Archive for 2015

Sharp Quote

“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” — Abraham Lincoln. Client: “We just spoke to a sales rep from a vendor who says they can chop down the tree for 75% less than what you’re charging and we can have it done in…

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Capability Planning

Never stand in the way of a man capable of sticking to his carefully formulated plan, especially if you are not part of that plan.

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Politically Inappropriate

Many years ago… One year, on Halloween I showed up to the office dressed as a surf bum, small surf board tucked under my arm. A good friend & colleague (fantastic software dev too), who is African American, dressed up as my favourite fictional companion of Christopher Robin. I greeted him with a jovial “Yo!…

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Idiots Need Apply

Profundity, requires thought and attention ergo profundity, requires thought and attention. The privations of profundity is that people question your intellect. In common parlance, to have deep insight of a subject, requires thought and attention. To understand the deep insight of a subject requires thought and attention. The problem with thinking deeply about a subject…

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Utility Providers

A useful tip for marketing yourself effectively is to provide utility to the people you are marketing to. A link to your latest press release is not utility. A link to your infographic is rarely utility. A link to a PDF eBook is poor utility. A link to your sign-up form is never utility. But…

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Cheap Downer

I won’t remember that you were the cheapest. I will remember that I was let down.

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Caterpillar Mating

“Oh honey, you could do so much better than him.” said the bitchy “friend” to my wife. “Yes, maybe she could settle and date your moustache because it looks like your eyebrows are already in a mating relationship.” Then I made this weird coupling gesture with my fingers.

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Earlier Ugly

Tall. Young. Skinny. Face like the back end of a bus. As the Australians would say “Go ugly early.” This is my philosophy when it comes to building prototypes of apps and websites. Anything else does not make sound business sense.

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Stubbornness or Stupidity

Stubbornness. You might have been told it was a less than desirable trait. And yet it is a trait that investors seek out.

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That’s Cold

If your cold email doesn’t end in a question mark, you’re wasting the time of two people.

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Encoded Budgets

“A steady pay cheque” is code for “I don’t know how to budget my money.”

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Enticing Entrepreneurs

If I were a mean person… I would go to AngelList, and build 2-day prototypes of many of the start-up ideas I see there, send out a link to the prototype to the entrepreneur with the idea, then go on vacation for six months to a remote location that has bad cell phone coverage. I…

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Hope & Hugs

“Hope” is a coping mechanism but it is not a survival strategy for your start-up.

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Rarely Important Updates

Status updates with lots of up-votes, news with lots of shares, these are rarely the things that are important.

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Work Bravely

Bravery is attempting to do something that might not work. When was the last time you were brave?

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