On Wednesday nights, I break my #earlytobedearlytoshred routine and take the time to dive into accumulated Pocket bookmarks, a folder of auto-archived newsletters like those from people like: James, Ross, Azeem, Kristel & Celine, Nalden & Joachim.
The HR theme on James' caught my attention and struck a chord with a recent conversation topic I've been having leading up to and since our Our two year party on Friday: you have to put the time in.
I was lucky to be in a group convo during SaaS Meetup Amsterdam last week discussing community building with people from Anna from Sendgrid, Martijn from Revue, Gerben from Bright City, Wout from TQ and Chris of Innovation Nest (that organized the event).
Community sounds like something that takes time right? Being a startup event, (even one focused on SaaS B2B sales) I think its often easy for people to realize growth hacking, savvy tips and proven tricks can always move the needle rapidly. It takes time.
From the weekly early rides I do to the bi-monthly speaker series I co-organize to the subscribers of this newsletter to the inbound leads we field daily at our company. It took years to build those community connections. You have to pay it forward, reciprocate and, often, just wait.
Don't forget that you not only have to put the time in but you should want to as well.
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As always, thanks for reading!
Cycling
Lester Cycles
My good friend Lester Janssen has launched his own brand & produced his two first frames. They are on display at the Rapha Clubhouse here in Amsterdam.
Learn more about Lester and the bikes he crafts here.
Follow Lester Cycles on Instagram
CX Racing in Uithoorn by Elena Bris on Exposure
My friend Elena took some snaps at Sunday's CX race here outside of Amsterdam. More photos here by Klaas Groot en Hamish Morrin. This Sunday will be out my club's track in Sloten!
Haiku navigation bike computer is gesture controlled
Our client, Haiku, makes an urban bike computer offering navigation from your smartphone and controlled with gestures of the hand. They earned a mention on road.cc & many of the comments are actual haikus. So good!
Attending CES? Let us know!
Haiku will be there for the 1st time!
Startups
Simon Sinek on Millennials in the Workplace
This worthwhile watch is an excerpt of Simon Sinek's interview from an episode of Inside Quest.
I dare you to disagree. ; )
Revue makes email newsletters personal again
A few months ago Steve O'Hear decided hr wanted to start an email newsletter where he'd share links to everything he'd written each week, reports from events he had attended..
Niels de Hoog - Thoughts, stories and ideas.
Last month, my bud Niels & his girlfriend spent two weeks in Zanzibar to learn Swahili. They decided to go through an organization that their friends had recommended, called World Unite. This turned out to be a mistake...
Click for the story but also consider Niels for iOS/Mac dev work too!
Sales
16 Things to Get IPO Ready (or Just Build a Really Strong Business)
From section 10:
the combined engine of product, sales, and marketing provides critical inputs to the financial forecast guidance used to set investor expectations. The professionals who help set these targets should be the very ones to help meet them.
14 email marketing mistakes to avoid
Email marketers and small business owners share their tips on how to decrease the likelihood of your emails being immediately deleted by prospective and existing customers.
Silicon Valley Has an Empathy Vacuum
Back in issue 26 I linked to an article about how empathy is the most important skill you can practice. And in issue 59:
empathy is repaid with the buyer’s trust.
And empathy was the intro theme of issue 44.
This New Yorker piece by Om Malik nails it.
Radness
the F O U R | Joachim Baan | Abel
Named with a nod to the Dutch adventurer Abel Tasman, the first European to discover New Zealand in 1642. Abel was founded in Amsterdam by New Zealander Frances Shoemack with a simple goal - to create the world’s best natural perfume.
Each month they ask one their favourite people 4 questions.
This month they interviewed my friend Joachim.
As always, very inspiring stuff.