Week 2 at PodTech and Community Feedback Encouraged!
Wow, time is flying by, it’s been pretty crazy this last few weeks. So many folks are asking how are things going, I though providing an update here will help folks.
Getting up to full speed…
I’m getting over the shock from going from a very large company (Although HDS is around 3k employees, the entire Hitachi conglomerate is 3 times the size of Microsoft, it’s reported to being 300,000 employees globally) to a very small company of about 35 is still taking some time.
In many ways, I’ve been preparing myself for a startup for a while, I’ve run many events, worked with many companies, been doing ‘marketing’ and ’sales’ of my own personal self and beliefs for some time.
I’m amazed at how many hats one wears at startups, I still have a lot to learn. I can only respect Dave McClure more than ever.
Startup culture moves fast, self corrects in mid-flight
In my experience, and talking with others large corporations are afraid to make mistakes, and have to move a lot of people together in coordination at the same time to adopt new ideas. Plans to create plans are made, approvals go UP the chain, back down, and then distribute for agreement to the sides. Most, if not all people have to agree or a new project or idea will get stonewalled. Then you tell everyone you’re doing it, do it, then tell them you did it. Most of the time, it’s not like that at startups mistakes are encourage if not applauded. Again, not bad, not good, just different for different purposes.
When I first started, I asked one of the execs if they wanted me to prepare at 30/60/90 day plan which is appropriate for Director level at any corporation that will be leading a strategy. Heh, I suspect that was amusing to many at Podtech who heard about this. I learned that you just go and get things done. One example is that John Furrier applauds innovation, nimbleness and talent, trying new things and making mistakes. He wants us to try new things, and then learn and improve it going forward. If you take a look at the Podtech roster there are many first mover adopters, experiments, industry shakers. We’re a group of folks that broke the shells we were limited to. Oh, and I’m still trying to document when possible.
The people here are all fast movers, self starters, it’s really a talent shop, I’m working hard to catch up with this crew. PodTech is hitting a milestone this week, we’ve moved to a new office on Page Mill, (everyone gets their own desk) a much larger office than the incubator startup at Sand Hill road. (about the size of two garage stalls)
Keep running
This last few days has been so busy, as I’ve changed my communication mix, ran a roundtable exercise, attended and supported an event held by my previous CEO, moved to a new office, and today, I’ll be meeting my first client that I’ve brought in. We’ve some big news to share soon, stay tuned.
Feedback Encouraged
While Scoble was public about his feedback of Podtech, primarily due to his style of doing that at Microsoft, I tend to take different approaches depending on the situation. Internally at Podtech, I’ve been keeping my notes on a basecamp whiteboard (like a wiki) of many of my thoughts and observations of the great things at Podtech and suggestions.
I’ve received emails from Julio, Brian, Doug and others that have provided some feedback about the Podtech site (they’ve found some errors that I’ve sent on)
Anyways, in the spirit of being a good Community Ambassador, what is your thoughts and feedback on the Podtech site or it’s shows? What suggestions do you have for us to be a better company? Please back up any of your observations with some potential solutions.
I’m always available via email if you want to provide me some specific suggestions about Podtech privately, see my top right nav on this blog.
Related Thoughts
8 Comments so far
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good luck with the new gig jeremiah!
my general framework for strategy planning at a startup looks like this, most of the time:
* ready
* fire
* aim
(fire, aim… fire, aim… fire, aim)
hopefully by about the 3rd time, you hit something. with luck, it might not be your foot
- dave mcclure
Sorry, Jeremiah. Excuse my language. I think the PodTech.net homepage is kind of a mess. I remember the last site. The new site is not better.
There is no consistent Utility Menu throughout the site. What is the problem with hyperlink on “About” and “Home”, next to the Jump menu and search box? This is kind of odd. Search box button is hard to see (small and too light grey).
Your About page is also a mess. Site put the contact section at the bottom of the page. No photo is given on the PodTech News team members. This is Internet TV station. I expect each team member should receive “Hollywood” type of treatment, a professional head shot and make it available online so viewers can read about their profile.
I tried so hard to get Robert Scoble to do a video bio. And I fail.
Ok. I better stop here. Don’t ever let me talk about site evaluation. I couldn’t stop sometimes.
IMHO, podtech.net site needs surgery.
Bess
THANK YOU, this is what I wanted to hear.
Got it, you’re asking for a ‘Global Navigation’ element that can cascade around the site.
I love this feedback thanks, we’re getting the right team members on board, I’m going to make sure we get this looked at…keep the feedback coming.
Thank goodness you think it is alright to speak out.
Jeremiah, the site needs more work than just the global navigation. I can write at least 20 pages of reports about it. I am not kidding.
I don’t know if it is appropriate to list out the problem areas here on your blog. I am little reluctant to do so when you have customers and PR reading your blog.
Web design principles won’t change even we are moving from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0, or even Web 9.0. Web 2.0 trends like AJAX is supposed to enhance user experience and usability. Focus on a good user-centric website design.
2 types of visitors you want to attract:
1. new visitors (gain market share)
2. returning visitors (build loyalty)
How do you design a site to attract and engage a new visitor, keep returning visitors to stay longer and come back regularly, gradually convert those visitors into customers that buy your advertisement or become a corporate sponsor.
Your most-valuable corporate assets
1. Talents
2. Content
Is your homepage clearly display your most-valuable assets?
Keep posting… I help when I can.
About measuring blog.
I have checked the king of blog: wordpress. I confirm there are ways to measure the total no. of posts and comments. It is possible to insert customized plug-in to display the Stat. More specific measurement can be done based on the data stored on the database.
It is possible to do some basic stat on blog. Limitation is the data.
Thanks Bess
At Hitachi, I ran the community program, this means we engage feedback directly from people on the web.
They’re going to be blog about it anyways, so shouldn’t I just be involved in the process to make a better site/product?
This is why I welcome your feedback.
[…] Oh, in case you’re not up to speed, This commenter thinks that Podtech is not listening, but we are, Robert and John our CEO prove it (sorry I’m late, I was out and about today). In fact I just asked for feedback last week and Bess Ho served up quite a hot dish. Both Julio and Brian gave me feedback and I passed it on to the right folks. […]