Yesterday, Chris Poole (known as ‘moot‘, founder of 4chan) shut down his startup (which created Canvas and DrawQuest). You should go read his post: Today my startup failed. The TechCrunch post is good too, and highlights just how hard it is to get real growth in a consumer startup. One quote stood out for me: […]
You Can’t Will Things Into Existence
Unless you’re a Jedi knight with voodoo super powers you can’t create things with your mind. Sadly enough, you’re not Dr. Strange with power over the mystic arts and wicked hair. (And apparently, creepy blue eyes?!?!) As much as you’d like it to be the case, you can’t will things into existence. I know, I’ve […]
Encourage Company Transparency Through Chat
Most companies (big and small) use some form of internal chat. At GoInstant we use HipChat. Most chat applications allow you to create public rooms, private rooms (where you only invite specific people) and message people privately. Some time ago I noticed that we had a lot of private rooms at GoInstant–in some cases for […]
Crunch Time: Good or Bad?
Yesterday I got into a discussion with Devin Horsman about my post on product management. I expected someone to argue with me because I mentioned “crunch time” (where people work more than a typical 7-8 hour day). A lot of people have very strong opinions about crunch time (I hope I’ll hear some today!), and […]
Product Managers Stay Until the End
Most of the heavy lifting that a product manager is responsible for is at the beginning of a project. They’re often in charge of customer validation, spec’ing things out, wireframes, prototyping, team building, etc. Once a project gets into the hands of developers, a product manager is still involved, but doesn’t have as much physical […]
Buying Time
I’d like to outsource everything in my life that I’m not good at (and don’t want to improve) or don’t want to do. This includes cooking, cleaning, driving, washing clothes, groceries, paying bills, fixing up my house and a few other things. I’d like to buy time. If I could buy time, I’d use it […]
Lean Startup and Lean Analytics in the Enterprise
It’s clear that Lean Startup is shifting from startups to the enterprise. There’s still a lot to learn amongst early stage entrepreneurs, and a lot of discussion that’s needed around implementing Lean Startup, but attention has definitely shifted to applying the framework in large organizations. Alistair and I have been looking at how Lean Startup […]
Taking Care of Repeat Customers
A few months ago, I decided to try a new sushi restaurant that’s about 2 minutes from my house. It’s called Tako Sushi & Ramen. Although Halifax, Nova Scotia sits right on the ocean, the city isn’t loaded with awesome sushi places. (Side note: It’s also lacking in really amazing fish & chips places, which […]
Curation of the Web
Finding great content isn’t getting any easier. Search engines do what they can, but for many of us they’re not always adequate. And because we only have a few interests at any given point in time, we look for other ways to collect and sort through all the available material on the Web. And that’s […]
Minecraft for Education
A few months ago my boys (9 and 6) got into Minecraft. My older son had been talking about it for longer than that, and then we discovered the mobile version and dove right in. They’re still hooked and so am I. It’s a fantastic game–but more than that it’s a place that we can […]
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