Angel Investment Journal - Angel Investing and Entrepreneur Blog

I am fortunate to work with one of the best online marketing teams in the country. As a result, we get people almost daily asking us if we can help their company with it’s online marketing efforts.

However, we have been reluctant to do consulting because we go after a project to help build it into a highly successful company for the long term. We don’t want to work on a project for 4-5 months and then move on. Plus, it just isn’t possible to easily scale high level online marketing work. It takes high level people actually doing the work, so we are just very limited in the number of companies we could help.

A few years ago we were approached with an option that gave us equity in the company in exchange for our services and it was a great option for us. Since then we have done it with a few more companies and have found it can be extremely beneficial for companies we work with, but it is also something we enjoy. We get to help take part in building and growing a company, but we don’t have to deal with the day to day things. So we get to focus on the areas where we are the strongest.

For now, we are accepting up to one new deal per quarter and have launched a website to explain the concept. so check it out at Growth Partner.com.

My team and I have done a couple of partnerships with companies where we help them with their online marketing

A buddy recently sent me this email from a colleague of his…

—
DO YOU HAVE THE NEXT GREAT MONEYMAKING IDEA? We are currently on the search for entrepreneurs, inventors, businesspersons, dreamers, promoters, creators, innovators, etc. If you feel you have a lucrative business idea but just can’t seem to secure the financial backing to get it off the ground then Shark Tank is just the show for you. Each episode features aspiring entrepreneurs pitching their business ideas to moguls in hopes of landing investment funds. Apply now for your chance to enter the “Shark Tank” and see if your idea survives.

All interested parties should email David Polanzak at xxxx with the following information:

Name:
Age:
Hometown:
Phone:
Photo:
—

I removed his email to ensure David does not receive spam. If you would like to be considered and have your information passed on to David, fill out the contact form on this site.

This was a quote by Michael Phelps coach, Bob Bowman when talking about Phelps’ (and his fellow swimmer’s) training regime. Bowman not only trains Olympic swimmers but he also trains thoroughbred racehorses.

I liked that quote because it shows that the people at the top of their sport don’t get their by genetics or luck (although both of those would help). Those people, more likely than not, train much harder than the rest of the field.

Paul Graham argues that Dignity and Professionalism are not only overrated, but they are actually deadly. Kathy from Creating Passionate Users summarizes a speech given by Paul Graham discussing this concept.

When you evolve out of start-up mode and start worrying about being professional and dignified, you only lose capabilities. You don’t add anything… you only take away. Dignity is deadly.

Fortunately, within our companies, we have been able to avoid a focus on being dignified and being perceived as professional. We have very modest offices, we don’t require ties or even business casual. Hats, sandals, and graphic tees are commonplace in the offices and no one was to worry about being especially cordial to one another (although respecting fellow employees is demanded). Passion is what is important. Being passionate about making sure every customer is taken care of and happy is valued. Making sure employees are happy and comfortable in their work environment is also important.

If am employee does something considered unprofessional such as telling a client about how they went out and got drunk this past weekend, it is not a cause to worry. But if they ever did anything that was not in the best interest of the client, that would result in a deserved ass-chewing or worse.

Passion creates action. Professionalism leads to timid people. Passion makes people do what they know is right. Professionalism makes people do what they think will be perceived as being right, regardless of whether or not it actually is.

I go to a lot of search engine marketing conferences and the exhibitors always have various swag. Some of them are neat, creative, or useful, but most are pretty worthless. Bloggers usually do a recap of the swag given away at the conferences and I have never really found much worth talking about. However, I attended the Inc 500 conference this past weekend and Amex gave away something that is deserving of a mention. They gave everyone a free iPhone. They didn’t even require you to go through much. It took me less than 3 minutes in total to give them my info and get my free iPhone. They even asked if I would like to get additional info from Amex and allowed you to decline.

This was done to help promote their new card - the Plum Card. Not only did they give away free iPhones, but they had a kick-ass party at the House of Blues. All I can say is “Well done, Amex. Well done.”

Having read quite a bit about Harry Houdini while growing up I enjoyed 37 Signal’s post today discussing 5 Business Lessons from Harry Houdini. They include:

- Focus on the killer bit
When he started out, he was doing a bunch of tricks and escaping from handcuffs was just one in the batch. A vaudeville bigwig saw him do his act and told him that no one cared about any of the tricks except the handcuff escape. Houdini dropped the rest of the tricks, did a show that focused exclusively on escapes, and flew to stardom.

- Give ‘em a story
Houdini knew the aura of escape was just as important as the actual escape. So he always gave people something to talk about. He’d often stretch easy escapes into lengthy affairs in order to build tension. When he finally broke free, the crowd would erupt in cheers.

My buddy Rafe has a great post talking about “Management 2.0″. The post discusses concepts related to it and brings up the growing idea that management innovation, not technological innovation, may be the key driver of economic value.

His list includes some great ideas such as taking advantage of crowdsourcing and user-generated content and implementing emerging concepts such as a Results Oriented Work Environment, which Best Buy has helped make famous. He encourages people to add their own Management 2.0 concepts to the list.

Psychology Today had an article discussing Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature. It poses some interesting ideas and brings up an an idea that could show a possible relation between entrepreneurs and criminals.

Criminologists have known about the “age-crime curve.” In every society at all historical times, the tendency to commit crimes and other risk-taking behavior rapidly increases in early adolescence, peaks in late adolescence and early adulthood, rapidly decreases throughout the 20s and 30s, and levels off in middle age…The relationship between age and productivity among male jazz musicians, male painters, male writers, and male scientists—which might be called the “age-genius curve”—is essentially the same as the age-crime curve. Their productivity—the expressions of their genius—quickly peaks in early adulthood, and then equally quickly declines throughout adulthood.

The likely reason that criminals, scientists, and some of the most successful entrepreneurs make their biggest mark in their younger years is a result of their risk tolerance. It may also be related to their naivety in doing things which more experienced (older) individuals would not. This doesn’t mean that age is the restricting factor, but the willingness of the individual to take these risks that can lead to great achievements.

LifeHacks has a great post on the dangers of being fearful of failure. This topic has been discussed countless times and deserves discussions because the concept is so vital. Regardless of whether it relates to an Entrepreneur starting a new venture or an existing business trying new things, the fear of failure is a major thing that prevents most people from trying new things.

People say there is no better way than to learn from your mistakes. I agree that there is not much that will drive home a lesson better than a failure. However, you should also strive to learn from other’s mistakes since it is a much cheaper method. The only problem is that many times it is also less effective.

The GoBigNetwork had an interesting post today about bailing on at least one of your ideas. Coming up with new ideas and taking the initiative to carry them out is hugely important in whatever it is that you are doing. The post claims it is equally important to bail on certain ideas.

This could be for an idea that you feel is good, but if you actually thought about it and were able to carry it through, it would not likely result in a large rewards. I think this concept has merit, especially because you never want to get spread too thin. You should focus on the things that are the most valuable to you. If you are 100% dedicated to something compared to trying to go after 2 things at 80%, the 100% dedication will likely increase your chances for success, even though you are less diversified.

This definitely does not mean you shouldn’t go after new ideas or new concepts. Trying new ideas is of extreme importance and is required to achieve success. And even going after an idea that turns out to be bad may not necessarily be a negative because you are likely to learn something or may even find a new niche as a result. But you do need to be mindful of how you dedicate your limited resources.