Take the Leap, is a great blog that profiles entrepreneur’s and startup stories. The blog is sponsored by the company Creative Hub. We had the pleasure of being interviewed by Jennifer Spivak about KikScore and our growth.
To check out the interview, please visit the Take the Leap Blog and the interview is titled From Lawyers to Entrepreneurs.
Please let us know what you think.
I am still frankly in some ways recovering from what I knew was going to happen all along. Lebron James was going to leave Cleveland. I actually predicted it in this post about lessons small businesses and startups can learn from Lebron James after his flame out in Game 5 of the Celtics/Cavs series earlier this year.
So his departure got me thinking about a few things. As we all know, his departure was a complete PR spectacle. But there are some serious lessons learned. Even strangely I see some commonalities between how we all viewed Lebron James (especially Cavs fans) and how we decide whether we should trust someone online.
1. People Change – Cavs fans, and frankly many in the media, thought they knew Lebron. Heck there was probably good reason for the belief, they watched him grow up in my hometown of Akron, watched him get drafted and become a global icon in Cleveland. Many people thought that they knew Lebron to be “one of us” because he was from Ohio and knew the long frustration of Cleveland sports fans. Boy were they (we?) wrong. Many people say something changed with Lebron in the last few months, even reporters that have covered Lebron since he was 16 and back in high school. It started with the complete collapse in Game 5 against the Celtics where he looked clueless and uninterested in playing in front of 20,000 crazed fans in a series that they should have won. And it continued to this summer where Lebron blew off the owner of the Cavs not responding to one of the owner’s calls or voicemails. Wow, did he indeed change and change at that very quickly!
Lesson Learned: You may think you know someone online (and maybe even offline), but you need to be prepared for the unexpected. The only thing you can do to protect yourself is a) get as much information as possible about a person and business and b) always be cautious for the unexpected to happen because it will. Also the person or business you know one day may be very different a few months or years later. So always keep your information gathering up to date before you decide to do business online.
2. Do Not Trust Labels, Trust Actions – Lebron repeatedly said so many times he puts a premium on loyalty. He said he is a loyal guy and that he will always be that kid from Akron. The fans, media and even his teammates bought into that card. Heck, I even bought into it. You have to kind of grow up in Akron to understand it but there generally is a common bond of many people from NE Ohio that ties us together for some of the events, sports nightmares and generally ribbing we have endured. Again, we were so wrong. You can literally have the word “Loyalty” printed on your chest like Lebron does, but it means ZERO if you do not live up to your word.
Lesson Learned: When you are online, people and businesses will say all sorts of things to get your business. They will say that they guarantee certain things, that you can trust them, that their website is safe. Make them prove it to you by having them show you their trackrecord of reliability, trustworthiness and success. Heck, that is what the KikScore seal allows you to do as a small business.
3. Look for Hints of Information to be Wary: So in some ways I can say myself and the rest of the city of Cleveland/Akron feel blindsided. But that would be naive. There were many hints of information and actions, though small and isolated instances, that should have made people wary of what Lebron was going to do. There was the lack of commitment to the team last year when he had the opportunity to resign, there was his space cadet look and play in game 5 of the Celtics game, there was the lack of engagement with the team after the season and then maybe the most glaring one is when Lebron constantly referred to the fact that he needed to consult “his team” for the decision. No that would not be his Cavs teammates, that was his marketing team and his bunch of his fellow St. Vincent, St. Mary high school friends and agents. I should have known, I went to Walsh Jesuit the arch rival of St. V’s. We could never trust those guys……but that goes back nearly 20 years now.
Lesson Learned: Transparency is key. If a person or business is transparent and gives you information about themselves and their actions, first that is a good sign because they are comfortable enough to give you that information. But more importantly, in order for you to make that online trust decision you need to analyze that information in way that allows you to feel comfortable. To help, here are 7 items to look for from in stores that sell online to make sure they are legitimate, 5 safe online shopping tips and some help with finding contractors you can trust online.
There probably are many more. Please let us know which ones you think there are. I am sure you probably heard that the Cavs owner last night had a nuclear response to Lebron breaking his trust and the city of Cleveland’s trust. We all should learn a few things from this free agency experience so that we do not end up having to send a letter like that to a person or company you do business with online because you did not take the steps to protect yourself.
We have been growing quickly at KikScore so we have decided to expand our team. If you are in college and would like to be an intern at a fast growing startup, this opportunity is for you. In fact, we are looking for two interns to help support our Marketing & Strategy teams. You can read all about the opening at the two sites where we have posted detailed information about the job/intern opening:
1) Startuply – by the way, that is a very cool site for startup jobs.
2) InternshipIn – a new site that our Twitter friends told us about recently.
We are looking for a self-starter that is passionate about learning and is willing to hit the ground running! This is a virtual position so you do not have to be in Washington DC or Denver. Also it is important that the interns that join the company like to laugh. We are serious about that! As you can see from our blog, we do like to have our fair share of fun – even when our sports teams, hometown cities, favorite 80’s hard rock bands and favorite movie stars are repeatedly tanking!
Also we promise that as a part of this internship we will NOT make you go through the pledging process that Frank the Tank put his interns through in Old School. We instead may put the entire team through the Blades of Glory training program.
If you are interested, please reach out to us using the process outlined at either of the sites that we listed in this post.
I was reading this article by Dharmesh Shah on the OnStartups blog where he indicates that a Minimally Viable Product (MVP) is “a product that has the minimum set of features needed to learn what the market wants” and conversely he defines that Maximally Buyable Product (MBP) as “the set of features needed to capture the maximum potential opportunity in a market.” Dharmesh then goes on to give 5 features of the Maximally Buyable Product.
I think the interesting point that is made in this article is not with the MBP but instead the Minimally Viable Product (MVP). How does a company know when they have completed building their MVP? When is an MVP “finished” enough in order to increase online sales and not result in abandoned carts of potential customers at checkout? I know that when we were putting our finishing touches on our MVP one year ago for our KikScore trust seal product that it was very difficult for us to know when it was more important to get the product to market and when to add that one last feature that our customers would love.
My point here is that I think that building the MVP is not the most difficult thing most of the time. Usually the entrepreneurial spirit inside of the people that are involved with MVPs is such that dreaming up and building the MVP is not the difficult part. The difficult part may sometimes lie in the area of limiting the scope and defining the lines of exactly what the first iteration of the ultimate product is going to look like. Initially, the MVP may be just a shell of what the founders of the company initially dreamed up but the team needs to decide as a whole when it is close enough to “learn what the market wants.”
How did your company define your MVP and how is your MVP different from your MBP?
With Digital Capital Week upon us, last night was a great time for the huge (and growing!) DC tech community to come together for Tech Cocktail. As with previous Tech Cocktail events, this event was billed as a time for us all to “connect, educate and amplify” the local tech signal all while having a few drinks. A number of startups also put on demos on the second floor of the party at Lux Lounge. The great thing about this Tech Cocktail compared to others as it took place right in the middle of the first ever DC Tech Week. DC Tech Week has been a week full of great tech related activities dealing with a whole range of issues from social media, government, future of media to a bunch of cool tech events, lectures even a 140Conference too. It was also cool to have the backdrop of the World Cup going on too.
Here some of the pictures from last night. The event got off to a great start and kept rolling. There just was not enough time to talk to everyone, but it was great to see so many friends and meet a bunch of new people too. I brought the KikScore force for our east coast team last night as our Colorado team will have to wait for the next one in Boulder.
Picture of Raj Malik from KikScore, Deanna McNeil from among others Ruiz McPherson, Steven Fisher from Appsolve, Browncoats Redemption and Network Solutions and Andrew Bates from Eye Traffic.
Picture of Keith Casey who is Austin bound and the CTO of Blue Parabola, Steven Fisher a filmmaker and author and Justin Thorp, Social Media Guru at ClearSpring.
Joe Loong from DelTek and the best title creator for a blog! and Jeremy.
There have been Tech Cocktail events now in Chicago, DC, Boston, Boulder, San Diego (look out Ron Burgundy) and Barcelona. So look out for one of these events coming to your city soon. You will not regret attending. Thanks to Frank Gruber, the founder of Tech Cocktail, for putting on last night’s event.
Did you attend Tech Cocktail last night? If so, tell us your stories.
Pictures care of the Social Media Swami, Shashi B.
Last week was a very busy week at KikScore. We had meetings all over the place on many different fronts. We had lunch meetings, phone calls, various team meetings, checkins with partners, drinks with some of our favorite corporate development friends and meetings with friends and colleagues that also double as advisors. On the way back from one of our last meetings, my partner Mike and I were debriefing on all of the meetings we had just completed. Then it dawned on us that nearly every one of these meetings came from a team member of KikScore, a friend of friend, colleagues from previous and current jobs and folks that KikScore team members have done business in the past.
Over time and especially at the inception of a startup (and small businesses too), a company’s contacts and rolodex can immensely help the strategic direction of a company. That is why we all hear from so many people that we should all on a regular basis network and get out and meet people. But I would say even more importantly, there are probably many people that lie dormant in an entrepreneur’s contacts that the entrepreneur met many moons ago. These “hidden rolodex gems” should not be forgotten.
Entrepreneurs and owners of small business should be proactive in maintaining and cultivating these forgotten contacts. I will be the first to admit that I have not been great at cultivating some of these gems. But one of my mentors once said the easiest way to engage these buried contacts, is just pick up the phone and call them or send them an email. What do you really have to lose? Now in your re-introduction call or email to these folks, make it clear to them that you are not looking for a job or something and instead are looking to chat and get some guidance. You will be amazed at the responsiveness that you may get.
Here are just some of the ways our contacts have helped KikScore and could help your startup (and small business):
1. Providing great feedback on our business model;
2. Ideas for new channels to pursue;
3. Ideas on potential new enhancements to our product;
4. Introduction to partners; and
5. Referrals to other advisors and thought leaders.
As you grow you company’s contact list, return the favor to people that contact you looking for guidance and counseling. Pay It Forward so you do not look like your company is only looking out for itself. And you never know when someone asks you for guidance, it may end up helping your company like it has with us at KikScore.
Please tell us how you develop your company’s rolodex.
If you open your eyes and mind, it’s amazing where you can find business lessons in everyday life. The book I am reading, Michael Crichton’s final novel: Pirate Latitudes takes the concept of war from the pirate’s view. There are a good number of similarities to small business and overtaking your competition to be learned from it. To come up with a new business idea, it doesn’t necessarily have to be ‘new’ but ‘better’ is critical to success.
Here’s some lessons that the privateers (often mistaken for pirates) of long ago still apply…
Build a good team – When Captain Hunter came up with his risky idea of attempting capture of a Spanish treasure ship in a far off, dangerous and assumed well protected island, he needed a strong team to accomplish the quest. Building the right team for business success can be tricky, but you can’t do it alone. Delegate responsibilities that foster team member’s strengths.
Create a more comprehensive solution – After overtaking the treasure ship, the privateers are stalked by a Spanish warship that is more heavily armed with both men and weaponry. The weakened privateers come up with a risky yet tactical solution to attempt to take down the larger ship. Creativity and doing something different with your current resources is a strong business sense. KikScore wasn’t the first trust seal out there, but it is different and more comprehensive than the competition
Overtake the competition – I’m not finished reading Pirate Latitudes yet, so I’m only theorizing here… but based upon the creativity noted above and their zeal to secure the stolen treasure, I have confidence the privateers will conquer the larger warship and bring home the gold. Obviously in business, war is not the best option, yet clever advertising and getting your business message out there can overtake the competition. A strong and consistent approach helps.
Pirates and privateers are mysterious, resourceful and have a rather catchy form of conversation.
How is your business pirating through the marketplace?
Disclaimer, this is a vacation post (yes, I am out on vacation from my day job but KikScore never stops!) but I had to discuss what happened this weekend. This post is really about branding your business and how you sometimes have no control over how your customers will sing your praises.
My 5 month old daughter, Asha, made her first trip this weekend to see her grandma, uncle, aunt and cousins in my wife’s hometown just outside of Pittsburgh, PA. Great idea, seeing the family, getting out of DC for a weekend and spending some time on my mother-in-law’s beautiful farm. It actually was a lot of fun, even having my brother-in-law make fun of me when I made the crazy comment asking why does the backyard have so many rattlesnakes – are they attracted to the the vegetable garden back there. Uh…..how many snakes do you know are attracted to vegetables over perhaps some chipmunks, small rodents etc that usually populate most farms?
So where does KikScore and branding come in? We had just arrived Friday afternoon on the farm. I was pulling our car into the farm when my saw my wife’s family pick-up truck. The truck was parked there outside the farm house and I had to snap the above picture. So on the right hand side of the bumper is everything I have grown up to detest in an important part of my life – football – that would be the Pittsburgh Steelers. Yes, when you grow up outside Cleveland, Ohio you are indeed taught that at a young age. Then on the left side of the bumper is the gorgeous bumper sticker, of a company that I passionately give my blood, sweat and tears to every day – KikScore.
So on that one side of the bumper I see something I enjoy mocking and on the other side is my pride and joy. So there I was – what do I say or feel? I just had to laugh and be super proud that my family has so unconditionally adopted KikScore to the point that my mother-in law greeted us when we arrived in her KikScore baseball cap.
So what is the point of this post. That sometimes your small business or your startup can not decide/control how your customers decide to evangalize your brand. When you see your brand out there be promoted like this, just smile, laugh and be proud. And also be sure to say thanks as I did when we pulled away from the driveway late yesterday right before we started our 4 hour ride home.
Have you seen your business being promoted in a similar way?
In today’s KikScore blog interview, for the first time we are not profiling an actual small business. Instead, to change up the pace for the community, we are profiling a company that small businesses rely on every day to perform a critical function – payroll. As we do with many of our interviewees, we came across SurePayroll on Twitter and they graciously agreed to give us some insight into who they are, what makes them tick and also provide some fabulous guidance to the small business community. Today’s interview is with Michael Alter, President of SurePayroll.
1. Tell us about SurePayroll and who you focus on serving?
As the online alternative to ADP® and Paychex®, we’re dedicated to providing a simple, convenient and accurate online payroll service at a price small business owners can afford. Tens of thousands of small business owners across the U.S. rely on us to process payroll on demand, in as few as 2 minutes. We also offer efficient small business solutions for managing 401(k) plans, health insurance, workers’ compensation, HR compliance and employee screening. Our combination of online payroll service teamed with a small business focus has garnered recognition from PC Magazine, Inc. 500, Accounting Today, the American Business Awards and many others.
2. How did you get the idea for SurePayroll?
In the late 1990s, Chicagoland entrepreneur Scott Wald was running one of many successful small businesses and hated all the time he wasted faxing in payroll then rectifying the inevitable payroll goofs. He thought, “I should be able to do this online — and I bet I’m not the only small business owner thinking the same thing.” Because Scott’s the type of person who turns such thoughts into realities, he assembled a small team to make his idea a thriving business. He asked me to join him in this new venture, and I left my position with McKinsey & Co. We hit the scene in early 2000 with a staff of 10 in a small office in Highland Park, IL.
3. If you had 2 lessons learned from starting SurePayroll that you could pass on to others, what are those?
First Lesson: The last thing a small business owner needs is something that takes time. If you’re in business to help small business, your product is probably designed to save your clients money, but so does every other product like yours. Ensuring it also saves small business owners time is the emotional jolt that pushes them to buy — most sales aren’t closed on a logical rationale alone. Once you’ve saved them time, you need to own their worries. For example, SurePayroll tackles the most time-consuming aspect of payroll: paying and filing all federal, state and local payroll taxes. But this aspect is also the most difficult for most small businesses, and many who run payroll themselves incur frequent penalties from the IRS and other agencies. So we handle everything related to payroll taxes. If our clients receive notices from the IRS or other tax agencies, we’ll work directly with the agency on the client’s behalf. And if we make an error, we pay the fine.
Second Lesson: Never think what you’re doing today is what you’ll be doing 10 years from today. Markets change and products evolve. Learn to adapt quickly. While we’re still an online payroll company, we see the office moving from the computer to the smart phone. We’ve created a Mobile Payroll app for the iPhone® to keep up with our customers — and attract new ones.
4. Where will SurePayroll focus most of its energy in 2010?
The end of the twentieth century saw a massive expansion of the home office, and twenty-first century is greeting us with the burgeoning mobile office. When small business owners can keep their businesses running anywhere, anytime without computer access, they can spend more time closing deals and keeping clients happy. We started planning for 2010 a bit early with the launch of our Mobile Payroll app for the iPhone® in late 2009.
As the only company with a payroll app, we’re here to blaze the mobile payroll trail. This year we’re developing and launching an iPhone app for our customers’ employees to access their pay stubs and records. Later this year we’ll launch a payroll app for the Droid®, providing customers on two of America’s most popular wireless networks access to payroll from their smart phones. And, of course, all of our mobile apps are free to customers.
5. What do you see as 2 new trends in small business for 2010?
We are quickly reaching the tipping point when it comes to expectations that all things capable on a PC should also be capable on a mobile device. More and more business applications continue to be built for smartphones, and more and more business owners consider the smart phones an essential business tool. Whereas most people rely on their iPhone, Blackberry or Droid to check and respond to email, smartphones will soon be a standard business tool for business owners and employees to conduct nearly all business functions.
Additionally, business owners will continue to see the value of Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions to enhance productivity. More business owners will turn to hosted software solutions that free them from the responsibility and the cost of updating, maintaining and securing and traditional software solutions — and most importantly — free them from having to be in the office, at a PC to use the software.
6. If SurePayroll could put together a top 5 list related to your business, your industry, your customers or anything else what would that top five list be and what would be on it?
If we could create a top-five list for our industry, it would be the top five benefits of outsourcing payroll.
The list would go a little something like this:
A. Avoiding IRS Penalties. It is estimated that 40% of small businesses pay an average penalty of $845 per year for late or incorrect filings. We take responsibility for all IRS penalties that are the result of our error.
B. Reducing Costs. Our research indicates that a small business of 10 employees will typically spend $2,600 per year in direct labor costs associated with payroll. We’re usually well less than half the cost of doing payroll yourself.
C. Offering Direct Deposit. Employees want direct deposit. More importantly for business owners, direct deposit eliminates time-consuming and error-prone paper handling and the need to reconcile individual payroll checks every month. Direct deposit is included with SurePayroll.
D. Leaving Technology to the Pros. Using the wrong tax tables in outdated software can result in stiff penalties. Our constantly updated technology removes those risks and keeps payroll running smoothly.
E. Ensuring Payroll Knowledge Doesn’t Walk Out the Door. If your bookkeeper or controller gets a new job, they will walk out the door with their knowledge of the payroll process and how you do it. We eliminate that business risk.
7. What guidance can you give based on your experience to help small businesses out there that are facing difficult times?
First, take some solace knowing you’re not alone. From Main Street to Wall Street, nearly everyone’s business plan required major readjustments starting as early as 2007.
Entrepreneurs are the most practical and simultaneously innovative group out there. If there is a less expensive, more efficient way to get business done, they’ll find it – and a lot faster than the big businesses that are weighed down by red tape and processes. This is true about staying in business in tough times, too.
As their workloads increased and it become evident they required more employees, many small business owners turned to contractors instead of new full-time employees. While certain stipulations apply to contract workers, if it’s a viable option, it’s worth looking into. You’ll save money on matching FICA contributions as well as other employee-paid taxes, while providing employment during tough economic times. While you’re operating on a project-by-project basis, using a contractor labor force enables you to hire on a project-by-project basis.
Now’s also a great time to save money by review your existing contracts. For example, if your workers’ compensation insurance, health insurance and 401(k) plans come from different providers, see if one company offers everything and can give you better rates. And it never hurts to call your phone company, Internet provider and consulting services to see if you can create a package deal or negotiate cheaper rates. Some of the services we’re convinced we’ll use when signing up turn out to be an expendable luxury.
8. Tell us one thing that is unique about the SurePayroll culture that you want small businesses to know?
We’re like a lot of Internet companies: casual work environment, foosball table in the break area and a relatively flat organizational structure so employees aren’t confined by an insurmountable chain of command. But unlike many of our peers, we embrace and encourage length of service. To show our appreciation for the number of years an employee invests in us, we offer an all-expenses paid trip to an exotic locale (like Mexico) for our employees after every five years of service — we even let each qualifying employee bring a guest. A good number of our employees will soon be eligible for their second “5-year trip.” Quite a statement for a company that opened just 10 years ago.
9. If SurePayroll had a theme song, what would it be and why?
Perhaps No Doubt’s “Simple Kind of Life” because that’s exactly what we provide our customers — at least as far as payroll is concerned.
10. Do you have any parting thoughts for our readers and the small business community?
Kudos to you for your resiliency during this tough economy. You’ve probably had to adapt your business to survive. The upside of doing this is that you’re learning adaptability, like I mentioned earlier. Once the economy hits and upswing, the adaptability you’ve learned will prove invaluable in the new economy.
If you have questions for SurePayroll, please leave them in our comments section.
This is one of my favorite times of the year for sports. The time of hope, promise and turnaround. That means it is time for the NFL Draft! My team, the Cleveland Browns, always enters this part of the year and the draft with hopes of getting the amazing college football prospect that will revitalize the team, give us a winning season for once and hopefully (yeah right) a trip to the Super Bowl. The issue is that you never know if a player your team picks in the draft is going to turn out like you hoped and will deliver on all of the expectations you have built up for them or turn out to be a bust. Or worse yet, that player ends up breaking the law and not only is he a bust, but he then becomes a shame to the team and the city. In many ways this is similar to the issue of figuring out who you can trust online for doing business and for online shopping.
In the NFL Draft process, the teams that do the best job are the ones that do the most diligence on the college football prospects. These are just some of the things that NFL teams and scouts do in the diligence and research process before selecting a player in the draft:
1) Conduct extensive background checks;
2) Put players through multiple interviews and give them tests;
3) Review, analyze and dissect a player’s past performances in college games and;
4) Talk to their coaches, teachers and other experts.
That is all done before draft day and before a player is selected. And its all done on hundreds of players. The interesting thing is what NFL teams are looking for in college players is very similar to what shoppers look for before buying online: 1) a track record of success; 2) good character; 3) reliability and trustworthiness; 4) the ability to deliver and meet expectations and 5) someone you can depend on and that can be your “go to” person.
All of these traits are exactly what people look for for in businesses that operate online as indications of whether you can trust that business. The commonality between the NFL teams that put players through these tests and online shoppers is: Information! Information is king. It is not only having access to that information but it is also having the right information about trustworthiness and reliability to make an informed decision about buying from an online store or selecting a contractor or consultant online that you have come across online.
So next time you are out looking to buy online or select a contractor, be like an NFL scout and look for these types of information. That will help you stay safe when you are shopping online. Also businesses that have a KikScore seal certainly help shoppers get much of this trust and reliability information. But just make sure you end up selecting the next Tom Brady and not Ryan Leaf when you decide to do business online!
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