Jeff Widman's Comments

Jeff Widman (.com) : Speaking at TEDx Zagreb in a few hours...

Tue, 20 Apr 2010 05:54:56 +0000

Yeah--looks like I'm stranded here 'til Friday... not a bad place to be stranded! Except the opportunity cost of missing some conferences in the US is rather high...

PeteSearch : Class, and why I left Britain

Thu, 1 Apr 2010 03:01:39 +0000

like :-)

Jeff Widman (.com) : what i've learned from using a virtual assistant

Thu, 7 Jan 2010 19:25:41 +0000

FYI everyone--your choice of VA IS what makes/breaks this one. In my case, Katie was a personal friend and we worked together for several years at a Christian camp... From that, I trusted her character, and knew she was exceptionally gifted with administrative skills... When I decided last year to that I need an assistant, I called her up (she was a junior in college at the time), said "would you like some work, extremely flexible hours, and I'll pay you more than you'd make anywhere else right now. Plus you tell me what skill sets you want to learn, and I'll try to make it happen..." Yeah--a professional VA would be a bit more expensive (although I know some who charge around $20 an hour and live in North America and are very talented). But Katie's EXTREMELY good at what she does, we trained each other, and she has a job she loves, that pays more than any other college student job... So if you know the right college student--trust their character and their competence--then build the system using my templates and they'll quickly figure it out...

Owocki dot com : Does relying too heavily on analytics make you miss your next big breakthrough?

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 19:07:04 +0000

Agreed Kevin--great answer! If you're not already on it, the leanstartupcircle.com e-mail list discusses Lean Startups + the role of analytics--best part is people occasionally submit really useful case studies of what they tried and learned...

Colorado Startups : Eric Ries - Lean Startup coming to Boulder

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 21:14:38 +0000

Cool--you're in for a real treat David!

Jeff Widman (.com) : Questions for which I've heard neither concise nor comprehensive answers...

Wed, 3 Jun 2009 01:58:30 +0000

Great answer Sean... I find it easy to find leverage points, very difficult to identify how a system is responding to shifts I make in the lever. Hence the question. And great paper too--thx for the link!

Jeff Widman (.com) : Painting corners: How do you make decisions when your choices have unknown pros/cons?

Sat, 30 May 2009 04:28:29 +0000

I tried a pro/con chart, and it wasn't solving it for me because so often I didn't know the probabilities of the pros/cons occurring. A weighted pro/con makes sense though.

Michael Hyatt Blog : Firefox Add-in: Tr.im URL Shortener

Thu, 28 May 2009 23:46:32 +0000

thx Mike--switching now from Bit.ly

Owocki dot com : Why do so many entrepreneurs run?

Tue, 19 May 2009 23:48:17 +0000

Agreeing wholeheartedly Kevin! The people I like to run with are able to find adventure/opportunities wherever they go--and rarely the "track/stopwatch" type runners... and yet they simultaneously are able to put one foot in front of the other when tired/bored.

Jeff Widman (.com) : Five obvious statements about business

Tue, 5 May 2009 05:21:13 +0000

@Glenn - Thx. I really like the Mint marketing team, so it should be a good fit. @sucapo - Great question! Constrain the inputs (time, budget, etc) and the desired outputs (# of pageviews, price, etc). Don't constrain the process between the input and the output--creativity will happen naturally here. The more specific you are on inputs and outputs, the more likely you are to see creative alternatives (perhaps inputs you didn't realize you had--or ways that perhaps you can partner with others by restructuring the incentives.)

Jeff Widman (.com) : Just Learned A Friend Died--Three Nights Ago He Was Telling Me What Mattered In Life

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 19:46:20 +0000

Thanks guys. I was talking with a friend last night--about lessons from living with no regrets. There's a tension at times between actions I'll take now without regret, but perhaps regret later. Rollan's life was a testament to a guy who never stopped adventuring, but never sacrificed time with his kids.

Feld Thoughts : Daily Reading As The Year Winds Down

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 21:21:51 +0000

Thanks for the link to the Agile post Brad--the comments on that article are fascinating...

Jeff Widman (.com) : Learning by Doing: Jeff Widman interviews Charlie Hoehn & Aidan Nulman about interning with Seth

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 05:25:38 +0000

Thanks Glenn!

The Devver Blog : Product Management with Niel Robertson

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 00:15:45 +0000

Nice stuff Dan--thanks for showing me this!!

VC Adventure : Management

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 01:57:25 +0000

Seth--thanks for posting this... I've seen it true in my own experience, but always wondered whether others experience corroborated this.

Jeff Widman (.com) : For my friends & family--here's what I'm up to...

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 18:59:01 +0000

Thanks Allan!

Colorado Startups : Now that's how you build an angel network

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 03:37:08 +0000

This reminds me of a my friend Charlie's post on Marketing: http://charliehoehn.com/2008/10/21/one-shot-one-k... "But when it comes to building relationships and earning trust, the internet is steroid-free." Sounds true of any trust-oriented network...

Colorado Startups : The New Fuser - Your unified inbox

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 18:39:49 +0000

Sounds quite interesting--thanks for the heads up David!

Jeff Widman (.com) : Even basic rhythms take practice

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 14:17:19 +0000

Thanks Kyle! The more I'm around smart people, the more I have to listen!

Jeff Widman (.com) : Distraction:Flailing::Denial:Finishing

Thu, 2 Oct 2008 09:59:56 +0000

Thanks guys--I'll post eventually on the smart way to say no--use a filter to create a dip, rather than a brick wall.