Adam Smith's Blog

How MIT Didn't Prepare Me For a Startup, Part 1

I was at MIT for a few days last week for the MIT Startup Bootcamp.  One thing I love about MIT entrepreneurs is how scrappy and motivated they are.  Compared to the iconic facebook chasing social media west coast entrepreneurs, these guys are Rocky Balboas.  They stay in the game when others would have given up, and they tackle substantive problems.

MIT graduates still come out with several learned habits that will work against them though.  Hopefully I'm wrong and it's just me, and I wouldn't be surprised, but I do think these are more general.

One such habit is to obsess over everything.  At MIT there's a very finite set of material to study at any time in any given class.  The hard core students among us make sure that the curve is attrociously high.  You might spend 20 hours studying a small set of material.

So the onus was on expertness.  Of everything.

This doesn't work in an early stage startup where everyone has to be a generalist and work on seven different projects per day.

You don't want to be an expert in your series A docs.  If you are negotiating the finer points in a legal negotiation, you are losing.

If you are worrying about your computers costing $800 versus $1200, you are losing.

I know the MIT obsessive in you wants to optimize everything, but just don't.

On the other hand, hit REALLY high notes on the important things.=

HubSpot is a startup that's all about bringing new Internet marketing to the long tail of small and medium businesses.  It's a huge opportunity and a huge deal.  Their biggest challenge is educating the 100 million small business owners about this new world.

For HubSpot, educating their market is incredibly important to their success.

So they put on a conference.  Their founders wrote a book.  They've released several free and easy tools like TwitterGrader and WebsiteGrader.  They take this stuff seriously, and they should.  Their MIT'ness is shining through!

So, for folks like me, half the battle is identifying where to hit the high notes and where to swing for the B team.  And when it comes time for the B team, swallow your pride and show 'em how impressively unimpressive you can be.

13 Ways Acting Classes Improved My Public Speaking Skillz

Now, I am no public speaker.  In 2007 I got a chance to say some words at Startup School along with several other Y Combinator founders.  My voice was cracking and I spoke at ten thousand words a second I was so nervous.

Which is why I was excited to give a talk to eight hundred people at this last weekend’s MIT Startup Bootcamp.  This was a chance to redeem myself.  I’ve been taking acting classes for the past six months to work on my communication and presence skills, so this was a perfect mid-term exam.

I put about 30 hours into the talk.  I wanted to test how far my skills could take me so that meant putting in an excess of time to make sure I took the best possible shot.  I wrote a full twelve page script that I memorized.  I rehearsed with my acting teacher for three or four hours.  I spent a hours on a couple different versions of my slides.

I’m calling this one a success!  It was the least nervous I have ever been doing public speaking.  Part of that might have been that I only got three hours of sleep the night before and just had no energy to be nervous; I’m not sure.  I had gone to sleep at 1am, woke up at 4am, and couldn’t go back to sleep until it was time to get up!

But, without further adieu, here are the thirteen things I learned that went into my public speaking improvements, in no particular order:

1. Get out of your head.  There’s a silly exercise we do at the beginning of every acting class to make this happen.  We all sit on the stage in our own folding chairs, close our eyes, and move our body around one limb at a time, often yelling and punching and kicking.  For whatever reason (placebo effect?) it always pulls me back into my body and out of my head.
   
   
2. Walk around the stage, shake some hands from the audience.  I first saw Ken Morse do this at MIT; he walked up and down the aisles shaking hands.  I always thought it’s a nice touch but it also helped me ground myself out of my head and into a friendship with the audience.
   
   
3. Silently dedicate the talk beforehand to someone from your life that has helped you get to where you are today.  (In my case this was Paul Graham.)  If you haven’t noticed, all three of the hints so far have to do with getting past yourself and out of your head.
   
   
4. My acting teacher told me “If you continue with your career you will end up talking to a million people.  This is no big deal.  It’s a warm up!”  That also helped me get more out of my head and shifted the focus more towards the journey than the outcome.
   
   
5. She told me that, when I walk up, before I start talking just take a short moment to get an emotional feeling for how you feel.  Acting is all about getting to the TRUTH, and staying in the present moment.  That’s different than focusing on fears or judgments.  Trust your emotions over your intellect during that moment.  It gives you a moment to establish a connection with the audience.
   
   
6. Professional speakers apparently eat a slice of apple, and then a cracker before talking for long periods of time such as recording a book on tape.  It helps your mouth stay watered.  I’m not sure how true this is, but there’s a low downside to being wrong.  If you know more please comment!
   
   
7. Try not to read, even from your memory.  This suggestion will be a focus point for my next talk.  I did okay but not great.  You want to sound like you’re into the words, and discovering them as you go.  What fun would your favorite plays be if the actors were just reading the script?  You've got to feel what you’re saying on an emotional level, not a reading monotone.  Most of my talk was memorized so it was natural for me to parrot the words, not to mention the talk was at 9am eastern which is 6am California time!  Which leads me to..
   
   
8. Get excited!  Be energetic!  I was worried about drinking a Red Bull before the talk because it might make me more energetic and thus more nervous.  Turns out I needed it.  I also walked furiously around the stage clapping and getting myself pumped before everyone started coming into the auditorium.
   
   But I still noticed that I got a little bit more excited once I had the audience involved and asking questions.  This is also related to sounding like you’re reading.  So I give myself a B- here.
   
   
9. Have good content.  I had a lot of good material to share.  I actually prepared about 40 minutes of material but only had 25 minutes so I gave the audience the chance to ask me their own questions or choose from a list of seven topics I had prepared thoughts on.
   
   (They were: finding an idea, hiring rockstars, hints for execution, personal growth, what Silicon Valley is like, startup reading, and why do it.)
   
   My material was good and had gone through about three iterations but it could have used three more, mostly for pedagogical reasons.  A lot of the content was great but wasn’t delivered well enough so it was going to really stick.  So I get a B or B- here!
   
   Some folks emailed and asked that I write about some of the topics that didn’t get covered, like hiring rockstars.  I agree and look forward to doing that in future blog posts!
   
   
10. Get a stool!  It gives you more presence than talking from a podium, and more grounding/security than walking around which should be reserved for the more experienced among us.
    
    
11. Support the peaks in your text.  Stay with the arcs.  If you’re making a joke don’t make it and then immediately say something else.  Give it a second or two to settle in.  Even if it doesn’t hit it will be better than not supporting the words and intention.
    
    I messed this up once or twice on smaller jokes.  On the other hand after the video of Bill Gates’ Xobni demo I held my hands out with a big smile and a ‘wow’ face without saying anything for four or five seconds.  Everyone started clapping, whereas had I filled in the silence with speech it wouldn’t have peaked. 
    
    Similarly for any sentences describing stress, elation, sadness, or any other feeling.  Technical folks like me tend to avoid such expressions, ESPECIALLY in public settings.  That’s not what pulls audiences in; great performances are all about sticking with the truth.
    
    Here’s a great example: Dharmesh Shah’s talk included a slide in the middle that was a “Time Out: how are you doing Dharmesh?” Dharmesh is introverted like me and such a slides serves a purpose for him personally but also BUILDS his connection with the audience because he’s being real with folks.
    
    
12. Practice pronunciation.  Try saying “Real World” five times fast!  Hard, right?  During practice I was slurring some of my words.  This happens particularly when I was reading the words from my head instead of really discovering them and owning them during delivery.
    
    
13. Enjoy the journey!  I mentioned this point above but it's worth reiterating!  It's easy to be outcome-focused when it comes to public speaking.  Instead, think of it as a journey where the outcome is not the point.  Ironically such a focus will improve your results, but that's just a bonus to the peace of mind.

What do you think?  Any other good tips for MIT personality public speaking?

MIT Students Send Cameras Into Stratosphere, Very Cool!

I got an email yesterday about some MIT students from my fraternity creating a balloon for $150 with no custom electronics that took pictures from 80,000 ft in the air.

Here's one of their photos.  See their website for more.

I love technology!!!

Wireless Data Everywhere, M2M Communication, and the Radio Tagging Problem

In defiance of California state law, when I hear a new jam on my car radio I pull out my IPhone, launch Shazam, and use it to "tag" the song.  Then I scroll down, press "Share This Tag," type in my email address, and return my eyes to the road.  Any number of days/weeks later, I download the mp3 and have it added to my collection.

This ain't bad, really.  Five years ago I had to remember a lyric or two and use Google searches later to find the song title.

But it isn't the way of the future.  I want a button on my radio I can press to skip the IPhone and Shazam step, at least.  This would require my car radio to have a wireless data connection, which I don't think is far fetched.

In 2005 I was involved in a quasi-startup at MIT designing a GPS navigation device with a wireless data connection built in.  We came up with all kinds of use cases:

• Intelligent traffic awareness
• Read your car's diagnostics sensors from your web browser 
• Send your address book to your car   

Not bad.  A year or two later a real startup was formed around this idea.

But there's so much more you could do with data connections everywhere:

• Stream music from Rhapsody / Last.FM / etc to your car radio.
• Accept credit cards at all vending machines. 
• Have a toaster that "toasts" the CNN homepage news onto your bread.  Just don't eat too fast! 
• Have gym equipment that you log into to have it upload workout data to a web app.
• Use a toilet that does fecal analysis on its way out to extract diet/health info that also gets uploaded to the web.  
• Bus stops that show you how far away the next buses are.  
• Electric razors that send you an email when the blades need to be replaced. 
• Bathroom scales that upload your weight trends to the web. 
• While you're at it with the vending machines, why not have them report back their inventory status?  
• Not to mention drastically improving all kinds of other emptying/refilling processes: know when to remove coins from parking meters, when newspaper stands need to be refilled, etc.  These don't sound like home runs but there are likely to be two or three that are within some vertical. 
• While we're at it with the cars, why not have them radio back their position and destination to traffic control, so the stop lights can intelligently shape traffic in real time.  E.g. the simple case is if it's late at night there's no reason the system shouldn't be able to give you mostly all green lights. 

Etc etc.

95% of devices are still not connected to the Internet.  (Thin air statistic, but probably the right ballpark.)  I hope we've hit that number down a notch or two by the time 2030 rolls around!

What about you - what new use scenarios would you like to see for pervasive wireless Internet connections?

Blogging != Twitter

The other day I submitted my recent blog post, Steve Ballmer, International Security, and Us Little Folk, to Hacker News.  It got one upvote and one comment:

I found absolutely no point in the article. Confused.

Ouch!

...but actually true.  So I added a preamble to the post: "Just a snip of consciousness.." and learned that a stream of consciousness might work on Twitter but not on a blog.  Indeed, the top articles on Hacker News are consistently either news or well thought through expositions on a specific topic with a specific point.

So today's blog post point: blog posts need points!

Coming soon: a quick startup idea.

Character in Blogs

I was thinking this morning about blogs and the pictures adorn their home pages.  They must reflect what's important to the authors, I suspected.

I started going through them in my head....

Me: I climb in trees and enjoy nature.  (truth: I do enjoy nature but not often enough!)

Fred Wilson: I enjoy my family.

 

Jeff Atwood: This is a silly blog!

 

Jeff Bonforte (Xobni CEO): I love my dog.

Dharmesh Shah: where's your photo man?!  you need a karate photo of you versus an old, wise kung fu master!

 

Paul Graham: Here's some good art.  (home page)

 

Mini Microsoft: Microsoft-ish blocks-on-blocks image; needs a ninja.

 

Auren Hoffman: don't mess with me.

 

Rick Segal: (more to the point than Auren) better watch out!...

Why Good Products Matter

Good products make a philosophically positive difference.

Good products mean, by definition, giving people what they want.

For example: Now you can talk to your grandparents, who are a hundred miles away, IN REAL TIME!  Now you can see a picture to help you relive the moment with your niece was born.  And so on.

Should you care about giving people what they want?

Well, how about the opposite: should you care about taking away something people already have and enjoy?  This is called stealing, interestingly.  Steve Jobs is the opposite of a robber.

Which is probably why successful societies reward these opposite-of-a-robbers.  As Paul Graham has said, "Let the nerds keep their lunch money, and you rule the world."

In fact, the US takes it up one level further: innovators aren't only rewarded financially; they also receive social capital.  That's why, for example, Steve Jobs was able to wake up one day and just "give" Leslie Feist citizenship.

Paul Graham essentially bootstrapped Y Combinator with the social capital he received from his successful writings.  Now, of course, it's clear that was an investment not an expenditure.  He has more social capital now than before YC!

This is a great system!

When Will Amazon Start Shipping Cash?

My coworkers and friends know that I buy everything from Amazon, including things like socks, pillows, and laundry detergent.

What don't I get from Amazon?  Perishables like milk, drinks are too heavy to ship, and cash from the ATM.  But that last one seems silly if you think about it.  Why can't I order 20 ten dollar bills from Amazon?  Security shouldn't be an issue below a certain amount, say $500; I've ordered more 'expensive' things.  Just a funny thought...

P.S. I recommend this life hack.  Be sure to get Amazon Prime.

"Spin" and Rotational Inertia

I was just talking with Greg, when he coined a new term:

Rotational inertia is what you get when you start "spinning" (selling) something to someone.  When circumstances change, and you have to spin in the opposite direction to the same audience, you must overcome and reverse rotational inertia.

:)

Xobni Recruiting Video

I mentioned in my last blog post that Xobni is looking for great hackers and a senior QA lead. The kind of people we're looking for have basically infinite options when choosing where to commit themselves. Why would they chose to work at Xobni?

Aside from our acclaimed product, superhuman team, and great market, we also have a killer culture. I hope this video helps us show that off.

Click to play!

Click To Play

I Love Talking in C#

[8:01:54 PM] Gabor Cselle says: public enum Options {
Chipotle,
Subway,
Quiznos,
Other }

[8:02:46 PM] Gabor Cselle says: // yes, we're pretty predictable, it's safe to use an enum here

[8:03:36 PM] Adam Smith says:
List open = new List();
foreach(Options option in Enum.GetValues(typeof(Options))) {
if(IsOpenOnLaborDay(option)) {
open.Add(option);
}
}  
 
Adam.OutputStream.WriteLine(Array.Join(open.ToArray(), ", ");

[8:05:42 PM] Gabor Cselle says: internal readonly Person k_nerdContestWinner = adam;

Challenge Yourself, as applied to girls

I played squash today with Nomi from Peanut Labs. We’ve been playing together since we both started relearning the sport. We played six games and he won four of them.

It’s really good for me to play someone who’s better than me because they bring me up. I think that’s a good strategy for life – challenge yourself.

You know you’re challenging yourself when you lose or make mistakes. It comes with the territory. So if you’re not failing then you can’t be challenging yourself, and that is surely a bad thing.

Let’s apply this to girls instead of startups. If I’m ever more than about 25% successful with girls then I don’t think I’m challenging myself enough. If I’m significantly less than 25% successful, I’m challenging myself too much.

The Coolest Hack I ’ve Ever Pulled Off

I was 17 and it was the last lecture of biology class. Dr. Donahue was the lecturer. He was also the academic director of the early college program I was at. And he was retiring. It was the last lecture he would give after a career that was decades long.

Lecture began at 8am. My friend and I snuck into the classroom at 6am. It was a big lecture hall that could hold 300 people. We booted up the lecture computer. I can’t remember how we managed to log in, but we did. I installed the hidden program I had written, and we left.

At 8:32am, in the middle of Dr. Donahue’s powerpoint lecture to 200 students, the screen went black. It started flashing, and the following video played.

Some of the inside jokes:

• Dr. Donahue used to erupt “Scoff!” at things he disagreed with
• "Street LSD is not pure. It’s made by biochem dropouts" he used to say

We got the photoshop’ed pictures by posting a black and white photo of him onto somethingawful.com.

Dr. Donahue asked Who did this? after the video ended. Aaron Jacobs and I didn’t volunteer ourselves because we didn’t know if he was happy or upset. Afterwards we decided he was happy, and we stepped forward.

What a great hack! I really need to beat it out; seventeen years old was some time ago! Any good ideas?

I recently wrote about the ugliest hack I’ve ever pulled off here.

A Great Day

Yesterday was a tough day. We were distracted by hiring and long meals and meetings.

Today was great. Gabor and I had lunch and coffee for two hours. We talked about how we can improve our hiring process and how we feel about the way things are generally going. We exchanged lots of ideas. It was fun.

Afterwards we got a large shipment from Dell. That was fun too.

I also played some squash tonight with Greg from Snipshot and two guys from XuQa.com who frequent the Bay Club. I won three out of six games. I’m quite a beginner. It’s so much fun when you get to play with someone at your level!

Other than that, I just hacked away. I worked on some code that’s pretty fundamental to a new direction of our product. After refactoring and refactoring to get the right interfaces, I spent lots of time optimizing memory and run times. It’s hella fast.

I have a few emails to respond to, and then I’ve got to convince myself to go to sleep. I hate ending days like today.

Physics at the Symphony

I really enjoy going to the symphony. I’ve been to the San Francisco Symphony twice since moving here last October. My favorite part is watching the violinists stroke their instruments in unison. This would be artful even without the music, but with beautiful music as a side effect – oh the glory!

Xobni is staying lean, though, so I buy the nose bleed seats. If I’m 300 feet from the orchestra pit, the music is delayed about 300 milliseconds behind what I’m seeing. (Sound travels at about one foot per millisecond.)

Humans can typically observe delays over 100ms. I might just be imagining it, but I'm pretty sure I can actually notice the delay between what I see and what I hear!

The Life of an Entrepreneur, in 33 Seconds

I was listening to my MP3 collection, and heard one of the theme songs from Aladdin. Its lyrics at the end of the song personify the life of an entrepreneur:

One jump, ahead of the hoofbeats,
One hop, ahead of the hump,
One trick, ahead of disaster,
They're quick, but I'm much faster!

Here goes,
Better throw my hand in,
Wish me happy landing,
All I've gotta do is juuuuuuuump!

Here's the audio: One Jump Ahead

Well Hello

My name is Adam Smith, and I am the author of this blog. (As a side note, I don’t see why I should be the only author of this blog. Perhaps I should host guest authors at times.)

Xobni Man Walking is about my experiences as an entrepreneur and software developer. Xobni is a year-old startup focused on organizing your personal information, centered around email. We have a company blog.

Xobni only had two people until recently, so it made sense to put all of our thoughts on the company blog. As Xobni grows, so does the difference between ‘I’ and ‘we.’ Enter individual blogs.

This particular blog is going to discuss growing a company and growing a software product. Growing a company is really something you do so you can grow a product, but it’s such a daunting task that I think it deserves its own bullet in the agenda.

Of course, growing a product could also be seen as something you do in order to grow a company. (This is where a picture of a ying-yang would go.)