Early Bootstrapping Lessons Jun 27 Jason Moore

Dr. Jeff Cornwall from the Entrepreneurial Mind blog posted a series on creating and maintaining a bootstrapping culture in your business.  This is a topic that is near and dear to the bigWebApps' heart.

It just so happened that I learned bootstrapping at an early age and from an unlikely source.  I attended a small private school through the 8th grade.  Small and private, contrary to initial thoughts, usually means very low budgets.  And our track team was the epitome of a bootstrapping culture.

I ran hurdles... otherwise know as "hurdle" during practice.  OK. OK.  We had TWO hurdles that we set up in the back alley behind the school.  The only time anyone on our team actually saw a full series of hurdles was at a track meet against schools who most definitely had more than two!

Our pole-vaulter (just so happens to be bigWebApps' CEO, Patrick Clements) was the biggest champion of the bootstrapping efforts, though.  Our pole had as much flexibility as lead and the very safe landing mat was (not kidding) a mesh net with some not-so-foamy objects stuffed in.  It appeared to me that someone had visited the dumpster of a local carpeting store and selected the finest (but under-appreciated) scraps of carpet padding available.

In the 7+ years since we founded bigWebApps, we have created some great products, formed and cultivated some amazing relationships with clients, and improved our overall business intelligence.  But there really is one primary reason why bigWebApps was able to survive those dreaded first 5 years for new businesses: Our CEO, Patrick, was diligent (read "downright stubborn" at times) about keeping costs low whenever and wherever possible.  --I'll save our early hotel and rental car accommodations for a later date!

The bootstrapping culture has been set.  Dr. Cornwall's posts will give you ideas for other areas (such as how to hire other bootstrappers) where you can cultivate the bootstrapping culture.

And thanks to the Holy Name Cardinals' non-existent budget for teaching us early lessons!

Other posts in Dr. Cornwall's series: Recruiting Bootstrappers, Rewarding Bootstrappers, and Bootstrapping Top Down

Are You Making Meatball Sundaes? Apr 11 Jason Moore

Seth Godin's latest book, Meatball Sundae, is another quick read that will make your brain churn at warp speed during and after reading.

You can find plenty of "reviews" on the book, so I'll spare you mine.  BUT don't stop reading, yet! :)

This book has really caused a riff in my brain because we, as bigWebApps, do a few of the things so correctly by nature that it makes me feel great!  On the other hand, we do some of the items so poorly that I get minor pangs of discouragement.

The thing that we do most correctly, fortunately, is what lies at the base of doing everything else properly.  This "thing" is the understanding that your client is not just your client anymore.  Your client  now serves as your co-worker, employer, partner, reseller...basically any role with substantial power and influence for your company.

The fortunate thing about what we do poorly is that it is most likely the easiest to correct.  Make no mistake, it is not SELF-correctable.  If we do not put full focus on making the proper changes, we will not reach our desired goals.

I can feel the tide a-turning, though.  And I like the direction that the breeze is starting to blow.

Simple Pleasures Apr 10 Patrick Clements

It's not often I get to use a pen from the moment it comes out of the box all the way to the moment it goes into the trash.  It's an odd feeling of accomplishment.

Making the Switch Apr 10 Jason Moore

 

Last night, I took the few steps that I knew that are needed to completely transition to Firefox as my default browser.

Welcome to the new world...

The main reason I switched is to see how our applications are performing in Firefox on a proactive instead of reactive basis.  The applications get tested in the most of the main browsers, but I don't know if anyone here uses FF exclusively... until now.

Missing Expectations Apr 08 Jason Moore

I am a huge of Samuel Adams Brewery.  Not just their beer, but the whole culture that the company portrays.  And, from as far as I can tell, their passion for the product is real.  Because of this, I have gone as far as subscribing to their newsletter.  This is an oddity for me, so they are doing something correctly.

But the newsletter they sent out today about the possibility of dangerous bottles being in circulation was a complete and utter disappointment.  My disappointment does not lie in the fact that there is a possibility of the bottles getting through their quality assurance measures.  My disappointment lays squarely on the fact that the tone of their email was focused on passing the buck.

This is a very small snippet of the full email, but it underlines the overall tone.

We are disappointed that because of these bottles supplied to us, we didn't live up to your expectations as a loyal Sam Adams drinker.

I may be over-analyzing, but a defective product did not get to the consumer because of a supplier.  100% of the blame should be hoisted on your company's shoulders when mistakes happen.  As in this case, if you have provided a great product that people enjoy being a consumer of, they will forgive you.  But this email does not convince me that they recognize where they made a mistake.

Shades of Green Apr 04 Jason Moore

 

What's wrong with this picture?

Shades of Green Apr 03 Jason Moore

What's wrong with this picture?   

Pricing Specials That Make No Sense Mar 19 Jason Moore

As I sat in the waiting area to be called for my haircut yesterday it occurred to me that the owners and certainly NOT the stylists came up with the idea that kid's haircuts are cheaper than adults.

One poor stylists had a real winner in her seat for about 30 minutes.  She was kicked 3 times in the stomach while the mother passively corrected him.  So instead of the stylist being compensated at her normal rate, she had to give this charm of a child a 30% discount.

The kid has just as much hair as an adult.  The task is much harder.  The seat is occupied for longer.  But the stylist makes less money.

What are some other examples where a policy may have made sense in theory ("kids are smaller; their haircut should be cheaper"), but in practice it certainly is not to the long-term benefit of anyone?

The Great Coffee Divide Mar 18 Jason Moore

On one hand, you have my generation that will pay $2 for a plain cup of coffee... with a credit card to boot!

On the other, you have my grandmother-in-law who I witnessed save approximately 1 1/2 cups of leftover coffee out of the pot to microwave tomorrow morning!

Would Dr. Seuss Approve of This Use? Mar 16 Jason Moore

My son and I went this weekend to see Horton Hears a Who.  I felt like Blue Sky Studios did a great job bringing Dr. Seuss' much shorter story to a feature length film.

But what if it wasn't what Dr. Seuss had in mind?  To take it a step further, what if it was exactly what he did NOT want it to be?

How do your customers translate your products and services.  There's no doubt that they have more questions that you are able to answer (or questions that they are not asking).  How is the spec of information you are giving them being translated?  What would their feature length film be?

The best we can do is honestly answer any questions that clients have.  One step further would be to share the questions from other clients (and our answers to them) to the entire community.  This would serve as a stronger outline for your clients' movie than the limited amount of information they receive directly.

Let's make sure when Horton tries to tell your story to others, he is given as full of a picture as possible.

More information about Dr. Seuss can be found below.  It's also interesting to see the different interpretations of Horton through the years.

Wikipedia on Dr. Seuss

Chuck Jones version

Deluxe Version?

As far as companies providing helpdesk applications today, we may as well come to grips with the reality that we are as small as the spec where Whoville exists.