Product & Startup Builder
Episode 9: 10 Tips For Building a Great Team and Culture
What are your tips for building a great team and a great culture? Here are 10 of mine.
(Link to audio: “10 tips for building a great team and culture — It takes strong vision, management and accountability”)
My Friend Ben Metcalfe has just become a VC
Ben Metcalfe has just become a VC
The first time I met Ben Metcalfe was at a big meetup at the Computer History Museum. It was my first week in Silicon Valley and unbeknownst to me I had been experiencing what I later learned to be the valley’s “soft no”. When your Startup/product isn’t good enough but people don’t really want to tell you.
Ben was the first one to take a different approach. He told me - in no uncertain terms - what the real weaknesses of my Product were.
At first I disliked the sudden pushback (and Ben haha!), but then I quickly understood it (and him) to be insightful and invaluable. And, of course, he later turned out to be right!
He then proceeded to take me and my mate Nik into San Francisco where he introduced me to a lot of people, products, and places that changed my life forever (including SoMa, Twitter, Gregarious and Stowe). He taught me how to “pay it forward” by his actions and by his mentorship.
He‘s continued to be a great friend and advisor for the last 10 years. Including introducing me to the team at Uber.
I’m so proud of his latest move here. He’s a naturally curious and clear eyed evaluator of value and loves to help founders. He’s going to kick ass at this role.
Congrats Ben!
Snapchat Context Cards
I’m getting a lot of pings about Snapchat’s Context Cards. Some thoughts...
Yes they seem very familiar (edit: to work I did internally at Uber (but never saw the light of day)
Understanding intent and efficiently fulfilling it Is the only way anyone has made significant money on the Internet
Using existing and implicit behavior as context for predicting intent is an incredibly rich and untapped area for innovation. Particularly at the application level where there’s more signal and domain specialization
You can do two distinct things with your API strategy. 1) Use it as a form of distribution - taking a ride on other peoples innovation. 2) Create a surface area for innovation within your own app. The former is a no-brainer. The latter is a game changer.
Will it be enough to stem the bleeding for Snapchat? I don’t know. Imagine if this concept was baked into something growing and used by savvy users with somewhere to be, though.
Luck is an easy skill to learn
Great post: Be lucky - it's an easy skill to learn
This is amazing. So true. h/t Ben Metcalfe
One of my favorite sayings is "Opportunity at first appears like hard work"
I'm just lucky
My standard answer to "How did you achieve that?" is "Luck".
Luck = Preparation + Opportunity + Execution.
Marketing Magic: Google
Uber and TripGo to Help Aussies
A great explanation of Ethereum
Don't understand Ethereum? Founder Vitalik Buterin explains it in his own words at Disrupt SF
One of the better explanations of blockchain I've seen. For simplicity sake, simply think decentralized AWS of Database.
Dark Side of Crypto
Very good read. Sober analysis of the dark side of crypto
(Link to article: “Eight Things Cryptocurrency Enthusiasts Probably Won’t Tell You”)
Peter Thiel tells Google Chairman: "You have NO IDEA what you're doing
Battery tech will change the world
Breakthroughs in batteries will change the world
A friendly cease-and-desist
Netflix sends lighthearted cease and desist letter to 'Stranger Things' pop-up bar
This is how you send a cease-and-desist. When I was on the Uber Dev Platform I made sure that our cease-and-desists were always friendly and offered many more carrots than they did sticks. But this takes things to a whole other level.
Episode 8: Tips For Supporting Developers
(2 min audio) are you hurting your relationship with Developers and don't even know it?
Check out my tips for creating a great relationship with Developers.
(Link to audio: Tactical ways of supporting Developers with empathy)
Episode 7: 3 Pillars Of a Dev Platform
(3 min audio) The next episode of my Startup and Dev Platform podcast series. Learn about the three pillars of a Dev Platform.
1. Utility
2. Revenue
3. Distribution.
(Link to audio: 3 things for a successful Dev platform)
Uber Freight
Wow. Goosebumps. Especially given my own little journey back home in the last few weeks
Brands/Products For Travels
When you travel a lot, some brands/products really stand out as well designed, durable and/or beautiful. They serve you well in difficult conditions. For me these include...
- Crumpler (Bags and suitcases)
- Belroy (Minimalist wallets etc)
- Native Union (Beautiful, durable cables)
- Allbirds (Shoes)
- Uber (When available, made life so much easier)
- Wells Fargo (Just works. Minimal foreign fees)
- Calendly (Coordinating meetings)
- Anker (Battery packs)
Brands that didn't do so well...
- Apple (overheating, glitching)
- Verizon (Slow or nonexistent roaming)
- Amazon Basics cables (burned out)
- AirBnB (hit and miss, but probably my fault)
What about you guys - any success or horror stories?
Programming is the closest thing we have to casting spells
Quoting my brother Mitchell
Episode 6: Top 7 Benefits of Having an Open Dev Platform
(4 min audio) Here's the next episode of my Startup and Dev Platform Advice series.
Here I explain the top 7 benefits of building an open Dev Platform.
"And number 6 will blow your mind".
(Link to audio: 7 benefits of having an open Dev Platform)