Having just changed companies (from Maximizer Software to ActiveState), and now getting used to the culture at the new office, here are five specific ways in which the two companies are different.
1. Political Hierarchy
Keep in mind Maximizer has 100 people in Vancouver, and another 75 in international offices (UK, Australia, South Africa, and Hong Kong), while ActiveState has less than 30 people in Vancouver only. That said, Maximizer is no Microsoft or Oracle. But the flatness of the ActiveState culture at first caught me off guard. At Maximizer, as a member of the senior executive team, I mostly socialized and collaborated with the other senior executives, and those that were one level under me (directors and managers). I rarely spoke with staff level (unless they were in marketing), and the staff in sales and support (the largest groups) would never speak to me at company social functions. In fact, most of them never came into my office, and if they did, they acted very nervous. ActiveState is entirely different in that everyone is more on equal ground and anyone can go into the president's office even.
2. Gay Office Managers make for Fun Times
At ActiveState, our gay office manager/receptionist/accounting & customer service assistant provides a core element of our open, fun, friendly, and humorous workplace. He jokes around with everyone, from the marketing staff up to the president in the same tone. At my old company, a gay office manager certainly would not have fit into the culture.
3. Perks are Good
Maximizer was getting to the point, and with the economy and all, where we were pulling away things like food and snacks for staff (though we did still have massages). At ActiveState, I was pleasantly surprised with fully stocked kitchen with fresh fruit, tons of snacks, breakfast, and lunch options. Then, I learned that there was staff yoga/pilates three times a week that the company subsidized! This feels like the tech boom of 1999 or a video game company, and I'm liking these perks.
4. People Invite Each Other to Parties
At Maximizer, in all my years there, I don't recall ever being invited to a house party that a staffer was having. In one month, I've already been invited to three. Very surprising and different coming from my old world, but seems to be the norm here.
5. Operations need to be Streamlined for Growth
ActiveState, having grown up in the open source space, and being a smaller company, has some streamlining to benefit from in operations and IT. Even before I started, and they asked me what type of software (OS, apps, etc) I wanted on my laptop, I was surprised. And I was allowed to bring in my new BlackBerry, while others were using iPhones or other mobile platforms. Choice is good, but I definitely wasn't used to the ad-hoc nature of IT operations.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Monday, August 31, 2009
5 Things NOT to Say to Make a Kid Cry
If you're like me and haven't had much exposure to children, yet are now thrust in the midst of your mid-30s friends' kids, here are 5 things NOT to say to their kids. Trust me - toddlers don't have the same sense of humor as us and don't think sarcasm is funny. At all. In fact, you may scare them shitless if you say these things, which I quickly learned after my attempts to make them laugh, backfired and made them cry.
1. "Your mom has asked me to drive you to Kelowna."
Saying this as you jump into the drivers seat of a mini-van that has 3 children strapped into carseats in the back may elicit a 3-year old to burst into tears. Then, his older brother MAY say something to you like "you don't know much about kids, do you".
2. "When you were a baby, your older brother vaccuumed you up and you got stuck inside a vaccuum cleaner."
You'd think that I'd learn from the incident above, but no. A year later, I said this to the same kid. Of course there were no giggles, but rather a pout/frown and beginnings of a "waaah" type sound. I quickly retracted my statement and told him I was just joking, which was followed by "that's not funneeeee!!"
3. "A bear's going to smell the honey and PB on your face and come and lick it off."
Again, kids don't understand sarcasm, and this elicited a facial expression which seemed like a combination of fear of big bears and confusion that perhaps I was referring to Winnie the Pooh... followed by "Bear coming?"
1. "Your mom has asked me to drive you to Kelowna."
Saying this as you jump into the drivers seat of a mini-van that has 3 children strapped into carseats in the back may elicit a 3-year old to burst into tears. Then, his older brother MAY say something to you like "you don't know much about kids, do you".
2. "When you were a baby, your older brother vaccuumed you up and you got stuck inside a vaccuum cleaner."
You'd think that I'd learn from the incident above, but no. A year later, I said this to the same kid. Of course there were no giggles, but rather a pout/frown and beginnings of a "waaah" type sound. I quickly retracted my statement and told him I was just joking, which was followed by "that's not funneeeee!!"
3. "A bear's going to smell the honey and PB on your face and come and lick it off."
Again, kids don't understand sarcasm, and this elicited a facial expression which seemed like a combination of fear of big bears and confusion that perhaps I was referring to Winnie the Pooh... followed by "Bear coming?"
4. "I don't care what your parents let you do, you have to go to bed now."
Trying to be their parent and lay down your own rules when you're just baby-sitting for the night does not work. I tried to play "bad cop" and my husband ended up having to play "good cop" while this toddler cried herself to sleep. I was never asked to babysit her again.
OK, so I only have 4 again this time. Probably a good thing, and will try to NOT make more small children cry.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
5 Things that Make New Orleans Unique
Everyone knows to go to New Orleans for Bourbon Street, Mardi Gras, post-Hurricane Katrina support, etc... And I've always suspected that New Orleans would be a culturally unique experience from any other American city. In my few days here this week in NOLA (which I learned stands for New Orleans, Louisiana!), I've already discovered evidence of unique things to experience.
1. Alligator Fritters & Turtle Soup
No joke, they actually eat that here. I ate a gator fritter last night; haven't tried turtle soup yet, but my colleague did. Not as freaky as you think - and yes, tastes like chicken.
2. Current culture & language reflects French history
The only place in America that isn't so, well, America. They actually use the Fleur-de-Lis as their symbol here - not just in Quebec! And they still teach French in some schools, not Spanish.
3. Mugginess
The only place I've ever been where you step outside, it's so muggy that your eye glasses steam up immediately. So muggy that Bikram's could hold his yoga classes here outside.
4. Jazz
Their airport is named after the legendary jazz musician. What other city names their airport after a musician? And you can see why when you walk down Bourbon Street and hear sounds of traditional and modern jazz from several hole-in-the-wall clubs/bars. Very unique - love it!
5. Deep fried everything - and they got grits!
Not just fish and chicken, but beans, artichokes, alligators, mushrooms. It was so difficult to find non-deep-fried food at the party last night that I cheered when we found raw carrot sticks at one of the tables. And for northerners - you can try grits in New Orleans, served even at fancy restaurants!
1. Alligator Fritters & Turtle Soup
No joke, they actually eat that here. I ate a gator fritter last night; haven't tried turtle soup yet, but my colleague did. Not as freaky as you think - and yes, tastes like chicken.
2. Current culture & language reflects French history
The only place in America that isn't so, well, America. They actually use the Fleur-de-Lis as their symbol here - not just in Quebec! And they still teach French in some schools, not Spanish.
3. Mugginess
The only place I've ever been where you step outside, it's so muggy that your eye glasses steam up immediately. So muggy that Bikram's could hold his yoga classes here outside.
4. Jazz
Their airport is named after the legendary jazz musician. What other city names their airport after a musician? And you can see why when you walk down Bourbon Street and hear sounds of traditional and modern jazz from several hole-in-the-wall clubs/bars. Very unique - love it!
5. Deep fried everything - and they got grits!
Not just fish and chicken, but beans, artichokes, alligators, mushrooms. It was so difficult to find non-deep-fried food at the party last night that I cheered when we found raw carrot sticks at one of the tables. And for northerners - you can try grits in New Orleans, served even at fancy restaurants!
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Top 5 Handy Apps on my BlackBerry
With all the buzz a few months ago about BlackBerry Apps, I downloaded lots of different apps to try. With the buzz faded, here are the ones that I actually kept on my BlackBerry and still use to manage my life, and when they come in handy.
1. WorldMate Live
As a traveller, I can't live without WorldMate now. It takes e-tickets one step further so you don't have to print out your email confirmations. Instead, you track all your flights, hotels and rental cars in WorldMate Live, sorting it by trip. You can even book hotels through the app - which gives you great deals since it's connected with Hotels.com.
Handy for those times when US Customs is suspicious of your constant entering their country, and they ask for proof of my return trip. Tell them you don't have a printed ticket, and instead, show them your flight in WorldMate app on BlackBerry! Very cool.
You can get this one in BlackBerry App World or http://www.worldmate.com/.
2. Shazam
Finally, the must-have app for iPhone fans is available on BlackBerry! And it's as cool as people say. This is the app that "listens" to whatever tune is playing on the radio or at a bar, and tells you the song and artist! Very handy when you're thinking - "I love this song, who sings it?" and don't want to ask your friends because it's probably Kelly Clarkson and you'd be embarrassed, but you still want to download it and rock out to it whenever you want, and not have to wait for the next time you hear it on the radio.
This one is available through BlackBerry App World.
3. Facebook
For Facebookers, this is great for those times when you're waiting around for something or someone with nothing to do or read. I pull out my BlackBerry and Face-stalk the latest status updates from my friends, and update it with useless information on what I'm doing while waiting for a flight, a green light, or a ferry. Handy for those times when you want to brag about the cool things you're doing when you're not at your computer.
This one is available through BlackBerry App World.
4. Yap with MyCaption
At my company, we're testing various voice-to-text apps for mobile devices. Handy for those times when you need to say something long (like a long email or a long meeting follow-up note for your mobile CRM), and it's too much to type (whether you have fat thumbs or regular thumbs - sometimes, you just don't have the patience to type out more than a few words on a BlackBerry).
For testing, we downloaded various apps and the best one turned out to be Yap with MyCaption. Yap on it's own is OK, but had troubles with punctuation (creating big run-on sentences in the text version of what you said). But MyCaption (powered by Yap) was better, as it has some humans to help with the technology (probably some humans in a big call center in India listening to your messages and fixing the errors that the technology makes). It still thought that "Murray" was "Marie" (prompting all those CC'd on my message to Murray to start calling him Marie in the office) - but converted a 2-minute message into a pretty accurate email.
You can get a trial for this one at http://www.mycaption.com/.
5. Maximizer Mobile CRM
Of course I can't write a blog posting about BlackBerry apps without mentioning the app that pays my paycheque, Maximizer Mobile CRM. Handy when I'm on a business trip, I can see updated info on the customers and partners I'm about to meet, including the past emails, letters, phone calls I've had with them. So now I can be lazy and not print out all their files and info beforehand - I just look it up in the morning on my BlackBerry. It helps me remember important details from past conversations, and record details of the meetings I'm having, so I can remember them easily in the future.
More info at www.maximizer.com/mobilecrm.
1. WorldMate Live
As a traveller, I can't live without WorldMate now. It takes e-tickets one step further so you don't have to print out your email confirmations. Instead, you track all your flights, hotels and rental cars in WorldMate Live, sorting it by trip. You can even book hotels through the app - which gives you great deals since it's connected with Hotels.com.
Handy for those times when US Customs is suspicious of your constant entering their country, and they ask for proof of my return trip. Tell them you don't have a printed ticket, and instead, show them your flight in WorldMate app on BlackBerry! Very cool.
You can get this one in BlackBerry App World or http://www.worldmate.com/.
2. Shazam
Finally, the must-have app for iPhone fans is available on BlackBerry! And it's as cool as people say. This is the app that "listens" to whatever tune is playing on the radio or at a bar, and tells you the song and artist! Very handy when you're thinking - "I love this song, who sings it?" and don't want to ask your friends because it's probably Kelly Clarkson and you'd be embarrassed, but you still want to download it and rock out to it whenever you want, and not have to wait for the next time you hear it on the radio.
This one is available through BlackBerry App World.
3. Facebook
For Facebookers, this is great for those times when you're waiting around for something or someone with nothing to do or read. I pull out my BlackBerry and Face-stalk the latest status updates from my friends, and update it with useless information on what I'm doing while waiting for a flight, a green light, or a ferry. Handy for those times when you want to brag about the cool things you're doing when you're not at your computer.
This one is available through BlackBerry App World.
4. Yap with MyCaption
At my company, we're testing various voice-to-text apps for mobile devices. Handy for those times when you need to say something long (like a long email or a long meeting follow-up note for your mobile CRM), and it's too much to type (whether you have fat thumbs or regular thumbs - sometimes, you just don't have the patience to type out more than a few words on a BlackBerry).
For testing, we downloaded various apps and the best one turned out to be Yap with MyCaption. Yap on it's own is OK, but had troubles with punctuation (creating big run-on sentences in the text version of what you said). But MyCaption (powered by Yap) was better, as it has some humans to help with the technology (probably some humans in a big call center in India listening to your messages and fixing the errors that the technology makes). It still thought that "Murray" was "Marie" (prompting all those CC'd on my message to Murray to start calling him Marie in the office) - but converted a 2-minute message into a pretty accurate email.
You can get a trial for this one at http://www.mycaption.com/.
5. Maximizer Mobile CRM
Of course I can't write a blog posting about BlackBerry apps without mentioning the app that pays my paycheque, Maximizer Mobile CRM. Handy when I'm on a business trip, I can see updated info on the customers and partners I'm about to meet, including the past emails, letters, phone calls I've had with them. So now I can be lazy and not print out all their files and info beforehand - I just look it up in the morning on my BlackBerry. It helps me remember important details from past conversations, and record details of the meetings I'm having, so I can remember them easily in the future.
More info at www.maximizer.com/mobilecrm.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
The 5 Guys You Meet at Tech Conferences like WES
On my return from Research in Motion/BlackBerry’s annual Wireless Enterprise Symposium (WES), I reflected on the type of people you meet there. Firstly, like most technology conferences, it’s dominated with men. I’d say 90% at this one. ALL of my BD (business development) meetings were with men, and the only women around seemed to be the ones in the booths. So here are the types of guys at WES this year. (PS – since this blog posting is about tech, it’s likely going to have a bunch of nerdy acronyms, so will define them as I go along).
1. Young guys there to party.
At a tech conference, these guys are the minority. This is not the real estate industry. At WES, these guys hardly go to any conference sessions, and instead, spend 4 days poolside in Orlando drinking, 4 nights partying and trying to meet the 10% women at the conference (or other more “friendly” women in the city). At WES, I think most of these guys are the customers, usually not partners like us who need to put on a more serious game face. This year, some of these type of guys actually built a BlackBerry party-organizing app called “WES After Dark” to post info on where they were going to be partying, encourage others to spread the word and come out partying. I would’ve gone to one of the parties, if it wasn’t for them posting pictures from the first night at Hooter’s and other party pics that made me realize that hanging out with these guys may be a CLM (career-limiting move)! Considering it’s a recession, these guys were drinking on their expense accounts like it was 1999 – I guess mobility is the exception to the recession!
2. Tech Entrepreneurs from Silicon Valley there to pitch their product.
Aggressive entrepreneurs with lots of mojo that walk around pushing their product on anyone that they think is influential. Usually Silicon Valley or NY types that think they have the next killer app, want to partner with RIM or get bought by RIM. One of these types hi-jacked a meeting I was in with a RIM/carrier alliance person (yes, influential). He name dropped like crazy about where he used to be an exec and whose on his board of directors, yet he didn’t have business cards on him (odd!). I’m pretty sure I wasn’t the only one that didn’t really understand the business value of his app…
3. Tech nerds there to learn.
This is the majority of the guys at WES… serious nerds there to get their BES (BlackBerry Enterprise Server) certification, and start clapping when Mike Lazaridis (RIM co-CEO) announces some small new feature, and Mike Kirkup (RIM Dev Relations Manager) says that they’re going to start publicly tracking technical issues. These guys actually attend all the technical sessions, and get excited about being in the hands-on labs all day. These are also the guys that stand around at the parties by themselves, checking the status of their servers on their BlackBerry’s, and staring at the 10% of girls that walk by as if they haven’t seen one of us in 5 years.
4. Nerds and old guys that party once a year at WES.
These guys are hilarious because unlike Type #3, they’re nerds and old guys that aren’t shy. They think they’re like Type #1, but they’re clearly not. When they’re sober, they’re geeking out on their BlackBerry’s, and after a few drinks, they jump onto stage when will.i.am is rapping and DJ’ing and think they can break dance or balance drinks on their head. The old guys are standing near the front of the stage like it was a Grateful Dead concert, yet probably have no idea who will.i.am is. They’re just excited to be at a concert and not at home with their wives and kids.
5. Guys there to do bi’ness.
These are most of the guys that I personally met with. BD and Sales types within RIM, software/hardware partners, and carrier guys that cram in as many face-to-face meetings as possible during the week to build relationships and progress deals. Whether they’re from start-ups or huge carriers, everyone wants to capitalize on the huge BlackBerry market where there’s big opportunity and a piece of the pie for many players. We’re pretty new to the mobility and carrier game, but I’m quickly realizing that this is a club based on relationships and credibility. And the more the right people vouch for you, the easier it will be to do business with others.
1. Young guys there to party.
At a tech conference, these guys are the minority. This is not the real estate industry. At WES, these guys hardly go to any conference sessions, and instead, spend 4 days poolside in Orlando drinking, 4 nights partying and trying to meet the 10% women at the conference (or other more “friendly” women in the city). At WES, I think most of these guys are the customers, usually not partners like us who need to put on a more serious game face. This year, some of these type of guys actually built a BlackBerry party-organizing app called “WES After Dark” to post info on where they were going to be partying, encourage others to spread the word and come out partying. I would’ve gone to one of the parties, if it wasn’t for them posting pictures from the first night at Hooter’s and other party pics that made me realize that hanging out with these guys may be a CLM (career-limiting move)! Considering it’s a recession, these guys were drinking on their expense accounts like it was 1999 – I guess mobility is the exception to the recession!
2. Tech Entrepreneurs from Silicon Valley there to pitch their product.
Aggressive entrepreneurs with lots of mojo that walk around pushing their product on anyone that they think is influential. Usually Silicon Valley or NY types that think they have the next killer app, want to partner with RIM or get bought by RIM. One of these types hi-jacked a meeting I was in with a RIM/carrier alliance person (yes, influential). He name dropped like crazy about where he used to be an exec and whose on his board of directors, yet he didn’t have business cards on him (odd!). I’m pretty sure I wasn’t the only one that didn’t really understand the business value of his app…
3. Tech nerds there to learn.
This is the majority of the guys at WES… serious nerds there to get their BES (BlackBerry Enterprise Server) certification, and start clapping when Mike Lazaridis (RIM co-CEO) announces some small new feature, and Mike Kirkup (RIM Dev Relations Manager) says that they’re going to start publicly tracking technical issues. These guys actually attend all the technical sessions, and get excited about being in the hands-on labs all day. These are also the guys that stand around at the parties by themselves, checking the status of their servers on their BlackBerry’s, and staring at the 10% of girls that walk by as if they haven’t seen one of us in 5 years.
4. Nerds and old guys that party once a year at WES.
These guys are hilarious because unlike Type #3, they’re nerds and old guys that aren’t shy. They think they’re like Type #1, but they’re clearly not. When they’re sober, they’re geeking out on their BlackBerry’s, and after a few drinks, they jump onto stage when will.i.am is rapping and DJ’ing and think they can break dance or balance drinks on their head. The old guys are standing near the front of the stage like it was a Grateful Dead concert, yet probably have no idea who will.i.am is. They’re just excited to be at a concert and not at home with their wives and kids.
5. Guys there to do bi’ness.
These are most of the guys that I personally met with. BD and Sales types within RIM, software/hardware partners, and carrier guys that cram in as many face-to-face meetings as possible during the week to build relationships and progress deals. Whether they’re from start-ups or huge carriers, everyone wants to capitalize on the huge BlackBerry market where there’s big opportunity and a piece of the pie for many players. We’re pretty new to the mobility and carrier game, but I’m quickly realizing that this is a club based on relationships and credibility. And the more the right people vouch for you, the easier it will be to do business with others.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
5 Lessons from my NoCal (San Fran/Big Sur) Trip this Weekend
I had the pleasure of enjoying a varied long weekend in northern California this past 4 days. Varied in that it ranged from city touring in San Francisco from to trekking through remote areas of the Big Sur coast. Here are 4 things I learned this weekend (sorry, couldn’t pull off a 5th one), and some photos:
1. We are but a dot in time and space.
There’s nothing like a weekend in a place like Big Sur to make you feel insignificant. Not in a bad way. But in a way that makes you feel like a part of a much larger world than the one in which you normally live your life. The physical beauty and presence of the Big Sur coastline remind you that the Earth is vast and powerful, and has been around a lot longer than us humans. The history of Big Sur with its early pioneers and settlers who loved its beauty, remind you that there were once brave and hard-working explorers that had a much greater appreciation of the earth and a greater sense of adventure than we typically have on an average day, week, or month. The current people of Big Sur still maintain that sense of appreciation and peace with the earth. Being in this tranquil and beautiful place was a great rejuvenator and reminder of our place as humans in time and on the planet.
2. We really SHOULD work out to “Train for Life”.
My personal trainer, Josh Neumann, says that you should work out not to train for a specific event like a triathlon or marathon, but to “train for life”. As I’m doing squats and lunges, and 5km runs around Trout Lake, I don’t particularly think that life is going to present me with the NEED to squat and lunge and run 5km. This weekend, I learned that there ARE situations where this training will come in handy when you are FORCED to run 5km!
On Saturday, my husband Dave accidentally locked the keys to our rental car in the trunk when we were at a beach 2 miles down a “secret” road. And 2 miles from cell phone reception! After we realized this, a nice lady drove me up to the ranger station about 2.2 miles from our car. Where, I was able to make phone calls and it took me about 45 minutes to sort out with Hertz to send a locksmith to us – but Big Sur being so remote, it would take the guy almost 2 hours to get to us from Monterey! $275 later, I realized I had no choice (breaking the window was not an option, I learned, since the brand new Toyota Camry would automatically disable the trunk lever once it was broken into!). In the mean time, Dave was over 2 miles away, with no cell phone reception. And knowing Dave, he would FREAK out if he didn’t hear from me or see me 3 hours after leaving with the nice lady in her car. So, with my big bulky camera over my shoulder and wallet and BlackBerry in hand, I started jogging the 2.2 miles. And this was after doing a 3.2 mile hike earlier that day. I had to run – not walk – because I had to make it there in sufficient time of finding Dave (in case he decided to go down to the beach and I couldn’t find him right away), and in enough time so that I (or we) could jog or walk back to the ranger station where the locksmith was meeting us (he couldn’t meet us down at the beach since it was down an unmarked road that he probably wouldn’t be able to find). So I did the jog and after finding Dave, we did a fast-walk back up the 2.2 mile hill to the ranger station. So yes, I now believe that life may present you with situations in which it pays off to have been “training for life”. I thought of this and smiled as I ran the 2.2 miles…
3. A new word to my vocabulary: Massholes
“Massholes” = “Assholes from Boston/Mass like Ben Affleck with those stupid accents”. As described by some Denver guys we met at a wine party in San Francisco.
And we put this to use on Sunday at the airport when some obnoxious fans were loudly cheering for the Boston Redsox (game on TV): "What a bunch of loud Massholes". Love it!
4. Rundown mobile home cabins in Big Sur cost more than hotel rooms at the Ritz Carleton
We contemplated why our mobile home “cabin” in Big Sur with faux wood walls and bedsheets circa 1970 cost more than our hotel room at the Ritz in San Francisco. Some reasons:
- a. Big Sur is the most beautiful place in North Americas so someone is cashing in and making a killing.
- b. Usable land is scarce in Big Sur, so land costs are expensive.
- c. Big Sur is so remote that it costs a lot to get supplies in to serve tourists.
- d. Tourists only come to Big Sur during certain months, so they have to charge a lot during the high months to make up for the low months.
Either way, if you are going to Big Sur, be prepared to book ahead of time and don’t expect it to be too cheap. Even the places that are “campground and cabins” aren’t cheap. But, Big Sur is one of the most beautiful places on earth.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Top 5 Takeaways from Sierra Wireless & Absolute Software
This week, I attended a BCTIA Impact event, a monthly speaker series highlighting winners of last year's Impact awards given to the brightest stars in BC's tech industry. The two speakers were Greg Speakman, VP Marketing at Sierra Wireless, and John Livingston, President of Absolute Software. Here are the top takeaways I took from this event!
1. Make your offering a "need to have" rather than a "nice to have". (John Livingston)
I couldn't agree more - especially in this economy. From my personal experience - when the tech bubble burst in 2001 I was working at a video-over-IP company called Eyeball Networks. The reason I left is because I realized that in the economy at that time - companies were only buying "need to have's", and cutting out all "nice to have's". Video-over-IP wasn't considered one of those "need to have's".
2. When in doubt, just act. (John Livingston)
The culture he has created at Absolute is under the belief that you can sit around and discuss theories and strategies, but at the end of the day - action needs to be taken to get results. So he encourages people to just act! Sometimes, I call this "ask for forgiveness, not permission" in my career.
3. Listen to your partners - especially the ones that are where you want to be. (Greg Speakman)
Both companies have created extremely successful strategic alliances with large companies as part of their go-to-market strategy. Absolute with laptop manufacturers (Dell, HP, etc.) and Sierra Wireless with telco carriers (AT&T, Telstra, etc.). They stressed the importance of listening to your current customers (duh), but also of listening to these types of partners who may be closer to your target new customers. And revise your product and strategy if required.
4. Hire people who have worked at your target alliance partners.
To successfully create alliances with large, complex organizations (like laptop manufacturers and telco carriers) - both of them said that their secret to doing this successfully was by hiring people who used to work at these organizations. In some situations, they even did it after they had established relationships with the partner company (with permission). They know the culture, can navigate the complexities of the organizations to identify the influencers and decision-makers.
In my job, since I've started to work with telco carriers (on our mobile CRM product), this was the key question I wanted to ask. And though we aren't yet ready to hire people from these telcos, I'm doing the next best thing by hiring a wireless telco consultant that is ex-Bell/Telus/Rogers. Thanks for the great advice!
5. Beware of service providers and job-seekers at networking events
I periodically go to BCTIA events, but never before had I been to one where there were more lawyers, bankers, and unemployed people than actual tech industry people! That took me by surprise a little. But I guess this is a sign of the economy where more than the usual # of people are looking for business and jobs!
1. Make your offering a "need to have" rather than a "nice to have". (John Livingston)
I couldn't agree more - especially in this economy. From my personal experience - when the tech bubble burst in 2001 I was working at a video-over-IP company called Eyeball Networks. The reason I left is because I realized that in the economy at that time - companies were only buying "need to have's", and cutting out all "nice to have's". Video-over-IP wasn't considered one of those "need to have's".
2. When in doubt, just act. (John Livingston)
The culture he has created at Absolute is under the belief that you can sit around and discuss theories and strategies, but at the end of the day - action needs to be taken to get results. So he encourages people to just act! Sometimes, I call this "ask for forgiveness, not permission" in my career.
3. Listen to your partners - especially the ones that are where you want to be. (Greg Speakman)
Both companies have created extremely successful strategic alliances with large companies as part of their go-to-market strategy. Absolute with laptop manufacturers (Dell, HP, etc.) and Sierra Wireless with telco carriers (AT&T, Telstra, etc.). They stressed the importance of listening to your current customers (duh), but also of listening to these types of partners who may be closer to your target new customers. And revise your product and strategy if required.
4. Hire people who have worked at your target alliance partners.
To successfully create alliances with large, complex organizations (like laptop manufacturers and telco carriers) - both of them said that their secret to doing this successfully was by hiring people who used to work at these organizations. In some situations, they even did it after they had established relationships with the partner company (with permission). They know the culture, can navigate the complexities of the organizations to identify the influencers and decision-makers.
In my job, since I've started to work with telco carriers (on our mobile CRM product), this was the key question I wanted to ask. And though we aren't yet ready to hire people from these telcos, I'm doing the next best thing by hiring a wireless telco consultant that is ex-Bell/Telus/Rogers. Thanks for the great advice!
5. Beware of service providers and job-seekers at networking events
I periodically go to BCTIA events, but never before had I been to one where there were more lawyers, bankers, and unemployed people than actual tech industry people! That took me by surprise a little. But I guess this is a sign of the economy where more than the usual # of people are looking for business and jobs!
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