This week’s SBBuzz chat featured guest speaker Lee Hower, early employee at PayPal, cofounder at Linkedin and now VC.
Our chat next week is on Tuesday March 16th from 8-9 EST. Want to join in and get (or give) small biz advice, here’s how it works!
| sbbuzz: | Welcome to #sbbuzz, a Tweetchat for the next hour of small biz talking technology on Twitter. Join us! http://sbbuzz.biz/instructions |
| sbbuzz: | Rules: 1)NO pitching till end 2)Be nice 3)Stay ON TOPIC! 4)Send ?s for group to me w/o hashtag 5)Use #sbbuzz in all messages 6)Have fun! |
| sbbuzz: | Start off w/an INTRO: 1 message about you and your business and whatever else we need to know. #sbbuzz |
| decker_chris: | I’m an IT professional, web developer and entrepreneur based out of Eastern NC. Excited about my first #sbbuzz! #sbbuzz |
| DanNieves: | Hey everyone! Working with RootOrange, start up trying to grow the business, how can we grow with FB, Twitter, etc? #sbbuzz |
| TraceyHolinka: | I?m a web designr/developr @chaostoclarity. We teach small biz & freelancers how to work better in a digital world. #sbbuzz |
| ruxtermobi: | Hi, I’m Mike from Ruxter. We’re a universal mobile app for small biz & organizations. We combine free mobile websites & low-cost SMS #sbbuzz |
| lindadessau: | Glad to be here! I ghostwrite and edit content for blogs and newsletters – I work with coaches and service providers (intro for #sbbuzz |
| merritto: | I’m a freelance writer and marketing/fundraising consultant to non-profit organizations #sbbuzz |
| pmohara: | Hi all – Pamela here from @batchblue and the hostess of #sbbuzz. Very excited to have @leehower speaking He’s WICKED smart! |
| stellel: | Hi I’m Christelle, I am a customer experience peep at @batchblue. Stopping by to hear the buzz #sbbuzz #sbbuzz |
| RisingStarIdeas: | hello tech gang! I Find cool free online tools to help small business owners save time and money. #sbbuzz |
| ginabee: | Hello All! Gina here from WriteyTidy.com writing/content creation. Looking forward to my Tuesday night education! #sbbuzz |
| cjservia: | I’m a business continuity consultant beginning business here in Eastern North Carolina. #sbbuzz |
| scoblitz: | @sbbuzz Hi everyone – Scott Blitstein from eSeMBe. I’m a blogger, tech-guy, superhero, and music lover. #sbbuzz |
| familyfoodie: | hello all – Family Foodie and I love to cook for my family of 6. #sbbuzz #sbbuzz |
| ginabee: | @scoblitz Superhero, huh? Gonna tell the class about your superpower? #sbbuzz |
| leehower: | hi – I’m Lee, former tech startup entrepreneur turned venture capitalist. I look fwd to participating in #sbbuzz chat on small biz tech. |
| cjservia: | Hi Lee. Can’t wait to hear your story tonigh. @leehower #sbbuzz |
| sbbuzz: | Our guest speaker tonight is @LeeHower, early employee at PayPal, cofounder at LinkedIn & now VC. Welcome, Lee! #sbbuzz |
| foodiegrl: | Hi, I’m Liz – partner marketing manager at Vr4SmallBiz and a raging food geek. #sbbuzz |
| sbbuzz: | We will talking to Lee about early days at successful companies & how we can do the same. Send me any ?s you want included in chat #sbbuzz |
| wiseleo: | Good evening. It’s been a while  I am Leonid, a world-class computer expert #sbbuzz |
| sbbuzz: | Everyone – feel free to jump in with your own responses & follow-ups, but stay ON TOPIC! #sbbuzz |
| sbbuzz: | @leehower Q1 What are the common characteristics of the successful start-ups you have worked in/with? #sbbuzz |
| leehower: | #sbbuzz Q1: smart, passionate, capable founders / mgmt team – this is true of tech startups (what I focus on) but really all small biz |
| leehower: | #sbbuzz Q1: also a “maniacal” focus on customers… esp when trying to develop a new product or service, cust feedback critical |
| cjservia: | @leehower #sbbuzz How did they demonstrate their passion for the business? |
| leehower: | #sbbuzz be willing to work hard, take personal risk, and just visibly demonstrate an enthusiasm for building their biz |
| foodiegrl: | @leehower, when you’re small and busy, what r your favorite CX feedback tools? #sbbuzz |
| decker_chris: | @leehower Have you ever had to confront a partner that wasn’t demonstrating passion for a startup? If so, how did you handle? #sbbuzz |
| leehower: | #sbbuzz best ways to gather cust feedback depend a little on who your cust are… huge companies, other small biz, consumers, etc |
| leehower: | #sbbuzz but generally I like just talking to cust… also I personally put more weight on what cust do than what they say |
| ruxtermobi: | @sbbuzz @leehower, many ‘overnight’ successes have been in dev for years. What should start-up ‘stars-to-be’ focus on? #sbbuzz |
| RisingStarIdeas: | @leehower how did you convenience people to jump on board with your startups? #sbbuzz |
| lindadessau: | @leehower Yes, people “vote with their feet,” don’t they? #sbbuzz |
| leehower: | #sbbuzz not easy, but as both an entrep & VC I’ve tried to be picky about who I partner with… choose not to work w/ folks not passionate |
| leehower: | #sbbuzz cust vote w/ the dollars as much as their feet but totally agree w/ this sentiment |
| DanNieves: | Has your small biz had success utilizing a facebook fan page? if so, how did you drive people to the page? #sbbuzz |
| sbbuzz: | @leehower Q2 from @andrewnim Did you have your entire strategy at start or did you allow it to alter over the first few months? #sbbuzz |
| leehower: | #sbbuzz Q2 always worth planning out your strategy ahead of time, but have to be flexible to alter as mkt needs, financing, etc demands |
| familyfoodie: | What marketing methods do you recommend to small retail bus? Direct mail is so expensive. What is the best way to drive customers? #sbbuzz |
| leehower: | #sbbuzz my old boss (LinkedIn’s CEO Reid Hoffman) used to say starting a company is like jumping off cliff & assembling plane on way down |
| leehower: | #sbbuzz you have to sort of have a clear sense of plan initially, but most startups end up redirecting once or more in big ways |
| SeeboldMarCom: | @leehower ..and I’d say Reid Hoffman built a pretty darn good plane! #sbbuzz |
| sbbuzz: | @leehower Q3 from @foodiegirl as your startup grows, would you invest in tech resources or cx service if had to choose one? #sbbuzz |
| foodiegrl: | @familyfoodie – DMA reports email still has highest ROI: $44 for each $1 spent, but Social is gr8 tool. disclose: I work 4 email co #sbbuzz |
| leehower: | #sbbuzz Q3 depends on nature of biz I suppose – also tech resources and cx service don’t have to be mutually exclusive |
| leehower: | #sbbuzz I’ve seen startups use tech for online cust forums, problem tracking, etc – e.g. cust svc being leveraged w/ tech and “labor” |
| sbbuzz: | @leehower Q4 Is their a cultural difference as the company grows? How do you preserve your culture? #sbbuzz |
| leehower: | #sbbuzz culture undoubtedly evolves as company grows, either in terms of more people or people in different geographic locations |
| leehower: | #sbbuzz no magic bullet for preserving culture, but some elements include: trying to retain good chunk of founders / early employees |
| leehower: | #sbbuzz also establish core values that are as relevant when company is 5 ppl as when its 500 ppl – Netflix has done an awesome job of this |
| leehower: | #sbbuzz Netflix doesn’t track employee vacation time even though it’s huge company today – expectation is ppl work hard but are responsible |
| sbbuzz: | @leehower Q5 What if you don’t want explosive growth? Can you be successful without expanding? #sbbuzz |
| andreayap: | Q4 #sbbuzz culture needs to be genuine + organic, but also disciplined in that you reinforce it everyday #sbbuzz |
| leehower: | #sbbuzz here’s a preez put together by Netflix CEO Reed Hastings on culture/values even as they grew to big company http://bit.ly/czTnBP |
| TraceyHolinka: | Way it should be: RT @leehower: #sbbuzz Netflix doesnt track employee vacation – expectation is ppl work hard but are responsible #sbbuzz |
| betaspring: | Betaspring mentor @leehower is the guest for tonight’s #sbbuzz chat. Small business wisdom from a dude who’s built some big businesses. |
| leehower: | #sbbuzz Q5 absolutely… the definition of “success” as a small business is based upon the founders goals and aspirations |
| leehower: | #sbbuzz my parents were entrepreneurs & owned their own small biz – never grew larger than them + their two kids helping them |
| leehower: | #sbbuzz they (and I) would consider their business absolutely a success, even though it didn’t grow to be huge company |
| andreayap: | @leehower how bout funding via customers vs. VC? Prefer revnues but speed/growth opp tempting me to VC #sbbuzz |
| leehower: | #sbbuzz owning a small biz gave them freedom & independence relative to working for big company, plus time w/ their kids |
| leehower: | #sbbuzz growth is great too, and some businesses only work at large scale – but again success is in eyes of the beholder |
| leehower: | #sbbuzz I prob can’t fit the pros/cons of decision whether or not to pursue VC funding into 140 char, but I’ll take a shot |
| andreayap: | Q5 also you can grow margins and cash flows – efficiency not necessarily topline #sbbuzz |
| leehower: | #sbbuzz pros – large amt of up front capital, advice from experienced professional investors + ability to tap their networks for hiring, etc |
| andreayap: | @leehower the vc vs. customer issue being both require fulltime warfare LOL #sbbuzz |
| leehower: | #sbbuzz cons – having a funding partner means just that – take on partner’s opinions, expectations, etc |
| leehower: | #sbbuzz I think pursing VC funding path is a complicated topic – you’ve prob already researched but I’d suggest sites like venturehacks.com |
| sbbuzz: | @leehower Q7 from @ruxtermobi In today’s investment environment, what’s best way for an early-stage company to attract VC support? #sbbuzz |
| cjservia: | I’ve avoided partnerships myself because of “- take on partner’s opinions, expectations, etc “you mention. #sbbuzz |
| JohnFMoore: | Yes, clear VC con is they may push you to grow faster than desired, loss of cntrol #sbbuzz |
| leehower: | #sbbuzz do search of venturehacks.com – some old articles I believe on pros/cons of VC, & lots of info on how to approach it if you puruse |
| JohnFMoore: | Q7. Great management team will attract funding, quality VCs, better than anything else IMO #sbbuzz |
| laowsmith: | @sbbuzz #sbbuzz in current climate is it more important to build out for scale or for profitability? |
| sbbuzz: | And now we near the end of our show. This is what we affectionately call Pitch Time. Please tell us a little about your business. #sbbuzz |
| leehower: | #sbbuzz Q7 as others suggest, outstanding founders/mgmt is 1st thing VCs look for and a dimension VCs won’t compromise on |
| sbbuzz: | A HUGE thank you to @leehower for joining in tonight and sharing so much of your experience. Very instpirational! #sbbuzz |
| JohnFMoore: | No pitch here, just a thanks for an informative discussion #sbbuzz |
| leehower: | #sbbuzz other things we VCs look for – unique prod/tech that creates sustainable competitive advantage, big / rapidly growing mkt |
| TraceyHolinka: | @chaostoclarity helps small biz & freelancers take charge of computers & use social networking/media & the Web to grow their biz #sbbuzz |
| sbbuzz: | And thanks to everyone for all the great discussion! We’ll get the #sbbuzz summary posted on the site soon at http://sbbuzz.biz |
| scoblitz: | @sbbuzz Thanks to @leehower for the chat – very informative. #sbbuzz |
| lindadessau: | Thanks @sbbuzz, thanks @leehower – my pitch: How to write a top 10 article – http://snipr.com/t1pw5 #sbbuzz |
| stellel: | @leehower Thanks for the chat! #sbbuzz |
| rzazueta: | What up #sbbuzz!!! I lurked a little tonight. If you’re going to be at #sxsw, come find us! VerticalResponse at booth 1223! |
| leehower: | #sbbuzz thx @sbbuzz and everyone who participated, I enjoyed it |
| familyfoodie: | Thank you for all the info. As a newbie, I was very impressed. #sbbuzz |
| TraceyHolinka: | Yes was a very interesting and informative discussion. Thxs @sbbuzz & @leehower #sbbuzz |
| decker_chris: | @digitalmints assists small biz owners with web development, digital marketing and social media #sbbuzz |
| pmohara: | Thanks Lee and everyone for awesome chat tonight! Pamela from @batchblue – the company who brings you #sbbuzz |
| P_Wannemacher: | I also want to thank @leehower for the discussion, good stuff! #sbbuzz |
| scoblitz: | @sbbuzz Pitch: eSeMBe helps you choose and implement technology so you can work more efficiently and effectively. #sbbuzz |
| ginabee: | http://www.WriteyTidy.com does the writing so you don’t have to! Thanks for the words of wisdom from my small biz hoping to grow! #sbbuzz |
| sbbuzz: | #sbbuzz is a small business Twitter chat hosted each Tuesday night by the folks from @batchblue Come again soon! |
| cjservia: | #sbbuzz Awesome chat tonight. Great insight. |
| foodiegrl: | I’d pitch, but @rzazueta is doing it for us – thx rob! @VR4SmallBiz #sbbuzz |
| ruxtermobi: | Ruxter is social networking for small businesses who wish to be mobile. Free universal app + low-cost texting to your customers. #sbbuzz |
| sbbuzz: | If you’d like a once-a-week e-mail reminder of #sbbuzz (including the topic) sign up at http://sbbuzz.net #sbbuzz |
| rzazueta: | FYI – #sbbuzz is the thing that showed me the TRUE power of Twitter. Every Tuesday night from 5 – 6 pm PST. |
| cjservia: | We assist all businesses with developing alternative management plans for disaster situations. http://www.lighthousecontinuity.com/ #sbbuzz |
| ruxtermobi: | Thank you @sbbuzz and @leehower for an excellent Tuesday night #sbbuzz chat. |
