Brian Ma's Blog (@zealoustiger)

Startups are hard.  Having a dream, finding passionate people who share that same vision, and then giving up everything in pursuit of that dream is a luxury that few people have the opportunity to experience.  I’ve been blessed with that opportunity and have dedicated this blog to sharing my experiences and lessons I’ve learned from the challenges and triumphs I’ve faced.

I hope that my time given up to write these short articles will help you – the aspiring entrepreneur, or the curious startup hobbyist – to one day, realize your dreams as well.

(Note that this is a work in progress, I’m going to commit to writing one of these articles a week so please subscribe on the top right to get updates on when new articles are published.  Also feel free to comment in the section below if you’d like me to prioritize a certain article or write about something you don’t see here)

Philosophies:

• What is success and how do you measure it? (Part 1, Part 2)
• Risk and Swinging for the fences
• Importance of Inspiration
• Characteristics of real role models
• Just chill – everything is going to be alright
• Giving back

Getting Started:

• Why do a startup?
• Are you a startup guy/gal?
• Cofounders: Why you need one
• Should I raise money or not?

Ideas:

• Finding a Startup Idea
• Sell first, build later
• How to make your ideas stick
• Thinking through B2B vs B2C
• Don’t Build.  Prototype.

Working with a team:

• Why do you need a team?
• How to find a co-founder
• Importance of cultural values
• Hiring the first 5 employees
• Hiring the next 10-25 employees
• Practical tips on the hiring process
• Team productivity tools and process
• Managing team for creative teams

Traffic Acquisition and Marketing:

• Traffic Acquisition Overview (for engineers and non marketers)
• Understanding marketing channels
• What is viral marketing: Finding your viral loop
• Modeling PR – PR 101 for engineers
• Free is Powerful: Thoughts on Freemium
• Framework for thinking about paid marketing
• Prioritizing and understanding SEO