Category: On entrepreneurship

My entrepreneurship

Leadership is something you do before you have a title

It’s common to wait to be tapped to be a leader. You’re doing it wrong.

You demonstrate it, you’re doing it before anyone gives you the job.

the-briefcase-technique

Don’t say My Idea. Say you worked on an idea. Cause ideas are easy, execution is hard. Don’t obsess over credit, work toward consensus

Demand only as much credit for a success as you would accept blame for its failure

9 examples of substance from nine years of Technically Media

My thoughtful coworkers brought in to the office a young Ben Franklin impersonator to discuss entrepreneurship and civic good in publishing last month. It was perhaps the most fun celebration of the ninth anniversary of starting what became Technically Media I could ask for.

(For some reason, someone shouted out that we should only have serious faces in the above photo. Believe me, we were having lots of fun.)

Afterward, I did a little Twitter rant I thought I’d save here for posterity.

Continue reading 9 examples of substance from nine years of Technically Media

Why is Technically Media not a nonprofit?

Because we at Technically Media produce journalism, I am often asked if we are a nonprofit. We are not, though we produce and distribute free information about communities, employ full-time journalists and pursue something resembling truth.

Since the question comes up often, I want to share a few of the very basic reasons why we are not a nonprofit. There are three stages to the answer.

Continue reading Why is Technically Media not a nonprofit?

We hired lots of sales managers until we kept one: here’s what I learned

So many conversations in bars and coffee shops in Center City, or the few conferences I’ve attended, trying to answer the same question: Who can help us better sell Technical.ly?

I was introduced to that Temple graduating senior. I struck up a partnership with Jason, who had been in digital media agency sales after a Fairmount drink. The former newspaper online sales manager felt promising, so I bought him a second Guinness at Bishops Collar. We made an offer to a former local TV web sales person, who turned us down for a similarly crummy offer at an even more weak local offering. Tara was dating a game designer we knew, and she was the first we had a formal arrangement with, set up at an Old City coffee shop. After an event with a local group of founders, a few more coffee meetings followed. Then there was the big-haired former rock DJ turned local TV ad exec: We never decided if we thought he was brilliant or deranged. (Looking back it was definitely the latter).

In all these cases, we tried to work out some commission-only offering for a product that didn’t have any sales. We tried simple percentages, and more complicated ones — with variable rates depending on inbound or outbound, new or existing relationships and product types.

In the end, the only way to was through. We didn’t really know what Technical.ly was selling, so of course no sales rep would succeed. We didn’t have enough audience for digital ads, not enough tech for product sales, not formal enough events for sponorships.

As founders, we had to figure it out ourselves. No entrepreneur can succeed without a heavy dose of sales. Once our events model was clearer in recent years, we’ve had success. We hired our first full-time biz dev rep and then others. We needed clear value prop, clear prospects, clear inventory, clear processes. It can be improved upon but all that needed to be determined first, and the entrepreneur is the only one who is going to do that.

I am motivated by fear

A version of this essay was published as part of my twice-monthly newsletter several weeks ago. Find other archives and join here to get updates like this first.

Someone asked me recently what was the biggest motivator for me to start a company, and I told him it was fear.

That’s true, if still somewhat self-deprecating.

Continue reading I am motivated by fear