The Fantastic Scent of Decay

Fall is upon us here in the Northeast. Sitting outside on the deck this evening, the first wafts of herbaceous decay hit my nose. It is such a fantastic scent – even as it conjures some melancholy thoughts.

One of the scents I wear now and then is a combination of two CB I Hate Perfume accords, that together, more than casually, imply all that is good about the smell of “fall decay”:

Wild Hunt is the scent of an ancient forest in the heat of a summer afternoon. It is a blend of Torn Leaves, Crushed Twigs, Flowing Sap, Fallen Branches, Old Leaves, Green Moss, Fir, Pine and Tiny Mushrooms.

 

Burning Leaves is the smoke of burning maple leaves – pure & simple.

Informed Stakeholders FTW

Keep your stakeholders informed! Many early-stage entrepreneurs lose sight of the importance of keeping their investors, shareholders, advisors, and even directors (really – I’ve seen it happen!) updated on the state of the business on a regular basis.

One of the companies I am a stakeholder in is Baydin, and Baydin’s CEO is the inimitable Alex Moore. I first met Alex when Baydin applied to the inaugural class of TechStars Boston in 2009. He was easy to be impressed with, and as he progressed through TechStars – and now years beyond – his mad-skillz have continued to shine brighter and brighter. Hopefully he’s blushing now 🙂 . Because Alex does such a great job of it, and with his permission, I used his updates as a guide to build a template and to share advice on what sharp entrepreneurs might want to do vis-a-vis keeping their stakeholders clued-in.

Why should you keep stakeholders informed? 

You want to share information with your stakeholders so they can help you. Help is good! You always can leverage help! If your stakeholders know what’s going on, they can help you steer the ship, maybe help it move faster, or maybe keep you from ramming an iceberg!

Which stakeholders should you keep informed?

Well, that is of course entirely up to you, dear CEO. Some of your investors may have “information rights”, so they would likely be recipients of regular updates. Certainly your Board of Directors are candidates as well. Your co-founders and large-shareholder employees may also be on the list. Perhaps any advisors to your company you feel could be helpful reacting to the information. Your attorneys and bankers may be part of the distribution. Really, it’s up to you to sort this out. Be careful to include people who deserve to know this info (legally or ethically) and be careful not to share too arbitrarily (“loose lips sink ships” and all that jazz).

Note that this article uses the word “stakeholder” rather than “shareholder” on purpose, as some stakeholders may not be shareholders, and some shareholders may not need the information we’re talking about.

How often should you update stakeholders?

In my experience, this is driven by (a) legal requirements and/or (b) company stage. If you have raised debt, you may have certain covenants on your note(s) that require sharing data regularly with your lender(s). As mentioned above, some or all of your investors may have varying legal “information rights” that require you to share data. For most folks though, your frequency of updates should be a function of your stage and/or stability. You probably don’t want to do full-bore updates every week, as it’s just too damn time consuming. Maybe you should share some automated daily or weekly reports about your KPIs, but nothing that you have to put together hyper-manually. If you measure your runway in years, updates every other month or quarterly should probably be adequate. If you measure your runway in months, every other month or monthly might be more proper. if you’re going through a big rough patch, err on the side of monthly. Like many things in business, there’s a potential win in under-promising and over-delivering. Whatever you do, don’t promise weekly updates and deliver quarterly updates, duh.

What should I share with my stakeholders?

Glad you asked! This was the proverbial piece of sand that incited this pearl of a missive. Here and below you can link to a Google Doc presentation that contains what I think is appropriate for a periodic update from an early stage company. There are NOTES on each slide that explain what is supposed to be in there and what things (hopefully) mean. I’ll leave you in the gdoc, as my work is done here (for now!).

Stakeholder Update Template

If you have any comments, questions, gripes, etc., please LMK! Happy to cycle on this thing in the interest of receiving and generating better updates!

Special thanks to Steve Kane and Chris Heidelberger who helped me through an uber-annoying brain fart I experienced while writing this, and to Leon Noel who provided feedback as I ‘genericized’ the template. Extra-special thanks, of course, to Alex Moore (roll tide!).

Unhate

I recently re-stumbled across this ad campaign and wanted to do a quick blog post on it for those who might not have seen it originally. I was spurred on to finally create this post by Facebook God, who recently asked for suggestions on new commandments – to which I instinctively suggested “Thou shall not hate.”

Started by Benetton Group, Unhate is a foundation which “seeks to contribute to the creation of a new culture against hate.” Tough to argue with that goal, IMO. In 2011 they released a campaign of world leaders smooching. Yes, they are thusly dated a bit. Some of the images sparked shitstorms. Why the outrage? Well, because of ‘hate,’ that’s why. I think they’re all stupendous. Enjoy!

North Korean President Kim Jong-il & South Korean President Lee Myung-bak

US President Barack Obama & Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez

Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu & President of the State of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas

Pope Benedict XVI & Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ahmed el-Tayeb

French President Nicolas Sarkozy & German Chancellor Angela Merkel

Paramount Leader of the People’s Republic of China & President of the USA

Meet Sabo. Our newest family member!

Sabo

Please meet Sabo! He joined our family this afternoon and is VERY happy thus far! His name is pronounced SAY-bo. Sabo is a nearly-one-year-old doggie who hails originally from down south, N’awlins way. He was a stray that was taken in and fostered south of the Mason-Dixon for a few weeks and then transported up to MA via the PHENOMENAL folks at S.H.A.R.E. New England. Sabo is a mutt. We think he has some Chow in him and some Golden Retriever – and who knows what else. We don’t really care much. What we DO care about is that he’s apparently the happiest, cutest, friendliest, loviest creature on the planet! He’s basically a fifty-pound lap dog who can take every bit of affection you can dole out – and then some 🙂 .

Wish us luck!

Chanel = Whiskey = Goo

Listen, let’s come down to reality. Jacque Polge’s job with Chanel No. 5 is not to make the same goo week in and week out. Because the truth of the matter is, the flowers you pick this month are going to be different than the flowers you pick next month – you can’t change that. So part of the perfumer’s job has always been to blend the old with the new to make sure there is a consistent standard. It’s no different than the Whiskey blenders that have to do the same thing. – Michael Edwards

A Driving Epiphany

I had an epiphany last week. I had an epiphany about driving.

Over the past 15 years or so, I’ve been lucky enough to drive and/or own some of the finest motor vehicles ever conceived of by humankind. From top-of-the-line, ultra-luxe sedans to world-record-setting, exotic sports cars. A number of years back, I totally lost my interest in what my dear wife always referred to as “stupid cars”. It got to the point where I’d see a neat car – be it a Ferrari, a Bentley, or whatnot – and I’d admire it casually but feel absolutely no interest in possessing or driving it. None whatsoever.

My assumption was simply that I’d gotten this “stupid car” thing “out of my system.” But it turns out that’s not what happened.

My epiphany happened as I watched a white 2013 Chevy Camaro ZL1 convertible take an off ramp on the opposite side of the highway I was on. I thought “hey – that’s a cool lookin’ droptop.” And then it hit me. Like a load of bricks.

I don’t dislike cool cars. I’m simply totally fucking sick of driving.

Driving is a chore. It’s a dollar- and time-expensive inefficiency. Gas. Maintenance. Parking. Insurance. Traffic. Accidents. Tolls. Law enforcement. Idiot drivers. Stupid bicyclists and pedestrians. BLEH!!! At one point I got joy out of it – but no longer. I’d rather spend that time with my family, playing with our cats, working, listening to music, geeking out, sitting in the sun, or, frankly, doing just about anything else.

So starting this week, I’m going to stop driving any more than I absolutely have to. The MBTA commuter rail train will get me into town. I’m gonna get my bicycle back in shape and ride to the train station. I’ll run errands when I have to – but bundled together to minimize trips and maximize efficiency. We can walk to our downtown when we have errands there. Providing taxi service for the kids isn’t entirely optional, but those tend to be super-short trips and we can do better with them. We’ll see how it goes.

Something tells me I’m gonna be a happier camper! Wish me luck!

Meet Milo :-)

About a week or so ago we started foster-parenting Milo. Milo is a two year old boy kitty who started his life in a rough way, on the streets of Boston. When he was found, they thought he was a female kitty ‘cuz he was taking care of an abandoned kitten.

milo2

We took him in and are falling in love with him. He has what we refer to as “insta-purr” – the minute you touch him he’s happy as a clam being pet, rubbed, scratched, and otherwise paid attention to. He’s a HUGE galoot running about 20 pounds – and he doesn’t have that much weight to lose – he’s just a big damn cat! He’s a serious sweetheart of a cat. Off-the-charts loving and lovable.

Unfortunately he’s FIV positive – a result of living on the streets for so long. Apparently as much as five percent of the cat population is FIV positive now. It’s not dangerous to humans, but it’s a bummer for all involved. We’re keeping him isolated from the other cats – though he’s had a few carefully-supervised excursions throughout the house.

Pelase say hi! Meow!