The next time a company wants you to sign an NDA, think twice before you jump on.

An NDA stands for “Non-Disclosure Agreement” which wikipedia defines as: “is a legal contract between at least two parties that outlines confidential materials or knowledge the parties wish to share with one another for certain purposes, but wish to restrict from generalized use.”

Typically a company will want this signed with key clients, distributors, partners, etc…so they can protect anything they share during business.

From your own perspective, an NDA can be great, it helps protect (legally) anything you tell someone. However, the reverse side, if you sign a MUTUAL NDA, that means you too, could be liable for what you learn about the other company.

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I get opportunities or requests almost weekly from others who we talk business with to sign an NDA. The “old me” would just sign them so the conversation could move on, however, not the “new me.” What changed?

I realized that by blindly signing NDAs with companies who are in my industry (but who’s business I don’t completely understand), I may be creating serious liability for my company. Simple situation…

What if that company happens to be working on something that you’re working on?

Sure, an NDA is not the same thing as a “Non-compete” - but if 2 months later, you too launch the “same” service, what’s going to stop that company from suing you anyways saying that you used privileged information post NDA to “steal” their ideas.

So my #1 reason for thinking twice about NDAs is that even if there is a small chance that our businesses will cross, I’m putting my company at serious liability (even if I don’t really “steal” anything and was working on it all along). Next time someone wants an NDA, just be sure you are not going to enter their space.

And, as a good sales person, try to learn the MOST you can without the NDA. Using this, just in the last month, I’ve refused to sign two different NDAs and in retrospect, I’m very glad that I did.

Popularity: 15% [?]

We’re in a very interesting place right now in our company that I never expected to be in so suddenly…EVERYONE seems to want to work for us. And, I don’t just mean “jo schmos” - I’m talking VPs and Directors of the largest companies in our industry.

It all started about third quarter last year when our current VP of Marketing contacted us herself for a position in our company. It took a brief break and then recently, it’s picked up again (in a big way).

Just yesterday, I had a 90 minute chat with a Director from the largest company in our industry who is willing to jump through some major hoops just to work for us; the biggest of which is that she’s agreeing to take a 60% cut in salary! In place of a guaranteed high salary, she wants an incentive plan (profit-sharing and/or stock options). Of course this is MUSIC to a start-up’s ears.

Just 2 weeks before this, I had one of the MOST respected and sought after public figures in our industry contact me herself and ask for a potential job (we’re still waiting to see what happens at her company, if she decides to leave or not).

I love the attention, but it’s almost spooky.

It was less than 3 years ago that I went to my first industry trade show and sat there watching these very same people present on stage in awe…just the THOUGHT that they may let me even speak to them (so I could pitch them) would excite me. And today, less than three years later, I may be their “boss?”

Life in business can be surreal if you really think about it.

But, now here’s the dilemma - LISTEN UP - you may very well face this in your business (sooner than you think).

The “position” which this person I spoke with yesterday is applying for is not really “there” in our company right now. The way our small fast growing company hires right now is on the idea that each person will “create their own salary.” That means that by their addition we’ll be able to launch something that we may not have been able to launch otherwise.

So, if we hire someone and pay them $7,000 a month - they should be able to self-create at least that much in revenue to cover their own salary…

The current person would be applying for a position that may not “monetize” until fourth quarter this year or even later. So, until then, even though we’re getting her at a steep “discount” - we’d have to pay her salary out of our pocket and that would put a hold on cash that may be used for other things.

BUT…

She’s a true win, highly connected in the industry and the “cultural fit” is perfect. Furthermore, she truly believes in the things we’re working on.

This is definitely one of those “once in a lifetime” opportunities. If I don’t act on her right away, she’ll surely find something else and it will be VERY hard to get her later (if not impossible or at least very expensive). However, at the same time, would it be wise to put a hold on cash that may be better spent on other more immediately needed areas?

Usually I tell you what I’ve decided, but let’s do something different today - why don’t YOU tell me what YOU would do? - Leave your reply in a comment below.

Popularity: 24% [?]

My real background comes from marketing and more specifically internet marketing, so as I build this blog out and other sites, I want to share some of my “smaller” marketing tactics with you. Maybe the $100 Million+ companies won’t care about this (although it can impact them too), but my guess is that most of our readers CAN benefit from this…

Thanks to a friend of mine (also on our team who handles all of our design), I got a tip from him recently to pay more attention to Digg.com. I always thought that for Digg.com to really help you, you have to already have THOUSANDS of visitors, but I now learn that that is not the case!

His basic recommendation: Set-up an account at Digg.com and digg my own posts, each one of them and then let it be.

So, starting yesterday, I have pretty much digged the 30 blog posts that are here at MysteryCEO.com right now. The results have been VERY interesting already! Below, I’ll share what I did and also the results…

Step 1: Go to www.Digg.com and sign-up for a free account, it takes about 1 minute!

Step 2: After logging in, go to: http://digg.com/submit/

Step 3: Copy/Paste the URL of the place the story exists, the exact link and choose what kind of media it is…

Step 4: Give it a title and description <– This is CRITICAL because it will determine how many people read or don’t read it.
** Make sure to use a catchy title and a short, to the point, but exciting description…

Step 5: Pick the right category - I have not played enough to see if you should be “tricky” with what category you pick, so for now just pick what makes sense!

Step 6: Prove that you’re human by typing in the letters you see and hit SUBMIT.

Step 7: Careful, you’re not done yet, Digg.com thinks that EVERY story is a repeat so they are double-checking, just scroll to the bottom and click “Original, I Swear!”

NOW, you’re done! That’s it, it was a few clicks and you’ll have presece on a major site. I’ve done this for about 1.5 days now, want to see my results?

First of all, here is how Awstats shows the increase in my traffic…

(Keep in mind that I’m showing this so quickly that the Awstats has not updated for today, so you’ll only see the jump it took yesterday, and I’ve spent time DIGGING today too…).

Now, let’s see the jump that Google Analytics also shows in my traffic from just 1.5 days of Digging my existing content…

Here is the other neat thing, OTHER people actually are liking my story and taking time to digg it themselves, THIS I did not expect…now it’s not a LOT, but it’s something! This is the beginning of building more and more…

Pretty cool eh! This also gives me a chance to see what others like and don’t…

So, this is all I have for today, if your company is already posting content to the site, make sure you have someone doing this for you. As soon as I figure this out, I’m going to assign it to someone here to do it for me every day. Also, I’ll keep doing it for a week and report back on the results I am getting…

Popularity: 38% [?]

So as you know a few days ago I made a post about how much I loved traveling Qatar Airways when I was going to my secret “bat cave” location. I’ve now safely arrived back in the U.S. and this time I got permission from the Qatar staff to take pictures…

Funny story on that, I initially just started sneaking around taking pictures - I quickly realized the potential risk of that. Let’s think about it…mysterious guy taking pictures in a brand new Islamic airport - hmmm … any potential security problems?

Anyways, the staff was very nice and encouraging me to take as many pictures as I wanted - so here they are!

I got automatically upgraded to FIRST CLASS!

Yes, there IS a difference between Business Class and First Class and boy was it some difference! I can barely afford Business Class (was more of a personal treat to myself), so I have never even thought about First Class. What happened was that on the first leg of my flight, apparently there was tons of room left in the first class.

Qatar Airways was nice enough to just upgrade me automatically - they didn’t even tell me until I ENTERED the plane…imagine my surprise when THIS was what I walked up to

It’s basically my own little cabin, just missing a door, but that seat goes 100% flat and turns into a bed - the table is a big table (you’ll see why they need such a big one in a minute). They actually have shelves and places for me to put things.

Here are some more pictures from the first class cabin on the first leg of the trip…

A view of the seat next to mine…

This was the entire cabin, allll to us!

Unfortunately this was a short flight, but they still served breakfast - Crossant, Fruit, Omelette, Lamb, Potatoes, Juice and there was even more…

This flight was just over 3 hours and then we landed in the “Business Terminal” - this is a terminal fully dedicated only to First and Business Class passengers. If you remember on my last post, I mentioned it was like walking into a Ritz Carlton, well, now I bring you PROOF…

The Most Comfortable 5 Hour Layover I’ve Ever Had…

For 5 hours here is a list of the amenities I had access to:

1. Full buffet
2. Any drink I want, including the boos
3. A “small” shopping area - they need to work on this.
4. Full business center - free internet and computer access
5. Nursery - don’t have any kids though
6. Video game room - this was definitely fun
7. Prayer rooms - in case needed

and…even more impressive…bring a change of clothes if you want:

8. Full showers with towels and everything - talking about getting fresh!

Here are some pictures from the Doha, Qatar terminal…

This is the main lounge to enter the Business/First Class Terminal…

This is where you enter either Business Lounge or First Class Lounge

An example of the decor in the airport…

Entrance and Look Into Business Lounge

Full buffet of snacks - maybe could have tasted a bit better…

For some reason, trees INSIDE the airport

Just half of the lounge sitting area…very comfortable

I played Formula 1 for some time…

These are just a few pictures of the entire lounge - I still felt a bit weird taking too many pictures, so I didn’t take that many. But, it really was a very comfortable and friendly environment. Typically you have to sit on those hard plastic chairs for hours and it just plain sucks - but not in Doha, Qatar.

The 2nd Leg of My Flight - Business Class…

I was hoping that I may get upgraded here too, but it seems on the plane coming to US, they actually only have business class, but either way, it’s just as comfortable so I really didn’t care.

Here are some pictures of the way their business class seats look…

LOTS of space and a big 13″ TV

They start serving you within 2 minutes of you coming on-board…

Seriously, if you’re traveling internationally and have a chance to take Qatar, I highly recommend it from the business class perspective.

I have family members who have gone economy class and enjoyed the experience as well, I did get a chance to peak back there and after being spoiled in business class, one cannot imagine how it’s even possible to fly economy…I guess I’ll find out the next time I fly - I don’t think I can afford to keep living the “CEO Lifestyle” - not until we sell the company or have some HUGE revenue influx

Popularity: 100% [?]

I don’t know what the hell I’m doing or why I just launched this, but I wanted to finally play with Squidoo and see what the big buzz is all about.

Have a look at my lens, it’s pretty fugly right now, but leave me alone, I’m working on it!

The Mystery CEO Lens…

Maybe you can favorite it or something…I’m thinking of starting a bunch of other little social networks in places too - flex some of my “marketing muscle!”

Popularity: 25% [?]

The more we get into corporate sales the more shocked I get about how SLLLOOOOWWW these big companies are! Even the smallest decision has multiple layers of approval. Even after the leading manager/director approves the project, then there is an entire new approval process through the financial department for the actual invoice!

I definitely understand the need for structure and organization, the larger you get, the more people you have to watch and the more systems you need. Obviously, the more systems you put into place, the more “red-tape” there is…etc…etc…that all makes everything slower.

I get it.

But, is there seriously no better way?

I see this as one of the biggest advantages that smaller businesses or start-ups have over big companies - they are nimble; only a few people need to make the decision and they need to get it done fast (they’re busy doing 10 other things too).

The more I experience this, the more I believe that keeping our organization nimble and allowing the right managers the RIGHTS to make quick decisions is critical. Some ideas I have to put this into place…

1. Every department head and sub-manager should have a “no question” budget or range within which they can approve.
2. There should be a central system for proposals and approvals that all department heads check at least weekly (rather than a string of emails that get lost).
3. Just say “no.” I’ve noticed that the bigger they are, the harder it is for them to just say no - but, stop wasting everyone’s time - if you don’t want it, just say no!

My Personal Experience With Microsoft… 

For example, I was dealing with Microsoft on a deal once. After wasting weeks of my time in trying to set-up a call (btw, THEY were hunting ME down), we finally got on a call. We were on that call for 1 hour with me explaining what we could do for them (btw, this is over a year ago). Finally, the Microsoft rep basically tells me in his own words…

“Well, we want you to do this and that for us - all customized just for Microsoft, but we’re not going to pay you for it. No, you can’t co-brand it and no, you can’t even tell people that Microsoft is your client.”

I’m sorry, what the hell do “I” get then? He went on to tell me that they had no “budget” for what we were offering.

My question … why did YOU hunt ME down?

So, basically, they were not able to just say “no, we don’t want this service” but instead they wanted the highest version of our service for free, just because they were Microsoft - no thanks.

The best example of a nimble big company I have seen…

Google - I think the main reason they are continuing to grow so fast and are destroying Microsoft and Yahoo is that no matter how big they get, they remain nimble.

They are constantly launching new services, new products, hiring new people, going into new international markets - yet, they make decisions and they trust their employees and managers with a certain “room” for self-monitoring and decision-making.

I have personally had an experience with Google as well and the entire process lasted only one week. We had an “offer” for them, we wrote it to the right person in a department. He was interested, set-up a call a week later - we did a 1 hour call where we went through a lot of Q&A. A few days later he wrote to us saying he was not interested…a NO! Or better yet, a FAST NO!

Sure, I didn’t sell them - but I still love them for respecting my time and just going one way or the other.

Moral of the story? I don’t care how big you get, you should monitor how long it’s taking people to make decisions in your company. Make sure you remain nimble.

Popularity: 31% [?]

As you know I just recently returned from visiting our technical team and I first-hand experienced a “snippet” of the tug-of-war that can take place between sales teams and technical teams. Our guys are very understanding, so nothing big - but there were definitely jokes going around that showed that at times if they could ring our necks, they probably would.

Here is the bottomline to the fights between these two teams:

The sales team is the one that is out there voicing the capabilities of what they are selling and also committing to certain deadlines. But once they sell whatever they promised, they pass it along to the technical team - it’s the techincal team that actually needs to BUILD and implement the promise.

To top it off, many times if the promise is not fulfilled, it’s the technical team that is blamed, not really the sales team (since it’s just their job to bring IN the business).

Also, by the nature of the beast, a sales team will pretty much say anything to a client typically to get the sale I mean, think about it, they have a quota to meet, a reputation to keep and an ego to inflate.

I’ve personally seen three areas where I see most of the “disagreements” take place…

1. Deadlines

We personally don’t seem to really have this problem, we have “super coders!” However, in companies where the sales team promises merchandise or some custom-tailored software, this is likely a regular problem.

If the sales person has to promise a late delivery, he/she will lose the sale. If he/she promises an early delivery, then they risk irritating the fulfillment personnel. Personally, I think the sales guy just says “screw it, let me get the money, i’ll handle the technical guys later.”

2. Unfulfilled Projects

Now, THIS one our technical team has tons of experience with me being the guilty party - they won’t admit it, but I know they’ve wanted to slap me a few times. Basically what happens here is that the management/sales/product team comes up with an idea and asks the technical team to evaluate it and as always, they say “this is urgent, do it right away…”

The technical team may slave day and night to get the discussions done and a full report ready by which time the management may have already decided to “nix” the project - meaning, not follow-through with it.

Obviously this would upset anyone, if you were just told that you have to stay up forever working on a project scope and a few days later told “Oh, sorry, we decided not to do it, thanks anyways…” I can definitely understand their issue there.

The only thing is that this will never change…especially in a start-up - things change, ideas come and go, just the nature of the beast.

3. Project Creep

This one makes me laugh because we just got done poking fun at this in the office, “project creep” is when you build a system based on well thought-out requirements and feature sets. HOWEVER, as the project starts, it keeps growing.

You think of new features, more things to add and so on.

This not only delays the launch of the project but can drive the developers crazy because many of the things you ask for may require a LOT of programming which would have been that much easier had you mentioned it from the start.

Any work around this? Not really…

Again, this will happen in a start-up. This will especially happen if you are launching a new and unique concept. You have no idea how the market will react to it.

Not only will you add/delete features during the actual development, but you’ll add/delete features constantly even after the launch of it.

But it certainly CAN help to spend just a few days extra (or even weeks) PLANNING it out in the beginning…the less project creep the better. But, I don’t think there is ANY project done in history that did not suffer from the creep.

I’m sure there are many other areas where these two teams fight with each other, but thoese are three main ones I’ve seen.

What can you do? Nothing really…just take the technical team out for a beer here and there and send them some chocolates!

Maybe do some better planning and keep them involved in your sales process to some degree - if they feel involved, then it would be a team decision that everyone has responsibility over.

Popularity: 24% [?]

I’ll probably take a break from virtual team discussion for a few days after this post, but here is another tip that is very necessary if you are running a virtual team. And, in full confession, we are still not very good about it (but fortunately we have such a great team, it has not been too necessary, everyone works on the “it was due yesterday” system

Running Tight Deadlines

By default with a virtual team - the team members are going to work their own hours - there really is nothing you can do to control that. If you try to place too many measures to assure “time based” work from your team, that’s a horrible culture to put in place.

So the solution is to move over to “project based” - think about it, do you REALLY care what times the project was worked on so long as it was done on time?

Our position on this is that we set-up launch dates and sub-dates within the launch for milestones. As long as those are met, we’re in very good shape.

It’s critical to really watch these deadlines tightly. It’s even more critical to make sure you have multiple milestones in the process of creating a bigger project. Small deadlines are much easier to manage than one large “launch this project on date X” deadline.

Make sure to appoint a “Project Manager” - one person who is responsible for managing the deadlines.

Project and milestone based deadlines: This is the simplest way to manage virtual teams, to make sure everything is getting done in a timely fashion while also allowing the freedoms that everyone gets from working off-location.

Popularity: 26% [?]

Given that I am just returning today from an international trip where I met with two seperate teams that are absolutely critical to our business and obviously working virtually - I figured it would fit to discuss how we manage a virtual team.

From day 1 our team has been virtual so I’ve gotten quite used to it, however, the more I meet other companies, I have learned that managing a virtual team is quite a task for many and also unsuccesful.

There are many things that we do, some purposely and some just happen by chance that really make a virtual team possible.

Today, let me share some of the TOOLS we use to make it possible…

1. Conference Call Lines

In the U.S. we use www.freeconferencecall.com to run at least 1 team call a week where we have a very specific outline we use:

A) General reporting from the CEO and any other team lead with major news. Here we discuss the status of all on-going projects and any other major developments.

B) We go through all members of call 1 by 1 and ask the following 2 questions:

i) What are the 3 main objectives for this week.
ii) Anything you need from any team members?

** The great thing here is that it makes everyone’s commitments public and also gives everyone a chance to chat live.

If someone commits to doing something, they are now obliged to the entire team. The sense of responsibility drastically increases.

C) We go through any questions anyone has regarding anything going on.

** Our calls range from between 30 minutes to 1 hour.

2. GTalk

Most of us all have Gmail accounts and are constantly logged onto Gtalk so we can easily ping each other instantly if needed.

GTalk allows you to do instant messaging chat and also allows you to use their system for live chat through your computer (which is crystal clear even internationally).

3. Skype

You can host multi-user conference calls through Skype for free which are also free to use.

4. Project Management System

We currently use BaseCamp. This is a system that allows you to create many projects, deadlines, to-do lists, chat boards, etc…all around specific projects. You can also control who has access to what.

http://www.basecamphq.com/

My confession here is that I’m still not very good at using BaseCamp (the rest of the team is), I still prefer receiving e-mail threads, but am trying to get out of that now.

These are the 4 major tools we use to run a virtual team, they are simple and mostly free!

Tip of the Day: Even if you don’t have a virtual team, a weekly team call is critical - it has tremendously helped us stay organized and also build relationships and repore between the team members.

Popularity: 28% [?]

So as I mentioned yesterday, right before I snuck out of the office I was visiting a couple of days ago, the manage of the office asked me to make an “inspirational and motivational speech” to the group. Speaking to the group is one thing. Motivating a group is another thing…

However, he added the phrase “motivate them so that they don’t leave us for 10 years…”

NOW my eyes gouged out a bit - what the hell am I going to say that will motivate a group of people I have never met to stay with us for 10 years!?

At first I fought it and tried to get out of it, but quickly I had one of my famous “AH HA” moments. If you think about it, what is the main job of a leader? To inspire and motivate!

So, I took up the challenge and plunged into the speech.

The group was actually very attentive, everyone quickly turned around (they actually stood up first), as I spoke I could see heads nodding and many really understanding our big picture as I explained it - I quickly felt very welcomed and comfortable and got into a rhythm.

Here is the outline I used:

1. Thanked them for everything they are doing for us.
2. Discussed the “big” picture of the company.
3. Gave details of how what they are doing fits the company’s growth and how important it is.
4. Talked about some of the great feets we have crossed and why 2008 is the biggest year yet.
5. Asked questions (which I think they were still too shy to ask).
6. Mentioned my open door policy and gave everyone my personal contact information.
7. Ended the talk with another great thank you!

The entire talk was less than 5 minutes, which I think was perfect, I meant it to be fast.

In self-review, I feel I did “OK,” I could have done a much better job in each of the 7 points above (I feel my nervousness probably showed a bit). As I finished up, our CTO who was present there gave me some great suggestions.

Here is what he said verbatim:

“You should have talked about how the company started and what the vision/mission behind the company is…”

He is absolutely right. I spend so much time around those who know how we started and who know our vision/mission that I took it for granted! One of the most unique aspects of our company is how we started and how strongly we believe in our vision/mission.

Before I discussed the “big picture” of the company, I should have spent time talking about our vision/mission and how we started. I will definitely fix this the next time…

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A Tip: Use some humor in your “speech” to lighten the mood and make everyone feel more comfortable with you. A smile and a laugh can help others receive your message better but can also give you that much more confidence to deliver your message.

Popularity: 25% [?]