Thoughts on technology start-ups in Scotland
April 27, 2011 1 Comment
Company founders usually need to build a team around them to ensure that all the necessary skills and experience are available to succeed, but it’s a lot harder in practice than it sounds… Read more of this post
April 15, 2011 1 Comment
Google is one of the easiest way of getting answers to common questions in startups, yet I regularly see people wrestling with questions that Google could have helped with, for example:
If Google ever learns to negotiate, write business plans and pitch, I’m out of a job…
P.S. Other search engines are available. I just happen to use Google.
April 11, 2011 2 Comments
I’ve been involved in taking up references a few times in the last few weeks, so I’ve looked been looking for some advice on the subject. DRG have a great guide entitled “Ten Critical Questions To Ask When Checking References” which has (as the title suggests) a list of ten questions which I will summarise here:
I would recommend reading the original article for context if you’re thinking of using this!
The only addition I would recommend (from a JobSearch article on the same subject) is:
Real conversations will probably end up covering a good portion of this without too much prompting – but I like to have a check list in front of me to help me make sure I cover everything before the conversation ends, and to give me prompts if all goes quiet!
April 8, 2011 Leave a comment
Ruthless Research is a recently started blog about market research – it’s a mix of practical advice and observations on the market research industry. How to commission the best researcher gives a practical guide on getting a market research project started, but my favourite article title is Don’t come back until you’ve interviewed three lesbians and a zoo keeper!
Ruth Stevenson who writes the blog is my wife, and also an Associate of Salient Point.
April 7, 2011 2 Comments
Hiring the first sales guy is a big step for any startup, and one that it’s really easy to get wrong. Even the best hiring managers make mistakes, which results in money down the plughole, but I believe the trick is not to let mistakes drag on for too long…
April 1, 2011 1 Comment
Joel on Software is a great blog on all things software, and has been online since 2000. There’s some quite technical content, but there is also a fair bit of industry news and some great business posts – this one on software pricing (from 2004) is one of my favourites!
Joel is best known for founding Fog Creek Software: “Together with my friend Michael Pryor, I started Fog Creek Software in September, 2000, which is what I’ve been doing ever since. We’ve been growing steadily, without any outside investment, since then, and despite the so-called downturn we’ve managed to double our sales every year. We didn’t start with a particular product in mind: our goal was simply to build the kind of software company where we would want to work, one in which programmers and software developers are the stars and everything else serves only to make them productive and happy. The theory, which has proven itself over and over again, is that this kind of thinking would allow us to attract the super-talented software developers who would do great things and make us successful.”
