December 2013 Summaries

The Zapier blog's journey from a small, non-existent readership to a valuable resource for customers is a story of experimentation and improvement. In June 2013, the team decided to get serious about creating high-quality content to build a sustainable readership. They analyzed successful blogs from other companies, such as Moz and Unbounce, and implemented changes to increase the quality and consistency of their content. The results were promising, with a significant increase in readership and engagement over the next few quarters. Despite some setbacks, including inconsistent posting and relying too heavily on individual hits, the team persevered and continued to refine their strategy. By focusing on creating top-notch content, designating a theme for each month, experimenting with guest posts, and sharing results to help others learn from their success and mistakes, Zapier aims to continue growing its blog into a reliable marketing channel in 2014.

Hello Santa`, an app that offers live video calls with Santa Claus, has given thousands of kids around the world a chance to chat with Jolly Old Saint Nick. The four-month-old startup behind the app, `Make Believe Lab`, created it after a three-year-old boy asked his father if he could FaceTime with Santa. The team conducted market research using Amazon Mechanical Turk and found that parents were looking for a realistic and authentic-looking Santa experience. With the help of Zapier, they automated their customer support by running queries on new lines in their SQL database and triggering actions in Zendesk and Mandrill. They also experimented with different features, such as offering recorded videos for purchase after calls. The app has become an instant sensation, earning its first press coverage within two weeks of launch and receiving positive reviews from parents and kids alike.

This guide provides a step-by-step process for creating and delivering an engaging talk, from determining audience demographics to crafting a compelling message and practicing the presentation. The author shares their personal experience of preparing for their first talk and offers practical tips on how to overcome common challenges such as writing a talk from scratch, using slides effectively, and handling nerves on stage. The guide emphasizes the importance of storytelling, clarity, and pacing in delivering an effective talk, and provides suggestions for improving presentation skills through practice and feedback.

Zapier has unveiled a new web app with over 250 integration partners, enhancing its capabilities as a versatile tool for connecting various online services. The platform's recent updates aim to simplify user experience with a redesigned dashboard, an easier Zap creator, and a mobile-optimized interface, making it more accessible across devices. Key features include improved task history tracking, the ability to replay failed tasks, and support for connecting multiple accounts, all of which contribute to making Zapier a powerful solution for integrating and automating workflows. The company has also streamlined its settings page and expanded its help resources to assist users more effectively. Additionally, Zapier's blog has been revamped to focus on productivity and workflow best practices, resulting in a significant increase in its readership. Looking forward, Zapier plans to continue expanding its service offerings and tools to cater to user demands, ensuring a comprehensive and seamless integration experience.

The all-powerful spreadsheet can sometimes be a hindrance to business processes, especially when dealing with non-numeric data that becomes cumbersome to manage. Launchpad LA, a top startup accelerator in Southern California, learned this lesson the hard way after relying on spreadsheets to track applicants for their mentorship and accelerator programs. The process became increasingly difficult as the number of applications grew, prompting Kyle Taylor, former director of operations, to search for software solutions that could streamline the applicant tracking process. After trying various options, he discovered Asana and Zapier, which enabled him to automate tasks such as assigning selection committee members responsibilities, note next steps, and pare down applicants to just eight startups per class. The new system has saved Launchpad a "ton of time" and made the process more efficient, allowing the accelerator to expand its programs and support over 40 companies.

Profiling and optimizing Python code can be essential when dealing with performance bottlenecks, despite the common wisdom to avoid premature optimization. The text discusses various tools and techniques to identify and address slow parts of code effectively. It begins with simple timing methods, which are easy to use across languages but can be overly simplistic for complex codebases. The built-in profiler offers a more powerful alternative for high-level checks, though it can be challenging to interpret and lacks detailed insights. For deeper analysis, the text recommends using the line profiler, which provides comprehensive reports on code execution but comes with the overhead that can slow down execution time. The process of optimization often reveals inefficiencies such as unnecessary repeated function calls or poor data structure choices, allowing for straightforward corrections. However, the text cautions against over-optimization, suggesting that sometimes accepting slowness or employing caching might be more practical. Ultimately, maintaining readable code is preferable to making it slightly faster, and the enjoyment of optimization should be balanced with code clarity.