly excited (both normal I realize now;)) about what is coming up for me and I can’t help but think that I am so incredibly glad i did this. It is like taking a free fall …an experience unlike anything else. It is really about life – not about a company or start up….If you never ever thought about it or thought about it only briefly, here is why being an entrepreneur should be on your life bucket list or not.

• You meet some of the best and most talented people in the world. And then you meet some of the worst. And then the mediocre. And then, you learn to tell them apart. (or you might never learn that part)
• You meet yourself many times over. You see your best, your worst, your mediocre. And then, you learn to tell them apart, keep the best of you (or not).
• You learn to care about people deeply. And then, you learn to not give a damn. And then, you learn, the hard way. which one of them to do when.
• It is like birthing a baby. As hard and as it is beautiful. People will pamper you when they find convenient and leave you all alone night after night with your crying baby. Hang in there long enough and the baby learns to sleep. The people who pampered you now welcome your baby and really, you would not want it any other way.
• In the end, you will have done something that takes guts. Something that few other people would ever do. And, you start to respect yourself for that. And THAT is huge.

The reasons why would want to be an entrepreneur are exactly the same reasons why you would not. It is like taking a free fall. If you ever looked at pictures of people braving a free fall and thought that this seems like an experience of a lifetime, then you should probably attempt it at some point. At  least, you will have tried.  Don’t think about failure, cause entrepreneurs, by definition, don’t fail. Yup, look it up in a dictionary, if you like.

Last week, we had an awesome 22nd sold out SMCSeattle event! @Armano (NOT Armani, although that is what your iphone spell checker will default it to ) was our special guest for the night and our event was generously sponsored Swedish Hospital. During the course of the evening,  David Armano (@Armano ) and Melissa Tizon (@MelissaTizon) revealed a few secrets to success in Social Media.

Nope, they did not claim to be successful or have any secrets, it is just what I took away from the evening.You could have taken away something completely different if you were at the event …and if you did, do share!

Melissa Tizon gave a short speech as sponsor. She was very brief. @Armano gave a longer talk as speaker.

Melissa Tizon addresses the crowd

1. Take those risks

At the beginning of her speech, @MelissaTizon said something like this -(paraphrased)

“A number of people have asked us why we (Swedish) are sponsoring these events. Really because people are looking for medical information online and there are just not enough of medical institutions out there yet. So we are taking the leap…”

Wow, I thought. Indeed. Swedish Hospital is taking big risks by putting themselves out there. Because they see a real need. They know that we are all seeking medical information online and they want to be there to answer and help. Wow. It is a HUGE risk though. They are putting so much time and effort and money into this, I would myself be scared if I was in their shoes. But a year into sponsoring our first SMCSeattle event, I think Swedish is slowly making it’s way into the hearts (gaining trust) and minds (branding) of people (Mine for sure!)

2. It is about the people. It is ALL about the people.

As she spoke, @MelissaTizon continued to say -

“Honestly, it is scary being out there – but then, it is all about the people. You all, the Social Media community in Seattle like Shauna, Jeris etc – have been so supporting of what we do, we want to support you in return”

Wow, again. The humility in her voice hit me deep in the pits of my stomach. Almost do not want to admit how emotional I got (we do bust our backsides as board members of SMCSeattle, so we are grateful to our sponsors )…. It is indeed about the people. Social Media always works when we make meaningful connections. With every single meaningful connection, Melissa is getting her own sense of caring to scale beyond herself…

David Armano presenting for the night

Photos by Eugene @heuge

3. It is all common sense, yet it is not. It is all so easy, yet it is not.

Armano gave a pretty brilliant presentation. He introduced a new terminology to help us talk about building communities, talk about the process and made it all sound so simple.  So much of what David Armano said in his presentation was about using common sense. SO much about engaging community is about common sense.

And what does that mean? If it does not work in the real world, it will not work in Social Media. He talked about how you cannot just pick anyone off the street and make them a community manager. They should have the right characteristics to engage in a community. Clearly, as much as I would like to host a party for 17 year old partying kids, I really am not capable of that. Seems unlikely that I can manage an online community of partying 17 year olds then, right? Common sense, people.

As much as I want to weigh in on this (I have pages and pages of text and pictures of this women-in-tech issue), I figured it is best to draw a picture.  It is time we all smiled a little

Yet, all perspectives are incredibly valuable  and I will be probably post mine too but here are the various perspectives so far -

Addressing the lack of women in WSJ

Arrington’s techcrunch post

Discussion on AVC (@fredwilson)

Women in tech – What Gives by @shefaly

Stop telling how they should feel by @evilbeet on @seattle20

Women in Tech -A look at the numbers by @jolieodell

Musings about inclusion in technology by JP (@jobsworth)

I recently gave a talk about “How to Accelerate your Brand Using Social Media” to the Microsoft Alumni Community. SMCSeattle partnered to produce the content for the event.

As I was starting to upload my presentation to the blog, I realized that perhaps, this post is a good precursor to that post. It is interesting how many of us get ahead of ourselves and try to build our brands on social media without even understanding a few things ahead of time. So, here are the things I recommend you do before you jump on the whole brand building efforts using social media -

1. Get to know yourself. Really.

Social media puts you in FRONT of people. To make the best of social media, you have to be yourself. As authentic and transparent as realistically possible. In order to be able to do that, it is critical to understand yourself. If you do not really understand what gets you ticking, what your strengths are and what you are passionate about, social media will prove difficult and frustrating.

I am an introvert. I am a listener. I am a thinker. I do not do very well in crowds. I cannot do small talk. And I care. A lot. Perhaps too much. Since I know those things about myself, I will work every social media branding effort around my personality, my strengths and my weaknesses.

2. Hone in on your value proposition.

Social media does not provide any new recipies for the cake. Social media only gives you new ways to serve the cake. The CAKE or your core brand is still the key. If you do not have your cake yet, it should be pretty clear that you have nothing to serve – social media or not.

3. Distill it down to 3 words

A large part of social media has a lot to do with content, links, tweets and so on. Distilling your brand down to 3 words you want people to associate you with will give you a consistent voice. Giving yourself 3 words that you want to focus on will help you greatly as you choose what you tweet, what you say and which events you go to.

4. Play with the tools

Try every tool out there. Read a whole lot. Social Media is first social and then media. Online social skills are easier to develop if you are someone that feels comfortable with the tools. SO be sure to play with the tools and get a “feeling” for them before you jump off into your brand building efforts.

5. Bank a whole lot of patience and perseverance

Yup, a whole lot. Building your brand on social media requires an investment. Get ready to make that investment. Social media has reduced the costs to build our brands, but it is not completely free. The social media space is more crowded than ever before, so in a lot of ways you will need a whole lot more patience than people did even a couple of years ago. It takes months of consistent brand building effort to actually build a sustainable brand through social media.

Building your brand today and with the help of social media tools is like raising a large large family. It requires understanding yourself, having a value system, being introspective and a whole lot of patience. Once you really understand that, you will approach these tools and the latest technologies the right way.

What did you do before you started building your brand using social media?

Image from Matt Hamm

I am at StartupDay 2010. I was not going to be here if I did not win the trivia contest by Techflash. I am incredibly excited though. Since I have been working on my own startup and navigating the startup world for more than a year, I relate to the talks rather differently.

Dave McClure gave the first talk on why NOT to do a startup – which was way more inspiring than he actually intended. What I love about Dave is that he always talks the truth. He is himself, every single time. And he has passion that comes across. If I have to be successful, I need truth way more than I need politeness.

Dave said a LOT of things but these are the ones that I related to the most. The slides are embedded as well.

1. It is effing hard - oh yes, it is. You have to make lifestyle changes, use up your savings and you will have so little time for your kids and your spouse.

2. You need to have a problem - If you are NOT solving a problem that really really hurts then it is highly unlikely you will succeed.

3. You need a prototype – you need to have spoken to customer – and yes, that is a BIG part. It takes SO much time, energy and resources. It is a much required step though.

4. You need to create a culture - I am seeing this now and actually working consciously towards doing that. My inspiration is of course Tony Heish and Zappos. The Zappos culture book is indeed my Bible.

5. Shit will fly around as the company grows – you will have employee issues, payroll issues, stock issues – you name it! I have not personally seen this, but yes – as moving parts increase, more things and people you manage, people issues come up too.

6. Marketing is hard - It is not about PR anymore. It is about search, social and everything else that comes with it. You got to know how to do it.

I HAVE to agree that startup life is incredibly hard but it is also incredible amount of fun. But then, I AM THAT crazy and I am loving it. I think the startup has been the best thing for me in so many different ways – for learning, for my career, for my relationship with my husband. There are things that become a part of YOU when you do a startup – and if those are things you value, it can be very much worth it. Don’t put your life savings towards it, do not be stupid, but do it – at some point. I have amazed myself with what I have done – and I think everyone needs to experience that. I have been humbled in so many ways as well and I think the world can use that as well. And I am so much richer in so many ways! I would say I invested very very well. My returns have been HUGE.

Enjoy Dave’s slides -