Cats or Dogs

The success of any enterprise product depends on the team it caters. These teams have their working comfort. Some teams work like a herd of dogs, all in together. Success is for everyone resulting in shaping the organization.

Some teams like to work as a herd of cats. Each is unique, in its own way of doing things in silos. It is like a pack tied together. Each has their own opinions and incentives. One heavy hitter defines success for the organization.

Selling to teams with the persona of dogs is always better than that of cats. No solution can please a herd if they are not in it together.

buzzwords

Silence does not mean a sense of fear or some void. During the pandemic, I had the opportunity to interact with many founders. For many of them, nothing has changed because they have been running the business on simple fundamentals. 

Go to social media to learn about mambo jumbos around SaaS metrics. 

When key should be:

  1.  Customers’ and employees’ happiness.
  2.  Check on income with expenditure.  

Spending money on marketing, selling product underprice with investors money is not a growth hack. It is not going to end well for the founders or team.

lazy

Do only we humans fight with our brains? Is our brain lazy?

The brain takes shortcuts and avoids high cognitive tasks. Is it because of our past? When we were hunter-gathers, be alive being the default?

Is this reason we worry before even starting anything? The constant reminders of what we can not do?

Can acquiring good habits and affirmation help?

observation

What happened to our observation skills? We surrendered it to click through advertisement. Or we moved to the virtual world and raising cattle?

Einstein got a clue about apple while being an idler, lazing around and observing.

Wright brothers spent many days watching birds flying and observing.

Once we start observing surroundings we become more aware of the present. We start seeing things as they are instead of dreaming.

Individuality

Individuality has disappeared, we are all in the business of copying be it a persona, work, or product idea.

In random conversation, we get to hear about thought leaders et all. How every entrepreneur looks at the success of X and wants to become like them. Is it because copying, cloning is easy?

We have forgotten to find who we are and all sudden got into a race of becoming like X/Y.

Our education system talks about excelling in a career, getting good marks. What about acquiring self-knowledge or self-inquiry?

We see the glowing successful face of personas we want to copy. We forget their hard work, journey, sweat, and stress.

The virtue of self-knowledge needs more love. We live in a fast-paced world. Does this mean we should outsource our consciousness?

attached

I watched Gulabo Sitabo on Amazon Prime yesterday. The movie got me thinking.

I was born and raised in a small city in Bihar. I have seen how people get so hooked to one thing.

It reminds me of our house my parents built with all sweat and hard work. My mother the idea of leaving it. Moving them with me is not happening.

It is incredible how we humans get attached to something and spend life on it.

Buddha taught detachment because he got everything too early in his life?

stories

I grew up listening to stories of fairies, ghosts, witches, and shrewd foxes from my grandma. It would depend on her mood, when happy it’s about fairies and prince/kingdom. The outcome would be union, happiness, and courage.

When Grandma would be in the mood of sharing wisdom, the knowledge it will be about foxes, cows, and crows. Most of it can be relatable with Upanisads.

There would be days when I annoy her a lot and the result would be stories about evil witches and ghosts. How they would come to eat small kids of my age. My grandma knew I would be scared after listening to these and as a result, I had permission to wake her at night when I had to go for a toilet at midnight. [I would get scared of anything at night, the day was when I was on my own]

Reading fiction has made me go back to memory lane and think.

Build

Some customers think they can build everything themselves and consider it as an advantage over their peers.

The reason for it is very simple: Sunk cost and the Ikea Effect.

The sunk cost of their knowledge and skill. How can it go to waste? Even though this is no more our primary task.

The Ikea Effect because we have built it, so we are incentivized to use it even though the product is a hack.

A sales guy should not waste time on such customers. People will hire a donkey for the job of horses because it is their donkey. You cannot change their perception.

Wandering

I remember the early days of my 20’s. So much was all about exploration. From IRC to Linux distros to mailing lists. It feels nostalgic.

Looking back now, I see the positive side of it. Getting lost, connected, lazying, or communicating has a positive side as well. When you are not looking for something, just visiting you are more calm and relaxed.

Sometimes magic happens when we do things without any aim, goal. The outcome can be surprising.

Most of my close friends came from that era, we still meet and talk. Just now it is no more distro wars, Lug meetups but life, health, family.

Those nights of hit and trial, compiling sound cards, evolution, and running after dependencies.

Time has changed, but relationships are intact.

Qualified Customers

Saas metrics are in abundance when it comes to qualifying leads or potential customers. Various analogies are taken into account like ticket size, effort to move to the platform.

In the early days of product development and onboarding customers, my learning has been different. Customers or teams who are empathetic with you during the trial period, who cares for you are the ones who will stick as customers. Focus on working closely with such team, customers, and fire the ones who do not qualify this category.

Early days of product development needs believers, not customers. They are also entitled to an early adopters program and discounted pricing.

You can onboard others as a customer with face value price when you are out for business and delight them with your service.