Biz Dev, Entrepreneur, and Dwolla. Previously at Aviary. Forbes Contributor.
Alex's Tech Thoughts
I often get asked why I haven’t gone off to start a company yet. The answer is two-fold. Firstly, I love what we are doing at Dwolla. I love the team, vision, and daily challenge. Second, I haven’t found something I am obsessed with.
Now, you don’t need to be obsessed with fixing something to start a business, but starting a business is a huge commitment. You need to ask yourself if this is something you want to do for the next 5-10 years. If the answer isn’t a resounding “YES!” then you probably shouldn’t be working on it.
When I do start a company one day, it will be something I am obsessed with fixing. Something that keeps me up at night thinking of ways to resolve it. Right now, I don’t have anything like that, but one day I will. Until then I get to work on awesome things at Dwolla every day.
The most successful startup writers do either one of two things:
1) Teach Something
The best posts teach the reader something unique. It could be about fundraising, partnerships, dealing with press, product, or something else. As long as you teach something valuable, you will get some traction with your post / blog.
2) Tell A Story
I had this thought when reading a post by Fred Wilson called “You Can Do Too Much Due Diligence.” Fred told a story with a great take-away. Some of the best writers, Chris Dixon, Mark Suster, Ben Horowitz, all tell great stories. Stories you can’t read anywhere else.
If you are looking to start your own blog or just put out some content, try to mimic one or both of the things above.
I had a chance to catch up with a friend recently and our conversation turned to networking, helping friends, and the startup-world. The friend said that one of his favorite things is helping his friends succeed. He loves it when everyone wins.
I have similar feelings. I like helping people succeed. Whether it is a friend working on a startup and looking for financing or press, or launching a new product and looking for partners. I always look to help.
At the end of the day, having personal achievements are great, but having success with friends- when everyone wins- is 1000x better.
Having a good network is one of the most important things for any business development person. You should always be one degree from every company that you need to get in front of.
One thing you need to make sure you don’t do is abuse your network. This can be anything from making a blind introduction without both sides opting-in to asking someone for something that is imposing or awkward. I’m guilty of doing it here and there and when someone calls you out about it, it makes you feel like garbage.
If you abuse your network too many times your network strength weakens and then you can’t be effective at your job.
A few weeks ago I wrote a post on Forbes about two companies from Israel that are leading the pack in the content marketing (or ad sense for content) space. I’ve just added one of these companies to my blog posts. In each post you’ll see content below that you may like from around the web.
At the same time, I’m spending $5-10 a month to promote my blog through the Taboola network. Alex’s Tech Thoughts blog posts will be seen across the web and I’ll be paying 5-7 cents per click.
I’ve stated before that I’m not writing to make money. So adding Taboola is not a way for me to monetize this site. I’m actually in the midst of an experiment to see if I can break even from spending money to promote the content on my blog (through Taboola) and receive money from linking people off my site to content they may like.
Let’s see how it goes!
I get many inbound questions about first time BD jobs. The questions range from salary to if one should take the job or not.
The most important thing one should know about first time BD jobs is that if you are (or are going to be) the person responsible for closing deals and scaling the business, you need to either reject the offer (if you haven’t started yet) or quit your job (if you are currently that person). I honestly don’t care about how much you believe in the company. There is a 99% chance you will fail at your job.
The problem here is that without someone showing you the ropes, you will make mistakes. Sure, there will be some wins, but for the most part it will be trial by error. In the startup world and with a company that depends on partnerships, you can’t make elementary mistakes. They will kill you. You may even be dead without knowing it.
To combat this, in your first BD job you need a boss who will help you avoid these mistakes. I always tell people that if there are two first-time BD offers on the table: one from a startup where you are the chief of deals and the other where you work with someone who has done it before. You need to choose the one where you will work for the person who knows what they are doing. Even if it is less money. This is single-handedly the most important thing you can do to start your career off right.
I’ve learned the hard way, when attempting to do a product partnership with another company (i.e. wanting them to integrate your offering) it is best to avoid people in business development roles. Business development can be great in many aspects, but in this area they will slow you down.
What I like to do is map out what an integration would look like. Who is needed to make the integration happen? It is usually a combo of product and engineering folks. If you have a strong offering that directly helps your prospective partner, you will go from zero to integration much faster by going directly through them.
Bottom line: In terms of product integrations, it’s a lot better for the product/engineering team to recommend something to the business side of company than the other way around.
In April I taught my first online Skillshare class: Make Deals That Matter: Biz Dev and Partnerships for Startups. I had 349 students sign up and the feedback was very solid.
The Skillshare team informed me that going forward the class would not be tied to a date, rather it would be “always on.” So I’ve closed out my first class and have added the class again with the “always on” in mind. I’m putting all the content up and will periodically update it with notes and thoughts.
I’ve included the link here: http://skl.sh/10bNMny.
Feel free to send it to family, friends, or colleagues interested in biz dev or partnerships at startups.
If you didn’t see the news yesterday, Dwolla raised a new round of capital, $16.5M led by Silicon Valley venture fund, Andreessen Horowitz. It’s an exciting time to work at Dwolla and it’s great to finally share the news with everyone.
It’s been a year since I joined Dwolla and every day is an amazing challenge. Building a payment network from scratch is no easy task and I’m happy I get to work with such great people at Dwolla. The rest of 2013 is going to be a rollercoaster and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Here is a roundup of the press from yesterday:
Bloomberg: Silicon Prairie’s Dwolla Strikes Out West to Find $16.5 Million
Des Moines Register: Dwolla raises $16.5 million, will open Silicon Valley office
Business Insider: This 18-Slide Pitch Just Landed Payment Startup Dwolla $16.5 Million
Silicon Prairie News: Dwolla raises $16.5MM Round Led by Andreessen Horowitz
VentureBeat: Dwolla raises $16.5M from Andreessen Horowitz to revolutionize banking
The Next Web: Dwolla raises $16.5M from Andreessen Horowitz to help it scale, double staff and open SF office
BetaBeat: Dwolla Raises $16.5M from Andreessen Horowitz and Others, Will Be Expanding to San Francisco
Mobile Payment’s Today: Dwolla raises $16.5 million in Series C funding
WSJ/Dow Jones Venture Wire: Taking on Visa, Dwolla Raises $16.5 million to Make Digital Payments Affordable
Financial Times: Silicon Prairie Attracts Silicon Valley Investors
Ticker:
PandoDaily: Payment network Dwolla raises $16.5 million Series C
AllThingsD: Led by Andreessen Horowitz Payments Startup Dwolla Raises $16.5 Million
Syndicated
Iowa Press Citizen: Dwolla raises $16.5 million, will open Silicon Valley office
AP (Des Moines bureau/Register): Iowa-based Dwolla raises more than $16 million
Investor Blogs:
Albert Wenger’s Blog, Continuations: Dwolla gets a check (to do away with checks)
Scott Weiss’s Blog: How would you start a PayPal or rebuild Visa today?
News Aggregators:
Upward and onward.
Making a career out of being a VC is not an easy job. You need to score good returns for LP’s (limited partners). If you don’t, you will have difficulty raising a new fund.
So, making a career out of VC is tough. However, in the first few years it’s difficult to tell if your fund will do well. Not impossible, but hard. It’s very easy for VC’s to seem like they are doing well (i.e. companies you invest in continue to raise additional capital at higher valuations), but without the liquidity necessary to return to investors.
Bottom line: VC is not for the faint of heart. While it might look like a great job (and you may get away with being mediocre at it for a few years), you should be aware that it is very tough to make a career out of it.
Tell me if you’ve heard this story before. ‘Founder(s) builds startup and cashes out for big bucks. Works for big company for a bit and then goes on to build next startup. Raises ton of money, builds infrastructure in terms of company and support in expectation of huge success for second company. Product is built and there is no demand or product is wrong. Founder fails at second startup.’
I feel like I hear a variation of this story time and time again.
Why do repeat entrepreneurs all think that the second or third startup is going to be different? Why do they forget that they need to build something people/businesses/clients want/need before putting together the other pieces?
Someone please answer this.
I have always been fascinated by writing and tech press. It’s one of the reasons I started this blog and enjoy contributing to Forbes.
One thing I have noticed is the way some blogs attribute writers in tweets while others don’t. Since Twitter came out a few years ago, there is no denying that they are one of the top methods of distributing content. When a tech blog or content outlet tweets a post, they can either attribute the writer in the tweet by at-mentioning them or not. I think the ones who do are very smart.
From what I can tell, TechCrunch was the first, if not one of the first, to attribute writers in tweets. The logic makes sense. The brand is well known and TC also wants their writers and contributors to reap the benefits of getting new followers and building their writing brand via TechCrunch. This is a win for everyone involved. The blog or creator of content gets quality writing, the writer contributes or writes good content and gets recognized for it, and the readers know who the writer is and can follow them directly from the tweet.
I’m not going to call anyone else out by name, but I think other outlets should follow this model. I don’t see any downside.
As a startup, the only way to tell if anyone truly cares is if you disappear. You don’t need to disappear for long, but if your service or product is unavailable for a period of time and users or clients get upset or complain, then you know they care.
Think about Twitter. When it used to go down for a few hours (it doesn’t really do that anymore) people would freak the f out. People really care about Twitter.
So when building a business or thinking about the company you work for, make sure you are working on something that people, clients, etc would care about if it would disappear. This is another way to think about building something people want/love.
