Brownbag with Phil Libin, the CEO of EverNote

These are my tweets from the brown bag with Evernote CEO, Phil Libin.
June 9, 2010

• Best product does win. Conventional wisdom that "best product does not always win" is getting less and less true.
• Platforms are diverging. Not converging.
• People who use desktop and mobile version of your apps are more likely to pay.
• If a friend invites a friend another to use #evernote the invitee tends to continue to use the product longer.
•  For 89 cents u can buy a user download. But users u 'buy' are one tenth as good as users who find you.
• About 2 % of all users pay. About 6% of active users pay. Premium users r growing faster than free users
• 16 Engineers at #evernote.
• In a 'cohort' of users who join #evernote those who use it for two months, continue to use it for years
• It is far more important for users to stay than to pay.
• Premium users say that they pay because they love #evernote
• Older (not by age) users are far more valuable for #evernote
• Premium users do not use the 'premium-only' features. But there is an uptick when premium features are announced
• Google checkout and paypal were not very reliable. We built our own ecommerce.
• People are genuinely suspicious of free. #evernote
• The longer u keep free users, the more likely they pay. So focus on keeping ur customers. They will pay.
• You can buy #evernote premium in shrinkwrapped boxes in Japan #ceo
• #Evernote sees users as part of monthly cohorts. - Interesting way of looking at user data.
• Freeium model works if u have long term retention rate. Works for prodducts that increase in value over time. Works if low variable costs.
• Only active users cost #evernote money.

Thanks to my friend, Terence Chesire for compiling my tweets.


If you are interested in finding out more about Evernote, here is a video of Phil Libin talking about Evernote to Mashable.

Create a Micro Site for your prototype

We all create html or screenshot based prototypes that we share with colleagues, partners and customers for feedback. Most people zip the file and send it to multiple parties as email attachments or via FTP. Then they worry about versions, have problems with downloads and huge attachments.

Instead get a domain, get a cheap hosting site and place your prototype there. Protect it with a password if required. Sharing the link and password via email is easy. It will also spread virally. People tend to click on a link way more than they open an attachments.

If you want recommendations on what works, leave a comment here or DM me @sprabu and I'll share the details of how to do this.

6 Thinking Hats by Edward DeBono

I have worked with people multiple cultures and countries for many years now. One of the effective tools for distributed development is not software. It comes in paperback.

It is the 6 thinking hats process for thinking and communicating as a group.

by Edward DeBono.

This process works well when you have to talk over the phone to an audience who cannot see your facial expression. It is also effective when people in the room are from different cultures and have different styles of communication.

You don't need very elaborate training for a team to use this. If one or two people know the process, you can start by saying "If I put my black hat, which is a negative hat, and give you my thoughts, this is what I will say". It is much better than saying, "That is wrong" or "I don't agree".

Leaders at all levels by Ram Charan

I am listening to the book, Leaders at all Levels by Ram Charan



This is good book for talent managers, HCM folks and anyone interested in reaching the C-Level office.

In the book, Ram Charan talks about the importance of learning by apprenticeship, learning by doing, mentoring and learning by mentoring. I find the message simple and clear. Learn by doing. Help others grow by making them learn on the job.

It is very interesting the see the number of times the words learning, apprenticeship and relationships are mentioned in the book. It is what you know, what you do and who you can trust to help you do things.

Open Leadership by Charlene Li

I am reading Open Leadership by Charlene Li  and looking at it from the point of view of career,  performance and development. I plan to highlight the things that catch my attention. Sometimes it is compilation of my tweets while reading the book away from my desk.

 

Chapter 1: Why Giving Up Control is inevitable
Who should read this chapter: If you are a CEO and have time to read only one chapter, read this one.

In the first Chapter Charlene makes the case that openness is inevitable for most organizations. Just 20 years back, countries, not just companies, were able to keep their people in the dark for weeks together about developments outside. Today information gets out in minutes, if not seconds. So being open and transparent and enabling people to make decisions based on all the information available is the only way to succeed.

Chapter 2:  The Ten element of Openness

In Chapter 2, Charlene gets into the details of what openness means for the CEO, a project team, the Human Resources team and so on. I found compelling arguments for the CEO to blog, the CIO to invest in collaboration and micro blogging tools and the HR executives to insist on openness. She also suggests that the sharing culture of the next generation work force will demand that you be open.

• When a CEO blogs she can tell the mission of her org in her own words and provide operating updates. #charleneli #openleadership p27
• Use of microblogging by teams speeds up product development #charleneli #openleadership - Some people are overwhelmed a bit. But it works.
• #charleneli talks about an onboarding use case in c2 of #openleadership #page26
• The net generation believes that sharingness is next to godliness #charleneli #openleadership - r u ready for them?

Chapter 3 : Objectives determine how open you will be?
Chapter 3 covers the engagement pyramid. Watching, Sharing, Commenting, Producing and Curating are the five levels in an engagement pyramid. In the US, about 80% watch, 61% share, 36% comment, 24% produce and 1% curate.
This chapter also talks about creating an action plan based on the objectives of the organization. Charlene says that the first step is to identify the strategic goal and put the learning systems (I think she means social-intelligence gathering systems) in place to support that goal. She also says that you need to determine the best approach, the level of openness and the ability to be an open organization.

I see people executives and talent managers playing a very important role in creating the above action plan. Since people are at the center of this plan, this is something that the customer facing business units and human resource executives need to work together on. Conflicting messages and directives from different departments may confuse employees.

Chapter 4 :Understanding and measuring the benefits of being open

Chapter 5 : Structuring Openness with Sandbox Covenants

Chapter 6 : Orchestrating your open Strategy

Chapter 7 : Open Leadership Mindsets and Traits

Chapter 8 : Nurturing Open Leadership

Chapter 9 : The Failure Imperative

Chapter 10 : How Openenss Transforms Organizations