THE DREAM IN ACTION

I’ve been thinking about how my new startup adventure is going to be different than my role with GE and a few things have risen to the surface. So, I’ve decided to do a series of posts on those topics. You’ll be able to follow the series under the tag ‘corpvsstartup’ here.

The first that I want to discuss here on the blog is the need to be bold. In a corporate environment things are usually pre-determined. Processes exist that you have to follow and the challenge can usually lie in just following those pre-defined processes. Aligning resources (PEOPLE) and following the appropriate timing is tough, but it’s still following a plan. In a startup there is no plan, no pre-defined processes. You have to define processes for the first time yourself, you have to write the plan, and you have to be bold to do that!

The story of how I got this opportunity is one that I’m definitely proud of. It’s so undefined, so nontraditional, and nothing that I could’ve ever planned for. But it definitely took some boldness, some balls, for it to happen. Here’s what went down.

Back in early January Travis Kalanick, an angel investor and startup advisor, tweeted this, “Looking 4 entrepreneurial product mrg/biz-dev killer 4 a location based service. pre-launch, BIG equity, big peeps involved–ANY TIPS??” I’d been following Travis for a while and knew that he was working with some awesome startups out in SF and I responded, “@KonaTbone here’s a tip. email me :) graves.ryan[at]gmail.com“. Kind of smart ass, but I figured a boring “I’m interested, please email me” response probably wouldn’t get his attention. It turns out that I was right. He email me that night, then we ended up getting on the phone and had a long conversation about my past experience, what he was looking for and some of the details about the opportunity.

About 3 months, and a few trips to NY & SF later, I’m diving in head first to work for a company that Travis is going to be working with very closely. The team of people behind our company is amazingly experienced and the market opportunity is ripe for disruption. My story is not to brag, although I am pumped how it turned out, but rather to show that this, one of the bolder moves I’ve ever made, really worked. Being bold creates opportunities and that’s the kind of mentality I believe is required to be successful in a startup. It may have even been careless but by really stepping out there and having enough chops to back it up, I was able to land a role running an awesome startup.

This is not even close to the end of boldness required to be successful. The startup path is one of trail blazing and getting your hands dirty in areas you never thought you’d be involved. But when I took the job with GE I had to submit that standard application and resume, and follow the traditional interview and hiring process, not in a startup. It’s nontraditional and requires boldness.

I’m pumped to continue to share other differences from GE’s corporate life to other startup lessons learned. Let me know in the comments if there is anything that you’d particularly like me to touch on.

Flowtown is a new service that will let you submit the email address of any person and be presented with a list of all the social networks that individual is a part of. It is just as they put it on the site: it will let you “turn an email address into a social profile”.

That sounds familiar doesn’t it. It’s because Google just launched a service called Buzz that tries to do the same thing, turn an email social network into a twitter-friendfeed-flickr-facebook-ish type of social network. They’re going to need to do some serious pruning in order to get that product fun and usable. But in the mean time, there’s Flowtown’s social emails for social marketing. And these guys mean business.

Do know the amount of money that businesses pay for an individuals occupation, location, or even just name and age? A lot. Flowtown can get that information with a click of a button, and the collection process is only the start for them. The analytics that can be executed on the data that Flowtown will collect are really interesting. For example, this screen shot shows my most influential friends on Twitter:

Another thing I like about Flowtown is that they charge real money for the service, many web businesses don’t, and they’re able to do that because they provide real value. Dan Martell & Ethan Block are solid entrepreneurs that know what the hell they’re doing. I spoke with Ethan on ActionTalk way back and his passion is obvious & very contagious.

You can test it out and upload a few hundred contacts but in order get the masses you have to pay-to-play. As it should be. This may not be for Joe Twitter User but for anyone in the marketing space this tool will become a must have.

Lastly, if you haven’t read there blog, there are some hilarious social media and blogging comparisons; you’re missing some good stuff…

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With a lifetime of knowing that entrepreneurship is at my core and now 4 years of studying the web startup world, I’ve finally made the jump from ‘Office Space’ corporate America into the infinite abyss of the startup adventure.

I’ve had a great taste of the startup world, but this is something entirely different. In 2008, I attempted the nights & weekends project; with SocialDreamium we were creating a community analytics product focused towards startup community mgrs. I did all product design and customer development while my co-founder did all development. When Tweetdeck & Seesmic launched their FB & Twitter clients in April 2009, it took the wind from our sales and we closed shop in June 09. Many lessons learned.

More recently, I’ve had the amazing opportunity to work with Foursquare. Tristan Walker & Dennis Crowley are awesome, and in a short 3 months I learned a ton, and was continually inspired by the product they were building and the (what will be) powerful business around it. If I learned one thing from that experience it is that you absolutely must be excited about what you’re working on. If you’re at all bored with your work, you have no chance of success. The excitement that the Foursquare team brings to the office everyday is truly inspiring. I’ll miss working with these guys, thanks fellas.

I had an incredible experience over the last 2 years with GE Healthcare. I was exposed to so much through the management training program I was apart of and was able to work for some of the best managers in that business. I worked on everything from major ERP deployments to enterprise e-commerce, and was able to refine my project management skills in possibly the best environment in the world to do so. But recently a co-worker asked why I’m leaving GE and my answer was this…

My priorities with a job are two fold, first, I want to learn as much as possible, and second, I want to be excited about what I’m working on. I found an opportunity that will allow both of those priorities to be filled in a greater way that I believe GE could. When it came down to it, it was a pretty easy decision…

So, what’s next. It’s a combination of everything I was looking for. I’ll be working with some of the most bad ass entrepreneurs & investors in the industry, and I’ll have an opportunity to learn more in shorter periods of time than I believe I could in any corporate program. I’ll be at the ground floor of a startup that has the opportunity to change the world. I found the opportunity with a little bit of luck, a little bit of right time & right place, and a lot of hard work and preparing for an unidentified opportunity.

So, what is it?

Unfortunately, we’re not quite ready to bare it all. While I generally like to avoid the term “stealth mode”, we’re early and we’re running as fast as we can. I can tell you that I’ll be working between New York & San Francisco and I really look forward to making all the relationships I’ve created in those startup hubs over the last 3 years real life friendships. The world of no health insurance, jamming late nights, endless responsibility, and some of the most fun I’ve ever had are ahead of me and I’m so stoked.

My blogging has slowed down recently for one reason, I’ve being doing more. That’s not to say that doing is the opposite of blogging, but doing is the opposite of talking in many respects. So that’s what I’ve been focusing on, doing.

I read this post from @Micah today and it pretty much summed up the reading or writing to get inspired vs. doing. The gist, we don’t need inspiration from external sources to succeed. Focus on what you’re doing and inspire yourself.

“Inspiration is for amateurs, I just get to work.”
-Chuck Close

So, I’m no doubt going to continue to blog, and even just pontificate at times. But primarily, I’m going to focus on writing about what I’m doing. I hope that you can learn from that, I hope that you’re interested in that, and I hope that I can possibly even inspire. But make sure you’re not just reading blogs to get inspired. Make sure you’re doing so that you can inspire yourself.

Get to work.

The number of brands that are jumping on the Foursquare train is awesome. We’ve been talking about the no-brainer that is engaging with your customers and it’s very satisfying to see it happen with such strong companies and brands.

Zagat

Mashable reports:

Zagat is calling the partnership “Foodie Love,” and there’s even a new accompanying foodie badge. Zagat.com is extending the partnership beyond Foursquare and starting a “Meet the Mayor” online interview series that will feature discussions with prominent Foursquare mayors.

Foursquare’s relationship with Zagat is clearly an answer to Yelp’s introduction of check-ins, especially given the trusted and prestigious nature of Zagat content.

Warner Bros.

You’ve all had a blast playing foursquare, and now the entertainment continues. Chris Dixon said that the next big thing would look like a toy, and take my advice here, Dixon knows what he’s talking about. No a game is becoming a way for movies and tv programs to bring the story off the screen and directly into the lives of viewers.

Through the promo’s & tips that these brands are offering, users/viewers can live vicariously through the characters. I’m so pumped on this. Of course, it wouldn’t be Foursquare without a badge to go with the campaign.

“Visit and check-in on Foursquare at any of the locations on our Valentine’s Day inspired list of the most romantic places in New York City, San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles and Boston to get a Valentine’s Day badge! Then go see the movie, in theaters on February 12!”

HBO

Now HBO’s new show “How to Make it in America” that has been compared to a New York based entourage, will also run promo’s through Foursquare. With 4SQ’s huge NYC presence I guarantee this blows the show up! What if the Jersey Shore guys gave tips? I guess nobody wants to live vicariously through them…

Foursquare’s first direct relationship of note was with the Brooklyn Museum. The museum saw the obvious value of visibility into who checked-in and decided to embrace the opportunity to directly provide it’s visitors with tips and tricks around the museum. The created an interactive experience and essentially a personally guided tour! Awesome. Other institutions saw the obvious value in this type of partnership and wanted in, as I said before, the people who get in early will benefit the most. Tristan is killing it in driving these partnerships and infusing compelling reasons for users to checkin and amplifying the value of the checkin.

Our next announcement was that Harvard University got on board by populating over 30 tips for both students and visitors all around campus. The cheeky headlines read, “Foursquare goes to school” and they were right. With Harvard U. on board Foursquare was learning that the potential for these partnerships were reDONKulous. Harvard used the Foursquare platform to populate a virtual tour guide with tips like…

@ Harvard Hall: In 1764, Harvard Hall burned down in a nor’easter, taking with it almost the entire College library & John Harvard’s book collection. (December 9, 2009)

@ Mr. Bartley’s Burger Cottage: An American landmark since 1960 & voted best burgers in America! Try “The American Idol” burger w/ bacon, cheese, mushrooms and onions. (December 8, 2009) [Link]

Can you imagine the potential of the worlds best location based social network and the worlds best restaurant guide teaming up? Exclusive tips from Zagat about the highest rated restaurants in major cities like Chicago, New York, and San Francisco becomes very interesting for the foodies out there. Did someone say Foursquare Foodie badge? I think so!

Oh snap, with a Foursquare/Bravo partnership 4SQ enters 90 million American living rooms and hits mainstream big timeness. BravoTV’s experts and celebs give tips about the venues they love so that when you check in, you’ll see their exclusive tips integrating your checkins with that of the BravoTV shows. Everything from Michael Cohen of Miami Social, to Patti Stranger from Millionaire Matchmaker…know you’ll be in the know like never before, and you can live vicariously through the shows and their stars.

@ Joe Allen: This is where the understated in-crowd always dines. You actually need reservations because the food and This is where the understated in-crowd always dines. The menu changes often but for lunch, the La Scala salad is so good!  Their fish selections are also notable. -Michael Cohen, Miami Social (1 day ago)

@ Dave and Buster’s – Hollywood: Sports bars attract hotties. That’s why I love the wings at Dave & Busters. -Patti Stanger, Millionaire Matchmaker (1 day ago)

The institutional partnerships are taking things to a whole new level. Foursquare was always praised for being a game that provided real world, offline value, but with these partnerships that value was just amplified.

Why raise $30 million to hire an enormous, nationwide sales force if you could use the power of existing sales teams for a fraction of the cost? Recently, I’ve been thinking about how startups can leverage other, larger, companies to build out their model. After all, a startups purpose for existence is to test their model. So why wouldn’t a startup leverage every existing system possible to keep costs low and test the model?

An increasing trend in startups, for good great reason, is to use Facebook Connect to leverage the existing social graph. Look at Foursquare, HotPotato, or OMGICU, all great examples of instantly connecting via FB connect to pull in all of your friends from likely your largest existing friend network. The time and wasted money that these startups would spend developing a brand new social graph is ridiculous.

There are so many opportunities for rapid growth through this type of “existing system leveraging”. With Foursquare I’ve been working hard to get as many venues involved and offering specials in the application as possible, so why wouldn’t I take my own medicine here. I try to use, excuse me, partner with the people who already have relationships with these venues. It turns out there are marketing teams who have great relationships with large groups of bars and restaurants, working directly with these people may bring in 10-20 venues in one fell swoop rather than me pounding on each venues doors individually. Or, another example is liquor distributors? They have strong relationships with bars and can possibly influence the end price of the product to a customer who say, checks in on Foursquare…get it. There are sales teams that work with these people and have a system in place already like Coke, or Zoom media (those ads above urinals), etc. etc. etc., the list could go on.

Whether you’re building a social app, or a utility that sits on top of the ’social graph’ I’d encourage you to look at ways to use existing systems, social or otherwise, as your best distribution channels. The cost is likely lower, and the impact likely higher.

What existing system have you leveraged?

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Back in October I wrote a post about wanting more feedback on this blog. I vowed that if you gave me feedback, I’d listen and sculpt the content of this blog in such a way that it was valuable for you, the reader. I’ve often struggled with the question, should I write for the audience? or, should I write for myself? I’ve found that a mix is the best for all of us. If I’m not really engaged and passionate about what I’m writing it’s probably not going to come off as very interesting to you, and sure as hell if I’m not interested in the topic then I’m wasting my time writing.

What I haven’t done to-date is share the feedback I received so I want to do that today. It’s important to me to let you know that your “voice” is being heard, and that I actually have been listening to your feedback. One of my favorite startups out there is Rypple, a Toronto based company that creates tools that make it easier to grow as a professional. Their feedback tool which allows for completely anonymous input through email or in this case an embeddable widget (which is still in the side bar to the right) is perfect. The people at Rypple are some of the best and you should follow their progress and use their tools at your company. Check out (@jaygoldman, @ddebow, @dpriemer) Anyway, anything you write in that box is completely anonymous, otherwise I’d give some credit to those who contributed. You know who you are so thank you!

Here are a handful of the tips and feedback that I got…

“I like to hear what motivates you as an entrepreneur– to hear your special reason and drive.”

“I love what you write about – its a must read blog… thanks! It would be great if you wrote more about some controversial topics – the BS of arrogant entrepreneurs, the Kool -Aid drinkers etc. But – don’t be negative, just honest.”

I really like this idea and I’ve not written about it yet. I definitely plan to… (I frickin hate the Kool-Aid drinkers)

“blog what you want, it’ll be best if you like it.”

“Could you talk more about lessons learned from start-ups and their culture and how that influences what you are doing at GE. but in general, keep mixing it up and making it interesting in every blog post.”

Because I do work at GE full time I’ve refrained from writing about it so far. I have been contemplating writing a series of ‘how I use startup lessons in the corporate world’ type posts. I appreciate your feedback here and will start to take more action on it.

“Your stuff is great Ryan, one of my regular reads.”

And that kind of feedback is what keeps me going! I appreciate all of you who take the time to read this blog a few times a week. I will continue to listen to your feedback, feel free to post it in any posts comment section or anonymously in the Rypple tool to the right ——->