Why I Hate the Holidays

Wait wait wait - I don't ACTUALLY hate the holidays. In fact, I used to be very fond of them - when I was in school. I suppose I would like them a lot more if I had a normal job as well - after all, days off of school or a routine job are a welcome relief and an excuse to unplug from the stress and rigor of every day life. Something changes when you're an entrepreneur - holidays become less of a welcome escape and more of a stressful, guilt-ridden time of reflection. A time to think about all of the things that you should be getting done instead of gorging yourself with mom's turkey and pumpkin pie. And let's not forget the inevitable spiked eggnog over-indulgence.

The toughest part of the holidays is keeping your team focused and motivated before and after their days off. In bigger companies (from my limited experience), the 'mailing it in' phenomenon often begins at least a week before the holidays begin. Water cooler conversations become longer, workdays shorter, and all the while productivity takes a back seat to holiday hoopla. When you can't afford to lose a single second this type of situation is very threatening.

So what do you do? We had a situation today where the members of our development and technical team were hoping to take off the the two days between boxing day and the following weekend. Perfectly reasonable request - but when you're tying up the loose ends of your final V1 beta release things aren't so simple. We needed to launch yesterday, and as new competitors emerge and release dates come and go the urgency increases by the second.

We need them to work those days. Well that's easy you say - just tell them they have to work or they can find a new job. Well, not quite. We need our workers to not only show up to work, but to put their hearts into it. There's no use having an empty ass pushing down a seat cushion. On top of that I want them to have the time off - we've been working them hard and everyone needs time with family and friends.

So how do you get a group of people to come to work with smiles on their faces and motivation in their minds in the middle of cruise control season? I don't know - but I can tell you what we did. believe the key to motivation is vision. It is your job as a leader to ensure that your people share your vision, that they believe in what they're doing and that they see that you are willing to make any sacrifice needed in order to attain that vision. If you're asking them to give up two days of holiday pie, you'd better damn well be ready to do that and more.

I did something simple, I wrote them a letter. First I thanked them. Then I asked them to help me. Last, I explained why they want to help me in light of our vision, our goal and the forces and situations that shape our current position. Never underestimate the power of shared goals coupled with an understanding of why things are done the way they are. The day you assume that your underlings are beneath the 'need to know' threshold is the day you lose the shared goals that make you special.

Like I say, I don't know yet if they're on board. All I can do is wait and hope with faith. This year it appears I'll be doubling my helpings of guilt - thus is the life of the entrepreneur.

On the edge - about to take the plunge

Standing at the edge of the cliff my legs shook. 60 feet below the cold water waited patient and calm. My mind, full of fear, raced with every reason why I shouldn't jump; why I should wait, with everything that wasn't right. Finally I made a decision. It was time to jump. Not tomorrow or when the wind died down, but right then. As my foot left the rock I felt free knowing the safety I'd abandoned and looking forward to the ride ahead...

Being an entrepreneur is a lot like jumping off a cliff. You leave the security of your job, law school, or that cushy bonus to pursue the inherently unknown. You have to be brave and pretty crazy to do it. The cliff analogy also comes into play in another respect - especially when it comes to developing software. What most people don't realize is that the hardest part about being an entrepreneur is being disciplined. It's knowing where to draw the line and when to say when. When you build software you constantly think of new and innovative features that you HAVE to have at launch. This creates a never ending cycle of procrastination and delay while you wait to unleash the perfect solution.

The problem is, your solution will never be perfect. You need to embrace that and realize that it is your fear holding you back. The fear that if you launch today your audience won't like you and that some years down the road you'll look back and say, "if only we'd had the widget the site would have exploded." In the end you become a victim of your own insecurity by missing your market opportunity.

Here at TitanStrike, we haven't been immune to this thinking - we've struggled with the cycle just like anyone else. There are no second chances in our game. If you don't get it right the first time you lose your market, your funding, your confidence and often your support. We have carefully evaluated and weighed our options. On one hand, releasing a product that offers compelling and sustainable value to our users, on the other waiting for the next feature, then the next... Taking the plunge and risking the fall, or staking our claim and taking what's ours.

After some introspective thinking and some hard fought battles, we've made the final cut for V1 beta. We've made the last checklist of loose ends and visual treats that will make up our first iteration. No more stalling, no more additions. Our lead developers are to shoot to kill any new addition on site. This is it, this is all - we rise or fall based on what we have now.

Ins include our rich social networking features like our improved profiles, photo galleries, clan pages, and chat system; outs include the tournament system. A conscious decision was made to make our move and stake our claim. We're tired of seeing competitors emerge with the same old story, the same old features in the same old way. We're tired of hearing "it's like Myspace, but for gamers."

The decisions were tough, but we think we've made the best choice. When you're walking into the unknown all you can do is follow your gut. Sooner or later you have to jump - fear be damned.

We can't wait to share the past 3 years of our hard work, blood, sweat and tears with you and hear your thoughts.