Being a competent CEO requires great knowledge: knowledge of the products, the people, the market, and the competition. Acquiring this type of knowledge can be both grueling and humbling. It does not exist in boardrooms, executive off-sites or high-level customer meetings. It lives at the bottom of the company’s hierarchy where the work gets done. It lives in the code base, the individual contributors and customers who directly use the products. Most previously successful CEOs attempt to cheat this process by quickly assembling a team of people to tend to the details.

It essentially points out that “getting there” as a CEO takes hard work.  You have to hear from customers, listen to feedback, deal with personal and roadmap issues, dig into competition and understand your space, all while balancing both short term goals of the company with the longterm outlook and strategy of the business.

I love this mentality because it shows you have to dig in and really understand all the moving parts.  Its hard work and there is no getting around it.  Its posts like these that bring out the true side of being the chief executive of an organization and focus less on the big wins and megadeals that paint a rosie picture of perfection and happiness at all times.

Its also after you have dug in and shown that you can get your hands dirty, in addition to leading the charge for the company as a whole can  you get the fully respect of your organization.  I am lucky enough to say that I have been a part of that a few times in my career and foursquare is no exception.

Post from: Eric Friedman
You should follow me on Twitter here
Being a CEO – its in the details

Everybody is busy. Everybody wishes they had more time. Following up correctly takes time and is not always the easiest thing to remember. However to the person on the other end of the email or phone is deeply appreciative.

When someone comes in for an interview they typically send you a thank you note. This person is probably in some way or another completely unsure about the entire experience and looking for as much communication as possible. At the very least its the right thing to do to have continuous and timely contact with the candidate to follow up. Its something that will set a good precedent for you and the person – and in the event it does not work out leave them with a good feeling of how things went down.

Cold emails and warm leads happen all the time. Two people being introduced by a third party, candidate advice, business partnership emails – there are endless examples. Following up quickly is a great way to show everyone involved you are responsible and reasonable. It sets a great precedent for whatever business is to follow and gets you in a great habit of not putting these things off for later.

There are also examples of poor follow ups which make things difficult for everyone. My friend Vinicius Vacanti of YipIt recently opened this topic again (highlighting my setting up an appointment post) I always imagine myself on the other side of the email, phone call or voicemail which makes things go a bit smoother.

Vins point is that “Let me know what works for you” or “next week is great” is actually inefficient and slow. Using the techniques he mentions, or my own for making a plan helps everyone out. It may seem like it takes more time, but in the end its actually a time saver.

Back to the examples from above; job interviews and partnerships. Interviewees are in a position where they don’t have all the information and are not privy to your timeline. By communicating throughout the process you can ensure they are not getting frustrated, annoyed, and stay fully informed. Partnerships operate the same way. Its better to be transparent and clear, even when you don’t know the answer or timeline. Transparent does not necessarily mean giving all the information away, but rather letting all parties know “something” is going on. No answer is always a bad approach.

Finally, following up is one of those things we can all do better, myself included – and sometimes writing these things out is a great reminder for myself to continue to try to do things better.

Post from: Eric Friedman
You should follow me on Twitter here
Following Up

When we first conceived this idea, it was setup to accomplish three major things

1. Encourage civic participation through the distribution of the I Voted foursquare badge for all foursquare users who “shout” that they voted (variations count: vote, voting, voted) while at a designated polling location
2. Increase transparency at polling locations by visualizing the time of day, checkin volume and gender of those checking in
3. Develop a replicatable & scalable system to use for the 2012 Presidential Election based on learnings from the data that is produced for the 2010 Midterm Elections

I think we accomplished all these things, and more.  We also created a foursquare I Voted badge for 2010 which was a huge success

Post from: Eric Friedman
You should follow me on Twitter here
Watch America Vote on foursquare

Image via Wikipedia

Post from: Eric Friedman
You should follow me on Twitter here
Reading Books Electronically

This includes a wave of invites from the following services;

1. The twitter follow
2. The tweet with a mention
3. The LinkedIn connection
4. The Facebook friend request
5. The Foursquare friend request
6. The Plaxo friend request

The funny part about this is that it can happen after an email exchange, a tweet, or just an exchange of a business card.  I think its socially interesting to say the least and this is of course half in jest, but I thought I would post the term here because it happens so often.

Did I leave something out?

Post from: Eric Friedman
You should follow me on Twitter here
The Social Media Tsunami

They say you can master a job or at least hit your stride after 18 months.

So what does this mean for new workers?  Do they need 18 months to get up to speed?  As you bring on more new employees, as I am experiencing right now, you have to find ways to create institutional knowledge.  I think 18 months sounds high (at least in the startup technology world) and that can be an eternity if it were really the case.  I am sure this is some kind of average across many different disciplines.

For me, this is knowledge that trancends all departments and is the final word on a matter. Most of the time this is a philosophical choice made by the founders or management. Most of the facts are presented as “This is how it is done. ” which may be met with some opposition but a need is probably in place for the “why” behind this method.

This is not to say this cannot later be challenged. Far from it in my own case. I actually thrive when I am in an environment that is maleable to change and I can fix or repair institutional knowledge rot.

Back to the first case, it can become vitally important to a company to have this IK. It represents not only the way in which things are done but also the thought structure and even culture of a company.

Being open to learning the IK of other departments is also essential. I cannot tell you the amount of times I have found out the inner workings of another department and had an “a ha” moment explaining what has been going on behind the scenes.

Thankfully I now work in a startup which is not yet an institution.

I began thinking about this topic as I productize materials to begin to get other people up to speed as fast as possible. I reccognize that with fast growth comes institutional behavior – but if you handle it right you can come out on the other side with a great institution with great culture all stemming from a great team.

Post from: Eric Friedman
You should follow me on Twitter here
Institutional Knowledge

I like to think that it is the equivalent to keeping track of your stats while playing baseball – this information can be used later in many helpful ways.

First, the data can be used to see what you have been up to. How many times you were up at bat, struck out, got on base, etc…

Second, it can be used to track your position on the team. It lets you know how much play time you have gotten in relation to the rest of the team.

Third, it lets you know what you were up against and how you performed. By seeing the 360 degree view of your performance via data, you cannot dispute the facts or fundamentals of what happened.

A more technological example is Amazon.com. It tracks your behavior via implicit votes (or clicks) and contours what you see based on your interests, recommendations, and your purchasing history. Everything you click on, order, search for, and compare is a vote or behavior generated content about you. Amazon uses this data to make your experience better. Your behavior is generating automated content that is used to curate your next experience and make it even better.

My friend Sam Huleatt had a tipping point moment using Foursquare as to why this sharing is a net benefit. In conclusion he writes that it is about incremental improvements to life, which is similar to my Amazon example given above.

(Disclaimer; I am working on Eat.ly as described above with Mike and Sam and we spend a lot of time thinking about how BGC can create a better experience)

Post from: Eric Friedman
You should follow me on Twitter here
Behavior Generated Content

I am happy to report that for the past few weeks I have fully migrated off of MS Exchange and Outlook using only a browser ang Google apps for email (except for some calendar related requirements until the rest of the office switches over) and loving every minute of it.

The biggest change by far is that my interface to mail (a.k.a. my universe) is now through a web browser. This is much easier to say than it is to change the habit of having a program open on your desktop running your entire system. Tabs are now homes for various tasks such as Mail, composing, and calender – open all day. I have not yet made the switch to Google Docs as they simply do not stand up to Excel in any way – although many documents are now shared with me this way.

Setting up and maintaining Google Apps For your Domain is very easy, and with enterprise accounts you get an added layer of service and support (at some cost).

Many startups have know the power of Google Apps for quite some time. Not having to have an external Exchange provider or in house mail system has been great for low burn companies.

A few things to note:

1. We now have a hosted BES solution setup to handled Blackberry support and provisioning (enterprise activation)
2. There is a 25GB limit on enterprise account mailboxes (this means .PST’s or multiple PST’s will have to be scrubbed or fit within that limit)
3. The Google toolset of synchronization and transition software is great but requires time and bandwidth to get everything moved over
4. Patience is required and even after the move is “done” there is a waiting period before “Everything” appears in your new mailbox
5. Getting off of desktop software is a tough behavior to change

I cannot imagine now going back to an Exchange environment, although I know they exist and many people are happy with that setup.

Moving more and more of my workflow, materials, and applications to the cloud makes switching computers a breeze and means there is less chance for a local failure.

Many people cite privacy and connectivity as issues surrounding cloud based workflow – but I feel that the trade off of backup and convenience make up for the others. The more people that join the system, the more important the network becomes. Although I do expect some downtime in the future, it will most likely be worked on by more people and scrutinized by more paying customers than the hosting companies that housed Exchange in the past.

Post from: Eric Friedman
You should follow me on Twitter here
Working in the Cloud

One thing I have noticed as I watch in real time is a growing trend of brands using social network URLs instead of their own. Below are examples from Uniball and Toyota. I remember seeing another for an upcoming movie but I forgot the name and campaign.

The first example is Uniball which makes pens and pushes people to their Facebook page for more info. They do not have a copy of the commercial online (that I could find) which is the first problem. The second is that if you visit their corporate site www.uniball.com there is no mention of the ad either or the Facebook page.
The URL that is getting so much airtime is below
Facebook.com/uniball

Going to the Facebook page you can either login to connect with and become a fan of Uniball or click through to enter your information to get a free pen.

What is the metric of success here? Free pen signups? Facebook page fans?

The second is a bigger brand, Toyota, pushing people to their YouTube page Youtube.com/toyota (via @amandapey)

In this case the video page automatically starts playing the commercial. If the metric of success is eyeballs on the video, this page behavior is artificially inflating the “videos watched” number. It is also notable that you cannot embed the videos from here but only share via a YouTube link.

So what is the advertising goal of these campaigns?
What are the metrics of success?
How do you measure accountability and targeting?

I am not suggesting that sending folks to another companies domain is a bad idea in all cases, but I wonder the value of have non integrated campaigns running and potentially confusing customers. It is tough to have a sound message across all platforms, but it should be considered when people search for, interact with, and ultimately buy from your brand in so many different places.

Post from: Eric Friedman
You should follow me on Twitter here
Social Network URLs – the future of advertising?

To be honest, I have never given this much thought. To my surprise a group of friends I was recently with had this conversation with had thought about it, and the opinions were all over the map. The conversation was sparked by Jon Steinberg who wondered aloud about the implications of food ordering at a breakfast meeting.

Folks have come back and brought up this discussion again letting me know what they had for breakfast at some meeting. The strong convictions of people actually thinking about this were very surprising. I order what I want because I am hungry, and feel it does not really reflect on me at all. But, since I have been posting about much more serious topics like how to setup a meeting and the go between I thought it was time for something a little bit lighter.

Results on French Toast:

“The worst possible breakfast to order at a business morning meeting. It shows a lack of serious approach and a immature attitude.”
“Too messy”
“It is desert for breakfast which is just unacceptable”

“Its shows you are all over the place without much structure”
“It is a non-starter as its too messy”
“Middle of the road, average joe, 9-5 type of employee”

The main take away for me here was this one was not too bad, but didn’t really get anything across either.

This one may take the cake for worst order at a business breakfast – key quotes below.

“No chance of getting a deal done, getting the job, or showing you are a good candidate”
“Prepare to be walked all over”
“Weakness shown all over the plate”

Well it turns out this one got some pretty interesting opposition as well.

“What are you? 5 years old?”
“Very Zen – shows calmness”
“No way, cereal is not the way to go at any breakfast meeting ever”

So what is the consensus on the go-to item to get for the business breakfast? The item that is universally acceptable and promotes the best message? None other than oatmeal.

It turns out that oatmeal got the least opposition from the group – commentary below.

“Oatmeal with fruit says you are there to eat breakfast, healthy, but still ready to do business”
“Clean, concise, and concentrated”
“Best option across the board – its clean and simple to eat and projects the best picture”

So what did we leave out? Let me know in the comments.

I have provide some visuals to help represent the conclusions we came up with. Visuals provided by ShutterStock.

Post from: Eric Friedman
You should follow me on Twitter here
The Business Breakfast