JIM BOOTH • Blog

Do You Have a Hacker & Hustler?

Ah yes, only an excellent post like this one from Micah Baldwin on the need for every startup to have a Hacker & Hustler, could pull me away from vacation to blog about it.  Worth the read - well done Micah.

What VCs look for in entrepreneurs…

Ben Horowitz, of the VC firm Andressen Horowitz, does a really nice job in this discussion of what they look for in startup leaders. Required reading for startup entrepreneurs.

Side note: Andressen's Blog is always excellent and worth a regular scan.

Be the CEO of Your Job…

I've always lived by the mantra that whatever job or role you have in a company you need to act as if you were "running your own company within a company." Or as Mark Pinkus, CEO of Zynga, recently termed it in this NYTimes article - "be the CEO of your job."

I felt this way when I started my career off in the large corporate companies and carried the philosophy with me as I transitioned into the world of entrepreneurship and startups. Mark's points on taking responsibility and really owning your role in a company hit home with me. Brad Feld's synthesis post on the article is excellent.  I encourage you to go through Brad's pause and ponder the questions below.

Assuming you are in an entrepreneurial organization, are you being the CEO of your job?  Is this culturally (and functionally) acceptable?  Do you get rewarded for taking risks and succeeding (or failing) like your CEO does?  If not, would you be more effective if you did? 

Text Messaging: Digital Lipstick on the Collar…

Why do people feel the need to reveal very personal information via text messages? I don't get it. Maybe it's because my text messages are about such mundane topics – stuff like "Don't forget to pickup Jack from school" or "How much longer are you going to be in Target?"

Tiger Woods, John Edwards, Kwame Kilpatrick (Detroit Mayor), Peter Cook (Christi Brinkley's ex-husband) and many others have fallen victim to "text messaging: digital lipstick on the collar." Lawyers everywhere are loving text messaging in their divorce cases. In bygone days one might suspect a partner of infidelity, but it still had to be confirmed. Nowadays text messages provide proof. Attached is a decent NYTimes' article on the topic.

Vacationing in Colorado...

Since moving to Colorado two years ago the Booth family has really enjoyed vacationing around the state.  We recently returned from our end of summer trip which included stays in a very comfortable Yurt in Woodland Park (near Colorado Springs) and a nice cushy hotel in the Mountain Village area ofTelluride. 

Our Yurt stay was spectacular and I highly recommend renting a Yurt for anyone who wants to be close to nature yet still have creature comforts.  Melinda Sorber is the owner of the place we rented and she did much of the work to build two incredible Yurts for guests to rent.  We rented the Yurts so we could “ease” into camping with our kids who are 3 and 6 years old.  Our family loved the entire experience – S’mores and fire at night, plenty of outdoor fun during the day, full kitchen, and comfy beds/showers.  If you’re interested, the Yurts we stayed in can be rented here. 

After  the Yurt we experienced Telluride for the first time.  An incredible town - in fact our favorite ski town in Colorado.  Although it’s not close to Denver (7 hours away) we decided that Tellurdie beats Aspen by a smidge and Vail by a mile in terms of overall experience.  If you go in the summer take a jeep tour.  It’s a great way see all of the incredible scenery that surrounds Telluride.  We took a jeep tour to the top of Imogene Pass (13K+ ft) in a old Swiss Pintzguaer jeep that is designed for manuvering in the mountains.  Driving up to Imogene pass is breathtaking, but the narrow roads with switchback turns are not for the faint of heart. 

Working for free…

Seth Godin has a great post about working for free that applies to both students and experienced professionals who are looking for work in tough times. Most college students I talk to are frustrated with how hard it is to land a quality job in a down economy. My advice to them is to be different and stand out from the crowd. Charlie Hoehn's e-book is a good "how to" on free work for any student or recent grad.

Performing free work is one meaningful way to get noticed from a company you care about when looking for your next gig. Entrepreneurs and fast moving companies love free work from smart people who care about their businesses. Big bureaucratic businesses typically frown on pro bono work, but often times forward thinking managers at those companies will be willing to work with you informally on a project.

Free work is a win/win. Companies get cheap and high quality work along with the ability to evaluate new talent in action. Workers get valuable experience and relationships that often lead to rewarding permanent work. So use free work as an opportunity to target that company or non-profit you love and wow them with your best work. One word of caution –just be careful to set the right expectations up front. Set a deadline for when the free work ends. Be appreciative of the opportunity, but make it clear that your goal is to either land a paid permanent or long-term consulting position.

Great New York Pizza

I love New York. It was a great place to grow up for many reasons – only one of which is the state's huge density of phenomenal pizzerias. Pizza in NY is an art form. As a kid, my friends and I would grab a slice of pizza, fold it and half and be on the go to wherever. For the first 16 years of my life I never saw a person use a fork and knife to eat pizza – it was sacrilegious to do so in our neck of the woods. When it comes to pizza styles in NY – I've eaten them all – traditional flat, thick Sicilian, stuffed (crust on both sides),etc.  They're all great.  

A friend forwarded this post by Lance Roberts, which is a great run down on some of the best pizza joints to visit in NYC. Bookmark and use it to get a great slice of pizza during your next trip to the Big Apple.

Why You Win…

Okay, so outside of winning, this picture has nothing to do with this blog post. When I think of winning - I always think of this famous picture of Bobby Orr. In 1970, when I was 3 years old, Orr scored the winning goal of the Stanley Cup playoffs and this famous picture was taken. I was young, but I can still remember my dad and older brother screaming with joy. I could try to draw some bullshit anaology to the story, but this is just a pure mental digression for me.

Anyway, been a way for awhile – a long while. Facebook and Twitter have just been easier alternatives, but I read a great post by Chris Shipley on Demo.com that forced me to get back in the saddle again. A post about the number of times new entrepreneurs say they don't have any competitors.

Newbie entrepreneurs aren't the only ones guilty of making the we don't have any competitors claims. Early in my career I spent a good bit of time on consulting gigs for well known large Fortune 500s. On numerous occasions I had over confident senior managers look me in the eye and say their product/service really had no competitors.

In my experience, the companies that beat the snot out of competitors know what and who they are competing against. As Chris explains companies' either have (1) direct competitors (2) indirect competitors – where customers are solving their problem some other way or (3) a deadly "inertia" competitor where customers simply do nothing and choose not to use your product. Chris provides a funny war story where the founder of Intuit, Scott Cook, once waved a pen in the air and correctly noted that this primary competitor was a pen a checkbook.

I wholeheartedly agree with Chris when he says..."once you lay out your strategy the best validation of your competitive edge is customer data."  As one of my engineering profs at West Point used to say – In god we trust, all others bring data - data such as site traffic, sales figures, and referral recommendations are important competitive validation points. Competition is just one risk to a business.  But it can be managed by doing your homework. The best validation of your competitive edge is customer data. 

So remember….You always have competitors.  And if you don't, you probably don't have a market because there is no real problem big enough for anyone to be concerned about fixing.

And finally….your product is only better when customers say that it is better, especially when they say it with their money and actions.

Smile NYC…

Post 9-11 the last thing NYC needed was another airplane-related tragedy. The recent US Air airbus water landing on the Hudson River was truly amazing story not only for the passengers, but for NYC. The ferry operators and emergency authorities all worked together to pull off an incredible rescue. The pilot, Chesley B. Sullenberger ("Sully'), was the perfect person to execute the miracle landing.

Landing an airbus in the water safely is a one-in-a million occurrence. I am fortunate to be surrounded by aviation experts who were able to explain the miraculous landing in detail. My friend and pilot Paul Berberian has a great blog post on how amazing the landing was from a pilot's perspective. My other pilot friend, Doug Wagstaff, gave me his take on how pilots handle emergency landings. Doug is an incredible pilot with an enormous amount of experience as a corporate, airline, and military pilot. Like "Sully," Doug is the kind of guy you want in the cockpit if there's ever an emergency. Anyway, Doug recounted an instance in his career when he took off from an airport, had smoke in the cockpit, and what he did to declare an in-flight emergency and bring the plane back to the airport safely. My wife Missy was also able to give me a unique perspective on the event as she works in management for the FAA and used to be a full time air traffic controller.

I think Mayor Bloomberg said it best in a press conference afterwards – "Today is a day for thanks, but also a day for smiles." So go ahead and smile NYC – you really needed this one…

First Passions…

It's truly a blast watching our children come across their first intense passions. As parents, my wife and I try to help our two kids find their passions by exposing them to different activities – sports, art, reading, movies, cooking, etc. We want them to taste test the world so they can explore and understand their natural talents and abilities.

Predicting when or what passion they will land on is next to impossible. For example, my son Jack is 5 yrs old and he is radically passionate about bike riding, racing, rock climbing, reading, and the movie the Incredibles. His fixation with The Incredibles movie is hilarious – as I type this post he's wearing his red Mr. Incredible suit and trying to lift the couch up in the same way that Mr. Incredible lifts heavy objects. Anne, my 3 yr old daughter, also has her passions – art, swimming, jewelry and puzzles. Right now she is completing 3 different puzzles while simultaneously yelling at her brother that he's not so incredible because he can't actually lift the couch.

Never a dull moment. I can't wait to see what's next…