Ignite on “Bootstrapping CampusLIVE”
Oct0
I did an “Ignite” talk last week, and it was recorded by local TV Station ACTV. The topic was “Bootstrapping CampusLIVE“, and was my first ever Ignite format presentation.
ACTV Amherst posted it on Facebook, here is the link: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/video/video.php?v=738599518572
Learn more about this unique speaking format here.
Excerpt:
If you had five minutes on stage what would you say? What if you only got 20 slides and they rotated automatically after 15 seconds? Around the world geeks have been putting together Ignite nights to show their answers.
Brief Hiatus
Sep0
Yes, yes. I know. The blog has been quiet for over a month.
The truth is I am working on some big projects and should probably keep my mouth shut until they are complete.
Blog will be back soon, better than ever. Trust me.
Boris
How well recommended are you?
Aug0
Good:
To Whom It May Concern,
I interacted with Matthew from the Spring Semester of 2008 to the Spring Semester of 2009 during his internship and marketing associate position at CampusLIVE Incorporated (“CL”) and worked as his direct supervisor on various marketing initiatives during his time at CL.
Over the course of his internship Matt repeatedly demonstrated his ability to go above and beyond my expectations as a marketing intern. The complex pressures of a web media startup often demand longer hours and extra effort to ensure efficiency and Matt was a natural fit for our fast-paced and always-changing environment. His dedication to learning the fundamentals of marketing to college aged students was critical to our success in creating a virally spreading message throughout the New England area. Coming in with only limited real world experience in the field of marketing, Matt was able to learn quickly and adapt to the company culture in a way more expected of a marketer with solid years of experience.
Matt was critical in the development and implementation of a variety of our marketing techniques. He worked for our online, print, guerrilla and event marketing departments. He demonstrated his ability to discuss effectively via several channels, including phone conferences, email and social tools. Matt expressed interest in generating sales leads after our marketing pushes, and was often working directly with our sales managers to process and close open opportunities.
The tasks Matt engaged in were initially created for a graduate marketing position but were filled by him at the last minute. During his internship Matt was able to stay on track at this challenging position by asking insightful questions when further direction was needed and was able to effectively incorporate team feedback into his work.
Matt is a very well-rounded individual with the ability to excel in a constantly evolving field. He has the necessary ability to grasp new strategies and initiatives extremely quickly, and the verbal and written communication skills to excel in his future career in business development, sales and marketing.
Regards,
Boris Revsin
Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer
CampusLIVE, Inc
Great:
Dear Isenberg Review Committee:
As the current Chief Operating Officer of CampusLIVE, Inc and direct supervisor of Chris, I feel qualified to expound upon Chris’ professional leadership ability. I have known him for over two years as a student at UMass Amherst, and most recently as our Marketing Associate. I have had the privilege of advising him in academic, professional and personal endeavours alike.
Chris has proven himself to be an expert at fostering relationships with employees and clients alike. His ability to build rapport and gain the confidence of all who meet him is invaluable in business, and most specifically in his areas of interest: advertising, sales and marketing. When I met Chris over two years ago, I was impressed by his raw talent and confidence. Over the course of these years, I believe that Chris has been able to hone his raw talents into a specialized skill-set and polish his confidence into a fierce desire to excel. Matching Chris’ growth with increased responsibility has been vital for me and my company.
Chris’ current major, Resource Economics, offers its own set of unique opportunities towards his future growth. It is a growing field, and offers knowledge used by a variety of promising careers. That said, I believe that with a Marketing degree and the resources that the Isenberg School of Management provides, Chris will develop his true talent in marketing and entrepreneurship. CampusLIVE has already offered Chris a full-time marketing and sales position upon his graduation. His ability to succeed at this position has already been proven with his tireless work ethic and determination. I do believe that if Chris were able to have greater access to the marketing professors and resources at SOM, his success would be even speedier than I predict and his knowledge base would be that much greater.
Chris Ziomek is the type of student who is professional in all aspects of his life. He attends Chamber of Commerce meetings to forge connections and friendships. He attends UMass Career Fairs and Alumni speeches. Chris attends so many speaking and sporting events that the office will joke about how he “bleeds maroon and white”. He stays at work until midnight to prepare for the next day of classes and meetings. He juggles work, school and hobbies flawlessly, motivated simply by his desire for personal and team success.
I hand-picked Chris out of a field of over forty interns, and he has not disappointed me or the rest of our team. I believe that our entire team would unequivocally recommend him for this new major and this new opportunity. I am writing this recommendation in lieu of a laundry list of hand-written praise from the team over the past couple of years. Chris will excel as a student of the UMass Amherst Isenberg of Management. He will help lead other students, and will be an invaluable asset to the major, the business school and the University.
Regards,
Boris Revsin
Chief Operating Officer
CampusLIVE, Inc
The Yahoo + Microsoft Deal… and talk about lame.
Jul3
In reference to the recent Microsoft + Yahoo Search deal.
I think what it comes down to is who got the WORST of this deal. Fine, so Microsoft just bought up the #2 search giant. So what? Yahoo isn’t #2 because they haven’t had enough time to win, because they have a better product but can’t take it to scale or because they own some special niche (other than old people - sweeet…). They are #2 because they have a sub-par product, weak management and a terrible marketing initiative.
So, yeah, cool. Microsoft now has more eyeballs. Eyeballs which should be looking at the cheapest, easiest to use product. That product is Google, not a combination of Microsoft & Yahoo. I respect that Microsoft mgmt is TRYING there best, but I really can’t agree that MSFT should be focusing on text search. That’s never been there bread and butter (Desktop Apps, right) and Google is a couple years away from sliding that rug out from under them. If MSFT really really focused on web-based enterprise software, I think they have the talent to win that battle.
In terms of search: people talk about taking things “viral”… MSFT has enough traction (obviously) to CREATE a MUCH better product and take it worldwide. I don’t think it needs to buy Yahoo to go viral with a BETTER product. In lame VC pitch terms, they’ve got all they need to “spark” a “hockey stick” curve.
So, who got the worst deal? Yahoo. That search engine business they had was the only chance they had to take a NEW engine/idea viral. They don’t have that anymore.
The Journalism Debate
Jul1
I first wrote this as an email to a friend of mine. I think it sums up my thoughts on the future of Journalism fairly accurately, so I figured I would post it here and see if I could start some dialogue.
Right now newspapers are obviously in a state of flux. There aren’t enough advertising dollars to keep them afloat in print; and they don’t yet know how to monetize online to retain staff. I don’t think you can really blame the news giants. Business as usual was good business for them for a long time. There was a space of time where there was a way to distribute paper quickly, effectively (hah) and for a nice profit. Obviously, that meant we would see newspaper companies left and right. Everyone wanted [wants] the news, and if you could deliver it to your community you made money.
But people are no longer having the news brought to them; they are now GOING to the news sources. Other than long-term investigative reports (Deep Throat and such), people above all other things want one thing from news: they want to hear it first. If a blog publishes a rumor about MSFT buying YHOO, even if its NOT true, it creates a huge buzz. Whether it isn’t fair, ethical, etc is beyond the point. Who cares? If a blog like Perez Hilton gets 500 comments in 2 hours because a friend told a friend told a source told Perez that Britney Spears is banging Marky Mark, how can a magazine like US Weekly compete? By the time they publish the Spears story, Perez Hilton has broken 10 more pieces of news.
If Techcrunch posts the MSFT rumor and it’s true, it’s breaking news. Nobody can compete with that. If TC posts the rumor and it’s false, they hide behind the wall of “process journalism” and “we’re a blog we can do this”. Again, if the Globe publishes a misleading story, they get reamed for it.
The conclusion I can’t help but come to is this: the demand for AWESOME writers will skyrocket, while the demand for mediocre content generators is going to take a nosedive. The internet only needs a certain amount of writers per topic. How many articles about Sotomayor do I need to read? 1? 5? 10? Certainly not all 5,000 articles written in various newspapers around the country. If they are online, I have access to them all. But I don’t need it…
I also want to note that I’ve been thinking about this for a long time. In a way, I’m right in the trenches. CampusLIVE is an advertising agency AND a college homepage. We do (currently) all of our own ad sales, and I’m seeing first hand the effects of a dying print medium on our entire industry. But money isn’t falling out of the sky for websites, either. More and more large brands are learning the importance of TRACKING your advertising effectiveness. You can’t count the number of clicks on a print advertisement, but you sure as hell can install Google Analytics (a very sophisticated product) onto your website in about 3 minutes.
Now, if my ads don’t send you traffic, leads or sales - fire me.
“Social Media” for Dummies
Jul2
Social Media is no longer the future of advertising - it IS advertising (in my humble opinion).
So, let me back up a little bit. Right now I am contracted with some clients as the “social media” consultant (a confusingly ubiquitous title I am not so fond of) . I run the Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIN, YouTube and Flickr sites for the clients. This means my interns pipe stories,photos and videos to me and I will post them on the sites, hoping for interaction. Facebook is very helpful for judging interaction because they give you an insights page that tracks things like likes, wall posts and comments. Twitter is cool to me for a few reasons, but the BEST way for an entity to USE twitter is to use the search function. In one minute you can find out ANYTHING that is being said about you and your brand. And you can respond to the individual immediately and officially. Very cool.
Twitter:
* Easy to use. Literally: 140 characters. Tweets & ReTweets.
* Effecient ways to promote new products and services to your core fans.
* EXCELLENT for customer service [http://www.search.twitter.com].
* Very likely to continue EXPLODING for a long time. The earlier you JUMP ON and STAY ACTIVE the more credibility you will have down the road.
Facebook:
* Everyone is using it.
* Ability to send out products and services into thousands of fans’ feeds. A powerful way to do “product placement” advertising. Meaning that a user of Facebook that is subscribed to your fan page sees your updates just like he sees John Smith. That is a powerful way to sell something.
* Ability to monitor interaction [likes, comments, wall posts. Once you have enough data points (enough Fans) you can start focusing on trends. Males/Females? Ages? Everything is right there for you to do research on. This is SO VALUABLE for targetting and research.
* Paid ads on Facebook are for BRANDING only. They get very poor REAL click-thrus.
I highly recommend you read this post by Brian Solis. Brian is a leading PR guy, and is basically planning on turning the entire industry up-side down (and SAVING it in the process). Let me know what you think.
Boris
Meetings III: The Sell
Jun1
Check out my first post on Meetings, here.
If you’ve read the post above, then you probably have a good read on how I feel about outside meetings. I consider them crucial to your professional success not because they are the way of the future (more and more business is being conducted online. Check out GoToMeeting), but because it’s just so common.
I usually classify my meetings into one of three categories:
1) The Sell (also known as Closing).
2) The Strategy.
3) The Follow-up.
Today , we’re going to go over…
The Sell
This is the most challenging type of meeting. You’re going in after a phone call or an email, and you’ve never met the person. You’ve got a clear goal in mind (Sell High, Buy Cheap, Partner Up, etc) and you’re thinking about your “selling points” and how you’re going to convince the person to buy.
Please, stop right there. It’s painfully obvious and it doesn’t work. Look - YES, you need to know the selling points of your product. In fact, you BETTER know the selling points of your product damn well. But, that’s not how you close a meeting. You have to go into these things with a genuine desire and ability to improve the lives of the person you’re dealing with. That’s why selling Cutco knives to anyone outside of your inner circle of friends and family is near impossible. That is also, to some extent, why print advertising is on its deathbed. If you can’t help your potential customer with your product or service, do NOT sell it to them.
So, I’ve told you what NOT to do. What, then, is recommended? Well, if you’ve been following the earlier advice you: look good, know your material and have established your credentials. The most important thing to do during a first meeting is to build trust. Find commonalities. It doesn’t matter if it’s a common hobby, sport, tv-show or interest. People will naturally trust those who act like them. Research has shown that even subtly mimicking the hand-gestures, posture and speech speed will expedite the “rapport” building process.
So, how the hell do you know what these people like to do? RESARCH. Google, LinkedIN, Jigsaw, Facebook, ZoomInfo, FRIENDS are all super basic staples of your research. It takes 1 hour to prepare using those tools, and you will go in there with a wealth of knowledge. Feel this: If you’re meeting with me, I’ve read all I possibly can about both your business and your interests. Know what that shows? Respect. There’s simply no other way to win.
This is what I recommend you do before your next meeting: Put together a 1 page summary (with picture) of the person you are planning to meet. Study it, and memorize it. Go into your next meeting and broach the subject about one of his or her interests FIRST. Enjoy being welcomed back!
A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.
Jun5
A man convinced against his will
is of the same opinion still.
I was re-reading (for the 10th time) Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People when I ran into this un-attributed quote. It struck me as pertinent, though, because of the serious activity going on at CampusLIVE regarding the new release we have planned for July 1st (dubbed “Raptor”).
Raptor is a complete overhaul of the look of the site, with a STRONG focus on usability and search. Our focus groups confirmed our beliefs that users are looking to get to places quickly, with as little clicking and scrolling as possible. This seems obvious, but this was not reflected in our current release (dubbed “Viper”). So, in order to get things right this time around, we hired two developers (Mike, our all-star programmer/product mgr and Sean, our illustrator and designer) to help make it a reality.
As you can probably guess, 9 guys in one 1,400 sqft. office will have PLENTY of disagreements about the product they’ve been building, re-building, marketing and selling for over 2 years. Now, there is no way to stop people from having disagreements. It’s natural, and healthy debate is KEY to building a successful product.
Look at it this way:
Ryan - has been LIVING with our demographic for the last year. Literally, he lived in a dorm room. He knows what the students want, and he did all of our focus studies.
Jared - designed the first 3 versions of CampusLIVE. He knows what he’s doing and has seen the site go from old-school to new-school to web 2.0.
Mike - Mike is an excellent front-end guy. He can build anything, and make it look appealing. He’s also in charge of adding functionality to our designs. Fade-ins? Scrolling? Stylesheets? All on him.
Sean - He’s our artist. We depend on him to make things look professional. He has to “see” the light.
The key is to ensuring all of these players can play together. The title of this blog post seems to me a perfect fit for this situation. Even though all of us are debating the merits of each feature and each stroke on the site, we ALL have to keep in mind that at the end of the day the final product will be a MIX of all of our thoughts.
If you are a founder of a company, and can’t accept the fact that your vision will change, you are making a huge mistake. Remember, a start-up SUCCEEDS because the people are (allegedly) more PASSIONATE about their product. If you stifle creativity, and force your own way, your stifling passion.
I think we’re doing a good job letting people input their own advice. Let’s see how it turns out in July…
Cheers,
Boris
Meetings II: Change the game
Jun0
I’ve been reading a new book lately called “THE SCIENCE OF INFLUENCE: How to Get Anyone to Say YES in 8 Minutes or Less!” by Kevin Hogan. First off, I really like the book because of the raw concepts that apply to sales. Cool stuff.
One of Kevin’s first points in the book is how the brain reacts to environments. He says, “The environment stimulates behavior, and changing behavior is most easily accomplished in a different environment.” Remember guys, this is NOT a suggestion or a guess based on empirical evidence. Research shows that people moved to an environment they are not used to makes them more suggestible.
So we have set the stage: there is someone you need to do something (for their benefit, your own, or both) and they aren’t budging. You don’t understand why. You’ve lowered the price, done most of the legwork, convinced everyone around them, met with them numerous times… and they still say NO. Well, let’s try a new tactic by changing the game (the environment).
3 Simple Way’s to Change the Game
- Have your next meeting in a restaurant your familiar with. Extra points if you know the owner, waiter or bartender.
- Invite them to your office or your house. Make sure they know why. (I.E: I really think you should meet the rest of the team.)
- Take them somewhere you’re both comfortable at. If you both went to UMass Amherst, meet a the library or a favorite spot.
-
Try it out on the next person who says “NO” to you, whether it be a parent, client, friend or anyone else.
I will too.