The Top 18 Finds This Week

 

I’m that annoying co-worker.

You know the one – the one who sends a million one-line emails with links for you to click on because she thinks they’re cool as ****.

What I forget is that everyone does not like reading as much as I do so when I realized I was annoying some people with my emails, I cut back, and I decided to make a spreadsheet of my really cool finds. Then at the end of each week, I would send my spreadsheet to the team, and they could look at it or not – their choice (or loss). 

Lately, I’ve been getting a lot of emails from people asking what I’m reading or which tools I’m using, and so, I decided to do a roundup of the best goodies I’ve found in the past week or so.

If you guys like this type of post, please tell me in the comments, and I’ll make it a regular weekly or bi-weekly “thing.”

Here’s my latest top finds.

Step-by-Step: Creating amazing GIFs to announce new features

If you haven’t noticed – GIFs are in and static is out. GIFs are not only fantastic for announcing new features, but they’re also great when you just want people to stop and actually see what you’re promoting on – say – Twitter. Have you noticed more and more GIFs being used on Twitter? I sure have.

 

Change Your Name

If you don’t read Paul Graham’s blog, well, you’re missing out. In this post, Graham makes the case for naming your startup based on whether or not you own the domain name for it. He makes a very good point(s) in this post. Read it if you’re struggling to pick a name for your startup.

 

2015’s Most Expectation-Raising Innovations

I can’t believe I’m sharing this goodie publicly because it’s my little secret behind how I spot trends before they go mainstream. Trendwatching.com predicts trends two years or more before they happen. It’s amazing. Read its August Trend Briefing: 15 Innovations from 2015 that will set the stage for how your customers expect to be treated in the near future.

 

What Startups Can Learn from General McChrystal about Combining Strategy and Execution

Entrepreneurs should most definitely bookmark First Round Review. Its insightful and actionable posts always teach me something new. I love it. Check out this one on strategy and execution.

 

Customer Success: The Definitive Guide

I’ve recently become obsessed with Lincoln Murphy’s blog. Are you defining your ideal customer profile or buyer personas currently? Read this. Will you be defining your customer profiles or buyer personas in the near future? Bookmark this!

 

Micro-VC, by the #’s

Looking for investors? Here’s a list of micro-VC firms, i.e. “firms raising funds <$100MM with 80% of the initial investment being “seed” stage (seed being an evolving term these days).”

 

Designing Your Sales Stack so that Customers Come to You

My friends and colleagues have been LOVING this article from First Round Review on designing your “sales stack.” If you need help designing your sales process, read this. I even took notes on it because I found it so important. You can view them here.

 

Quality vs. Quantity: A 6-Month Analysis of the Age-Old Blogging Debate

HubSpot answers the age-old question: How long should my blog post be?

 

User Onboarding Academy

I’ve been working on onboarding a lot lately, and I found Appcues’ “Onboarding Academy” extremely useful and easy to navigate / hop around on.

 

Find Email Addresses – 60+ Tools and Tips to Find Someone’s Email

You NEED to be able to find email addresses efficiently today. Here’s the ultimate guide with a list of tools to help you get those email addresses that are so hard to find.

 

The LinkedIn Hack That Made Me $120,000

The Hustle is one of my new favorite publications. This post is easy to read and provides actionable tips anyone can take to grow their business on LinkedIn.

The Google Ventures Billion Dollar SEO Empire

Jacob King breaks down Google Ventures’ acquisitions.

 

6 dashboards I use daily – and why every startup CEO should as well

This is a really helpful article to bookmark and revisit. It provides phenomenal ideas and templates for startup founders and CEOs.

First Round 10-Year Project

First Round shares its research findings on what separates the big wins from the average wins based on their analyzations of its portfolio companies.

 

Duplicate Content Is A Myth. Here Are 9 Cases That Prove It!

Okay, we all want to know the answer to the duplicate content myth. Finally, someone gives us an answer – Ahrefs – in this great post on its blog.

Examples – KPIs, metrics and data visualizations

I’ve bookmarked this post. It’s helpful when you aren’t sure what to measure employees and/or yourself on when trying to build a successful business.

Does Your App Have a Messaging Schedule?

Great piece on onboarding by Intercom. I love their blog for onboarding advice (plus I’m customer).

How GrowthHackers(.com) Uses “The Hook Model” to Foster Incredibly High Member Retention

Interesting case study on how to increase your customer/member retention rate based on “The Hook Model.”

So would you like to read another post like this next week or bi-weekly?! Please tell us in the comments so we can better serve your reading tastes.