Warning! This doesn’t apply to everyone who has tried to pitch me a story, but enough for me to write this blog post. Please don’t jump all over my head thinking that I am referring to you. When I started off as a part-time rogue blogger, I found it easy to write on things I found interesting. As the regularity and velocity of my blogging picked up, I found an interesting trend emerge. I now get a regular steady beat of requests to write about their start-up or a weird obscure thing going on in their company. Now don’t get me wrong,I come across a few real gems and legitimately interesting things going on. However, I drill down a bit further on why many of these companies are so actively seeking coverage (especially the ones that I find a bit dubious) and have found an alarming, but not surprising trend. Many of these companies are using coverage to mask the fact that their company has significant holes in it. It could be that their business is a “me too” company or that they are not nearly as far along as they claim to be, or even that the number of active users they have on their system just isn’t really interesting. Let me set the record straight: as a marketer, going after coverage is a perfectly acceptable and smart way to help advance the goals of your start-up. I am in the process of launching my own start-up right now (Printchomp – shameless plug alert) and PR will be a corner stone of driving user sign-ups and interest in the company. That said, if you are no where close to achieving product-market fit, your User Experience absolutely sucks or you’re a shameless knockoff of another site, maybe you don’t want to be pushing so hard for coverage. Even if all those items are fixed, you also have to make sure you have a compelling reason to actively pursue coverage. A veiled excuse to get backlinks from a major tech blog isn’t enough in my opinion. So before you send out an article request to piss off yet another tech journalist, ask yourself a key question. If you receive coverage, will it materially fix any of the day to day problems your start-up faces? It is like using wallpaper for structural support in a building. It looks nice, but it won’t keep your house from falling...
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As some of you already know, I have been working on a new start-up. I spent two weeks on the high seas back in February contemplating my next move after leaving my last venture. It was very liberating to sit with a blank piece of paper and a pencil and scribble ideas. While the ocean went by I would sit for an hour or two a day and come up with ideas, business problems or other problems that need to be addressed. In the following month, I took all of my ideas and started evaluating them in more detail. I came to the one conclusion: the customized goods space is under serviced on the internet. It is still nearly impossible to do good comparison shopping for competitive goods or to order them in an easy fashion. The first industry vertical we will be building this service out for is the print industry, hence our name “Printchomp”. We just got back from TechCrunch Disrupt in New York where we have begun to share what we are doing. I even got to share a beer up on stage with Michael Arrington and MG, what a cool way to start a company. Meet our Mascot! For the time being, we are calling our mascot Chomp! He is the master of ceremonies for all Printchomp related activities and was created by our awesome Art Director – Alysha Puopolo Now onto business! We hope to be launching V 1.0 of Printchomp for this September and encourage you to sign-up at our website www.printchomp.com to get the latest news as we prepare for launch. Recruiting! We are looking for the best and brightest in talent to help build out our team. Declan Whelan, our tech virtuoso, is looking for some awesome tech talent to join our elite force of coders. If you want in on the ground floor of this kick-ass bootstrap start-up and have the skills to pay the bills email me at joseph (at) Printchomp (dot) com. We aren’t just looking for tech talent. If you have other skills that you think will help us, please let us know. We need your help! We recognize we are only as strong as our users. We need your help! If you want to help us please do the following 3 things 1. Like us on Facebook 2. Follow us on Twitter Follow @printchomp 3. Sign-up for our updates – Sign up here...
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For the last 2 months, I have had my head down building the first start-up in which I was one of the founders. While I spent time coming up with the idea, figuring out how to make money with it, and deciding what it would do, I knew that I needed technical expertise. I started to spend time searching for a technical co-founder, because it is one of the most crucial hires that a new start-up needs. Here are some tips that I have compiled after spending time in search. 1. Run your search in parallel with all other activities – The search for a good technical co-founder can take weeks or months. Don’t try to get a bunch of other tasks done first before you begin your search. The best recommendation I can give is to run the processes in parallel. It will not only save you time, but you might get some fantastic advice along the way to help you further refine your idea. Also if the first person you find isn’t the right person, you might get some leads from them to send you in the right direction. 2. Know what skills you possess and vice versa – Mapping skills and deficiencies of you and your potential co-founder is essential. There is nothing worse than not admitting where your strong and weak traits lie. Do yourself a favor – be upfront with them and encourage them to be upfront with you. What this will do is foster trust and remove any ugly surprises later on in the process. There is nothing worse than assuming on either side you are good at everything. Once you have an idea what you both do well and what you suck at, you can begin to start mapping out additional hires or contractors to fill those potential holes. If you map everything out and find there are some pretty glaring holes, you have to take a long look in the mirror and figure out whether both sides are bringing enough to the table. 3. Skills don’t always equal a good technical co-founder – The person might have the skills that pay the bills, but does that mean they are a good technical co-founder? I would say definitely not. Beyond having the technical acumen to get you to MVP, does that person have the temperament to grow and scale a business? How would they react to a massive changes? When you hit a bump in the road, are they going to rise to the challenge or run for the hills? As much as they need the ability to write lines of code, their ability...
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After nearly 18 months of sticker awesomeness, I have mutually decided with StickerYou to part from the company. Over the past year we have accomplished so many things, whether it is getting picked up by Groupon or Living Social and having our retail product featured in Toys R’ Us and other major retailers. Over the past year we have accomplished some amazing things: 500% Increase in Traffic and Sales 1000% Increase in organic traffic 10’s of thousands of happy customers who keep coming back for more This is not the end for me and StickerYou. I will be staying on in and advisory capacity. Whenever you spend so much time taking something to the next level, you want to make sure it continues to succeed. This is a testament to the relationship I have made with so many people. They make StickerYou what it is and are its heart and soul. To the StickerYou staff, I can say your dedication is only outstripped by your talent. While our team has changed over the year, I am more convinced than ever this is the best team to handle the upcoming challenge for the next year to continue to evolve this company. To the StickerYou board, I have always had an excellent relationship with you. You have provided thoughtful advice both to succeed and grow personally and professionally. I look forward to both the continued personal and professional relationship that we have built over the years. To Andrew, this is your baby. Please continue to nurture it and help it grow into the company you envisioned, when you started this journey. You are truly passionate and committed to its success. While today is my last day I can look back and be proud of what I accomplished and the impact I have made. Now to the Future What does the future hold for me ?!?! Well a number of people have been already asking me whether I would come work for them, whether I would consult, whether I would start my own start-up or even whether I would escape into the Himalayas and regrown my Movember beard. The honest truth is I haven’t decided where I want to throw my time and energy just yet. If you have any ideas as to what or where I should spend my time I am open to ideas. I leave for a much needed cruise and vacation this week, where I can contemplate these life changing decisions on a beach. I am always available via Twitter @Jpuopolo or email joseph@jpuopolo.com. I would put my ICQ number here, but that might date me...
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Over the last year, you may have noticed that a once-niche trend not only crept into the mainstream, but is starting to really make a big splash. Gamification has become one of the hottest buzz words in the industry and is probably in the process of taking over a website or user experience near you. For the uninitiated, gamification, said simply, is the use of game design techniques and mechanics to solve problems and engage audiences. Over the last year, even large companies and enterprises are starting to get in on the game, with Gartner saying that all CIOs should have gamification on their radar, and M2 research predicting that the gamification market will reach 2.8 billion in direct spending by 2016. Okay, so it’s on the rise, we get that, but let’s take a look at some of the players that are helping to take this trend to the next level. Three companies in particular are currently creating some buzz in the space: Badgeville, Bigdoor and Bunchball. Badgeville started by making a big splash center stage at Disrupt in the fall of 2009. The company took home the Audience Choice Award at Disrupt, has since gone on a tear and is poised to have a great 2012. (Check out Rip’s original post on Badgeville’s prospects here.) Badgeville Co-founder and CEO Kris Duggan pulls no punches when it comes to one of the most visible and early adopters of gamification, the check-in king: Foursquare. The CEO says that Foursquare was early in its attempts at gamification, but that its incentivization models remain fundamentally flawed. Duggan points to the “Mayorship” system within Foursquare: “You have literally hundreds of people and only one mutually-exclusive point of recognition, the Mayor. What happens to the other hundreds of people? Not only are they not engaged, but you don’t take into consideration different types of users.” Duggan believes you need to engage not only the heavy user, but medium and light users as well. Rather than a one-size-fits-all methodology, you can appeal to each user type and incent them accordingly. From a marketer’s perspective this is a huge hole in the way Foursquare approaches gamification for brands. The ability for brands to own their engagement strategy is key for them to grow their model. A vanilla badge strategy will only allow them to go so far and without real control of the experience and rewards it won’t be a rich experience. Keith Smith, CEO of Big Door, has seen large adoption of their gamification platform. And, in particular, the CEO recognizes a big opportunity selling to marketers: “Marketers today spend more money on acquiring users than working to retain those users and providing them with a reason to...
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In 2011, social media had its share of growing pains. Large brands and corporations took to social media in force to try to find footing in this expanding medium. Some brands found success, while others found peril and new PR nightmares. One person who has helped brands navigate the proverbial social media minefield is Amy Jo Martin. She is the founder of Digital Royalty, a social media firm that has set itself apart by helping A-listers find their social media voice. Amy works with people like Dana White of the UFC, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson of acting/WWE fame and brands like Nike and Fox Sports (and now Joel Stein). Her specialty is working with organizations or individuals and making them look good online. Since the online world is in perpetual flux, I wanted to get Amy’s take on the social media landscape for 2012. Here were a few key trends Amy said we should look out for in 2012: 1. Social TV Integration Many shows have already begun to integrate social TV, either through polling or integrating social elements within the show. See my example of how both the UFC and WWE are integrating social media into their programming. Social media played a pivotal role in the last presidential election, and it will likely be more integrated into political broadcasts. As each news channel fights hard to keep their viewers engaged, networks like CNN and Fox have made significant strides to engage their audience, although some would argue that this social media integration has come at the expense of hard-hitting journalism and analysis. 2. TV Is Going Online in a Big Way 2012 will be the first time that the Super Bowl will be streamed live to the world. Since the Super Bowl is generally viewed as the mother of all advertising spectacles, it will add a new dynamic into the digital component to advertising and social media integration. 3. Facebook Credits Take Center stage Facebook in 2012 has the potential to project its power and truly take Facebook credits into a viable currency. Amy puts it quite well when she says “they’re building an online destination we’ll never need to leave, and my guess is they’re only about 8% of the way through their product roadmap.” 4. Big Business Has Woken Up The way corporate entities approach social media is shifting. Many companies realize that setting up Twitter, YouTube and Facebook accounts is not going to cut it as their social media strategy. Brands will need to seriously shift their perspective by treating social channels more like communication channels and less like an advertising channels in order to make a difference. From my perspective...
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