David Cummings on Startups

Blog

  • Annual User’s Conference

    We’re doing our last minute preparations for a User’s Conference that starts a week from Monday at the Georgia Tech Conference Center. User’s Conferences are one of the most fun things we do each year because it is a chance for us to meet face-to-face with over 100 customers. Due to our inside sales model, most employees never meet clients in person, but have spent many hours helping them as part of services, support, engineering, marketing, etc.

    Our annual User’s Conference, now in its fourth year, also turns out to be a big morale boost each year. Once the conference finishes, everyone is so excited and jazzed up because there’s nothing like talking to a customer in person and hearing how much they like your product and company. It really is an amazing feeling.

    I highly recommend putting on an annual User’s Conference if your company can justify it financially.

  • Questions to Ask an Entrepreneur

    Charlie Goetz, a professor of entrepreneurship at Emory, had me over again yesterday to talk to a different MBA class he’s teaching this semester. Before class started, we had a great conversation about what questions we should ask a concept stage entrepreneur to get a feel for where he/she is in their thinking. We came up with some simple ones:

    • What problem are you trying to solve?
    • How are you different?
    • How many prospects have you talked to about it?
    • How far along are you with the concept?
    • Where do you need the most help?

    I’d encourage all entrepreneurs with a concept to answer these questions as part of reaching out to others for advice.

  • More Quarterly Performance Review Thoughts

    We’re deep in the process of our quarterly performance reviews, and, I must say that I really look forward to these every quarter. There’s something rewarding about sitting down one-on-one and talking about what was accomplished, what’s coming up next, how we/they can improve, and then discussing anecdotes about how we/they followed each of our three main values (positive, self-starting, and supportive). Here are a few more thoughts that come to mind about the process:

    • Things can often get so busy that setting aside 30 minutes to fill out the performance review and then 60 minutes to discuss their performance feels great just reflecting one-on-one as to the progress that’s been made
    • Doing a quarterly performance review is more frequent that most companies that do an annual review, but even then we usually spend more time on things that happened in the last month because it is hard to remember what happened 60 or 70 days ago
    • Looking someone in the eyes and telling them how they can improve, and then getting their feedback, is great for strengthening the relationship

    I recommend simple quarterly performance reviews for all entrepreneurs.

  • Product Roadmap Discussion

    We had our monthly product roadmap discussion yesterday as part of our process to constantly update our 12 month product strategy. The discussion format was as follows:

    • Department sponsors discussed their new proposed items in order of priority from high to low while other stakeholders asked questions and clarified the intent of the idea
    • Engineering provided the difficulty level of the issue based on how long the specific request will take (low, medium, high)
    • Product management walked through the current roadmap for the next 60 days and will subsequently incorporate and prioritize some of the new items

    Product management is part art and part science. As such, we’re constantly working to improve our product management methodology. I am pleased with our opinionated approach on what makes it into our application based on feedback from internal and external stakeholders.

  • Start-up Lessons and Pitching a VC

    Continuing my recent meme of linking to high quality posts on other sites, I wanted to link to Mark Suster of GRP Ventures and his recent series on the site Both Sides of the Table. Mark has unique experience as both an entrepreneur and a VC, and has great war stories to tell. I recommend taking a look at the following:

    I hope you find these resources useful.

  • EO Accelerator Program

    I’m the 2009-2010 Champion for the non-profit EO Atlanta Accelerator Program, which means I help coordinate the program and recruit while our chapter administrator takes care of all the details. From the EO Accelerator website:

    The Accelerator Program is the catalyst that enables first stage entrepreneurs to catapult their business to the next level.

    The goal with the EO Accelerator program is to help entrepreneurs reach $1 million in annual sales, and thus qualify to join EO. The main tenants of the program include the following:

    • Quarterly education days facilitated by a certified trainer on topics such as sales, people, strategy, and finance
    • Monthly accountability groups with an EO mentor acting as the facilitator
    • Participation in certain EO educational events

    If you’re an entrepreneur with at least $250,000 in revenues, I recommend you apply for EO Accelerator.

  • Monthly Financials Review

    We have a monthly financials review on the first Thursday of each month. As part of our rhythm, data, and priorities, using the terminology from Mastering the Rockefeller Habits, we try to have consistent, repeatable processes for everything we do. The monthly financials review involves talking through the following items:

    • Balance sheet, cash flow statement, and income statement for the past month, quarter-to-date, and year-to-date
    • Reviewing the trailing 12 months expenses vs revenues and looking for trends
    • Looking at the cash flow forecast for the next 12 months

    Financials, especially cash flow, are critical for entrepreneurs to monitor, and I recommend doing it on a regular basis.

  • Quarterly Performance Review Time

    It’s that time of the quarter to do our performance reviews. We try to make them very simple and focused using a methodology from Patrick Lencioni. Everyone in my company has to answer the following four questions personally as well as for their direct reports:

    1. What did you accomplish?
    2. What will you accomplish next?
    3. How can you improve?
    4. How are you following the values?

    Employees then provide anonymous feedback about how their manager can improve to our HR manager. I feel that doing reviews quarterly, and not tying them to compensation discussions, makes for better communication that flows in a more timely manner.

  • Product Distribution Thoughts

    Whenever people ask about our sales and marketing strategy, I always tell them we focus on direct sales with a small percentage of revenue coming from indirect channels like value added resellers (VARs). Inevitably, I’ll get the question asking why we don’t do more with distribution partners. We’ve worked hard in the past at setting up reseller and OEM relationships only to never have them work out as well as both parties initially expected.

    I think distribution partnerships are a good idea but I wouldn’t bet the farm on them.

    Partnerships, like any other part of your business, take serious time and energy to cultivate well. My recommended approach is to take baby steps with distributors and build small wins over time. Once you have some simple wins under your belt, only then would I recommend taking the next step toward a deeper relationship.

  • Find your ZAG

    Yesterday I had the opportunity to spend a couple hours with three entrepreneurs as part of a special group devoted to continual business improvement. We meet once a month and talk about ways to improve our businesses, with a special emphasis on corporate culture. A topic for yesterday was for one of the entrepreneurs to take us through his new ZAG.

    ZAG comes from the Mary Neumeier book of the same name and is a way to express your company and brand in a succinct, no-nonsense manner by answering several simple questions. Once your ZAG is complete, you will have outlined several facets of your business, including:

    • What you stand for
    • Why you’re different
    • Who you want to be like
    • Where you’re headed
    • Several more…

    I recommend checking out the ZAG book to better clarify many aspects of your business.