I had a really good time last week being interviewed for a new podcast called Amplitude.
Amplitude is a quirky new show about using new media (internet) to market your products. It's hosted by the dynamic duo, Mike Stopforth and Dave Duarte and is well worth bookmarking!
To hear my interview ("Skyrove is an 'out of control' community"), go and and check out Amplitude Episode 4
Friday, January 26, 2007
Say Who?
Just a quick note on basic customer service for all the banks, suppliers, jobseekers, etc out there.
Learn to answer the phone properly! If you are working for a company called Sahara (for e.g.), do NOT shout down the phone "Sahara, GOOD DAY!!??". It immediately puts me off, and I was planning to buy something from you. Instead, try: "Sahara, this is Aaron speaking." That's it. You can make it better and even more professional by adding: "How may I help you?", but even without it you've now established a repertoire. You've introduced yourself so I know immediately who I'm talking to. I now feel comfortable enough to reply: "Hey Aaron, this is Henk. Do you guys stock alligators? Or is it desert crocodiles only?"
It is so ridiculously basic, yet on a daily basis I have to endure idiotic salespeople shouting their company names followed by an obnoxious and impatient: "G'DAY!!??".
Please train your staff properly!
The other really annoying thing is people signing off their emails with something such as "Nedbank iVeri Team". I know you are ON the team, but trust me, you are not THE team. I need to know who I'm speaking to. I need to develop a trust relationship with your company. I need to know your name. I do NOT trust someone called "Nedbank iVeri Team", especially when your company is involved in a "high trust level required" business such as credit card processing! Heck, even PayPal gets this right and has its people clearly communicate who they are and what role they play on the team.
In this day and age of computerized systems you should take extra care when communicating with customers. There's simply no excuse for poor phone and email etiquette.
Learn to answer the phone properly! If you are working for a company called Sahara (for e.g.), do NOT shout down the phone "Sahara, GOOD DAY!!??". It immediately puts me off, and I was planning to buy something from you. Instead, try: "Sahara, this is Aaron speaking." That's it. You can make it better and even more professional by adding: "How may I help you?", but even without it you've now established a repertoire. You've introduced yourself so I know immediately who I'm talking to. I now feel comfortable enough to reply: "Hey Aaron, this is Henk. Do you guys stock alligators? Or is it desert crocodiles only?"
It is so ridiculously basic, yet on a daily basis I have to endure idiotic salespeople shouting their company names followed by an obnoxious and impatient: "G'DAY!!??".
Please train your staff properly!
The other really annoying thing is people signing off their emails with something such as "Nedbank iVeri Team". I know you are ON the team, but trust me, you are not THE team. I need to know who I'm speaking to. I need to develop a trust relationship with your company. I need to know your name. I do NOT trust someone called "Nedbank iVeri Team", especially when your company is involved in a "high trust level required" business such as credit card processing! Heck, even PayPal gets this right and has its people clearly communicate who they are and what role they play on the team.
In this day and age of computerized systems you should take extra care when communicating with customers. There's simply no excuse for poor phone and email etiquette.
Friday, January 19, 2007
Save Jou Ma Se Power!
Not to be outdone by Telkom, whose international links went down this week leaving ADSL users sending smoke signals instead, Eskom this week introduced Rolling Blackouts again.
This time it's not only the Western Cape that will be out of power, but the entire country.
I therefore propose a simple 'Save Jou Ma Se Power!' campaign. Please change your IM message/signature (on Skype or Google Talk or Jabber etc) to 'Save Jou Ma se Power!' to raise awareness and remind people to switch off their geysers and air conditioners during the day.
This time it's not only the Western Cape that will be out of power, but the entire country.
I therefore propose a simple 'Save Jou Ma Se Power!' campaign. Please change your IM message/signature (on Skype or Google Talk or Jabber etc) to 'Save Jou Ma se Power!' to raise awareness and remind people to switch off their geysers and air conditioners during the day.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Are You For Sale?
I must admit, it's taken the engineer in me a while to realise that people don't really buy into products, they buy into people. I know this is being said by more and more people, but here are 2 simple examples:
Allister told me today how he once met Richard Branson. He was bartending at the Nelson Mandela Foundation 46664 concert in Cape Town a few years ago while studying. Richard Branson came in and introduced himself to all the staff members and treated all of them like good friends (future customers?). Guess which airline Allister will prefer to fly for the rest of his life?
Another, more everyday example: I met Rob Wilkinson, the founder of Butler's Pizza, a few weeks ago at a party. I've always liked Butlers' Pizza and often ordered them, but had no particular preference over the 5 other fairly good pizzerias in my immediate area. Butler's does quite a few things right. I think their website is one of the best ever and it seems every fridge in Cape Town always has a menu attached by a Butler's fridge magnet! (This picture is on our fridge, spot the difference between this and the website)
But the reason Butler's is Skyrove's 'Preferred Pizza Supplier' is because I found Rob to be a genuinely interesting (interested?) and nice guy!
It's not possible for every entrepreneur to be as outgoing as Rob, but at least make sure you have a decent web presence. One of the first things I look for if I hear about a new service is the About page. Then I google the names on there. I want to know WHO built the service, much more so than what the service purports to be.
Remember, no matter what you do, someone else (Branson? Google?) is doing the exact same thing. It's much harder to differentiate your product than it is to differentiate yourself.
Allister told me today how he once met Richard Branson. He was bartending at the Nelson Mandela Foundation 46664 concert in Cape Town a few years ago while studying. Richard Branson came in and introduced himself to all the staff members and treated all of them like good friends (future customers?). Guess which airline Allister will prefer to fly for the rest of his life?
Another, more everyday example: I met Rob Wilkinson, the founder of Butler's Pizza, a few weeks ago at a party. I've always liked Butlers' Pizza and often ordered them, but had no particular preference over the 5 other fairly good pizzerias in my immediate area. Butler's does quite a few things right. I think their website is one of the best ever and it seems every fridge in Cape Town always has a menu attached by a Butler's fridge magnet! (This picture is on our fridge, spot the difference between this and the website)
But the reason Butler's is Skyrove's 'Preferred Pizza Supplier' is because I found Rob to be a genuinely interesting (interested?) and nice guy!
It's not possible for every entrepreneur to be as outgoing as Rob, but at least make sure you have a decent web presence. One of the first things I look for if I hear about a new service is the About page. Then I google the names on there. I want to know WHO built the service, much more so than what the service purports to be.
Remember, no matter what you do, someone else (Branson? Google?) is doing the exact same thing. It's much harder to differentiate your product than it is to differentiate yourself.
Get Your Creative Crayons Back
Last year I met blogger and "non-cartoonist" Hugh Macleod while having a bit too much whiskey in Paddington.
Hugh has written a brilliant manifesto about creativity. He talks about our 'crayons' being thrown out when we go to school. These days, creativity is what separates the successful entrepreneur from the chaff.
Read his manifesto, "How To Be Creative" and get your crayons back.
Friday, January 12, 2007
Dell South Africa offers Free Laptops!
Looks like a glitch at Dell is causing them to sell laptops for free.
Click here to get your free laptop now. (You have to click on 'Customize and Buy' to get the price)
UPDATE: Link now leads to broken page
You should see a screen like the following (at least for the next few hours, click to enlarge):
Note the Price at the bottom (R0 incl VAT)
I went all the way through the payment process and paid R570 in delivery charges.
I suspect it's a glitch or a really pissed-off Dell employee. My friend Shelly Levin said I should ask Dell if it's stolen goods.
But considering all the interesting ways people advertise these days (see CherryFlava) it might actually be a deliberate underground Dell marketing campaign. This is probably going to be dugg to infinity and beyond and Dell will fix the glitch shortly in any case.
The question remains to be seen if they're going to be real scaly about it and also not deliver the purchased laptops... Good luck to your PR people!
Click here to get your free laptop now. (You have to click on 'Customize and Buy' to get the price)
UPDATE: Link now leads to broken page
You should see a screen like the following (at least for the next few hours, click to enlarge):
Note the Price at the bottom (R0 incl VAT)
I went all the way through the payment process and paid R570 in delivery charges.
I suspect it's a glitch or a really pissed-off Dell employee. My friend Shelly Levin said I should ask Dell if it's stolen goods.
But considering all the interesting ways people advertise these days (see CherryFlava) it might actually be a deliberate underground Dell marketing campaign. This is probably going to be dugg to infinity and beyond and Dell will fix the glitch shortly in any case.
The question remains to be seen if they're going to be real scaly about it and also not deliver the purchased laptops... Good luck to your PR people!
Sunday, January 07, 2007
Lifting the Venture Capital Hood
Over the last few years I've met a few Venture Capitalists and have had a few things to say about the sorry bunch of people who try to cash in on others' innovation.
So it's always refreshing when I meet a venture capitalist who's "in it for the ride". You know, the guys who are actually really excited about nurturing innovation rather than just milking it for cash.
Last year I had the pleasure of meeting Patrick Polak of Newion Investments, a Dutch VC firm. One of the things that struck me first about Patrick was his brutal honesty ("No Henk, I don't want to invest in your firm.") Here are some of the things he says about entrepreneurship and venture capital:
Burning cash is easy! but earning cash...
"Newion's philosphy is to invest in companies with maximum 9 months of negative cash flow!"
When I first started doing financial projections, it was clear to me that we'd be cash-flow positive within 12 - 18 months with the absolute minimum investment (and we were). However, the advice came from clever consultants and the like that we shouldn't show such naive optimism and rather project negative cashflows for 36 months...
It's refreshing to hear from a smart guy like Patrick that that's simply a load of bull.
It is very difficult to go international
"The first thing you should do is become one of the top 5 players in your country or niche market. Then only start expanding country by country"
This sounds ridiculously obvious, especially if you've already made the mistake of putting too much emphasis on being global, which is exactly what I did with Skyrove. Our systems were built from the ground up to be international. Although we have a few Skyrove hotspots up overseas and have generated a lot of interest abroad, 99% of our revenues are generated in our own backyard. We've spent a lot of time and money on setting up overseas structures which really weren't necessary at the time.
Cash management is King!
"Monitor everything! Try to think 'scenarios'.
But... 'If you are in control, you are not going fast enough' - Mario Andretti
"Thinking Big - Living Small!" - Aztecsoft"
This is nothing new, in theory at least. At Skyrove we always know how much money we've spent and how much we're going to spend over next 3 months. That's probably the only reason why we're still going after 2 years with capital expenditure of less than $25,000. But sometimes you have to take just a little bit of a risk. If you don't, your competition will.
Partnerships can accelerate your growth
"Agents/distributors/dealers are difficult to manage. Rather OEM your solution with a partner"
This comes down to focus. Is your company designing and developing a fantastic new widget, or are you selling a fantastic new widget? I assume it's the former. Then don't waste your time trying to figure out how retail distribution works. Find someone who knows it and have them take care of everything.
VCs look at the management
"Build your team carefully"
Imagine you have 10 million dollars to invest in someone. Would you rather invest it in a couple of young graduates with a great idea or a few guys with a mediocre idea but a 10 year track record of phenomenal success?
The VC's money is almost always going to go to the latter. The trick is really to combine the two. If you are the kids with the great idea, get someone on your team to help manage the high level stuff and add some credibility to your business.
VCs try to follow companies a longer time before they invest
"Work on the relationship. Provide consistent information"
If I were to invest in a company, I'd spend a LOT of time with them before I do. I'd like to know how they think and approach things. Are they good listeners? How do they treat their co-workers? Do they have the stamina to see through tough times?
Some VCs boast of 4-week turnaround times, from pitch through to investment. This is highly unlikely. At the same time don't put up with VCs that want 3 month exclusivity to do due-diligence.
Choose a VC with experience in your type of company
I know of small VCs that boast to "understand" the internet, manufacturing, biotech, the retail sector and even game parks. It's bull. VCs that invest across various industry sectors probably don't know what they're doing. The reason they're throwing money around is that they're continually stuffing up and then blaming the sector they're in, therefore trying new sectors. They lack focus and will be extremely dangerous to your company's well-being. Stay away from them.
Do not go for the new kids on the block
"You have to learn from them instead of them learning from you. Look for their existing portfolio, see some peers? Check their references"
Venture Capital firms are getting started and being run by all sorts of misfits these days. The first thing to do is to see if they pass Guy Kawasaki's Venture Capital Aptitude Test.
Do not take more than 2 VCs
I shudder at the thought...
In conclusion: Venture Capital may be what you need to set your company sailing. However, as much as the VC firm will tell you that they are 'taking a risk' by investing, always remember that you are the one who might be risking it all by taking them on board, while they spread their bets amongst all their portfolio companies.
p.s. Patrick wasn't interested to invest in Skyrove primarily because we're outside Europe. I knew this beforehand, but also that it's always worthwhile to pitch to VCs for the feedback you may get. Most good VCs are also well connected and may be able to help in other ways.
So it's always refreshing when I meet a venture capitalist who's "in it for the ride". You know, the guys who are actually really excited about nurturing innovation rather than just milking it for cash.
Last year I had the pleasure of meeting Patrick Polak of Newion Investments, a Dutch VC firm. One of the things that struck me first about Patrick was his brutal honesty ("No Henk, I don't want to invest in your firm.") Here are some of the things he says about entrepreneurship and venture capital:
Burning cash is easy! but earning cash...
"Newion's philosphy is to invest in companies with maximum 9 months of negative cash flow!"
When I first started doing financial projections, it was clear to me that we'd be cash-flow positive within 12 - 18 months with the absolute minimum investment (and we were). However, the advice came from clever consultants and the like that we shouldn't show such naive optimism and rather project negative cashflows for 36 months...
It's refreshing to hear from a smart guy like Patrick that that's simply a load of bull.
It is very difficult to go international
"The first thing you should do is become one of the top 5 players in your country or niche market. Then only start expanding country by country"
This sounds ridiculously obvious, especially if you've already made the mistake of putting too much emphasis on being global, which is exactly what I did with Skyrove. Our systems were built from the ground up to be international. Although we have a few Skyrove hotspots up overseas and have generated a lot of interest abroad, 99% of our revenues are generated in our own backyard. We've spent a lot of time and money on setting up overseas structures which really weren't necessary at the time.
Cash management is King!
"Monitor everything! Try to think 'scenarios'.
But... 'If you are in control, you are not going fast enough' - Mario Andretti
"Thinking Big - Living Small!" - Aztecsoft"
This is nothing new, in theory at least. At Skyrove we always know how much money we've spent and how much we're going to spend over next 3 months. That's probably the only reason why we're still going after 2 years with capital expenditure of less than $25,000. But sometimes you have to take just a little bit of a risk. If you don't, your competition will.
Partnerships can accelerate your growth
"Agents/distributors/dealers are difficult to manage. Rather OEM your solution with a partner"
This comes down to focus. Is your company designing and developing a fantastic new widget, or are you selling a fantastic new widget? I assume it's the former. Then don't waste your time trying to figure out how retail distribution works. Find someone who knows it and have them take care of everything.
VCs look at the management
"Build your team carefully"
Imagine you have 10 million dollars to invest in someone. Would you rather invest it in a couple of young graduates with a great idea or a few guys with a mediocre idea but a 10 year track record of phenomenal success?
The VC's money is almost always going to go to the latter. The trick is really to combine the two. If you are the kids with the great idea, get someone on your team to help manage the high level stuff and add some credibility to your business.
VCs try to follow companies a longer time before they invest
"Work on the relationship. Provide consistent information"
If I were to invest in a company, I'd spend a LOT of time with them before I do. I'd like to know how they think and approach things. Are they good listeners? How do they treat their co-workers? Do they have the stamina to see through tough times?
Some VCs boast of 4-week turnaround times, from pitch through to investment. This is highly unlikely. At the same time don't put up with VCs that want 3 month exclusivity to do due-diligence.
Choose a VC with experience in your type of company
I know of small VCs that boast to "understand" the internet, manufacturing, biotech, the retail sector and even game parks. It's bull. VCs that invest across various industry sectors probably don't know what they're doing. The reason they're throwing money around is that they're continually stuffing up and then blaming the sector they're in, therefore trying new sectors. They lack focus and will be extremely dangerous to your company's well-being. Stay away from them.
Do not go for the new kids on the block
"You have to learn from them instead of them learning from you. Look for their existing portfolio, see some peers? Check their references"
Venture Capital firms are getting started and being run by all sorts of misfits these days. The first thing to do is to see if they pass Guy Kawasaki's Venture Capital Aptitude Test.
Do not take more than 2 VCs
I shudder at the thought...
In conclusion: Venture Capital may be what you need to set your company sailing. However, as much as the VC firm will tell you that they are 'taking a risk' by investing, always remember that you are the one who might be risking it all by taking them on board, while they spread their bets amongst all their portfolio companies.
p.s. Patrick wasn't interested to invest in Skyrove primarily because we're outside Europe. I knew this beforehand, but also that it's always worthwhile to pitch to VCs for the feedback you may get. Most good VCs are also well connected and may be able to help in other ways.
Friday, January 05, 2007
Are You LinkedIn Yet?
I've been using LinkedIn for a while now. It's a really cool way to connect with people and also to 'check out' folks you recently met.
Guy Kawasaki today wrote a post on his blog called 10 Ways To Use LinkedIn . He gives some really good tips on making yourself more visible and also more likely to get hired, assuming that's your goal.
Here's my 2 cents on LinkedIn:
1. Soon after meeting someone, I always do a LinkedIn search for them. Not only do I like to get to know people better, I really am curious to find out how we are connected. Finding a shared connection is always a reason to say: "Hey, I didn't know you also knew John Doe? How do you guys know each other?" This can backfire though... I met someone once and asked him this question, but he didn't know the guy! That's the problem with accepting invitations from people just to get more connections.
2. If you join LinkedIn, pay attention to your profile! Many highly connected people (Max Kaizen for instance) join LinkedIn but don't nurture it as they should. If you are on LinkedIn, connect to as many people as possible. Alternatively, close your account. It's better to have no LinkedIn account than showing a dozen contacts on your profile. This is a particular problem in Europe where most businessmen use Xing/OpenBC .
3. Don't hide your contacts from each other. I might just browse through your contacts and see someone I know but haven't spoken to in years. I'd then do point 1. above. Perhaps I hook up with John Doe and we find a cure for world poverty over a bottle of whiskey. All because you put us back in touch! Hiding your contacts just makes no sense.
4. Don't contact people out of the blue. I have used LinkedIn only once to contact someone I didn't know already. I was looking to do a university course and wanted to speak to an alumnus about the merits of the programme.
5. Don't send standard invites. Esther Dyson makes this clear on her profile: "I find it a valuable tool, but I respond only to personal messages that somehow prove that the writer is writing to me rather than to an address book." Guy Kawasaki claims that he has the most pending LinkedIn invitations (good on ya, mate!). I have rejected many an invite from someone with a vanilla name such as Mark or Andrew or Steve that I might have met at a conference days or months ago. If I can't remember who you are, I probably won't accept your invite. Ditto for old university mates who I only knew by first name. The BEST way to get someone with a high-profile who doesn't know you well to accept your LinkedIn invitation is to establish a dialogue and then slip in a LinkedIn invitation as an afterthought.
LinkedIn is an incredibly powerful tool for any entrepreneur or high-flying careermaker. If you're not using it yet, I highly recommend you sign up.
In the meantime, you can:
View Henk Kleynhans's profile
Guy Kawasaki today wrote a post on his blog called 10 Ways To Use LinkedIn . He gives some really good tips on making yourself more visible and also more likely to get hired, assuming that's your goal.
Here's my 2 cents on LinkedIn:
1. Soon after meeting someone, I always do a LinkedIn search for them. Not only do I like to get to know people better, I really am curious to find out how we are connected. Finding a shared connection is always a reason to say: "Hey, I didn't know you also knew John Doe? How do you guys know each other?" This can backfire though... I met someone once and asked him this question, but he didn't know the guy! That's the problem with accepting invitations from people just to get more connections.
2. If you join LinkedIn, pay attention to your profile! Many highly connected people (Max Kaizen for instance) join LinkedIn but don't nurture it as they should. If you are on LinkedIn, connect to as many people as possible. Alternatively, close your account. It's better to have no LinkedIn account than showing a dozen contacts on your profile. This is a particular problem in Europe where most businessmen use Xing/OpenBC .
3. Don't hide your contacts from each other. I might just browse through your contacts and see someone I know but haven't spoken to in years. I'd then do point 1. above. Perhaps I hook up with John Doe and we find a cure for world poverty over a bottle of whiskey. All because you put us back in touch! Hiding your contacts just makes no sense.
4. Don't contact people out of the blue. I have used LinkedIn only once to contact someone I didn't know already. I was looking to do a university course and wanted to speak to an alumnus about the merits of the programme.
5. Don't send standard invites. Esther Dyson makes this clear on her profile: "I find it a valuable tool, but I respond only to personal messages that somehow prove that the writer is writing to me rather than to an address book." Guy Kawasaki claims that he has the most pending LinkedIn invitations (good on ya, mate!). I have rejected many an invite from someone with a vanilla name such as Mark or Andrew or Steve that I might have met at a conference days or months ago. If I can't remember who you are, I probably won't accept your invite. Ditto for old university mates who I only knew by first name. The BEST way to get someone with a high-profile who doesn't know you well to accept your LinkedIn invitation is to establish a dialogue and then slip in a LinkedIn invitation as an afterthought.
LinkedIn is an incredibly powerful tool for any entrepreneur or high-flying careermaker. If you're not using it yet, I highly recommend you sign up.
In the meantime, you can:
View Henk Kleynhans's profile
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