All posts in “startups”

Get Mosec. No Really, Get it.

Posted 215 days ago ·  Tagged: , · 3 Comments

Update 2: Mosec has again switched from Wiser to Mosec. You can find them here.

Update 1: Mosec has joined the ever growing gang in the deadpool. It looks like they’ve pivoted and became an app called: Wiser which is like a caller ID for your LinkedIn Contacts. Check it out here.

Do you use a CRM on a regular basis? Do a lot of travel and phone calls? Then you really need to be looking into Mosec. In a nutshell Mosec is a mobile secretary that allows you to stay on top of the things you need to be remembering after a call with a client. How does it work? First of all the guys at Mosec totally killed it with development of the app and have tied Salesforce and Batchbook. Secondly, after a call with a client MosecApp will prompt you to leave a voice note, which it will then transcribe and add to your CRM database automatically under the client you just spoke with. So when you go back to your desk, laptop, etc you’ll see your notes right in front of you. This is especially important for those people on the road that can’t exactly write something down at that very moment and that will forget it 30mins from the end of the call. You know that’s you. Come on now. It’s ok though! With Mosec you won’t ever have to miss an important note ever again. Currently the app runs on Android devices with iOS in the plans sometime down the road if all goes well. The best part? You can download it and try it for free! There are some paid plans if you’re a bit of a CRM power user but nothing that’s going to rip a giant hole in your wallet.

The team at Mosec is second to none. Seriously. A former child actor, a poker champ and a MMA fighter. Does it get any better than that? I’ve had the pleasure of sitting down with two of the guys for lunch and I’ve got to tell you that they are some of the most chill entrepreneurs I’ve ever had the chance to meet. Bernard and Austin are not only down to earth but totally tapped into what they’re trying to accomplish within their space. Though it took them awhile to figure out exactly what they wanted to do during their time at Betaspring once they found that golden nugget they ran with it. After lunch I got to have a tour of their office space which reminded me a fish tank to be totally honest. But hey, who cares where you are developing awesome stuff as long as it’s getting done right? These guys have a ton of ideas and are insanely driven to get a great product out to anyone who wants to use it so if you’re looking for a quality app that will help you with your CRM look no further than Mosec.

You can find Mosec here & here - be sure to tell the guys I sent you!

Deadlines & Being Flexible

Posted 304 days ago ·  Tagged: · 0 Comments
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If I’ve learned one thing since starting this startup journey it’s got to be: there needs to be some sort of flexibility. Seriously. When we first started this project I had set a hard deadline for me and my small team and we were hell bent on reaching that deadline. And we got close. Real close. However, the week that we were supposed to jump into the beta pool I sat down with my developer and we had a long chat about quality vs quantity. We both decided that there was none we had to impress at the moment. We aren’t looking for investors yet and don’t have an investor watching our every move, making sure we reach our launch deadlines so we decided to do things right and take our time and be happy with the product we’re about the deliver.

I had to swallow my pride. And that was tough at first but I then realized that my developer was having a much harder time gripping the reality that we weren’t going to launch the day we had planned. He had also started to blame himself a bit and be mad at himself for not getting us to the point where we could launch. After another chat about how it wasn’t his fault and how we’ll be so much better off doing it this way all was well with the world again and we kept on rolling.

I think the role of the CEO during the development period before a startup launches is a grey area. If you’re not the one doing the development or design work it almost feels like you’ve got nothing to do. Once I was done talking to the lawyers, getting the exec summary done and handing it off my role became one of keeping the moral up and the momentum going. Whether that was sending out a funny update in Basecamp or just having a really good meeting via Face Time with the development team I was ready to do whatever so I didn’t feel like I wasn’t doing anything.

I’ll let you in on a secret. Two weeks out from our deadline pushup meeting I had already been thinking about quality vs. quantity and getting all my ducks in a row for when and if that conversation ever happened. It did and I was ready. I think it’s the role of being a leader to always be looking ahead and a bit into the future and seeing any road bumps that might be in the way. That way if they do come down the road you’re ready and already have a bit of a game plan.

Bottom line is. If you don’t have anyone but yourselves to impress a deadline upon try to be flexible if you can and if you can back it up to squeeze a bit more quality into a product before launch why not do it?

Inspired. Excited. Motivated. Thankful.

Posted 356 days ago ·  Tagged: · 0 Comments
Startup Inspiration

I’ve been thinking about this post for about a week now. Pondering it over and over in my head and even alluded to it on twitter a couple days ago:

I now know why founders go from creating one startup to another. It’s exciting, addicting and a ton of fun creating something from nothing.

Watching an idea start to bloom is inspiring. I made lists, lists and a lot more lists. Chiseled them all down to one specific idea and it’s all come down to what I’m currently working on today. My new good friend Joel Gascoigne of the widely popular and awesome Bufferapp told me that focusing on doing one thing and doing it well is and should always be a goal. I’ve taken that to heart and have refined my idea even further and I believe we’re now focused on doing that one thing very well. Having people around you willing to give you advice via email, a phone call, over coffee, etc is amazing. I absolutely love the startup community.

Everyday I watch a new conversation grow in our Basecamp or a new design accomplished or something new coded and I know we’re one step closer to our launch date. Every time something new is done I get excited all over again. It’s like Christmas every day here and I love that feeling. It drives me to keep going and checking things off of my todo list and it drives me to make sure everyone on the team is inspired to keep creating this product.

Before I even decided to go through with this idea that’s been in my head I wanted to make a list of my strengths and weaknesses. Someone once told me that one of the traits of a great leader is their ability to identify their weakness and surround themselves with people who fill those gaps. I think I’ve done just that. I look at the team I’ve managed to assemble and sell my idea on and I can’t believe it. From one hell of an amazing developer, a uber enthusiastic tech geek, an insanely good marketing guy, a hungry social media expert and a stellar designer our team is one of the best and brightest I’ve ever been involved with on any level. They keep on motivating me everyday and the fact that they all are just as excited as me keeps me moving towards our goals.

I’m thankful everyday for meeting the people I have and making the connections I’ve made. Without any of that I would never have gotten to this point of being totally inspired to pursue the creation of this idea no matter which way it goes (of course I believe it will succeed). Sure, I’d love to be the next Facebook or eBay or Paypal. Will it happen? Only time will tell and if we do a great job there’s no reason why this project won’t be named in the history books as one that changed the way people did something.

I’d like to think I’ll always stay Inspired. Excited. Motivated and Thankful.