Sending this almost two days late and still not even unpacked after Rockit Summit in Chișinău, Moldova. : )
The conference was truly incredible. The calibre of speakers was world class, the event organization was outstanding and attendees were highly energetic & engaged! Watch the talks including mine here.
The cycling was badass too! Here is the long ride I got to do with a friend of a friend named Gheorghe before presenting on Saturday.
At first organizers and attendees were perplexed why I'd bring my bike for a two day trip but when I got out, saw their city, countryside and learned about Moldovan history: they understood. When I read Gheorghe's post after we rode, I understood even more myself.
Making the most of business travel by bringing my bike and riding with locals is one of the most special things about each trip I embark upon.
As always, thanks for reading!
Cycling
Why my cycling clothing company uses models without helmets
The debate about helmet use is too often toxic, puts off new riders and obscures more important issues, argues my friend Nick Hussey, the founder of Vulpine.
Road to NAHBS 2016: Steve Bilenky of Bilenky Cycle Works - Bikerumor
"The story of how internationally renown, well-oiled jam band, Bilenky Cycle Works, came to be is labyrinthine. Steve Bilenky, who wants it emphasized that he is only a small part of an excellent team, began his industry career at ten hustling bicycle repairs for neighborhood kids out of his family’s garage." Awesome stuff! Bummed not to be at NAHBS this year but prouder than ever to have a Bilenky Tandem.
TEAM DREAM BICYCLING TEAM - For The (Faded) Record Team Dream was founded on...
If you know, you know. But if you don't: a big brand bit on a look sparked by a smaller brand. Props to Team Dream for an eloquent response. Cyclists are a nerdy lot and notice origins, intentions and inspirations.
Startups
This VC Has A Simple Message For Unicorns: Build Real Businesses
Caroline Fairchild, New Economy Editor at LinkedIn, interviews Rich Wong, a General Partner at Accel: "Some of these so-called unicorns haven’t built what I would call real businesses. Many of them have revenue, but does the revenue come in a repeatable form? Are they in control of their gross margins and spending levels? Can they articulate what it costs for them to acquire a customer and the payback time?" #preach
8 Changes You Can Make to Motivate Your Employees
What can you do as an employer to motivate your employees and make them more productive? Here are some ideas. My recent favorite? Making sure 1:1's happen every week and being honest about company & personal goals. i.e. i still believe hiring people that one day would like to start their own company is a good idea.
Tech’s Most Unlikely Venture Capitalist
In 1992 he was homeless in Silicon Valley. Need some reasons why it pays to never, ever give up? Super good read : )
Sales
Hiring Star Salespeople Isn’t the Best Way to Grow
Your sales process matters too. ; ) Here are three core elements for putting in place a scalable sales process:
- Understand the sales tasks.
- Match your sales process and resources to the buying process.
- Use tools to turn data into information.
Silicon Valley's way of building a Modern Sales Engine, an event by StartupAmsterdam
In Amsterdam on February 19th? The SaaS Sales insider session will be a 90 minute session and you will learn about best practices gathered from more than 50 SaaS start-ups which have built sales organizations over the past 24 months from Jacco van der Kooij. (co-author of the above HBR article)
PipeLine Summit 2016 in Gdansk, Poland
PipeLine Summit is a sales think tank created by sales people, for sales people. They want to encourage both learning and sharing of knowledge for sales. I'm hoping to still get a speaker slot. : )
Radness
Spurious Correlations
These spurious charts and fascinating factoids are pretty rad. Hat tip to Peter Riegersperger for this one.