Friends of Dave: Stuff I Learned This Week
So this issue #3, and I have to say, I am enjoying this project and, aside from a few delivery issues, liking the Revue free newsletter platform so far.
What I like most is that it is really easy for me to bookmark stories for inclusion in the newsletter on the fly as I read them. As a result, I have already amassed enough good content to probably fill at least 3 newsletters at this point.
The hardest thing I have found is selecting which articles to include. For those of you old enough to remember, I'm finding doing this is kind of like making a party mix tape. You want to sprinkle in just the right combination of stuff that everyone at the party might like to keep it interesting. Nothing too heavy, nothing too light and definitely nothing that is going to make anyone pass out. When I was in college, I was usually in charge of making the party mix tape, so I find it fun.
If you have any feedback or sources you think I should follow, by all means email me at dave@slingstonegroup.com . I'm rolling this out slowly so I can work out the kinks and make improvements as needed. Enjoy!
XOXO
Dave
For The Startup Geeks...
Biz Dev Can Make (or Break) Your Startup: 10 Rules for Getting It Right — www.nea.com
A good strategic deal can mean great things for a startup. But you have to go about it the right way, and you have to be mindful of the potential hazards.
When is the Right Time for Your SaaS Startup to Train its Sales People? — tomtunguz.com
Sales leaders consistently underinvest in sales team training and development. As SaaS startups scale, sales execution becomes the most tangible metric of a business’ success, and the one by which the business’ health is benchmarked. Not to mention how the head of sales is evaluated. When is the right time to invest in sales training? And how much should a business invest?
For the Deep Thinkers...
The Vision That's how it starts. That's how anything you do on purpose, that matters, starts- with a vision. The vision isn't the work or the good breaks or the tough luck or the temporary successes and failures that you wander into along the way. The vision is the end. The end is the point.…
Why It’s So Hard to Train Someone to Make an Ethical Decision — hbr.org Reality is more complex than the classroom.
What surprised us in 2016. And what we’re excited for in 2017. — news.greylock.com
As a new wave of startups build on emerging technologies, venture capital firm Greylock asked some of their investment partners what surprised them most about last year, and what they think will make an impact in 2017. Here’s what they said,
For the FinTech Geeks...
The Next Decade of Analytic Financial Services Applications — www.modelshop.com
As with any technology transformation, there will be winners and losers amongst both the disruptors and the established players. The resulting focus on customer relationships, frictionless user experiences and improved analytic integrity will advance the financial services industry in a way we have not seen since the widespread adoption of computers in the 1960s.
The Future of Fintech - A Collaboration Opportunity for the Banking Sector — www.sganalytics.com FinTech startups are disrupting the traditional finance sector. As the banking industry adopts, strategic collaborations become increasingly important.
Challenges For Alt-Lending — www.pymnts.com The alternative lending space will face competitive challenges from banks and from within in 2017, according to Biz2Credit CEO Rohit Arora.
For The Sales Guys...
The Closer Is Dead. Long Live The Listener. — thinkgrowth.org This is the wonderful age we live in: Doing the right thing for the customer, the thing that makes you feel good and proud of your profession, is now the best thing you can do for your business. You will make more money. Your company will make more money. Your customers may become lifelong friends.
For The Marketing Nerds...
Are Marketing And Sales Execs The New B2B Power Couple? — www.cmo.com Marketers are increasingly heading into the field with their sales counterparts, seeing customers and prospects through each other’s eyes and “soaking up all this information that ultimately is going to make you more powerful.”
What’s the Lead Generation Profile of Fast Growing SaaS? — medium.com
This article is the first of a series of two posts taken from a workshop focused on lead generation.
For the Data Geeks...
Fact-Checking Won’t Save Us From Fake News | FiveThirtyEight — fivethirtyeight.com
Fake news. We’ve used this phrase so many times in the past two months that it’s almost lost meaning — partly because it can mean so many different things.
My Cat Taught me about the state of Healthcare Provider Data
My daughter's cat taught me a major lesson about healthcare as I described here. Pretty amazing.
And Now, I Leave You With Some Random Knowledge...
Why you should never use cotton swabs to clean your ears — qz.com
The best thing you can do to clean your ears is to leave them alone. No, really.
Music's Weird Cassette Tape Revival Is Paying Off — www.fastcompany.com
It turns out there's a place for archaic physical media of questionable audio fidelity even in the Spotify era.
Iconic Sequoia 'Tunnel Tree' Brought Down By California Storm — www.npr.org The Pioneer Cabin Tree in Calaveras Big Trees State Park was one of California's few remaining tunneled-through sequoias. It was hollowed out more than a century ago.