I first heard about Paul Graham through his essays. Prior to YC’s brand becoming the international juggernaut it is today, the essays were what lead Michelle, Pete and me to apply to YC. One of Paul’s essays that really stood out for me was How to Make Wealth, and in particular the concept that if you were a great hacker, you could be 10-100X more productive than the average developer at a large corporation. I think for many start-up folks that concept hits pretty hard.
From: http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130401161127-1714080-don-t-let-a-good-plan-get-in-the-way
Mark D’Arcy is a man without a plan.
He just wings it. And it’s worked out pretty well for him.
As a blog or even business owner, you need to understand how your end user behaves online in order to successfully “reach” them, right? Well this study, which was repurposed into an infographic can help you out.
iAcquire, a full-service digital marketing agency, recently joined forces with SurveyMonkey to issue a “State of Search” study. The study uncovers what drives shoppers, buying behavior, while providing key findings related to online purchases, preferred devices, social channels, responses, and more.
by Michael Schrage | 11:45 AM February 25, 2013
To appreciate how broken most contemporary models of advertising and promotion have become, listen to Jeff Bezos complain about how Amazon’s core values are misunderstood. “One of the early examples…was customer reviews,” he recalls. “One [critic] wrote to me and said, ‘You don’t understand your business. You make money when you sell things. Why do you allow these negative customer reviews?’ And when I read that letter, I thought, we don’t make money when we sell things. We make money when we help customers make purchase decisions.”
The past: 2009: Majority of people in the past had a BlackBerry. Wherewas mobile? It is only a matter of time when Blackberry is going to have a device to compete with iPhone. But Admob kept saying we are not seeing this. Majority of traffic was coming from iPhones back then.
Williams Sonoma – 45% total Revenue from Direct Business & E-Commerce
There has been recent discussion about whether retail is dead. We couldn’t disagree more. We predict that over the next five years consumers will experience completely new retail models that effectively use physical locations combined with world class Internet and mobile sites to offer truly unique and delightful shopping experiences for their guests. These retailers will thrive.
These companies will transition to “lower-cost” and smaller retail footprints. They will utilize these spaces as a major asset to improve the costs and friction associated with shipping and returns; to offer new and innovative ways to promote product discovery; and to offer levels of service and entertainment that will be difficult to match by algorithms and machines on the Web.
12 Business Lessons You Can Learn from Amazon Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos
When current and aspiring tech entrepreneurs are asked who they look up to the most, they give the usual names: Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and maybe a few will mention Bill Gates. But, unfortunately, there aren’t many who mention Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.
This analytical, methodical, quick-to-laugh brainiac entrepreneur isn’t given the attention he deserves. He doesn’t have the charisma of Steve Jobs, run a car brand like Tesla, get the publicity of Zuckerberg (who had an entire movie devoted to him), or share the wealth of Bill Gates. But, in my view, he deserves to be included with all of these entrepreneurs, perhaps even at the top of the list.
Tesco – South Korea to Home Plus re-branding and virtual store. Bring the store to the consumer. Change waiting time to shopping time. Online Sales increased 130%.