A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JUNE 13, 2011

Not only were the pages just ugly, they were peppered with database errors and CSS blowups: Just look at us now , sporting a grayscale 1950′s automotive motif playing off the “engine&# concept using the latest in CSS3/HTML5 trickery: It was such a contrast, customers emailed us saying “Thank God you fixed that horrible website.

Design 253

Design Lean Database Cofounder 253

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

Email actually worked. But, the iPhone did something so well, that people wanted so badly, they would put up with all the other crap: You could actually use the internet. The real Internet with full websites and everything. The web actually worked (even if slowly). In your pocket.

Software Review 133

Software Review Technical Review API Algorithm 133

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

FEBRUARY 14, 2012

To get your question answered , email me at asmartbear -at- shortmail -dot- com. This is part of an ongoing startup advice series where I answer (anonymized!) questions from readers, like a written version of Smart Bear Live.

Customer 231

Customer Software Review IP Technical Review 231

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

DECEMBER 30, 2013

My personal experience, confirmed by numerous studies, is: It’s faster to process email in batches rather than checking in 30 times/day. Texting and driving, meetings and email) The best ideas, new ideas, come in a flash when you’re not working. The conclusions are simple, and obvious. One task at a time.

Flash 316

Flash Restful Email Demand 316

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MAY 24, 2010

keep refreshing your email for the link, download the software. It makes no business sense to throw money away because of a rude email. You go to their web site, try to find the link to buy, figure out how to pay, get to the checkout page, then stop and search Google for "adobe coupon codes", go back to step 1.

Software Review 233

Software Review Technical Review Sales Software 233

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

APRIL 28, 2014

As the founder of WP Engine, I receive weekly emails from startups proposing a “win-win” deal. Large company should send a few emails to the customer base, generating easy sales at no cost, and the revenues are split. So far, approximately zero have resulted in an successful deal.

Startup 293

Startup Hosting Distribution Revenue 293

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

AUGUST 29, 2011

Mostly you get only peeks into how bad it really was, like a post-mortum private email to me personally, riddled with valid complaints and specific injustices that had been inflicted upon the hapless customer, exacerbated by our indifferent silence broken only by callous human contact. I know it happens. I’ve seen it at WP Engine.

Technical Review 236

Technical Review Software Review Reputation Sales Cycle 236

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

AUGUST 29, 2011

The following week she sent me this email (my emphasis): Ever since accidentally stumbling upon lean startup 1+ years ago, I’ve struggled to implement the principles correctly. Of course (you know what’s coming), it turns out she was wrong.

Lean 269

Lean Software Software Developers Software Development 269

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MAY 23, 2011

It took 6 months to get that deal and we just emailed 70,000 AppSumo.com customers and 6 whole buys two hours after the email went out. Okay, let me see the hate emails we got “this deal is a piece of shit and you guys are scammers” and some loyal customers emailing “really disappointed in you Noah, hope next deal is better.”.

Argentina 316

Argentina Email Web SEO 316

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

APRIL 5, 2010

People sent emails saying they used Code Historian just because of the mini-viewer. In short, the mini-viewer is a lot more programming effort with a lot more chance for bugs. The mini-viewer doesn't convey more information than boogers do. And yet, everyone loved the mini-viewer. It was always a high point in product reviews.

Software Review 226

Software Review Metrics Lean Algorithm 226

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

AUGUST 23, 2010

Before us, there was no software competition but there were plenty of alternative processes — looking over someone's shoulder, sending emails with diffs, code review meetings, even "Formal Inspections."

Software Review 275

Software Review Technical Review Software Advertising 275

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

APRIL 25, 2017

You cannot make complex mental connections while being interrupted by email, or even if you’re worried that by not checking email you might be missing something important. The pre-mortem fills exactly this role. Create the space to have an insight. You need open, uncluttered space for new thoughts to arise.

Flash 298

Flash Africa Hiring Advertising 298

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

SEPTEMBER 4, 2012

You can subscribe to Smart Bear Live on iTunes (please review the podcast as well!) … and if you’d like to appear on a future episode of Smart Bear Live, send an email to Patrick.Foley@microsoft.com to schedule a recording with Jason. We’re getting emails all the time. Jason: Hey. What’s the name of the company?

Cofounder 199

Cofounder Technical Review Chicago Technical Cofounder 199

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

APRIL 12, 2010

We took a simple problem (when server rooms get hot, the gear fails) and provided a simple solution (thermometer with a web page that emails/pages you if it's too hot). I made less money personally at ITWatchDogs , but the company was profitable and sold for millions of dollars. There were many competitors, both huge (APC with $1.5

Technical Review 243

Technical Review Software Review Engineer Search 243

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MARCH 8, 2010

You can't answer emails during normal business hours. But then you don't have a phone number and emails sent to you at 10:00am don't get answered until that night (which means they're not viewed until the following day). If they decide to sue, they get to look through your email records (it's called "discovery").

Startup 252

Startup Email RSS Internet 252

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

DECEMBER 23, 2013

– Why is this email [link] ? Ho Rudolph — fog is thick tonight. Can you ride point? For the children. Ho Santa, Oh damn, it’s going to be like that.

Reputation 224

Reputation Naming Email 224

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

APRIL 8, 2010

Yeah, but unfortunately you do have to rely on others to respond to emails and phone calls. This is why it’s important to set natural follow-up points so you can get permission to call, email or meet. The power of this technique is that you make them want to receive your email, call or meeting. You Are Not Alone. Beth: Yeah.

Harvest 227

Harvest Email Lean Customer 227

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JULY 31, 2012

It’s everyone, any time, especially if you’re communicating over email where emotions are hard to convey and text is misread. Tech support, vetting a new idea, arguing with your spouse, or exchanging emails with a stranger. This isn’t specific to WP Engine support, of course. But how often do you act like that?

Engineer 259

Engineer Metrics Email Web 259

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

APRIL 11, 2011

For example, email newsletter systems like Constant Contact or MailChimp let you collect names and send email. Whether it’s blog posts, Twitters, Facebook updates, discussion forums, or that arcane so-last-millenium technology known as “email,&# we’re writing more now than ever. Now write about that.

Widget 268

Widget Social Media Software RSS 268

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

OCTOBER 31, 2011

Here’s an email I got last week: Hello Jason, I am a big fan of your advice and wanted to see if you could offer any advice for marketing my start-up XYZ. He told me in a later email that he knows it wasn’t the best way to go, but “I’m a product guy.” Any advice will help. Who are your persuading?

Customer 279

Customer Software Review SEM Technical Review 279

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

FEBRUARY 12, 2013

To get your question answered , email me at asmartbear -at- shortmail -dot- com. This is part of an ongoing startup advice series where I answer (anonymized!) questions from readers, like a written version of Smart Bear Live.

Software 294

Software Engineer Naming Customer 294

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JANUARY 15, 2010

Auto-email ( once !) This is on the must-have list because I've had scores of interactions (both short and in-depth) as a direct result of someone hitting "Reply" to this email. Generates a message near the top of the page suggesting that you subscribe by RSS or email, tuned to the source of the traffic (e.g. Comment Relish.

HTML 216

HTML RSS Caching PHP 216

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

FEBRUARY 21, 2012

To get your question answered , email me at asmartbear -at- shortmail -dot- com. This is part of an ongoing startup advice series where I answer (anonymized!) questions from readers, like a written version of Smart Bear Live.

Hiring 230

Hiring Washington Startup Matching 230

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MARCH 4, 2010

In your email, attach a plain-Jane HTML file and separate images. Please use comments and email to keep me honest and let me know what you think. If it sounds like I'm shoving all the labor on you to make it trivial for me to post it, that's because I'm shoving all the labor on you to make it trivial for me to post it.

RSS 139

RSS Viral HTML Social Media 139

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

NOVEMBER 13, 2012

To get your question answered , email me at asmartbear -at- shortmail -dot- com. This is part of an ongoing startup advice series where I answer (anonymized!) questions from readers, like a written version of Smart Bear Live.

Affiliate 261

Affiliate Revenue Bootstrapping Campaign 261

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

AUGUST 30, 2010

A VA can be domestic or international, as long as they have a computer and an email account. How about reminder emails? Could a human being run a report once a month and send emails or charge credit cards? I have a list of blogs that I read and quickly added them to my list to send a personal, targeted email to each.

Software Review 284

Software Review Startup Technical Review Hosting 284

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JUNE 5, 2012

To get your question answered , email me at asmartbear -at- shortmail -dot- com. This is part of an ongoing startup advice series where I answer (anonymized!) questions from readers, like a written version of Smart Bear Live. Adventurous Advertiser writes: I’m ready to spend my first $1000 on something other than AdWords.

Advertising 229

Advertising Campaign Demand Audience 229

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MAY 8, 2012

To get your question answered , email me at asmartbear -at- shortmail -dot- com. This is part of an ongoing startup advice series where I answer (anonymized!) questions from readers, like a written version of Smart Bear Live. Embarras de Choix writes: I have a startup with thirty paying customers.

Bootstrapping 231

Bootstrapping Hiring Engineer Web 231

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MARCH 6, 2012

To get your question answered , email me at asmartbear -at- shortmail -dot- com. This is part of an ongoing startup advice series where I answer (anonymized!) questions from readers, like a written version of Smart Bear Live.

Cofounder 237

Cofounder Incubator Social Network Business Model 237

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

APRIL 24, 2012

To get your question answered , email me at asmartbear -at- shortmail -dot- com. This is part of an ongoing startup advice series where I answer (anonymized!) questions from readers, like a written version of Smart Bear Live. Employee-Investor writes: I’ve been invited to join as startup as employee #1.

Salary 229

Salary Stock Startup Valuation 229

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MARCH 11, 2014

We use email; we use Word; we use task manager; we use a file sharing tool. Meetings are definitely one of those places, but email is another primary way that that comes in. So that’s a very simple way of saying it’s task management, but it’s getting rid of emails that of course no one wants emails.

Technical Cofounder 220

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Software Review Management 220

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JANUARY 15, 2013

I just got an email from our VP Marketing about an interesting conversation she had with Austin and, now that they’re both in San Francisco, that’s happening all the time. A startup must be an enabler, otherwise you’re just building another big company, exactly like the one you as a founder refused to devote your life to.

San Francisco 247

San Francisco Austin PHP Social Media 247

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

AUGUST 28, 2012

To get your question answered , email me at asmartbear -at- shortmail -dot- com. Here’s a sample email that I’d use myself. If you have any questions or concerns at all, please reply to this email or call ${phone}. This is part of an ongoing startup advice series where I answer (anonymized!)

Software Review 240

Software Review Technical Review Email Revenue 240

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

DECEMBER 8, 2015

Instead of web-requests, we have life-requests, whether those are inbound emails, JIRA tasks, ZenDesk tickets, Salesforce leads, requests from a friend, or families that need our time and attention even more than they need our paycheck.

Web 120

Web Cost Product Operations 120

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

How we collect first impression feedback from our new users by sending a simple welcome email - [link]. Yes, I know you're a master of the web, that you've visited every website written in English, that you've been going to SXSW for ten years, that you were one of the first bloggers, you used Foursquare before it was. Oct 13, 2009 at 10:36am.

Liquidation Preference 216

Liquidation Preference Silicon Valley Startup Software 216

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

DECEMBER 20, 2010

Specifically, I had at least peripherally helped a bunch of other startups over email and at various meet-ups and co-working spaces, and now I called in the favors. (At So I hit the meetings again — email, phone, in-person, whatever. I'd been networking for a while so I had a nice list to call on.

Startup 239

Startup Campaign Turkey Customer Development 239

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JUNE 19, 2012

Go here to learn about the Smart Bear Live podcast where I’ll help you one-on-one, or email me to see whether I can turn your question into a blog post. And then set your mind and goals on making that sucker profitable for real! P.S. Need help figuring out how to do that?

Salary 246

Salary Bootstrapping Web Distribution 246