ETAs for Features

January 27, 2013

A lesson I seem to have to relearn every year: Don’t give ETAs for features. No upside; easy to blow and lose trust. — Patrick McKenzie (@patio11) January 22, 2013 Back in 2007-2008, while my more technical co-founders were building the product, I spent my time meeting with potential customers. When I would get requests […]

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Story-Telling as a Vital Skill

January 26, 2013

Thinking I need to put together an @atdc Lunch-N-Learn on Story-Telling. Most people SUCK at it. — Jen Bonnett (@jen_bonnett) January 16, 2013 Story-telling is a vital skill for entrepreneurs and leaders. It’s a great way to motivate employees, engage audiences, and move leads through the funnel. It’s also vital for most any talk to be […]

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Startup Culture – Be Better

January 25, 2013

The final item on our culture list is “Be Better.” It means a lot of things to us. Direction is More Controllable Than Position “Be Better” is a reminder that wherever we are today is not as important as where we are headed. To be pointed in the right direction is something everyone can individually control through […]

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Startup Culture – Be Selling

January 24, 2013

With a company as engineering-centric as AccelerEyes, it is important for us to embrace “Selling” as a critical element of our culture. Engineers are often naturally suspicious of salespeople, thinking to themselves that salespeople:  don’t build things, use “fuzzy” numbers and uncertain predictions, struggle with “simple” computer things, spend a lot of company money traveling/wining/dining, or […]

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Startup Culture – Be Excellent

January 23, 2013

Startups can provide great personal growth for all involved. This personal growth is one of the biggest factors that enable startups to attract and retain great talent. Founders have to master many different areas of execution. And that spirit of excellence is contagious. For these reasons, “Be Excellent” is part of our culture list. Here are some […]

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Startup Culture – Be Self-Starting

January 22, 2013

“Be Self-Starting” is a straightforward valuable addition to our culture list. Self-starting employees are more productive for a startup, and self-starting startup environments are more exciting for employees. So how can startups encourage and foster a self-starting culture? Here are some ideas: Engineering & Customer Support During the hiring process, look for hackers that code/tinker in […]

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Startup Culture – Be Clear

January 21, 2013

Clarity exposes inefficiencies and improves a startup’s execution. For this purpose, we include “Be Clear” on the AccelerEyes’ culture list. Being clear often boils down to simplifying things. I love this quote from a recent Salesloft tweet, “Simplicity – the art of maximizing the amount of work not done.” There are several ways that we seek […]

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Startup Culture – Be Consistent

January 20, 2013

Consistency is hard to achieve in a startup. Sales can be sporadic. Hectic schedules introduce chaos. Late nights lead to wonky sleeping patterns. Product development sprints hit roadblocks and frustration. And entrepreneurs are often more high-energy jumpy than heads-down consistent. Building a machine requires consistency. For this reason, “Be Consistent” is an important part of the AccelerEyes’ culture […]

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Startup Culture – Be Focused

January 19, 2013

The success of a startup can depend in large measure on how effectively it uses limited time and money. While “Be Upbeat” deals with the heart, today I’ll discuss “Be Focused” as next on the AccelerEyes’ culture list. Here are 3 important ways to Be Focused: 1) Focus product to an appropriately sized target market […]

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Startup Culture – Be Upbeat

January 18, 2013

I’m a firm believer that you can be upbeat without being a delusional optimist. It is way more important to be upbeat than to carry the long startup days with pessimism, paranoia, and complaints. That’s why we put “Be Upbeat” at the top of the list of the AccelerEyes’ beatitudes. Being upbeat also envelopes other important […]

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