Motivation 2.0: Think Bigger
Jul1
Entrepreneurs often tell me that the #1 thing they have going for them is ambition. They understand that there is always going to be a better programmer (he works for Microsoft) or a better graphic designer (he works for MTV) or a better manager (he works for Target).
But the Microsoft, MTV and Target folks - the ones that love it there, and want nothing else - just aren’t as ambitious as you are. It’s not that they aren’t brilliant or hard-working. It’s just that their world begins and ends with the work they have in front of them. The code update, the new ad campaign (or shitty reality show), the next time the supervisor comes around. Whatever. It’s always a race to the finish line (5pm?) and a beer back home.
Entrepreneurs - true entrepreneurs - don’t think that way.
[As an aside - while I'm at it - let's correct one more misconception: An entrepreneur is a person with a certain state of mind. It's not a Founder or CXO].
An entrepreneur has no finish line. An IPO or any other liquidity event represents a point in time for the entrepreneur. The broader goal is always world-changing, industry shattering change throughout the entire course of your career. Thus, your current project is an extension of YOU. Getting to 5pm means nothing. Getting in at 9am means nothing. I know I’ll catch shit from our COO for saying this: but I don’t care if you’re in at 10am and out at 11am, as long as that one hour you were in the office resulted in the aforementioned game-changing performance. I’m dead serious. Similarly - if you’re like most of us and need some more time (I need a LOT of time) to change the game. Then you better stay until you do.
As a corollary, don’t ever tell me your “Done.” Done doing what?
So what helps me get motivated? Thinking big. Thinking ambitious. Sitting in my chair and finding a way to make a big impact.
Sometimes that’s by doing the small things. Sometimes it’s creating opportunity.
Cheers,
Boris
More about motivation (and not), here: http://www.borisrevsin.com/?p=15
CampusLIVE Series: Responding to your feedback / BIG Deals
May2
Hello BETA Club!
I wanted to make you aware of some new developments on the CampusLIVE site.
First- we’ve reverted CampusLIVE back to the the three column layout. You asked, and we answered. I’ve received hundreds of requests from people who let us know that the three column layout gave you more room. Cool. Let me know what you think in the comments on the blog post: http://www.borisrevsin.com/
Second- We’ve decided to pull the trigger on the BIG Deals. In August, we’ll be doing one HUGE college deal per day. $20 for $10 at your favorite restaurant, 75% off of tanning, affordable sky-diving. The works. Let me know about that in comments as well: http://www.borisrevsin.com/
Here are the areas we’re going to launch BIG Deals at first:
Connecticut:
Storrs, CT
Hamden, CT
Colorado:
Boulder, CO
Florida:
Tallahassee, FL
Massachusetts:
Amherst, MA
Boston, MA
Waltham, MA
Michigan:
Ann Arbor, MI
New Hampshire:
Durham, NH
Plymouth, NH
Keene, NH
North Carolina:
Raleigh-Durham, NC
Ohio:
Columbus, OH
Rhode Island:
Kingston, RI
Providence, RI
Vermont:
Burlington, VT
Virginia:
Harrisonburg, VA
Washington:
Seattle, WA
Washington DC/Beltway
If your school isn’t listed — and you want the BIG Deals — get together some people and post your area on the blog. We’re still finalizing the list, and maybe we’ll add yours!
All reposted at: http://www.borisrevsin.com/
Thanks all,
Boris Revsin
Co-Founder & CEO
CampusLIVE, Inc
CampusLIVE Series: Ask The Users
Apr12
Hello CampusLIVE users and guests:
We’re in the early stages of brainstorming for our new release in September of 2010. Starting today, I will be writing a series of posts aimed at facilitating feedback and thoughts from our most loyal and knowledgeable users. As our company grows - over 250,000 students access a school in our network every month - it becomes necessary for us to start building features and interface based on the people actually using our service.
Many of you may be entrepreneurs yourselves, with great ideas and concepts that you’re working on. Some of you might just see something missing from CampusLIVE. Maybe you don’t like the page for some reason or another. We welcome feedback from everyone.
I’m also going to highlight announcements on this blog. Many will also be re-posted onto the official CampusLIVE blog.
Announcement #1: Beta-tester sign-up. I’m not sure when I’m going to initiate a cut-off, but it’s likely going to be at approximately 3,000 students. Sign up and tell your friends, as this will be a fun, easy opportunity to get involved with CampusLIVE. Sign up here [top of the page].
So, here is my first question for the users:
Question #1: To obtain a great deal (10% off, $5 off ,etc) from a brand you enjoy purchasing from (XBox, Victoria Secret, etc), would you be willing to join their Facebook Group and Follow them on Twitter? Is the value there for you? Would you tell your friends about the deal if we needed a certain amount for it to activate? Post your answer in comments below.
If you’re interested in hearing what your friends think about this program, or want them to join the BETA program with you (there are benefits to this, I promise!). Share this post on FB/Twitter using the tool beneath this post.
Cheers,
Boris Revsin
Chief Executive Officer
CampusLIVE, Inc
boris@campuslive.com
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
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
Connecting III: Business Development
Jun0
See: Connecting 101 & Connecting 201.
OK, so: You’ve got a product that you want to sell and an idea that is ready to go to market. If you’re smart, you’re looking for strategic partners to help jump-start you in the game.
Example:
CampusLIVE has a partnership or licensing agreement with TV-GUIDE, Weather.com, CampusFood, Chegg and many others.
Each and every single one of those partnerships required us to interact with the marketing, sales or business development teams at those companies. An official agreement (as opposed to some sort of automatic “form”) with those corporations serve a few different purposes:
1) Barrier to entry - a competitor, to duplicate those features, would have to form a similar agreement with these companies. That takes time and effort (assuming they even want more partners who do the same thing!)
2) Open line of communication - We can talk to these people anytime we want. They’ve got full development teams, SMART executives and a WORKING product. They will help build out our network in the future. If we need to delve into a deeper partnership, we’ve already got a running start.
3) Custom love - Our Weather.com partnership gives us a 5-day full forecast. You know who else has that partnership? CNN. Not too many others. It’s because we talked to the guys in charge. CampusFood? We now have plug and play online ordering - a service that would have taken my developers a year to build. Chegg? Instead of 8% on each book sale through our site, we make 10%. You get the idea.
The point is this: Don’t be afraid to reach out to the people you want to work with, no matter WHO they work for. Chances are, there will always be someone at SOME level within the organization that is willing to talk to you. A little bit of extra effort and research (don’t just call or email ANYONE) will get you a long way. Just show them they have something to gain (use a powerpoint, a sketch or an example) and that you are damn serious about it, and they will be happy to have a chat with you.
Don’t reinvent the wheel.
And here is an example of what started our Weather.com partnership. Silly how easy and simple that email is, isn’t it? (And NO, you don’t need to be in BusinessWeek - use ANY references you have to your advantage).
Hi Pat,
I’d like to introduce myself and discuss a potential partnership with your organization for our “Weather” widget on CampusLIVE. My name is Ryan Durkin and I am the Director of Business Development of CampusLIVE. Could you please direct me to someone who can facilitate a partnership?
CampusLIVE is “The Homepage for College Students,” providing single-click access to the most widely used college resources. From university email, athletics, news and Facebook to local restaurants and entertainment, our campus specific homepages serve as the one-stop-shop for college students. It’s everything a college student needs, all in one place.
Our company ranked third in BusinessWeek’s annual “Best Young Entrepreneurs in America” this past fall. The announcement only reiterated our dedication to the service we provide to college students across the United States.
I think that we will be able to help your company in the future. I look forward to hearing back from you. And remember, when you think “College,” think “CampusLIVE.”
Regards,
Ryan Durkin
Startup I: “I’ve got an idea for a website!”
Jun5
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard that line. This generation of college students is the “Facebook Era.” They have all been part of the wild success of a college-dropouts successful vision turned multi-billion dollar venture. I know that when I started using Facebook in 2004, I’d always see that one line on the bottom of the site:
“A Mark Zuckerberg Production.”
But hey, most of these students are thinking, the idea of Facebook isn’t THAT crazy. I’ve had that idea. Or another idea just as cool. I’m going to be rich. I don’t even need to drop out of school.
But you’re not. Every single time I’m told about an “idea” for the next Facebook (and seriously, it’s probably like 15 times last week if you count emails from random people), I always ask 2 questions:
1) Have you Googled competitors?
2) Are you an amazing web developer?
Think about this:
Mark Zuckerberg is not just a random kid with an idea to make a social network. When he was in high-school, he made a program for Winamp (remember that thing?) that had Microsoft and AOL offering him jobs before his 18th birthday. He’s been building websites for much longer than that, and he had an entire crew of like-minded kids around him.
Now, I’m not married to Mark. The point I am trying to make is simple: it wasn’t his first rodeo. Facebook doesn’t jump out of thin air. He had practice creating applications and Facebook happened to be the one that took off like crazy.
I enjoy helping young entrepreneurs. I do it all the time, and have regular meetings or conversation with dozens of them every week. I get a LOT of requests for help. I’ll do my best to help almost everyone who asks, but here is a little secret:
The more initiative you show me with your project, the more I will get excited to help you win.
Now listen. I have connections you need. I have experience in building and managing scalable applications. I have an office. I have amazing employees who know what they are doing. I’ve tried tons of marketing techniques. Even more sales techniques. I know TONS of school administrators that can help you get interns, focus groups and general advice.
If you want me to open the doors to you, don’t just “have an idea.” Give me more than that.
So to all of those who have and will tell me about the next Facebook: Answer my two questions first. If you can’t - find someone who can.
Oh, and here is a bonus because I want discussion on the blog. If you post a little something about your idea down below, you’ll get all the help you need. Cheers.
Press I
Jun4
A lot of people (those who aren’t used to it by now) will ask me how I keep showing up in the local and regional press around Amherst, MA. Am I that awesome that The Republican, The Daily Collegian and even the official UMass News Wire can’t stop publishing things about myself and CampusLIVE?
Well, no. But I tell a good story.
What is a story? It’s how you pitch yourself going forward. It’s your personal brand, your accomplishments, your references and everything you’ve ever done in your entire life (things you could prove using Google). One of the best storytellers I know is my co-worker and good friend Ryan Durkin. Take a look at how he wrote his “bio”:
Ryan Durkin is the Director of Business Development of CampusLIVE, Inc, “The College Homepage,” providing single-click access to the most widely used college resources. Ryan is an alumni of the University of Massachusetts Amherst (’08), graduating with a B.B.A. in Finance and Management. He was captain of the D-1 UMass Track and Field and Cross Country teams, and was Co-Founder and President of the Isenberg Real Estate Club. Ryan was awarded some of the highest honors at UMass, including the UMass 21st Century Leadership Award, Senior Leadership Award, and Isenberg Senior Leadership Award, along with 11 other scholarships.
Ryan, along with the CampusLIVE team, was named 3rd place in the 2008 BusinessWeek “America’s Best Young Entrepreneurs.” He has also been honored as an “Emerging Entrepreneur” by Deval Patrick and the Massachusetts Office of Business Development.
Most likely you’re saying to yourself, “Well that’s easy for him to say. Look at all of the things he’s done!” But Ryan didn’t accomplish all that just to do it. He put forth the effort to form a story he could use to win later in life. A carefully crafted personal image can and WILL take you a lot further than you might think. Look at it this way: I never graduated from UMass Amherst but if you search my name on Google you will find DOZENS of articles (including the university itself) referencing me as an Alum. It’s all about how I sell myself (and believe me I am CRYSTAL clear about my education).
So what is your story? What makes you worth writing about? Business, athletics, philanthropy, interesting experiences… It’s all newsworthy. Don’t believe me? Craft a good story and call your hometown newspaper. They love a good story, and they WILL write about you.
EDIT: Some people have messaged me privately and asked me if I’m telling them to “stretch” the truth to the press. My advice: don’t do it. You’re putting your own career at risk. Even worse, you’re lying to someone who orders ink by the ton. Probably not the best idea.