In preparation of the formal launch of my startup company and product, there has to be branding.
Back in August 2009, I was watching Episode 13 of This Week in Startups. In it, there was an interview with the founder of a disruptive startup which connects passionate designers from around the globe with savvy clients who need design projects completed in a timely fashion without the usual risk or cost associated with professional design. The company is called 99Designs. With less than 30 days from our launch, it is time to complete a scheduled task titled “Get logo for HueCubed“.
Without going into the specifics of the overarching HueCubed project in this post, I knew I needed to manage a very short “Get Logo” project.
Budget: $150
Schedule: February 7 – February 14, 2010
Scope: Logo for branding the HueCubed properties and products, to include TheCriticalPath blog
When you’re managing your own project, where you are both the project manager and the sponsor, things tend to get a little skewed. I believe I bring passion to every project. But, because I’m standing in the sponsor shoes this time, I now appreciate the sponsor perspective more.
Using 99Designs has allowed me to crowd source a design. I listed the price I was willing to pay, the duration of the contest and provided as much background information as possible to enable designers to provide me with quality submissions. We immediately entered a rapid prototyping stage. As quickly as the designers submitted and as quickly as I provided feedback, we had more and more iterations to refine our idea. Just hours before the closing of the contest, we have 77 entries.
When you’re bootstrapping a startup, you do what you can with the resources you have. Thank you to Jason Calacanis for creating and hosting This Week in Startups. It has really given me tools I need to make my startup happen. Watch the program on ustream.tv or download it from iTunes. Once this contest ends, and the logo is selected, I’ll write a follow-up post. Though I can only select one logo, I was really impressed by all of the designers.
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Back in November (2009) I was watching Episode #24 of This Week in Startups featuring Jason Calacanis. His guest that week was Gary Vaynerchuk, of Wine Library TV fame and countless appearances on TV. Sometimes I arrive a little late to the game. I Don’t watch a lot of television so I hadn’t seen Gary before. While on the show, he promoted his new book Crush It! and I was absolutely intrigued by his level of passion and drive. My motto is anything is possible through passion, commitment, and skill. It doesn’t matter if you’re a project manager, developer, or entrepreneur. You can and SHOULD have all three, regardless of your trade.
I’ve been itching to get this book. Because I have a lengthy commute, I waited until it was available in audio version. I downloaded it last night and started listening to it this morning. After my commute today, I arrived to the office not wanting to turn it off. The book is inspiring, motivating, and I identify with several things Gary has experienced and promotes. I am a firm believer if something is bad, you can say something about it. But, if something is good, you need to stand on the tallest hill and yell at the top of your lungs.
The hill, in this case, is Twitter. I wrote just a single tweet:
Started listening to Crushit! by @garyvee on my drive in today. Get the audio version (extras), even if you have the actual book.
Within a few minutes, Gary tweeted back
thank u !
Now that, people, is commitment to customer service! With almost 850,000 people following him on Twitter, he took the time to thank me. Though it was something so simple, it’s a level of customer service everyone should and WILL come to expect in the coming years.
When I deal with my customer(s), I get excited, optimistic, and passionate. I work HARD. Why? I love it! Sure, I get paid for providing value but I make sure I thank them from time to time. There must be a commitment to customer service. The interesting thing is, it can be contagious.
So, work hard and be passionate about what you do. Be committed to deliver value to your customers. And don’t forget to be skilled at how your implement your solutions.
Disclaimer: I will not financially benefit from the positive review of Gary’s book (but I hope he does).
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As one of the items on my personal “resolutions” kanban for 2010, I shortened my list of RSS feeds I’ve subscribed to. I will now only keep the RSS feeds in Google Reader that I can actually zero out by Friday close of business. Too many times, we grow these unmanageable lists of feeds, only to see them grow and grow. As a project manager, you don’t accept more and more work, until tasks are completely unmanageable. Why should reading be any different? In order to handle tasks, both management and reading, I allocate time for planned “work” and unplanned “work”.
The more people I follow on Twitter, the more recommended blog posts I read (unplanned) on a daily basis. I now find myself reading more of these posts than my (planned) RSS reading. My colleague Sridhar of Hyderabad, India, asked if I would provide a list of RSS feeds I subscribe to. The topics I am interested in include: Project Management (who would have thought), Agile, Kanban, and Entrepreneurial topics. I’ll admit this is not a complete list. I also like to see pictures of epic kludges and jury rigs and pictures of the people of Walmart.
Here is my list of RSS Feed Reads (in alphabetical order) that I enjoy over a cup of coffee:
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