May 30 – It's Been Emotional

Yesterday

Watching the data stream in and seeing the emotions and needs that generated it has itself been really emotional.

On one hand, frustration that so many people who use certain businesses are dissatisfied and go unheard. On the other, I am also glad that they choose to express that need (albeit with some angry words).
I’m fully into the acquire customer funnel, a conversation with my adviser on Tuesday emboldened my strategy and helped to renew my energies.

My check-in:

Glad I had a great conversation with Paul, my adviser, on my strategy for researching and acquiring customers. He checked out bizbuzz and was impressed with the concept (there may be a potential pivot there).
Sad the almost all my contacts are techies – I need to get more professional diversity into my network.
Mad at so much today : youth unemployment, apathetic businesses that squander the promise of social media, stupid politicians. I have to blog something or else I might scream and drink wine…hang on!
Glad that I am really into my customer acquisition funnel with good data that will inform my approach and pitching.
I’m grateful for data. There is so much of it, most of it noisy, but with the right intentions and nurture, beauty can be coaxed. (WTF! – I’m waxing lyrical about data – someone smack me with a wet fish)
I’m grateful that NVC has enabled me to see deeper into this data and react differently with it. More empathically for all concerned.

I’m empirically in.

Improve On…

Keep to the schedule.

Make a little time for my distractions.

Self restraint. Less long hours into the early hours

Today

My funnel includes talking to my potential customers’ customers. Those who expressed a need (albeit it through angry words and criticism). I want to discover what they feel might have made a difference. Did they have the conversation they deserved? What could have happened differently for them? So, today those conversations continue.

Also I have 20 businesses on my list to find warm introductions to. Great data to use in LinkedIn. I found five that I am already connected to and I will be sending intro requests to them.

The Trello board…

May 28 – Data is Fascinating

By: Dan Brickley – CC BY 2.0

Yesterday

I think I’m back in my stride!

Having got bizbuzz online, the data is flowing straight out of Twitter, of businesses that have the problem ServiceChat is designed to solve. I’m getting the metrics to use in the conversation with these prospective customers.
It is providing amazing clarity and insight into the problems and I have learnt so much about the a worrying approach to corporate use of Twitter and in my opinion it is all wrong!!! Businesses like Morrisons, Waitrose etc in the UK are missing huge opportunities in this space. Many use auto-responders (and I bet they sit in their boardrooms patting themselves on the backs for having a coherent social media strategy – please!!)

Wake up and smell the coffee, social media is not like anything you had before, trying to corral it into your traditional channels is going to cost you big time. Why are CIOs and CMOs not all over this?

Anyway – rant over…here is my check in (it is all glad!!)

Glad my data feed is online, 300+ prospects. Now, I’m the bottleneck.
Glad I decided against carpet-mailing my LinkedIn contacts , I now have targets and with a little effort I can narrow down the 20% who can get me to the decision makers in the businesses I want to speak to.
Sometimes a hammer is not the only tool!
Glad the brainwave training stuff is working, I’m feeling less mentally fatigued, more alert and I think, quicker too. I suspect fasting and exercise are also helping.
I’m grateful for Ruby on Rails. I’ve been coding for nearly 20 years and it has never been easier to quickly make a beautiful working version of something you imagined. It is such a rich and giving ecosystem, that encourages me to give back to. So watch out for a Twitter reach gem, a beta marker gem. They are all on my list.

I’m in.

Improve On…

Keep to the schedule.

Increase automated code coverage on stuff that started as a hack.

Today

My data reveals that, as of right now, there are 418 prospects from 766 unhappy customers, my strategy is to focus on the customers with most number of unhappy customers.

Today the major push is to have a conversation with a good cross-section of them, by the end of the week I want to have spoken/chatted with at least 20% of the customers of each of the top 5 target business in my data set.

The Trello board… is unchanged!

Be yourself, everyone else is busy.

May 27 – A Squeak of a Week

By: Neil McIntosh – CC BY 2.0

Yesterday Last Week!

It’s Monday, of a brand new week – that is as it always is. However last week was notable for a few reasons:

I didn’t write my blog – a serious breach of the commitment to my focus. It’s not that I was not focused, in fact I was too focused to write a post!
I automated by lead generation process (most of it anyway) into an internal app (BizBuzz)
Tron went awesome! Managing my twitter responders just got infinitely easier. I believe there are 2 potential services here – let’s see…

Here is my check-in, summing up last week and my hope for this one…

Sad I didn’t check-in on this blog since May 21.
Glad I successfully automated my prospects/lead generation process – making it easier to find the customers with the problem ServiceChat is designed to solve.
Glad I started experimenting with Binaural sounds to enhance focus and learning during my iterations. I think it is actually working! They play under my music/language etc.
Glad that this is the week everything changes (again!)
Sad that there are not more sign ups on ServiceChat (a week on), even my early adopters have not started using it. Disappointed, but not surprised – we operate on different schedules and what is urgent for me is much less important to other businesses. Patience and persistence required!
Delighted that there is no more tech for now. It’s fun, interesting and engaging, but an illusion of progress. Progress is not more code, it is more learning (right now, from early users).
I’m grateful for the gift of knowing better ways of living and hopeful for the wisdom and patience to choose them 😉

I’m present and in.

Improve On…

Making sure that I write this blog – whatever the minimum is and keep it consistent.

Making fewer commitments for things that I don’t feel 100% that I will even get to (e.g. writing a blog post about my TedTalk favorites.)

Taking the time I set aside for congruent learning e.g. watching Ted.

Today

The major activities today are to do the human bits of my lead generation process – talking to the identified prospects or trying to get access to the folk who can make decisions!

The Trello board…

Seek risks safely.

May 21 – One mountain's peak is another's base.

By: Kyle Taylor – CC BY 2.0

Yesterday

It’s been a weird few days, my exhiliration at releasing ServiceChat is tempered by a realisation that the mountains left to climb are even higher than that of getting software built (which is really just a molehill!)

Oh young whippersnapper founder, hear me well – software is the easy bit. Finding customers and trying to get to have conversation with them (on a budget and with time pressures added for good measure) are the ‘real’ challenges.

Glad I am still working to my routine, despite a resurgence in laziness!
Glad I was emotionally reminded of my Dad from a picture taken in the early 60s. I wondered what me now, would say to him, then.
Excited that I am slowly generating leads. Just because it took me a weekend to read Lean Startup by Eric Ries doesn’t mean it takes a weekend to build a startup!
I’m grateful for the parents I had /have. Age my bend our knees but it won’t bow our heads.

I’m tired and in.

Today

Mostly today is about doing stuff planned in my marketing plan/strategy. Today it’s shortlisting target companies and seeking introductions through my network.

Create my early adopter lead generation funnel and start approaching potential customers from the research I did a few months ago ( I have to check the findings again first).

Start using LinkedIn more deeply – especially now I signed up for a business account. Will try it for a month and see what results I get.

The Trello board…

I built a solution to help people have conversations. I desperately need to have conversations myself with businesses. Can you help?

May 17 – Been Focused on Making Art

By: gordonplant – CC BY 2.0

The last three days

No, I haven’t been abducted by aliens. I apologise for not posting to this blog over the last 3 days. It’s been a tough few days, spent mostly making art and exercising my passions.

Glad I had invested 3 solid days in pushing to close off the outstanding tasks to get ServiceChat beta live.
Seriously Glad that ServiceChat beta is now live and I can now focus on
Sad I hurt my back and this stopped my main workouts
Glad I’m averaging 1.5 hours of Spanish lessons a day. Totally loving Duolingo.com
Excited that some early users will begin using it today/tomorrow.
I’m grateful for having a pulse, this much fun without one would be a tad difficult.

I’m so in.

Today

With the release of ServiceChat beta, the main push is to begin rapid execution of my marketing plan.

Reach out to my network and get as much exposure to the content I have created to inspire conversations with businesses to sign up. Mostly through Linked In!

Also I need to resume, in earnest, the research of companies on Twitter to see living proof of the problem I am trying to solve and generate targets for my marketing reach out.

The Trello board…

I thought I might include the ‘Achieved’ column, to remind you and myself just how much big stuff I have actually achieved in a really short time.

Every life needs a lull in the proceedings to reflect and celebrate. Tonight it is curry and wine. Viva la Lull!

Stay foolish, stay hungry.

May 14 – All Set!

By: Saaleha Bamjee – CC BY 2.0

Yesterday

What a day! So many little things that combine to be pretty big. But a very fulfilling day, tiring, but fulfilling.

Glad I had a balanced day – language practice (i discovered duolingo and it is amazing. Still using Rosetta Stone as well.)
Glad the site is ready to go and I decided to do it by verbal invitation – having too many users too soon can be as problematic as not having any!
Excited that some early users will begin using it today/tomorrow.
Glad I got some brilliant feedback from some trusted contacts on ServiceChat’s landing pages, some great direction on at least one explainer video.
I’m grateful for living in interesting times.

I’m In.

Today

The early feedback on the site (not the app) is the message is clear, but would be significantly clearer with the some media showing a real scenario (basically I need to tell stories!).

This changed my appreciation of the need for the explainer video. Even if some folk already know the problem, they need to understand how my solution addresses it. I need stories and I need to communicate them compellingly.

So I have 2 main goals today:

Get early adopter business – 2 or 3 signed up to the app and using it. With over 20 years of building stuff people use I know users in the wild will find new ways to make things break and I am excited to learn these!

Work on the 50/50 explainer – that does a decent job of describing the problem and the solution – well enough to answer most questions anyway.

The Trello board…

May 10 – My Keel Is Evening Out

By: Magic Madzik

Yesterday

Really challenging day, huge range of emotions but perhaps necessary. Mostly I am:

Glad my routine is settling down and more that I am really enjoying it.
Glad I got feedback from my friend and ServiceChat early adopter on my landing page. It was awesome feedback and the mods really enhanced it.
Sad that I had a deep disappointment with a relationship that I thought was stronger than it actually is.
Glad that I was like a ninja on some tech challenges I got stuck on. I gave the solutions time to find me

I’m grateful for the ability to be irreverent.

I’m very In.

Today

The main goal today is to get the chat working again since I broke something! The tests need to go green before I move on to the other big elephant in the room – my explainer video.

I also will put together a mind map of options for funding from October (or sooner!) that I can discuss with my advisers.

The Trello board…

May 9 – Too Far Down The Road Less Travelled

By: Michael 1952

Yesterday

What an intense day – but pleasantly so. Mostly I am:

Glad I successfully executed my new routine. I had a 17 hour fast, did 1.5 hours of language study (and it was huge fun) and 8 hours of work on the startup and over an hour of wellness throughout the day – YAY!
Glad I realised that my beta is not my MVP before I spent even more time on it.
Mad at how much time I had already spent on the beta vs the MVP
Sad that I don’t have a co-founder who was immediately accessible so we could decide what to do – keep doing the beta (it’s close) or stop and release the MVP now!
Glad I got over that and decided.

I’m grateful that I have the opportunity to experiment to take risks, fail and learn. I realise that many in the world of work do not readily claim this fundamental right.

I’m In.

Today

The decision about the beta vs MVP is to get the MVP out today and then get back to get the beta ready for next week. This is options gaming really – buying myself the option of more time on the beta whilst still having something out that folk can be using. Of course this means that once my MVP is out, I can also resume the validation of my marketing strategy, so maybe I won’t have all the time I thought I would have on the beta.

I need to get out of the building.

I want to have the idea validated ASAP not the app and the MVP should get me on that route.

So the big push is around the explainer video of some description and getting feedback on what I have in place for the landing the page (the wording mostly).

The Trello board…

May 7 (and 8th) – Plan : Replan, Replay

Revised Bigger, Bigger Picture

A Note on Yesterday

In lieu of a retro for yesterday (May 6th), which I did not write because it was late, I was tired and intended to do it this morning but unexpectedly had to make an airport run. That is my story and I shall be sticking with it.

The app is not in production yet, as I was walking through the MVP flow, I realised I had missed an important piece! People can sign up, but they can’t sign in.

They need to sign in to manage the authorised chat hosts. That single piece suddenly became both urgent and important!

I’m glad I have ‘sign in’ now in place and I can get back to what I was supposed to be doing. I’m in, all the same.

Today

I awoke feeling rather depressed. Whilst I had my Startup and Wellness working well , the third element of my focus – Learning Spanish – was being neglected.

This called for a revision of the bigger, bigger picture. I thought long and hard about what my focus elements I have and what outcomes I want. Planning is fun, the plan less important.

Voila! I have a revised plan that leverages what has been working for me over the last weeks and helps me do all the things I want to focus on. Namely, building Spanish into my iterations (which previously only hard startup work and then a 10 minute HIIT workout).

So…my main goal is to start this new routine, follow the plan and adapt.

The tasks for the startup are still the same – get the app into production, explore an early draft of my explainer video and talk to early beta users.

The Trello board…

Trello board for 8th May 2013

Another Change

On reflection, two blogs on the same day is proving a little cumbersome and the result is neither is done well nor timely. I have thought about this and will experiment with a single post again, this time in the morning.

I seem to do my main retro in the morning anyway and this impacts my planning too. So it makes sense that I just do the morning post with a concise retrospective (complete with the benefits of a night’s rest) and my daily plan. Let see how consistently that will happen. I’m excited!

May 3 – Retro: Traction.

By: Alexander Svensson

Check In

I’m sad I didn’t write my plan on friday (May 3rd and a retro for that day). Slow progress meant not much had changed at the level I was tracking on my board.
I’m glad that on Sunday , May 5th I worked deeply and intelligently and achieved a huge amount.
Glad that I should be able to get early adopters using ServiceChat around the middle (Wednesday/Thursday) this week
Excited to be trying Intermittent Fasting as part of my wellness focus.
Glad to be have created my startup storymaps, felt I was losing sight of the big picture!
Glad that this last weekend was one of the best we have had as a family – sheer bliss.

I’m excited. I’m In.

Achievements Since Last Retro

Approved hosts working lovely
Autoresponder for non-signed up usage and non-active usage in place.
Email on signup complete – need to work on the text of emails – will test with early adopters
Updated my Startup Storymaps – this, with my marketing maps and business model canvas gives a great overview of what I intend to do, when and towards what outcomes. (might blog about it)

How The Trello Board Now Looks

ServiceChatTrello Board – 6/May

…and the The Story Map

ServiceChat Storymap

I Learned…

How to setup mailers in Rails
A whole world of swearing in Spanish! via Spotify.

I Loved…

Catching up on some reading last night, having a late snooze and then coding till 4AM!

I’m Grateful For…

Reality. It is often less scary than the delusions I sometimes conjure.