Product & Startup Builder

Now Accepting New Clients

Added on by Chris Saad.

It’s a new year and I have a couple of slots available for new advisory clients.

I’ve been doing this for a little while now and I absolutely love it! I’ve also been humbled to get some very positive feedback - I’ve attached some of it to this post.

As a reminder: My areas of expertise include developer platforms & ecosystems, two-sided on-demand marketplaces, future of media, data portability and the silicon valley ecosystem. Learn more at https://www.chrissaad.com/advisory

I'm also happy to provide some free one-off advice to fellow founders (so let’s set up a call) and you can get ongoing free advice via my newsletter here: https://www.chrissaad.com/startupnewsletter

Drop me a line at me@chrissaad.com if want to have a chat. Please be sure to include information about what you’re working on and the kind of challenges or opportunities you’re facing at the moment.

Angel Investor

Added on by Chris Saad.

Today I’m very happy and excited to announce that I’ve started formally Angel Investing in early stage companies.

My thesis: I invest in early stage companies that have amazing teams building beautiful products designed to create positive, global disruption to fundamental aspects of how everyday people live and work.

Learn more at https://www.chrissaad.com/angel

Uber Incubator Launch

Added on by Chris Saad.

Interesting. So many thoughts...

1. When company wide entrepreneurial DNA is diluted and innovation slows you need to resort to more tricks

2. Imagine a developer ecosystem of open, self-reinforcing innovation at a fraction of the investment

3. As the company matures (necessary), more incrementalism becomes mandatory - at least they’re finding ways to keep big bold bets alive.

H/t Mark Lamb

How to Compete with the iPhone's Camera

Added on by Chris Saad.

As iPhone and Android begin to cannibalize higher-end cameras the same way they did the point-and-shoot market, it seems that the Cannon's and Sony's of the world have utterly failed to respond.

There are a number of ways they can start to engage with the existential problem.

Here are 3 possibilities off the top of my head

1. Imagine a DSLR and/or Mirrorless with a large touchscreen on the back running a version of Android providing computational photography, over-the-air updates and easy sharing to social media.

2. Imagine if Sony and/or Cannon released "Moment" style lenses and rigs (iPhone lens attachment product) that make it easy to use your mobile phone as the brains of a powerful camera rig.

3. Imagine mobile apps for real-time view finding and import from the camera manufacturers that don't totally 100% suck.

The fact that they are not doing at least some of this stuff is a clear sign that the camera companies are trapped in the innovator's dilemma.

Know anyone who works at these companies? Tag them here and let's see if we can learn why they aren't exploring more in these areas.

Originally posted on Facebook

Grab Product Experience in Vietnam

Added on by Chris Saad.

The Grab product experience in Vietnam is really poor because of a lack of trust between riders/eaters and drivers. They have taken to calling and texting each other to confirm everything all the time.

Is the ride request confirmed? Is the address confirmed? Is the food order confirmed? I’m on my way with the food are you still there? I’m arriving now is it all OK?

This is particularly difficult when you don’t speak the language.

The product even encourages this behavior by giving you pre-canned messages.

I’m not exactly sure how this started, but it feels like some better built-in reputation management/accountability and insurance from Grab when the delivery goes wrong, would go along way to make this all run a little bit more smoothly.

Originally posted on Facebook

Let Me Know In The Comments Below . . .

Added on by Chris Saad.

"But the important thing here is, what do you think? Let me know in the comments below..." - the end line of every YouTube video.

It's funny. In 1999 I was building and advocating for interactive radio and media as part of Radioactive. Also during my time working with CNN, WWE, AMC, ABC, Disney etc etc as part of Echo for 6 years.

For years I'd remind various people that they needed to have clear conversation starters for their audience in the main body of their content. They rarely ever listened.

Now that I see everyone says it at the end of every video it's kinda annoying. Maybe because it feels disingenuous since the conversation they're trying to spark never has any effect on the main host/content. All it does (and the only reason they say it) is to juice their distribution thanks to the algorithms that factor in comments as a signal for popularity.

 But the important thing here is, what do you think? Let me know in the comments below...

Originally posted on Facebook

My Thoughts On Libra

Added on by Chris Saad.

1. What Josh Elman said “Libra is one of the most impressive big company initiatives I’ve seen in a while. Bold. Forward thinking. Open source. Commitment of distribution across billions. Will see if they can get over the trust line and become truly open”

2. It’s shady as hell that they blocked crypto ads on Facebook until they had a chance to go build their own. I believe it was partly to block scams, but it also had the convenient effect of buying them a lot of time.

3. I’m surprised it hasn’t had more of an effect on the price of Bitcoin.

Originally posted on Facebook

Android vs. iPhone

Added on by Chris Saad.

I have been trying to live on Android for the last few months (again) and I have come to suspect that most android users don’t realize just how bad android apps are compared to iPhone apps.

I suspect that the poor android developers spend so much time just trying to make android apps basically functional across the wide spectrum of android devices and OS flavors that they can’t spend as much time working on the same level of polish.

Also, the iPhone keyboard and auto correct continues to be incredibly precise for me while the android keyboards can’t seem to find the right letters even when you hit them.

Originally posted on Facebook

Apple's Untapped Potential

Added on by Chris Saad.

Imagine a smaller iPad mini with edge-to-edge display

Imagine Matte Black and Rose Gold Airpods - making them more discrete or more like earrings.

Imagine MacBook 12” with real processing power - true power + portability.

Imagine an Apple stand-alone display that looks like a large iPad Pro. Pair it with a docking station for a desktop setup powered by a fully spec’d MacBook Pro.

Imagine USB-C on all the things so you don’t have to carry different cables.

So much untapped potential

How Uber Scaled So Fast

Added on by Chris Saad.

Jeremiah just asked me how Uber scaled so fast. My off-the-cuff answer:

1. Huge ambition/vision/appetite - this animates and motivates everyone and everything

2. First principles thinking - this leads to ignoring legacy constraints and encourages new innovative thinking/solutions

3. Fearless execution with ownership/accountability at the edge - which allows everyone to move fast without waiting for permission

I’d also add...

4. Bias towards action - move fast. Have the meeting this week, not next week

5. Hire strong operators that, in-turn, hire strong operators.

Of course, these are some of the same things that got it in trouble too.

Originally posted on Facebook

4 Things to Raise Capital

Added on by Chris Saad.

Reminded of this today. Also keep in mind that many successful b2b companies are now using consumer growth tactics and metrics.

If you're building & running a self-serve consumer app, you really only need to prove 4 things to raise capital and have a good exit

1. You can spend $x on acquiring a user and get $y in return. Where y is the Customer Life Time Value (LTV). It’s ok if Y is initially less than X (this is investing/subsidizing growth - see point 3).

2. The market your addressing is large enough such that your total revenue can become meaningfully large.

3. You have a clear and believable strategy to reduce the cost of X and increase the return of Y (This is essential if X is still greater than Y)

4. You have an IPO in your future and/or (more likely) you have a number of potential acquirers lined up - ideally you've started building relationships with them already.

Originally posted on Facebook

Project Management Requirements

Added on by Guest User.

Product Management isn’t that hard. It just requires a little bit of...

1. Empathy

2. Common sense

Oh and a little bit of...

3. Taste

4. Design skills

5. Technical understanding

6. Project management

7. Leadership and consensus building

8. Diplomacy

9. Pattern matching

10. Data analysis

11. Vision

12. Pragmatism

13. Attention to detail

14. Long term discipline

15. Experience

16. Passion (h/t David)

17. Curiosity/truth-seeking

But that’s about it...

Originally posted on Facebook