Bob Parsons is the CEO of GoDaddy.com. Came across this off his blog:
1. Get and stay out of your comfort zone.
I believe that not much happens of any significance when we’re in our comfort zone. I hear people say, “But I’m concerned about security.” My response to that is simple: “Security is for cadavers.”2. Never give up.
Almost nothing works the first time it’s attempted. Just because what you’re doing does not seem to be working, doesn’t mean it won’t work. It just means that it might not work the way you’re doing it. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it, and you wouldn’t have an opportunity.3. When you’re ready to quit, you’re closer than you think.
There’s an old Chinese saying that I just love, and I believe it is so true. It goes like this: “The temptation to quit will be greatest just before you are about to succeed.”4. With regard to whatever worries you, not only accept the worst thing that could happen, but make it a point to quantify what the worst thing could be.
Very seldom will the worst consequence be anywhere near as bad as a cloud of “undefined consequences.” My father would tell me early on, when I was struggling and losing my shirt trying to get Parsons Technology going, “Well, Robert, if it doesn’t work, they can’t eat you.”5. Focus on what you want to have happen.
Remember that old saying, “As you think, so shall you be.”6. Take things a day at a time.
No matter how difficult your situation is, you can get through it if you don’t look too far into the future, and focus on the present moment. You can get through anything one day at a time.7. Always be moving forward.
Never stop investing. Never stop improving. Never stop doing something new. The moment you stop improving your organization, it starts to die. Make it your goal to be better each and every day, in some small way. Remember the Japanese concept of Kaizen. Small daily improvements eventually result in huge advantages.8. Be quick to decide.
Remember what General George S. Patton said: “A good plan violently executed today is far and away better than a perfect plan tomorrow.”9. Measure everything of significance.
I swear this is true. Anything that is measured and watched, improves.10. Anything that is not managed will deteriorate.
If you want to uncover problems you don’t know about, take a few moments and look closely at the areas you haven’t examined for a while. I guarantee you problems will be there.11. Pay attention to your competitors, but pay more attention to what you’re doing.
When you look at your competitors, remember that everything looks perfect at a distance. Even the planet Earth, if you get far enough into space, looks like a peaceful place.12. Never let anybody push you around.
In our society, with our laws and even playing field, you have just as much right to what you’re doing as anyone else, provided that what you’re doing is legal.13. Never expect life to be fair.
Life isn’t fair. You make your own breaks. You’ll be doing good if the only meaning fair has to you, is something that you pay when you get on a bus (i.e., fare).14. Solve your own problems.
You’ll find that by coming up with your own solutions, you’ll develop a competitive edge. Masura Ibuka, the co-founder of SONY, said it best: “You never succeed in technology, business, or anything by following the others.” There’s also an old Asian saying that I remind myself of frequently. It goes like this: “A wise man keeps his own counsel.”15. Don’t take yourself too seriously.
Lighten up. Often, at least half of what we accomplish is due to luck. None of us are in control as much as we like to think we are.16. There’s always a reason to smile.
Find it. After all, you’re really lucky just to be alive. Life is short. More and more, I agree with my little brother. He always reminds me: “We’re not here for a long time, we’re here for a good time!”
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WatchMojo NewsletterI don’t understand why Warner Bros. is looking to develop its own destination. Forget the fact that there are other destinations doing that pretty well already… why doesn’t WB use Time Warner’s online assets, like SI, Time, and… AOL, or Bebo!
TWX is one odd company: last night I mentioned how AOL and CNN don’t seem to talk, add this to one more unit living in a silo.
I never understood why some companies like Handheld Entertainment and Go Fish were publicly traded. With easier access to capital comes the fact that your premature business gets nailed by shareholders, especially if your underlying premise - that distribution trumps content - is faulty.
[Disclaimer: both companies were or are distribution partners of WatchMojo.com]
GoFish is now worth $10.61M, ZVUE (formerly known as Handheld Entertainment) is worth $10.16M. Revver, never publicly traded but armed with $13M in VC money sold for less than $5M to Live Universe, Brad Greenspan’s company.
WatchMojo.com is worth more than those three companies combined, not because any stock ticker or term sheet says so, but because if value is ultimately derived by demand and supply, there’s no competition. It’s not even close. With every passing day, the value of content soars whereas distribution fizzles unless you are # 1 or # 2.
GoFish has changed models and is no longer a UGC platform, but rather, a kids’ ad network. Two years ago, UGC was in; last year, it was ad networks. Something tells me GoFish might very well prevail, but it’s hard to focus and execute when your stock price is out there for public consumption and rejection.
ZVUE went on a shopping spree and financed itself via private investments in public equities (PIPEs), which is always a dangerous tool. Maybe that is why the company’s stock is languishing. I thought of buying some shares but there remains downside risk, even though the stock has fallen from $7 to $0.40.
Not a day goes by where you don’t hear about a new roll up fund. Today Austin Ventures launched one, backing former Razorfish CEO Jeffrey Dachis.
For the past few months, I’ve talked to two investment groups about doing a video rollup and the names of such companies always come up as would-be targets. I’m not sure the upside is there, even at distressed prices.
Last year Ross Levinsohn and Jon Miller contemplated doing the roll-up, but the numbers did not add up, partially because online video is very nascent. So Messers Levinsohn and Miller instead merged with ComVentures and began to invest in online video startups.
This year, when Revver was on the auction block, I considered making a run for it, but I could see that there were and would be dozens more of such companies for sale as the market weeded out the second tier aggregation/distribution sites.
The temptation was there, but ultimately I stuck to my guns: I much rather own content instead of distribution. This is counter-intuitive to the Valley mindset but not to big media. Distribution is great, but it’s not exclusive or defensible per se in online media.
Even in traditional media, look at what is happening to ABC, CBS or NBC (even FOX). They lost market share to HBO, MTV, ESPN etc.
Then enter new media where everything is a click away.
Especially online, distribution is a commodity, and ZVUE and GoFish were commodities to shareholders. The public market is more correct in recognizing that than private investors, many of whom who suffer from herd mentality and are a bit, shall we say, behind the times.
Consider recent history:
Lycos, Excite et al. all had massive distribution at one point, now they’re distant runner-ups. Even Yahoo! is seeing erosion in market share to the new wave of distribution outlets, namely vertical publishers and massive social networking sites.
So instead of owning distribution, we at WatchMojo.com instead partner with them: YouTube, Hulu, MySpace TV, Veoh, etc., why compete with these massively funded strong brands when we can tap into their networks and build our business on their platforms?
I think with time and experience, even private investors get this: this morning Web 2.0 uber investor Fred Wilson conceded content might be a better bet than aggregation. That sure sounds like something I’ve been saying for some time. I doubt Fred is giving content businesses a consideration, I surmise nothing will change that… however, online, where everything is a click away, you cannot build defensible positions in distribution or aggregation, but you can with content.
PLAY
