Now we get a lot of CV’s across our desks each week. Some good, some bad, but I can honestly say I’m quite impressed with the entrepreneurial spirit and creativity shown in the CV below.
It’s not just that he took out a big ad in the paper, but the sheer brute honesty and positive spin that I admire. I hope someone can see past his previous business ‘flaws’ and that he stays straight.
This was in the Toronto Financial Post in Feb, 2001.
Note: John Walley is Chairman and a Director of ProActive Software Ltd, developers of the leading project management software www.proworkflow.com. John is involved with strategic planning and governance.
“A little while ago Julian asked me a question that ended up in this blog – not that I am one to blog. You will see from the PWF website I am on the high side of fifty and not “techie” in the “Twitter” sense of the word. However at a functional level I was using email regularly in the early 90’s and I get nostalgic about DOS (in the operating system sense).
Anyhow out of the blue or maybe after a session of me wondering out loud about the utility of channels like Twitter, the following question from Julian hit my inbox.”
I’ve just read a brilliant post talking about how hard it is to actually run a startup and the stresses and challenges we all face. This is one of the most candid posts I’ve read on the topic. I know for us it’s been a long hard slog and there’s still a way to go. Every day is a battle to some degree, but a battle worth fighting.
Whether it’s hard customers, lack of sales, server trouble, cash flow or staff, being in business is all about knocking over obstacles and pushing forward when there’s many reasons not to. The reward comes down the track – not on day 1.
I’ve been getting some mixed reports from customers about the current economy and stat of business. I thought it’d be interesting to ask my fellow tweeters how it’s affecting them. Here’s just a few of the replies… Click the screenshots to see their Twitter accounts:
Continue reading about A simple Twitter poll on the economy. Let’s see what people really think.
Every now and then a comment you say or hear just hits you… I was tweeting away on Twitter and said the following comment:
“Small” is the new “Big” in the global economy. Big is slow, small is fast!
Now I realize that this is a hugely gross generalization etc, but there was some depth to it. Many of the people I talk to in the software realm (many are CEO’s of small/med co’s) are massively feeling the pinch. Sales are down, traffic, expenses up etc. But there’s one thing that stands out. Few of them seem to realize that they have a competitive advantage in being small.
They are able to rapidly change product development, marketing approaches, simplify and automate admin and processes etc.
They’re not so big that reviewing expenses is a a chore, ie: Now’s a good time to review hosting providers, communications providers as they’re not ‘pinned down’ by the administrative and bureaucratic weight of 100,000+ customers.
This is a fantastic time to tweak product or brand focus, trim expenses or change strategic direction. The big players in the market can’t make such changes easily due to the huge bureaucracy, process and resource headaches that follow.
The small can move faster and position themselves better in the market, and the market is definitely changing. Those who don’t adapt will be affected. Small and fast is good!
