(also posted in Forbes.) You just hired a new employee for $100K; congratulations! Recruiting is expensive. You probably spent 30-50% of her compensation recruiting her (her recruiting cost ratio), and if she leaves early you’ll lose another 30-50% of her compensation recruiting her replacement. So how do you increase the odds that she says with...
[Continue Reading]How To Create Buzz Around Your Company
Are you trying to build buzz, but don’t have the cash to launch a full-fledged PR campaign? Hack it. I emphasize that the best PR you can build is through satisfied customers with high Net Promoter scores. In other words, you should focus first on a great product/service, and only after you’ve achieved that worry about...
[Continue Reading]Build Your Startup on a Vacant Domain Name
This is part 2 of a 2-part series on domain names and startups; part 1 was “Should a Startup Spend VC Funding on a Domain Name?”. I’ve written in the past about how to identify a great startup opportunity. Let me propose a path few take: find an under-monetized domain name and start a business...
[Continue Reading]Should a Company Spend VC Funding on a Domain Name?
This is part 1 of a 2-part series on domain names and startups; part 2 will be “Build Your Startup on a Vacant Domain Name”. It is no coincidence that companies with the best domain names often tend to rise to the top of their space. Foursquare won vs. Gowalla, Loopt, and others. Wesabe lost...
[Continue Reading]Parkour and Entrepreneurs
Parkour is to entrepreneurs as golf is to (some) corporate executives. (Previously posted at Forbes.) In the past few years, I’ve taught myself some of the basics of parkour, which is effectively skateboarding without the skateboard. The goal is to navigate your environment as quickly and efficiently as possible. The New York Times describes it outdoor...
[Continue Reading]Should Your Startup Pivot, Persevere, or Plank?
(I originally published this in Forbes.) It’s a cliché of the startup world that successful entrepreneurs persevere even when everyone else thinks their idea is doomed (see: Pandora). It’s a cliché of the startup world that successful entrepreneurs pivot when appropriate (see: Paypal, Apple opening an app store, etc.) Unfortunately, these two clichés are both...
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