Startups: What’s Your Wow Factor?

By Mark Evans in Startups No Comments Tags: , , ,

What’s your wow factor? What impresses, captivates or even blows people away when they experience your product for the first time?

It’s a question startups need to ask themselves in a world in which first impressions can mean everything. With all due to respect to the growing legion of minimal viable product (MVP) disciples, one of the most crucial things for startups is giving users something different, compelling or interesting so they stick around or, as important, they’re willing to give you a second chance.

For startups, wow can happen in different ways. It can be a home page that makes it crystal clear what a product does and why anyone should be interested. It can be a no-grit registration process, or a clever video, or a service that delights. In some way, it captures the imagination of users out of the gate.

It doesn’t mean the product is perfect but there’s something that lifts a product above the pack, which is a huge challenge in a world with endless choices and fickle, multi-tasking consumers.

Here’s a few examples of startups that nailed the “wow”.

1. Goodsie, a do-it-yourself e-commerce player with a video featuring music that is so cool (and, for the most part, synched) that it makes you want to watch it again and again.

2. Thoughtbox.es, which has a registration form that is simple, clean and effective. Far too often these forms don’t get enough love and attention but Thoughtbox.es nails it by being efficient yet injecting some fun into the equation.

3. Fantastical, which makes natural language software (Mac only) that lets you quickly create entries in calendars such as iCal, Entourage and Outlook. After reading a blog post about productivity software, I checked out Fantastical, then happily and quickly paid $19.99 to purchase it because it worked so well that it made me say “wow”

4. Even if you never have a need to use ifttt (if this then that), you can’t help but be intrigued and impressed with its simple but effective homepage messaging. It makes you want to want to click on “Learn More”.

These are just a few example of “wow”. If you’ve bumped into startups that have “wowed” you, leave a comment.

Snapshot of a VC Deal: IGLOO Raises $5-Million

By Mark Evans in Software, Venture Capital No Comments Tags: , ,

Who: Kitchener-based IGLOO Software, which sells social business software

How much: $5-million from RBC Venture Partners and Ontario Emerging Technologies Fund. In 2008, IGLOO raised US$4-million from RBC Venture.

The Quote: “Social networking for business has reached a watershed moment, with most companies either actively using or evaluating social technologies,” said David Unsworth, board member and partner with RBC Venture Partners. “As a pure cloud solution that supports both internal and external collaboration, IGLOO is uniquely positioned to not only enable companies to get up and running quickly, but also scale their efforts as their social strategy matures.”

Hiring Needs to be a Strategic Exercise

By Mark Evans in Startups No Comments Tags: , ,

A couple of weeks ago, David Crow had a post in StartupNorth about the importance and challenging that startups face when it comes to hiring.

The post came to mind during a conversation with a startup entrepreneur looking to aggressively hire. A key point was how hiring has to be seen as a strategic rather than administrative process. It makes sense given how a bad hire can penalize a lean and mean startup that needs to operate as efficiently and effectively as possible.

As much as startups recognize the importance of making good hiring decisions, the reality is the process can be time-consuming and, frankly, it’s grunt work.

Many startups look to short-circuit things by hiring friends, or asking friends and employees for referrals. The next stop is job boards or Craigslist. If that doesn’t work, they may tap a headhunter, which is the most expensive option.

An element that goes missing in these situations is looking at hiring as a strategic process. Each person that a startup bring into the fold is important  - be it a developer, designer, marketer, salesperson, account manager, customer service rep or admin.

It means that startups need to have a structured approach to hiring as opposed to doing things ad hoc. It may require them to be patient and conduct multiple interviews before making a decision. It may mean avoiding the temptation to take the easy route by hiring friends.

Taking hiring seriously and strategically is a big challenge given the hiring marketplace is red-hot. Many startups find themselves scrambling for talent to support growth, even if it means hiring someone who might not be ideal. It’s a situation in which startups can make mistakes because there is pressure to make a hire.

The question that needs to be asked is not hiring someone worse than a mediocre or bad hire? It may mean the founder still needs to be the lead salesperson and/or the head of marketing, or that the lead developer still handles customer service. The other side of the coin is by not making a bad hire, a startup can avoid taking one step forward and two steps back.

From your experience, what are the key considerations for startups in the hiring process. How do they improve the chance of making the right decision?

More: NextMontreal has a post on how lean startups should make their first few hires.

 

Getting Acquired and Then Getting Shut Down

By Mark Evans in Startups 2 Comments Tags: , , ,

Hey, the good news is you’re being acquired. The bad news is a key part of the deal is the product you’ve been nurturing, growing and pouring your heart and soul into will be shut down as part of the deal.

Welcome to the exciting world of team-buying in which the acquirer has far more interest in the people who built the product than the product itself. Case in point is Twitter’s purchase of Vancouver-based Summify last week.

Twitter essentially bought co-founders Mircea Pasoi and Christian Strat and the Summify team, while blowing off the service, which used social data to create a personalized news. Summify has stopped accepted new users, and has already removed or disabled some features.

The buy-and-close transaction is interesting because it is almost as if the product served as a public audition for the people who developed it. While the team performed on stage, the potential acquirers observed from the seats to determine whether there was good talent for hire.

In some ways, being bought but having your product shut down must be bitter-sweet for entrepreneurs who were able to execute on the vision for the product they developed. On the other hand, getting handsomely paid AND having an opportunity to work for a fast-moving company that wants you to be part of it is a good way to get over the loss.

Still, it must be a conundrum for entrepreneurs to accept this kind of deal. As much as it is flattering to be wanted, it comes with a price. It does make you wonder whether some entrepreneurs would hold out for a deal that doesn’t throw their baby out with the bath water, even if means turning down a fairly attractive offer.

At the end of the day, Summify has to qualify as an entrepreneurial success. The founders are probably happy, Summify’s investors are pleased, and Twitter got what it wanted.

Would you reject an acquisition offer if it meant your product had to disappear, or would it not matter?

 

Can Thorsten Heins Save RIM’s Bacon?

By Mark Evans in Wireless 2 Comments Tags: , ,

There’s a wave of coverage about the dramatic overhaul at Research in Motion, which sees Thorsten Heins (Thorsten who?) replace Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie as CEO.

The question is whether it’s too little too late? Has RIM already slipped too far down the slippery slope? Even if he can stabilize the situation, isn’t RIM sort of like the Costa Concordia, clinging to the shore but in danger of dropping into the abyss at any moment?

Any who the heck is Thorsten Heins anyway, any why is he so darn enthusiastic? For evidence of his optimism, check out the video clips below created by RIM. In and of themselves, they’re a dramatic PR departure for RIM, which seemed to lose touch with how to communicate to consumers. Heck, Heins even appeared on the CBC’s Metro Morning with Matt Galloway this morning!

So what does Heins do now?

What what will he be allowed to given Lazaridis and Balsillie are on the board and major shareholders? Will he kill the PlayBook, which is describes as a “mobile computing platform”? Will he magically get QNX into the market sooner rather than later? Does it matter that RIM has $1.5 billion in cash, no debt and 75 million subscribers?

And will  Jim Balsillie now has the freedom to really pursue an NHL hockey team?

Yes, there are lots of questions but, truth be told, who knows whether RIM can rebound or it will continue to struggle before it gets snapped up by Nokia, Microsoft or Samsung.

As a proud Canadian, I want Heins to be a miracle-worker. If he can revive RIM, we should award him the Order of Canada because RIM is a key part of the Canadian high-tech and new economy landscape.

More: Here’s a six-step plan that I suggested for RIM to get its mojo back. They’ve now done two of my six suggestions. The National Post’s Matt Hartley has a Q&A with Heins, who said his first priority is to “continue selling BlackBerry 7 and to bring PlayBook 2.0 out in February”.

Heins on RIM’s bright future:

Heins on why the PlayBook isn’t irrelevant:

Putting the Startup Spotlight on: Sortable

By Mark Evans in Startups No Comments

Every so often, a startup comes along with a service that makes you say: “Hey, that’s a really good idea”.

That’s the reaction a lot of people had to Waterloo, Ont.-based Sortable, which recently debuted recently after two years of development. Sortable is a decision engine that makes it easier to make purchases. For now, it features a small number of consumer electronics but it plans to expand in many other areas such as automobile.

Quote: “We think there is a huge market to build a decision engine that works,” said co-founder Chris Reid. “We spent about two years building out the technology to the point where it is today, doing a lot of testing and work, and answering the question: Can algorithms provide the advice that humans will like? We think the answer is “yes” and we have a lot of data to support that.”

For more on Sortable, check out my Globe & Mail “Start” column. Some of the other startups I’ve written about on “Start” include:

- Muscle Masala, which makes Indian-spiced cookies.
- QuickMobile, which makes a mobile conference and event application
- 500px, a photo-share service for beautiful photography

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