Kendall's "Internet startup checklist":

1. Idea:

  1. Would YOU write a check for your idea?
  2. Don't spill your candy in the lobby.
  3. Is your idea refining or revolutionizing?

2. Funding:

  1. Are your financials realistic if nothing goes right?
  2. Could you see your investors with a 10X, 20X return in 3 years?
  3. Do you have back-up plans b,c,d before quitting your day job?
  4. Do you have a great answer for the most cynical of investors?

3. team:

  1. Can you build your idea or will it take a team of pros?
  2. Is a specific person on your team essential or can he/she be replaced?
  3. Dont give up the farm to recruit talent.
  4. Hire brave & passionate smart people.

4. Product:

  1. Does your product SOLVE a problem?
  2. Beware of feature creep! Customers & prospects add features, not developers.
  3. Stay focused on money earning features, not cool ones.

5. Marketing:

  1. Is it costly (time/resources) to get branded in your target market?
  2. Make a goal of closing a core group of customers the first year. (traction)
  3. Adjust marketing resources to get traction (don't need much).
  4. Be sure to test your "seo / ad-words / ad-sense" properly before banking on them
  5. Nothing is better than "boots on the street." Start knocking on doors.

6. Customer:

  1. How many "loss leaders" do you have?
  2. Does your idea help your customer or is it just a "nice to have"?
  3. Make each customer feel like they are the only customer you have.
  4. Can your customers be up-sold? Do they have peers they could refer?


February 15, 2009 Goodbye California….

Well, it is official.  Going back to Cali… hum, I don’t think so…  I have been struggling the last few months to understand how I could leave California paradise for Ohio.  Did I realize what I was leaving?  From flip flops all year round to riding my bike on pacific coast highway, perpetual sunshine, did I forget all the benefits CA has???  Am I nuts?
Photo: [flickr]
surfer

This past Valentine’s Day, I made an offer on a home in Chagrin Falls, Ohio.  Good, bad, or indifferent, I went against so many internal questions of how I made it here.  However, as a new chapter has been turned, here are a few reasons why I chose to stay in Ohio.

OH wins over CA: Why?

  • 01Public schools are out of this world (My son is learning to read music and Chinese in second grade???)
  • 02My wife loves the little village where we live. We walk everywhere right from our front door. (Starbucks, Grocery store, etc.)
  • 03There is a pastor at this Ohio church that reminds me of C.S. Lewis. Accent, message, et al. Very scholastic!
  • 054 seasons. Its winter, spring, summer, fall. (no doubt)
  • 06My job is fun, challenging. First time being an employee in a while. Nice people, fantastic product.

Want to comment? Comments: 4

Posted by Kendall in family

4 comments so far

  1. Hey Kendall,

    Good to hear from you. Sounds like you guys are settling in, and Dimple Dough is working out for you. Congrats.!

    February 16th, 2009

  2. wow – quite a ways from CA or WA. glad to hear you’re still in the thick of it and enjoying some lewis-ish love. be well.

    February 16th, 2009

  3. Hey friend. Life of a risk taking entrepreneur. Oh boy….

    February 16th, 2009

  4. From the beginning….

    1. values his children and their knowledge more than himself
    2. values the level of content in his wife’s heart more than his own
    3. looks to his faith rather than his own means
    4. doesn’t know how to count because he put everything in front of himself
    5. forgot that people work to enjoy life in the sun and hates the culture of a good city
    6. forgot that he is a bad ass

    February 17th, 2009

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