Establish a Mood with Typography
Some great tips and examples in this one.
Source: ilovecharts
David Ogilvy’s Internal Memo: “How to Write”
The better you write, the higher you go in Ogilvy & Mather. People who think well, write well. Woolly minded people write woolly memos, woolly letters and woolly speeches. Good writing is not a natural gift. You have to learn to write well.
Here are 10 hints:
- Read the Roman-Raphaelson book on writing. Read it three times.
- Write the way you talk. Naturally.
- Use short words, short sentences and short paragraphs.
- Never use jargon words like reconceptualize, demassification, attitudinally, judgmentally. They are hallmarks of a pretentious ass.
- Never write more than two pages on any subject.
- Check your quotations.
- Never send a letter or a memo on the day you write it. Read it aloud the next morning – and then edit it.
- If it is something important, get a colleague to improve it.
- Before you send your letter or your memo, make sure it is crystal clear what you want the recipient to do.
- If you want ACTION, don’t write. Go and tell the guy what you want.”
— David Ogilvy, internal memo: “How to Write,” 1982 (via trevorloy, lilly)
Source: trevorloy
And Then, Suddenly, It Works
Chris Dixon:
An idea getting tried over and over tends to be a positive signal (which is one reason that competition is overrated). It’s very easy when you spend lots of time around startups to get cynical. You could tweet and blog predictions that every new startup will fail and how the ideas are derivative and you’d be right 95% of the time. The hard part – and what matters for founders and investors – is figuring out the right mix of timing and execution to finally get it right.
This is exactly right. Once you’ve been deeply embedded in the technology scene for years, the easiest thing in the world to be is cynical. But that’s a mistake. So often, great ideas don’t take off simply due to a mixture small imperfections in execution and mostly, timing.
But great ideas are still great ideas. They always find a way. If not today, then tomorrow.
Source: parislemon
Amazon clearly views products like the Kindle Fire as a loss-leader to keep customers happy and keep them shopping for more content. Apple’s model is the exact opposite. Content sales are a loss-leader to keep customers happy and keep them buying new hardware.
It’s Tough to Compete with Simple
Yesterday we met with a very talented entrepreneur who said this:
“It’s tough to compete with simple.”
He was talking about their product and how hard they’re working to make some basic human needs & expressions as simple as possible — and how if you can crack that nut, it’s very, very hard for anyone else to compete.
This idea, and how he expressed it, has been racing around my head since then — it is itself such a simple & profound statement, and like the idea it’s expressing, it hides a really deep and mercurial complexity beneath the surface.
The thing is, getting to simple is not simple. It’s hard. Knowing how to simplify — and, actually, crucially, what to simplify is a hard, hard problem. Simple actions that nobody does don’t matter. Hard actions that everyone wants to do are good, but vulnerable to simple solutions.
Apple cut through a bunch of the complex in rethinking phones and tablets. Tumblr cut straight to simple beautifully with posting, liking & reblogging. Instagram makes it simple & quick to share a moment with several networks. Dropbox cuts out all the complexity and just makes everything work, simply — you’ve got your stuff and you can share it, and it all just works like you think it should.
Simple is incredibly powerful, and super, super sticky because it can quickly get woven into the lives of many people.
It’s tough to figure out what those needs are, of course — superior need finding has always been the essence of building great products. And it’s devilishly tough to build complex systems like software that actually show as simple interactions.
But once you’ve got it, tough to beat. Deceptively hard to copy authentically. Simple rules, but it’s so, so hard to get there.
What a great idea and great framing: it’s tough to compete with simple. Profound, and important.
Source: lilly
15 things successful CEOs want you to know
Daniel Ek, CEO, Spotify
Figure out what the top five most important stuff is, focus relentlessly on that and keep iterating. Less is more.
Dennis Crowley, CEO, FourSquare
Don’t let people tell you your ideas won’t work. If you have a hunch that something will work, go build it. Ignore the haters.
Sarah Prevette, Founder, Sprouter
Just do it. Get it out there, absorb the feedback, adjust accordingly, hustle like hell, persevere and never lose your swagger.
Sarah Lacy, CEO, PandoDaily
Follow your gut. it may be wrong, but you won’t regret it if you fail. You’ll regret it if you ignore your gut and fail.
Craig Newmark, Founder, Craigslist
Treat people like you want to be treated. Apply to customer service.
Gary Vaynerchuk, CEO, VaynerMedia
Do work for your customers, not for press or VCs. The end user is what matters long term.
Matt Mullenweg, CEO, Automattic
Only reinvent the wheels you need to get rolling.
Jason Goldberg, CEO, Fab.com
Pick one thing and do that one thing — and only that one thing — better than anyone else ever could.
Alexis Ohanian, CEO, Reddit
Make something people want. Then give more damns than anyone else about it and you’ll make something they love.
Chris Brogan, President, Human Business Works
Buy @ericries’s book. Beyond that? Build a platform. This is the big year.
Matt Howard, CEO, ZoomSafer
Startup wisdom: The number one job of a CEO is to not run out of money.
Brian Wong, CEO, Kiip
Always be learning from others. Whenever you meet someone, you don’t want something from them, you want to learn from them.
Seth Priebatsch, Chief Ninja, SCVNGR and LevelUp
Something my dad taught me: Ask forgiveness, not permission!
Hooman Radfar, Founder, Clearspring
Give away the wins, own the loses. Your job is to curate greatness.
Alexa Hirschfeld, CEO, Paperless Post
Users and employees are key predictive indicators of a company’s success; press and investors generally months behind.
[Original post: Gigaom]
1976 Newt Gingrich vs. Dwight Schrute
“This emotionally and physically repugnant man, who on his best day, places in a Dwight Schrute lookalike contest — and who, on his worst day, rampages through the city of New York — has somehow, somehow Jon, like a Judo master — channeled his weaknesses into strengths.”
- Jon Oliver, The Daily Show
(via Buzzfeed)
Source: BuzzFeed
We have a greater capacity to change the world today than the kings and presidents of just 50 years ago.
I'm Saif Ajani. Technology and startups are my passion, and that's what you'll find on this blog (along with a sprinkle of humor).