how copy can be visual

playing with making copy more visual. logos really do matter to make a brand pop on a page.

Polyvore Press

Books to read

I recently got a Kindle and am obsessed with reading on it. For example, I read during commercial breaks, on the train, etc. Here are a couple book recommendations from one of my favorite professors at the GSB, Irv Grousbeck:

The Last Lion by William Manchester (Churchill biog.)
Means of Ascent by Robert Caro (LBJ biog.)
The River of Doubt by Candice Millard (re Teddy Roosevelt)
90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper
Complications by Atul Gawande
The Big Short and Liar’s Poker, both by Michael Lewis
The Scalpel and the Soul by Allan J. Hamilton
Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Truman by David McCullough
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson

advice

"if you can make everyone around you comfortable, with you, then you can get a whole lot done"

Tasteful Publicity

My startup recently launched a new product for Facebook where users can "Style a Friend" and post to their walls. I volunteered myself to be featured in an example style collage shared with new users, and am happy I did. Taking One for the Team meant my stylish teammate could dress me up in a stylish outfit (see below). Way better than wearing a chicken costume or spinning a roadside sign.

Styling Grace by Polyvore featuring snakeskin pumps

Vanessa Bruno Silk-georgette dress
$510 - net-a-porter.com
Vanessa Bruno dresses »

See by Chloé Cotton-jersey jacket
$580 - net-a-porter.com
See by Chloe »

Citizens of Humanity Thompson high-rise skinny jeans
$155 - net-a-porter.com
High rise jeans »

Christian Louboutin Altadama python peep toe court shoes
865 GBP - brownsfashion.com
Snakeskin pumps »

Proenza Schouler Oversize Cabas Tote in Black
$2,490 - shopzoeonline.com
Oversized handbags »

Fossil - Dream Weaver Leather Feather Bracelet (Vintage Silver) -...
$24 - zappos.com
Fossil bracelets »

Dotted Line Font
fonts.com

Polyvore Team: Grace
polyvore.com

Don't Leave Before You Leave

On managing a career as a woman, by Sheryl Sandberg.

Career Advice

from my CEO

How's the new job?

I finally married a company! After a summer of job dating, I finally found a company that I found as exciting as they found me. This week, I started work at Polyvore, a successful fashion community start up, to work on marketing.

What have I learned?
-Fresh perspectives bring valuable product feedback
-Product managers and engineers solve problems by building products, not that fuzzy marketing stuff

new job advice

In preparation for starting my new job at Polyvore, my old manager gave me the following advice that may help others starting new jobs.

Ask yourself: "What are you most excited about? What are you most worried about? Why?" The answers to these questions may reveal goals, opportunities for development, and opportunities for impact.

Homework:
-Your perspective will be clouded within a few months of working at your new company. Before starting, write down what you've learned about your company's consumers, what works, and what doesn't work
-Understand what past difficulties you've had in past jobs, and find ways to overcome similar obstacles in your new job
-Write a personal development plan for goals to achieve and skills to develop. Refer back to this plan to get you through the day-to-day grind.
-Finally, imagine your new job as a 6-12 month endeavor that you're "testing out" to remind yourself that you always have a choice to stay or leave your company, regardless of whether you stay for many years.

Let's be product managers

In Silicon Valley, working as a Product Manager for Google or another major consumer internet company is a right of passage into working in the consumer internet world. It's like spending 2 years in investment banking (or investment management in my case) at a major investment bank after undergrad before continuing in finance. Other common uses of the "X investment bank" on one's resume is to show that you can analyze something and use excel.

Well, not everyone can be a product manager for Google, or a financial analyst for Goldman Sachs. But, the good news is that there are resources out there to help you learn. I've had the Silicon Valley Product Managers Association recommended to me by a friend. You can find useful articles for new product managers and tips for current product managers to stay up to date. Still on the hunt for other resources, but here's a start.

A Community of Learning

Similar to how airbnb creates a marketplace for people to rent space (eg. couch, room, house), Teach Street creates a marketplace for people to advertise and look for lessons. Teach Street's tagline is "an online community for people who love to learn" - I mean, who can say no to that? I have spent 6 years in undergraduate and graduate school, so I do love being in communities where people love to learn and share knowledge with each other. I think this product appeals to anyone who's ever been a bit bored and wanted to learn something new (eg. housewives, retired people, working people wanting to spice up their routine). My question is who ends up selling these classes. Stay tuned.

Ease of use?

Learned of Polyvore's new mini-editor, which allows people to create online fashion style boards and post to Polyvore's online fashion community. Wondering how easy it is for someone not familiar with the tool to use it. Also, wondering what other widgets sites create for bloggers to use.

Give it a shot. Too bad the mini-editor doesn't fit within the blogger page and it's unclear how to change the fashion items in the tool.

Powered by Polyvore

social media drives business

Here's a good article on how businesses use social media to drive their business. no doubt innovative businesses will continue to think of how social media actually helps them, and that other businesses will play with social media for a week and forget about it. http://tcrn.ch/ccqGaK

Affiliate Marketing

I'm learning more about affiliate marketing revenue, where partner sites drive traffic and sales to a major site for a commission. Looking for more info, but one site highlighting programs for affiliates to sign up for is http://www.abestweb.com/. Bookmarking this resources here.

Kleiner Perkins invested in this??

lockerz.com is an "invite only" site where cool people can buy cool stuff, consumer cool media, and hang out with their cool friends. Unlike Gilt Groupe, the cool people running lockerz.com give off a ghetto cool image instead of a NY sex-in-the-city cool. I must not be the target demographic for lockerz.com because I don't aspire to be a member of the ghetto cool crowd.

LinkedIn competition

theladders.com caught my attention in last week's wall street journal because its tagline is ">$100K jobs for >$100K talent". Similar to LinkedIn's job board, you can search for jobs by location and position title. However, you need to pay for a special membership ($35/month) to actually apply for the job (and I imagine see the name of the company hiring).

return of display advertising

watch out - the annoying display ad you just couldn't close is the old guard of a new trend in engaging display advertising. well, maybe not new, but a trend i just learned about.

The World's Best Banner Ads (And Why They Worked)

factors for effective display ads:
-give user reason to click (reward)
-sense of urgency
-entertaining
-interesting placement on page

the traditional method to evaluate effective TV advertising follows the framework below:
A - attracts attention
B - communicates clear benefit
L - links to brand equity
E - executed well, consistent with other executions

facebook marketing = relationship building

marketing (advertising) on Facebook is a fuzzy art. expect to do brand-building and relationship building over weeks and months, test out positioning and calls to action, and watch your budget.

see article.

Web Analytics & Flash Sales

It's tough to figure out which private ecommerce sites are doing well.

Since user acquisition and retention are key revenue drivers, you can use a few useful tools to understand and analyze site analytics. The open question is which of these sites provides the most info. Compete allows you to compare traffic and other web analytics across several sites. Alexa allows you to scope out web analytics for a particular company.

On the topic of ecommerce trends, I've noticed a lot of excitement around Flash Sale site (sites selling luxury brands at a major discount for a set period of time. Besides Groupon, Living Social is popular, as well Rue La La.

Deal Shopping

Learned of another site that gives bargain deals on broad categories, from apparel to housewares to CDs. http://www.shopohlala.com/index.html

Federal CIO

I just listened to a NPR interview with Obama's federal CIO, Todd Park, and learned of the following cool ways that the government is giving Americans access to decision-making and data.

Tell Health and Human Services what you want
http://www.hhs.gov/open/

Download high value government data
http://www.data.gov/

Get up-to-date flight times before you fly
http://flyontime.us/

I'm curious how much nonprofits & individuals, consultants & businesses, and travelers will use this data. As someone who doesn't follow politics, I'm now interested in government developments.

Twitter 101 for Businesses

Kudos to my classmates who put this together.
http://business.twitter.com/twitter101

Social Media Campaigns

The big talk in marketing is how social media like Facebook and Twitter are changing how companies market to consumers. Companies can use social technology to have a "conversation" with consumers, listen to what consumers and competition are saying about their brand, and listento what the competition is doing.

I wanted to share social media campaigns I came across that were touted as "best":

Charity (Fundraising)
http://mashable.com/2009/04/02/social-media-charity-events/

Cause Marketing (Partnerships between Company & Nonprofit)
http://www.causemarketingforum.com/award_archives.asp