Archive for 2015
Encoded Words
Code = words. Software = stories. Just because you can string a few lines of words together doesn’t mean you know how to write a great story. Just because you can write a few lines of code doesn’t mean you know how to write great software.
Read MoreFree Increases
“We hear you can help us increase our website traffic. Could we set up a call to discuss?” asked the potential lead. I needed to figure out how serious these people were. “What’s your budget for this?” I nonchalantly ask. Without any hint of humour they reply “We were hoping you could tell us how…
Read MoreSkeptical Success
View with skepticism the man who is more successful because he tells people how to be successful than he is at being successful from the thing he tried to do to be a success.
Read MoreAnnoyed Tomorrow
The me of tomorrow is very annoyed with the me of today.
Read MoreStriking Out
If you are pitching me to co-found a start-up with you, please have only one that you are currently working on.
Read MorePassionate Slog
I don’t care that you started something neat and innovative last week. I care that you are still slogging away on the bugs and minor features six months later. One shows passion. The other shows character.
Read MoreWord Smith
Something odd popped up in my website search analytics the other day “Why is Justin Lloyd so annoying.” Quite funny really. Was it aimed at me? Who knows… Throughout my life people either love me, or hate me. No in-between. Very strong opinions either way but never a middle ground. I am sure there are…
Read MoreHow Relevant Do I Need To Be?
4AM – Just got done baking the cakes and cooking the filling for a coconut frosted, six-layer cream cake. Now I wait until morning for everything to cool before assembly. Oh yeah, something relevant to start-ups… uh… “Humility in your leadership is good. Humility in your vision is bad.” Good enough?
Read MoreVirtual Escape Velocity
I was talking with a couple of entrepreneurs about the new developments in Virtual Reality a couple of days ago. The topic of escaping reality and living alone in a world of your own creation came up and how awesome all of that would be. I thought the following quote was rather apt: I’d rather…
Read MoreTearing You Down To Build You Up Again
“It is easier to build up a child than it is to repair an adult” The fallacy is that we believe we can fix an adult years after they were broken in childhood. But we can, as a personal choice, not let what we were yesterday define what we will be tomorrow.
Read MoreRecruiter Go Away Maybe
Do not annoy me when I have a guitar in my hand. *phone rings* “Hey Justin! This is Brian at ABC recruiting. I wanted to reach out in the hope you could help with…” And I broke in to song… You’re a recruiter, and this is crazy, But I think you are, fucking lazy. It’s…
Read MoreCat. Cath. Mao.
All of my cats are named “cat” in various languages. One of them had an anxiety attack at the kennel and now I have a Mao-hair shirt. It’s a pun. It’s 6:34AM on a Monday morning and I am still awake due to “Can’t let go of yesterday, still too much to experience” insomnia. What…
Read MoreDark Side Of The Moog
Sat in a coffee shop chatting with some hip, young entrepreneurs in SF last week when one of them blurts out “I was so totally in to ’80s music before it was cool.” “Are you serious?” I ask. “Oh yah,” he nodded earnestly, attempting to affect my British accent, “I’ve been collecting ’80s vinyl for…
Read MoreYou Were Smoking What Now?
I do not understand the thinking behind making your customer sign-up for an account and subscribe to your newsletter, to download and install a Microsoft Office add-on toolbar and a browser add-on toolbar, which will let them download the template needed for Microsoft Word to print out a label. What the **** was Avery thinking…
Read MoreBroken Windows
My wife broke the display panel on one of the rather pricey workstation monitors. “Just shout at me and tell me off!” she says. “No,” I reply, “it’s 4AM in the morning in the hotel. People are asleep.” “Well at least be angry at me!” she pressed. “Will that help you feel better?” I ask.…
Read MoreBuying Promises
Do I have enough of your trust that you will believe my promises? If the answer is yes, you buy. If the answer is no, you don’t. Closing a sale is easy when the prospect trusts you.
Read MoreExact Change Only
There are changes we choose to make and changes that are made for us. It’s scary to always be the change we want but it is safe and easy to let someone else make changes for us. You won’t get anywhere if you tend towards the latter.
Read MoreBroken Rewards
Figure out what an organization rewards its workers for and you will figure out why the project is broken.
Read MoreGenerational Shop
Giving people what they want is a short-term business. Giving people what they need is a business that can last generations.
Read MoreNeedless Tools
A tool that doesn’t need an instruction manual is not a tool I need in my toolbox.
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