Startup Blog

I get a cold / unsolicited email from a vendor trying to sell me something.  99.9% of the time, these get marked as spam and not only is that message gone without me opening it, but anyone from that company can never get into my inbox again.  Brilliant!

This is a guest post by Ilya Mirman (@IlyaMirman), who has held marketing and engineering roles at several hardware and software companies. His last three gigs have been as VP of Marketing for SolidWorks (3D design software), and two venture-backed MIT spin-offs - Interactive Supercomputing (acquired by Microsoft) and Cilk Arts (acquired by Intel). During his free time, Ilya enjoys photographing rock concerts and political events. [Photo: Ilya in his "Florida Uniform"]

I am in the middle of a problem.  I can't decide on my next phone.  Neither one is perfect.  (Yes, all you Apple groupies, the iPhone has drawbacks!)

Blackberry Curve Benefits:

1. Full Keyboard.  I have huge hands and LOVE my full keyboard with real keys.
2. Video.  The iPhone does not take video.  I would use video for interviews for blogging.
3. Corporate Synch.  Bulletproof IT-supported synchronization with Exchange Email & Calendar.  Simple, works, easy.

iPhone Benefits:

1. Full Browser.  Using a full browser would be great for blogging and a ton of other stuff.
2. Qik.  I can't take recorded video, but I can live stream with Qik now.  Cool, but will I use it?
3. Cool.  It is cooler.  But is it also a fad?  Do I really want to be an Apple Black Turtleneck person?
4. Podcasts.  I think my iPhone will download podcasts automatically, which would be cool and help me keep up to date.

<rant>

I have been a LinkedIn member for longer than I can remember.  Normally it is a very reliable service.  But recently in the last month that has changed.  And frankly, I am sick of it.

All I want to do each day is check my inbox, approve or archive invitations, approve people who have requested to be members of my groups that I manage (http://LinkedIn.ProMarketers.com) and see what other people are up to.

But, for some reason, LinkedIn is making this really hard.  A few days back it would not let me log in, no matter how many times or browsers I tried.  Today it is letting me approve group members for one of my groups, but not the other.

LinkedIn... Look, you used to be pretty cool.  If you really want to be like Facebook (and not the next Friendster, aka failure) get your act in gear.  Your website needs to be highly available and you need to stop giving me error messages whan I try to do basic things.

</rant>

I heard someone call HubSpot the "Web 2.0 Version of [a marketing software company]" this week.  It annoyed me.  Less because they were comparing HubSpot to a sort of boring company with complicated, expensive products that don't really work, but more because they described HubSpot as "web 2.0".

Top 10 Reasons Why HubSpot is NOT a Web 2.0 Company

1. Our company name is easy to spell.
2. We have more people over 25 in the company than under 25.
3. Our company name does not sound like it ends in "-er" but actually just ends in "r".
4. We are not based in a loft in San Francisco.
5. Our logo does not have a reflection in it.
6. Our product does not say "Beta" over 2 years after launch.
7. We do not have Guitar Hero in our office. 
8. Both of our co-founders have gray hair.
9. We have paying customers... lots of them.
10. Revenue.  Did I mention revenue?