David Cummings on Startups

Author: David Cummings

  • Startups and the Masters Golf Tournament

    Today I had the opportunity to go to the Masters golf tournament in Augusta, GA with a friend and watch the best golfers in the world do a practice round at the famed course. The Master’s is like the Running of the Bulls in Spain in that it is an iconic Georgia institution with worldwide recognition. It really is an amazing event.

    An interesting aspect, coming from an entrepreneur and business perspective, is that the Masters has the least commercial influence of any major sporting event I’ve ever attended. Once you step in the gates, there are no billboards, logos, or ads of any sort littering the facility. Quite refreshing.

    The lack of sponsors on the grounds doesn’t mean there aren’t commercial interests every step of the way outside the gates. Here are a few we encountered during our half mile walk:

    • Parking options as far as the eye can see for $20 a spot
    • Street vendors selling badge holders, bottled water, umbrellas, Tiger Woods memorabilia, previous Master’s winner photos, John Daly stuff (not sure why!), and miscellaneous other items
    • Range Rover had a display area showing off their new Autobiography Edition
    • Several golf vendors like Adam’s and Titleist had semi-trailers configured as portable trade show facilities in a large parking lot to test out clubs

    While these weren’t technology startups, many were small businesses out hustling to earn a dollar. My biggest takeaway from the commercial setting to get to the gates: when you have a captive, targeted audience you should sell, sell, sell.

  • Ask Questions at Investor Meetings

    We did our first round of Shotput Ventures interviews today with several startups. After we asked questions, we’d always save the last five or 10 minutes and ask “do you have any questions for us?” Strangely, several teams didn’t ask us any questions. I would always have questions ready, especially when asked for one. Here are some example ones:

    • What aspects of the business/idea resonate with you?
    • Where are our weaknesses?
    • What one or two takeaways would you leave us with and emphasize we think about?
    • Is there anyone that you’d recommend we talk to about the business?
    • What’s the best way to follow-up with you?

    These are just a few questions entrepreneurs should have in mind when talking to investors.

    What are some other questions to ask?

  • Day 2 With the iPad

    So I’ve gone over 24 hours without using my laptop, which, for me, is an incredibly long amount of time. My goal was to exclusively use the iPad for that period of time to better acquaint myself with it and provide more thoughts after yesterday’s initial impressions. Here are some additional thoughts:

    • Media consumption on the device is great — big, bright screen with clear sound
    • After using it for a day, it is still a good ways away from replacing my laptop due to the lack of multi-tasking support as I like to have Pandora playing, with Google Talk, Google Chrome, and Mozilla Thunderbird all open at the same time
    • I miss the Smart Folders feature of Mozilla Thunderbird that allows me to see my different email accounts in one inbox, while still organizing mail with account-specific IMAP folders
    • TweetDeck for the iPad is nice with the in-frame browser while in vertical display mode, but I can’t resize that browser window and clicking “View in Safari” doesn’t seem to work right now
    • Google Reader is mostly broken on the iPad right (can’t click through to an article, can’t load more entries, can’t mark as read, etc)
    • Pandora for iPad should add an in-frame browser to the app as a workaround until the iPad supports multi-tasking
    • My almost-three-year-old son absolutely loves the device and can do the drawing app and Red Fish app all day long (it’ll be great for him on long car rides!)
    • Battery life is excellent and more than doubles in usage length compared to any laptop I’ve had

    I still give the iPad a thumbs up but would say it is only a 50% replacement for a laptop at this time. It really excels as a content consumption device and lacks as a content creation device.

  • Quick Thoughts on the iPad

    So, like many of the other Mac Fan Boys, I ordered an iPad when the pre-orders opened up less than a month ago. My iPad came today and I must say I’m more impressed than expected. I’ve had an iPhone for two years now, during which time it has helped me be more productive compared to the Treos I had had for many years prior. With that said, here are my quick thoughts on the iPad:

    • Feels great in my hands and lighter than expected
    • Will replace my laptop for 80% of my computer usage at home
    • Still requires a computer, at least to get started (when you turn on the iPad it requires a connection to a computer with iTunes before you can do anything, which is annoying)
    • The Free Books app is great and has access to over 24,000 public domain books, like Alice in Wonderland, available for free in a nice format
    • The NY Times app is well done and is the perfect format for reading as part of my morning routine
    • Typing on the keyboard is sub-par, due to the fact that the screen and keyboard are on the same surface and there isn’t any tactile feedback, causing you to have to hunch over, unlike a laptop. With that said, I can still type fast enough to compose most emails I send.
    • Battery life is outstanding — I expect to only charge it a couple times per week

    For $499, the iPad is a great deal and I recommend it.

  • When to Start a Company

    I was talking with an entrepreneur today whose previous company was shut down and now he’s working for another startup. His new company is doing pretty well but he’s growing restless. Naturally, we talked about if he was thinking about starting a new company as well as when’s the best time to start a company. My thoughts on when to start a company:

    • Try to do it when living expenses are as low as possible (e.g. no mortgage, no kids, etc) so as to stretch out any savings or investment
    • Look for a good idea in fast growing market with lots of opportunity, as opposed to requiring a perfect idea, regardless of market (I’ve found that markets are often more important than the original idea)
    • Attempt to get customers to fund the development of the product, and use them as part of a customer-driven development process
    • Seek awesome co-founders, and start as soon as the team is ready, if not sooner

    It isn’t easy to start a company, but I’ve found that timing the market, with a product slightly ahead of the adoption curve, results in the best outcome. Good luck!

  • Atlanta’s Start-Up Council

    Today I had the opportunity to spend time with Genna Keller of the PR firm Trevellino/Keller. Genna has been active in the Atlanta tech startup community since the late 1990s and has a wealth of experience. One of the great things her firm spearheads is the Start-Up Council which provides a feedback roundtable for free to startups once a quarter. From their site:

    Start-Up Council meets quarterly, in a roundtable setting with entrepreneurs to hear their business case for the next great start-up. The group offers advice and insight on business development, funding, marketing, public relations, legal, accounting, outsourcing and branding.

    I recommend Atlanta entrepreneurs take a look at the Start-Up Council website and take advantage of this free service.

  • Online Lead Generation

    Today I had lunch with an entrepreneur that is an expert at online lead generation. Like him, I also believe that online lead generation is an untapped opportunity for most companies. The great thing about generating leads online is that there are several ways to do it, many of which have a strong ROI. Let’s look at a few:

    • Offer something free like a white paper, product trial, or a product demo on your site and require a person’s email address for access
    • Sponsor a community through banner ads, promotions, or information in email blasts and drive the clicks to landing pages with conversion forms
    • Purchase leads from third-party lead generation sites (most industries have these sites)
    • Buy pay-per-click ads on search engines that have relevant keywords and drive the clicks to landing pages with conversion forms

    Of course, a marketing automation system is highly recommend to maximize the value of your investment. My advice to entrepreneurs and people responsible for customer acquisition: use the power of the web and try several different tactics to generate leads online.

  • Physical Products in a Digital World

    Today I had the opportunity to have lunch with two entrepreneurs that have invented physical products, one related to adults and sleeping and the other related to kids and sleeping. The great thing about it was that both guys had the following in common:

    • They invented their respective products to solve their own problems
    • They operate their companies virtually, with everything outsourced
    • All manufacturing is done in China, at separate factories, and stored in Pennsylvania
    • Their companies are growing fast and are successful
    • Both companies primarily sell over the Internet with limited retail sales
    • Both companies are based in Atlanta (one in town and one in the northern suburbs)

    Being a technology entrepreneur myself, with a focus on software and the web, it is easy to forget that many entrepreneurs still invent physical products. Both guys said the Internet has helped make their businesses successful and allows them to operate without any employees. My recommendation for entrepreneurs is to evaluate what problems you can solve, both online and offline — the world needs innovation.

  • The Five Fs of Web Content

    For entrepreneurs looking to grow their business (who isn’t!), I think one of most under-appreciated marketing and lead generation tactic is to generate inbound leads through traffic from search engines. Of course, one of the biggest drivers for ranking well in search engines, along with links to your site from other sites, is to have high quality content. Web content is powerful.

    Let’s look at the five Fs for web content:

    • Frequent – New content should be published on a regular basis at least once a week if not several times per week. Getting into a good publishing rhythm, and sticking with it, is critical to building momentum as it takes a significant amount of time for the web traffic to build.
    • Fun – Web content, especially blog content, is better served in a fun and personal manner. Too often we read corporate speak with a variety of gobblegook words — don’t do it.
    • Facts – People like facts, figures, and statistic to make the content more interesting. Yes, I’m not good at this on my own blog, but do as I say and not as I do. Use hard data to make your point and provide compelling information.
    • Food for Thought – Make the content interesting and memorable. Take an unusual stand or position that is likely to make someone think twice about it. Good food for thought will give people a reason to subscribe or comeback to the site.
    • Fans and Followers – Look for ways to stay in touch with your fans and followers through RSS, Facebook, Twitter, and any other networks they use on a regular basis. Go to their networks, as opposed to limiting access to your own site.

    Don’t just sit there — start writing content. But, remember, pace yourself and do it on a regular basis. You won’t regret it.

  • The Test of Faith for Startups

    According to Wikipedia, faith is defined as follows: the confident belief or trust in the truth or trustworthiness of a person, concept or thing. Yup, sounds about right when describing what it takes to succeed with a startup. Of course I’m talking about innovative and not replicative entrepreneurs.

    For entrepreneurs and their startups, faith is a critical element. There are so many variables acting against the success of the business including:

    • market timing
    • funding
    • competition
    • economy

    You have to be a little crazy, and have a great deal of faith, to launch a startup — it is worth every minute.