Startup – Page 2

I am a big fan of Slack. It is tough to live up to the hype, and even if you don’t use email it doesn’t mean you don’t have to do messy collaborative work.

It has become an indispensable tool for plenty of companies (with 2M daily actives) and it can cut through silos in an organization, if the channels are setup correctly. In a world of complex matrix organizations it helps to be able to get past the hierarchies and work across teams. With a tool like Slack you can not be chatting with: your peers (@group-managers), folks who do what you do (#engineering), your team (@team-ndomorph), folks who work on your platform (#ios), and also shared interests (#birdwatching). Cross-cutting for fun and profit.

I am very interested to see how the businesses who build on Slack do, as they ramp up a fund and support systems.

There is often a land grab when a new platform is born. Folks want to jump in, wire something up on the new platform, and be the first app to do something useful in the space. Doing this is more akin to jumping on a new domain name when a new top level is born. The good ones re-think the experience with the context of the new platform, but how many large companies are built like this?

It is easy to get lost on the new platform and not think about the core unique service that you are offering. Building a bot that sits on slack and routes to Netflix APIs isn’t a business.

There is much talk about “messaging as the new operating system” and I am curious how it fits into the greater landscape. We used to have desktop computers, with the Web connecting us in fantastic ways. Then mobile happened, and now we have voice (ambient and improving), VR, wearables and good ole IoT at various stages of hype and adoption.

At the same time we have capabilities opening up on the backend via machine learning. This is where I get excited. Messaging and voice are inputs into a smarter backend that can understand me more precisely over time, and it gets smarter with its answers.

When thinking of a problem to solve these days, I try to think about the variety of input and output methods available and I find the best fit for the problem. Don’t just think of building a slack bot, think about all of the ways your users could interact with you, and then spend the lions share on how to create that unique service that will make them feel badass.

If you look at the great Internet companies, they have phenomenal engineering that allows them to create value for the long term, way past the fad of a new input method. That being said, you should seriously consider how your users should be able to interact with you. For many of your services, a slack bot may be in order. I love how messaging and voice interfaces can cut through to the point like nothing else.

I can’t wait to see what people come with next.

ps. What about HipChat, or other chat services? That’s the beauty of thinking more broadly. Why wouldn’t you want users who are on HipChat to get access to your chat interface too? One of the advantages of HipChat is that the entire company isn’t focused on chat, and this allows them to be great in that area without all things collaboration to have to be chat first. When you have a hammer…..

I was enjoying some brussels sprouts and charcuterie with Tobias Peggs right after my last day of work. School was finishing up and the summer break was ahead of me. I could sense many feelings over the change. What do I do next? I will have so much mental energy to channel without the old burdens!

“Mate, you need a real break. Trust me, your body is going to go into a real letdown as the adrenalin that was powering you along disapates.”

Tobias is a serial entrepreneur, who I have known for some time, even before he joined my old team at Walmart through the acquisition of OneRiot. Since then he went on to run Aviary, sell that to Adobe, and now he is back to another venture (where brussels sprouts are involved!)

A letdown?

I had worked hard to keep my energy high, and I was coming out of an intense situation. Surely I will be bouncing off the walls with all of the space I will have?

But Tobias was right. For one, your mind doesn’t forget work that quickly. Weening off of it felt like practicing meditation for me. I would catch myself thinking about some work problem and remind myself:

“You aren’t responsible for that any more. The team will be able to work it out just fine. They are awesome.”

Over time longer periods would go by between these thoughts. There are still some triggers now: someone reaching out, or morning work outs where I used to plan my day and think about my direct reports. But even these are fading.

And then there were the naps

I was tired. Partly it turns out that running after kids is more physical work than a desk job (even with walking 1:1’s and a standing desk :), but mentally I do think my body was taking the opportunity to regroup.

About a month later I felt it. An intense joy and feeling of top energy. My mind was clear and I was ready to take on new challenges.

I started to reflect on how rare it is to have the opportunity for a real break from a day job. Companies should mandate a break! Employees tend to be excited to join, and companies needed the role filled last month… So you give two weeks notice and get cracking.

The excitement for the new job kicks in and you don’t even realize that you really did need a real transition period.

I was fortunate enough to get this opportunity once before. John Lilly and Mozilla explicitly said “hey, take a month before joining so you are fully charged”. Wise words indeed. I am still very grateful.

I am partly writing this to help me to remember this the next time I transition, or the next time someone joins my team. It is never so important that someone has to join today. I will give myself and others the gift of time. Now I need to use this energy to dive in.

Have you ever experienced this? Do you have other transition advice?

Ps. There are always exceptions. For example, The folk who joined Google the day before the IPO were smart to make that happen.

Pps. Maybe it is OK to take that sabatical at work to get a recharge without a job change? 🙂

Unicorn Bots: Slack for fun and profit

Letdown

A letdown?

And then there were the naps