Chas Wagner

Young Sid GIF. Buck teeth in full effect

Thu, 02 May 2013 19:30:52 -0400

Young Sid GIF. Buck teeth in full effect

Priceless retro pic of 1996 NBA Rookie Class. Starbury, Kobe,...

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 21:30:24 -0400

Priceless retro pic of 1996 NBA Rookie Class. Starbury, Kobe, Marcus Camby and Samaki Walker to name a few!

Why Product Managers Should Learn the Golf Swing

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 20:57:00 -0400

One of my favorite bloggers, and Quibbers, Ryan Hoover, wrote a recent blog post comparing web/mobile products to the golf swing, in particular the follow through. More so, the lack of follow through you see from most amateur players and, I guess, startups. There’s usually a good reason they’re not public, yet.

With a Hilton Head golf trip coming up in the AM, and startups always on my mind, I thought I’d offer my take on this analogy.

A popular mistake many novice golfers make is thinking they have to lift the golf ball. The only way, as they see it, for the ball to get airborne is by swinging up at it.

Yet, counter-intuitively, the best way to properly advance a golf ball is by hitting down on it. We actually see this play out time and time again in how startups approach product development. Here’s three ways I see this manifest itself with product decisions:

1. A golf club is lofted for a reason. Let the club do the work. For early-stage startups, don’t build more than you have to. Leverage existing platforms and technologies to find product-market fit.

2. In going down at the ball, you’ll be taking a divot. In some cases, it’s a really ugly, gross, hideous divot. It might be so bad that your playing partners are following the divot, rather than the flight and shape of your golf shot. Why? Because everyone love to focus on the negative.

Funny thing is, this happens with product. The tech blogs always make sure to criticize what’s wrong with your latest release. But that buggy version, however, might be functional enough and serve a real need. That shot, similarly, worked given the conditions, no matter how grotesque the divot was. That release worked for your target audience, whereas it might be the worst looking thing for another subset of users. Just like a shot at St. Andrews probably won’t work at TPC Sawgrass.

3. Lifting up is addictive. Why? Because you get to see where the shot went sooner, than if you stayed with the shot. Quicker results, which Eric Reis might espouse, and feeds the lizard brain, doesn’t equate to better long-term health for your golf or product scorecard. Simply advancing your golf ball doesn’t necessarily mean you improved your golf ball, or round that day. Same thing with product. Quite the opposite on the links. Shipping product, as much as its championed throughout the startup community, is not directly related to overall company progress. Adding a killer new feature might bring lots of new users, but piss off your hardcore, early users. Hitting a 300 yard drive feels great off the club and looks sexy in the air, but when it bounds past the white out of bounds stakes, you actually regressed.

What other golf-product comparisons can you draw? Or sports-product analogies in general? They never do get old.

Photo Credit: http://quantumgolf.info/definitions.html

Mystery in life prepared by: Henry Dizon: In Praise of the Slow Read

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 08:50:28 -0400

Mystery in life prepared by: Henry Dizon: In Praise of the Slow Read:

henrydizon12345:

A friend recently lent me a book, and three pages in, I realized that the author tackled momentous topics with concrete analysis and brilliant language. So I closed the book and returned it.

I didn’t abandon the book because I didn’t want to read it, but because I wanted to slow read it. I wanted…

RunKeeper: We love you Boston. We run for you.

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 16:59:11 -0400

RunKeeper: We love you Boston. We run for you. :

runkeeper:

We feel heartbroken. What is usually the best day of the year in Boston was ripped apart by violence. We had a few members of the RunKeeper family running the Boston Marathon, and many more cheering them on, and we are so thankful that everyone on our side is safe. It hurts us deeply that…

We'll Do It Live

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 22:14:00 -0400

While Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (which I’ve yet to read, but its on the way) might be the Holy Grail for good habit folk, The Now Habit is its partner in crime. Now it took me awhile to get started on this book; cruel irony indeed, but when I did, I zipped through it in 48 hours time. How about that for immediate results?

Since finishing it on Sunday night, I’ve already realized the benefits just two days into the work week. Here’s what I got:

1. Counter to any productivity strategy I’ve ever followed, the author, Neil Fiore, advises you to first plan out your leisure, recreation and, goes as far to call it, guilt-free play when looking at the week ahead. If play is missing at the end of the workday or the weekend, book something. Anything to get your mind off work. The theory being you must have something to look forward to after leaving the office or finishing the week. Basically, never feel guilty about unwinding.

With that in mind, I was much more deliberate in planning what I would be doing after work this week. For example, Monday was a golf range session with Ben Ingard, Tuesday at Toastmasters (not sure if it qualifies as play since public speaking is my biggest fear), Wednesday an Intelligent.ly class and then Cold Ward Kids concert and, finally, Thursday night, head off to Chicago for a Bachelor Party/Masters weekend.

2. Remove the “I have to” and “I should” self-talk and replace it with “I choose.” Somewhat similar to Dan Pink’s approach to a new situation or project with a question rather than an affirmation, the choosing mindset is empowering. No, I don’t have to workout in the morning, although I love starting my days that way, but looking at it through the choose lens gave me a renewed sense of purpose pounding the pavement and downward dogging the last two mornings.

3. Finishing scares the shit out of me. Delivering, when it comes down to it, is really intimidating. Not only is someone judging my work, but probably my self-worth, too. Fiore addresses this by advising you to stop focusing on finishing, and begin focusing on starting. If you just keep starting, finishing will take care of itself. Break projects into sub-projects then mini-projects, until finally it’s nothing but a simple task. Using the marathon analogy, forget the 26.2 miles. Only be worried about each small step.

Taking this approach with a post for the RunKeeper blog today, I kept breaking the story down bit by bit, before I was looking at each sentence as its own little piece. Even when I got distracted at the office, I kept telling myself “keep starting.”

4. Fiore is a huge advocate of the 30 minute work block. Kind of like the Pomodoro approach that stresses 25 minutes of work and 5 minutes of rest. Fiore’s approach, however, works slightly different. For one, it must be high quality work. When you dissect a given work day, you realize there aren’t that many opportunities for extremely focused work with the countless distractions and menial tasks we must attend to. Secondly, before you plow full steam ahead on those precious 30 minutes, you must have a reward or carrot waiting for you at the end of the time block.

Personally, this was by far the most productive change to my week. Today, for example, I committed to 30 minutes of globalization work, then, had the reward of looking up Cold War Kids tickets afterwards. Yesterday, support tickets took up one of the blocks, but knowing that I’d be taking an afternoon stroll later, it softened the blow of support cynicism. Work for your play, right?

Only two days in, but loving it so far. I’ll make sure to report back next week, or maybe after, I get through Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. But, what’s my reward????

Grand St. is reinventing the way we buy creative technology.

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 10:39:12 -0400

Grand St. is reinventing the way we buy creative technology.

"Every single person’s happiness, or lack thereof, was entirely dependent on their connections with..."

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 19:01:00 -0400

“

Every single person’s happiness, or lack thereof, was entirely dependent on their connections with other people. Money, luck, health and other seemingly obvious factors didn’t guarantee happiness. But relationships were found to be a necessity.

Most everyone in the design and tech fields work on something that facilitates human interaction online. We enable necessary connections between people. Not users. People.

…This interaction—and the relationships which are fostered as a result—enrich people’s lives. We should consider this in our designs and strive to generate happiness in everything we create.

”

- Such. A. Good. Post.

This is why our jobs exist.

(via loyalcx)

RunKeeper: To Stand or Not To Stand?

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 12:24:00 -0400

RunKeeper: To Stand or Not To Stand?:

runkeeper:

By Chas Wagner

You know the saying “monkey see, monkey do.” Well, here at the RunKeeper offices, we’ve made a slight modification to that saying with “Monkey see, monkey STAND.”

That’s right, the standing desk phenomenon is alive and well here at 60 Canal Street. In fact, 18 of our…

My Post on the Standing Desk Phenomenon

Yeah, that’s right son @kyleamoran @charliewaddell1 #Bison

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 10:15:21 -0400

Yeah, that’s right son @kyleamoran @charliewaddell1 #Bison

RunKeeper: Winter is…Over?

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 10:34:46 -0400

RunKeeper: Winter is…Over?:

The Support Sheriff himself

runkeeper:

Image via

By Jim Redding

Winter is my favorite season of the year. I love all of it. Blizzards, sitting by the fire, and hockey (if there isn’t a lockout). If you’re anything like me, it’s also a great excuse to not run. Excuses range from, “It’s too cold out!” to “There’s snow on…

Bijan Sabet: Why Jason Jacobs started Runkeeper

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 10:11:32 -0400

Bijan Sabet: Why Jason Jacobs started Runkeeper:

bijan:

In a follow up to my post a few weeks back about why founders create their companies, I’m delighted to share Jason Jacobs entrepreneurial story with you all today.

Jason is the founder and CEO at Runkeeper and we are proud investors in his company. Jason is a tireless entrepreneur. His…

espn: Calm down, Scott. We launched a Tumblr blog, not...

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 19:16:05 -0400

espn:

Calm down, Scott. We launched a Tumblr blog, not Microsoft.

parislemon: digg: buzzfeed: Whoa, hey there, c’mon. That’s…...

Sat, 16 Mar 2013 16:45:37 -0400

parislemon:

digg:

buzzfeed:

Whoa, hey there, c’mon. That’s… okay, yeah that’s fair.

What if we show you our Chartbeat stats?

I just don’t respect you.

theclearlydope: Day 6,754.

Sat, 09 Mar 2013 13:37:41 -0500

theclearlydope:

Day 6,754.

soupsoup: Incredible video footage of meteorite shower in...

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 06:49:04 -0500

soupsoup:

Incredible video footage of meteorite shower in Russia | More here

Definitely beats my morning commute and passing Dunkin Donuts and Subway

Triathlon Tales

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 22:06:00 -0500

So, I’m doing the Tinman Triathlon, a half Ironman and 70.3 miles for those counting at home, on June 29th. Can’t tell if marathons were boring me out, my shin splints couldn’t take another 26.2 miles or I was desperately yearning for the speedo look of the Jimmy Skerboll days and the Fox Chapel Killer Whales.

In any event, I’m in my third week of official training and thought I’d give my first little update on how goes it:

Planning - Since I’ve never done one, I picked up the two books that all triathletes swear by: 1) Triathlete’s Training Bible and 2) Essential Week by Week Training. Both great, with the former all about strategy and the second on execution. Like in business, you need both in order to reach your goals.

Knowing my goal of a sub 5.5 hour race, I set up a 20 week plan - not in a sophisticated Google spreadsheet or online training tool - but rather a paper calendar. Not just any calendar, but an oversized, cleverly designed one bought on Fab and created by the good people at NeuYear. Here’s a look at my wall, with the triathlon plan in the bottom calendar and personal schtuff in the top calendar.

Equipment - Here’s where things get messy and expensive in a hurry. Before, I’d only have to deal with one sport, that being running, and, basically, making sure my shoes weren’t too worn down, which they were from the Philly Marathon and November Project pounding in the fall. Now for a triathlon, you’ve got two other sports to worry about, most notably biking, one crazy expensive sport.

To get up to “speed,” I started with shoes. Damn, I need to distinguish which type of shoes. Ok, running shoes. I went to the fine folks at Marathon Sports and, for the first time ever, had someone professionally evaluate my walking/running form to determine the best type of shoe for me. Got outfitted with a great pair of Asics Gel-Kayano 19s that fit like butter on my worn down feet. Having a wider foot, as I’ve been told by the pimple faced Marathon Sports college dude, who actually gave me the college discount, the Gel Kayano takes full advantage of my entire foot, whereas my other shoes put too much strain on my inner foot, which in turn led to the nasty shin-splints. Despite being a little pricey, they’ve went toe-to-toe (or fibula-to-fibula) with my shins and totally dominated. We’re only three weeks in, but can’t say that about any other shoe I’ve worn. Smitten is the only word to describe it with Valentine’s Day upon us.

Onto biking, where the costs get silly in a hurry since you’re relying on, well, a machine of sorts. Last week, after throwing on new winter, puncture-resistant tires, brake pads, cables and front/back lights, the damage came to $275. Yet, if I hadn’t spent this money upfront, the damage could very well be a physical injury, accident or structural damage to the bike.

Last but not least, swimming. Only equipment purchase I’ve made is for a shitty pair of goggles that fit me almost as bad as my snowboard goggles, which shove my glasses so hard into my nose that we’ve got crater-like indents. Certainly part of a larger issue to man up, realize I’m past my prime and go with these godsends: REC SPECS

Something I haven’t purchased yet that is absolutely necessary with it being winter in New England is a swim cap. It’s already dry as balls outside, then you couple that with chlorine hair, and my hair has practically turned to sand in February. But wait, where’s the beach?

While I have more to say on the actual training front, I’ll save that for next week’s post. Just know, this week’s workload inclues 9.5 hours of workouts. Don’t be too jealous, but do follow along at 5:30am at runkeeper.com/user/chaswagner!

Balls > Nemo

Sun, 10 Feb 2013 14:17:57 -0500

Balls > Nemo

"If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is..."

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 23:10:33 -0500

“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.”

- Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood (via larmoyante)

Startup adventures abound!: We're not crushing it

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 22:52:02 -0500

Startup adventures abound!: We're not crushing it:

hippoland:

Photo credit: lejoe

Last year, I ran into an acquaintance of mine, a fellow entrepreneur.

“Hey, how’s it goin?” I asked.

“Great! We’re crushing it. We’re about to sign 3 deals” he replied exuberantly like so many other entrepreneurs I run into. ”How’s LaunchBit doing?”

“Pretty…