A guest post from David McKinney – CEO/Founder of Jammbox. DIRTY HACKS FOR STARTUP FOUNDERS The aim of the dirty hacks series is to help you launch your startup faster, cheaper & dirtier. Everything is rough, crude, and fast. Just what you need for your startup. Part 1: How to use Facebook to size a [...]
Pollenizer was approached Chris Gray in June to run a focus workshop for a web business Chris had founded (working title ‘Pledgespace’). In the first half of the 4 hour workshop we worked on customer discovery (micro-segments, customer values, creating 10 X value). We iterated on this process to create a focused customer development plan. [...]
Pollenizer’s ability to access in-house expertise to service a broad range of client demands was evident in our work with consumer comparison website Getprice. It also made it the prime and only contender vying for the work. Getprice CEO Chris Hitchen explains why it is important having specific skill areas available for hire within one [...]
Based in Barcelona, Linqia used Pollenizer for a technology assessment, product focus and QA. Linqia defines itself as “The Social Network Marketplace” and connects brands and their agencies with social networks. “As a start-up with limited funding and access to top talent, we were fortunate to cross paths with the Pollenizer team who could offer [...]
I often get asked what’s the real value of ‘theoretical’ type business planning for a nascent start-up. The question that usually pops up is: why would anyone want to spend time painstakingly planning when circumstances are so uncertain? Questioning planning is only natural. After all planning takes time, the output is ‘soft’ and generally slows [...]
Thinking about new companies finding, nurturing and winning over their first lot of customers and I realise there are a lot of similarities with forming habits. Patience – it takes time. It doesn’t happen instantly. Somethings do, like a click, or a visit or reading a tagline, but real engagement and commitment takes time. Same [...]
We’re lucky enough to meet a lot of passionate entrepreneurs at Pollenizer and I love it. Exciting ideas, real belief and a twinkle in the eye that says they’re ready to take a risk to make it happen. I just wish they’d care a little bit more about the story. It would make the listening [...]
A quick video from me on the (big, big, big) difference between a product that actually functions and a business that really works. Roughly; Getting the product to ‘function’ means you can use it. Getting the business to ‘work’ means that you optimise it so that it creates lots of value. And my rough guide [...]
Having a strong market based business is great. You are a power-broker and can often profit from both sides. But how do you get over the chicken and egg problem? Market based businesses are when you need to bring together two different parties to perform a transaction. Some examples; Ebay – needs sellers and buyers. Craigslist – [...]
Is today the last day of our web business? Should we pack up our stuff and do something new? Has this idea failed? Will it ever gain momentum? Image thanks to Zoomar Have a meeting once per quarter and put this proposition to the team. It’s not about being negative. It powerfully shakes us out [...]
