It's a fun book, and Elon has cracked the hologram code. But this book is too early - written before Alexander set off from Macedonia. The game has onIt's a fun book, and Elon has cracked the hologram code. But this book is too early - written before Alexander set off from Macedonia. The game has only started....more
Reading about start-ups and founders is part of the cultural education of our era. Even if you are not interested in the business side of things, thesReading about start-ups and founders is part of the cultural education of our era. Even if you are not interested in the business side of things, these books are still required reading since you have to study the idols and the paragons of society to understand the aspirations and the class definitions. Jeff Bezos is right up there with the other founder-luminaries as an aspirational, charismatic goalpost to reach towards. Starting something of your own is easily the most self-fulfilling goal allowed today. Forget the find-yourself goals of a few decades back, it is the start-something goal that is the best option today... Is it a compromise? Does it make a real difference in the quality of life? No founder is ever going to burst that bubble, at least not yet. :)
Anyway, coming to the genre itself, it is part of the reading of this genre that along with the more esoteric reading of such books to understand society, culture, etc., the more relevant reading is to look for "mantras of success", for habits that will lead to success, for methods that will work, for any superstitious tic that might just bring about the next big thing.
But one common thread I have been able to tease out from readings about the colossally successful is that all of them are obsessive about at least one of the following aspects:
1. Obsessive about the Customers Such founders are on a mission to "help" customers who are currently not getting what they deserve. They truly believe that their mission is to wage war for the consumers, to make things easy for them, and make money in the process. Jeff Bezos belongs to this category.
2. Obsessive about the Employees All founders know that the top employees are important, but this category of founders obsess right down to the level of the front-line employees. It is a family mentality at work here. They believe that the best way to retain and motivate is to genuinely care about the employees. The best among these are able to make every employee feel like an owner and work like an owner.
3. Obsessive about the Product These guys are out to create the best that ever was. They need to know that at all times their product is the best out there. Nothing less will suffice.
Any founder who doesn't fall into one of these categories would tend to gravitate towards the efficiency-driven, measurement-driven, mundane process of driving the bottom-line. But without a clear understanding of the Why and the How of bottom-line pushing, this never works out in the end. Every great company needs a great focus, and only these few seem epic enough to create the colossally successful....more
If it works, you are a "delay specialist" and your delay was strategic - kudos to you. If it doesn't, you are a mere procrastinator who cant tell a miIf it works, you are a "delay specialist" and your delay was strategic - kudos to you. If it doesn't, you are a mere procrastinator who cant tell a minute hand from an hour hand - shame on you. ...more
Most marketers practice Interruption Marketing. The difference is simple. An Interruption Marketer is aPermission Marketing Vs. Interruption Marketing
Most marketers practice Interruption Marketing. The difference is simple. An Interruption Marketer is a hunter. A Permission Marketer is a farmer.
Hunting prospects involves loading a gun with bullets and shooting until you hit something. You can take a day or a week or a month off from this endeavor and it won’t take you long to get back into successfully bagging a few.
Farming prospects involves hoeing, planting, watering, and harvesting. It’s infinitely more predictable, but it takes regular effort and focus. If you take a month off, you might lose your entire crop.
On the other hand, farming scales. Once you get good at it, you can plant ever more seeds and harvest ever more crops.
Interruption Marketing soon becomes spam, Permission Marketing can become long-term relationships with customers.
The book was probably very influential, most of the principles seems to have been applied, except by some categories of producers. Unfortunately, even Godin couldn't bring down the amount of spam in the universe. ...more
How would Google run the world? How would everything look if every industry, every social activity was "googley"?
Everything would be more open, collaHow would Google run the world? How would everything look if every industry, every social activity was "googley"?
Everything would be more open, collaborative and fun, that is how. The book might be masked as an exploration of a successful way of doing things, but in reality it a call for the open-source "gift" economy in which everyone participates to create great value. It makes sense too, for much of it.
Apple posed some problems for the author though. Apparently non-open-source can also work spectacularly.
In any case, let us try out this world. It seems like a a good place to take risks. ...more
Search 1.0: keywords and text Search 2.0: link analysis Search 3.0: integration of vertical results Search 4.0: personalization
SEO straContent is King
Search 1.0: keywords and text Search 2.0: link analysis Search 3.0: integration of vertical results Search 4.0: personalization
SEO strategy: Scramble!
At the end of the day, the best results are likely to be provided by the best sites. The technology that has driven search engines were based on two ranking signals: good keyword targeting and good links, but user experience and engagement are now significant factors too (a good example being Youtube shifting from views to watch-time as primary ranking signal for videos). And you can’t really game those signals.
There is just no substitute for having good content (and showing it off well, of course - don’t hide the mousetrap). Anything beyond that Search 4.0 or 5.0 will probably catch you anyway.
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A TL;DR Summary for the Book:
Today, SEO can be fairly easily categorized as having five major objectives: • Make content accessible to search engine crawlers. • Find the keywords that searchers employ (understand your target audience) and make your site speak their language. • Build content that users will find useful, valuable, and worthy of sharing. Ensure that they’ll have a good experience on your site to improve the likelihood that you’ll earn links and references. • Earn votes for your content in the form of editorial links and social media mentions from good sources by building inviting, shareable content and applying classic marketing techniques to the online world. • Creating web pages that allow users to find what they want extremely quickly, ideally in the blink of an eye....more
I have long suspected that Seth was a Communist-evangelist and that his books propagated the gift economy. Yes. Here is the clincher, and it is the beI have long suspected that Seth was a Communist-evangelist and that his books propagated the gift economy. Yes. Here is the clincher, and it is the best part of the book too.
Seth’s take on:
The Communist Manifesto, by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
This book isn’t about what you think it’s about. And it’s certainly not about the USSR. The key argument here is that small experiments in communism don’t work, because they are corrupted by the temptation to defect and engage in trade with neighbors that exploit their workers (so you can benefit). Only worldwide revolution and grabbed power by farmers and factory workers can upend the unfair bargain that kings and capitalists have put in place. At one profound level they are right: as long as the workers don’t own the means of production, the exchange will be inherently unfair. A lot of what they pessimistically predicted has occurred to the workers at the bottom of the ladder....more
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