THE DREAM IN ACTION

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 ——->

For anyone who studies customer development you know that feedback is at the forefront of any successful product. In order to build a product or service that customers will actually want and hopefully pay for. If you’re not asking for customers to pay, you likely want their time and attention. I see this blog as a product and a service, you consume, and hopefully you learn, at least that’s my hope :) I work hard to write interesting stuff so that you’ll learn something from and give me your attention for a few minutes a day. I’ve decided to practice what I preach and ask ya’ll for feedback.

I’ve done surveys in the past but I was always able to provide categories that I wanted feedback and on, now I’d like to ask for your feedback in a more open form. My friends (and I really consider them friends) at Rypple have released an embeddable widget so that you can ask for feedback directly on your blog/website. The widget above, which will also stay in the blog sidebar (down and right), will hopefully collect your ideas and feedback on what you like and topics you want to hear about most from me! If this is your first time on the blog or if you’re a regular reader I’d love for you to drop in a quick idea (almost as short as a tweet) about what you enjoy reading most, or things I can work on! It’s anonymous and quick, and I’d really appreciate the help.

Thanks guys, and great job Rypple!

When people think about a “one liner” they usually think of pick up lines. I do. But, pick up lines rarely work – I heard. You bust out a one liner at a bar and you’ll probably end up slapped or alone. If you want to prove me wrong next time you’re at the bar I recommend one of my personal favorites…

Baby, if you were words on a page, you’d be what they call fine print

But it’s probably no surprise that a solid one liner probably won’t work on any self respective female. Where it will work however, with your startup. A solid one liner can provide focus and direction for your company. A solid one liner helps all of your efforts focus on what Guy Kawasaki would call, “making meaning”. In looking at some of the startups that are most influential to me right now it because very obvious to me that having a solid one liner is very important to get the message and the focus right out in the open for all customers and employees to focus on. It will help drive everything from product development to company culture.

- Inbound Marketing System

Hubspots claimed inbound vs. outbound marketing system is what they are all about. The important thing is to be found by the people looking for you vs. trying to find the people who aren’t looking for you. They’re marketing team has done a phenomenal job with webinars for small business owners and strong tools for grading your site or twitter account. Hubspot focuses on improving a companies marketing with a different approach, and it works.

- Easy to use web-based application

No matter how many times you watch Jason Fried speak about software development, or how blogging has helped their company, or why they wrote and now sell the ebook, Getting Real: The Book – The smarter, faster, easier way to build a successful web application, he always comes back to the same thing – Make simple, fast, and useful software. Easy to use web-based application is by no means an official mantra. In fact last week they asked the community on their blog, “how would you describe what 37 Signals does?” So, they clearly don’t have it down to an exact phrase but when the same message is said in different words everytime it still becomes very powerful. Especially when they back it up with great products.

- A little feedback goes a long way

Rypple is a startup out of Toronto that builds a piece of software that promotes and makes feedback simple in the workplace. It’s easy to use and has a great workflow. In fact, it has to be easy to use because the point is for non-Gen Y’ers to embrace more feedback for Gen Y’ers. Rypple’s tag line of “a little feedback goes a long way” is the heart and soul of their software. Make feedback simple to improve the workplace and the work lives of Gen Y’ers who want it.

- Powered by Services

Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos has explained that Zappos does not focus on doing customer service but rather making service part of the company culture. “Powered by Services” is a tag line and a mission statement for Zappos and is very accurate. Customer service is not just something that each employee practices but it is the life blood of the company, they truly are powered by a service culture. This has been the focus for Zappos and it is very obvious. Zappos has been highlighted as the go to example for great company culture that has lead to great business success.

Follow the leaders and work on developing your core focus. What is your startups One Liner?

Today I was introduced to a new product that could change the way feedback is given and received in the workplace. After writing about what is important to Gen Y employees and how employers are going to have to respond to these changes, the founder of Rypple (pronounced “ripple”) reached out to talk about their new product.

In short, Rypple works to take away the difficulty of giving and receiving feedback in the workplace. However, at the same time they are addressing a critical requirement in professional satisfaction…the feeling of personal, yes PERSONAL development. There is a huge difference between ones need for personal development and ones need for professional development. The main difference lies in the fact that in this day and age people don’t always know what their next profession may be. For example, I could work as an artist, loving my creative freedoms, loving painting, and loving the industry but perhaps the greatest skill I take away from the work is my ability to sell the artwork? (I understand that I’m probably butchering the beautiful profession that is being an artist, my apologies) The same principles may apply elsewhere. If I’m growing my sales skills I can apply those skills to literally any industry. I see these developments as personal developments, where in the example professional developments may be my improved ability to paint using oils vs. another medium.

As there is an increased focus on personal development in the workplace someone or some tool needs to facilitate that change. Rypple has set out to do just that. This tool simplifies the process of asking for feedback from ones peers or managers. In a very clean and intuitive interface you can take micro-polls on your performance. Whether it’s on a sales pitch or project meeting you solicit and receive anonymous feedback. You can tag your question/poll and then your peers will “grade” or rate you on those tagged attributes. This way you can track your improvement on certain topic areas over time. This is the exact type of direct and continuous that Gen Y is looking for!

As your co-workers receive our micro-poll they rate you 1 to 5 on your topic categories and give you both positive and constructive feedback. Again this is all anonymous and the person giving the feedback knows exactly how many people you asked for feedback. This allows them to decide just how candid their feedback should be. Naturally, the more people you ask for feedback the more honest ones feedback will be.

The tool also allows you to track all of your feedback. It knows how many people you asked for each micro-poll and it knows what attributes or topic areas you tagged to each poll. Then it creates a “cloud tag” like tracker for your attributes. The attributes (see right) will be larger the more times you ask for feedback on them. You can always go back to tool and check your ratings on a specific event or on a specific attribute. These will be very helpful in identifying your goals over a period of time and relating specific work events to those overall goals.

Lastly, any good web application today must have a social aspect to the site. As you invite reviewers to grade/rate you on micro-polls the tool will save those contacts. You can tag the type of relationship you have with that individual and even group them. You can include them as ‘All Managers’, ‘Direct Reports’, or simply ‘colleague’s’. You can even important contacts from outside tools like Outlook. This removes the dreaded hassle of populating yet another social web app.

What is very appealing to me about Rypple is that it’s not just the Gen Y crowd who will be able to easily adapt to using this tool. As long as the “boomers” realize the need for better feedback in the workplace, they will realize the simplicity of using Rypple. It’s a very simple workflow and due to it’s email integration no other site or instance needs to be used to give feedback.

Yesterday I had an awesome conversation with Daniel Debow, co-founder of Rypple. Daniel is also a Huffington Post blogger, and former VP of Corporate Development and Marketing for Workbrain. It is obvious to me that he and his startup are focused on the right things! As I read his bio I was blown away as he has his JD & MBA from U Toronto, and a masters degree in Law, Science, & Tech from Stanford. He has successfully helped build and then sell Workbrain and now is focusing on a HUGE need in the workforce…personal development.

I’m going to be using Rypple in a small team at work and hopefully in a few weeks I’ll be able to write a post-use review of the product with an improved insight into its usability and overall use. In the meantime if you’ve used Rypple or are interested in trying out the product please comment below and I will set you up either Daniel or a product key. Cheers.