StartupSecrets

"It's how you know, not just who."

--Nick Hughes, CEO, Seconds

Nick just launched Seconds, an SMS gateway for small businesses. I think it's brilliant. So I asked him for a Secret, and he gave me this one.

No matter how good your technology or product, Nick says, other people will be critical to your success. It is vital to continually develop your network. "You must reach out, look them in the eye, shake their hand, smile and ask what you can do for them because you never know if five years down the line … Read more

"Innovation doesn't come from a committee."

--Roger Cheng, Senior Writer, CNET News

Why did it take RIM so long to dump its ridiculous Pushmi-pullyu CEO management structure? Because two people can't act as quickly as one. Especially when what they need to act on is their own job performance.

RIM was set up with a built-in committee at the top of its organization. It looked like a bad idea from the outside, and the dual CEOs didn't overcome that perception through job performance. Theoretically, they could have, and they would have rewritten management theory … Read more

"You have a finite amount of crap in you. You just have to put it out there."

--Roman Mars, Producer, 99% Invisible

When you're starting a new project, chances are you won't get it right at the start. Roman, who produces the awesome 99% Invisible podcast and radio segment about design (you must subscribe to it now if you haven't already), was talking to me about starting his career in audio programs. The first shows he did were pretty bad. He was told to expect that and to keep pushing, because you can't get … Read more

"Have a bias for action."

--Lars Leckie, Partner, Hummer Winblad Venture Partners

Stop reading this blog. Stop asking people for advice. Just do something. That's the advice from the venture side of the house today.

Lars says, "Seeking advice, as a founder, is the opposite of action."

It is important to be smart about what you do, obviously. But you can over-think yourself to death (analysis paralysis), especially if you're working in a nascent field or building an invention-based product. In many of the fields that startups graze in, there's simply not enough … Read more

"It's harder than you think."

--Multiple sources

At one of the CES events last week, I asked Vladimir Tetelbaum of Swivl for a Startup Secret. "It's harder than you think," he said, about launching a company. "But it's also a lot more fun."

OK, good tip. I was hoping for something a bit more specific, but I can dig it.

Later that evening, I found myself talking with Matt Rogers, the founder of Nest. Got any good secrets? I asked. "Yeah," he said to me, with a sidelong glance. &… Read more

"Scalability is overrated."

--Tony Emerson, SEO Analyst, SpareFoot

How do you say, "Screw you" in Silicon Valley? Ask, "Does it scale?"

It's one of those obnoxious conversation killers that entrepreneurs get all the time. The appropriate answer, I think, is this: "Oh, I hadn't thought of that. Thanks so much for asking!"

Of course it scales. Or maybe it doesn't, because it's not supposed to. Or, as Tony from SpareFoot adds, maybe scaling--that is, finding a way to automate the technology, or lower the resources required, for incremental … Read more

"If the only thing protecting your startup is a secret, you need a new idea."

--Brian Wong, CEO, Kiip

At an extremely loud CES party (ours), the extremely energetic CEO of the game monetization company Kiip lectured me on how openness leads to happiness. The more you talk about your startup, Brian says, the more you learn. You get people who love it and want to help. You get questions you haven't considered. You get people who hate your idea -- and you learn from those discussions.

What you don't get is somebody who hears your … Read more

"Attach yourself to a tornado."

--Aaron Levie, CEO, Box

I'm impressed with Box and with its founder, Aaron Levie. His company has managed to find traction in a murderous commodity space: online storage. Box did it by focusing on the enterprise market, which is smart, but also unusual for a company run by such a young guy. Aaron is 27 and started Box when he was 20. Usually, I think, the whippersnappers build products for other kids. Think Jobs and Zuckerberg. (Gates was an anomaly).

Aaron is aggressive beyond even what I see in most startup founders. … Read more

"Big companies are riskier than small companies."

--Laura Yecies, CEO of SugarSync

Unlike most of the small tech company CEOs I interview, Laura does not come from a family of entrepreneurs. She told me that, growing up, she learned to "misperceive risk" in business. She believed, as I think many people do, "that smaller companies are inherently riskier than big companies."

Over time, she has come to understand that she was dead wrong, at least from the perspective of modern career management. "In small companies you know better what's going on," … Read more