Urgent Speed

Mimeo Goes Live in the UK

It's like the Beatles, but in reverse...and with slightly less hype.  Mimeo.com has launched a site for the United Kingdom - www.mimeo.co.uk

2006, 2007 and 2009 list of VC Blogs

It’s good to see Larry Cheng has posted a list of current Blogs by Venture Capitalists.  It’s interesting to compare the 2009 list to the VC bloggers list from 2006 and the VC Blogger List from 2007.

These charts put recent market “adjustment” in perspective

more at: http://dshort.com/articles/2009/four-bad-bears-alternate-real.html

Top 10 Tips for Getting Past a Gatekeeper

Next NY’s “Jumpstarting Sales in Your Startup” panel last night featured Mark LaRosa of QuotaCrush and Jeff Stewart of Urgent Career.  Though the group was lively to begin with, the question that generated the most buzz - "What are the best ways to get past a gatekeeper?" - was such a classic that I had to post the best responses.

Here’s the best of the best that came out of the crowd last night:

1. Give the gatekeeper the benefit of the doubt.  Most salespeople assume that an assistant doesn’t have the time, judgment, or influence to help them, and therefore ask immediately for the decision-maker.  Huge mistake!  Treat every assistant with the courtesy and respect of a CEO.  Doors will magically open for you. 

2. Treat the assistant like a human being.  This is obvious, but most assistants don’t aspire to be assistants forever.  Google their name.  See if they blog or tweet.  What’s their web presence?  Find something that they are genuinely interested in and run with it. 
3. Use your arsenal.  Make a joke.  Play good cop/bad cop.  Talk about the weather.  Mention a tidbit you saw in the news.  Ask about their company’s latest release.  Ask if they’re running the company yet.  Whatever your style, get the assistant on your side.  After all, they’re controlling your access to the company.  There’s no need to make them enemy #1.
4. Write down the assistant’s name.  Refer to them by name, every time.  Be friendly, polite, and direct.  Remember that you are not yet their highest priority, and being impatient, self-righteous, and vague is never going to get you there.
5. Be honest and forthright about your solution.  Value the assistant’s time - it’s just as important as the decision maker’s.  Explain to them up front what you are calling about and why you think it will add value.  Don’t hang up and try again if your target is unavailable – it’s disruptive and dismissive.  Worse, you’ve wasted an opportunity.
6. Ask for help. The more you can engage the gatekeeper in the process, the better.  Ask the assistant about the best time to call, the easiest way to get in touch, direct numbers, cell phone numbers, etc.  Ask if it’s better to leave a voicemail, leave a message, or just to call back.  But before you do that…
7. Assume the assistant is a decision maker.  Believe it or not, the assistant’s job isn’t to keep you at bay.  Rather, their job is to discern potential value for their executive and/or their company.  By that logic, you should involve the assistant’s judgment as much as possible. Gatekeepers have an ear to the ground about every aspect of the business.  Ask them about their pain points.  Where would they see the most value added?  What’s most important this quarter?  Next quarter?  Next year?  What’s their growth strategy and what are their bottlenecks?  What’s their biggest frustration?  Assistants offer unique insights that can help you refine your pitch.
8. Ask who else is involved.  Gatekeepers have the ear of everyone that will be involved in your sale.  They know who you should be talking to.  Ask if you are targeting the right person.  Do they know anyone that might be of assistance?  Who should you talk to first and why?  Who is the ultimate decision maker?  Let the assistant paint the relationship structure for you and guide you up the ladder.
9. Alleviate their burden.  Assistants are responsible for sourcing and evaluating vendors.  If you’ve called them at the right time, you’ve eliminated their legwork.  Let them be responsible for walking your sale through the company.  Don’t blow it by presuming that they won’t be involved in the process.
10. Let the gatekeeper advocate.  If you’ve effectively engaged the gatekeeper, they will be your advocate throughout the entire sales cycle.   Let them make introductions on your behalf.  Ask about the best ways to engage various decision makers.  Ask their opinion on what’s most important to each decision maker.  Use them as a strategic sounding board as your deal goes through the pipe.  The more they are engaged in the value, the more value they add to you.  

Got any more of your own?  We’d love to hear them in the comments.  

About the Guest Blogger: Lauren Gilchrist is Urgent Career's "Jill of All Trades," managing operations ranging from finance to marketing to strategy and beyond.  A young entrepreneur interested in the intersection of sales and technology, Lauren plans to contribute regularly to Urgent Career's growing web presence as an authority on all things sales.  Look for more of Lauren in the coming weeks.

The Next Bubble – Alternate Energy

Eric Janszen does a masterful job articulating the conditions needed for a massive innovation bubble.  His article is required reading for any entrepreneur looking change the world.     The move away form oil will be as big as the transformation from animal power to steam, or transformation from steam to oil.  
 

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Business economy crash

There are two types of bubbles; asset bubbles and innovation bubbles.  The Asset bubbles are a zero sum game that doesn’t offer anything new to society, but innovation bubbles are critical to rapidly deploying new technology.  

The Tulips Bubble of 1637 is the classic example of an asset bubble.   More recently the assets of real-estate, oil, and gold have all had their bubbles.  I believe asset bubbles are a natural occurrence given our collective human nature.  (I wonder if algometric trading amplifies or dampens our human propensity for froth and panic.) 

But innovation bubbles are a different organism. Innovation bubbles are the markets (our collective intelligence) realization that technological change is afoot. Canals and Railroads are the classic example form the 1800.   More recent examples include Radio, Automobiles, TV, and the Internet.   Fortunes will be made and lost, but in the wake of the bubble a new technology will have taken root. 

I can’t wait to see what technologies replace oil and coal, and even more so; I can’t wait to see what entrepreneurs make it happen.  Will it be microbiologist hackers modifying algae to produce cheep fuel? Maybe nanotechnologists will invent cheep solar cells that are super efficient.  Perhaps some grad student is about to drop out of college to commercialize his ultra-capacitor thus ending the need for batteries.
  
Moving away from oil will take dozens of new inventions and business models; I am just glad Eric Janszen gives us a roadmap.

Just one Word: Arboform

In Mike Nichols’ 1967 classic “The Graduate”, Dustin Hoffman’s character gets “just one word” of advice: “plastics.”  It was a sign of the times; the groundbreaking technology was changing everything from consumer goods to space equipment.  

Today, a new generation of materials is looking to graduate to the status of plastic.  The problem with plastic is its lifecycle.  Plastic production is dependent on oil; therefore, the supply chain is susceptible to the vulgarities of economics and geopolitics.  Plastic disposal often involves landfills, which come at an astounding expense.  The race is on for a greener, cheaper, and more profitable alternative.  Scientific drama will unfold, fortunes will be made and lost, and in the end, plastic will take its place among lead, iron and slate as just another material.   Algae-based, fungal-based, mineral-based and cellulosic alternative are all in the race.  

Paper byproduct Arboform looks like plastic and even employs injection-molding - just like plastic.    

"The cellulose industry separates wood into its three main components -- lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose," ICT team leader Emilia Regina Inone-Kauffmann told DPA.
 
"The lignin is not needed in papermaking, however. Our colleagues mix that lignin with fine natural fibers made of wood, hemp or flax and natural additives such as wax. From this, they produce plastic granulate that can be melted and injection-moulded."

The final product can resemble highly polished wood or have a more matted finish and look like the plastic used in most household items.
 
The transition from Plastic is a saga worth watching, I look forward to the next “New New”.

Note: Greensulate also looks promising.

 

Top 50 Job Boards for Start-ups

There is nothing more important for a tech start-up than attracting great employees.  As the economy slows, it becomes slightly easier to attract exceptional talent which is great news for start-ups. 

The first dozen hires are usually the most critical because this core group will set the culture for the next 100 hires.  A hiring mistake early on can set your start-up back months (or worst).   When possible this core group should be recruited from existing relationships. Ideally people you have worked with, or have worked directly with people you respect and trust.   The problem with this approach is it limits your choices to a much smaller pool of talent, and does not scale as your company grows.  That’s where job boards can be handy, especially in a shrinking economy.

As a general rule of thumb I find that the best employees are usually already happily employed.  In a growing economy, that means a founder must be super persuasive to get them to join his/her start-up.  But in a shrinking economy, like the one we are experiencing now, even capable talent is hitting the job boards.

2005
First Choice – Candidates I have worked with, or have worked with close associates
Second Choice – Candidates currently happily employed elsewhere
Third Choice – Candidates from Job Boards

2009
First Choice – Candidates I have worked with, or have worked with close associates
Second Choice – Candidates from Job Boards
Third Choice – Candidates currently happily employed elsewhere

I have compiled a list of the top 50 Job Boards, ranked by traffic.  A mix of well written job postings can yield hundreds of resumes and a handful of viable candidates.

1        Craigslist        http://www.craigslist.com    40,500,000
2        Monster        http://www.monster.com    27,000,000
3        CareerBuilder    http://www.careerbuilder.com    12,600,000
4        LinkedIN    http://www.linkedin.com    7,800,000
5        Indeed    http://www.indeed.com    7,000,000
6        Simply Hired    http://www.simplyhired.com    5,100,000
7        Snag a Job    http://www.snagajob.com    3,600,000
8        USAJOBS    http://www.usajobs.gov    2,800,000
9        EmploymentGuide.com    http://www.employmentguide.com   1,200,000
10        The Ladders    http://www.theladders.com    1,000,000
11        Beyond    http://www.beyond.com    982,000
12        Top USA Jobs    http://www.topusajobs.com    867,000
13        Jobs.com    http://jobs.com    864,000
14        Dice.com    http://www.dice.com    848,000
15        JobFox    http://www.jobfox.com/    670,000
16        jobster.com    http://www.jobster.com    630,000
17        thingamajob.com    http://www.thingamajob.com    565,000
18        Vault    http://www.vault.com    556,000
19        JobIrn    http://www.jobirn.com    517,000
20        JobCentral    http://www.jobcentral.com    476,000
21        Yahoo! HotJobs    http://www.hotjobs.com    418,000
22        Job Bank USA    http://www.jobbankusa.com    416,000
23        FlipDog    http://www.flipdog.com    370,000
24        HigherEdJob    http://www.higheredjobs.com    297,000
25        Net-Temps    http://www.net-temps.com    264,000
26        GoJobs.com    http://gojobs.com    263,000
27        NationJob Network    http://www.nationjob.com    231,000
28        JuJu.com    http://www.juju.com    220,000
29        America's Job Bank    http://www.jobbankinfo.org    207,000
30        sologig    http://www.sologig.com   186,000
31        brightfuse.com    http://www.brightfuse.com    163,000
32        Job Target    http://www.jobtarget.com    155,000
33        xing.com - Europe    http://www.xing.com    136,000
34        jobscore.com    http://jobscore.com/corp    130,000
35        Prohire.com    http://jobs.prohire.com    112,000
36        College Recruiter    http://www.collegerecruiter.com    98,000
37        climber.com    http://www.climber.com    93,000
38        Work Tree    http://worktree.com    74,000
39        yotify.com - linkedin alerts    http://yotify.com    73,000
40        6figurejobs.com    http://6figurejobs.com    72,000
41        Employment911.com    http://www.employment911.com    71,000
42        Jobthread    http://www.jobthread.com    71,000
43        CareerSite.com    http://www.careersite.com    65,000
44        Jobs2web.com    http://www.jobs2web.com    62,000
45        Trovix    http://www.trovix.com    62,000
46        smuz.com    http://smuz.com    59,000
47        VisualCV    http://www.visualcv.com    56,000
48        CareerShop.com    http://www.careershop.com    51,000
49        The Interview Exchange    http://www.interviewexchange.com    51,000
50        Real Match    http://www.realmatch.com    50,000

Dogbert, Math and Diversification

Looks like Dogbert also expounds the benefit of portfolio diversification.

As with Bandwidth, Memory and Processing, the Cost of Solar will drop to near zero

Last week I blogged about falling solar panel costs.  Several readers theorized offline that the economic downturn might slow production and lead to further panel shortages, thus raising costs and slowing adoption.  Good news.  This morning my friend in the semiconductor industry forwarded me this iSuppli study indicating that prices are expected to fall a record 20% in 2009.  

“In 2009, average prices for panels for new installation contracts will collapse to the US$2.50 to US$2.75 per watt range by the end of 2009, down from the current level of US$4.20 per watt. – iSuppli”

In addition to the advances in solar electric production, we are also seeing advances in power storage, including nano-capacitors.    

All this activity further validates my underling theory: we have seen this game before (CPUs, Memory, and Storage).  The solar game is just like the computer hardware game, and the winners will be businesses and consumers.

So I ask… who are the Robert Noyce, Gordon Moore, Andy Grove, Steve Jobs and Jack Simplot of solar?   

also related: Wall Street and Solar

Solar keeps getting cheaper -- Growing like lillies on a lake

Back in October, I blogged about the dropping price of solar and the inevitability of cheap electricity.

This Report  illustrates the massive 40% increase in global solar panel production capacity.  The report indicates that “incentive schemes and technical advances are having a positive downward impact on photovoltaic costs.” Market value is estimated to reach €40 billion by 2010 while prices for customers continue to drop. 

Though today solar is an immaterial component of global energy production, if production keeps growing at 40%, solar could get very big fast.

There is a nice summary at mokkikunta