Poor attendance…
Just an FYI: if it’s quiet over here, it’s because I’ve been working on our company blog lately: telling our story from day one, announcing some new partners, handling all the PR for HomeField and dropping posts on new features like this (with video!).
Check it out once in a while. Who knows? You may learn something.
Joe's Development: Start of A New Market
Today the Business Development team of HomeField starts it’s next market, Men’s Division I soccer. We closed out our Spring Market of Div. I Men’s Lacrosse with 42% of the teams paying, and I expect to be above 50% by the end of the May.
Some of the things I’ve learned from this Market:
1….
proud of my BD team thus far. i’m psyched we’re starting to chase a new market segment.
The Season is Here… it’s Always Here.
Lacrosse, per NCAA definition, is a “spring” sport. I know it’s February and there’s snow on the ground outside my window, but games have started so to me, it’s spring.
Five years ago, I’d be cranking through classes all day before a team lift (always legs on Monday), then I’d put in 2.5 hours battling through drills on a turf field on the roof of the Brown gymnasium, (Yes, on the roof. No, it wasn’t cool. It was cold, windy, and half the field was covered in building exhaust… ok, yeah, we sort of relished it), then we’d head inside to watch game film for 30 minutes and finally sit in the ice bath to soak up the soreness.
The coolest part was I did all of this surrounded by 40 other guys who all had the same mission as I - win game #1. Then #2, #3, #4 and so on…
These days, my competitive career is entirely different.
I probably stay more active in lacrosse than my teammates on the NYAC. Already this year I took a trip to Miami to play in a tournament. I had a blast playing with some other amazing players, the competition was solid and I even took an 80mph shot in the ribs that has been painfully reminding me of the trip for a month now. (Seriously, this bruised rib is one of the most nagging injuries I’ve ever had).
And last weekend, I headed back to Brown with some other alums for a preseason scrimmage against the current Bears team (Unsurprisingly, Providence hadn’t warmed up since I graduated. Wind chill had the temp around 7 degrees). Still, it was a great day and us veterans were able to pull out a close win over the young pups.
The win was fun for a moment, but there was still a fundamental lacking for me and I’m realizing how much I miss the bonding of a team working towards a common goal and the inherently high level of competition on a daily basis.
Sure, when my NYAC team starts up soon we will all be focused on winning our 4th straight A.L.L. Championship, but we don’t even practice. We just show up on Sundays and play. It’s easier on the calendar, but I know deep down every teammate of mine, and every true competitor out there, needs that battle and that feeling of true team.
But since my lacrosse career won’t last forever, I’ve assembled a new team (different “sport”), uber-competitive, we all have the same mission… and this game is played 24/7.
This past weekend I was fortunate enough to hear famed college football coach Lou Holtz speak at the US Lacrosse Convention while there representing HomeField. He was both inspiring and hilarious. If you have a chance to hear him speak, do take it.
In his speech, he laid out a few rules for life and told story after story from his coaching career. While it largely focused on coaching athletics, his talk is applicable to life in general and from my seat - a startup founder trying to lead my team to success - I applied his thoughts to entrepreneurship.
Lou’s Rules of Life Entrepreneurship
1. “Do right.”
This is a classic. It’s so simple. In entrepreneurship, you’re spread thin trying to do a million things at once. You’ve got to figure out what your users want. You’ve got to figure out how to run a business. You’ve got to make a lot of mistakes. If you can have one guiding principle, “Do right.” is as good as it gets. It’s similar to Google’s “Do no evil.”
I learned this one early. My dad used to say “do the right thing.” Even when you make a mistake, if you were trying to do the right thing you’ll be all right.
2. “Do everything to the very best of your ability.”
In a startup, you have to do this. If you’re not working your hardest and doing your best work, someone else will come along and eat your lunch. If you’re not at your best, then why should a customer use your product? If you don’t prepare and bring your best to every meeting, then why should your co-founders?
Being “good” isn’t enough. Being the “best” is the only thing that matters.
3. “Treat people the way you want to be treated.”
This goes back to people - co-founders, employees, customers, partners, investors, competitors (yup, even them), and most importantly, your family/friends/loved ones (they’re a part of this roller-coaster ride, too and you can’t treat ‘em like crap because they have to like you). You have to treat everyone well. The world is too small and life is too short to be a grump.
It doesn’t matter if your customers gave bad feedback, if your meeting didn’t go well, or if your competitor launched a similar feature. You can’t take it out on the people around you. If anything, they’re the ones who are going to help you make the next play.
Tomorrow: “W.I.N. - What’s Important Now?”
an entrepreneur’s reading list
I like to read as much as I can. It’s not as much as I’d like, so when I do, I want to read something great. My pal @JoeYevoli is also an avid reader, and we share a lot of books back and forth, particularly about business.
A while back, we decided to start the “Overtime Media Library” - a collection of great books for our startup company that we would reference for new employees and such. Sure, we don’t really have any employees yet, but it’s now a part of our company culture moving forward.
Also, I get asked for advice on startups a lot, especially since Fred said I’m doing something right. I’ve found myself continually referencing and emailing this list, so I figured I’d just post it once and for all and I’ll update it when appropriate.
Books - there are a bunch that I love, but these are the ones that have helped me most in entrepreneurship.
Getting Real - mandatory at Overtime Media Inc
The Monk and the Riddle - career choices
Made to Stick - effective communication
Atlas Shrugged - capitalism, entrepreneurship, amazing story
Good to Great - how to build a great company
Purple Cow - marketing/product
Deep Survival - awesome book on survival mentality (great for startups)
Crossing the Chasm - business development/market strategy
Let My People Go Surfing - by Patagonia founder, a very different view on business and building a great company
Sway - ‘The irresistible pull of irrational behavior’ [Added 5/4/10]
Mastering the VC Game - by @bussgang - excellent insight into the VC world from the perspective of an entrepreneur turned VC. [Added 5/12/10]
Negotiation Genius - effective negotiation strategy/tactics. Good actionable advice. [Added 6/27/10]
Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us - by Daniel Pink. Great read to help understand how to motivate your team. Another one with actually actionable advice. This video is a great teaser for it. [Added 8/25/10]
Blogs - there are tons of blogs out there, but these are the ones I return to most often.
AVC.com (Fred Wilson - arguably #1 VC in consumer web, and generally awesome blogger)
paulgraham.com (Paul Graham - entrepreneur, hacker, YCombinator founder)
feld.com (Brad Feld - entrepreneur/angel/VC, TechStars founder)
bothsidesofthetable.com (Mark Suster - entrepreneur/VC)
bijansabet.com (Bijan Sabet - entrepreneur/VC)
cdixon.org (Chris Dixon - entrepreneur/VC)
venturehacks (Nivi and Naval - entrepreneur/angels, AngelList founders)
Who would have thought a decade ago that Cisco would be here talking about consumer products and video?” joked Chambers. “It is video that changes everything… The video experience was not really ready for the big time until now.
For every person who comes into my office with a good idea I respond, “Don’t worry about your failure, worry about your success. If you fail, you move on. But if your good idea pops big time then trust me there will be three PhDs from Stanford sharing a cheap apartment in San Jose working around the clock to beat you. They’ll be eating Ramen every night and saving their pennies to pour into the company.” You’ll get over your failed company. You’ll never get over coming up with a great idea, getting initial traction and watching someone else get all the glory (and financial returns).
I was put on the spot by iLacrosse.tv at the #lacrosse coaches’ convention this past weekend. Check out the video. Nice work by @spinosa driving the demo…
On Preparation
I had a meeting with a potential investor recently, for which I prepared a pitch deck and an extended executive summary.
Prior to my meeting, I went through every slide and every paragraph to make sure our story and our projections were air-tight.
I also had versions of both prepared in Keynote and Pages as well as in Powerpoint and Word. Then I made PDF versions of each, and for the pitch deck, I made versions including every stage of the builds and without. I had copies on my laptop, on a USB drive and in my Gmail.
When I got into the meeting, guess which docs I actually used?
None.
I sat down and simply started talking. I told our story from the heart and I rattled off our pitch, our plans and our trajectory with honesty and confidence. The result? A successful telling of our business, that had my audience interested in investing.
So it seemed all that preparation was a waste, but without it, I wouldn’t have been in a position to tell the story. Sure, at this point (two years in), I can pitch HomeField off the cuff. Likewise, Tom Brady can still throw a football pretty well. But does he still practice? You bet he does. In fact, in the lifetime of an athlete, you’ll generally spend more time practicing than actually playing!
In my life - whether it’s sports or business - the game is always changing and practice is the eternal must. I’m glad I know how to do it and thankful for the people who taught me the importance of practice along the way.
My company - @OvertimeMedia has partnered up with LacrosseAllstars.com for a few projects, a couple of which involve @BrownLacrosse specifically. Through (our product) HomeField, we’re providing video to them for some great posts on Brown lacrosse.
These are highlights of Rob Schlesinger, a sophomore who had a breakout year in ‘09. Read the interview at LacrosseAllstars.com.
