David Cummings on Startups

Author: David Cummings

  • Real-Time Lightweight Business Dashboards

    One of the trends we’ll be seeing this decade is more intuitive reporting and real-time dashboards. At Pardot we employed LED Scoreboards whereby we had a large TV mounted on the wall with our current quarter’s goals displayed in a Google Spreadsheet that was manually updated daily. From a technology standpoint, we had looked into real-time business dashboards but hadn’t gotten around to implementing one.

    Here are the real-time lightweight business dashboards I’ve seen on the market:

    • Geckoboard –
      $19/month for 20 connections
      12 employees on LinkedIn (source)
    • Cyfe –
      $19/month for unlimited everything
      1 employee on LinkedIn (source)
    • Leftronic –
      $42/month for 2 dashboards
      10 employees on LinkedIn (source)
    • Ducksboard –
      $25/month for 3 dashboards
      9 employees on LinkedIn (source)

    At a glance, it looks to be a small but competitive market. Real-time lightweight dashboards will become even more common as more and more businesses switch to products in the cloud with open APIs. I’m looking forward to trying them out.

    What else? Do you use a real-time lightweight business dashboard and what do you think of it?

  • Sam Walton: Made in America Book

    Recently I finished reading Sam Walton: Made in America, the autobiography of the founder of Wal-Mart. Two years ago I had read about the book on another blog as a great one for entrepreneurs to read — I wasn’t disappointed. Entrepreneur autobiographies is one of my favorite categories of book and this one is awesome, especially if you like entertaining anecdotes, leadership lessons, and inspiring ideas.

    Here are some notes from the book:

    • Sam started out in retail because that was the best job offer he had out of college
    • Bentonville, Arkansas was chosen because it was close to his in-laws and near four states for hunting seasons
    • Wal-Mart wasn’t started until Sam was in his 40s as it was an itch he had to scratch (a market opportunity he felt compelled to go after)
    • Having a plane and a pilot’s license was a competitive advantage for Sam so that he could fly around and visit stores as well as scout sites in the rural towns
    • Kmart was the 800-pound gorilla in the industry and many people thought Wal-Mart would stay regional and not be able to compete in Kmart’s markets
    • Wal-Mart’s heavy investments in technology and communications systems (e.g. satellites were necessary to share data since the internet wasn’t available) were considered unusual at the time but proved to be a critical part of their long-term success
    • Wal-Mart owned its distribution centers and tractor trailers, which was different than Kmart and Target, thereby providing greater levels of communication and responsiveness (a store could order something and have it delivered in 48 hours)
    • Culture was a main focus for Sam and he constantly looked for people that had talent and abilities in advance of their experience (people who could punch above their weight class)
    • Sam did an in-person weekly huddle on Saturday mornings with hundreds of store managers and the executive team religiously for decades, analyzing everything and sharing stories of what did, and didn’t, work much more frequently than most other companies — he cited this as one of the reasons they were able to grow so fast and dominate

    Whether you like Wal-Mart of not, it’s impressive to read the stories of the early days and learn how it was built. Sam Walton is an entrepreneur in the truest sense.

  • Expensive is Better than Cheap When it Comes to Pricing

    Pricing is a common question that comes up with first-time entrepreneurs. My preference is being on the expensive side rather than the cheap side so that the product is viewed as a premium offering, more money is available to provide the best experience, and to have some pricing flexibility in special deals (it’s always easier to offer a lower price than it is to offer a higher price when negotiating a deal).

    Here are a few examples where the product is more expensive and why:

    • Pardot is more expensive than many of it’s SMB competitors because we believed in providing the best product and service possible at the $1,000/month price point, and this resulted in extensively staffing up our engineering and services team ahead of our sales team, contrary to what our competitors did
    • The Atlanta Tech Village is viewed as an expensive coworking space (thanks Lisa for the comment), compared to others in town, because our goal is to be the best available, so we’re in a Class A midrise building with 12′ ceilings, free food and drink, fiber internet (~$40,000/year), a top-of-the-line Meraki wifi network (~$70,000 up-front), and more
    • Tesla’s first car, the Roadster, was an expensive $100,000+ sports car, based on a Lotus, used to prove an all-electric car could be great, and pave the way for progressively building more affordable cars

    Better, faster, cheaper — pick two — is a common saying for entrepreneurs. I prefer the first two and not the third. Expensive is better than cheaper when it comes to pricing.

    What else? What are your thoughts on being more expensive, all things equal, for pricing?

  • 3 Misconceptions About the Atlanta Tech Village

    At the Atlanta Tech Village we probably average 25 people per week coming through on a tour of one sort or another, so it’s fun to hear all the different questions and comments. I also enjoy asking the question “How did you first hear about ATV?” and most of the time it’s from a friend or via Twitter. As with anything, there are a number of misconceptions.

    Here are the top three misconceptions about the Atlanta Tech Village:

    1. Amount of Space – Many people think the Atlanta Tech Village is one floor or one section of the building when it is actually the entire building, patio, and parking deck — 103,000 square foot building and a 93,000 square foot parking deck.
    2. Incubator Equity – ATV is a high tech entrepreneur center and not an incubator — members pay a monthly fee and there’s no equity component or shared services component. We do have investors in the building along with other service providers, but no equity is involved to join.
    3. Vetting of Ideas – We believe we can’t pick the good ideas from the bad ideas better than anyone else, but by providing a great community and holding people accountable to our four core values (be nice, dream big, pay it forward, work hard/play hard), we can increase the likelihood of success.

    ATV is designed to service technology and technology-related companies that have a unique set of needs in their quest to change the world. Come join us.

    What else? What other misconceptions have you heard about the Atlanta Tech Village?

  • The Future has Arrived with the Tesla Model S

    Three days ago my new Tesla Model S electric car arrived. After reading so many articles and reviews online I knew I wanted to try one out but I didn’t want to wait six months before I could get one (each car has to be custom ordered and there’s a long waiting list). So, naturally, eBay is the next logical place to look and there was exactly what I wanted — a black one with the extended battery (rated at 265 miles on a single charge) and the technology package.

    I can’t say enough good things about the car — it truly is amazing.

    Pros:

    • Pure electric (crazy to think I’ll never need a gas station for the car)
    • Roughly $1 of electricity to go 30 miles (compare that to a $4 gallon of gas to go 30 miles)
    • Unbelievable acceleration (0-60 in 4 seconds)
    • Stunning 17″ touch screen in lieu of a center console (no buttons!)
    • 7 seats for a large family (mine came with the optional jump seats that are rear facing)
    • Smooth ride quality and no noise (the electric engine is basically silent, like a golf cart)
    • Great range at 265 miles
    • Excellent Google Maps navigation system and Slacker internet radio built-in

    Cons:

    • No long road trips off the beaten path (as more electric car superchargers are installed this goes away)
    • High price relative to a similar-sized sedan
    • No parking sensors, blind spot monitoring, etc (gadgets you would expect in a high-end car)
    • Awkward placement of the interior door handles and area to pull the door shut (it’s about six inches too high and too close to the dash)

    Overall, the future is bright and the Tesla Model S is now the standard for all cars, electric or otherwise, going forward. Electric cars are going to succeed and be common on the roads within 10 years.

    What else? What are your thoughts on the Tesla Model S?

  • Lessons Learned from the First Atlanta Tech Village Event

    Last night we had our first real Atlanta Tech Village event where over 200 people came to hear five startups give their pitch as part of the Atlanta Startup Village (ASV at ATV). Being our first major event, we made a ton of mistakes and learned a good bit. Here are some of the lessons learned:

    • The fiber internet and Meraki WiFi gear held up great — the only issue was when the backup Apple AirPort Extreme got overloaded and we weren’t able to use the Apple TV (next time we’ll have the Apple TV on the Meraki WiFi network)
    • 90 chairs won’t cut it when 200+ people show up, but as a temporary space, it worked well (optimal size for the temporary space is ~125 people although 200+ can be in it)
    • From an audio perspective, the big speakers we had up front worked great but we could use another set of speakers in the back
    • Food and drink was well received (thanks sponsors!) but we could have more drink variety next time
    • Community wise, there’s even more demand than expected for entrepreneurs and startups to spend time with their peers
    • Pitch wise, the entrepreneurs did well and covered a good bit of ground

    With our high-end conference center due at the end of the year, more prep by the entrepreneurs doing pitches, and quality food and drink, I’m confident we’ll have the demand for regular 300+ person events at ATV.

    A special thanks to all the organizers of Atlanta Startup Village — we’re honored to have hosted the event at the Village.

    What else? If you attended, what were some of your takeaways from the event?

  • Balancing Product Input with Focus

    Finding the right balance between market/customer feedback and your own vision for the future is tough. Very tough. There’s no shortage of input from different constituents like customers, prospects, team members, investors, partners, and analysts. When starting out, balancing input is even more important because it’s so difficult to get people to talk with you — it’s tempting to take everything to heart from the first couple discussions.

    The risk is that the feedback group is too small of a sample size and doesn’t represent the market. Real customer usage is oxygen for a product, but early on it’s especially hard to achieve much since the product is so early in it’s development. Finding the right balance of input while focusing on what you believe is directionally correct, while having an open mind, is so important.

    When you receive your next piece of product feedback, ask yourself where it fits in with your vision, and whether or not it increases or decreases your market focus.

    What else? What are some other thoughts on balancing product input with focus?

  • Atlanta Startup Village at Atlanta Tech Village March 26th

    Tomorrow’s a big day: the Atlanta Tech Village is hosting the Atlanta Startup Village as its first 100+ person event. With 206 people already signed up, we expect ~150 to actually show up. Free parking, a MARTA station nearby, 400 megs of fiber WiFi, and a completely new venue makes for great infrastructure. The real magic is in the entrepreneurs and the community — no matter how great everything else is, it always comes down to people.

    Here are the five startups presenting:

    The villages are coming together tomorrow night and I’m looking forward to it.

  • 3 Books Every Atlanta Entrepreneur Needs to Read

    Atlanta has a much richer and extensive history with entrepreneurs than most people realize. Many people know about the big success stories with Ted Turner of CNN / Turner Networks, Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank of Home Depot, and Asa Griggs Candler with John Pemberton creating The Coca-Cola Company. There are many other entrepreneurs in Atlanta that have had major successes including the founders of WebMD, Spanx, and even The Elf of the Shelf from CCA and B Publishing. To better prepare for one’s future it helps to understand one’s past.

    Here are three books every Atlanta entrepreneur needs to read:

    1. A Man in Full – Tom Wolfe’s best-selling novel is also a great way to learn about one of Atlanta’s most prized industries — commercial real estate — and insight into how certain types of people operate
    2. Call Me Ted – Ted Turner was one of the most successful cable entrepreneurs anywhere, let alone Atlanta, and his autobiography is full of interesting stories and anecdotes (fun fact: CNN’s headquarters was an opportunistic purchase of a failed real estate venture)
    3. Jungle Rules – John Imlay built the largest software company in the world right in Atlanta and is the benefactor of angel investing in the city, so it’s only fitting to read his autobiography (fun fact: Imlay’s company, MSA, invented the first maintenance contract to have recurring revenue)

    In 2011, Atlanta’s entrepreneurial activity ranked second in the country with 500 per 100,000 adults. Atlanta has a bright entrepreneurial past and future — study it, live it, and create it.

    What else? What are some other books Atlanta entrepreneurs should read?

  • 3 CRM Trends on the Horizon

    Continuing with yesterday’s post, Will the Next Major CRM Provider Please Stand Up, there are a number of trends on the horizon that will have a major impact on CRM. CRM, or Customer Relationship Management, is such a large market that a number of trends, like social media, have already started changing the product landscape. I’d like to talk about three specific trends.

    Here are three trends in CRM that are on the horizon and will have a serious impact:

    1. Decline in Sales People — just like travel agents, as markets mature and web technologies get better, more and more products and services will be bought in a self-service manner online, reducing the number of sales people (sales people will never go away but technology is going to replace a number of them)
    2. Industry Specific CRMs — one size doesn’t fit all and as more people are exposed to modern, web-based CRMs, the opportunity also grows for a more specialized system that takes into account nuances relevant to that vertical and market (generic systems are already customized to be industry specific, but they aren’t as elegant as a custom built system that achieves a critical mass of customers)
    3. Ease of Integrating Cloud Apps — AppExchange, and the number of third-party apps that integrate into Salesforce.com, is often cited as one of the main reasons Salesforce.com is such a dominant force in the industry, only now there are a number of robust third-party APIs and cloud middleware applications that make it easier than ever to integrate apps, slowly removing one of the biggest barriers to adoption

    CRM serves as the core of many B2B businesses. Over the next 3 – 5 years, we’re going to see many changes and industry trends play out in the market.

    What else? What are some other trends on the horizon that will affect the CRM market?