first month - and the wind's picking up!

it's exactly a month now (and i apologize... only 4 blog posts) since we're out "at sea". and i can feel how the wind is slowly but surely picking up! what have we done so far? quite a lot. the spectrum ranges from work on our prototype, analysis of the competitive landscape, improving our businessplan, drafting contracts, meetings with potential investors, partners, other swiss start-up entrepreneurs and companies such as smagoo, colayer, givawine, realxstream, iturn.tv, vergleiche.ch, swisscom innovations, bluewin.ch. connections that have mainly been enabled through organizations such as venturelab, technopark luzern or the easy-going local venture cocktail initiated and supported by elizabeth perry, trigami's remo uherek, red herring's farley duvall and my business partner prodosh banerjee.

so, definitely a fun, interesting life, but quite a challenge not to lose focus and end up using time like the content of a Streu mi, a swiss herbal mix used to season whatever's eatable... i'll be back soon.

digital desktop

i came to realize that the most basic question running a "virtual" office is how to optimize one's information flow. you probably receive most of your information through the internet. So it really pays to think about setting up a personalized interface to the web. e.g. to access your mailbox, your favorite newsfeeds, blogs, your favorite social networking provider, the local weather forecast, you name it. just think of yourself being a pilot who has to design his cockpit to get a comprehensive and realtime overview of all relevant information.

below find a few independent and free "startpage" providers (not part of google, microsoft or yahoo) you should check out

www.netvibes.com
www.pageflakes.com
www.protopage.com
www.webwag.com

entrepreneurial vs. corporate life

it’s one week now since i’m unemployed. it feels a bit like having left a harbour where i learnt quite a lot about life out at sea (and the harbour inns around bahnhofstrasse ;-). now our nutshell is taking us out. we know that we want to reach a mostly undiscovered continent and we’ll either succeed, sink or become robinson crusoes somewhere on a distant island. life feels like an adventure again and i like it!

let me tell you the 9 differences so far.

freedom: we’re free to do what we think is best, to steer our nutshell wherever we think is right. there are no reporting lines, directives or other limits to our thinking. everything goes.
skills: in our current team of three, every skill counts. there are no helpdesks and no company internal specialists anymore. is it in handling communication devices, calculating the latest revenue model or thinking about promoting our platform in a web 2.0 environment. whatever the task, every brain has to be in the game. creativity and flexibility are required more than ever.
attentiveness: opportunity costs have become an important component of our thinking. our senses are more alert than ever to catch the even smallest thing that could be of importance to succeed. we constantly look out not to miss any opportunities or threats.
working hours: my day starts later. no getting up at 6.30 to be in the office at 7. i take myself more time in the morning; to go for a run, read the newspaper and some internet publications. a day usually lasts longer and goes well up to midnight. a weekend hasn’t got the same meaning anymore. it just represents another two working days. somehow my mind is always grinding.
discussions: we have tons of inspiring and solution driven discussions with other entrepreneurs, potential partners, investors and of course within our team. we get to know people of all disciplines: graphic designers, economists, lawyers, cooks, doctors, IT specialists etc. most are dedicated to their vision, a product or a service they want to sell.
no office: there’s no office no more. all work i do takes place either at home, in a café, a hotel lobby, a train station or wherever there’s a place to sit, discuss and connect to the internet.
clothes: i wear whatever makes me feel most comfortable. mostly flip flops and my cargo pants . i of course look like a good old banker again when we meet up with business partners;-)
age: age plays no role. unlike corporate life, age plays no role no more. there’s no hidden hierarchy linked to certain age brackets. and less politics. the intelligent, sales-driven and fast get to play.

so where’s the downside??

no revenues yet! prix garantie and mbudget have therefore become quite present brands!!