Showing posts with label Useful Startup Tips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Useful Startup Tips. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

 Click here for Gumhoo Pitch

It's that time again. Pitch season! In fact, it's always pitch season. This is one of our favorites. Gumhoo's TK Chen at DEMO USA. Mr. Chen demonstrates his terrific ability to tell a simple and compelling story. We were happy to have the opportunity to work with TK, who went on to get funded by Startup Labs.

Select here for Startup America talk
And if you didn't get enough of TK, here he is again at Startup America! As TK explains, ask yourself, "Gumhoo?"
REVISITED: Gumhoo at DEMO USA
Tuesday, January 26, 2016

REVISITED: Gumhoo at DEMO USA

Thursday, January 7, 2016

Each year, college graduates from Ivy League schools and comparable fine institutions search for meaning and their first jobs out of college, it is well documented that many of them turned to investment banking and management consulting. Work that requires long hours, travel and dedication befitting their overachieving status. See recent literary works such as  William Deresiewicz's Excellent Sheep or Marina Keegan's The Opposite of Loneliness.  (This writer has seen this phenomena up close and personal)


They are perfect candidates for these banking and consulting jobs, because it leverages their basic attributes of being able to work long hours and sacrifice a proper work life balance for a delayed gratification result.

It is common for these entry level bankers and consultants to complain-brag of their 100 hour weeks, their 4 all nighters in a row, and not seeing daylight for weeks at a time. If it were any other profession or job, they'd be the labor outcry of the terrible working conditions that are destroying our elite youth.

(By the way, how could you have a 100 hour week? - even at 12 hour days x 7 days that's only 84, still another 16 hours in there some where)

So where's the high? Why do they do it? Don't get me wrong, the jobs are prestigious and intoxicating. Where else can you have a 24 year old tell a 55 year old business owner what to do with themselves? They pay handsomely for a young man or woman who's only claim to life may be that they mastered the ability to do well in school. And yet, at the high 5 figures or low 6 figure salaries versus the annual hours worked, and they're getting minimum wages (We use to say, McD's wages, but now even McD workers get $15/hr in many states).

(Don't get me wrong some of my "best" friends are Ivy League wall streeters).

Inevitably the attrition is high and after a two to three year stint, these high achieving elite move on to other professions, graduate school, (Although, some do remain and eventually go on to rule Wall Street and the corporate world). At least this has been true of the previous generation of overachieving ivy leaguers and comparable institutions entering the workforce.

THE NEW ENTRY LEVEL JOB FOR THE EDUCATED ELITE: Startup Founder

Fast forward to today, where the new generation of graduating seniors of elite institutions have been told they are "special", they will do something "big," and they matter. They've now migrate to the new entry job - Startup Founder. 

As a startup founder, master's of their own universe, when asked how they're doing, the answer is inevitably "crushing it." They sport the same complain-brag of the entry level banker-consultant, "Yeah, it's 24/7." "We're at it 12 hours a day/7 days a week." Much of this is self-induced, part of this is because they believe this is what their investors want to hear.

But wait. . . there's no pay? And even when they are successful and get their funding that gives them those fancy aero chairs and Macbook airs, when all is said in done, they exit with little of their original company. Profits to be made by their new masters who made the risky investments and bet on their success. 

The final act of this story is yet to play out, but it is definitely food for thought as to what's becoming of these educated elite youth and how they fare in the long term. 
The Changing First Jobs Out of College for the Ivy League Elite: From Banking to Startups
Thursday, January 07, 2016

The Changing First Jobs Out of College for the Ivy League Elite: From Banking to Startups

Wednesday, January 6, 2016


Xceleration Labs Guest Blog by Mitch de Leon, European Lead. Reprinted from his Linkedin post:

People from both Asia and North America where I used to live and work write to me often and ask about the Nordic "unicorns", start-ups and all the innovation buzz around the Nordics. 

 Having spent some time working side by side Nordic Entrepreneurs both men and women,  CEOs, founders and their teams, I can tell you there is something really special here. You have to also understand that the Nordics is changing and while you think it is a homogenous mix of typically blond fellows, this isn't the case here. Cognitive, gender and ethnic diversity is alive and well in the Nordics. 

 I wrote recently that folks in the Nordics simply "Get Shit Done".  

 Here's 5 Secrets Nordic Entrepreneurs Have In Their Back Pockets and Why You Should Care:

 1. Nordic Entrepreneurs are Laser-Focused. Once they've identified a big problem to solve, worked out their access to decision-makers,  they seem to be able to streamline a lot of their processes and be singularly-focused. This is apparent in the very early stages of their formation, growth and eventual rocket-ship trajectory.

 2. They GET-SHIT-DONE quietly and efficiently. People will point you to 
Jantelagen (Law of Jante). I don't think they give a hoot about that. There is little desire to draw attention to themselves and care about what other people think.  It's ingrained that they have to do quality work and spend time with their family. They want to have a life. The majority of Entrepreneurs I have worked with have deep sense of integrity i.e. doing the right thing even if no one is looking.

 3. Consensus doesn't slow them down. Once Entrepreneurs find the right team members their strategy isn't about making elaborate plans, often their strategy is about their core beliefs. Once everyone is aligned, they do work efficiently, effectively and in tight unison and with consensus often at warp speed.

 4. They care (period). It's not just empathy or social sensitivity. They care about their employees, customers, the environment and the good of humanity. 

 5. Shieldmaidens. You've heard about the Vikings and the Viking mentality. The burning of the viking ships to get them to be focused on the task -- that part is true. What you probably have not heard too much about are Shieldmaidens. They were women who are chosen to fight as warriors. There is little doubt in my mind that the Women Entrepreneurs from the Nordics shall be the leaders of tomorrow. While the corporate world has only 3% penetration in Sweden at least, I am seeing more women led entrepreneurial teams in the Nordics -- I see this in Asia as well but the Nordic women like their Asian counterparts are fearless, uber-Smart, creative and most importantly they really really care. Historical accuracy of Shieldmaidens may be hard to prove but in my mind Shieldmaidens are reincarnated in spirit through women I have worked with here. Personally, I am biased. I grew up with 8 sisters and a University professor mom who had a PhD and an MBA while raising 10 kids. I am comfortable working with strong, independent and smart women. Perhaps, you didn't grow up in that environment and may not be ready for this paradigm and reality. 

 Nordic women are poised to change the world. In truth and in fact, in a technology laden world, where computers might outsmart us like Cylons, I personally think a Shieldmaiden mom will discover how to make computers more human. 

 You should care because while Nordic Entrepreneurs don't purposefully set out to eat your lunch, they probably will if you don't take notice. 

5 Secrets Nordic Entrepreneurs Have In Their Back Pockets and Why You Should Care - RePost from Linkedin
Wednesday, January 06, 2016

5 Secrets Nordic Entrepreneurs Have In Their Back Pockets and Why You Should Care - RePost from Linkedin

Thursday, December 17, 2015

As we've stated before, you've got to sometimes take a breath and smell the roses (see previous post on Acknowledgements).


Leading outsource engineering team, Fable, who supports over a dozen projects both in Taiwan as well as in the U.S., knows the true meaning of teamwork and sharing. It all stems from Fable's CEO, Paul Shih (see his Fable Startup story profiled here), and his leadership of the team. Though they work hard servicing their clients and bringing new on-line services and products to market, the team takes the time to celebrate each team member's individual milestones. It's a good way to take the moment and celebrate what's truly important: family, team, friends and relationships.

 In this world of tangible and unrelenting success metrics for startups, sometimes it's about celebrating the journey and your travel companions. Here's to a kindlier and gentler startup environment! Add Oil Fable team!


Acknowledgements: Fable Celebrates Personal Milestones
Thursday, December 17, 2015

Acknowledgements: Fable Celebrates Personal Milestones

Thursday, October 29, 2015

Crown Movers. Absolutely excellent - and completely unrelated to restructurings in a company

When it happens, you'll go through the shock, upset, anger, depression and finally resignation. Coming to the conclusion that this is inevitably the path of a "successful" startup as it full fills it's promise to its investors.

You've just been made redundant in a restructuring of the company as it readies itself to make the nirvana step of going public.

The reason is that the org chart had to look just so. Adaptable people who had done multiple roles in the company no longer need to apply. Out with the old, in with the new.

What had once been the colorful, hip, everybody-bleeds-[insert company]-[insert company color] startup up vibe makes way for those that are hired by the investors to make good on the promise of shareholder value.

No longer needed are the "athletes" and "green berets" suitable for all adaptable and flexible challenges, here come the specialist. Some of them seemingly make a career of coming in a year or two to ride the IPO rocket and then move on to the next almost pre-IPO company.

So what is the playbook?

1. Hire a proper CMO ("Chief Marketing Officer"), preferably one that has sold a dozen companies or so. Some will call him "tough"; other may use the term "a-hole," but he'll call into question others in the organization.

2. Bring in a big time CTO. He won't be an inspirational leader. It'll be rule the engineers by fear and intimidation. Despite the intense pressure to produce and the universal hatred of their leader, employee satisfaction surveys will inevitably talk about how it's the greatest place to work.

3. Recruit a killer sales leader. They'll talk about their last 5 million dollar deal done on the back of a napkin. There's a big talk about "accountability" and moving out under-performing reps. Most of the "killing" is the internal kind, where sales turnover is welcome. This Sales Leader also brings in "his guys," and though the new folks don't understand the customer or product, they have the bona fides from a big Corporate.

Add in politics that would make Machiavelli cringe and other executives that are just trying to hold on until D-Day, and then, voila! Company goes public, investors celebrate. Many of the remaining (and ex-) employees make a nice bonus, and many yearn about for the days of early times where it was truly "Is it Work, If You Love It?"

In the end, does anyone have that bitter after taste from the nectar of sweet success called an initial public offering?




Asking for a Kinder, Gentler Startup Environment.
Thursday, October 29, 2015

Asking for a Kinder, Gentler Startup Environment.

Thursday, October 8, 2015

Saying good bye to the family van

Recent trips to local car dealers to purchase a new car has reminded me what NOT to do when making a sales call.

Upon entering a local popular car dealership, we were immediately greeted by a Korean man who suggested that we schedule an appointment.

1. Because we are an Asian family, there's that tacit racism going on of sending a fellow "Asian" to greet us. I suppose the presumption is that we'd feel more comfortable working with an Asian sales person. You know, the whole idea of relate-ability.

2. Schedule an appointment? We're about to drop $40k on this dealership in search of a new minivan, and THEY want us to schedule time with them? Jeez. . .

We proceeded to check out the vehicles in question and left the dealership. Days later, we called the dealership again and in an effort to-play-by-their-rules, scheduled for a test drive. We were happy to get an appointment with "Susan" who sounded like a caucasian woman, at the very least, non-Asian.

No sooner did we reach the dealership only to find out that "Susan" was the receptionist, and that we would be assigned a sales person. The sales manager/owner took one look at us and assigned us to another Asian man. This time an elderly Korean man. Did they want me to buy the car from someone my father's age? I love my dad, but seriously do I want to be sold by my "father"? Can't win. . .

(By the way, we're Asian, but not Korean. The analogy would be assigning a French salesperson to an American because they both looked European).

As we're settling down to chat, this kindly gentleman began to wind up his pitch. I asked that he wait until my wife (our household CEO) joined us, who was off taking care of the kids and getting them donuts. The salesman pauses and then continues. I asked him to stop again and to please wait. He pauses and then continues. This happens three times.

I also make mention that we've seen another salesperson before and did this matter to them (I suspect that the salespeople make commission and wanted to be sure that should we make the purchase we give credit where credit is due). He sloughs this off and gives a non-answer.

We need the new car, and it's a popular model, so we hang in there. (My wife confides that we'd probably buy the car despite the horrendous sales experience). We let the salesman know we're interested in test driving the vehicle, to which he suggests that we follow him to the dealership parking lot. We (with kids in tow) proceed through the dealership, through the service area and into the parking lot. The salesman points at the vehicle in question and then says he's going to get the keys, leaving myself and family to melt in the hot summer sun. Not great service. . .

When we test drive the car, it's wonderful. Exactly what we're looking for, except that whenever we ask the salesperson a question, he's not clear on the features of the car. He confesses there are 11 models of the car and that it's hard to keep a track of the different functionalities. (Know your product anyone?)

On a third visit we make to the dealership, we try to deal directly with management, hoping to get their best price. With the advent of all of these on-line resources, we know what the dealer paid for the car and what the potential lowest price point would be. Suffice it to say, this was the last straw as the dealer did one of those typical sales moves of stating, "The price is the price." In other words, take it or leave it. We left it and purchased a car from their competitor.

Trinkets for Clients


TAKEAWAYS

Sure, you do want to build your sales organization somewhat to suit the target audience. If you're a software company that calls upon young men in investment banking, it doesn't hurt to have a few young women who are their callers. Likewise, if you're in document management services and your audience is mature female administrative staff, you may opt to hire just a few more youthful men who look sharp in suits. Sounds sexist? Does it work? You be the judge.

But be sure not to take it too far. Beyond the superficial fit of salesperson to potential client, you still have to have a smart salesperson who is self aware and doing more than rout delivery of a sales pitch and a good understanding of the environment that they are working in.

In my own experience, early on I learned that my ideal target prospect were young men with starting families who liked to talk about sports and commiserate over being a salaried employee, or much older woman who wanted to help a young man out in their career. Prospects that typically never worked for me were young women, who probably felt all the attention I provided was on the creepy side and believed that I was hitting on them. (For the record, I wasn't. But company guidelines needed me to keep in touch with prospects and clients, invite them out for lunch/coffee/drinks and shower them with all sorts of tschotskes).

So in your sales recruitment try not to go for the obvious match - and spend a little time getting smart salespeople who know how to work with a client and listen to what they need. You might find that you don't have to just relay on the product selling itself. Or in our case, great product, terrible sales experience = buy elsewhere.
The Tacit Racism in Sales: Lessons of What Not to Do
Thursday, October 08, 2015

The Tacit Racism in Sales: Lessons of What Not to Do

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

One of the Founders that Xceleration works with stated that he generally didn't let folks, especially venture capital investors, know that he is over 30, because startup tended to be a "youth oriented" culture. (He also mentioned investors tend to like to work with younger folks, as they're not as - how do we put this nicely - savvy).

Being an entrepreneur over 30, this comment really stuck with me. I was fortunate to run into one of my heroes on a recent trip to Orlando - Gru.

Left to Right: Gru and Aki. Two entrepreneurs over 30.

Gru is really the epitomy of the over 30 inventor and entrepreneur seemingly outstripped by his younger nemesis, Vector. 

SPOILER ALERT, IF YOU DON'T KNOW GRU'S STORY:
as told in Despicable Me - based on Gru's lifestory.

If you recall the story, Gru's pride is injured when another villain (Vector) is able to steal the Great Pyramid of Giza, which even impresses Gru's henchman, Dr. Nefario. Vowing to outdo the younger villain, Gru decides to pursue his childhood dream (and impress his mother) by plotting to steal the moon (see Shooting the Moon with Xceleration post)

Gru's plans are nearly thwarted when he visits the bank to apply for a loan, where the banker initially gives Gru a conditional loan IF he can steal the necessary shrink ray for the caper, but eventually outright denies Gru the loan. (Sound familiar boys and girls? Invest in youth, rather than those old folks. . . Cautionary tale of chasing unicorns).

Shrink Ray (from Despiscable Me Wiki)

Fast-forward, Gru encounters 3 orphan girls (Margo, Edith, and Agnes) and despite the initial false pretences for the meeting, the the story ends with Gru adopting the 3 girls after realizing that there is more to life than just the inventions and creating bigger and better capers. In the end, it's about the love and support of the people around you. (Oh yeah, Gru sacrifices everything and does steal the moon, but not before his nemesis - Vector -, kidnapping the girls, blackmailing Gru for the moon and ultimately double crossing Gru. Fortunately, as the story goes, Vector gets his comeuppance).

Though the over 30 entrepreneur may have a couple more distractions in life (wife/husband and kids and juggle a busy schedule) but they certainly make up for it in other ways, just like Gru. So next time you meet an over 30 entrepreneur, don't count them out. You never know if they'll be just as capable as Gru and also lead a double life as parent, coach, and spouse. The variety of and breadth of experience can be an added bonus to any venture.


Don't Count Out the Over 30 Entrepreneur
Wednesday, September 09, 2015

Don't Count Out the Over 30 Entrepreneur

Thursday, August 13, 2015

Working on our new and updated Xceleration Labs marketing website (see Xceleration Labs), I was reminded of the importance of "Just Ship IT!"

New Xceleration Website - www.xcelerationlab.com
Often easier said then done, especially when advising startup teams on their websites.

When it came time for Xceleration Labs to update our own website, we nearly forgot all of the basics to website design, execution and launch. But in the end as we were reminded by our technical lead, Jonathan Shieh, we really need to "Just Ship IT!" Get it out to the marketplace, get feedback as well as use analytic tools such as google analytics to see how the website is being received, especially by our target users.

The Xlab Nerd asking,
"Being honest and asking yourself."
SHIP IT, SHIP IT, SHIP IT!
As it stands, we've been able to ship only a portion of our marketing website. Good enough to go and get the basic message across. Thus far, the website works for its intended informational purposes.

A Side Bar about websites. 
Perhaps it's fairly self evident, but a website is merely an extension of your marketing, branding, NOT your entire effort. It is intended to be a portion of your marketing plan. In addition, one of the first things to decide is the intent of the website. Are you creating a website to sell product? To provide information? To allow your target audience to contact you?

In Xceleration Labs' case, we fully realize that no one is going to do a google search for "Xceleration" in an effort to find boutique business consultancy to help their startup venture. More likely our target audience may have met up with one of the team (such as Mitch de Leon in the Nordics), received a business card, and will want to learn more - one of the ways being, a quick peruse of the marketing website. A secondary one is this Xceleration Labs blog, which has the new address of blog.xcelerationlab.com.

Lessons Learned

1. Marketing websites are tough to create and execute, IF you don't have a "brand book" or specific "brand aesthetic" in place. What typically ends up happening is potentially what happened to us. A literal goulash of design elements, layouts and graphics. Until we finally settled on the design that we shipped. There are certainly easier ways to do things. . .

Augus and Haichen on the job!

DESIGN CAPABILITIES
One of the things that Xceleration Labs can boast now is our design support capabilities. We have Haichen Hsu and Augus Chen - two excellent designers, AND both have different styles. This coupled with my own, at worst, "indecision" and at best, "letting others contribute," led to some initial "too many cooks" or "Frankenstein" website. In other words, the design had too many disparate and incongruous elements.
Sample Selected/Sample Work of Jibao Service that both our designers worked on. . . 
That turned around when two things happened.

a. I paid attention to my own inner voice as to what I needed/wanted/desired in the website.
b. Haichen focused on contributing her specific strengths, which were graphic elements (such as the wonderful Xlab Nerd character) and photos.

2. It seems self evident, but nevertheless a good reminder to focus on attracting a specific target audience. (Remember the website isn't meant for you!) One who would a. enjoy the graphic elements, especially the Xlabs Nerd characters and color touches, b. One who would appreciate the, at times, irreverent humor.

3. Just Ship IT! At times, an effort of wanting to have the perfect product, perfect website, perfect little character graphic, will get in the way of shipping and taking the risk of putting it out there. After all, are we not always talking about agile and lean, so when there's something ready, don't be afraid of shipping it!

Stay tuned for more updates as they become available, and do NOT be afraid to ship it!
Just Ship IT! A Startup Mantra to Practice
Thursday, August 13, 2015

Just Ship IT! A Startup Mantra to Practice

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Paul Shih of Fable providing instruction and support to Jibao Team.
Once upon a time, CEO Paul Shih of Fable visited Xceleration Labs and wanted to know how to market a CRM system that he had created for Sales Executives called SmartBoss. Together with his CTO and CFO, we explored various pivots to try to figure out how to market this CRM system to Taiwan and beyond (Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, etc). Areas of exploration included construction management, service personnel deployment or even management of Vietnam salespeople from Taiwan. All would have been excellent applications of Smartboss. Fable even partnered with one of Taiwan's top 3 job banks 1111.com.tw.

In the end, we finally found Fable's North Star. At their core, they were really engineers interested in building great products and services. Although Paul believed in the importance of sales and sales people, at his core, Paul believed he was and team were more suited to project management and technical sales.

Therefore, they evolved from product company to technical consultancy to their current incarnation of project managers and engineers at the ready to help others realize their dream of an on-line service or mobile app. Indeed, a most excellent outsourced technical and engineering solution for others. They're taking on many up and coming mobile app and on-line service implementations. (Stay tuned for their marketing website renewal, but for the moment you can visit their current site at www.fable.com.tw)

And in doing so, they're partnered with many of the top outsourced teams in Taiwan as well as beginning the work of training the next generation of Taiwan software engineers. This means that they can scale up and down rather quickly depending on client needs.

Paul Shih giving a lecture at recent Alpha Camp class.
And of course, besides providing insight and talking about real world startup experiences, Paul is also authoring a series of blogs on ALPHA Camps' blog site. For more see Paul Shih blog.

So if you have an most excellent idea or have started implementing an idea, but need more help. Why not give Fable a try? We would be glad to make an introduction on your behalf.


What to Startup? The Fable Story
Tuesday, July 21, 2015

What to Startup? The Fable Story

Thursday, July 16, 2015

One of the biggest questions for a technically sound team with terrific connections, investor resources and a network of support is. . .

What do I actually do? WHAT SHOULD BE MY STARTUP?

Most approach the question of what to do as a startup by examining the resources they have on hand, the people they know in their network and the skills they have. Somehow if they put everything out on a conference room table, the solution as to what they should create should somehow conjure up from the various pieces and inform them.

THE "Me Too!" APPROACH

Because they have the capabilities and resources, many startups do a "me too!" copy of a global internet service, but service a much smaller market such as Taiwan (22 Million pop.).

Taipei's 101 from Xceleration Labs Offices

TAKING THE MACRO APPROACH

Instead of starting from what resources do I have available and what skill sets do I have, try the reverse. Ask yourself, if I were in Taiwan, what would I build?

For instance, Silicon Valley is undeniably the place for great consumer focused startups. Therefore, that's where you'd go to mix it up to produce a killer consumer app. While Silicon Alley (NYC)  with it's high concentration of top global banks, international law firms, advertising agencies and Fortune 500 companies is known for its business to business startups.  So that's where you'd go to work on an excellent B2B platform. Likewise in the case of Israel, which is in a desert surrounded by it's mortal enemies, and thus security is top of mind; therefore, Israel is the home of top security software. (You with me so far?)

Given the above generalizations, if we were to use location as a determinant, then if you are in Taiwan, what would be the startup business that would make sense, given your locale? Taiwan?

THE WORKING THEORY - What would you build if you were in Taiwan?

What's the DNA of Taiwan?

1. Taiwan's economic success has been built on global trade - the business of understanding brand company needs, outsourcing and sourcing components to put together into a single product. Therefore, it would make sense that Taiwan would create a service offering to solve global trade challenges. Thus, Patisco was born! A service focused on helping smooth out the people, communication and process challenges of global trade. For more on Patisco, please see www.patisco.com and www.pedalingforward.com!

Patisco CEO Even Chung chatting with Jon Sontag of HP Innovations with Tom Chiu of Sand Hill Angels looking on. 
What are some of the other possibilities for global companies that would originate from Taiwan?

2. I've often heard of Cultural and Creative Innovation as a possibility for Taiwan. Often pointing to the concept of helping bring folk art, Taiwan made aboriginal products, and so forth to the global market. Definitely an admirable idea, but I think the French may have cornered the market on this arena - see LV, Champagne, and everything else Louis the XIV made popular.

3. Cuisine is another one I've heard of, especially the idea that there are so many cuisines, foodies, terrific night market food stalls. . . I don't know how to put that on-line for a global audience, but some smarter than me will come up with it. All I have observed is that I'm uncertain what is Taiwanese cuisine. There are a few signature dishes, but I'm not as a collective if they make a cuisine. Perhaps you'd know?

Regardless, the point is if you're a Taiwan startup, perhaps take a look at Taiwan's DNA, the core essence, and see if there's something there that you could bring to the global stage - such as a SaaS platform that helps manage the complex communication, processes and people involved in the global trade process.

Global trade has been a process and domain that is essentially the backbone of the world global economy and also originates from the days of the early European explorers trying to make their way into the China market or the trade routes through the Middle East bringing spices and other goods to Europe. It became harnessed by our Taiwan elders who turned it into a global phenomena, but the key point is that it's something that most of the world - at least the Western world is unfamiliar with. (I must admit as a young man, when I heard of global trade or import/export, I didn't quite understand what that entailed. I thought - so a manufacturer sells a couple of items to a middle man who then sells it to your local retailer - how complicated can that be? Well, after hanging with Patisco for the last five years - you have no idea how complicated the process is!)

Hopefully this has opened up a new possibility for you, yes, you the Taiwan startup team or any startup team from any locale in the world.

Think about what your culture, history, society could bring to the global stage. What makes sense as a startup that you'd bring to the world using locale as a determinant.

More to come in future blogs on other startups that stem from Taiwan's locale - ideal because of Taiwan's unique geography.
What to Startup? Observations of a Common Startup Challenge in Taiwan.
Thursday, July 16, 2015

What to Startup? Observations of a Common Startup Challenge in Taiwan.

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Every so often Xceleration designs and distributes new T-shirts to share with Xceleration clients and friends. Many of the recipients of these new T-shirts also include Aki's belay buddies in the Taipei climbing community. (More on belay buddies and their importance in a future blog).

Kudos to excellent Xceleration team creative director, Haichen Hsu, who you can follow on Behance. Out of the various designs (there were four) and through informal polling it was pretty much a good spread, but in the end I settled on the "Climber with Moon" background design.

I'd love to tell you that we had this profound concept when we came up with the shirt design, but basically, I choose the one that was most aesthetically pleasing. And as with most things in life, after we choose something, I'll now give you the whole theory and concept behind the design, cause we after all have to ascribe meaning to everything. If you're going to do so, might as well be something empowering.



SHOOTING THE MOON
So what came to mind is the the expression "Shooting the Moon," which comes from the classic cards game - Hearts. For those of you growing up in the internet, smartphone gaming age, this is pretty old school stuff. If you know the game or remember the game Hearts, you'll be able to follow along (for everyone else the rules are clearly explained in your handy wikipedia entry)!

Jesus going for it with a climb at Y17
while wearing his "Shoot the Moon" Xceleration T-shirt.

HOW CAN A CARD GAME INFORM STARTUPS?

So what is Shooting the Moon? As defined in Wikipedia, it is:

  • "Shooting the moon, in card games is to obtain the highest possible outcome through the very risky strategy of achieving the lowest possible score."

Love this idea. So yeah, of course, in startups we want to do that old Casey Kasem classic sign off from his American Top 40 radio program, "Keep reaching for the stars." Totally, admirable and something we should certainly strive for.

But I think Shooting the Moon is more apropos, as it requires you to be "contrarian." Let me explain. The basics of the game is not to end up with any of the cards in the deck with the hearts suit (and also the Queen of Spades), in doing so you end up with points. You'd play the game for several rounds and the more points you get the more you're "losing." But one actually interest facet of the game is to the do the contrarian strategy of capturing all of the hearts, called "Shooting the Moon." In order to do so, you can NOT "advertise" that this is your strategy, for it is easy for someone in the group to "sacrifice" and take a heart, thereby loading you with the rest of the hearts and pushing your score way up (which is bad), instead of "shooting the moon",  and thereby gaining negative points, putting you ahead of the others.

"Shoot the Moon"
Translate this into startups. My general take on startups is to work diligently and away from the limelight, potentially using a contrarian strategy, instead of following the herd. Not necessarily to be secretive, but rather not running around telling everyone of your "how to" strategy, but justing working it. Many times the other folks in your community will be contributing to your success in ways they didn't even realize, as with the game of Hearts, many folks in the community unwittingly become your helpers and supporters for you to reach the greatest height that you can reach.

So when you "shoot the moon", it'll be a bit of a surprise! Think about all the ways, you may try a contrarian strategy in your startup venture. Perhaps this will open up new avenues of thought and help with your "out of the box" thinking.
Shooting the Moon with Xceleration Labs and Being Contrarian
Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Shooting the Moon with Xceleration Labs and Being Contrarian

Friday, July 3, 2015

Recently, I blogged about the The Karma of Making Connections, and I hinted at two possible recent connections that I made. Unfortunately, one of the connections will not formalize after introductions and some initial email exchanges.

The following is the result of the second introduction/connection. Enjoy!




Sunmerry's has been looking to evolve their demographic from an older brand frequented by moms buying bread for their children to a younger and hipper generation of Taiwanese. We needed a way to reach this younger audience and was fortunate enough to pair up with local youtube sensation Jesus - who runs a youtube channel literally titled, "Foreigner doesn't teach English." A large portion of his audience is Taiwanese youth, with his funny and wacky observations of Taiwanese culture and life.

In order to reach this co-working together in reaching a younger audience, Sunmerry's planning group and executives had to recognize that we were unsuited to truly understand and reach a youth audience. Therefore, we turned to outside help.
Left to Right: Ada, Jesus and Nikki
This is an important realization for any startup team or even mature and experienced team is to identify your audience and give up the assumption that you know what that audience wants and even can ascertain their hidden needs. To give up this control and allow an outsider to help reach that audience is a big step in the right direction for Sunmerry's and will hopefully progress in the future as Sunmerry's tries to gains a new youth audience.

In the meantime, if you watch this video and you're in Taipei, stop by a local Sunmerry's to collect your free treat! (Only good till end of July 2015).
Karma of Making Connections: A Success Story in Progress. . .
Friday, July 03, 2015

Karma of Making Connections: A Success Story in Progress. . .

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Hannah and Sebastian
From the above photo of Hannah and Sebastian, you may wonder what's rock climbing got anything to do with doing a startup?

If you're familiar with rock climbing, you'll note that Hannah is tied into the belay system as the climber and Sebastian is the belayer.

According the Merrim-Webster Dictionary the definition of BELAY:

  1. : the securing of a person or a safety rope to an anchor point (as during mountain climbing); also : a method of so securing a person or rope. 
  2. : something (as a projection of rock) to which a person or rope is anchored.

Using an analogy, Sebastian as the belayer acts to secure the climber or the anchor point. In a similar manner, Xceleration Labs acts as that belayer or anchor point for our startup teams.

What is Xceleration Labs? 
Sure, in the beginning, Xceleration was formed with the basic idea that we would "accelerate" a startup journey, potentially in some sort of laboratory setting. Like we'd be cooking up some sort of mad science experiment. Show you a couple of shortcuts. Help you move faster toward your success. 

Whereas this may be true with many accelerators, incubators and such, I've found that "accelerating" isn't necessarily what it's about. At least in our experience, it's not the short term project or engagement where Xceleration is the most impactful. Typically, it's hard to affect lasting impact with less than six months of time. Our consulting gets really hands on and is typically engaged on a weekly or nearly daily basis with any given startup team for a long period of time. 
(Certainly not for everyone)

So if it's not "Accelerate" then what do you do?

Chloe making her climb! Still secured by belayer (see rope connected to her harness)
I was once asked this question by your stereotypical Silicon Valley self proclaimed serial entrepreneur aggressive Type A personality. The conversation went something like the following:

"What do you do?"
"I'm a business consultant. I help startup teams," I replied.
"How do you make money doing that?!" smirked the Silicon Valley startup guy.

He didn't ask with the intent of wanting to know how I truly make money doing so (curious - check out our How we are compensated? tab), but rather he meant, "that's dumb."

Since we've already concluded it's not "accelerating" that we're about, then what do we do? To go back to the climbing analogy, like the belayer for the climber, we provide beta. 

According to Wikipedia, "Beta" is defined as:
  • Beta is climbing jargon that designates information about a climb. In rock climbing this may include information about a climb's difficulty, crux, style, length, quality of rock, ease to protect, required equipment, and specific information about hand or foot holds. 

So likewise, at Xceleration, we're here to provide Beta. 

Provide the information about a startups' challenges, help you with the rivers you may cross, tell you what to sweat and what not to sweat, explain what's a consistent reaction from a potential client, and generally help you focus on your North Star.

So What does "Climb with Xceleration" mean?

I think I've known for sometime what it is. . . but it's akin to the natural "high' I get from climbing. That "high" is being PRESENT.

Whereas in many sports, your mind can wander such as while you're running (jogging) or doing yoga poses, in climbing you're forced to be present. In fact, you've GOT to be present. If you're not in the moment dealing with the next tricky hold or the next place to plant your toe, you'll likely to blow it and fall. There's nothing quite like having to deal with the immediate problem at hand to keep you present. There is no thinking about the laundry list of things you'll be doing later or checking an item off a task list while you're climbing.

Therefore, like climbing, I think "Climbing with Xceleration" is about being present. About focus and dealing with immediately what's in front of you. Being present.

Nancy, Chloe, Hannah and Aki
Another component of "Climbing with Xceleration" can also be found in one of the chief characteristics that I've found in climbing. It's humbling. It's you against that wall. Some days it's downright humiliating. 

For me as a beginning climber, it was all about getting to the top. I climbed to succeed. Success vs. Failure was what it was all about.

It wasn't until I was around climbing culture for a while before I learned the truism, it's about "climbing to fail." What? You may be asking yourself? What heck does that mean?

As a climber novice, and perhaps even as a startup person, you may constrain yourself and not attempt the risky or outlandish, because you're about looking good. Being sure that you can climb to succeed. So you'd never try anything that you'd think was beyond yourself.

Besides failure looks bad. So you won't risk trying a more difficult route in a climb, just like for startups sometimes it's safer and doesn't look as bad just to settle for the something that you know you can succeed at, rather than stretching yourself. Stepping outside of yourself.

Climbing to Fail: Rid Yourself of the Success vs. Failure Dichotomy

Without climbing to fail, you'll never know that you could possibly do. In fact, it was after watching world class climbers and many of my climbing partners trying the same moves over and over again and still continually to blow it (falling) that I got that "failure" in climbing is part of the process. Just like for startups, failures, challenges, obstacles, and striving outside of what you know you can do, is part of the entrepreneurial process.

Instead of worrying about success, I started to immerse myself in the process of problem solving, of making it a project, of learning something new about myself and (sounds corny) about the journey. Not just about getting to the top. Not just about success. Sure it's great to reach the top, but the journey became as much, if not more, of the enjoyment. 

Do I wish for a startup to fail? No, of course NOT. But should they potentially adopt the attitude of "climbing to fail," yes. Give "climbing to fail" a try. You never know where it might take you.

Available this Summer!
Besides, who ever heard of a startup guy/gal who hasn't had some failures along the way?




Climbing with Xceleration: It's about the Journey
Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Climbing with Xceleration: It's about the Journey

Saturday, June 20, 2015

I've seen a tendency and I've certainly been guilty of making connections and introductions for people, when there wasn't much of a connection there. There are potentially 3 of these so-called networkers which I try to avoid:

THE TENUOUS CONNECTOR: Forcing a Tenuous Connection in which the middleman didn't do any qualification homework.

Lots of times, I've been in meetings where a tenuous connection was made between the large domain area that you work on such as education platforms and a "friend" who represented an large software company looking to help making the connection between hardware, software and schools. Such a meeting tends to be a lot of "forcing" to make a connection and trying to understand everyone's role in the education transformative process. Typically, I feel that such a meeting though often worth a try, is essentially useless as the "introducer" made a tenuous connection and didn't do any pre-qualifying for the parties involved. What ends up happening is a rather awkward and potentially frustrating, if not time wasting effort.

Too many of these "introductions" will tend to suck up what valuable time you have to spend on your entrepreneurial effort.

Left to right: Jason (founder of Mia Cucina in Tien Mu and Neihu), Peter Kao and Aki Liao.
THE SPURIOUS NETWORKER: Another Time Waster, but sends you random connections.

The funniest one has got to be a contact who was likely taught at business school to be sure to maintain your network and make connections. Upon our arrival to Taiwan, this wannabe helpful contact sent us information about Tien Mu's Community Center (a resource for expats in Taiwan), not realizing that we had sent them the exact same resource merely 3 week before! In other words, they tried to help us make a connection, that had originated from us! Check your sources before making a recommendation! This is akin to being sure you're not re-gifting that "white elephant" gift you got from that crazy friend over the holidays to that same friend.

Left to right: Jonathan Shieh, David Kuo, Kimble Wan, Yi-Ching Chung, Ben Kuo and Even Chung.

THE UNVERIFIED CONNECTION: Recommending someone you've just met, but don't know.

Admittedly this is how Xceleration Labs started, a recommendation by Peter Kao, owner and operator of Sunmerry Bakeries, introduces Aki Liao to Jim Hsieh, corporate finance/deal maker of K-plus Capital, who had a friend working on something similar to Aki's IntraLinks history. That contact ended up being Even Chung of Patisco and Xceleration Labs' first client.

At first glance it may seem to be random connection, Aki Liao knows something about SaaS products from his days at IntraLinks in NYC and Even Chung is founder of a SaaS product in Taiwan, but unlike an unverified connection, the essential ingredients for the success of this connection have been:

1. Peter Kao has known and Aki Liao worked for Peter many years before. They are in fact first cousins.

2. Peter Kao and Jim Hsieh have had a long standing social and business relationship. Having even tried to consummate a couple of possible deals in the past.

3. Jim Hsieh and Even Chung are old friends and business contacts. Even's wife, Sam, working for Jim for many years. Jim has always kept an eye on Even's business over the years.

Thus, the introduction, though seemingly spurious, was one steeped in deep and solid connections. The most important is one where each connection had a solid trust connection.



KARMA: Not for Financial Gain

Sure, there's a time and place to make introductions and connect people, especially in entrepreneurial circles. But I've been managing myself to subscribe to the notion that:

A. I do NOT need to benefit financially from such an introduction, but rather to make the connection for Karmic reasons.

B. I only recommend people I have had a solid working relationship with and would recommend their work. Typically, the contact is someone I've known for at least a few years. Thus, a known entity. I'm often reminded by Xceleration partner in business and life, Tammy Liao, that you don't want to recommend the services or help of someone you yourself have never worked with or vetted.

One of Xceleration Labs' teams actually got one of these introductions through a third party, someone with seemingly big company credentials, looking for an opportunity to work in a startup. It turned out the recommendation had come from a recent "new" friend to Xceleration, who had never worked with the recommended third party. Said third party resource turned out to be disastrous on several levels in terms of work product and cultural fit, setting back the team's development time table. With 20-20 hindsight, it's obvious that such a connection should not have been made. . .

C. Be sure to pre-qualify both the potential problem being resolved and the solution set of skills of the contact you want to recommend. This takes work on the part of the intermediary, often times I have found lacking in well meaning middlemen.

D. If A-C have not been fulfilled, I won't bother to make the recommendation for fear of wasting a couple of hours of everyone's time, but worst yet, having financial arrangements made and the working relationship turns out to disastrous. Thus, impacting your own creditability.

E. This is more a corollary. Don't get attached that the two parties work together, give them space, and let things take their course. Be committed, not attached.

That said, I'm tracking two recent connections that I've made in which I believe both cases and the recommended resources will make an impactful presence. As the projects are in mid-progress, we will keep you posted as the projects become available for public comsumption.

In the meantime, it's nice that during one of these introduction meetings, both parties ended their comments with the desire that no matter what happens everyone's ultimate commitment is to our mutual friendships, over any potential business concerns. I concur!

The Karma of Making Connections: When to Do So.
Saturday, June 20, 2015

The Karma of Making Connections: When to Do So.

Friday, May 29, 2015


Its always a good idea to get some feedback on your project. Too much thinking on your own or what a former mentor of mine called, "Analysis paralysis" can really be an obstacle. I guess that's why there's a whole "get out of the building" movement. Try to show something, anything to your audience. (For more on my opinion on whether getting out of the building is a good idea please see my blogs on this topic).

For startups, its all about getting feedback and shifting through the suggestions and determining which ones are critical and which ones are nice to haves. Below is a suggested way to break the typical analysis paralysis when it comes to what features/functions to implement, and also a way not to throw the "kitchen sink" at the product in the hope that your target audience will adopt your product.

PLAYING CARDS METHOD



One of the methods we've adopted which (I believe) is an agile method and taught to us first by David Kuo of The Zero Step, was to make decisions using decks of playing cards. Might sound a little crazy, but it's worth a try and certainly moves the discussion along. Here's what you'll need.

1. List of features and functions that you're interested in putting in/updating in your product.
2. As this is a democratic sort of tradition, you'll need all of your available team members.
3. Decks of playing cards equal to number of team members.
4. Helps to have a white board to write stuff down and keep the "scoring".
5. Handouts or projection of the list of items you intend to discuss.
6. Open mind and judicious temperament.

First, distribute to each team member a set of playing cards from A to 10. No need for face cards. Assume that A = 1. 10 = 10.

Second, designate that 1 is least important and 10 is most important.

Third, make sure that everyone is STANDING. This is in the stand up meeting tradition. Things tend to go quicker when you are all standing. If anyone gets tired and tries to sit, please ask them to stand. Keep the integrity of the process.

Forth, begin by having your designated product development person briefly describe the first function for discussion. At this point, do NOT discuss the feature. Just outline what it is.

Fifth, allow everyone a moment to choose the appropriate card from their deck to represent their belief of how important the feature is to the next build. Remember at this point there should have been no discussion.

Six, on the count of 3, each person turns over their cards and shows their card, which indicates their belief as to importance of the feature.

Here's how you determine what happens. There are two basic scenarios.

A. Everyone turned over a card within a close range of each other. For example, members selected 5-6-7 as their cards. This means that the importance of the item for the next build is 6.

B. Everyone turned over cards and the range was broader than 3 numbers, such as 4, 5, 8, 9, 10. If this is the case, then whoever turned over 4 and 10 are the ONLY two allowed to discuss and argue their point of view. NO one else is allowed to speak their mind. Quickly allow the two to make their case and then go through the process of "reselecting" and turning over the cards again as in steps 5, select card; step 6, turn over cards.

1. Sometimes, this can be resolved within one repeat.
2. Other times, this may take several attempts. Repeat this process until you get within a 3 number range. Keep everyone standing as this will keep the process moving.

Best practice 1, try to think of the feature and functionality as related to the build for the next quarter, next month, rather than for the lifetime of the project.

Best practice 2, try not to make it about how hard or easy it would be to implement the feature.

Best practice 3, if you are in an active sales process of the product try to determine if adding the feature would gain you any additional customers. In other words, will the cost of implementation bring more audience/revenue.

Repeat the process for all of the items to be discussed on that day. You'll find that you should end up with a good priority list of items to implement. Typically, we've found that with a list of 15 items for prioritization, that with a team of six people or so, we can get through the entire list within a 60 minute period. Often, in time for lunch. Nothing like lunch looming as a reward to ensure everyone stays on point and committed to the task at hand.

Once you have priorities set, you can go about your current implementation best practices. Good luck!
Digesting Feedback for Startups: "Agile Playing Card" Method
Friday, May 29, 2015

Digesting Feedback for Startups: "Agile Playing Card" Method

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

If you're a startup founder and haven't read Mr. Geoffrey Moore's Cross the Chasm:Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers classic bible for technology marketing and sales, you're missing out. shame on you!

Available at Amazon or other fine book retailers.

This past week was another frustrating attempt to explain to the sales executive of a startup team that, coming to the team meeting and presenting every single complaint that a potential target customer group makes, and then, expect us to implement all of these features into the product for them was basically missing the point; at best, potentially costly and at worst, would likely sink the current enterprise. (In a previous two posts, I'd talked a little bit about the dangers of blindly listening to your target audience. See Getting Out of the Building Part 1and Part 2).

Beware of making the mistake of selling a disruptive innovation to the masses. It's not going to work. This was the mistake that the account executive of said team was making. We are reminded by Mr. Moore's astute insight from 1991 (Still applicable even after nearly a quarter of a century!) that not everyone is going to be your audience; especially, if you're marketing disruptive products. In the beginning, you should be seeking only about 10% of your target audience. These are the visionaries and early adopters, NOT the early/late majority.

Blackberry Torch 9800
available on Amazon

I can honestly say that I'm pretty much a laggard when it comes to technology, having held onto a blackberry way past it's prime, especially after most had already switched to Apple, Samsung or some other product (God, I loved that keypad!). That said, if yours is a disruptive technology of some sort, or even a new take on a commodity product (see Nike or Starbucks), you need to find your digital heroes first, before trying to appeal to the masses.

Latte from 3 Owl Cafe, Taipei

Hey, when it comes to Taiwan of 20 years ago, and some entrepreneur would trying to tell you that they were going to sell coffee to Taiwanese people, you'd probably think they were crazy. I mean they drink tea in Taiwan! Coffee was for rich people who drank the stuff out of a bowl with a spoon. Now fast forward to 2015 and there's a freaking Starbucks on nearly every corner of Taipei, plus the vast array of Cama Coffee, Louisa Coffee as well as a host of other chains and small independent coffee houses. Sure, now they can, but I'm certain they couldn't start out marketing to the masses. Rather, they got early adopters first.

So, let's all take a moment. Go back to reading a classic such as Crossing the Chasm, and remind ourselves that our disruptive innovations are for visionaries and early adopter first, rather than for your general audience, who still doesn't get it. Be sure to check out the Chasm Companion, which is a field guide of how to apply the theories from Crossing the Chasm.
It's Still About "Crossing the Chasm": Startup Founder's Bible
Tuesday, May 26, 2015

It's Still About "Crossing the Chasm": Startup Founder's Bible

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

As a startup founder, you're inundated with stuff to do. If it's not worrying about investors, it's where the next dollar will come from, to things breaking in production or worrying about how to settle team members as they face the uphill climb.

Diane of Jibao at our recent weekend recruiting event.
In this blog, we've talked about not lurching from one idea to another, as well as finding your North Star, but one important thing to do, especially in this day and age of talent shortage and team capability challenges, is to always and continually be recruiting. As a leader, you want to keep up your network of contacts and maintain a stack of resumes of potential hires.

This seems like another big chore, but it's necessary, and potentially not as onerous as you may expect. Now, the advice isn't to drop everything that you're doing and begin running a ton of searches for potential team members, but it's more of adding the resume gathering and recruiting process as an element in your daily routine.

We all know that once the decision is made to hire someone for an identified open position the merely act of getting the word out and cast the net to get interviewees into the office is a 2-3 month process. That 2-3 months for most startups is a lifetime and often includes a pivot already. If you continually maintain a list of strong and prospective candidates for future open decisions, you'd be able to short cut this time, and go straight to bringing folks into the office for formal interviews.

The Jibao team at a recent job fair. Left to right: Hannah, interested candidate, Diane and Chloe of Jibao.
It starts with simple tasks such as picking up the phone and contacting someone to see how they're doing and how's their current work going. Maintaining some semblance of contact, so that when the time comes to actually recruit them, it won't come out of the blue. If your preference is text, than an email or text message wouldn't be hurt either.

Left to right: Tingli, Diane (standing), Chloe and Hannah reviewing resumes of potential candidates
Perhaps once a week instead of desk dining by yourself or going out to lunch with your current team, invite a prospective candidate to lunch. . . especially someone you'd think would make a good future teammate. Of course, don't invite a candidate you've never met before to lunch. . . they might get the wrong idea! But if they're a past classmate, past teammate or someone you've met at a startup event, maintain the touch points.

Left to right: Hannah and Diane hitting the phones to set up initial interviews with potential candidates
If you keep up this process for a period of time, you should be able to maintain either a physical stack or electronic file of many strong candidates for when the time comes to pull the trigger for a hire.

Recruitment and keeping an open file of potential team members is an often overlooked task of a leader, and often the opportunity cost of not preparing ahead of time will hurt your overall effort. So good luck with your recruitment efforts and resume gathering!

By the way, Jibao Team is recruiting engineers. For more info, please go to Jibao's blog.


Recruit, Recruit, Recruit: Keeping a List of Prospective Startup Team Members
Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Recruit, Recruit, Recruit: Keeping a List of Prospective Startup Team Members