An Update on the Domain Name Change
While a domain name change is certainly a challenging experience, I think with proper planning, you can make it a little less painful.
At Work
Switching Domain Names
We recently switched the name of our company and our domain to http://TakeLessons.com. The name is shorter, easier to remember, and translates better internationally. On our old domain, ClickForLessons.com, we had a Google page-rank of 5. We knew that by switching the domains, we were going to take an initial hit in our organic traffic, …
Debt vs. Equity
I do not know a single internet-based company that decided to use debt vs. equity as a main source of working capital. Perhaps it’s because most companies need a fair amount of capital, and there isn’t a proven business model yet. In this scenario, equity financing makes perfect sense. But what about internet companies with …
Is the Grass Really Greener?
The grass may seem greener, and the pasture may seem larger somewhere else. But what I’ve learned is that I must be able to answer the question, “What is the value we’re creating that people are willing to pay for?”
Focusing on Getting It Right For the Few
Focus on making a product good enough that a core group of people will buy it. If it’s useful for the few, you have a better chance of making it useful for many.
Folksonomy and Social Tagging Grids
Over the next few months, we are going to be a living experiment in converting a hierarchical site to a more circular tagging site. We realize that we cannot possibly keep up with the ever-changing creative outlets that our users want to learn about. What we believe is that over time, our users (who are the experts) will tell us how things should be organized, and we will use that data to develop tighter social graphs, more relevant search results, and a more fluid overall experience.
.NET to LINUX conversion
“The initial results are showing that our site is running about 60% faster now. Here is a comparison chart of three main pages of our site and the size before and after. Overall, it’s a 25% savings site-wide on performance.”
Venture Hacks — Thoughts on Adam Smith’s Letter to Graduating Y Combinator Companies
Venture Hacks has great commentary on Adam Smith’s letter to Y Combinator companies. Y Combinator is a mini-incubator that focuses on getting very early-stage companies access to seed money, technical and business advice, and other things that help raise the probability of getting to market. One particularly enlightening part of the post included the discussion …
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The Journey…
Here’s an opening quote from Steven Gary Blank, taken from his book, “The Four Steps to the Epiphany“: “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 …
Overnight Success?
While there may be the one-in-a-million success story like this, I believe the real way to find your path to success is unrelenting perseverance coupled with the ability to quickly learn from mistakes and change as necessary.