Michael Horn :: On the Interwebs

"In particle physics, you need to have a threshold amount of intelligence, whatever that means. But the thing that differentiates scientists is purely an artistic ability to discern what is a good idea, and what is a beautiful idea. What is worth spending time on. And, most importantly, what is a problem that is sufficiently interesting and sufficiently difficult such that it hasn't yet been solved but the time for solving it has come now."

I taught myself to code back in 2009.  Back then, it wasn't so common.  It was considered pretty crazy, actually.

There are a lot more resources now, so my story might be out of date. But friends still ask me about this all the time, so instead of sending another email response tonight, I thought I'd post it here instead.

As I wrote this, I realized there are two parts. (1) Why I learned to code and (2) How I learned to code. This is part 1. I'll try to write part 2 later this week.

Coding is a super power at an early stage startup. 

Without it, you're stuck in the mud. My first startup back in 2007/2008 was basically Kickstarter. Great idea, right?  Although, of course, nobody thought that back then. They thought I was nuts. I'm sure the Kickstarter guys know exactly what I mean!  But Kickstarter executed and I didn't. Props to them for killing it.

The reason this happened is that I couldn't code, and I didn't have the skills or the network required to convince a technical co-founder to join me.  That was 2008. I was a different person and things were a lot different in NY tech too.  A lot different.  So without the ability to build a site and to iterate on the product, I was stuck in the mud. It was hard and depressing.

So I Changed the Equation

I was set on building startups. I had quit my job as a corporate lawyer, and all I wanted to do was build companies.  With startups, you'll find that there's always a next biggest problem. I'll write about that some time.  Anyway, my next biggest problem--my roadblock preventing progress at that moment--was my inability to build products. 

So I either had to quit, find a technologist who was at the co-founder level, or do it myself.  I hate quitters. I really do. So I didn't do that. And I tried in vane to find a technical co-founder (I'll write about that some time too). So I was left with one choice: learn to code.

It Changed Everything

Back at this time, I was struggling a lot. I was spinning my wheels but there was no traction.  I have to say that learning to code and building What Is Fresh was the catalyst that changed everything.

So, Should You Learn to Code?

It really depends. Vin Vacanti did a great post on this here: http://viniciusvacanti.com/2010/09/27/should-you-hire-a-programmer-or-diy

Don't do it just to do it. Do it because it makes sense for you and your business. I think Vin's post gives you a solid framework for how to think through that decision tree.

Next Up

How I learned to code in 6 weeks and built a real product. 

About Me

One of the best things about founding a company is the ability to get excited about something and brute force it into reality.  

It comes from this deep churning mix of anxiety and hope and optimism and swagger. It's bound up in the fact that you've internalized the needs and abilities of your company so deeply that you can act on instinct. 

We make shit happen.

It's not always like this. There are a lot of hard times and there are never enough resources.

But every once in a while you get in the groove and decide something is going to happen. And you make it happen.

I'm into real relationships.  When I'm not too busy, my preference is almost always to meet somebody in person. If we can meet in Madison Square Park outside my office, that's even better.  I wish I could do that more.

I think that's where real connections happen -- in person.  On the phone, I tend to get sales pitches that are very disconnected from the things I think are important for me and my business.  

It's easier not to think of the person as a human being with real interests at stake if it's just some disembodied voice on the other end of the phone.  

Also, cell phones suck and so does VoIP.  I'm ready to bring landlines back.  The fact that we're all on cell phones makes calls really terrible.  I usually can't actually hear what you're saying for some portion of the call.

Finally, LinkedIn. This post actually started as a note about the way I use LinkedIn. But then I realized there was a larger theme. I like LinkedIn and I think it's a valuable tool for keeping track of people I know professionally. My way of using LinkedIn is to connect with only people who I've met in person at least once. We don't need to be best friends, but I need to have said hello to you in person at some point.

Because of this approach, I ignore a lot of LinkedIn invites. I think LinkedIn is encouraging people to connect with people they don't know.  That's just not how I want to use the tool.

Conclusion?  If I don't know you, you should try reaching out to me like a human being. Not with a generic LinkedIn invite.  "So and so you've never met would like to add you to their professional network." No thank you.

MARKETING DIRECTOR @ CRAFT COFFEE

Craft Coffee is hiring a marketing director, but it's not your average hiring situation. We don't want you to work for us, we want you to work with us.  We want you to run things. We want to give you a big equity stake in the company and make you an integral part of our team.

YOU ARE

The online marketing expert that we're looking for is so experienced and so badass that a traditional job post just seems insufficient and unnecessary.  You should be able to look at our business and know exactly how you would lead customer acquisition efforts for us.

If you are qualified for the role and you would justify the offer that we'd like to make, you're so entrenched in the world of internet marketing that it will simply be obvious to you how you would activate our marketing engine.  You should be able to tell us what you would do -- very specifically.

WE ARE

You can google us and find out we've been featured in top publications, we're funded by amazing investors, and our customers love our product.  We'll expect you to come to us after already having fully educated yourself about who we are and what we do.

IS IT A FIT?

What you should be asking is: Why Craft Coffee?  Is the opportunity right for you? Will the team be a good fit for you?  If you're a qualified candidate, we'll sit down and talk.  That's what real teams do.  We'll talk about our plans and the massive opportunity here.

If you are a very experienced internet marketer who would love to work with us at Craft Coffee, please email us and tell us how you would dominate this role.  Please be very specific about:

your past experience, 

why you would be interested in joining Craft Coffee, and 

specifically how you would come in and change the game in our customer acquisition efforts. 

Email: marketingdirector AT craftcoffee DOT com. It's a direct line to our CEO.

Craft Coffee is hiring.  If you're interested, check out our jobs page at http://craftcoffee.com/jobs

Hiring at a startup is a big deal.  The people you bring on board will be the foundation of a company that is expected to do a lot with a little.  You're expected to grow a lot and to do it quickly--all based on the blood, sweat and tears of your core team.  At Craft Coffee, the team we're hiring now will be essential to our future success.  

This post is specifically about hiring for non-technical positions.  Tech hiring is a different beast.

Our hiring process started out without much structure and we quickly realized that this was an unfeasible approach.  We had two main job openings -- marketing and operations.  For those two positions we received over 400 applicants.  The trouble then becomes how much time it takes to actually consider each of these people.

Try reading 400 resumes some time.  It's painful.

First, a couple resume tips for applicants:

No matter how much you've done, or how strong the desire to list everything you've ever accomplished, do not submit resumes longer than one page.  When I'm reading 400 resumes, the last thing I want to see is a two, three or four page burden.

On a similar note, when you start shrinking that font size to fit more on the page, just stop yourself.  Filling more stuff on to the page with tiny font is just as bad as a multi-pager.  

Now, a tip for future employers:  In the current economic climate, expect to see very large volumes of applicants for good jobs.  You need a process in place to try and make sure your time is spent wisely, and that you focus your limited resources on only the most promising candidates.  

You'll be amazed at the deterrent power of asking a few simple questions.  Even the most basic ones, like: why do you want to work here?  First, it will stop a huge number of applicants from even applying.  Of course, if that's too much of a hurdle for them, then they wouldn't be a good fit for your company.  So now they've done your hiring job for you.

Then, even the folks who apply and answer the questions will do things like copy and paste their cover letter into the answer section of any question you ask.  Fail.  Again, they've done your job for you.

After those two categories of applicants, you'll be left with a tiny minority of people who you would have otherwise needed to take the time to consider.  

What you'll find is that most answers are completely generic.  Candidates will not take the time to give you real answers.  Again, fail.  

Even better, in your application ask a very simple quiz question that pertains directly to the job.  In our current operations job post, we ask a couple basic questions about shipping a box to Japan, which is something that we do every month.  The resulting answers to these questions will provide you with an amazing amount of clarity in a number of ways.  

Fred Wilson wrote a post a couple days ago talking about how experiencing music has changed for him.  Everything is digital and social and streaming and such.

I would just like to say that this might be how things are now, but I think that sucks.  

It's true that most albums, in toto, are not great.  But isn't that the point, Fred?  A great album is a beautiful work of art.  For me, the fun is searching for and discovering the few amazing albums that will emerge each year.  Yeah, there are just a few.  That's why it's so special.

A great album is a complete masterwork of creative energy.  Do we really want to encourage these guys to stop?  Maybe the Beatles could have just recorded one song from Sgt. Peppers and streamed it on Facebook instead of recording the whole album.  Because, you know, full albums are just so long.  Great.

I, for one, hope that artists will keep striving to conceive and record beautiful, full-length albums.  It will continue to be really hard to make something amazing.  That's the point.  And I'll keep spending the year searching for them and feeling inspired when I find them.

Some of my favorites from 2011. Bravo, guys.  Keep it coming...

[these are spotify links]

You're awesome!  You envision ideas that don't yet exist, and you manifest them into the world through passion and pure force of will. 

Along the way, lots of people will try to hold you back and pin you down.  Investors can be good.  But remember that you're building the company, not them. Don't give them undo credence.

Folks will sometimes come along wanting all the glory, but not all the hard work and hardship that every entrepreneur knows is part of the deal.  Amateurs. Say no and move on quickly.

Naysayers? Well, they can suck it. 

Keep on hustling and make it happen. 

Woke up feeling proud to be an entrepreneur today.  You should be too!

About 18 months ago, I taught myself to code in Ruby on Rails by building a site called WhatIsFresh.com.  WhatIsFresh is a guide to local food and farmers markets in New York City.

Open-Source It?

Some folks have floated me the idea of open-sourcing at least some elements (but maybe all) of the WhatIsFresh code, so that a larger community could make it a more robust (and possibly, national) solution.  

I'm strongly considering this move and wanted to bring it to the Internets to solicit interest and suggestions from developers, designers and anybody else who could contribute in a meaningful way.

WhatIsFresh is Awesome

From my perspective, the project was an incredibly rewarding success.  The New York Times called it the "best guide to what's available in which Greenmarkets" and Tasting Table said the site "brilliantly makes sense of the dozens of Greenmarkets scattered around Manhattan and Brooklyn."

Even more importantly, thousands of people use the site every month to find great local food, farmers and markets in New York City.  Google Analytics tells me we've had hundreds of thousands of page views over the last 18 months for a site with no budget, no advertising and a focus on only farmers markets in two boroughs of New York City. 

The current site is pretty well designed, user-friendly and provides the best information on markets in New York.  But I think it could do so much more!

What do you think?

I'm excited to hear from people who might be interested in contributing to an open-sourced WhatIsFresh.  If you have ideas, suggestions, concerns, let's hear em.

As a founder, I've raised money for startups a couple times over the last few years.  I'm also an experienced business lawyer, so I see early stage financings from two sides of the equation.

This post is about convertible note financings in very early stage Internet companies.  There are plenty of resources online explaining the basics of equity vs. convertible note transactions, so I'm not going to speak to those basic points.

Instead, I want to offer some guidance around a scenario that is covered less often. Before you get to the sophisticated angel investor crowd or to venture capitalists, many startups will raise some level of "friends & family" money.  It's very likely that these investors have never invested in a startup company before.  They have no context for the norms and market terms of early stage investing.

In these scenarios, financing the deal with a convertible note instrument is very often the right move. It's faster, it's cheaper and it avoids a valuation decision that these investors are truly not qualified to make.

But here's the problem.  I've never met an investor from outside of the Internet startup scene who is comfortable with the concept of a convertible note when it is first explained to them.  It's not that they necessarily view the convertible note as less favorable to their interests.  Instead, they simply do not understand how the note works or what they are ultimately buying. This discomfort leads to friction in the fundraising process.  Friction is bad.

The startup blogs don't deal with these issues too often because the blogs are written by investors from within the startup investing world or by entrepreneurs raising money from those sophisticated startup investors.  These bloggers have a clearer sense of market norms and they understand how later stage financings play out.  Our friends & family investors do not.

At the end of the day, investors want to understand what they are buying for their money.  Unfortunately, the true answer is that "it depends."  But with a good model, you can test likely scenarios and provide some comforting guidance.

____________________________________________________________

For me, web development work tends to happen in intense periods of productivity.  I might sit around for hours before the productive patch hits and then I'm off to the races, sometimes coding through the early hours of the morning. 

On occasion, as the hours tick by into the a.m. and the sky starts to lighten, I fall into a groove.  In my experience, this happens with most creative endeavors.  I play guitar and paint, and the experiences are more similar than dissimilar, regardless of the medium.  The band Phish, which I used to follow around the country a shocking 15 years ago, calls it "surrendering to the flow."  It's a cool thing when it happens.

I love when I'm able to get into these creative sessions with a kick ass soundtrack as well.  Sometimes, if the two are synced just right, it feels like you can connect with the furious creativity of a great album in a deeper way than you would be able to typically. 

The last week I've been doing some development work on CraftCoffee for the first time in a while, and a few incredible albums have fueled my creativity.

Special thanks to:

Radiohead - In Rainbows (both disks) - the best band of my generation Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane, Over the Sea - the band that inspired me to write this post The Decemberists - Hazards of Love and Crane Wife - I don't like your new album, but I'm giving you a pass since both of these are so amazing

Take a listen to Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane, Over the Sea if you can and just imagine the intense, visceral creativity that must have been spinning around Jeff Mangum as he created that masterpiece of grotesque imagery, life, death and love. 

Click to listen to Holland, 1945 at HypeMachine.com

Holland, 1945

brycedotvc:

I have a tremendous amount of respect for Jay Z as both an artist and an entrepreneur. He’s built a genere defining career around reflecting on his life and teasing out stories that frighten, warn and inspire others on their own journey. This Oprah Master Class is Jay Z at his best- the outsider who wasn’t supposed to amount to much but has risen further than he ever imagined.

Which is why its required weekend viewing on bryce.vc. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. There’s a part of his story that’s applicable for all of you that hang out here. I hope you take the time to watch.