Working in a startup requires the type of personality that is OK to break things and move fast. To be flexible enough to accept that sometimes you need to get things done and not perfect.
It requires a fast-pace and a whole lot of motivation to accept rapid, frequent changes, and product pivoting.
Stress.
A startup is demanding,
It needs quick learning and product knowledge — like it or not, the team is small and you have to work together for its growth. You have to know a bit of everything and ace what you do, so you can easily adapt an emerging product or service to a not-yet-prepared market. …
On the other hand, it would be foolish of me to not say that 2020 was a year that we all learned from. It was a year that hit us differently and we will always remember it. And the next year(s) will be hard as well — the virus is still roaming around, the economy is shaky, and there are thousands of people looking for a job now.
2020 was proof that we are living at the hinge of history and this can only be a good lesson for us and make us take note of everything we’ve experienced.
2020 is one of the few years that we grew a collective experience: no matter where you are in the world, what you do for a living, what language you speak, or to whom you dedicate most of your time, we all share the same struggles now.
We are all apart and distanced, yet together. 2020 was a tough year for sure. However, it taught us a lot of things.
Yes, we do live in a data-driven world. And yes, everything we do or say in the digital world is tracked — every pixel of it. And it got out of hand.
Seeing marketers who are outraged is a bit funny to me, as 99% of them (in my opinion) go on the paid ads route because it’s the easiest & fastest way to get revenue. And yet, they are not happy to have their data tracked & processed.
As for the entrepreneurs in tech who are also debating this online — you were the first ones to ask for ads within your apps as a monetization model because it is SO easy! …
We are living challenging times and most companies change their strategies now and analyze all their assets. And one of the key elements I learned from David Parish and his book, T-shirts and Suits, is to do a proper internal analysis.
So, if you are building a new strategy for your business, here’s what to consider in terms of internal analysis and strategy direction!👇
👥People: what are the strengths and weaknesses of our people: employees, directors, members, etc.
😎Reputation (or Brand). What is our reputation with our target customers? What are the strengths or weaknesses of our brand?
📚Intellectual Property. What intellectual property do we have? How is it protected? How easily can it be turned into income streams…
One of the most common questions I get is How to pitch my startup? and, unfortunately, there is no one-way-fits-all. Neither a successful recipe, but I can help you with some good guidelines and directions.
Before jumping to the tips, it is highly important to keep in mind that you should always know your investor. If you are using the same pitching story and deck to everyone, you will not (really) succeed. The very same applies to your audience and customers.
Make sure you know their background and previous investments, bridge the gap between their interests and your startup, make sure you know the investment stage they deal with and their conditions.
If you are on the same page with what you discovered about them, align your pitch to all this information, own that story, and present it like a pro. …
Data-driven decision making is not about measuring hundreds of metrics, neither about tracking everything.
Focus on your customer lifecycle.
Draw the line between data and customer-centric approach.
See what triggers the “aha!” for your customers and focus on it (data, content, marketing, behavioral triggers, improvements, everything).
At the end of the day, no matter how many metrics you measure, it’s people who click on your site and who drive the success.
You call them users and numbers, but they are people and you need to know what goes through their mind when they see your site/product.
They are people with specific behaviors and decision-making reasoning. …
Startup life is not only fun and games. And it not for everyone.
Someone in my network on LinkedIn asked quite a good question, so I decided to share the answer with everyone.
When interviewing candidates, based on your experience, how would you go about identifying if the startup environment is right for the candidate and vice-versa? 🙏
That is a good question.
It depends on the role, of course — But, as a direction, you should always:
Not sure how you and your circle of people go through this pandemic, but in my social feeds, everyone goes through tens of courses to learn tons of languages, people started to bake the most aesthetic bread that I’ve ever see, and exercises a lot.
And the truth is I cannot do any of them.
Or at least not at this pace.
I am tired. And we need to know our strengths and weaknesses. Usually, people do not talk about it that much because it makes us vulnerable.
And why hide it?
We are vulnerable.
Going through tens of courses and certifications doesn’t mean you learn everything so fast that all those earned papers with your name on them will be extremely useful — it means you spend hours to consume a lot of new knowledge in order to forget a bit about this whole new situation.
But you are not doing it because you are hungry for learning, it’s because you need something new to focus on and you want to be “productive”. …
I have quite a busy and messy life and the self-isolation did not change a thing. I work a lot, read a lot, my eating habits are not too healthy either and I skipped the gym for 3 years now (or any type of exercising ) — and yet: how am I being productive?
Of course, this is not the most complete guide on how to make the most out of your time and tasks, but some recommendations seem to work for me. …