Sean Coleman

Hacking Twitter: How we setup free text message notifications from contact forms (and group texting).

I have a fantastic client that runs a popular Phoenix urban real estate website called WeKnowUrban.com. We are always collaborating on ways to make the site more attractive, improve SEO, and streamline the conversion of visitors into buyers and sellers. 

I think our previous project was such a clever example of system hacking that I’d write about it. Essentially, we figured out how to leverage Twitter into getting free text message notifications from our website contact form, along with group texting capabilities. Typically a service like Twillio would be used for this purpose, but we needed something quick, simple and free.

Basically, when a website visitor is interested in a property, he or she can use the website contact form to ask for a follow up. This lead is then texted to all agents. The first agent to reply to the text gets the lead (there’s a financial incentive to being first). When the first agent replies, all other agents are texted again that the lead has been taken to prevent duplicate follow through. It’s an incredibly elegant solution for website contact form notifications and group texting. Additionally, all texts are tracked and timestamped—all through Twitter.

The key is Twitter’s feature to receive text messages of new tweets from the accounts that you follow.

1. We first setup a master “contact form” Twitter account. This account is responsible for tweeting the incoming leads.
2. The website’s contact form was programmed to combine the contact form fields (e.g. message, email and phone) and then break it up into 130 character strings.
3. Each string is then tweeted through Twitter’s API as coming from the master “contact form” twitter account. 
4. Each agent was setup with a Twitter account, followed the “contact form” account and added text message notifications for new tweets. 
5. All agents also followed all other agents to receive text messages of their tweets. In this case those would be replies saying that they snagged a lead.

The end result is a system that relays incoming contact form requests to text messages sent to all agents, with reply texts acting as group texting. Additionally, the entire history is logged and timestamped—in a nice Twitter stream.

With ubiquitous smart phones, any of the agents could also use their real Twitter account via the app in conjunction with our hack. 

What do you think?

Why 37signals is falling into obsolescence

37signals, a pioneer of modern web app development and successful startup behind Basecamp, has started on the path to obsolescence. 

I was inspired to put my thoughts into writing after reading the announcement of a mobile Basecamp. Like you may have, I remember thinking: “Finally! A fantastic mobile app I can use on my Nexus S.” The excitement dissipated as soon as I discovered it was simply a mobile version of the existing site—still HTML. It looks like there won’t be a native app for Android anytime soon. Part of the problem is that I’ve become spoiled with all the fantastic native apps provided by services like Remember the Milk and Evernote. There’s no arguing that native apps provide a superior user experience. 

Back on Hacker News, I read a post titled Today, Web Development Sucks  and commented  ”Today, Development sucks.” In 2004 when Ruby on Rails was created, a web app was the sexy thing to do: no installation, universal access, centralized development. What could be better? Well in the last few years we’ve seen the pendulum swing back to apps. Native mobile apps, and now native desktop apps (with the Mac app store) are redefining software development. Now, your apps are snappier than ever, don’t require internet (ever tried pulling up a mobile site in a bathroom at work?), and have an amazing distribution channel that starts with app and ends with store. 

We have entered a software era where client access is becoming distributed. Phones, tablets, laptops, and desktops are now all mainstream methods to use software. If I’m walking down a hallway, I’ll be swyping on my Nexus S. When I get to my desk, I’ll switch to my MacBook Pro, and when I jump on a long flight, I’ll be typing on my iPad. I expect demand the absolute best user experience on each of these devices, and vote with my wallet for the company that will provide this. The fact that 37signals has decided against native apps puts them one foot into the obsolescence grave. In order to stay competitive, web companies now must provide for all devices. 

Also notable though, is their reasoning. I am a software developer and have worked with several languages and frameworks. I know what its like to develop with a framework you love, and are forced to program in a language you loathe. Running a business isn’t about enjoying a certain programming language; it’s about the enjoyment customers receive from using fantastic products.

37signals describes their reasoning against mobile apps and bringing on an in-house developer: “That’s a lot of specialization and we’re usually anti-specialization when it comes to development” but seems to completely contradict themselves in the next sentence: “we came to the conclusion that we would stick to what we are good at: web apps.” Sorry, but being good at web apps means that’s your speciality. You’re specialized, 37signals, and in an area that the market is getting away from. Yes, you created Ruby on Rails and love it. So do I, it makes web apps easy(ier). Get over it and learn something new, even if its outside your comfort zone.

The fact that 37signals is unwilling to adapt to a changing market (i.e. demand for native apps) shows their archaic mindset and lack of innovation.

It is not the strongest of companies that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change. 

How I’m funding my startup with a non-tech muse

If you’ve read Tim Ferriss’ The 4 Hour Work Week, then you are familiar with the residual income producing muse which he describes. Although I’ve never seen myself starting something like this (I’m more accustomed to the 104 hour work week), I have actually created a side business which is producing revenue to pay for my startup adventures. 

It’s BacklitClocks.com. Me and my partner, Payton, sell lighted clocks with printed faces for $120 a pop. Call me Flavor Flav, but I am generating non-trivial income from a set of distribution channels including a Shopify store.

Now I don’t recommend that everyone simply sets up a shop, hoping to make a quick buck off some drop-ship sales. You won’t. There is a set of particular circumstances that allow for this to thrive

For some more background information, the lighted clocks we sell are drop-shipped from a local manufacturer. I don’t carry inventory, and I don’t build the clocks. Hell, I don’t even own one. The manufacturer (a friend) is approaching half a million in sales; not bad for a guy working from his garage. 

The secret sauce of this enterprise is the market conditions. The clocks are reproductions of a popular ’60s “double-bubble” lighted clock brand called PAM. You’ll notice originals on eBay with a price tag of $500+. The target customers are price inelastic and will pay $120+ for our product. They want a piece of their past back.

One caveat is that the manufacturer has dozens of drop-shippers, all selling the same products for the same price. This causes a hyper-competitive market where the old-timers with lot’s of ratings and history always win. We had to differentiate as a new seller.

One form of differentiation I found successful was varying product channels. Go where no one else is selling your product. I recently read a blog post that mentioned a key to success is to “sell what Amazon isn’t.” This concept couldn’t be more true for us, since eBay is littered with the clocks. Instead, we have focused on smaller channels like Bonanza, Addoway and Amazon. Sure, Amazon isn’t exactly small, but their barriers to entry with UPC code requirements (I’ll save hacking this for another post) and monthly fees keep other sellers out. We could dominate certain markets simply by being the only seller. 

A more successful form of differentiation is creating exclusive products to be the only seller everywhere. We worked out a deal with the manufacturer to let me create some clock face designs for print. In order to eliminate the risk of printing clock faces that may never be sold, I created a Photoshop rendering that turned a ready-to-print art file into what appears to be a photograph of the clock. Between the clock face design, photo rendering, and channel uploading, we can go from idea to sales in less than an hour. That’s agile to a new level. 

Another trick was figuring out which clock designs would be winners. We’re still experimenting with this formula, but its a combination of high “product related” search traffic, existence of related collectibles for the subject (in the “luxury” price range), and how nostalgic the topic was. 

One success story was Bob’s Big Boy Restaurant. It’s a very popular, vintage market of collectibles. Several clocks already existed, but they were a low-quality production that weren’t back-lit. We created the design, uploaded to our channels, and sold them at $40 profit margins in less than a day. 

There’s different ways hack, and surprisingly being able to hack marketing is incredibly fun and profitable. 

3 Lessons from a Bootstrapped Startup

This post was originally featured on ThinkVitamin in December, 2010. Since my guest post had a positive impact, I wanted to also share it on my personal blog.

I have been bootstrapping my startup, OrangeSlyce, for the past 2 years. Saying I’ve learned many lessons is an understatement. However, I feel fortunate to be able to share this with other entrepreneurs. Some have been lessons reinforced by successes, others have been learned from failures.

I advocate that entrepreneurship is an area filled with so much noise that its difficult to distinguish the good advice from the bad. Not all advice is created equal, and we have certainly followed the wrong trail many times because of bad advice. In fact, I want to first offer a piece of advice on advice: trust your instincts. If the advice doesn’t sit well with you, don’t blindly follow it because Mr. Gray Hair with 40 years of experience says so. Chances are, his advice is for a time period that is long gone and won’t work in today’s environment. Make sure the advice you follow is relevant and from people who are GSD now. Taking advice from someone with 10 years of enterprise software sales in the 90s is probably not the path you should follow as a consumer web startup in 2011.

Lesson 1: Your first design will be ugly

All too often I find internet startups delay launching their site to “tweak the design” and improve the aesthetics. Your first design will be ugly. Several months down the road, you will be embarrassed that you even considered launching with the horrendous UI and color scheme. However, your first design shouldn’t matter. You should be solving such a huge need that users and customers will do anything to use your product to solve their needs. When your hair is on fire, the look of the firehouse doesn’t really matter. If poor usability or bland visual effects push away early adopters, then you haven’t actually solved an important problem (at which time you pivot). Early adopters will figure out your application. They will hack their way to using your service if need be. This isn’t to say to create unnecessary obstacles in your service, but delaying launching for design is never worth it. What’s a better signal than people hacking their way to understand your product?

Lesson 2: You will eat, sleep and breath your product launch

I find that most startup advice generally targets companies that have already launched but doesn’t really address entrepreneurs first trying to get an idea into fruition. If you are still at the idea-stage, everything you do should be focused around launching. I don’t have concrete data, but in my experience I see that most startups fail before they even start. Non-technical founders never find developers to build their product, and technical founders get caught up in features and miss the market opportunity after several years of development. As a pre-launch startup, you should eat, sleep and breath getting your product out. At this stage, there is no room in the company for anyone who doesn’t contribute to launching the product. Your business development person better close Excel and start testing, sketching mockups, and writing web copy. Simply launching a web product is a very difficult feat, and the whole team needs to be aligned to this single goal.

Lesson 3: You will stalk your customers

Advice #1 of any startup is to build a product that solves your own needs. The most successful consumer web startups are founded by people who personally experienced the problems they are trying to solve. 37Signals, Twitter, and even Facebook are a few examples of companies that developed a product that solved their own problems. Basecamp and Twitter actually started as internal company applications to solve contextual challenges. The 2 startups eventually realized that they could offer their solutions to the world. However, startups need to take this a step further because eventually you will probably evolve from being your own target customer. As a startup, you need to stalk your customers. You need to know what their passions are, what they do for fun, typical hangout places, their sleep schedules… You need to know your customers better than you know yourselves so you can always answer the question: What Would Customer Do?

Selling to small businesses is damn hard. Here’s How.

With my current startup company OrangeSlyce I’m constantly reminded that small businesses are an entirely different type of animal than most entrepreneurs are used to dealing with. I really like funny pictures of hybrid animals, like the rare bread of frocodille above. It reminds me of just how illogical small business owners can seem. However, there are a set of rules, that once understood, will catalyze your relationships and sales with small business owners. 

Now under this context, a small business is a very specific type of company. They aren’t startups. They aren’t run by entrepreneurs. They are the mom and pop, “Joe’s Coffee Shop” type of businesses. Sometimes called “lifestyle businesses,” owner’s of these companies are the Kings of their Castles. 

Small business owners are busy. Incredibly busy. Probably even busier than most startup CEOs. Part of this results from an aim for perfection. Small businesses are notorious for being control freaks, making it very difficult to outsource work and hire employees to take a load off. 

Small business owners are impatient. This isn’t inherently a bad trait, but merely a signal of how important timeliness is to them. I once had a referral call me 5 times and leave 5 voicemails in one day. Literally, 5 voicemails, before I had the chance to talk to call him once. I don’t think I’ve even had any lady friends be that persistent. Was he rude or upset? Absolutely not. He just really wanted to talk to me right then so I could solve his problems. Hell, he was probably waiting by the phone for my call all night. 

Small business owners are scared of technology. It’s not that they are scared technology will take over their business, or they won’t be able to adapt. They are just scared of what they don’t know. They are also incredibly impatient (see above) and won’t spend the time to learn. Besides, technology generally has nothing to do with their product and is a context they don’t need to bother with. 

Small business owners are prideful. It’s quite the norm for small business owners to develop an emotional connection to their product or service. Remember, the reason they started their business is because they knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that they could make the best damn cup of coffee ever. Or the be the best damn accountant ever. Whatever it is they do, they do it incredibly well and know it. In fact most small businesses will sacrifice growth for perfection. 

Small business owners are loyal. The most important quality of a small business owner is that they are loyal in almost a illogical way. I’ve approached a colleague with a vendor that was more than 50% off of what he was currently paying for a part. I said, “Why are you still paying 2x when you could be buying the parts on this website.” All he said was “Because I’m loyal to them. They have built trust with me and I can depend on them.” You won’t see that loyalty anywhere else in business. 

So here’s some tips I’ve learned when selling to small businesses:

Be attentive. Answer emails within 2 hours, preferably even giving a call. If you are one of those that only checks emails 2x per day, or doesn’t respond to emails on weekends or nights, suck it up and deal with it because your competitors will. Every hour that goes by is a point that says “You’re not important, Mr. Small Business Owner.” 

Be nice. A friendly smile, enjoyable personality, and simply being a nice guy (or gal) goes a long ways. I’ve been told many times, “Sean, you’re not the cheapest, nor the most experienced consultant I’ve hired. But you are by far the most enjoyable to work with and that’s why I won’t ever leave you.” Being a likable, social person will push you further than you thought possible. 

Be patient. Simply put, you need to compensate for their impatience. You may need to zip up your (wo)man suit and take a bit of abuse or yelling. Oftentimes, the cause of the yelling isn’t your fault at all. Deal with it. Learn to stop letting your emotions get into business. All you have to do is say “I’m really sorry this happened. What can I do to make this right.” Dogs are amazing at this. You can yell at them all day long and they’ll still give you that complacent, happy, slobbery look.

Be like a dog, minus the slobbering.