September 2009
24 posts
OnlyOnce Blog: Closer to the Front Lines, Part II: Closer to the Front Lines, II Last year, I wro.. http://bit.ly/4gHkLl
Why can’t you use a wireless mouse on planes? There’s wireless internet on planes…are we really supposed to believe mice mess up nav?
The Gift of Feedback, Part III Last week, I posted about my new development plan. I thought I’d also share a “team development plan” that we crafted this year for the entire Executive Committee at Return Path (basically me and my direct reports), coming out of all of our 360 live reviews taken as a whole.
Push each other harder and be continuous in our effort to provide the...
Coolest place for an Internet conference ever - glad I was able to peel out for two hours of sightseeing in Istanbul http://pic.gd/13658b
Mentoring at Seedcamp in Lobdon today. Same as Techstars…only different
Mentoring at Seedcamp in London today. 4 minutes is not a long time to explain your company, especially in a foreign language. #seedcamp
Quote of the day from #Seedcamp yesterday - “Software is like sex. It’s better when it’s free.”
Great opening line of a sales pitch at #Seedcamp - “Hello, I’m John, and I’m about to show you something you desperately need.”
OnlyOnce Blog: How Deliverability is Like SEO and SEM for Email: How Deliverability is Like SEO an.. http://bit.ly/PthT1
How Deliverability is Like SEO and SEM for Email
I admit this is an imperfect analogy, and I’m sure many of my colleagues in the email industry are going to blanch at a comparison to search, but the reality is that email deliverability is still not well understood — and search engines are. I hope that I can make a comparison here that will help you better understand what it really...
Another Only Once Moment, Sort Of
I’ve never handed over the reins of a company before (no, I’m not leaving, and we aren’t selling Return Path). But I did the other day, for the first time. As many people know, last year we reorganized the company to focus entirely on deliverability and whitelisting and spun out Authentic Response, a company in the online market research...
OnlyOnce Blog: Another Only Once Moment, Sort Of: Another Only Once Moment, Sort Of I’ve never han.. http://bit.ly/uQ9mf
Odd mix of features in this Hertz car — Sirius satellite radio, Garmin GPS, roll-down manual windows
The Gift of Feedback, Part II I’ve written a few times over the years about our 360 feedback process at Return Path. In Part I of this
series in early 2008, I spelled out my development plan coming out of that
year’s 360 live review process. I have my new plan now after this year’s process, and I
thought I’d share it once again. This
year I have four items to work on: ...
Dinner with @bfeld and @abatchelor ad Mariquita - 00/09/09 00:09:09:09 - very satisfying
Scaling Frustrations Two things have come up in spades lately for me that are
frustrations for me as a CEO of a high growth company. These are both people related — an area
that’s always been the cornerstone of my leadership patterns. That probably makes them even more
frustrating. Frustration 1: Worrying that I don’t get completely candid feedback from deep in...
At the US Open - killer Women’s match - Men’s match won’t start until crazy late
Suburban etiquette question: when you invite people over for a cookout and they’re bringing their dogs, do you have to feed their dogs?
Enjoying a supremely productive day in the office - gave the company a bonus day off, so it’s quiet here!
OnlyOnce Blog: Ten Characteristics of Great Investors: Ten Characteristics of Great Investors Fred.. http://bit.ly/4uEmAI
Ten Characteristics of Great Investors
Fred had a great post today called Ten Characteristics of Great Companies. This link includes the comments, which numbered over 70 when I last looked. Great discussion overall, especially for Fred’s having come up with the list on a 15-minute subway ride. Fred used to write a series of posts about VC Chiches, and I would periodically write a...
New iPhone - can’t decide if I can tolerate the typing yet.
Book Short: Go Where They Ain’t
Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant, by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne isn’t bad, but it could literally be summed up by the title of this post. I think it’s probably a better book for people who aren’t already entrepreneurs.
That said, there are two chapters that I found pretty...
Great to be back in NYC after 5 weeks - and looks like fall is coming early, a serious bonus
August 2009
20 posts
Just like (someone’s) Mama used to make - alligator medallions - thanks JCG/BCG/CCG three pix http://twitpic.com/fsozg and fsp1x and fsp3x
More vacation fun - after 25 years, my carpentry skills are still passable - http://twitpic.com/fd583
What if There’s No Reason to Eat the Dog Food?
There’s an expression in software about producing a product and market testing it — “seeing if the dogs will eat the dog food.” I’ve heard it mangled many times around the employees of a software company using the software their own company produces as “seeing if the dogs will eat their own dog food.” ...
OnlyOnce Blog: What if There’s No Reason to Eat the Dog Food?: What if There’s No Reason to Eat th.. http://bit.ly/HDJWV
Made green eggs & turkey bacon for the kids this morning - I love vacation, Sam-I-am — http://twitpic.com/epqw3
Good Meeting Behavior I’ve been in meetings with large groups of people at big companies where they’re all on laptops the whole meeting, no one makes any eye contact with the speaker/facilitator, and it’s hard to get a pulse out of the group as a result.
I almost entirely stopped bringing laptops and smartphones into business meetings a few years back. There’s nothing...
I upgraded to #HootSuite 2.0 because upgrades are cool. http://hootsuite.com/upgrade
Overheard one of our sales people essentially get hung up on. I have infinite respect for salespeople. Not sure I could ever do that job.
Stuck In Legal, Responses
Well, I certainly struck a nerve with my Stuck In Legal rant/post last week. As of now, there are 32 comments on the blog — my typical post generates 0-1 — and I’ve picked up between 50 and 75 new followers on Twitter, probably mostly because Fred tweeted about the post.
Most of the comments on the blog were cheering me on; a couple were from...
OnlyOnce Blog: Stuck In Legal, Responses: Stuck In Legal, Responses Well, I certainly struck a ner.. http://bit.ly/GbLuI
Quote of the day from Mariquita “that is where morality met absurdity”
Stuck in LegalIf I had a nickel for every time I heard from someone on our sales or business development team that a critical contract, to which both sides had agreed on the fundamental business terms, was “stuck in legal,” I’d be rich. Maybe not rich enough to pay all the world’s legal bills, but that’s a separate story.I completely understand the need for contracts...
OnlyOnce Blog: Good Meeting Behavior: Good Meeting Behavior I’ve been in meetings with large group.. http://bit.ly/KiUfn
My blog post / rant against lawyers sure touched a nerve - about 50 retweets, 50 new followers on Twitter, and over a dozen comments on blog
Stuck in Legal If I had a nickel for every time I heard from someone on our sales or business development team that a critical contract, to which both sides had agreed on the fundamental business terms, was “stuck in legal,” I’d be rich. Maybe not rich enough to pay all the world’s legal bills, but that’s a separate story.
I completely understand the need for...
OnlyOnce Blog: Stuck in Legal: Stuck in Legal If I had a nickel for every time I heard from someon.. http://bit.ly/wmp73
OnlyOnce Blog: Techstars Roundup: Why I Mentor Other Entrepreneurs: Techstars Roundup: Why I Mento.. http://bit.ly/2xImfS
Techstars Roundup: Why I Mentor Other Entrepreneurs
Yesterday was Demo/Investor day at Techstars in Boulder, Colorado. A lot of people have written about it - Fred, Brad, and a great piece by Don Dodge on TechCrunch listing out all the companies. My colleague George and I co-mentored two of the companies, SendGrid and Mailana, and we really enjoyed working with Isaac and Pete, the two...
New Yorkers - the quintessential NYC web site - www.exitstrategynyc.com - tells you the optimal place to stand on subway platforms
RT @returnpath: MySpace’s new email system will use Return Path Certification. Learn more: http://bit.ly/140V4w Are you certified yet?
July 2009
26 posts
Return Path Makes The List of “Best Places to Work” in Colorado
Long-time readers of this blog no doubt understand my central philosophy when it comes to management. I believe that people come first. When employees are happy they make our clients happy. Happy clients happily pay for our services, which tends to make our investors happy. When you start with the people, everyone...
OnlyOnce Blog: Return Path Makes The List of “Best Places to Work” in Colorado: Return Path Makes .. http://bit.ly/14TvkP
Me to 2 year old: “Did you just wipe your nose on my shorts?” 2 year old to me: “No, Daddy, my mouth.” Right.
Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano doing a press conference in Grand Central - so crowded that you can’t even get to trains!
Wow - Kinko’s has actually gotten worse in every single way - didn’t think that was possible any more. Customer-unfriendly to the max.
Book Short: Worth Buying Free
The cynic in me wanted to start this book review of Free: The Future of a Radical Price, by Chris Anderson, by complaining that I had to pay for the book. But it ended up being good enough that I won’t do that (plus, the author said there are free digital versions available — though the Kindle edition still costs money). At any rate, a bunch of...