Sunday, September 8, 2013

7 Links on Sunday - Trying Out an App, Early Adopters, Android is for Startups, and How to Present as a Team

Welcome back to Sunday's Links. If you missed Saturday's Links, take a quick looksie.

One request, I'd be grateful for a Facebook or Twitter post about the column. I've been putting a lot of work into these columns and my readership has been growing nicely. I'm up to about 300 people reading each one of these. It would be nice to hit 500. :)

Trying Out a New Social App - Fantastic article by software developer Leah Culver. It's a narrative about a user's experience finding, downloading and using a new App. This stuff seems so simple but it's really hard to get right. It's also the difference between making it and failing in the App economy.

Early Adopters, So Right at First, So Wrong Later - Spot on by the VC who did Twitter and Tumblr. Early adopters are your life blood, but sometimes they don't know what's good for an App in the long run.

Android is for Startups - Forwarded to me by my friend Chris Wilson, a software developer. This is something I'm learning the hard way. When we built the Orbit App, I figured we could ignore Android for the time being. It turns out that pretty much 50% of the people I talk to have Android phones and can't even try Orbit even though they want too. Big bummer. Don't make the same mistake.

How to Present and Answer Questions in a Team Presentation - Important advice. I listen to pitches professionally and you'd be surprised how often Management Teams contradict each other in a meeting. It's a big no no. Creative tension is great, but not when you are asking for money.

The Part They Don't Tell You About Team Building - Letting go of your baby is one of the hardest things Founders have to do. You don't want your kid sleeping on your couch when he is 40, and you don't want your startup stagnating because you can't delegate.

Understanding Natural Monopoly - A instant classic from Seth Godin. And with information moving so quickly these days, natural monopolies happen faster than ever. It's why Google and Twitter are untouchable and why a promising startup like Uber can raise $300M at a $3.5B market cap.

I'll leave you with an article on 10 Things You Can Do to Make Yourself Happier. I've done a few of these and they really work. Cheers to feeling better.