Chris Dowling

One of the best things about starting your own business is that you get to (try to) build whatever type of company you want — including the culture. Everybody has been in organizations where the overall culture and values — or at least certain management styles — were more toxic than not, and a lack of leadership undermined employee morale and performance. So why would you want to see that in your own business? Surprisingly, start-ups and closely-held businesses often fail to instill values and foster a culture conducive to a positive and productive working environment. I’ve seen many small businesses where the organization’s culture was defined by the dynamic and dysfunction of its founders. In start-ups, where long hours, tight deadlines and high stress are the norm — and where high-performance and passion are critical to success — low morale and high turnover can be a recipe for disaster. In [...]

A few years back I was admiring a friend’s new paddleboard — and the deal he got on it — and he sent me to www.theclymb.com. I went to the site and discovered The Clymb, a provider of outdoor goods, apparel and adventure travel and basically an awesome place to get cool gear at a discount. After registering to become a member, I began to receive their marketing emails. After a few months I still hadn’t found the board I was interested in, and this was typically the point where I would have unsubscribed from their email list. But for some reason I didn’t. I have since received over 1,000 emails from them, and have only ended up making a handful of purchases — tee shirts, hats, and most importantly an Arbor Fish Skateboard (at 50% off). So what is it that keeps me opening their emails and clicking through to [...]

That killer feature you’ve been working on is almost ready. That's right, almost. Almost ready can be more frustrating than not ready, because when something is not ready, at least you know where you stand. With almost ready, you're not sure if you're going to make the release schedule, or almost make it. At a start-up with a digital product, there are always going to be situations where a feature is scheduled to be released, but isn’t quite ready. Whether some of the functionality hasn’t been fully completed, or there are known bugs arising that will impact end users, the business and technology teams will be faced with a decision on whether to release the update or push the deadline. It is important to consider several factors when making this decision, and taking the following steps will provide a sound basis to make the right call. Articulate and communicate known issues [...]

“Our competitor just added this feature.” “This prospect won’t sign up until this feature is in place.” “Can we add more pictures or video here?” “My wife thinks it would be better if it worked like this.” “I don’t like this color.”How do you cut through the noise and keep your product development and delivery resources focused on what’s important? As a start-up with a digital product, the investment in and optimization of your development resources will be critical to your success. To get the most out of your finite resources and development efforts, it is important to dedicate the right business resource to the product development process.While you are likely to have a dedicated digital producer or technical project manager, it is important to have a strong leader on the business team who can speak for the business as a whole. A strong product person will drive and prioritize initiatives [...]