Starting a new venture is hard. It can also be lonely, especially if you’re the sole founder. These days, entrepreneurs quickly learn to work virtually and inexpensively, especially if the company is pre- or self-funded. For an extroverted entrepreneur such as me, co-working spaces and coffee shops not only fit the economic bill but also …
As a lover of politics and technology (and a little bit of mayhem), I don’t think there’s been a better time than the one we are in right now. The American presidential campaigns are proving quite raucous, giving voters lots of entertainment and a fair share of trepidation. Meanwhile, the tech world is producing its …
Rubio on Rails: My Experience with the Apple Genius Bar and Going Off Message Read More »
I take hiring very seriously. Though it sounds like a platitude, please allow me to elaborate. For a recent marketing position of mine, I looked at 274 resumés, conducted 18 phone screens, had 8 face-to-face interviews, managed 5 group interviews, and hired 1 person. She’s been a great addition to the team. Before I actually …
I recently attended a company offsite where my fellow executives and I took a hard look at our rapidly growing business. Often, growth can blind companies to latent problems that subsequently arise at the worst possible time. Good management teams regularly go offsite to step back, wake up, work together, fix problems, and plan ahead. …
Running Sales For the past year and a half, I have been the executive vice president of both sales and marketing for a great company called Pixability in Cambridge. It’s not great because we have amazing technology (though we do) and passionate people (got that, too); it’s great because we consistently help our customers achieve …
I met with Francois Gossieaux, co-founder and President of Human 1.0, to discuss elements of his book The Hyper-Social Organization: Eclipse Your Competition by Leveraging Social Media. Human 1.0 is a customer strategy firm that helps companies innovate business programs, practices and organizational culture to realize the benefits of social media and Web 2.0. Francois and …
The Hyper-Social Organization meets Contemporary Marketing Read More »
The Value Proposition Challenge I love great salespeople. They know their customers’ business needs; they know their products; and – most importantly – they know how to link the two together. And there’s one more: they actively and positively engage marketing. One of the best sales professionals I know is Sean Harris, someone whom I’ve …
2 Quick, Powerful Fixes To Marketing That Don’t Involve Social Media Read More »
I’m starting to wonder whether an old house is a metaphor for business. Strike the “old” – maybe any house is a metaphor for business. How so? If you ignore it, you’ll pay dearly. No matter how much you plan, something will go wrong. Many people you hire, no matter how much background checking you …
There’s always a sense of excitement when we drive into a town and find a vibrant and diverse community filled with people and beautiful, occupied storefronts. Too frequently, though, we find the opposite: no people and empty, decrepit storefronts. We then comment, “Geez, this town has seen better days.” And we drive right through, unlikely …
There is great pizza and mediocre pizza. It’s that black and white – or should we say red and white? It should come as no surprise that there is a whole lot more mediocre pizza than there is great pizza. We’ll drive an hour for a great pizza, tell people about it, and keep going …
