- livingthedash.tv

A good friend of mine, David Heller, is in the process of launching an internet startup called Supplier View. He has shared his experiences with me over the past several months and I have found his startup journey to be pretty fascinating. David recently sat down to answer some questions about his startup and life as an entrepreneur.

What is Supplier View?

Supplier View is a solution that allows companies to evaluate their supplier’s performance in ways that aren’t done today. Currently organizations send out surveys internally to gauge supplier performance, get the scores back, maybe talk to the supplier about the results and thats it. Repeat next year or maybe you skip a year. Suppliers are one of the absolute keys to any organization’s success and their getting top notch performance is required. The procurement industry isn’t doing a very good job up to now of managing those relationships. The software providers that tout SPM solutions aren’t providing very good ones in my opinion.

How long did it take to move Supplier View from an idea to development? Were there any challenges or roadblocks that kept you from starting sooner? Is there anything that inspired you or prompted you to take your idea to the next level?

I’ve been thinking about the concept of SPM 2.0 for over a year. This was one of many ideas. I always kept coming back to the Supplier View idea. The reasons I didn’t start sooner are common: lack of true commitment and other priorities. I believe that lack of money and time are just indicators that you haven’t committed or prioritized whatever you are putting off. That being said I’m glad I kept thinking about it, working through the business model, jotting down notes and then coming back to it over and over again. I don’t have it all figured out at all, but I’m much better positioned now to deliver this than I was a year ago.

There were a couple of things that triggered me to really throw myself into Supplier View. The first was attending events promoted by the startup community in Houston. Hearing other people’s experiences was a great motivator. Being able to bounce ideas off of other entrepreneurs is invaluable. I’d recommend to anyone thinking of starting a business to find other small business owners and entrepreneurs and interact and socialize as much as possible. You’ll learn more than you ever will just reading about it.

What are some things that you have learned about entrepreneurship and small business since you launched your start-up?

It’s scary sometimes. I don’t have a partner in this so every decision is mine, every penny that gets spent is mine. Thats what I wanted by having my own business but there are moments when you realize that there is a lot at stake on your decisions. By the way I am still looking for a technically minded partner in case any of your readers want to get in on the ground floor of this opportunity.

The learning process never really ends though. You have to be so versatile because there is no one else. Yesterday I was trying to get some basic Apache web server knowledge because my developers were unavailable. You can outsource things but in the end you are just figuring out a way to get things done with your resources. Sometimes that means learning it yourself, which I like.

You work for one of the largest companies in the world and you now own and operate a small start-up company. That is an interesting situation to be in. What is that like?

It takes discipline. When I’m at work at my “day job”, I’m at work. There are times when I want to go do some research for Supplier View or work on the elevator pitch or something like that but I can’t. I have responsibilities to that company, my management and my team. It means lots of nights and weekends are dedicated to Supplier View.

Your start-up has benefited from some connections that you made online via social media. Can you tell us about that?

I absolutely love Twitter (@yankeesfan70)! I reconnected with my developers through Twitter, the guy that did the logo I found on Twitter, I have other entrepreneurs and procurement industry people that I have been introduced to through Twitter…I can go on and on. Linked In and Facebook are nice but there isn’t that connection that you get with Twitter.

I blog too. I don’t get as much feedback through blogging as I would like but it takes time. It’s therapeutic too. Sometimes I have things I want to talk about and maybe no one wants to listen, thats okay. It helps me get my thoughts in order.

I don’t want my social media connections to just be these virtual friends, which sounds kind of weird. I enjoy meeting people face to face. Blogging, Twitter and other social media are just additional ways of getting introduced.

Thanks for sharing David!

I spent the evening listening to Guy Kawasaki at the Houston Technology Center.

He touched on topics from his book The Art of The Start.

Very entertaining. Very informative. And I want to go start my own company soon…like tomorrow.

My key take aways from tonight:

• Startups aren’t just for others. I can do this.
• A business that exists just to make money won’t do well.
• Get going. What am I waiting for?

Here are the rest of my notes:

1) Make Meaning

• Change the World
• Do things 10x better

2) Make a Mantra

• 2 or 3 words that explain why you exist

3) Get Going

• Think different
• Polarize people (Some people should love what you are doing, some people should hate what you are doing.)
• Find a few soul mates

4) Define a business model

• Be specific
• Keep it simple (I like simple)
• Ask women (interesting)

5) Weave a MAT

• Milestones
• Assumptions
• Tasks

6) Niche Thyself

• Only you do it
• And it is very valuable

7) Follow the 10/20/30 rule

• 10 slides
• 20 minutes
• 30 pt font

8) Hire infected people (cool..wordpress turns my #8 into a smiley face)

• Hire people who love what you do
• Ignore the irrelevant
• Hire better than yourself
• Apply the shopping center test ( ?? should have taken better notes on that one)

9) Lower barrier to adoption

• Flatten the learning curve
• Don’t ask people to do something that you yourself would not do
• Embrace your evangelists

10) Seed the Clouds

• “Sales Fixes Everything”
• Let a hundred flowers blossom
• Enable test drives
• Find the influencers

11) Don’t let the bozos grind you down