June 2014 Summaries

As a startup founder, managing an influx of emails is inevitable, but cutting down on unnecessary emails can help maintain order in your inbox. Successful people handle this by implementing strategies such as processing new emails immediately, using separate inboxes for external and internal emails, and separating emails into zones to manage time and energy more efficiently. Additionally, automating tasks like email triage and writing shorter, more focused emails can also be effective. By trying out these tips, individuals can reduce their email load, increase productivity, and maintain a sense of control over their inbox.

When two powerful tools, such as Zapier and GoToWebinar, are combined to create an automated workflow, they can lead to impressive results. Unbounce's experience with this combination is particularly notable, having seen a 1,000% increase in sign-ups for their webinars when using Zapier to connect with their landing pages. The company's director of marketing, Georgiana Laudi, attributes this success to the inclusion of key elements on their webinar landing page, including a unique selling proposition, hero shot, benefits, social proof, and call to action. By incorporating these elements and leveraging automation tools like Zapier, businesses can optimize their webinars for maximum conversion rates and acquisition.

When joining LinkedIn in 2004, the author was initially confused about why people would publicly endorse and introduce him to others. However, he quickly gained a reputation as "the guy who knows everything about LinkedIn" and began running educational events to help others tap into its value. Despite improvements in LinkedIn's technology and features over the years, many users are still struggling to use it effectively. The author offers five things that work: personalizing invitations, reverse self-promoting by sharing others' success stories, tracking who listens to your posts, doubling down on connections across multiple platforms, and pruning one's network to focus on quality connections. By following these strategies, users can improve their LinkedIn experience and build meaningful relationships with others.

The Pushbullet app has gained significant engagement on its subreddit, with over 1,400 active users who contribute to the community and provide support for the company. The founder, Ryan Oldenburg, attributes this success to the fact that Reddit's existing culture allows users to take ownership of the forum, reducing the need for moderation and creating a more organic experience. Pushbullet's decision to host its user support on Reddit rather than its own website has been a key factor in its success, allowing the company to tap into Reddit's existing community and leverage their passion and expertise to provide better customer support. The subreddit has become an essential channel for the company to engage with users, gather feedback, and share updates, making it a valuable asset for Pushbullet's growth and development.

Lifehacker founder Gina Trapani uses a plain text editor called Todo.txt to manage her to-dos, applying David Allen's Getting Things Done approach by tagging each task with project and context information. John Henry Müller, a designer at Pack, uses a simple routine to set expectations for a productive day, writing three sentences in plain text each morning. Zach Holman, one of GitHub's first engineering hires, keeps track of tasks as desktop files, while Nathan Kontny adds Markdown support to his writing app Draft. Bernie Michalik, an IT architect, uses a spreadsheet method with multiple columns to organize his tasks. Merlin Mann, a blogger, created the "Hipster PDA" analog system using index cards and a binder clip, which he still popularly recommends today. Mark McGuinness prefers using Post-It Notes for task management due to their size limitation. Interaction designer Ryder Carroll has developed the Bullet Journal method, which uses short form-notation in a notebook. Jerry Seinfeld's calendar system involves marking off completed tasks with a red X on a wall calendar. Various tools and methods are available for managing to-do lists beyond traditional apps, including Zapier automation platform and spreadsheet software like Google Docs.

Arthur Bodolec, a user experience designer and co-founder of news reader app feedly, argues that designers waste time building products without sufficient user feedback early on. He proposes an approach similar to Lean methodology, where collecting user insights as a product gets built can reduce wasted time. Bodolec suggests finding people to talk to through various channels like friends, social media, customer support, Craigslist, and creating screener forms to identify the right users. He recommends gathering 10-20 user stories to understand real-life scenarios and uses questions like "Why are they using your service?" and "What would they do if..." to gather specific feedback. Bodolec advocates for testing products with these approaches, emphasizing the importance of a welcoming environment, not pitching the product, and looking for Aha moments and confusion during live tests. He also recommends iterating on the product based on user feedback to improve it quickly.

This commencement speech offers a diverse range of advice from accomplished individuals across various fields. Naval Adm. William H. McRaven emphasizes the importance of making your bed every morning to accomplish small tasks and set yourself up for success. Chris Sacca encourages graduates to be their "weird self" and celebrate their quirks, while Drew Houston advises working on an exciting problem to find purpose and happiness. Biz Stone tells the story of manufacturing his own opportunities by taking initiative in high school, Sheryl Sandberg advises seeking allies rather than adorers, Tory Burch reminds listeners to think of negativity as noise, Jeff Bezos emphasizes the importance of kindness over cleverness, Larry Bock stresses the need to back up one's hard drive, Brian Dyson notes that work is a rubber ball that can bounce back if dropped, Adam Savage reminds graduates that they have time to figure out their lives and try again. These speakers offer valuable insights into leadership, entrepreneurship, relationships, and personal growth, making this commencement speech an engaging and informative read.