2010
26 notes published in 2010
-
Eric Ries at Stanford: evangelizing for the lean startup
Eric Ries's talk at Stanford (September 2009, one hour), before his book: rapid-fire lessons on building nimble software businesses, streamlining …
-
Dropbox’s original Y Combinator application
The application Drew Houston sent to Y Combinator in 2007, published by YC: what Dropbox would make, a service that synchronises files across computers …
-
Apps should be priced for a smaller, engaged audience willing to pay
Apps should be priced for a smaller, engaged audience willing to pay, rather than for the mass market.
-
Expedia: how one extra data field cost $12 million
Expedia's analysts wondered why many customers who clicked « Buy Now » never completed the purchase. The cause was an optional « Company » field under the …
-
Scalability Best Practices: Lessons from Randy Shoup @eBay
You will find this list interesting if you are involved in designing and building large scale web applications. It’s the scalability best practices, written by …
-
Why so many people can’t make decisions
The Wall Street Journal (2010): some people see the world in black and white, others in shades of grey. Researchers call the second group's conflicting …
-
How not to crowdsource: the Gap logo debacle
Doug Williams (Forrester), October 2010: Gap unveiled a new logo, faced an outcry on social media, then asked its fans to submit their own designs before …
-
The origins of good ideas (Steven Johnson)
Steven Johnson, in The Wall Street Journal (2010): good ideas are bricolage, networks of other ideas put together with the parts at hand. His example is …
-
Ways to harness collective intelligence on the web
Flemming Funch relays Dion Hinchcliffe's five ways for web software to harness collective intelligence, starting with becoming the hub of a …
-
Hunch: What does your Facebook account have to do with ice cream flavors ?
Or what does having a Facebook account have to do with the ice cream flavor I might like ? Well, I am not sure, but if it …
-
Apple doesn’t target markets, it targets people
GigaOM (2010): companies adopt the iPad without Apple marketing to them, because Apple does not target markets as others do, it targets people, lets them …
-
Design lessons from 21 case studies in conversion rate optimization
Moz: every site has its own conversion goals, so best practices never guarantee results. Drawing on more than a thousand split tests, the author shows …
-
How limitations improve design
Webdesigner Depot: designers complain about constraints, yet too much freedom is not always good. Limiting colours, typography and size forces choices and …
-
What happened to Yahoo, by Paul Graham
Paul Graham, who joined Yahoo when it bought his startup in 1998, explains what went wrong: easy money from advertising, which hid problems and let the …
-
Marketing by sharing, a talk by Jason Fried
Jason Fried, co-founder of 37signals, the makers of Basecamp: rather than spending on advertising, a company can grow by sharing what it knows, teaching …
-
Behavioural targeting and recommender engines
Director magazine (2010): behavioural targeting reads browsing habits to predict what consumers want, from online dating, where the psychologist Gavin …
-
The pros and cons of A/B testing for startups
ReadWriteStart (2010): A/B testing tells startups a lot about their users' habits, beyond visual design. But relying too heavily on it to reach perfection …
-
Steve Jobs’ 2005 Stanford commencement address
Steve Jobs' commencement address at Stanford in 2005 (15 minutes): three stories from his life, about connecting the dots, love and loss, and death …
-
The five basic stories that give your speeches power
Nick Morgan, in Forbes (2010): five story archetypes connect with any audience, the quest, the stranger in a strange land, rags to riches, the love story …
-
Twitter search: now relevant
Previously, Twitter search results were only offered according to time, not any form of relevancy. “We want to make real-time search even more valuable by …
-
10 useful usability findings and guidelines
Dmitry Fadeyev (Smashing Magazine, 2009) sums up ten research findings: form labels work best above fields, users focus on faces, design quality signals …
-
Business plans vs business models (Steve Blank)
Steve Blank (2010): no plan survives first contact with customers. A business plan is a static document written before the facts; a startup should instead …
-
It is about the users
I recommend reading ‘The design of everyday things’ by Donald Norman. The book convey a very rich idea. The idea is about putting the user …
-
Loyalty lessons from Lady Gaga
Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba (Church of the Customer, 2010): beyond her stage shows and outfits, Lady Gaga's rise owes much to loyalty marketing, the …
-
You, your privacy and your digital footprint
Image by alancleaver_2000 via Flickr Yesterday, I was invited to the You+technology event organised by Olswang, a tech/media law firm. The event regrouped an interesting mix …
-
Social media at work – breakfast with WebJam
This morning webjam breakfast was organised to trigger the discussion on the use of social media in the context of work. The small group was …
