Wislounge

Thoughts and opinions on web development

Trust vs. Track Record

By

Money

Would you rather do business with someone you personally know, or with someone whom you know is a proven entrepreneur?

This was one of the questions in an entrepreneurship questionnaire that a friend (and prospective business partner) gave me a few years back. I answered the former. Surprisingly, I was wrong. It turned out it was supposedly better to do business with someone who has a proven track record rather than someone whom you simply trusted and knew personally. Looking back, I think this concept is valid to some extent, but it’s also has its shortcomings.

Business can strain personal relationships. At one point or another, I’ve joined up with a family member or relative in some small business (mostly online ventures). And whenever we faced problems with our enterprise, it took a toll on our interpersonal relationships. This is true especially when it comes to money matters. Sure, you can be lifelong friends, but when it comes to accounting for who gets how much, and when, it’s a whole different ballgame.

You can trust someone with your life. But perhaps it’s not always the case with money. And when you fight about business decisions, money or even small and trivial things, the trust factor tends to diminish. And once you have a hairline crack in your personal relationship, it might lead to a crumbling business enterprise, as well.

You tend to be complacent with close friends and relatives. When you’re working for your boss, your main goal is to impress him and show how well you perform. But when you’re working for a parent, a sibling, or your best friend, this might not always be the case. Friends and relatives tend to be more lenient and forgiving with each other. While a relaxed atmosphere might be conducive to creativity in some industries, it might not always be the best environment in all business enterprises. How would you feel if you hired your brother or sister as a business partner (or as a manager in a business you own) and he often just slacks on the job. See point #1 above, and you’ll know why partnering with someone you know closely might not always work.

However, going for the track record might not necessarily be all that good, especially when the trust factor is nearly zero. How sure are you that the new millionaire investor will not just leave you hanging in the air when things go sour? How sure are you that your new business partner is trustworthy when it comes to finances and the legal aspects of your business?

A good business relationship is built on trust. Many people I know forego the usual contract signing and agreements when they start new business ventures. To some entrepreneurs, a handshake is as good as a contract. Verbal communication is as good as black and white. This is where a proven entrepreneur, but a stranger, might not be the best fit. You need someone whom you could trust, but who also has the right attitude and mindset for business.

So I ask you, would you go for trust of track record?

I’d go for both.

Image credit: Flickr/quazie

How Focused Are You In Your Business Endeavors?

By

BinocularsNew media mavens would have you believe in the concept of the Long Tail as a religion. It’s no longer just the big things that matter. But those little things on the fringes, when aggregated, add up to a big thing. A lot of online entrepreneurs subscribe to this ideal. You set up several small sites or services, and try to market and monetize each of these. This is one model in network blogging. You try to run blogs in different niches.

However, it turns out that not each and every one of these can be as successful as you intend them to be. With blogs and web apps, branding matters. Usage statistics matter. Word of mouth matters. Community matters. Not everyone will make the grade. Sometimes you might have one or two sites that grow to be popular reads, and possibly high-earners, too. The rest might not be as successful.

The question here is how focused are you in running your enterprises and endeavors? How focused should your business be? I know a lot of online entrepreneurs who are fond of buying up online properties, developing these, but end up offloading (selling, cancelling, merging) these products when they turn out to be unpopular.

To some extent, I experience this with my own ventures. Some assets turn out to be non-performing and therefore have to be offloaded. Maybe someone else can better take care of my creations, and bring them to their full potential. Maybe someone else can put in better effort and time. Maybe someone else can create better value. Or in some cases, one would have to contend with the fact that some ideas are just not workable–at least at the present time.

My point here is that sometimes we are burdened with a lot of things in the fringes that we tend to forget the focus of our business. When things are hectic and busy, take a while to think. what is the core of your business? Are you keeping faithful to that core ideal or core thrust? How much of your effort are you focusing on this particular goal? And are those little things on the fringes working to complement this central ideal, or are these just taking your precious time away little by little?

For all you know, the long tail effect can also work the other way around. Rather than small benefits adding up, it could be small costs adding up to a big headache.

Keep focused. Keep the faith.

Image source: flickr/gerlos

Is Twitter a Complete Waste of Time?

By

Typing on keyboardWhen I was working in the corporate world, I had to scold myself whenever I had the urge to blog during office hours. Sure, writing was my passion and my hobby. But of course, doing this on company time would be tantamount to stealing! That was until I found myself shifting jobs, in which my new job actually involved blogging. Not only was I authorized to blog on the job, but it was also my main responsibility to get the word about the company’s products and services through blogging and word of mouth.

Now blogging doesn’t sound like a complete waste of time, does it? My blogging during company time helped me on two fronts. First, I helped publicize the company’s services. No, I was actually evangelizing, and not just publicizing, since I was so passionate about the technology (at least back then). Also, it paved the way for me to become better known in the blogosphere as among the first people in my country to make a living out of blogs and blogging.

Now does the same hold with Twitter?

A lot of “internet marketers” are taking Twitter by storm, but a lot of people are still getting it wrong. Twitter is not about blatantly blasting messages to thousands of people. It’s not about getting the most number of followers. It’s about genuinely connecting with people in a forum where they are comfortable. Now in that regard, Twitter is not a waste of time, but instead something that you can productive with.

In my case, I find myself actually being less productive the more time I spend away from Twitter, and other online sources of discussion and information for that matter. To many, Twitter is a place where they can chat and banter. It’s a place to showcase their latest conquests, rants and raves. But to folks like me, it’s a place where I can look for hot trends, for article ideas, and even for business ideas.

So whenever I find myself having blogger’s block, one of the first things I do is check TweetDeck for new updates, links and other messages from my contacts. I also watch tweets on keywords relevant to my fields of interest. And when I post something new, I try to give it a bit of a push by tweeting a link. I don’t usually expect people to take notice of automatically-tweeted blog post announcements, and so I manually craft each headline, to make it interesting and relevant.

And so that was my long answer. My short answer is no: Twitter is not a waste of time. Yes, it does eat up a lot of my time, and most of the time it also compounds to the time I spend, dealing with the information I learn and discussions I get involved in. It keeps my mind active, my fingers twiddling on the keyboard, and in some cases, the cash register ringing!

Image credit: flickr/foxtongue

Wisdom + Design+ Development

By

Light bulbIn the realm of new media, development is everywhere. It’s so fast paced that what’s hot right now may not exactly be the in thing after two weeks. There are trends, there are fads, and then there are those projects that go on a winning streak. These not only make their millions overnight. They also tend to be sticky. They tend to gain mindshare and these brands stick to our consciousness as if we’re born with them.

And as competition goes, those biggies try to hold on to the pole position for as long as they can, until the next big things come up.

Then there’s the hype. Some products and services may be overhyped from the start, but fail to deliver. Then after the honeymoon period is over, things fizzle out.

What differentiates successful Internet startups from the mediocre ones? Is it intelligence? Is it marketing? Is it the people involved? Is it money? Could it be luck? Or could it be a good combination of all these, and then some?

When Splashpress Media acquired Devlounge and Wisdump, we intended to continue the fine tradition of critiquing and analyzing web applications, development and design. With Wisdump increasingly becoming focused on development, and Devlounge on design, we are now launching Wislounge to focus on the business and strategy aspect of all these.

Here you can expect discourse and discussion on the exciting world of new media, be it design, development, applications, or even startups, with particular emphasis on the viability of these. While we are humans, and therefore make mistakes (and sometimes very costly ones), we will try to be as objective and helpful as possible.

As for our programming for the next couple of weeks, why don’t we focus on marketing of startups and applications? There are a handful of ways you can get the word out in the ever-changing realm of social media, and we can perhaps take a peek into some of these.

Image credit: flickr/caveman_92223