Buzz Canuck

The iPhone4 vs. Blackberry Torch Challenge - the "I"s Have It!

Battery Life (5 pts) - iPhone4 - 7 hours talk time, 40 hours of audio playback and 10 hours of video playback, Blackberry Torch - 5.8 hours talk time, 30 hours of audio playback, 6 hours of video playback - comparable and I will say based on the superior multimedia uses of the iPhone - it may run out earlier not based on inferior battery but based on proportionately more time spent on apps that battery hog - Apple iPhone4 -4 , Blackberry Torch - 3.

Emotional Allure (5 pts) - even my avowed Blackberry loyalist in the above video April Dunford claims the emotional tug of the Apple can be too appealing  to resist - part of this social "tidal pull" toward the iPhone has been created organically by its users, part of it by its mastery of the user experience from consideration to retail to packaging to the tech and software and part of it, by the launch of stuff and features, months sometimes years, before other competitors, it's a tough one for BB to compete against (I hear a Blackberry iPad will launch in November, once again 8 months after Apple)- I think one competitive wedge could be Blackberry opening up to social networks in a big way as Apple has resisted, but BB has invested its external operations in customer service and less about building online community, too bad - Apple iPhone4 5, Blackberry Torch 3

The Extras (10 pts) - let's see - iPhone4 has a pretty cool 3 axis gyroscope, a built in compass, 16 or 32GB of built in memory vs. Blackberry's 4GB install (that can open up to 32GB) and some other barely used but good to brag about bling....most of Blackberry Torch's features from first appearances seem like a catch up to Apple iPhone's world - beyond being cheaper and having the slider already mentioned, there doesn't seem to be remarkably different stuff on the Blackberry - iPhone4 - 8, Blackberry Torch 5

THE FINAL VERDICT - Apple iPhone's Score of 87 beats Blackberry Torch's score of 65

Here are the tech specs - Apple iPhone4  vs. Blackberry Torch

The Top 30 Group Buying Deal Programs - Rated

From the ashes of the meltdown of the 2008 and 2009 world economy comes a number of group and local deal services targeting local-based retailers and the people that shop there. It is truly the marriage between three rising trends - e-commerce, localization and social networking - wrapped up in a discount envelope. I've had no fewer than ten people ask me about the comparative strength of these services - apparently many of their sales teams are pitching superiority in their proposals.

I'm of two minds here. On one side, this is a heck of a lot better than targeting discounts and coupons through newspaper from an effectiveness, from a tracking and from a pay-for-performance standpoint. As a client interested in ROI or a retailer counting their pennies, this type of service gets a lot closer to knowing which part of your marketing spend is effective. 

On the other side, I see a nation of retailers, from high end boutiques to low end discounters, training their clientele to shop based on price and ceding over their customer lists to others in the process. Is this just a better more contemporary, socialized version of the coupon that allows more real estate to promote your offering or is this the Walmartization of local merchant economy?

That economic and moral question aside, we have reviewed and rated 30 of the top deal services based on the following criteria:

        - User Experience (20 pts)

        - Quality of Deal (20 pts)

        - Differentiation of Offering (15 pts)

        - Design (15 pts)

        - Socialness (10 pts)

        - Breadth of Deals (10 pts)

        - Number of Cities/Places (10 pts)

We'll release our ratings next week but hopefully give their founders and executive staff a chance to provide additional thoughts and highlight their strengths on their group wares. I'll individually evaluate each site in follow up posts.

In the interim, here is our preliminary rating of their Twitter presence. Twitter IQ scores were given based on number of followers, quality and frequency of posts, depth of engagement and smart Twitter behaviour (response/promote ratios, central and city-based pages):

Company	Location	Lead Account	Following	Followers	Listed	Tweets	Twitter IQ Score
Gilt	NYC	@giltgroupe	2499	11851	825	660	19
Living Social	Washington	@livingsocial	3042	7516	480	2577	19
TeamBuy	Toronto	@teambuy_toronto	1876	1704	81	793	16
Scoutmob	Atlanta	@scoutmob	4143	6077	305	2214	16
Red Flag Deals	Toronto	@redflagdeals	21	5904	246	6077	14
GroupOn	Chicago	@groupon	3	5225	359	114	14
My Daily Thread	Atlanta	@mydailythread	2001	1404	81	1312	14
Grooster	Vancouver	@groostervan	1446	1233	77	220	13
Webpiggy	Toronto	@webpiggy	2001	1073	62	1189	12
Social Buy	Los Angeles	@social_buy	931	788	42	1111	10
Scoop St.	NYC	@scoopst	363	671	60	2341	10
TippR	Seattle	@tippr	58	921	44	160	9
Twongo	North Carolina	@teamtwongo	1463	769	42	509	9
WagJag	Toronto	@wagjag	1976	1010	43	193	8
YipIt	NYC	@yipit	460	594	44	336	8
Pricebunch	Chicago	@pricebunchchi	802	297	19	63	6
DealOn	NYC	@dealonnyc	138	205	10	196	6
TownHog	San Francisco	@townhog	359	154	14	72	3
At Cost	Los Angeles	@atcostLA	266	85	10	22	3
Bloomspot	Mountain View, CA	@bloomspot	0	72	5	202	2
Home Run	San Francisco	@homerun_com	0	28	4	0	1
Adility	San Francisco	@adility	0	26	4	10	1

Congrats Gilt Groupe, Living Social, Team Buy and ScoutMob for passing our Twitter test with flying colours. Unfortunately Twitter socialness likely only counts for 3% of our total evaluation. For those who work at these companies, we'd love to evaluate your strengths firsthand, so drop us a line or leave a comment below.

We've also left 8 spots open for additions, so please provide us your best other group buying networks/websites for our total evaluation. Happy deals.

The League of Kickass and F*^k Cancer - 7 Questions with Founder Yael Cohen

We're excited about our 23rd and most collaborative LOKBP event yet, happening in Vancouver this week. One of the big reasons why is the theme "Socializing for Social Good". We are teaming up with fresh upstart and refreshingly candid "F+ck Cancer" to collaborate on their future business needs.

I had a chance to chat with Yael Cohen, change agent and founder of F+ck Cancer last week and get the lowdown about what it's all about:

Buzz Canuck: I love coming across new causes or movements that feel fresh or different, when we were introduced to F*ck cancer weeks ago, it got me excited, what's it all about?

Yael Cohen: It started pretty simply. My mom got cancer and as she was going through treatment, we made up these shirts "F*ck Cancer". The reactions were unbelievable. She would walk around the block, and people were openly hugging and expressing support. What has developed here was very organic stretching from one personal experience to a global movement that gives patients the power to standup against cancer.

BC: Now that it is up and running, what's the bigger cause d'etre here?

YC: As much as we need funding for treatment, we really need to switch the focus of where the majority of our charity funds go. Simple early detection and prevention needs to get on everybody's agenda. Sure you're going to live your life  but it is becoming so much more easy to profile the risks and tackle cancer at a more treatable stage. We also want it easier for patients who have cancer or doctors that cover it to create a much better dialogue to know how best to tackle cancer together - too many bad experiences have happened to not tackle the questions a patient should ask when they get diagnosed. The reality is most of the money you raise currently goes to finding a cure, we would like to rebalance that.

BC: You've taken a cheeky page of French Connections (FCUK) and Ontario energy's (Flick off) book , by using the brazen F-word - why?

YC: First, I think we have to realize that unlike how more than a few charities and care staff work "it's the pat you on the head" approach and provide some empathy. The reality is that it sucks getting cancer. It can be violent in how it attacks your body and we're saying, you know what "it's alright to be angry", "it's alright to feel singled out". But we want to empower people to take back control of their cancer. The F-word is a very powerful word. People are ready for this now. I work in investor relations for a mining company and although I might not wear the T-shirt front and centre to work everyday, it's part of our conversation, let's be honest.

BC: Is there a danger people will feel that this is too negative or too politically incorrect?

YC: We are very careful to ensure people realize that F*ck cancer is all about taking smart measures to diagnose, prevent and fight cancer. We have developed cue cards and body maps that help people understand their risks. We are not all style, there is a lot of substance behind our message that is not getting through. If using a collections of words that gets more people to share their stories, we're alright with that.

BC: So what's next?

YC: I never knew what this would become. I work in investor relations and have a degree in political science at UBC and have no background in not-for-profit. Heck, we're using social media to spread the word and I just learned twitter 3 weeks ago.  But we've now produced 2,000 shirts and are encouraging people to send their pictures in wearing the T-shirt and telling their really powerful experiences. We also want to be an advocacy movement and are working at extending geographically to LA, NYC, UK, France, Spain, Australia and Germany. We're working with Cancer Schmancer to extend our message out. What we'd like everybody to do is just like our website tells "say it, share it ,wear it and do it".

BC: We are bringing our world to yours on Thurs, April 29th - what would you like to get from our League of Kickass business people audience?

YC: Hopefully we'll get some new outlooks, ways to get the message further out, a tagline and a call to action. We'd really also like to try to find out how we get university age people extending this important message to their parents and older audiences that are at elevated cancer risks. It should be fun, it will be interesting to see how people see what we're doing.

Listening is Paramount and The 4 Elements of a Good Listening Organization

I know, I know - as a traditional age marketer, the concept of "listening" may sound all motherhood-y and granola, but you must know by now it's so critically important to an engaged business.

In fact, the toplines of our Buzz Report suggest that of 16 different elements "Listening - not staying tuned and responding to what members/customers want quickly" was considered the biggest sin of not building an engaged, collaborative business.

I didn't expect this - I would have thought the measurement advocates, technology gurus or strategy folks would have dominated our poll results. But more than 53% of our panel ranked the seemingly simple act of "listening" the top ingredient for doing well in "social business".

In interviewing a cadre of experts for our book Wikibrands, we've begun to realize the "art and science" of listening perhaps isn't that simple and has many dimensions:

Customer Monitoring - Knowing what people are saying about you - this is perhaps the most obvious one, it involves the least investment of time for the most benefit. Whether it is for marketing, customer service or research motivations, 68% of companies have a system in place to perform this listening function. Whether it's done by UHU glue and masking tape (Technorati, Twitter search, Hootsuite, manual audit and search) or one of the reputable social media monitoring vendors (Radian6, Visible), the call of the "connected age"  is just do it. 

Customer Culture - Knowing what your customer and influencers are doing - businesses need to meet their customers on their own soil - we no longer can broadcast our messages through the key traditional 6 channels (TV, radio, outdoor, prints, newspaper, direct) - we have to be "every place" and also be well behaved when we get there by understanding the rules and motivations of what people want from us there. It is a mandate that engaged business should be devoting resources for Brailling the culture of their marketplace (see Community Manager role)

Customer Centricity - Customers recognize you are actively listening - it's not enough just to know the social environment of your product and customer universe, you need to participate...and show your customers that you are listening. Consider the majority of Whole Food's social media activity is responding to customers nationally, on an interest and local-specific basis. The fact thatthey are the 52nd most popular Twitter page (ahead of Paris Hilton at #55) and you'll realize that is no coincidence. You need to provide the real genuine face and ear of your company to the community at large to fully recognize the benefits of listening.

Customer-Driven - Customers recognize you are changing based on feedback -so you're happy that you are listening and participating, your customers are happy that they feel listened to, what more could there be? Showing them you've changed, that's what. Any community, no matter how solidly entrenched, will get bored over time, if they don't feel their contributions to your business are causing things to change. You must change based on customer feedback, highlight the credit to your audience and communicate to others that they too can change the colossus that is your business.

The Three Headed Digital Business - The Corporate Website, The Online Community and The Social Networks

I came to a fork in the road, so I took it. Yogi Berra

A topic of much rancorous debate over the last few weeks in the office and on a few pitches has been the comparative appeal, need for and roles of these three very different e-beasts:

- the corporate site

- the online brand community and

- the social network extensions

(we could add blog if we wanted a fourth).

Some late adopting companies have questioned whether they need to even open themselves to the latter two more socially-oriented  digital arenas. I liken them to the sentries trying to hold onto the last outskirts of the Roman Empire; I hope they have a better fate, but I fear not

Other aloof companies believe a bit of social media monitoring and a Facebook page is all you need to be social. I have a great deal on "pork belly" futures for you too if you subscribe to this school of thought.

Meanwhile, a number of high profile Cluetrain advocates have suggested that leading companies in the future may not even need to own their own hubs and that there business will be taken care of ably by their Facebook platforms, Twitter profiles, Google apps and iPhone apps. Calling all patrol cars, we're looking for the web insane - they've escaped their cells again.

All of these positions are horribly wrong and missing the key axiom on the role of web in building value for business - be everywhere, to all people with a balance of environments, content, benefit and control.

In an effort to presumedly control costs and complexity, companies are hunkering down and believing they need to choose one direction and stick to it. This is a cardinal sin - unfortunately also one being furthered by self-interested groups: boutique agencies who favour gorgeous looking standalone sites, ecommerce/technology companies pushing security tight enterprise infrastructures, Silicon Valley who are pushing white label, company-owned collaborative environments and ad platforms and social nets who are peddling third party platforms.

Why choose? After all, each serves a valuable purpose and if you look at the best engaged brands - they have a healthy participation and integration in all camps.

The chart below suggests why each has a role to play and how chopping a head off, eliminates access to a big part of the digital value chain.

So as much as you'd like to cut off the some of the limbs, arms and noggins from the three headed digital hydra - you'd be foolish to. You might be able to control your assets better but as a wise manager once told me "you can always manage failure, much tougher to manage success."

Social Influence Marketing - The Big Picture

A picture says a thousand things, doesn't it.

The CMO League - An Executive Network of Marketing Chiefs

 



We have scored a virtual coup. That's right a coup. Here's what I'm talking about.

Next Monday, we are hosting our first boutique event inviting some senior Canadian marketers for a league of their own. They've expressed a need - we're filling it.

Even more exciting is who's appearing, check this roster:

Grant McCracken is making a Toronto appearance - he's been one of my favourite bloggers since 2004 - his postsactually make you think. He is launching his book "Chief Culture Officer" - recommended by Business Week as one of the best books of 2009...and an idea and subject that marketers need to wrap their minds around...NOW.

In our second half, we will have Ted Graham from Interbrand present their Top Brands report - I was invited to an executive breakfast a couple of months ago where they presented the findings and I found the valuation interesting, summary brilliant and implications clear and provocative.

Great influential company, a great venue (the Spoke Club) and a copy of the book and report. If you are a head of a client marketing group, don't pass up the opportunity to get connected, informed and excited about 2010.

If you are a CMO or our a change agent who want to influence their CMO to change their culture and approach to their customers, come join us on Monday, January 11th.

Frontline Word of Mouth Performance Scorecard - Are You an Employee Evangelist, Advocate or Engaged Soul?

I used to call it the "smell of a place".  When you walk into a shop, a corporate head office or a boutique small business, does it appear like people love what they're doing? Are they genuinely involved in their jobs or are they merely going through the motions?

Frontline experience dictates at least half of the total experience many customers have with a company is with .

A lot of times, it's driven by the small things - next time you are at a Four Seasons look at how many of the small things are taken care of - we've come to understand that 82 items are routinely taken care of.

A lot of times, the torture test for the "smell" is what happens when the boss is not around. Take a visit to Westjet airlines for a 6:30am flight to get a handle on great customer experiences before the first coffee.

Sometimes, these experiences shake us out of our daily patterns and make us want to share them with others. Call them "acts of wow", "moments of magic" or "pursuit of excellence" but they make people buzz.

Some experiences of mine that recently to experiences going well beyond or below-the-call and have created conversations in my world:

On the positive:

1. the outright friendliness of Buffalo airport parking lot shuttle drivers
2. the lifesaving customer service and first name comfortability of my local UPS store (Sherway Gardens)
3. the welcoming appeal of my local Starbucks - free coffee when I stand too long in line and the efficiency in finding my power cord (on Kingsway and Bloor West)
4. the patience of my Netnation server support people - thanks for not thinking I was completely out to lunch on a piece of malicious code we fixed together

On the negative:

1. the arrogance of a collected series of Visa customer service people
2. the unbelievable slowness of Staples Business Depot print staff
3. the tone deafness of my Bell business phone customer service staff
4. the ineptitude of craft sellers Durie Lane to find a matching urn (perhaps no coincidence the store is now out of business)

My view of each brand has been enlightened or pockmarked by individual employees embrace of their companies and work environment, and in some cases, outright disregard.

We've developed a 100 pt.survey for clients that cesses out a score suggesting top-level front line fanship, above-service standards and customer face-to-face engagement.

Arrive at a score of 85 and you are a fully-committed, Frontline Word of Mouth Evangelist, between 70 and 85 and you are an emotionally connected Frontline Word of Mouth Advocate and  between 50 and 70 and you are a satisfied and loyal Frontline Word of Mouth Engaged Soul.

Let's not even go near under 50 as a score,  although our belief is 65-75% of frontline staff operate at this level. 

Here are 10 components to the survey:

i) Personal Assets (10 pts.) - do you have a natural set of skills that lend themselves well to frontline WOM?

ii) Company/Brand Alignment (10 pts.) - are you living the life and genuinely excited about the corporate/brand and their values?

iii) Customer Focus (10 pts.) - are you driven by trying to understand and satisfy customers?

iv) Experience Building (10 pts.) - are you committed to not only providing a service but an experience?

v) Consistency/Remarkability (10 pts.) - even on "bad days", do you still go the extra mile and get customers to rave about you?

vi) Team/Culture Builder (10 pts.) - do you improve the morale and customer service of the people around you?

vii) Passion/Problem Solving (10 pts.) - are you enthusiastic about customer interactions, even negative ones?

viii) Growth and Development (10 pts.) - are you committed to personal growth and learning?

ix) Story and Surprise Building (10 pts.) - are you creating and sharing things that people will talk about through your creativity, mastery and experimentation in your role?

x) Valued Partnership and Evangelism (10 pts.) - do you feel valued in your company and feel you can leave your personal mark?

So what's your score? more importantly, what's your frontline staff's score?

In fairness, there are a subset of questions under each category and with many companies, we add and tailor specific questions that make sense for their objectives, culture and work styles to give us a fuller view.

Ready to take a Customer Experience Fitness test? Have a spin by Agent Wildfire if you'd like to connect with us on Frontline Customer Experience WOM Audit.

The 20 Most Contagious Things In Life

Humans are herd animals, we never like to experience anything alone and perish the thought of doing something else while others are going in a different direction.

See if you agree with me on the top 20 human things that spread like wildfire below...I know I'm missing a few gems. 

1) Colds/Flus - the average human gets 2-5 colds a year and are frequently affected two-to-four days after others are first exposed 

2) Applause - nothing like a few well-placed plants to get a crowd clapping in synch

3) Opinions - the foundation of viral marketing rests on this assumption

4) Fashion - I'm not too sure why there isn't an Amazon for fashion but they could clean up based on influencer-led movements in style

5) Measles  - one of the most communicable viruses in the world - 90% of household members who are not immune but are exposed to it end up contracting it

6) Fear -one only need to see our global economic meltdown, to see this piece of human psychology play out 

7) Gossip/Scandal - Sarah Palin/Tina Fey, American Idol, Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Oscar Night, Gawker - I rest my case  

8) Stress - 78% belived Bush's State of the Union in 2007 was going in the right direction; now less than 2 years later,  83% believe the country is heading in the wrong direction

9) Negative Energy & Enthusiasm -misery loves company and everybody loves a party

10) Obesity - there is a 171% increased chance if a good friend increases weight, so will you..be forewarned

11) Yawning - 40-60% of people who hear talk about yawning, do it themsleves

12) Laughter - has more to do with social setting vs. humour, you are 30 times more likely to laugh socially than solitarily, in cross gender conversations, females laugh 126% more than males

13) Smiling - it only takes 14 muscles, is free and is good for you...why not?

14) Trends - the thesis behind the Tipping Point - small things make a big difference- some intriguing examples of air conditioners and faxes

15) Rhythm/Music Beat - who hasn't been toe-tapping and realize the person next to them is doing the same things

16) Goodwill - it's interesting when things go bad, humans capacity for pulling together

17) Referrals - an average person will tell 5 people after a good experience and 8 people after a bad one, the web allows an online savvy person to tell 13 friends and an influencer to tell 40

18) Violence/Litter - it's the Broken Windows theory - allow something to be degraded or debased around you and more of it will happen

19) Depression/Suicide - bridge jumping, subway jumping and other forms of reported suicide have a contagious effect on the socially displaced, the young and people with a close association to the victims

20) Memes/Idioms - Where's the Beef?, Budweiser's Whassssssssup, Dove Evolution, Got Milk, Mastercard's Priceless, Apple's Think Different and Intel's mnemonic  

Godin is Back - and He Has a Tribe With Him

Seth Godin on Tribes

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: book tribes)

Trust me - back in the late 90s and early 2000s, you could find no bigger fan of Seth Godin than me. I was detoxing from a big, bad corporate experience and found salvation in fresh thinking Godin's books - recipes for a marketing world I already believed in but didn't exist yet.

I loved Permission Marketing in 1999, was giddy about Unleashing the Ideavirus in 2001 and thought Godin could do no wrong in 2003 with Purple Cow and Free Prize Inside.

Then came what I would call the derivative works. Like a lot of mid-lifing musicians, Godin's books started to feel familar ...dare I even say it - lazy. All Marketers are Liars, the Big Moo, The Dip and Small is the New Big seemed to be movie sequels - fine bodies of work but never as original as the first works.

Well the Bald Man from New York is back and with one of his freshest ideas. Tribes - We Need You To Lead Us (launched October 16, 2008) - love the concept, appreciate the new take community/collaboration and enjoyed the attached all-visual presentation that speaks to its thesis...and I haven't even read it yet (maybe I'm angling for a signed copy here).  I've so much anticipation I've already ranked it as my #4 book on community and collaboration in the Essential's Marketer's Bookshelf.

Some key summary points from the book:

1) The questions that people ask has changed. they don't worry so much about "what's new" or "what's on sale", they are curious about who else is involved.

2) Once they get a sense for who’s part of this group, they want to know who the leader is. Where are we going and who is going to take us there.

3) It is now clear that (except for the random exceptions) tribes are built, built with leadership and insight and love. We need to start embracing the phenomenon and deciding whether it's worth the effort. It should be.

4)  People express their tribal connections in very public ways when they choose to. It’s a way of keeping outsiders out and insiders in (and in growing your tribe by finding the fellow travelers more easily).

5) No one joins a nascent tribe because it’s average. Ever. These guys don’t do this because they want to fit in. They do it to stand out (together).

6) A crowd is a group of people. A mob is an angry crowd. And a tribe is a self-selected group of people, often with a leader, usually with a purpose, always with a way of connecting and identifying with each other, a set of norms, insiders and outsiders.

7) You don’t DESERVE a tribe and you don’t BUY a tribe. You earn one.

8) The size and quality of tribal connection increases, the value of the brand increases dramatically

9) Movements are what happens when a tribe grows, when the idea spreads, when it engulfs the status quo.

10) Tribes amplify your efforts. The Red Sox can’t increase profits in the stadium, so now they spend their time and money increasing loyalty among the Red Sox nation.

11) The tactics that work for one tribe, the software or the posting speed or the things you talk about--they just don’t work for a different tribe.

12) Steve Jobs leads a tribe. Bill Gates just made software. Making software can make you big, but it doesn’t last--the market is ruthless. Tribes, on the other hand, push you and stick with you and hate you and then forgive you.

13) Etsy has assembled a tribe. The people who buy and sell at Etsy don’t do it because they need another necklace. They do it because they belong to the tribe. Etsy leads, Etsy establishes the platform, Etsy connects, Etsy then smartly gets out of the way. Interesting note: lots of Etsy buyers are also Etsy sellers.

15) 1000 fans, people who will pay money, spread the word, show up when you need them... that’s all you need to be elected mayor, have a hit record or change the future of your synagogue or restaurant.

16) Three ways to build a tribe: Find the lonely, connect the seekers or create a new one where none existed

17) It’s important to understand that most tribes aren’t CREATED by those that lead them, they are merely organized around common threads that were already there. When you lead people who want to be led, and connect people who want to be connected, you win by serving

18) It’s tempting to grow your tribe by making it open and welcoming but in fact, making it difficult to get in (and easy to get thrown out) is often more effective.

19) Tribes never (NEVER) organize around the center of the bell curve. If you go with average, with the masses, with the typical, you don’t earn a tribe.

20) The intersection of heretical thought, deep faith and obstruction from the status quo (which is often called religion) is where tribes are built.

21) 7 Attributes of Leaders – Challenge, Culture, Curiosity, Charisma, Communicate, Connect and Commit

22) 6 Reasons Why People Join Tribes – Connect, Meaning, Difference, Be Noticed, Matter, Be Missed

23) The punchline is that the only way to lead a tribe is to lead it. And that means that marketing is now about leadership, about challenging the status quo and about connecting people who can actually make a difference. If you can't do that, don't launch your site, your product, your non-profit or your career.