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 20, 2009 hero vs. zero

Why does insignificance dominate the significant? I never understood that. Why do we latch on to trash like People magazine, Celebrity shyte etc. ?  Take this quiz to see if I am crazy.

2 “heros” in New York. Who do people care more about?

One plays with a ball, One saved hundreds of families from disaster.  One makes zillions a year with the said ball in New York, One lands planes on rivers in the middle of New York.  One does dope, is insecure, and cries when he gets caught, one gets on the radio and in a calming voice saves lives when his engines get caught.   One has people set their DVR to hear the crying later in the day, One has people forgetting his name later in the day.

hero

Answer: You decide.

Want to comment? Comments: 1

Posted by Kendall in Leadership

1 comment so far

  1. Always love reading your posts friend. You inspire me to be a better blogger :)

    February 20th, 2009

Add a comment

RSS Flickr Wordpress