Jason Calacanis Lists 10 things startups need to do now given the economic climate.
Since I can’t reprint, here are my comments on his points 1 through 10.
1. Barce’s comment: That goes without saying. I’d like to see another option besides this one. I think it’s this. You’ve got your health and you’ve got your sanity. Be happy with that and let others enjoy your happiness. It’s a scarce commodity in difficult times.
2. Barce’s Comment: I couldn’t agree more. Teach your team how to use the latest collaborative technologies. Make notes of who is technology shy with the new communication tools. At Dogster one of the last things I tried to introduce was the use of IRC, a tried and true communication tool for avoiding inefficient back and forths with IM.
3. Barce’s Comment: Make sure you are firing the “average people.” Work at startups can often be blurred by politics. Very often, the one who speaks the least is the one who does the most work. It’s better to keep someone who disagrees with you than a yes person who will lead you blithely to the end of your business.
4. Barce’s comment: Also be sure to adjust your terms from net 60 to net 90… the extra 30 days can help with your accounts payable.
5. Barce’s comment: This is pretty tough to execute so have an all hands and ask for ideas.
6. Barce’s comment: This means that every worker of yours is a marketer who must do there best to market your company. If you’re at a social media site, that means talking face to face with at least 5 new people a day about your website. That’s not asking much: 2 at the coffee shop in the morning, 2 at lunch, and 1 at your afterwork hangout or the bus stop in the evening.
7. Barce’s comment: What a great way to build morale in down economic times! This is pretty fun, and again take note of who isn’t having fun with this.
8. Barce’s comment: I always shown up for stuff like this, and it’s a great team builder.
9. Barce’s comment: This can be as simple as a google ad that gets served up on your competitor’s site because they are on life support and can’t watch all the ads anymore.
10. Barce’s comment: My dream is to have a popular website that I’ve created and that people just love to be on. I want to learn more about raising money. If you’ve got tips, I’m all ears.
Happy Friday!