Todd Sattersten :: Astronaut Projects

SXSW - Sink or Swim - Five Most Important Startup Decisions

Good morning.

I am starting my day at panel on startups. It was the star power that got me. Evan (Odeo), Joshua (del.icio.us), Cabel (Panic), and Joel (Fog Creek) are all speaking.

This is another one of those panels that gets interesting in the Q&A.

None of them had a business background nor do they really have business plans.

Joel - Paul Graham won't give me to a company that doesn't have at least two co-founders.

Cabel - MacWorld Test - If you can't explain it in a single sentence, you are screwed.

Joel - Forget about coupons and affiliate programs, write the next version of software. They generally double sales when they release a new version of software.

Joshua - The best decisions were the choices not to add features to del.icio.us.

Cabel - They always made software that they wanted to use, either because what was out there was bad or because it didn't exist.

Tags: sxsw2006

First Real Evening in Austin

I had all sorts of trouble getting into Austin on Friday, so the only thing I could do was make the Blogher meetup.

Last night, I hung out with John Moore of Brand Autopsy. We talking blogging and business books. You might have seen allusions to his upcoming book Tribal Knowledge and I am sure see his many reviews.

After dinner, he took me to some great spots. Whichwich is a really interesting sandwich place. John wanted to make sure I saw this place. You can read his post on why he thinks they are so cool. I agree wholeheartedly with his conclusions. My only addition would be that this is designed to scale.

Our next stop was BookPeople. It is an outstanding independent bookstore here in Austin. I really enjoyed the experience. The story of store owner Steve Bercu and his campaign to Keep Austin Weird is a great story. It has been told a number of places, most recently in Starting From Scratch. Bercu managed to expose and rally the community here against a $2 million economic package that was being given to a developer. The development included a Borders bookstore. You can read Bercu's letter to the editor at Publisher's Weekly. It might scare you to know that we stood in the business book section for about an hour talking about titles.

We then walked over to Amy's Ice Cream. This is another Austin original. Each store has it's own culture and the employees are themselves. Each person behind the counter was wearing a different hat and all of them were spending time with customers. There was a line out the down and employees didn't start hurrying people through. Notice that the last thing I am telling you about is the product---the ice cream was good. Again, I will give you another book reference if you are interested in finding out more. You can check out Donna Fenn's Alpha Dogs.

The last stop was Gingerman. It has a great atmosphere and an amazing selection of beers.

Thanks John for hosting!

A Little Too Late

You need to click through to Johnnie Moore's blog and read the note that the employees of Blendz Coffee left their boss.

Hypomanic American

I want to really encourage you to check out The Hypomanic American Manifesto over at ChangeThis.

Psychologist John Gartner theorizes that America is a little crazy and that this is driven by our immigrant history (you have to be a little crazy to leave everything behind for the hope something better). He goes on to say that this has a positive effect on the country. The strong streak of entrepreneurism we have in America is one result of all of this.

Links

I finally shut down the BizLinkBlog and got everything moved over to my del.icio.us account. Here is the RSS feed.

There is alot of good stuff over there and I thought I would highlight a few.

• Small is the new big
• More on small
• Can we change the world one small thing at a time?
• An introduction to using patterns in web design
• EPIC 2014
• How To Make Big Things Happen with Small Teams
• The Great Oral-B Sampling Campaign
• How to pitch the Long Tail News Curve

What Changes In A Year

A little over a year ago, I left my dad's business after trying for two years to grow the business. I stayed probably six months longer than I should have. I knew there was nothing that was going to change the outlook. Part of it was I didn't want to fail. The other part was that it was about family and all the emotion that comes along with that.

That idea of failure is something that I was not able to shake until recently. I think I finally realized that there was nothing I could have done to change the outcome. I did all the things I was capable of doing and it wasn't enough. Barry Moltz in You Need To Be A Little Crazy says sometimes you will never know why a business doesn't work. I really identify with that.

When you get past the pain and disappointment, other things start to appear. It is amazing the things I learned in those two years. I needed the transition from GE to small biz world. And what is great in a small business like that, there was nothing I didn't get involved in.

I purchased everything.
I did quoting.
I collected from late customers.
I was customer service and answered phone calls from the calm and irate customers.
I tracked out quality problems.
I packed parts and arranged shipping.
I ran production when it needed to be done.
I did whatever needed to be done.

I am going to put together a series of posts on what I learned at Sater. I have a list of about five things and I am sure that others will come as I get going. I am hoping there is something I can share with all of you as a result of everything I went through.

I should also say everything has worked out for everyone. My dad found a buyer for the business and they are doing great. These folks that did all of the painting for Sater. Adding a fab shop fit well with what they did and they can now offer a huge package of services to their customers.

I really can't complain either. I could not have told you a year ago that I would be getting paid to help companies with blogging or that I would be publishing a book. It is really interesting how things have turned out and probably more on the path I should be on...

Applicants requested

If you are interested in TLC's new small-biz makeover show "Taking Care of Business", you can find application instructions at the Business Opportunities Weblog.

What you could learn

I like what Forbes is doing. I think they have great reporting with alot of original stories.

Here is what you could learn by reading the current issue of Forbes:

• Did you know all of the big planes used to fight fires have been grounded since May? There have been three fatal crashes in two years. The wings snapped off two planes in mid-air. One contractor has taken the next step and modified a 747. [Splooosh!, p66]
• 800,000 people will take Alaskan cruises this year (that's 25% more than the state's population). The summer popularity of the region lets the cruise lines will redeploy ships from winter destinations such as the Caribbean, Mexico, Hawaii, the Panama Canal, and Europe. Carnival sends 16 ships and over 1/3 of their passengers now department from Seattle. [Cruise Control, p98]
• The cover story is about XM radio. What is amazing is about the article is what the National Association of Broadcasters has done over the years to squash innovation. Their latest maneuver is equally amazing. In 1995, Congress enacted a law that requires all digital radio to pay royalities to performers. The exemption for traditional radio was maintained and as well as the NAB's version of digital, HD radio. The law also made it illegal to broadcast local content, such as traffic reports and sports. The NAB argued that local stations would be hurt by competition from satellite ignorant of local tastes. "Never mind that the radio titans were knitting together nationwide networks to let hundreds of their own stations carry identical programming." [Broadcast Bullies, p140]
• Rexam is helping beverage upstarts with more than just packaging. To help build the market for both, they are helping companies with retailers, inventory, and distribution of the finished product. [Thirsting for Growth, p174]
• Finally, read about ADV Films. They are the leading distributor of anime in the U.S. There are starting their own cable channel and have started producing their own anime. [Why Grow Up?, p178]

Free Agency

I have officially been on doing my own thing for a little over two months. I have the KaosPilots book at the Penny Store. I have the 800-CEO-READ Blog. There are one or two other potential projects. So far, I am happy with the progress. I only work 15-20 hours a week while I spend three days a week watching our little guy.

I want to develop my business further over the next six months, so I have been doing a lot of reading on freelancing and free agency. I'll post some stuff I have run across that I think is interesting. I know there are a lot of bloggers and blog readers who are free agents, so I hope we can create some good discussion around the rewards and risks of being a free agent.

Great Advice

I really like this advice from Entrepreneur Magazine.

[via bblog]