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What’s a Problem You’d Like to See Someone Solve?
What a simple question, but one we don’t ask enough.What’s a problem you’d like to see someone solve? As you know, I have an entrepreneurial bent, so I love to figure out ways to solve problems, and then implement those solutions. But first, you’ve got to pick a problem out, one that bothers you.
I put the question to the Hacker News Community, and the response was immense: 183 replies, all of them either problems entrepreneurial developers wanted to see solved or comments on those problems. Here were the top ideas, scored by the Hacker News community:
1) Get People to stop using Internet Explorer 6 (58 points)IE6, for those of you who are not programmers or designers, is the bane of our existence. Rewriting CSS that works in Firefox, Safari, and IE7, but then breaks in IE6 is one of the most frustrating experiences possible. I’m certain that IE6 wastes millions of dollars each year in wasted manpower and design flaws. No, it’s not global warming, but it’s still a problem that causes massive inefficiency and stifles innovation.
2) Longer Lifespans (20 points)A larger problem that millions of people are already trying to solve. But one I don’t think we’ll be solving before I’m in the grave.
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What Should You Put Online To Get a Job?
There were a few interesting conversations yesterday and today on the role of “Internet presence” in the job hunt. Will a blog help you get a job? What about an online resume? Should you beef up your LinkedIn account in case employers look at it?The omniscient blogger Robert Scoble started with a list of ways to socially network if you are laid off. Then he stated that “if you don’t have a blog, you don’t have a resume,” which led to this argument over his words.
Sorry I had to go through the history of a conversation, but I needed to frame the picture. A post on Mashable by Dan Schawbet discussing how to use social media to build an online resume also piqued my interest.
All of this conversation needs to be filtered. We need to ask the big question:
What should you put online to get a job?
To answer that question, I need to say this: what you put online isn’t going to get you a job. It’s what you have accomplished and what the interviewers believe you could accomplish that will get you the job. Having a blog on marketing isn’t going to get you a marketing position at Apple if your competition has successfully executed major marketing campaigns for Fortune 500 companies. What a blog will do is accentuate your experience, your strengths, and leave a lasting impression.
So what do I suggest? Be passionate and be professional. Employers will indeed Google search you, so make sure those inappropriate pictures never, ever get taken and put online. After that, just do what excites you. Creating a blog when you hate to write is a waste of your time and the time of a potential employer. It’s clear as day whether or not you put time into your website. Pointing out your accomplishments in a video or an about page can help, but it only helps if you’ve actually accomplished something.
So instead of worrying about what Scoble is saying about online presence, focus on making solid, meaningful accomplishments and conveying that experience when you finally sit down with that interviewer.
Image credit to stayrudee at Flickr
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Is There Any Value in Twitter-Based Applications?
By every definition (except revenue), Twitter was a major success in 2008. It grew from under 500,000 unique visits to nearly 2.5 million in November. Despite major stability problems and the infamous fail whale, Twitter has prospered and spurred its own mini-economy: Twitter applications.Twitter applications are the websites and programs that use the Twiter API to do anything from collect data to creating a desktop interface for tweeting. Most are small and simple applications, and nearly all of them are free to use. Now there are literally thousands of applications for Twitter, and if you’re a frequent twitter user, you’re probably using at least several.
But what’s the value of these apps to their creators? Users have gained from being able to share twipics or making venn diagrams, but are Twitter applications a reasonable way to achieve a financial payday?
To answer that question isn’t sufficient. In order to get the full picture, we need to answer three related questions:
- 1) Can you make money off of Twitter applications?
- 2) Do you have a reasonable chance of making a payday off of Twitter applications?
- 3) Can Twitter applications be built into successful business models with a positive cashflow?
Q: Can you actually make money off of Twitter applications?
Answer: Absolutely.Summize (now Twitter Search) has been the largest success story of the twitter applications – its simple and effective Twitter search (and its very capable leader Jack Dorsey) made it a prime target for acquisition by Twitter itself. Silicon Alley Insider reported that Twitter paid $15 million to acquire summize. Not bad a for a small team and less than a year’s worth of work, no?
But beyond Summize and Twhirl being acquired, there have not been many major paydays for Twitter apps. The bad economy only restricts cash that could be used to acquire these apps as well.
But yes, there is the possibility of making money developing an application for Twitter.
Q: Does a developer(s) have a reasonable chance of making money off of Twitter applications?Answer: No, not currently.
Here’s how I start: Do you have a reasonable chance of making moeny off of a Facebook application? The answer is murky, even despite for Facebook’s 120+ million users. The heyday of Facebook applications has passed, and users have adopted application-blind behaviors that hurts the Facebook platform as a financial landing pad. Free apps generally make money through advertising, which had abysmal CPM rates (I know; I made Facebook apps for a short time). Paid apps simply don’t exist on Facebook – there is no micropayment platform and most people on Facebook don’t have the mindset or habit of paying for applications.
Now to Twitter. Twitter has 2.5 million users. That’s 50 times smaller than Facebook’s reach and userbase. Advertising is just not going to generate the money you need to sustain an application and pay for development (I doubt SMS advertising could even bridge the gap, and nobody will use an app that requires SMS ads).
As for acquisition? As I stated before, acquisitions are hard to find in this market, and even when the market was good, the highest acquisition was for $15 million, and was done by Twitter itself. Simply put, your odds aren’t good. When you compare it to the revenue you could generate with an iPhone app, you’re wasting your time. Unless you’re developing Twitter apps for fun of course, but I’m not concerned with that.
Q: Can Twitter applications be built into successful business models with a positive cashflow?
Answer: Eventually, but no guarantees.Twitter has a growth model, but no revenue. They’re still trying to build their business model. Twitter has vowed to build a sustainable business model this year. But there are no guarantees.
Let me be clear: I do not doubt that Twitter can find a business model. It will. But Twitter’s difficulty with business model reflects on the challenge facing smaller apps. Advertising could be an answer, but you need a lot of eyeballs and an innovative advertising strategy to succeed. And paid applications? Someone needs to prove that people will pay for a Twitter app first.
So is there any real value in Twitter-based applications? The current verdict is: only personally, not financially. You are simply going to make more money writing an application for the iPhone than for Twitter. But if you incorporate a Twitter app as part of your overall strategy, then you’re getting smart. Standalone companies building Twitter apps will probably need Twitter to grow more before they can be self-sustaining. But Twitter’s API is a fun and relatively simple thing to build upon, and because of that, personal projects are always easy to do. They can help build attention for you, or you can test out new development or marketing theories. And that’s a large part of their value. -
How Do You Organize Your Life?
I hope you all have had a great holiday so far. Until I have time to write up a longer article on the many random thoughts I have, I wanted to ask you how you organized your lives.
What do I mean by that? What tools do you use to accomplish the task of making sure you, well, accomplish tasks?
I use a series of tools that are centered around a private Mediawiki, where I place all of my ideas, write out spec sheets, and link to the most important tools I use (finance: mint.com;business management: Basecamp by 37 signals, etc.).
So what do you use? Is it as simple as a checklist, as detailed as my Mediawiki setup, or as unique as employing a virtual assistant?
Comment below, or send me a tweet with your thoughts.
- Ben
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When You Need a Break, Always Turn to Shiba Inu Puppies.
Every once in a while, you need to pause from work, pick up a good book, and lay down on your couch. I know a lot of us have the impulse to work all the time, through weekends and through our lives, but even if work is the most enjoyable thing around, you need to take a break from it. Take a vacation, take up a new hobby, play with the kids (if you have them), learn a new language or skill (I try to always do this), or sleep some more.
And when you get really overworked, don’t forget to watch the Shiba Inu Puppy Cam. They won’t be on much longer, but damn they are so cute.
My last note: Organize your life better so you use less of your time on rote tasks and more of it on what really matters. Hire an intern or a virtual assistant if you have to. You’ll be surprised how much it pays off.
- Ben
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Tracking your Finances Online is Even More Important With a Bad Economy
A lot of people who read my blog probably already have decent habits tracking finances, but I have been surprised before. The point of this quick blog post is to simply say this: tracking your finances has never been more important.As gas prices fall and stores open up new deals, the temptation to spend more or lose track of your finances will creep up. This is during a time where, at any time, your job could be out the window due to a line of credit being revoked or pressure by VCs for their companies to cut costs now.
And it’s also not just about you – it’s about your friends who may not be as online-saavy, but still use the Internet regularly. Checking finances at least weekly should be a habit, not a chore. And there are a lot of tools that help in this regard.
Here are my top three financial tools. I use each of them in order to make sure my financial house of cards are in order:
- Mint.com: By far my #1 financial tool. The winner of the TechCrunch 40, it connects all of your online bank accounts, Paypal, credit cards, and investment accounts and sorts through the data to give you a budget, alert you to bills due, and give you a comprehensive view of your overall wealth.
- My online bank accounts: Not enough people take advantage of online logins for their banks. I’m a Citi customer, and all of my asset and liability accounts (checking, savings, credit, loans, etc.) are in one place. I have auto-bill pay set up for several expenses, and I have auto-transfer of my wealth to my savings account, which eventually goes into an investment account.
- Yahoo! Finance: Surprised? Yahoo Finance is one of the best products Yahoo! has. I do a lot of technical investing, so the bar charts and technical indicators available for free via Yahoo! Finance give me a lot of data very quickly. Profiles are easy to set up, as well as news alerts on the companies I have investments with. In conjunction with a good online investment firm such as Scottrade, you really do have all the tools you need to make educated decisions with your money.
It’s nice to have that new iPhone or play around with Twitter, but always be aware of the financial and time costs related to what you do and what you buy. With Mint, you’ll be able to tell whether or not you can afford those nice things.
And please, for the love of all that is holy, have six months of salary and finances hidden away in an emergency account. You’ll be glad you made it if you suddenly find yourself handing out your resume in a 6.7% or 10.5% unemployment rate economy.
- Ben
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Why Bad Physical Health Can Hurt Mental Sharpness and Entrepreneurial Ambitions
I’m about to venture into somewhat treacherous waters, so feel free to yell and rant at me in the comments if you feel the need. But I am of a strong belief on this one, so I wanted to discuss it. I think you can guess the issue I’m going to talk about from the title.If you’re a tech-oriented person like I am, you probably sit most of the day in a comfy computer chair with your giant two-screen setup with tons of code/docs on one screen and your web browser/IM/Skype on the other. At least, that’s how I am (it’s really quite efficient). But the point is that you’re sitting in a chair all day, instead of on your feet and using your body. Especially when there’s major projects due, new features to launch, or staring a new job, you put workouts and proper diet on the backburner to get things done.
And so the cycle of bad health begins.
As millions of people can probably tell you, skipping proper workouts and not getting balanced meals becomes a habit once you start. And restarting the good habits is tough as hell. The New Years Resolution phenomenon still astounds me. A week after New Years, tons of new people with sweatbands in the gym. Two weeks later, 90% of them never return to the gym.
Why do I bring this up? I can’t stress enough the impact of your physical health on your ability to be a productive entrepreneur. Especially when you are the head of your own company seeking venture capital, your health and appearance are important factors in how people judge you and how you get things done.
Just a few key points you probably already know, I but cannot stress enough:
1) Your physical health affects your mental sharpness.
This article on LiveScience provides a great overview of studies that show a huge link between exercise, proper diet, good health, and a healthier brain. Physical exercise is still mental exercise for the brain. Eating good food is going to send nutrients toward the brain. Bad food is going to starve the brain of those same nutrients.It’s simple why the correlation exists – the brain is part of the body. You can’t fix a watch without fixing ALL of its parts, and you can’t keep a body healthy by exercising only one part of it. Programming does not count as a cardio exercise, sorry.
The opinions and impressions people have of you are always going to be shaped by your appearance
Blink by Malcolm Gladwell is a great book on this subject. It’s sad but true: the taller and thinner you are, the more promotions and money you can expect to make. Most people don’t do it on purpose, but if there’s two people with exactly the same proposal, who are they going to favor? Yes, the more attractive one. So do yourself a favor and make sure that you can win that tiebreaker.Bad health decreases your bottom line and investment capability
There’s a reason health insurance is so expensive – health care for an ailing body is expensive. You’re spending less on your new idea and more on your new pain medication. See where the money is going?Persistent confidence is a major key to successful entrepreneurship
Not just confidence, but confidence that can take a beating. Your idea is going to be berated, judged, shot down, burned, and insulted over and over again as an entrepreneur. If your confidence cannot take that beating, your’e in the wrong arena. There’s a direct link between your looks, your health, and your confidence. If you’re already in self-doubt because of your body image, your confidence may not be able to hold under the entrepreneurial pressure.
The issue of health for entrepreneurs is a personal one for me. A year and a half ago, June 2007, I weighed over 200 pounds. While not a fat kid, I was chubby and round. During that summer, I committed to putting off the weight and getting in shape for my health, my self-confidence, and the satisfaction of proving I could actually do it. By August, I was in the 170s. Today, I range in the low 160s with a toned and balanced body and a great deal of added confidence. It’s also proven to me that I can get things done once I’m in the mindset. I know that a lot of people have genetics that hurt their health and their bodies, and little can be done about it. But that’s different than not actively trying to eat healthy and not putting in periodic work-outs. A good workout or two a week or replacing that damn soda with a glass of water and a cup of raspberries does wonders for your life. When you’re consistently working on improving your health, you can feel the results, even if the results aren’t immediately apparent at the waistline.
So if you’re an entrepreneur or if you just want to better your life, do yourself a favor and do the little things to improve your health. All I ask is for you to not ignore the connection between physical health and your productivity and mental health.
Here’s a random assortment of health articles to get your started:
I am a technology journalist, web entrepreneur, science fiction author, and aspiring world changer. Currently, I am the Co-Editor of Mashable, the world’s largest blog focused on social media news and web technology. I also have a startup and a novel in the pipeline.
