Startup Tips Day 18: Ben Elowitz from Wetpaint

Day #18 in the CenterNetworks Startup Tips Month come from Ben Elowitz from Wetpaint.

Ben's Tips

Tip #1 - Don't hide your idea - share it.

Getting to the great business idea isn't always easy. It can be filled with fits and starts. And when you eventually come up with the killer idea, you can be hesitant to share it with others - will they love it, will they hate it...even worse...will they steal it? That point of view is a mistake. The best thing any entrepreneur can do with his idea is to test-drive it early and often. You'll be amazed by how talking out loud about your idea - especially to folks completely unfamiliar with it - will highlight issues and opportunities you didn't see before. And while you're in the mood for sharing, don't just consult with those folks who always wake up on the right side of the bed. Find some hardcore skeptics and naysayers. They'll give you a million and one reasons not to pursue your idea... and those will be a great screen to compare against your million and two reasons to stick with it.

Tip #2 - If it's core, make it great.

You'll quickly want to establish a roadmap for the one or two unique dimensions that will make your company worthwhile. Regarding those core features, do everything in your power to make sure they aren't just good - make them amazing. Naturally, being great requires sacrifices and tradeoffs. That's where remembering what's core gives you freedom to let go of the periphery. Accept the fact that sometimes secondary features are going to be good. The pursuit of greatness is a fulltime job. Accept the fact that not everything you do is going to be great. Just make sure the stuff that really matters is.

Tip #3 - Launch and iterate quickly.

The best way to get the product right is to get it into market and test it. Focus groups and usability studies are great, but not nearly as valuable as real actionable feedback from consumers and see how they react to it. Accept the fact that they will find issues and have complaints. If you address those issues and complaints quickly and rationally, you'll create a strong relationship with your customers.

Tip #4 - Get a killer coffee machine.

One of the best investments we've made is our larger-than-life coffee machine. It's an amazing piece of machinery - push a couple of buttons, and presto, out comes a perfectly brewed cup of joe. I've been amazed at what a great recruiting device, morale booster, and source of early morning and later afternoon energy this hunk of steel has proven to be. Every office should have something the entire company can rally around. In our case, it's a coffee machine with a 4-digit price tag and an even higher ROI. In some other company, it'll be a foosball table. Whatever it is, make an effort to find that special something. When your startup becomes something bigger down the road, that special something will have earned its place in company lore.

Tip #5 - Names and Hires REALLY Matter

Don't compromise on your company's name or your first hires. Your company name is how everyone will identify you. Pick a generic name and you'll be generic to all who hear of you. Pick an inspiring name and you've got a better chance to connect to and be remembered by your customers. And talk about inspiring customers... it takes great people to do that. No matter how busy you are, no matter how much you wish you had someone today, it's better to turn down candidates who don't care, don't get it, or don't live up to your standards. When the right hires come in and interview, you'll know 'that's the one I'm looking for'.

Tip #6 - Cultures - they don't grow in a Petri dish

Your culture is built a thousand times a day. Every employee and every customer is watching you. Your culture isn't what you say it is: it's what other people say it is. It's tempting to want to define culture with a document, so you can sit down and imagine it all down at once. But it's the thousands of actions you take every day, deliberately or haphazardly, that others will draw their own conclusions from.

Ben Elowitz is the CEO of Wetpaint (www.wetpaint.com), which is changing the way people share and collaborate about passions and interests through its consumer-friendly Wiki platform. For the first time, anyone who knows how to use Microsoft Word can use Wetpaint to click and type online. Wetpaint powers over 400,000 Wikis created by ordinary people and companies like American Express Publishing, ABC, T-Mobile, HTC, and more. Prior to Wetpaint, Ben was co-founder and vice-president of Blue Nile, Inc. (NILE) and served as Director of Business Development for Fatbrain.com. Ben has also worked as a consultant at eHarmony.com.