Joey Digital » Entrepreneurship

Founder’s Therapy Was Awesome. We May Be Onto Something…

Joey Digital — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:43:01 +0000

Tuesday night, we kicked off the Founder’s Therapy event series at Bar One in Atlanta. It’s like Alcoholics Anonymous for entrepreneurs…except we drink during the session. The topic was Non-supportive Family, Friends, and Signicant Others, and it allowed 25 entrepreneurs to get ish off their chests.

A few key/interesting things came out of the event:

+ Wives of entrepreneurs put alot of stress on the males (whether they mean it or not)
+ It is extremely difficult for female entrepreneurs to have relationships
+ How entrepreneurs would like to receive support can be explained better by the 5 Love Languages. *IMO, this was the most important thing to come out of the event. And it has to/will be explored in detail later.

My early plan is to have this event once a quarter, and the next topic is, tentatively, slated to focus on failure: both our most horrifying crash-and-burn moments (I’ve got plenty of ammo for this one), and the fear of failure in the black community.

A special thanks goes to Amber Saunders and the staff at Bar One for all of the help, and to Reggie Harrison (@coldfinger) for the photos!

Converging Social Good + Entertainment With Founder’s Therapy In Atlanta on 1/17

Joey Digital — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 14:29:36 +0000

2012 will be a year of change for me. And one way will be the convergence of social good and social entertainment. It starts next Tuesday as I’m organizing Founder’s Therapy. Think of it as “AA for entrepreneurs.”

Founder’s Therapy is an intimate group of entrepreneurs discussing problems unique to our personal experience…over drinks of course. Steve Blank relates this personal experience to “The Hero’s Journey.”

:: Except from Steve Blank’s “The Four Steps to the Epiphany” on “The Hero’s Journey” ::

“Joseph Campbell popularized the notion of an archetypal journey that recurs in the mythologies and religions of cultures around the world. From Moses and the burning bush to Luke Skywalker meeting Obi wan Kenobi, the journey always begins with a hero who hears a calling to a quest. At the outset of the voyage, the path is unclear, and the end is not in sight. Each hero meets a unique set of obstacles, yet Campbell’s keen insight was that the outline of these stories was always the same. There were not a thousand different heroes, but one hero with a thousand faces.

The hero’s journey is an apt way to think of startups. All new companies and new products begin with an almost mythological vision–a hope of what could be, with a goal that few others can see. It’s this bright and burning vision that differentiates the entrepreneur from big company CEOs and startups from existing businesses. Founding entrepreneurs are out to prove that their vision and business are real and not some hallucination; to succeed they must abandon the status quo and strike out on what appears to be a new path, often shrouded in uncertainty. Obstacles, hardships and disaster lie ahead, and their journey to success tests more than financial resources. It tests their stamina, agility, and the limits of courage.

Most entrepreneurs feel their journey is unique. Yet what Campbell perceived about the mythological hero’s journey is true of startups as well: however dissimilar the stories may be in detail, their outline is always the same. Most entrepreneurs travel down the startup path without a roadmap and believe that no model or template could apply to their new venture. They are wrong. For the path of a startup is well worn, and well understood. The secret is that no one has written it down.”

—————
Founder’s Therapy was created to show entrepreneurs that they aren’t alone on this journey and [many] others share their pain…over drinks of course.

And oftentimes, unfortunately, those “few others that can see” are family members, friends, and significant others of entrepreneurs, and “obstacles, hardships, disaster” come in the form of their non-support.

We’re kicking off 2012 by sharing stories of non-supportive family, friends, and significant others. And we’ll all feel better afterwards.

+ Founder’s Therapy: Discussing Non-Supportive Family/Friends/Significant Others
+ Tuesday, January 17th, 2012
+ Bar One (687 Memorial Drive Southeast, Atlanta, GA 30316)
+ 7pm – 9pm | No Cover
+ Hosted Amber Saunders (Enrichment Prep)
+ Moderated by Me

RSVP at http://founderstherapy.eventbrite.com

Look forward to seeing some of you on Tuesday.

I’m Organizing A Therapy Session For Entrepreneurs

Joey Digital — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 12:41:34 +0000

Continuing my mission of increasing the odds of success for black company founders, I’m organizing, through SF35, a discussion series over drinks called Founder’s Therapy.

During this one, we’ll be talking about non-supportive family members and friends. It will be held at Bar One on Tuesday, January 17th at 7pm.

Details here.

Thoughts on the 100 Urban Entrepreneurs Atlanta Meetup + Discussion on Business Plan Development

Joey Digital — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 14:09:41 +0000

Last night, I attended the 100 Urban Entrepreneurs’ Meetup + Discussion on Business Plan Development. Shout out to Amber Saunders for organizing an excellent (and well attended) event. In typical fashion, I (a) started a little drama – well, I don’t consider it drama. I call it challenging people – and (b) had my own answers to some questions. My thoughts are below:

[Before we proceed, you must know that I don’t believe in business plans. Click here (31 minute mark) and here for a better understanding.]

My question: Many entrepreneurs, including some already this evening, describe their company idea as “good.” What is the definition of a “good” idea?

The first panelist said a “good” idea was subjective (my point exactly), but Amber stepped in with something more definitive: “it has to sell.” (paraphrased)

As Steve Blank says “entrepreneurs are artists”, meaning we ALL think our ideas are great. Sorry to bust you bubble, but, most likely, your idea probably sucks. The only thing that matters is if consumers/enterprises pay for it. Period. End of story.

How can an idea by “stupid” if people pay for it (in terms of money, time, or effort)? How can an idea by “good” if no one pays for it?

So, let’s put the definition of a “good” idea on more firm footing. A product/service is only good if you can successfully relieve consumers/enterprises from their money (paraphrased from Steve Blank).

And a good business model ensures this process is profitable (and scalable in some cases).

These questions weren’t directed toward me, but this is how I would have answered them if they were.

On the tech industry mindset of “doing” with little-to-no planning, and figuring out what works later:

I could on and on…and on about this, but it is easier for you to read up on Steve Blank (Customer Development) and Eric Ries (Lean Startup). I won’t link to these guys in order to force you to search for all the stuff that’s on them.

But I will say this: businesses are like math (really Calculus).

The business model is the equation, and the product/service is just one variable (out of 9) in the equation (research Alexander Osterwalder’s Business Model Generation for the equation).

So your business model may look like x = ((a+b+c)/d – e(f+4g) + 2h)/i

Your job, as an entrepreneur, is to find the best equation (read: most profitable) for your company. Period.

And this entails a TON of experimentation. So much that your original business plan is completely worthless after the first “experiment”. Heck, it may take you 100 experiments in order to find the right equation. But, the key is how fast and inexpensively you can experiment before running out of money.

On the importance of your “team” when going through the funding process:

Again, ideas are worthless. A great team can execute a mediocre idea, and turn it into something huge. And when I say team, I mean they key people in the company AND your service provides. If you can say “my co-founder worked for Google, and helped launch Google Docs, one of my advisors sold her company for $5M to AOL, another advisor sold his company to TimeWarner for $20M, my law firm has worked the exits for over 50 companies, and my graphic designer did the logo for MTV,” THEN you have instilled alot confidence in the investor.

And a byproduct of a great team is a large/powerful network of investors. And you know what they say about your network.

The key point here is, if you haven’t guessed it, is your ability to recruit a “rockstar” team. That’s a part of the CEO job description. If you can’t recruit A+ people to your company, then you might want to research alternative funding sources. #imjustsayin

The mindset of asking a funding source (investor, bank, etc) to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA):

You aren’t that special (though your mom said you were). Out of all of the people born since 1900, do you honestly think no one else hasn’t thought of your idea? Why would anyone sign an NDA when they have seen/will see something very similar i the future?

But more importantly, if you think your “secret sauce” is so awesome, then get a patent. It is called “defensibility.” After all, defense wins champi0nships.

‘Til I start some drama (I mean challenge people) at the next entrepreneurship event.

[atl] 100 Urban Entrepreneurs’ Meetup // The Atlanta Prom // New Year’s Eve

Joey Digital — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 18:46:33 +0000

I trust your Thanksgiving Weekend went well. I used the break to recover from the Fall Black Alumni Tour (13 events for over 13,000 people), spend time with family, catch up on email, and prep for 2012.

Over at DIGITALGUESTLIST, we’re busy putting together an Insider’s Guide to New Year’s Eve in Atlanta. Discover and access details on high-quality #NYE2012 events approved by our experts.

Sign up at www.digitalguestlist.com/nye

[100 Urban Entrepreneurs’ Meetup]

I’m extremely passionate about entrepreneurship. Actually, I believe I can “save the world” by promoting it (using the Lean Startup Methodology). And there is an awesome organization for minority entrepreneurs in Atlanta…the 100 Urban Entrepreneurs.

And they’re having a meetup/educational event on Wednesday. Please pass the word to your entrepreneur friends out there.

+ Wednesday, November 30th, 2011
+ 100 Urban Entrepreneurs Meetup: Devising The Perfect Business Plan
+ Atlanta Development Authority (86 Pryor Street, Atlanta, GA 30303)
+ Time: 6pm – 8pm
+ RSVP via email to Amber Saunders at amber.saunders@100ue.org

*Note: Many of you know my thoughts on business plans. If not, this (jump to the 31:00 mark) and this pretty much sum it up.

[The Atlanta Prom]

My friends over at Timeless Entertainment (producers of PlayDate) have created another really cool concept called The Atlanta Prom, and this year it is hosted by Brandi Harvey (daughter of Steve Harvey).

+ Saturday, December 10th, 2011
+ Entertainment by Algebra, Anthony David, Soul For Real, and DJ Tayrock
+ Georgia International Convention Center
+ 7pm – 1am
+ Tickets at www.theatlantaprom.com

[Events From Friends]

+ Insights Marketing presents Women Making Moves Networking & Empowerment Gathering
+ Tuesday, December 6th, 2011
+ 6:30pm – 8:30pm | Justin’s Restaurant
+ Admission is Complimentary | Please RSVP at KW@Insights-MPC.com

I look forward to hearing your plans for 2012

Thoughts From The 2011 Atlanta Urban League Young Professionals Entrepreneur Bootcamp

Joey Digital — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 18:51:26 +0000

Just getting back from the 3rd Annual AULYP Entrepreneur Bootcamp, and taking a clue from Fred Wilson’s recent post on subconscious information processing, here are my thoughts. Huge thanks to John Miller and Travis Townsend for allowing me to be a part of such a wonderful event.

Before you read further, please understand that I seriously believe that I can save black people by exposing our young entrepreneurs to the Lean Startup philosophy. I tend to think of myself as John The Evangelist. Also, I’m heavily influenced by the scalable startup mindset prevalent in the tech scene, and, paradoxically, by nightlife – though I am a natural at neither.

Today’s objectives were three-fold: (1) To secure a meeting with Dr. Dennis Kimbro in order to get him on the Lean Startup train, (2) debate the value of business plans with the instructor of the business plan development course, and (3) observe the attendees to gain a better understanding of young black entrepreneur mindset (the customer segment for my race-saving initiative).

I have to run out to referee a kickball tournament in a few minutes, so I won’t go into my hypotheses, but here are the lessons learned/results:

(1) Was able to get Dr. Kimbro’s card, and plant the Lean Startup seed in his head. Will email him, and ask other people to put in a good word on my behalf

(2) Spoke with the Business Plan course instructor (also a consultant at the Urban League), Muhammad Zahir, and came to the middle ground “Planning is needed, business plans aren’t.” I also explained some Lean Startup principles to him, and he invited me to be a guest speaker at one of his sessions. However, even better is that he helped me realize Lean Startup needs to be tweaked to black people’s unique perspective/experiences (like most everything else). Key insight.

(3) Met some newbie entrepreneurs who were using the bootcamp to get basic info on starting their companies. They are in the same boat I was in when I started 9 years ago: they don’t know that they don’t know (if that makes sense). Many of them are women, and aren’t thinking about selling their company for $50 million like I was. They aren’t looking to change the world. Their just looking to start nice lifestyle businesses, and enjoy their life. And there’s nothing run with that. Their the normal ones.

(4) Met some wonderful people like Vanessa Parker (Pink Boss Business Boutique), Courtney Gay (Atlanta Braves), Lekiesha French (CIM Successful), Selah Abrams, and Shana Basnight (Emory’s Goizueta Business School), and will look to build with them in the coming months. Also, ran into the homies Adrienne White and Amani Channel.

When The Master Is Ready, The Students Appear

Joey Digital — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 13:28:16 +0000

There is a famous Buddhist Proverb which states “when the student is ready, the master will appear.” But like Steve Blank did in his 2010 Lean Startup Conference speech (and many of you know I follow his teachings like a disciple), I’m going to rearrange the proverb to “when the master is ready, the students appear.” I’ve been placed in a situation where I have to perform and deliver on all of the philosophies on idea design/creation I’ve developed over the years.

And such is how I started my teaching journey yesterday with a group 8th-10th graders from the organization Youth on the Move. The objective is to have the class build the organization’s website over four weeks, and maintain it moving forward. Going into the first class, I didn’t know what to expect. As stated earlier, I’m using this experience as way to get better at keeping things simple/breaking complex concepts in easily digestible bites. But I’m not a trained teacher. And I have little to no experience with kids. So I did what what any self-respecting teacher would do:

I modeled the 4-week lesson plan after Steve Blank’s Lean LaunchPad Customer Development class at Stanford. Duh.

And just like Blank, we were going to teach the students web design like people teach artists: a combination of theory + immersion into the web design experience.

Yesterday’s (Week 1) outline consisted of:
– Introduction of the instructors (Justin Dawkins and I), and how we got started with websites – The reason we were there

– Our teaching method
– Components of websites
– Site Content
– Homework Assignment

I’m sure anyone who has dealt with 8-10th graders during the summer is laughing at me right now.

First Lesson Learned: No 14-year old wants to talk website theory – especially at 4pm on a hot summer day. (But I adjusted on the fly, and the class ended up going relatively well.)

The first real shocker came at the beginning of class. As the time crept to 4:05pm, I kept waiting for more kids to walk in the class, but no more came: the entire class was made of up girls. In all my years of dealing with websites, I’ve never seen a room full of black female web designers. And this presents a great opportunity to make a real difference, and open their eyes to the possibility of pursuing this as a career path. Hopefully, I can line up a female web designer/developer or two as a guest speaker.

The students are being treated as if they’re running their own web design startup. During the class, we discovered one of the students is a little bundle of energy so Justin recommended we split the class into two two teams: Customer Development and Product Development. The ball of energy will lead one of the teams. I’ll guide the Customer Development team and Justin will guide the Product Development team.

The class was given three tasks for homework to be finished by next Wednesday:

1) Come up with a name for the startup

2) Individually interview the Program Director (the client) in order to get the site requirements

3) Create their own blog using WordPress.com, and post, at least, one entry (note: we are using WordPress.org as the framework for the site)

While giving out the assignments, I learned some things about keeping things simple. During the theory part of the class, I discussed the different users of the site (donors, kids, parents, volunteers, etc), and I originally asked the class to interview one person out of each user type. Ummm, that’s a little too complex for these kids, so we scaled it back to the Program Director. Next, I actually only asked them to create their own blog on WordPress.com, and I assumed they would play around with it, and post an entry. One bright student pointed out that the creating a new entry should be required (therefore forcing the students to play around with it).

All in all, I had a great time, and learned a ton. Next week, we’ll begin to put together the site design.

How Groupon is Showing That Most US Small Businesses Suck & Why We’re In Trouble Because Of It

Joey Digital — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 17:26:22 +0000

TechCrunch recently posted the article Groupon Was “The Single Worst Decision I Have Ever Made As A Business Owner”. And, at first, I felt sorry for the business owner. But after thinking about it for a minute, and reading many of the comments, I came to the conclusion that she’s clueless as an owner.

Ok, I should play nice: she needs to improve her CEO skillset.

To make it really simple, all Groupon does is exchange customer acquisition costs for the discounted value of the product/service.

What’s clear is that the coffee shop owner 1) doesn’t know her customer acquisition costs and 2) didn’t have a strategy to sell those customers new products or get them to come back in the future. So, of course it was a bad business decision.

But here’s the kicker: I’m sure most small business owners in the US are like her and have no clue what their CAC is (for most of the entrepreneurial life I didn’t either). And if 50% of all jobs in the US are created by small businesses, then our already high unemployment rate will continue to get worse as these small businesses fail.

And that’s why I’m an evangelist of the Lean Startup Methodology.

The Winds of Change – Part 1

Joey Digital — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 13:48:40 +0000

Ah, the more things change, well, the more they change. The last 90+ days have accelerated the inevitable, and put several things for which I’m passionate on a collision course: solving problems for (1) event discovery, (2) HBCU young alumni enrollment in alumni associations, and (3) African-American entrepreneurship.

And either I’ll survive the resulting collision or I won’t. Not sure if there is room for any gray. It’s black and white.

Fortunately, there is a revolution in the technology circle underway which outlines a better and faster way to execute new companies/ideas. Put “kindergarten” simply, it brings together a series of best practices which significantly increase the chances of new companies/ideas being successful.

At the risk of being too “technical”, I won’t go too much deeper into the philosophy here. But I’ll say that once you “get it”, your view of the world changes. And it has brought to light a painful truth – one that I’ve ignored/avoided for far too long:

I can’t do the Young Alumni Movement in its’ current form any more.

When I first conceived the Movement in late 2008, I envisioned intersecting corporate marketing campaigns with philanthrophy. And while I still believe this is possible, I totally underestimated a significant component of the business model: the time required to plan/execute the events.

Over the past 2.5 years, I’ve put in about an entire year’s worth of full-time hours on the Movement, and sacrificed, easily, $30,000 in revenue. Easily. It was never an issue because I’m passionate about solving the problem of low young alumni enrollment in the FAMU National Alumni Association.

However as I get older, priorities change, and passions arise, making these sacrifices is much more difficult. And, honestly, over the last 60 days I wanted to walk away. It has had a devasting impact on my personal life. But much like Peter Parker in Spiderman 2, every time I tried walking away, “something” kept pulling me back. It was actually eery.

Earlier I talked about how the Lean Startup Methodology (Customer Development + Business Model Canvas + Agile Development) changes the way you view the word: in terms of problems and their potential solutions. It really simplifies life - and it has been hidden in plain sight the entire time. And I believe that low enrollment of young alumni in HBCU Alumni Associations is critical problem – one that will have an extreme negative impact on the African-American race in the upcoming two decades if left unsolved.

Over the last 2.5 years, many people have told me that I needed to charge for doing the work of the Young Alumni Movement. But I refused because (a) I felt about doing social good and (b) I didn’t want to look like profit was my primary motive. Unfortuantely, in the African-American culture, our default stance on issues is negative.

But, if the problem is so important, doesn’t it make sense to pay for a solution? People, especially black people, pay for frivilous things all of the time. Why not pay for solution to a real problem with significant consequences if left unresolved?

And with this line of thinking comes the announcement that I’ll not be executing the Young Alumni Movement for free anymore.

In Part 2, I’ll discuss how I’ll do this while also incorporating problems 1 and 3 listed above. I think it will make sense to many of you.

Thoughts On Part II of the “PowerPreneur” Series

Joey Digital — Fri, 20 May 2011 10:53:59 +0000

[Recap of Part I of this series can be found here.]

So last night I attended Part II of the “PowerPreneur” Series organized by Velvet Suite Marketing, and supported by the Office of the Mayor and Black Enterprise Magazine at Do Restaurant.

[Sidenote: Do Restaurant is a really cool new “musically-inspired” pizza restaurant. Founded by Christian Ruffin (One Stop Productions), it should be a great lounge spot on the weekend, and a good place to watch the playoffs. Christian and his wife Necasha are extremely nice, and always go out of their way to speak to little ol’ me.]

As opposed to Wednesday’s event at the W Hotel, the layout of Do Restaurant forced networking – a good thing as my objective was to gain a better understanding of AF-AM entrepreneurs through conversation (read: interviews). I arrived around 6:40pm where, pretty much, the only open seat was at a table with a fledgling non-profit grant writer. We immediately began to discuss Part I (the good and the bad), and surprisingly, she agreed with me. Then the conversation moved into Lean Startup Methodology territory, and I lost her. I could just see her eyes glaze over. To get the conversation back on track I “pivoted” to the “business plans are bullsh#t” subject – guaranteed fire starter as it challenges conventional notions (but makes so much sense). More on that later.

Now let’s talk panel discussion. Both panels had great entrepreneurs (Donald Woodward, Chaka Zulu, Ronda Racha, Stacey Key, Mychael Knight, Terrinee Briggs, Isom Lowman) and the questions from moderator Melissa Johnson were one level deeper than Part I. Not sure if they read my recap or not. I felt some more people in the audience walked away with specific action items in addition to being inspired (inspiration + action = good things). If Part I was freshman year in college, then Part II was sophomore year (both are good, and I applaud Velvet Suite for starting this “school”).

All in all, the “PowerPreneur” Series was an awesome start to Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Conference Weekend. Ok, if we’re being honest here, I hate the term “powerpreneur” because I think black people are to infatuated with status (topic for another post). But I really couldn’t have imagined a better pre-cursor to the BE Conference. Great events, great entrepreneurs, great venues/environments, great event management, and great women (yes 80% of the audience was female).