RSS MAD

Sorry to lose you

Moving to Wordpress

Women Who Risk Redux

I just want to re-publish the growing list of Women Who Risk and I want to re-assert that if you are a woman co-founder who meets the criteria of:

1. Has to be their full-time gig (not a thing they do on the side or that they are doing between jobs)...but they could have been doing it full-time, then been bought by someone else, like Flickr.
2. Has to be a founder or a co-founder, but it doesn't matter what their title is now (some co-founders are Accounting Manager...but they took as much of a risk as the CEO)
3. Doesn't have to be '2.0' exactly, but should still be around from 1.0.
4. Doesn't have to be an engineer, but must be at a technology or technology supporting company.
5. There should be more than one person at the company, but there are exceptions, depending on the achievements (and I'm not talking making millions or anything).

Please 'toot your own horn'! Obviously not too many people are doing it for us.

Mary Hodder - Dabble
Gina Bianchi - Ning
Ann Crady - Maya's Mom
Sandy Jen - Meebo
Elaine Wherry - Meebo
Emily Chang - eHub/IdeaCodes
Xochi Birch - Bebo
Joyce Park - Renkoo
Jessica Hardwick - SwapThing
Margarita Irizarry - Scrapblog
Monica Heitlauf - Scrapblog
Caterina Fake - Flickr
Mena Trott - Six Apart
Yael Elish - eSnips
Halley Suitt - Top Ten Sources
Elisa Camahort - Blogher
Lisa Stone - Blogher
Jory DesJardins - Blogher
Malgosia Green - Nuvvo
Ryanne Hodson - Node101
Ariel Kleckner Ford - CareSquare
Carla Morton - BrandHabit
Cathleen Wang - BrandHabit
Carolee Reiling - still stealth
Sharra Chan - OrangeDoor
Erica Douglass - Simpli.biz
Lisa Sugar - PopSugar
Louise Wannier - MyShape
Stephanie Hujanen - Savvies
Mitchell Baker - Mozilla
Beatrice Tarka - Mobissimo
Emily Boyd - Remember the Milk
Andra Davidson - Mothersclick
Holly Liu - still stealth
Amie Gillingham - EBSQ
Eileen Gittins - Blurb
Jennifer Myronuk - Storyfield
Rashmi Sinha - SlideShare
Julie Davidson - 30Boxes
Laura Scott - pingVision
Katherine Lawrence - pingVision
Kathy Sierra - Head First Books
Gillian Carson - Carson Systems
Catalina Girald - Moxsie (just setting up)
Alex Vikati - CastTV
Chris Shipley - Guidewire Group
Kate Everett Thorp - Real Girls Media
Milena Berry - Amiglia
Janice Fraser - Adaptive Path
Vanessa Williams - Oponia
Leigh Himel - Oponia
Dina Kaplan - Blip.tv
Rachel Cook - Minti
Maxine Sherrin - Westciv & WebDirections
Jeneane Sessum - Kat Herding Media
Sandra "Sandy" Lerner - Cisco Systems
Shai Coggins - b5 Media
Amy Muller - Ruby Red Labs
JD Millack - Zazzle
Ellen Miller - Sunlight Foundation
Linda Furrier - Podtech
Elizabeth Souther Tarbell - VivaPop
Julie Hanna Ferris - Scalix
Meg Hourihan - Blogger
Maggie Fox - Social Media Group
Maggie Tsai - Diigo
Susan DeFife - Backfence
Di-Ann Eisnor - Platial
Kim Polese - Spikesource
Pamela Johnson - Voxiva
Angela Beesley - Wikia
Priya Haji - World of Good
Cynthia Francis - Reality Digital & Clipshack
Amy Phillips - DeedQuest
Catherine Arnston - Hoteluxury
Kimberly Smithson - Prosperiti
Kathy Woolverton - SoftSearch
Sheryle Bolton - Quixit
Susan Solovic - SBTV
Alyssa Rapp - Bottlenotes
Sharon Vosmek - Women's Technology Cluster
Jennifer McFarlane - Women's Technology Cluster

This list is rocking. Once I'm not so stinking busy, I am going to start something...first a conversation, then maybe a get together or two. I've met some amazing, incredible women already who are pretty excited about a group that is specifically focused on tempting women into technology entrepreneurship.

I've started a Google Group. Email me if you want to join us. horsepigcow at gmail.

Giving Hope to Hopeless Romantics

---

God, that sounds depressing, doesn't it? Well, on one hand it is and on the other hand it is totally empowering.

You see, I'm a hopeless romantic. Do you know why people often prepend the personal descriptor 'romantic' with 'hopeless'? Because being a romantic means that it is extremely difficult for any situation, person, reaction, or product to live up to expectations.

Where a non-romantic will hear of an event and think, "That sounds interesting" and go, expecting nothing, but maybe become pleasantly surprised when they have a nice time, but feel non-plussed when it's a drag, a romantic will hear of an event and imagine all of the amazing things that could happen, the people he/she could meet, the great time he/she is going to have. If the event falls short, disappointment sets in.

I once asked in a public forum: Does being a romantic mean that you are destined to be constantly disappointed?

Instantly, I recieved a resounding reply: Pretty much...sigh...

Once upon a time, I wished for the entire world to become romantic. Since learning that this is my most problematic trait, I've changed my mind. What we need is a good balance of pragmatism and romanticism in the world. Our romantic side to imagine what could be and our pragmatic side to see the world for what it is*.

But what does this mean for community marketing? Well, Barry Schwartz in his book, The Paradox of Choice (one of my faves), makes the point that, while having choice is desirable and good, having too much choice leads to paralysis and disappointment. And there is a sweet spot for everything. Only having 5 flavours of jam may be too little, but having 55 is too many.

But the same thing happens when it comes to software.

It becomes more and more clear to me that 37 Signals talking about simplifying or FireFox avoiding feature bloat or Wordpress's simplicity + extensibility is directly related to this same idea.

Too many features will lead a person to be stuck like a deer in a headlight upon login, then run away screaming towards what they know. Of course, too few features may render an app useless, but it is the ART of knowing which features and when to roll them out that means success or sitting in your corner wondering where everybody is going.

Look at the number of implementations of Yahoo!Maps (64) compared with Google Maps (714)...could it be that Yahoo!Maps are overly featured already...hardly allowing for someone else to imagine (and romanticize) the potential for them?

So, in essence, web apps need to be both romantic and pragmatic when launching into the world. Go ahead and imagine the possibilities: all of them, without getting stuck to one particular notion - what we've learnt being part of startups is that no matter what you imagine, something else will come along and surprise you. However, understand that launching with romantic notions will leave you disappointed (and your visitors).

It is best to start with something non-romantic, even boring - pragmatic. Solve something. Try something. Do it well. Invest a great deal of time into watching where it goes. Make it extensible. Create an API and see what others do with it.

Besides...it's much more fun to be a hopeless romantic with others. ;)

(*btw...I'm still working on that pragmatic thing)

Say Hello! to our New Officemate

Event with Nick Douglas next Tuesday

Wen Wen Lam invited me to be part of an event next week that I, unfortunately, can't be at, but sounds like a blast! Mainly because I think that's where our favourite former valley gossip columnist will be talking about his new career!

Event: Converting Your Passion into a Real Business
Date: Tuesday, December 5, 2006 from 6:00PM to 8:00PM
Location: Stanford University, Room 420-040 in the Quad

From the vlogging/blogging community to seasoned entrepreneurs, our panelists have done everything from covering internet celebrity smut to running an adult luxury goods business!

» Nick Douglas, Valleywag immediate-past Editor
» Shannon McClenaghan, JimmyJane CEO
» Amy Andersen, LinxDating Founder and CEO
» Christopher Surdi, Global Educational Program (GEP) Co-Founder & President
» Michael Cerda, Jangl CEO
» Moderator: Ariel Poler, TextMarks CEO

Free with a valid student ID and $10 without (some exceptions apply).

Please register at http://dreamjob.eventbrite.com/. Food and drink will be provided.

Sounds like fun to me! Darn...would have killed to be on a panel with Nick.

New article on Vitamin: The Rules of Engagement

Cross the Chasm? Not from here you can't...

There seems to be a crazy resurgence of a book that was published in 1991...even before the first tech boom called, Crossing the Chasm, by Geoffrey A. Moore. It was one of those books assigned to me in my third year marketing classes to critique. I remember writing some sort of meaningful assessment of it being a narrow worldview or some like thing, but I found it quite decent for what it is...a book you pick up when you've snatched the Early Adopter market and need to go to 'the next level', which is the 'rest of the world'.

I haven't read it in years, but I recall what Moore basically says is that technology companies (especially) have to somewhat alienate the early adopters and make their products more mainstream and accessible to a mass market audience...however, to his credit and foresight, he does highlight that if you want to keep your early audience, you will have to build relationships and keep these relationships throughout this process and that this is important for the growth and ongoing innovation. I do believe he also discusses his omission of niche market products (ones specifically thriving on the edges).

Regardless, it wasn't one of those 'a-ha' types of books for me like The Cluetrain Manifesto (read a year out of university) or Brand Hijack, stumbled upon a couple of years ago. But it certainly seems like an 'a-ha' book for many budding technology entrepreneurs today.

Personally, I think startups should have a measured reading list (read this during months 1-3, then read this during months 4-6...and so on). The issue with reading Crossing the Chasm before one launches is that it compels you to start to think too far ahead.

Recently, I had a not-yet-launched client ask me, "Are you going to help us cross the chasm?" Not yet launched!

My reply? "Well, let's cross that chasm when we get to it, okay?"

I got into an argument with another marketer a couple of weeks back about my strategy of building relationships with early adopters. He asked me, "Won't you just alienate potential mainstream users by concentrating on these early adopters? You'll never be able to cross the chasm with that strategy!"

I went to a BarCamp where a hot-shot marketing dude was waving Moore's book over a bunch of wide-eyed hopefuls, "If you want to succeed, read this book!"

I cringed. No! Read Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihal first, or Getting Real or Defensive Design for the Web by 37 Signals, or The Cluetrain Manifesto, or even Seth's Purple Cow.

The next step is to concentrate on reading feedback and emails and how people are talking about your product and watching how people are using it...maybe even figure out how your product solves problems for certain niche markets and approach them. Build relationships. Start growing a really kickass strong product that helps your users kick more ass, then when you have totally satisfied and delighted everyone and you are ready to 'cross that chasm'...read Moore's book.

Not a second earlier.

Please.

Cross the chasm when you get to it. You should be so fortunate.



:: Ironically enough, Moore wrote the book specifically to Technology entrepreneurs...all of the examples technology. They estimated they'd sell 5,000 copies because of the niche-ness of the subject matter...it turns out that after several prints, it's a best seller and has sold nearly 1/2 million copies. Go figure. I guess he crossed the chasm without having to change a single thing.

Anyone think this, too?