Lean Startups and more on StartupRemarkable.com

September 1, 2011 | Leave a Comment

Howard Kingston was nice enough to interview me for his blog, StartupRemarkable.com.

In just under 40 minutes, we riffed on:

  • What is a tribe and why are they important?
  • The critical importance of finding the first ten rabid fans for your idea.
  • The benefits of Eric Ries‘ Lean Startup methodology
  • How to quickly mock up your idea using a rapid prototyping tool for less than $50
  • How to build virality into your startup, like Instagram did.
  • Why your startup should give users a metric to be embarrassed about.
  • The unique application and interview process for the Seth Godin MBA program.
  • How SAMBA taught applicable business lessons vs. a standard curriculum.
  • The genesis and vision for Spindows, my new startup.
  • How to get your early customers to fund your startup.
  • How to use search.twitter.com to find members of your tribe.

Watch the video below or over on Howard’s blog.

Survival of Ideas

February 1, 2010 | 3 Comments

Darwin was right.

So is Federov.

2 sites to upgrade your e-cards

January 31, 2010 | 3 Comments

If you’re sending someone a card, whether physical or digital, the goal should be to trigger an emotion.

Isn’t that why we send cards?

If that’s not the reason, it’s just a selfish act on the sender’s part to communicate that they did remember the recipient’s birthday/graduation/Bat Mitzvah.

So if triggering an emotion is the goal, why do so many cards fail to do so? Between physical stores and e-card sites, there are tens of thousands of card options, yet maybe 1% are written well enough to trigger an emotion?

99% look something like this.

Really? Who sends cards like this?

(To be fair, I guess this card does trigger an emotion with me, but it’s not the desired one.)

Well in my never-ending quest to serve you, my brilliant and attractive Daily Sense readers, I have researched and found two sites to use to permanently upgrade your e-cards.

Someecards
This site is brilliant. The humor is often sarcastic and crass, something you would expect when one of the co-founders is a former writer for The Onion. Not all cards are safe to send to grandma, but it’s easy to find the perfect card to remind a friend or significant other of that inside joke or funny memory.

One of my favorite things about someecards.com is that users can customize their own cards and submit to the site. Leveraging the Wisdom of Crowds, The Editor’s Picks in the User Cards section are often some of the best.

Story People
This is the site of artist Brian Andreas. Story People is much more than e-cards. Brian has built a nice little empire out of his inspirational snippets and whimsical artwork. You can browse the entire collection, creating your own e-cards by combining any of the text with any of the images. You can also order the physical prints for framing and other products.

The Story People cards are often amazing and emotionally moving.

[The full "Hi, Mom" disclaimer: My mother originally introduced me to Story People and she's been a fan for a long time. As always, all credit goes to her.]

Use these two sites to save you from ever sending another forgettable e-card.

I’m sure there are more than just these two. What other sites have emotion-triggering e-cards?

Remember when you were a kid?

January 18, 2010 | 3 Comments

Thanks to Jimmy for pointing out this great video that he found on Tristan Walker’s blog.

My wish for Martin Luther King Jr. day is for all of us to have a dream. And act on it.

If you can’t see the video, click here.

Keynote For A Cause – Help Haiti

January 16, 2010 | 2 Comments

Taking a cue from Joseph Jaffe’s idea and Mitch Joel’s post, I’m auctioning off a keynote presentation with 100% of the proceeds going to the Red Cross / Haiti Relief.

In addition to the keynote, the winning bidder will also get 100 copies of Seth’s Godin’s new book, Linchpin.

My reserve is set at $5,000.

If you want to put in a “bid”, DM me on Twitter (@clayhebert) or e-mail me: clay [at] tribeswin [dot] com.

I’ll update any bids on this post.

Bidding ends Friday, January 22nd at midnight.

Travel outside of NYC would be over and above.

Step up. And while you’re at it, text HAITI to 90999 to donate $10 or text HAITI to 45678 to donate $5 via Salvation Army (in Canada).

Thank you.

[photo credit: hiddedevries]

Tools Tuesday: S2H Replay Watch

January 12, 2010 | 6 Comments

Adult and child obesity is a huge problem in America. The statistics are staggering and the future impact on healthcare costs is terrifying.

So what does the cure look like?

Years of nutritional education?

Mandatory Wii Fit summer camps?

Another complete overhaul of the food pyramid?

What if the answer is actually much simpler? What if it’s a colorful $20 rubber watch?

What S2H Replay Is

Imagine a Livestrong bracelet and a Polar heart rate monitor had a drunken tryst one night after the Ironman triathalon. The offspring would be the Switch To Health Replay Watch.

Switch To Health Relpay Watch

How It Works

After 60 minutes of physical activity (which doesn’t need to be consecutive), the S2H Replay watch displays a unique Reward Code. Users can go to S2H.com and enter their reward code to accumulate S2H Points, which can then be used to earn rewards such as movies, music and magazines.

Why It Will Work

Making It A Game
We’ve already seen the massive success Foursquare has had, turning going places into a game. S2H can do the same for working out.

Imagine the possibilities…

    Parents challenging children and children challenging parents
    Friends challenging friends (which we’ve already seen work with the Nike+ iPod model)
    Teachers challenging students

Community & Tribes
On S2H.com, users can post challenges, view leaderboards and join teams.

Imagine the long-term health benefits if an entire school district adopted S2H and designed specific exercise and reward programs around it?

Simplicity
No cables. No software. Anyone can upload the simple code at S2H.com in any browser.

What Can You Do?

Please spread the word and check them out at S2H.com and on twitter and Facebook.

If you’re a parent, buy a few and challenge each other. Make it a family thing.

If you’re an educator, figure out how to make S2H part of your curriculum or school.

If you’re a company, partner with S2H (they also make branded Kintetic Fit Bands) to help your employees or customers get fit.

Switch To Health is changing the game and really has the potential to increase fitness and decrease obesity in America.

Thanks for listening.

[Full Disclosure: I met the S2H founders and they sent me an S2H watch to demo. It's my new favorite watch.]

Launching Untemplater

January 5, 2010 | 6 Comments

From when we are young, most of us are taught that there are a few specific templates to follow to a successful life.

Template 1

  • Get into a good college
  • Study hard
  • Get a good job at a big corporation
  • Work hard for 35 years
  • Retire and collect pension and gold watch.

    • Template 2

  • Get into a good college
  • Study hard
  • Meet and marry someone who will follow Template 1.

    • Not only don’t those templates work anymore, they aren’t very fun. How many people do you know who can’t WAIT to get to their cubicle every Monday?

    I bet you didn’t run out of fingers.

    Enter Untemplater.com.

    Launching today (they just opened the doors a couple hours ago….if you hurry, there should still be doughnuts and coffee), Untemplater is a unique site that helps you shatter the template lifestyle.

    Unlike similar sites and books (like Tim Ferris’ The Four Hour Work Week) Untemplater isn’t a retrospective of someone who escaped and is now looking back and telling you how they did it.

    They are, in their own words:

    …real people who are in the trenches, working hard to live the life that we want to live. It’s not easy, nor is it glamorous. Untemplater was founded by six twentysomethings who’ve done it: Jun Loayza, Adam Baker, Cody McKibben, Monica O’Brien, Carlos Miceli, and Andrew Norcross. You’ll see our pain, struggles, successes, and failures as we create an existence that we are proud of and enjoy 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

    We are MBAs; we are husbands, wives, and fathers; we are scrappy entrepreneurs, authors, and freelancers. We live all over the globe. We’re a small group of unconventional folks who hope to build a thriving community for anyone who ever sought more out of life—and we hope to help you learn how to sidestep the traditional life to find the career, relationships, and lifestyle that makes you come alive!

    Sound interesting?

    Download the free Untemplater Manifesto

    If it speaks to you, check out the site. Join Untemplater on Facebook and follow them on twitter.

    If it doesn’t……enjoy your gold watch.

    Asking why

    January 4, 2010 | 7 Comments

    When phones were first introduced into workplaces, there was widespread resistance by management.

    “Why should everyone have a phone? They’ll just call home.”

    When FAX machines were introduced, there was a great deal of skepticism.

    “Why do we need a FAX machine? We’ll never use it.”

    When email became available for enterprise organizations, it was not quickly adopted.

    “Why would anyone need their own email account? They’ll just email their friends.”

    We’re seeing the same thing with social media. Some companies are embracing the new channels and opportunities and learning how to use them to improve their business.

    Many are still stuck asking why.

    If you only read one thing this month…

    December 14, 2009 | 1 Comment

    …make it this free e-book from Seth Godin.

    Seth has rounded up seventy big thinkers to contribute concise but brilliant one-page essays.

    The simple question….

    What Mattters Now?

    The result is priceless and amazing.

    Read it. Share it. Pick your favorite five pages and make something happen now.

    What_Matters_Now

    Download PDF here

    Those who can, teach

    October 27, 2009 | 7 Comments

    I can see

    This is often how I feel.

    When I work with clients, I try hard to teach them about marketing, about customer engagement and how to listen and participate in the social web.

    Some consultants prefer to do instead of teach. They are worried that if the client learns how to run everything on their own, they wouldn’t need the consultant anymore.

    I would welcome that.

    If I can teach my way out of a job, that means the clients are engaging with their customers and running a more successful, more social, more human business.

    How can that be a bad thing?

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