September 2010
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Downtime
So… My last post on here was more than a month ago and in the few weeks prior to that I wasn’t overly productive (in terms of writing at least) either. The question thus begs to be answered: Why have I been so quiet here, as well as on Twitter, Flickr and everywhere else that matters online.
Simple answer: I’ve been busy.
They say that when the going gets tough, the tough...
August 2010
2 posts
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“Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door.
…is...”
–
tap tap tap ~ Camera+ second month sales: The Sophomore Software Slump? (via rafer)
Haha, I had to laugh at this, but only because it’s both funny and true.
See, the world is only willing to reward innovation if they know about it and if they get a sense that the masses will do the same....
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“As a startup, though, it’s exceptionally pretentious to think of ourselves as...”
– Eston Bond, explains why his startup - isocket - is a titleless one.
I love the description of a startup above and agree wholeheartedly with Eston’s views on why titles actually do not matter.
This is a similar approach to what we have at WooThemes, where we’ve never been overly fussed...
July 2010
27 posts
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Speaking Gigs
So following up on this tweet about my upcoming international travels, I have to say that there’s only two words to describe my current emotion: surreal & blessed.
At the beginning of the year I set myself the goal of speaking at, at least 3 international conferences. Up until now I’ve spoken at:
DIBI, Newcastle
NetProphet, Cape Town (local, but international in quality &...
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I haven’t been doing a lot of writing lately (it’s kinda obvious when looking at my archives), but I’m happy to say that my book is finally complete and except a few formatting / designs things will be going to print soon. So hopefully I’ll get back to some regular posting soon, even though I’m still undecided about how I will be approaching my publishing next.
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“From what I can tell that is what is happening with the WordPress v. Thesis...”
–
WordPress, GPL, Thesis and Speeding Tickets | Andrew Hyde - A Content-Free Rant
great summary :D
(via noreaster)
I had to have a bit of a chuckle at this.
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Content
I love challenges (read: if you want to motivate me, challenge me), but I hate it when someone else’s thoughts on a topic challenges the decisions / strategies that I have made. Especially - if that is only recently so.
Also - if I didn’t love Spencer Fry so much, I’d be totally mad right now after reading his latest article on writing. Why? Because it challenges the goals that...
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Startup Financials
I just had an epiphany of sorts…
With regards to the financials of your startup, there are only two things that really matters: money that comes into your company & the money that goes out. There’s no need to waste time & energy in an in-depth analysis of your finances (most of the time), as it is really simple to track these two metrics.**
So optimizing your company would...
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Re-Investment
In this post Fred Wilson goes on to explain that a company should first scale & gather traction on seed funding before it goes after venture round funding. Whilst WooThemes has never taken any outside funding (we’ve bootstrapped from the beginning), Fred’s post did make me think twice about when it’s a good idea to re-invest earnings into a company.
So with WooThemes,...
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“The real key is Apple’s ability to stick to this simple strategy with unwavering...”
– Jason L. Baptiste, explains why he thinks Apple has been as successful as they have been.
Deciding on a strategy (irrespective of the complexity) is extremely hard. Sticking to it with “unwavering dedication” is even harder - especially when the going gets tough.
See, in the good...
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Get 15% off my book - Rockstar Business - if you pre-order it now using coupon code “RADIIATE”. :)
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The Local Media Radar
So the local media radar (in South Africa) has been something that I’ve found relatively hard to crack, which has been somewhat surprising considering the success of WooThemes, which I helped to co-found. This is even more surprising if you consider that there aren’t many tech startups originating from South Africa and making a global impression. But hey - maybe your local market is...
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Recently I’ve been pretty addicted to running (which isn’t this type of “business” addiction that I normally exercise) and I can’t get enough it. I completed my second half marathon over the weekend and since I’ve started running at the beginning of this year, I’ve been a much healthier & happier person.
Anyone else experience how such a change just...
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Camera+ earns $250k+ in sales in first month →
This post by tap tap tap again just underlines why so many developers are flocking to the iPhone, as it is a massive market. Any digital business that can earn $250k in only its first month, will be truly happy by that return!
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“Competition is healthy, it pushes you stay at the top of your game and...”
– Sam Brown, explains the reasons for building Endorse.
Having never been overly worried about the competition, I absolutely love the ideas behind Endorse and I salute Sam + Mike for creating something really cool.
I think that it takes big balls to be able to recommend similarly talented people to...
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Solving Problems the WooThemes Way →
I was a guest on the WordPress Community Podcast last night and had a lot of fun with the show’s hosts, Joost de Valk & Frederick Townes.
We discussed a lot of the strategies & “policies” that we have implemented with WooThemes; especially with regards to customer service, creating loyal & evangelistic users, as well as our development cycles & processes around...
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“But there’s one thing we have now that The Beatles didn’t have…
Ladies...”
– Derek Powazek, elaborates on Malcolm Gladwell’s 10 000 hour theory in explaining Why Everything Sucks, Why That’s Awesome & How That is Changing Us.
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Second Startup Syndrome
I recently stumbled onto the Second Startup Syndrome article by Ben Horowitz and whilst reading it I realized that I was going through exactly the same thought processes, emotions & ideas as was described in the article.
Since the beginning of the year, I’ve been working on getting my original company - radiiate - out of hibernation, since I didn’t want the brand or the initial...
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How To Hire a Developer →
Great read with some great pointers this. Having burnt by the odd outsourced design / development relationship in the past, I can relate to a lot of the advice that Derek has given.
I specifically like & agree with #7:
You’re going to hire at least two different people to do this first step, expecting that one will go bad, one will be so-so, and one will be great.
Enjoy the read! :)
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Ignore The Competition →
I always keep tabs on what the “competition” is doing, as I need to make sure that my business innovate & grow in the right direction. So me keeping tabs here is more a way of watching out for potential trends that may develop and if takes a competitor to make me aware of that, then so be it.
Beyond that, I’m generally pretty keen to simply ignore the competition altogether.
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“And then, at some point, you realize you’re spending your best energy on...”
– Seth Godin, The non-optimized life (via 9-bits)
Mmmm… Had to re-read this a few times before it started to make some sense - to me anyway.
Recently we’ve (Woo) been *very* busy trying to figure out how we can streamline our business, increase value for our users and as a result we have...
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All of WooThemes’ beautiful Tumblr themes now available for only $9. But only if you’re a WooThemes member… :)
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Giving
I’ve often wondered whether anyone else considered why I would be involved with a charity such as The Rockstar Foundation, as perhaps the business / entrepreneur persona versus the charitable / giving persona weren’t as obviously aligned. So I figured that I’d share a few reasons for my (personal) involvement in the Foundation…
I have an absolute passion for kids and...
June 2010
34 posts
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Being Impulsive
So I’m 25 years old now and one thing that will probably never change, is that fact that my first instinct is to act on my natural impulses, instead of taking my time, thinking things through and acting conservatively. That’s just how I am wired.
In business I’ve learned that this approach that this approach as just as many upsides to its downsides, and whilst the upsides are...
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We’re trying something new over at The Rockstar Foundation: creating a fun giveaway to hopefully generate some more donations and take the foundation closer to sustainability.
What do you think of it?
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Creating Value
After reading this article about Airbnb’s success, there was one bit from the article that really got me thinking:
“…a company that creates immensely more value than it extracts from customers…”
Reading & re-reading that phrase really got me thinking about how other business models work in terms of the margin between value created & value extracted.
...
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Enough profit to quit your day job? →
Interesting discussion on Hacker News about making enough profit from your web-based business idea to actually quit your job.
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Ambition is hard work →
Ambition & hard work goes hand-in-hand. One of the main reasons for my success thus far (and also for WooThemes), is the fact that we’ve never been afraid to work hard.
Anyone disagree?
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“My assets are huge.”
– Elon Musk, goes on record saying that he’s broke, but his “assets” are huge.
And this is just another reason why the world is in recession and people are struggling to pay off debts. Cash is king.
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“I need to be working for a reason. Salaried work isn’t necessarily a bad thing,...”
– Xavier Shay, on why he quit a six figure job.
From following me here, you would know that I’d recommend being an entrepreneur (and hence your own boss) on most occasions. But what I’ve learned is that there are simply some people who don’t want to go that route and I’ve...
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I’ve made a decision to stick to what I know best, as well as sticking to those people I know best.
This may sound a little random, but it’s pretty unique in relation to how I see us growing The Rockstar Foundation & turning it into a self-sustaining organization. So who & what I currently know is the tech startup scene that I’ve been working in (via WooThemes) for the...
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Show-EE: The Rockstar Foundation →
Nice write-up on the ExpressionEngine development of the new website for The Rockstar Foundation.
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Growing Within →
This is how we’ve evolved & revolutionized the WooTeam, whilst all the time growing organically and growing from within our own company. In my opinion this definitely shows that it is even possible to bootstrap and grow your team organically; no expensive headhunting or massive teams needed.
This strategy also ties in nicely with WooThemes’ general strategy to bootstrapping the...
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I laughed at Posterous, but they proved me wrong →
Moral of the story: don’t laugh at others ideas, as you never know how great it may turn out to be… :)
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Experts
Ever wonder why supposed & so-called experts are still getting all the kudo’s, when the internet should have democratized these “privileges” & opportunities? Well, as frustrating as it is, experts still rule all the niches and it’s down to better self-marketing & branding to get into those spaces.
Here’s a few thoughts from my upcoming book - Rockstar...
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“Carbonmade has been around for nearly five years, and every so often we find...”
– Spencer Fry, on the freemium model that they have employed at Carbonmade.
So I’m a big fan of the freemium model with the proviso that you are able to attract thousands of users, as the 2 - 5% conversion rate that Spencer mentions only works when you have enough users to build a sustainable...