Andy Shannon

Time for a tea?

Sun, 08 Jun 2025 12:00:00 GMT

I used to be the kind of American who loved a quick New York-style meeting. Walk in, fast intros, distill overlaps, debate for a few minutes, then leave before the latte cools. Limited small talk or pleasantries, just cut to the chase and done.

Then London happened. Fifteen years of pastry breaks and digressions. Meetings here sprawl. Lunch slides into coffee, coffee slides into “just one pint,” and suddenly you're discussing AI ethics over sticky toffee pudding. It's about the long game... relationship first, deal second. I got used to breathing room.

Fast-forward to last month in San Diego. I had time between meetings and reached out to someone interesting. No real agenda, just being "friendly". The guy said “Swing by, I have 15.” I pictured sunshine, tacos, maybe a stroll. Nope... stopwatch on, espresso already half-gone, eye contact set to “prove it.”

Old me would’ve loved the speed. New me tried small talk... a joke about jet lag (not even a chuckle). My sprint reflex was dull. I was running in flip-flops, while this guy slept in a hypobaric chamber (1).

Twelve minutes in, I realized my error and made it clear that I had more to offer him than vice versa. He granted overtime, and at 29 minutes walked out saying he'd see me next time in London (eg he'd love some of my contacts).

Walking out, I wondered, "Did Europe make me soft"?

I texted my friend Jordan about this 'hardcore' guy. He had a simple reply:

Not only do I love tea and cakes, I actually write about the glory of a 3-hour conversation. What have I become!?!

I've become someone who values relationships, and broadly that's a good thing. Europe helped me build a different muscle group. Long talks build depth, while short ones force precision. Focus on deadlifts and you’ll struggle with sprints.

The workaround is cross-training. I'll schedule more time-limited conversations to stay sharp, and continue my marathons to stay human. I'll use AI to help draft a “power paragraph” - one breath, all value. I'll relive my debate days by writing five potential objections and a one-line reply for each.

Gear-shifting matters as well. Being able to read the room is a superpower. My goal for the year is to become fluent in identifying both dialects and quickly adapt their cadences - a true dual mastery.

Sprint when the bell rings, stroll when the sun’s out. Come across a stopwatch mentality, then start fast and earn the extension. Or spot pastries and throttle down, then push for a takeaway. Because business (and life) isn’t one speed fits all; it’s the playlist you shuffle on purpose.

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(1) what marathon runners use to mimic high altitude to increase red blood cell production

Encourge new ideas

Fri, 11 Oct 2024 12:00:00 GMT

I recently heard what I initially thought was a terrible idea from a founder who was running out of money.

"Hey Andy, I'm thinking about throwing a big launch party to promote our new product.' My gut reaction? 'You must be joking, right? With 3 months of runway?" I admit, my response was less than enthusiastic…"

Our default response to new ideas is often a quick gut reaction, almost a survival instinct. After all, avoiding the berry no one else ate kept our ancestors alive for 300,000 years. But today, that instinct often stands in the way of innovation.

I feel like a human's default gut reaction is to think: "Bad idea." Makes sense, 'running away' from the berry that nobody ate kept us alive for 300,000 years.

The problem is, good ideas often sound like bad ideas. And one critical component to discovering a good idea is hearing (and considering) a lot of bad ideas. But you won't hear many ideas at all if your gut reaction is "Bad idea."

Yep, receiving an innovative idea is hard, very hard. Especially if you want to hear them more often. That's why the first few seconds are critical. The problem is:

new ideas don’t come very often
new ideas initially sound stupid, risky, funny, unhinged… or all of the above
new ideas will stop coming to you if your response is anything but interest

Here’s a test: Think about what you enjoy doing the most every day. Now imagine I suggest you stop doing that and instead do something you hate. Your gut reaction? "That's a horrible idea!" But what if, instead, you said, 'Let me think about that'? By shifting your response, you're opening the door to new possibilities.

What if an app was designed to help break this "bad idea" reflex? Each day, it would share a deliberately bad idea and require you to respond with a compliment. Maybe we just need a simpe way to train our minds to stay open to new thinking, even when an idea sounds odd at first.

It's one thing for a person to try and be more open to new ideas, but what about an organization? Scaling a company and keeping its entrepreneurial nature is notoriously challenging, to me it starts with how new ideas are received.

Thinking about the Airbnb founders' 11-star experience framework, what would that experience look like for someone sharing a new idea within their organization?

1 Star - A new idea leads to getting fired
2 Stars - A new idea is publically mocked
3 Stars - A new idea is received with indifference
4 Stars - A new idea is enthusiastically complimented publically
5 Stars - A new idea quarterly bonus and promotion metric
6 Stars - A new idea annual all-expense-paid trip
9 Stars - A new idea makes you the most well respected and highest compensated person in the company, you're made the CEO and Board Chair and spiritual leader of the company
11 Stars - A new idea is received by a stadium full of cheering fans who all think you're a true genius for sharing an idea, they're begging for your autograph and offering $1m for each new idea you share

Of course, the 11-star experience is fantasy. But aiming for a culture that regularly hits 5-6 stars - where new ideas are welcomed, rewarded, and seriously considered, can have real organizational impact.

The quantity of new ideas alone is not the end goal. And incentivizing constant ideas with no evaluation or action can turn into a distracted/scattered organization. Doesn't incentivizing new ideas, even imperfect ones, ultimately lead to more revenue growth than suppressing them?

In addition to individual-specific new idea rewards, what if management bonuses were tied to the company's capacity to generate new idea? Maybe an annual survey question “how does management respond to innovative ideas” with a quantitative 1-10 response between "very positively" and "very negatively"

Just think if this question was asked to every employee of a public company - I wonder how "good idea metric" would overlay with share price?

I'll finish with a reminder to myself how to respond to new ideas. Maybe something like this:

“I love how you share new ideas with me, you really have a talent for creativity and brainstorming. Please keep sharing them with me! You sure have me thinking now, can you tell me a little more about how your idea would work?"

By changing the way we respond to new ideas - whether from a colleague, founder, or friend -we encourage innovation and help the next 'big idea' emerge. Even if it starts out sounding terrible.

The Train Bone Museum?

Tue, 08 Oct 2024 12:00:00 GMT

Just before putting my 3-year-old son to bed, I asked if he ever wanted to go to the train museum.

His response? "Will we see the train’s bones?"

Instantly, I realized that he was still in "Natural History Museum mode" after seeing dinosaur skeletons on our last trip. It was hilarious - and brilliant.

What a reminder of how creative kids are. To him, anything could have bones, even trains! It’s that same unfiltered imagination that startup founders thrive on.

Kids don’t box in ideas, they mash them together in unexpected ways - exactly what innovation is all about. So maybe next time I brainstorm, I’ll ask him what kind of bones a startup unicorn might have :)

The glories of a 3 hour conversation

Tue, 11 Jun 2024 12:00:00 GMT

Yesterday, something magical happened... I managed to have a conversation that lasted longer than 30 minutes. Not just any conversation, mind you, but one that took a glorious 3-hours.

The funny thing is, it didn't feel like an all-encompassing marathon of ideas, laughter, and brainstorming. There were no grand assertions or emotional embraces. It was just a nice long catchup with someone who I enjoyed being with. It was both special and not that special at the same time (if that's possible?).

Now, don't get me wrong, I appreciate the efficiency of the 30-minute coffee catch-up. It's the happy meal of social interaction: quick, familiar, and gets the job done. But let's be honest, it's never as good as the picture. You're no longer hungry, but not exactly satisfied.

Those 3-hour conversations, though? They're the Michelin dining of the social world. You savor the conversation like a perfectly cooked dish, the interesting questions the amuse-bouche, the exciting possibilities the main course, and dessert is looking forward to your next catch-up.

So, here's my ambitious goal: by the end of the year I aim to have more 3-hour conversations than 30-minute catch-ups. (Wish me luck, we're talking literally swimming pools of black tea!)

I'll ditch the " gotta run" mentality and embrace the potential of extended conversation. Instead of asking, "How about we connect next week for 3 hours?" I'll leave ample time after my normal conversations for overflow. If they're going well, who knows how long they could last!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some strategizing to do. How do I subtly extend a 'quick coffee chat' into a conversation worthy of a three-hour epic? Wish me luck!"

Should vs Wonder

Tue, 26 Sep 2023 12:00:00 GMT

(Person wondering in a field, by Diffusionbee)

I'm not sure the word 'should' is appropriate to use in a business setting.

Yes, I'm fully aware it would take a monumental effort to remove 'should' from our vocabulary. But that's exactly what I'm suggesting.

Don't take this to the extreme, I'm not against a simple 'we should go or we'll be late'. But in a meeting, brainstorming, or even casual watercooler conversation, I'm advocating for the removal of 'should'.

Why, you may ask? Well, when someone says "we/I/you should do <something>", it's basically a command. And who wants to be commanded to do anything?

At most, if someone has a different opinion they will reply "I think we should do <something else>". Where does that leave you... at an impass. At worst, they disagree but stay quiet, which certainly never uncovers the true best outcome.

'Should' leads to micro-management. 'Should' leads to people leaving. 'Should' leads to total destruction (OK, maybe a little too far).

Now, you may ask, what to replace this menacing 'should' word with? I wonder...

That's right, 'I wonder' is a simple substitute for 'should' that opens a conversation rather than closes it.

'I wonder' poses a question that's open to debate/feedback/comment. It's the verbal equivalent to opening your palms rather than crossing your arms.

Nobody takes 'I wonder' as a command. Nobody views a boss saying "I wonder if this would be a good option" and thinks they're a terrible dictator.

I had a board member who trained himself to 'wonder' all the time. Guess what, we had great open discussions about basically everything. I quickly started replying with a 'wonder' to his 'wonder'... it was great.

So get a rubber band, put it on your wrist, and give yourself a good snap every time you say 'should' for the next few days. Then remind yourself to wonder. Extra credit for counting how many people wonder back to you.

Wonder more, should less... I'm guessing your conversations will be better for it.

Investor Reference Checks

Tue, 05 Jul 2022 12:00:00 GMT

In the past few weeks, I've witnessed startup investors being incredibly value-add and also seriously destructive. It always surprises me who ends up in which camp - my gut feeling is often wrong. There also seems to be little correlation between an investor's value-add and seniority, background, or their fund's 'tier'.

The same can be said for the founders I work with. Trying to gauge the value-add of an investor feels nearly impossible during the fundraising 'sales' process (on both sides), and a founder backing out post termsheet because of a negative investor reference is nearly unheard of.

Something Kevin Kelly mentioned about reference checks (1) struck a nerve with me recently - that people are "reluctant to say anything negative" (which we all know) and to "elevate good behavior 10x more than punishing bad behavior".

Kevin's suggestion is to write a quick note asking to "get back to me if you highly recommend this <applicant> as super-great"

My first thought was that founders should write a similar "let me know if this investor has been highly valuable" email to a potential investor's portfolio companies (2). That works fine on an individual basis, but the information is lost to the broader ecosystem.

Idea: send an email/message on the yearly anniversary of every investment round to every founder in the world, asking if each investor is incredibly value-add.

Then I thought, why not bake this idea into one of the many investor feedback sites that have launched recently? Or better yet, launch a new platform that simply asks "Is this investor incredibly value-add?"

No 1-10 ratings. No 'Quite friendly' or 'They showed up late' feedback. No investor rebuttal. Just the plain truth if an investor is incredibly value-add or not. Then display a ranked list of what investor has the highest number of founders who believe they're incredible. Now that's something I'd like to see.

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(1) Bits of Advice I Wish I Had Known
(1b) Freakanomics Podcast

DUBNER: Here’s one that resonated with me in part because it’s very practical and in part because it has happened to me. You write, “When checking references for a job applicant, employers may be reluctant or prohibited from saying anything negative. So instead,” you write, “Leave or send a message that says, ‘Get back to me if you highly recommend this applicant as super-great.’ And if they don’t reply, take that as a negative.” Does that actually work? Do you know people who’ve had success with that method?

KELLY: Yes, I have used that method. There is a kind of a weird cultural moment right now where there actually are companies that cannot comment on previous employees and stuff. There’s a bias to saying anything negative for various reasons. But I have used this model of leaving a message on an answering machine earlier and now with an email saying, “Only reply if this person is super-great,” and sometimes I have not heard back anything. That’s a sign. And other times I’ve heard back, “Yes, you’re lucky to have this person.”

(2) Dear founder, I am considering taking an investment from <NAME>. Could you get back to me with a simple 'Yes' IF they have been incredibly value-add and you highly recommend them? If they are truly amazing and I’d be lucky to have their support, then I'd appreciate hearing from you.

The Components of Speed

Thu, 26 May 2022 12:00:00 GMT

I’ve always noticed speed varies drastically from company to company. Some are amazingly efficient, while others meander (or worse).

Recently, a founder asked me to help significantly increase their company’s speed. After a few conversations, we distilled the issue to focus and accountability. Basically, cut activities that don’t directly create value and stop accepting mediocre results.

I wonder, are focus and accountability the key drivers of speed at any company?

Are there other components of speed I’m missing? Do most companies consider how specifically to increase execution speed?

One aspect may be the mentality of team members; maybe some inherently execute faster and this company just has slow people? Or can anyone be fast when key company and leadership components are in place?

Basically, I'm left with more questions than answers. But I'm pretty confident speed is a leading indicator of a company's success.

(1) Surprisingly it was a first-time request… seeing as how common the issue is

Me on the Iron Throne

Tue, 24 May 2022 12:00:00 GMT

Here's one of my favorite slides from the "Going Global" session I hosted today with some amazing ScaleNL Dutch founders.

While some people present what they know, I basically overshare all the things I screwed up over the years... kind of like my version of group therapy.

I remember caring so much about consistency, brand, execution... when none of that really moved the needle compared to trusting and supporting the great people around me.

Hopefully reliving me on the Iron Throne trying to force people way smarter than me to 'bend the knee' will help others not make the same mistake :)

Cold Emails

Fri, 20 May 2022 12:00:00 GMT

I love what Stéphane and his crew at OpenVC are building, such an amazingly open ethos. They shared 14 actual cold outreach examples recently sent to VCs, all had the same general cadence:

Hi <VC>, I'm <NAME> with <BACKGROUND> building <PRODUCT> achieving <TRACTION> raising <ROUND>.

Anything feel off to you? Basically, all 14 are totally canned. And these were the best :| If you're a VC, do these ever actually convert?

Email 5 at least writes "we feel like a great fit for <VC>", but doesn't qualify why with applicable examples.

Email 11 refers to a "chart on your website", so at least there was a glance of research, but nothing further?

My guess is the amount of research/commonalities a founder refers to in a cold email directly correlates with their first call conversion rate:

Canned < 1%
Highly targeted > 10%

I wonder how many first calls an email like this would get...

Hi <SPECIFIC VC>
Congrats on closing your fund <#>, I'm sure <INVESTMENT> must have helped - what an amazing company!
I noticed your post <POST> and investments in <Y> and <Z>, we seem to share a common interest in <INDUSTRY/MODEL>. In fact, I've been building <COMPANY> to solve <PROBLEM>, which I'm guessing you have some experience with as well...

Whatever else is written from here, as long as it's concise, my guess is the VC would appreciate the outreach enough have a conversation.

If a founder puts this kind of effort into an investor email, just think what they will do to win customers, staff, etc. (or so a VC might say to themself).

Gratitude Coorelation

Fri, 11 Jun 2021 12:00:00 GMT

I'm making a few VC intros for a founder I rate highly, the replies:

A+: "Many thanks for the intro!"
A: "I appreciate you thinking of us!"
A- "Thanks for sharing the opportunity" (x2)
B: "Please introduce me"
B-: "Happy to speak with them" (x2)
C: "We will have a look"

I wouldn't say the differences are huge, but next time I'll certainly consider prioritizing the 50% who say thanks.

Interestingly, how appreciative the reply is correlates well with the 'tier' of the fund - the A's are all top European VCs.

Interesting vs Critical

Fri, 04 Jun 2021 12:00:00 GMT

The hardest discussions to table are interesting, relevant topics that aren’t critical.

I find most meetings cover important topics in-depth, leaving critical ones for the last few minutes. Simple questions easily lead to everyone chiming in. Challenges are often listed, but rarely stack ranked.

This seems especially true for board meetings. Board members want their questions answered, and few CEOs feel comfortable tabling most questions... even if doing exactly that would accomplish the most.

Idea: take note of all non-critical questions and provide written answers within 3 days of a meeting?

FOMO FOREAL?

Mon, 17 Aug 2020 12:00:00 GMT

A founder recently asked for my advice about creating hype and FOMO while fundraising, stemming from a post making the rounds in entrepreneur circles. Their take was...

"Based on the article, we should pretty much stop engaging with VC's at the moment as we're not (actively) fundraising, that information is a currency, and a certain amount of mystery seems key. Better to disengage entirely for the best chance of success?"

Something didn’t sit right, I better have a peek at this article - is it really suggesting founders not to engage with investors until actively fundraising?

Most of the advice is solid: a ’sherpa’ can help with introductions and navigate discussions, other investors suggesting a ‘hot deal’ creates urgency, craft your story based on current trends, don’t waste your time with tons of investor calls, be creative when attracting interest. Yep, that all resonates.

But this founder (and quite a few others, I’m told) focused on ‘intrigue is an asset’ as a key takeaway. If they plan every interaction, minimize casual interactions, and fill an investor's mind with good news, then mystery and the magic of ‘limitless potential’ is created. Which then leads fo FOMO and ultimately investment.

In essence, unless you’re in total PR mode when speaking to investors, they'll find out your company is a complete disaster and never invest in you.

To me, it felt like used car sales tactics more than finding a decade-long business partner and board member. But maybe I’m missing something? Perhaps the combination of planned, formal, mysterious, and good news is indeed the path to creating FOMO and raise a round?

So I called several investor friends (7 in total, all Partners of active VCs) and asked for their take on FOMO and relationships during fundraising. How did they source their best investments? How do they advise founders to fundraise? What % of their deals are FOMO related?

Instead of writing a slick post or creating an ultra-hip tweetstorm, I’m directly passing on the feedback I shared with the founder who initially asked for fundraising advice. It’s a combination of these 7 investor conversations and my personal experience. I hope it helps on your fundraising journey... may the FOMO be with you :)

1) Fundraising is about building a relationship over time, based on genuine/open/honest conversations (eg lines not dots)

2) The goal is finding someone you can spend a decade+ building with, who adds much more value than just money

3) Building investor relationships can have upsides other than fundraising, like introductions to potential revenue/staff/etc

4) Investors have seen it all (startup ups/downs), they see through planned 'good news' interactions (eg “the shit comes out in DD")

5) A too much intrigue can set expectations too high, create trust issues, and even kill a deal that would have gone through

6) Instead of being 'mysterious,’ think about frequently reaffirming the big vision (1/3) while sharing wins (1/3) and struggles (1/3)

7) Short term FOMO (eg mainly dark until fundraising) does happen in +-25% of rounds, vs 75% based on long term (9+ mo) relationships

8) This kind of FOMO is usually because of serial exited founders, incredible team, insane traction, or significant market change

9) FOMO fundraising can work, but there's high risk if the market doesn't form and you’re left with limited relationships to fall back on

10) When a FOMO fundraising 'works', it's hard to push through IC, the dynamic can be off, and there's limited rapport to work from

11) Optimal rounds are pre-emptive offers (with others then bidding), which entail some kind of dialogue and relationship

12) Treat fundraising like business development by segmenting your list into A) 5-6 top prospects B) 10-20 decent potentials, C) 40+ all other leads

13) 'Massage' deeper relationships with an A list YOU choose, vs 20+ surface exchanges with 'time-wasting' incoming interest

14) Spend time being top of mind with existing investors, frequent ambassador mentions to your A list go a long way

Let's address workplace bullying

Wed, 09 Oct 2019 12:00:00 GMT

Bullies suck.

That kid at school who steals your lunch money. Or the one who calls you names. Or the teacher who shames you in front of the class... Yeah, bullies come in all shapes and sizes.

But what about bullies in the workplace?

Over the past week, multiple people told me they're being bullied at work. They used phrases like someone is 'challenging to work with' or 'has strong opinions'. But let's be honest, in many cases it's plain and simple bullying.

A guy I know works for someone who uses their position of power to disparage him in front of colleagues and prohibits him from expanding his personal network (eg tying him to the job). To me this is bullying.

A woman I know had an employee 'make friends' with a senior colleague, then convinced this friend to spread rumors that she wasn't a capable manager. To me this is bullying.

Another friend told me they felt obliged by superiors to stay out late drinking night after night while traveling for work. To me this is bullying.

Most recently, someone said their boss pokes fun of how they dress. To me this is bullying.

Child bullying both at school and online has been a hot topic in recent years. It feels like the public acknowledges the problem and has put solutions in place both to suss out bullies and support those affected.

Why hasn't workplace bullying been addressed?

Don't bully parents lead to bully children? Could we stop this vicious cycle at the source? Yet, how many companies even define what workplace bullying is, no less have a procedure to take action against bullying?

HR policies mainly focus on sexual harassment, bribery, etc - slightly more cut and dry situations. The subtle tactics bullies take to exert power, intimidate, or humiliate are difficult to report, but lay the groundwork for a toxic culture. They also often directly lead to more serious infractions.

Companies should have a plan in place to ensure their culture doesn't accept bullying. Add an anti-bullying policy to your handbook. Include a question in your 360 reviews for bullying feedback. Highlight examples of unacceptable subtle bullying behavior during onboarding.

Most importantly, don't treat bullying as two colleagues simply not getting along. Someone being bullied doesn't want to directly 'face' their bully - that's the problem... bullies are HARD to face! HR needs to directly address the bully, communicate the unacceptable behaviors, and set immediate corrective actions that if not followed will lead to termination.

Nobody should begin their day worried about being bullied. We seem to acknowledge this for children, now it's time to move to the workplace.

Rewarding users for jumping ship?

Sat, 28 Apr 2018 12:00:00 GMT

I have been frustrated after being a long time user of a service and recently deciding to leave. When finally clicking the 'cancel' button, I have been taken to a screen like this...

In this case, I've been a member of audible for 3 years, paying a monthly fee and accumulating credits to purchase audiobooks. The day I decide to cancel my membership (huge backlog of books) is the first time I'm offered a discount.

How frustrating. It actually makes me feel like an idiot that I didn't push that cancel button every few months for years - saving myself 50% every so often.

The same thing happened when I recently switched my phone plan. I had been an O2 (big UK carrier) customer for 7 years and never offered a discount. When I called to cancel, all of the sudden I'm offered 30% off for the next 18 months? Wow.

Why are solid long-term users rarely rewarded, while users who try to jump ship are offered a deal?

Why are solid long-term users rarely rewarded, while users who try to jump ship are offered a deal?

It feels like retention marketing has become such a science, while incentivizing loyalty is almost never considered. How often have you ever seen a subscription service decreasing the price every year as a 'thanks' for being a valued customer?

SaaS company challenge: on your pricing page explicitly state that customers who renew their subscription after the first year will be offered a 5% discount.

Over a few days, do your initial signups increase? Do any other quantifiable metrics improve? I would guess at minimum long customer loyalty and positive word of mouth improve - two hugely important factors, which not coincidentally are some of the hardest KPIs to track.

A Message from Amazon Customer Service

Sun, 08 Jan 2017 12:00:00 GMT

Tara and I are just back from another holiday trip to the US, where we split our time between the arctic tundra of Milwaukee (my parents) and the Siberian windstorm of Omaha (Tara’s parents).

It’s great seeing family and friends, but exchanging dreary London for 10 days in snow, wind, and Christmas ‘cheer’ often leaves us yearning for a post-vacation, vacation.

One of my most anticipated presents this year was an Amazon Echo, so when landing back in London I quickly set it up. With sun and swimsuits on my mind, one of my first searches was:

“Alexa, what is the temperature in Mallorca”

To which Alexa replied “I wasn’t able to understand your question”

Strange, since Alexa knew the temperature in London, Dubai, and Chicago, I assumed the word Mallorca just wasn’t being understood.

So I in the Echo companion app and flagged my Mallorca question as not being answered. Within 3 hours I received the response below. It was not only one of the fastest responses I have ever received, but also the most thorough.

I am incredibly guilty of naming and shaming companies I’m not happy with (cough…Tesco…cough) without highlighting exemplary experiences.

In this case Amazon gets a huge amount of credit for its customer service experience. I read Alexa quickly went from 1000 to 7000 search query types, and I’d bet this will increase exponentially with this kind of attention to customer feedback. Thanks for the help Amazon!

Alexa quickly went from 1000 to 7000 search query types, and I’d bet this will increase exponentially with this kind of attention to customer feedback

On Sat, Jan 7, 2017 at 9:54 PM, Amazon.co.uk <cs-reply@amazon.co.uk>

Hello Andrew,

I’m sorry that Alexa is not understanding the word ‘Mallorca’.

To help you, I’ve replicated the same at my end using below command:

“Alexa, what is Mallorca”, and Alexa couldn’t answer.

I’ve also tried with different commands and phrases like “Alexa, Mallorca” and also tried asking via Wikipedia such as:

I asked: “Alexa, Wikipedia”

Alexa replied: “what should i look up”

I asked: “Mallorca”

Even after trying with all different phrases and commands, Alexa couldn’t understand the word ‘Mallorca’.

However, please understand as the device was recently launched in the UK, there are few improvements that are yet to be introduced in the device. Our technical team is working hard to make Alexa more user-friendly.

Thank you so much for bringing this to our notice. We love to hear from our customers on all aspects and I’m glad that you took time to write to us with your valuable feedback.

We are trying to plan a huge update soon which improves Alexa interaction with user and fix few other bugs as well! However, I’ve specially forwarded your message to our Amazon Echo development team for consideration as we make further improvements.

Please be assured, once the feature is implemented or any improvements made in our next updates, we’ll try to notify you through the best medium of notification via software updates.

For the meantime, please extend your patience and co-operation while we work on this.

If you have additional suggestions for improvement, please write back to us.

Thanks for using Amazon Echo.

I love August

Thu, 04 Aug 2016 12:00:00 GMT

Yesterday was the first weekday this year when I had nothing in my calendar.

No meetings, calls, coffees, flights... nothing. It was GLORIOUS!!!

Every year I tell myself I'll schedule 1 full day each week with no planned activities so I can clear my mind, think strategically, and work on long-term projects. Until yesterday it had been 215 days in 2016 with no such free days. Shame on me.

The great thing about Europe is almost everyone is on vacation the entire month. Since the summer holiday in some countries starts mid July and in others it lasts until early September, so it's actually closer to 6 weeks of relative downtime.

I know American's look down on this 'frivolous' European month of time off, but for me it's great. Not only can I reliably catch up on things, it's as if those of us who work get a slight leg up on the competition (whoever that may be). Kind of like getting up early to shoot hoops while everyone else sleeps.

Remember, the European norm is 25 days off a year. So from a GDP standpoint it really does make sense if most people are generally away at the same time. The alternative for a 10 person team is someone being gone every day of the year, which certainly seems less productive.

How will I spend the rest of my August? With Tara heading back to the US to meet her sister's first child and 5 more days with a free schedule, I'll have plenty of time for whatever I choose.

The past few days I used my extra time to write. I find having the time to write concisely forces me to think deeper than usual about a topic. Incredibly enough I have 130 blog ideas in my Evernote, so lets see how writing at least 1 hour a day goes and maybe I can get a few of the better posts up.

Help us build a life-changing home

Thu, 10 Dec 2015 12:00:00 GMT

I recently came across an amazing podcast by the founders of NewStory - a non-profit that is building safe, long-lasting homes for extremely poor families in places like Haiti and El Salvador.

It's moving to say the least how NewStory is changing the lives of full communities. This holiday season my wife and I are leading the charge to build one new home for a deserving family.

NewStory isn't your typical charity. Here's why:

1. In addition to building hurricane-grade homes, Newstory creates the infrastructure for entire communities to thrive- including schools, sanitation, and renewable electricity.

2. 100% of donations directly fund home construction - all overheads come from other sources. You can even see a full breakdown of the expenses after building over 150 homes.

3. Each donation helps a specific family. Once we reach the goal of $6,000 to build a home the family records a video for us to hear their story.

So this season we're making one simple request: help us change the life of a family in need. Your support is much help :)

Help us build a home >>> https://campaign.newstorycharity.org/andy-tara

How to ‘Prime’ Your Next Event - because intro requests are so last year...

Mon, 23 Nov 2015 12:00:00 GMT

(A not very subtle way of priming your brain)

I’ve been transient the past few weeks, starting in the US (beautiful La Jolla, CA), then Italy, Ireland, and Spain, and I’m writing this on my way home from Germany.

As I sip my Easyjet tea and snack on some delicious popcorn, I’m realizing each of my trips was for a specific event. The largest being Web Summit with 42,000 other tech folks and the smallest was a group of potential Startupbootcamp program investors (1).

Yesterday I gave a talk to 20 startups about making the most out of mentor-focused events. One tactic I suggested is connecting with mentors prior to an event to increase their interest during the actual meeting (2). The word I use for this pre-event reach out is to ‘Prime’ someone (like priming a pump) – borrowing the term from the homonymous cognitive bias known as ‘priming’ in the psychology realm (3).

Prime on your own?

If you missed the shitstorm prior to Web Summit, it surrounded startups being told they ‘won’ exhibit space, while later being hit with a bill (I think €1,000 or so). Although Web Summit was called out by seemingly everyone (and Web Summit messy response) I generally think they run a decent show.

I joined in the conversation of course:

Dear startups attending @WebSummit or any event: nobody will 'serve' you investors on a plate, do the work yourself http://t.co/Gm9bpVWYt5

— Andy Shannon (@atshannon1) October 3, 2015

As you can tell, I’m a big believer in putting in effort to Prime. However, I’m just now noticing that during each of my recent trips the amount of priming SOMEONE ELSE did for me were my most impactful priming outcomes.

It’s like dating, for business

Not only did someone else priming for me lead to better results, I’ve found the best possible outcome was not directly connecting with someone prior to a meeting. Instead it was exponentially more valuable having the person primed by someone else LOOK FORWARD to meeting me.

Of course a friend saying to a contact “can I connect you with this this great person” has a bigger impact than introducing yourself. But taking this a step forward, even better might be “you’ll really enjoy meeting this great person tomorrow” without any offer of an intro.

It’s like word-of-mouth marketing ("you should really try this”) before meeting someone. Put In practice, instead of a typical intro request you might ask someone to speak favourably about your company to an investor… in hopes that the investor can’t help but reach out to you directly.

How to increase recommendations prior to an event where you’ll likely meet someone? Probably the same tactics work as asking for an introduction, the ‘pitch just needs to ask for an endorsement instead of an intro. Something like this may work for you:

Hey <FRIEND>,

I’m heading to <EVENT> next week, and I’ll likely bump into <CONTACT> who I know you’re close with. Any chance you could ping them a note with a quick endorsement like below? It would mean a lot and I’m hoping more valuable than me asking you for an intro.

*
A friend of mine <YOU> just mentioned he hopes to connect with you at <EVENT>. I just wanted to say they’re working on something really interesting and definitely going somewhere - I hope you two have a chance to connect.
*

Much appreciated!

<YOU>

Give it a try?

There’s no doubt in my mind that reaching out directly prior to meeting someone (i.e. ‘Priming them’) leads to more personal connections. Even better is having a mutual connection introduce you.

What I’ve experienced is that having someone speak favourably about you without an introductory offer results in the best possible outcome. Although I’ve never actually tried to ‘manufacture’ this type of endorsement, I’ll likely give it a try (what can it hurt?). If you do as well, I’d love to hear the outcome.

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(1) The new program is still a ‘secret’, but let’s just say it was successful and we’ll be launching soon :)

(2) Instead of suggesting startups prime their mentors just before the event, I really should send that suggestion well before the event, so they at least have a chance to take my advice…

(3) I know, it feels a little dirty to exploit cognitive biases (aka mind loopholes) in business - but heck, it’s not the worst thing you can do!

Look to the future

Tue, 25 Nov 2014 12:00:00 GMT

Man have I been traveling a lot the last few months. Sure it's tiring, but the energy from meeting awesome people around the world definitely makes up the difference.

I recently met two of the coolest Japanese guys ever, Masa and Taka, who invest in European startups for an enormous corporate called Recruit (1). We were in Copenhagen together last week eating dinner when Masa gave me an insightful quote:

'Ask about the future, not the past' - @masaonly1
— Andrew Shannon (@atshannon1) November 20, 2014

Masa’s insight was the majority of conversations focus on things that have happened. When first meeting someone it's 'where are you from?', 'what do you do?,' 'where do you live?' After a rapport is built the conversation turns to 'what's new?', 'how's the significant other?', 'still hate your job?'

Rarely does the question ‘where do you see yourself in 5 years?' come up. These future looking conversations are surely the most insightful and way more fun than dwelling on the past. But for some reason they’re difficult to bring up, even with close friends.

Looking back at my conversations with entrepreneurs, even these are more about fact gathering than forward looking. ’Who’s on your team?’ ‘How big is your market?’ ‘What’s your traction?’ All valid questions, but for investments that won’t pay off for 7-9 years shouldn’t I be focusing more on an entrepreneur’s vision for the future?

So, with the remaining 5 weeks of 2015 I’ll strive to have 50% of my conversations about the future. If all goes well, hopefully this past/future ratio will become a norm. Want to join in on my little test? Let me know :)

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(1) 28k people company, just IPOd to raise $1b - most will be for investments

I'm now a Quoraian, hear me ROAR!!!

Sat, 22 Nov 2014 12:00:00 GMT

Wow the past few months have seriously flown by... so many places to be and so little time. It sure does help my trips are to Istanbul, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Berlin, Dublin, and many other fun cities!

Fear not, even though I haven't posted on my blog I am still writing occasionally. Here's something I wrote on Quora yesterday (1) as a response to the following question:

"Why do new entrepreneurs feel that they cannot make it without participating in an accelerator program? Isn't being an entrepreneur about succeeding against all odds?"

Check out my answer here, and if you likey feel free to upvote: http://buff.ly/1tbWtuy

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(1) Yes it took some badgering from Cami who leads SBC's social media... guess I owe her a thanks :)