BUSINESS BLOGS
BUSINESS BLOGS
category: business
13 Aug 2008

Quintura’s Yakov Sadchikov is a fine example of an entrepreneur and executive who maximizes blogging to the fullest to bring visibility to his company.

As a Russian writer and entrepreneur, he has a front row seat on one of the most dynamic and exciting markets in the world (not talking merely web markets or economic market, we’re talking market for products, but also people and ideas…)

Russia is even more so than China and India leading the world in leading the world in the 21st century, if that makes sense.

But Yakov is fortunate to have a unique edge which is his being in Russia. Corporate blogging is a great platform for entrepreneurs to raise visibility for their company and break down barriers in business development.

However, I personally find myself increasingly cornered because we have so many partnerships (fortunately) that any commenting on any company can come across as me airing in public what ought to be left private. For the record, sometimes we have NDAs, but even when we don’t, I generally don’t cross the line between my general observations of our industry and our company’s interactions with peers.

But that is idealistic, and frankly, naive. Anytime I tag a post with a company we work with, invariably it’s a double-edged sword.

That’s just one pitfall. Another, frankly, is the time it takes to be a world-class blogger in coming up with intuitive insights and critical analysis… ooh… big words, but you get the idea.

I think Jason Calacanis is one example of an entrepreneur who stopped blogging - maybe temporarily - because his VC overlords started to wonder what he spent more time on: his company’s operational dashboard or his blog’s publishing dashboard.

I don’t have VC overlords to worry about… but I am not foolish, as much as blogging opens up doors and adds visibility, it also closes down others.

I certainly don’t want to make it sound like I am discouraging Yakov, Jason et al. to stop or even reduce blogging, au contraire, both provide great insights from their respective vantage points, but I think both gents would agree than sometimes, it’s good to step away from the machine and focus on the bizness.

Then again, maybe that’s just my mood these days: there aren’t enough hours in a day for me to focus on our business deals and pipeline… over time that changes, if you enjoy writing, and people know I’ve never met a keyboard (or pen or microphone) I don’t like… then you always find your roots and get back to pontificating.