Cerdafied...startups, people & the variety Hour

ongoing blab

The next round of beta is coming, to qualified registrants. I thought it was going to be last week, but y'all know how it goes. The good news is that taking the time to do things right is usually best practice... Building for utility value and user experience is key.

If you submit to the beta registration, Susan will launch a survey to get a bit more data on you and your interest. What I *can* say here is that this is about proliferating your personal privacy on a {mobile} phone number among other things. We look forward to user feedback. Ok stay tuned for that...

Other blogworthy data is that we are very fired up to bring on Pradeep Belur, to head up ops and admin. He is such a strong add to the team, and will contribute to that balance and execution we strive for. He's been with companies such as Sprint, Teligent and Equinix, so there is lots of relevance. (Notice to the vendor lurkers....call Pradeep now:) The most important attribute, other than competence, is passion for what we do, and Pradeep is there. The only thing left to learn, which I'll do tomorrow, is if he plays an instrument; Ben and I do as well as Susan, Tupshin and Kyle.

On another front, we are presenting at the Venture One Summit in March. We get 10 minutes of fame-just enough. Otherwise, we will be cruising VON soon enough.

-MC

Organic Companies

This post is somewhat off topic, but is relevant if you follow startups, are in a startup or plan to be. There is a huge and growing market for organic products and accompanying services. I know since I built a click and brick place called The Yoga Company 4 years ago this month. Anyway, for many of us, the word organic is safe, it’s natural, it’s without the use of drugs, hormones and pesticides. So how about applying this thought to building a company? An organic company, what would that look like?

An organic company would have a strong vision, have passion about its idea, would iterate efficiently, and would also execute responsibly. It would have to build the right mix of cast and characters, that trust each other, can work as a team, have just enough functional tension, and share a common agenda. An organic company would put itself in the best position with integrity. It would also use its energy to create and nurture opportunities, and show up for them. It would find its way on instincts as well as mindful calculations. It would temper reactive behavior and be smarter about proactive behavior. It would be obsessed with its customer’s success/satisfaction first. It would have a finger on the customer pulse at all times. It would tell its story by rolling out its vision in product form one logical step at a time. It would be driven by the big picture rather than the minutiae. It would proliferate its purpose every step of the way. It would proliferate its personality and even humor every step of the way. It would have cultural relevance. It would leverage its shortcomings into positive outcomes. Finally, it would be much about the journey. It would also have some organic beer in the fridge. Ok, that part was a joke;)

It’s definitely our aspiration to be an organic company. And our next round of beta opening up this week is definitely organic.

-MC