Phone Interview Questions for Software Developers
Face it. No matter what fancy tech you have in place, at some point you're going to need to hop on the phone to interview your top candidates.
But don't worry!
Phone interviews are a great way to meet and qualify candidates, without the logistical and time commitments that come with in-person interviews. Whether you're interviewing someone local or outside your state, they are sure to appreciate the trip you’re saving them as they participate in your remote interview.
Phone interviews are a standard in the recruiting process. They're even expected by software developer candidates.
Using Phone Interviews to Evaluate Software Developers
The phone interview is a good time to ask technical questions, but only if they aren’t eating up a huge part of your interview time. Hearing candidates walk you through their problem-solving process on the phone can be valuable, but waiting on the line as they solve complex problems puts artificial pressure on them. It also wastes your time if they hit a road-block, need time to think or become flustered.
Instead, consider assigning your most technical questions to candidates in a follow-up email. This way, you can devote the initial phone interview to meeting and evaluating candidates through a smooth, revealing dialogue. Candidates will also appreciate not having to do complex problems under pressure.
Here are some of the most important questions to ask software developer candidates and the functions these questions serve. If they get off topic, gently guide them back to a line of conversation that demonstrates their experience and comfort level with the work you need done.
Best Phone Interview Questions to Ask Developers
How are you today?
FUNCTION: Starting off with a friendly, soft-ball question helps the candidate to relax and warm up their communication skills for the interview.
Starting the phone interview by answering a word problem or technical question gets things off to a slower start. Retaining the interest of skilled candidates will be easier with a friendly first impression, so don’t forget to ease into each phone interview before getting down to business. In this day and age where culture matters, it's most important to build the proper rapport to set you apart from other opportunities they're evaluating.
What do you know about our company and the software that we develop?
- What about the software appeals to you?
FUNCTION: This question reveals the interest level of candidates and is a great launch point into discussing:
- Candidate direct experience with the work your company does.
- Candidate knowledge on your company.
- The work the candidate is currently doing/ what they like about it.
- How candidate skills would support the work your company does.
- Key company/brand information.
- Industry/ technology trends.
- Technical aspects of the software you develop.
This question is a great launch point for discussing the work your company does and the work your candidate does. It is also great for testing how invested the candidate is in the idea of working for your company.
Tell me about the largest scale development process problem that you or your team have faced and worked through.
- How did the problem relate to advancing in the dev process and the final product?
- What role did you play in the solution?
- Was this the most challenging dev obstacle you’ve worked on?
- Where you and your team-mates able to solve the problem?
FUNCTION: This question tests candidates for their ability to explain bugs, errors and catastrophic failures in the software development process.
From here, you can explore their systematic problem-solving skills, their approach to work on ongoing pieces of software, and their record for finding bypasses to roadblocks in the development process.
There will always be obstacles in the development process, for individual workers and product development as a whole. You want candidates who have experience moving the dev process forward and who are comfortable working around large scale problems when creating software.
What method of collaboration has been most successful for you?
- What method has been the least successful for you?
FUNCTION: Having your new software developer fit seamlessly into your team’s workflow is the ideal, and these questions reveal how your developer candidate works with others.
Knowing a software developers work habits, shows you how much they will have to adjust to life in your company. Their answer will also show you the ways that other software companies are managing workflow and collaboration.
Knowing what collaboration practices don’t work for your candidate is also important information. Even if your team uses their least favorite method, hearing their perspective is valuable and shows you if they will enjoy working for your company. The fit has to be right on both sides, and it’s better for employer and candidate to know about “deal-breaker” procedures/details early on in the interview process.
What levels of programming and/or functionality have you been responsible for designing/developing during the software development process?
- Which portions of the completed software were your responsibility to develop/design?
- How did your work contribute to the final product?
FUNCTION: These questions reveal the scope of your candidate’s software development experience and where this experience is concentrated.
These questions will help you uncover candidate experience at different stages and areas of the development process. By focusing on the scale and effect of the work entrusted to this candidate in the past, you will be able to determine if they’re up for your open job.
Narrow in on the portions of the dev process that the hire will be working on:
- Front end development/design
- Back end development/design
- User interface development/design
- Functional development/design
- Software Update development/design
- Online interface development/design
- Mobile development/design
Learning the scale at which the software developer is used to working will be crucial in qualifying them for your job. They will have a specific role to play in your software development cycle, and you must be sure that they are comfortable.
Why is ______ the best language for building ______functionality in a piece of software?
FUNCTION: This question tests the candidate’s independent thinking ability, as well as their knowledge on specific computer languages.
There may be an established language for the software functionality you want them to build, but engaged engineers will not be able to take blanked statements without talking about alternatives.
If they disagree on which language is best, this is a great time to discuss this point and/or explain that it’s the language that’s being used for ongoing development. This question reveals candidate comfort level with the languages that your developer must understand, as well as their ability to think of alternatives to real world problems faced by your company. It can also help bring about new solutions that for your company.
What are you looking for in your next job?
FUNCTION: This question shows candidates that you care about their career ambitions and want to know if your open job is a good match for these ambitions.
This is one of the most important questions you will ask during the interview process. If your open job aligns with their career aspirations, candidates are more likely to remain engaged in their work, maintain productivity and work longer at their job. If your open job doesn’t match the ambitions of a top candidate, then this information is much better learned sooner than later.
Don’t be afraid to dive deeper into a candidate'ss past experience. The key things you want to learn are if they have the chops and if they're the right fit. While learning about their technical skills may take a couple of emails, the phone interview is the perfect time to learn about what they're looking for in their next role and company.
Marketing Strategy for the Music Industry and Record Labels That's Driving 200% Return
Every now and then we work in industries that market a little differently. The music industry is one of those industries.
When the vast majority of your audience is using social platforms like Facebook and Instagram, it’s not too difficult to measure campaign success. You look at your social posts, use UTM parameters, or measure lead acquisition to conversion journeys. Simple right?
But when you throw in additional platforms like Spotify and Pandora… what the hell do you do?
Yes, there are some social listening tools that can provide data and insights. But being able to use data to find the next big artist or sound, isn’t enough today.
Record Label and Music Industry marketers need tools that allow them to automate the marketing process, and drive artist awareness.
Marketing Campaign Examples for Record Labels
Whenever we look at marketing campaigns, we focus on the buyer's journey. In the case of record labels, we look at the fan's journey.
The main question we ask is… “How can we take a fan's behavior and turn it into revenue."
We recently started using a tool called AppreciationEngine. It allows us to analyze and measure fan interactions with different artists and start building campaigns. It is the first true marketing automation platform that we were able to find for the music industry.
Now, back to fan behavior. Each time one of your artist's fans interacts on one of your artists facebook page or plays one of their songs on Spotify, you can segment and automatically message them.
For example, as your artist's fan is listening to their latest hit on Spotify, you can automatically message them letting them know about show schedules, new album drops, or similar songs.
A sample campaign would look like this:
Fan likes your artist's page. The fan then listens to a song on Spotify.
Your marketing automation tool, adds them to a segment based on the artist. The list segment would be called something along the lines of “Fan of X.”
Once the fan is added to this segment, they then automatically enter an email campaign.
Email 1: This would be the initial email in the marketing campaign. We’d recommend using something that reiterates the song they just listened to and provides something of immediate value to them. Something like…
You just listened to “Song by X” here are some more songs by that artist that you might like.
You could then followup Email 1 with something that generates more buy-in and investment in your artists brand.
Such as a playlist compiled by your artist's inspirations or other songs that include your other artists.
Then with email 3, you can tell them about different merchandise, shows, or something to push this artist.
After you’ve tried to generate revenue from your artist, you can then temper it down a bit. Maybe introduce them to more artists from your label that they might find interesting?
You can keep building out the sequence and iterating based on performance. But bottom line, marketing automation is an absolute must.
Marketing automation is awesome but you really need the power of segmentation to get the most from it.
Segmentation is the backbone of all marketing and especially marketing automation. This is universal across all industries, especially for record labels and the music industry. Finding ways to turn your fans into revenue or helping them find the next big sound should be at the crux of your digital marketing. And segmentation is how you get there.
Here are some cool stats from MailChimp:
Segmented email campaigns have an open rate that is 14.32% higher than non-segmented campaigns.
Click-throughs are 100.95% higher in segmented email campaigns than non-segmented campaigns.
Building Marketing Campaigns Through Fan Segmentation
As we mentioned, segmentation is the key to all of this. So what are the best ways to build out fan segmentation?
I think there are a few key ways of looking at it.
You can drill it down to two levels at the simplest.
A Segment based on Artist
and
A Segment based on Genre.
Why are these two segments important?
I was tempted to throw in location as a segment as well, but the above seemed a little better and you can adjust automated campaigns based on dynamic criteria for fan location as well.
But these are important because “Artist” segments allow you to automate messaging to fans based on that specific artist they were originally interested in, push products, music, tours, that are directly related to the artist of interest.
You’ll see your highest conversion rates through that segment.
As a secondary segment, you’ll want to choose Genre.
This gives you the ability to push other similar artists/songs in that genre. This will allow you to start cross-selling your fans to other artists from your record label, giving your other artists more awareness and a greater audience.
If you’re not currently segmenting your audience you’re seriously missing out.
Segmenting can provide you with better revenue channels as well as greater insight into your audience.
If you’d like to learn more about segmentation or the tools we’ve used to help record labels generate higher revenue and fan engagement, then let me know. My email is ronny@digital-astronauts.com.
International Women’s Day: How to Hire Women For Tech Positions
Women around the world have marched in solidarity, and it’s time that tech companies started showing solidarity as well. You want women in your open engineer, science and data roles, because they are ready and excited to take on these jobs. And there will be jobs for you to fill, lots of them.
There are projected to be over 1.1 Million open computer science and technology related jobs open by 2024, and only 41% of these jobs can be done by candidates with a bachelor’s degree level of education. New tech roles will require more expertise, experience and education, and, by sheer numbers, more women are attending college and holding jobs than men.
However, their representation in tech is... well slim. Women currently only hold 26% of computer science and technology jobs. There was 27% increase in the number of first-year undergraduate women interested in majoring in Computer Science between 2000 and 2015, and, considering that 74 percent of young girls express interest in STEM fields and computer science, we could see a large increase in female tech workers in the future.
You want women marching into your open tech jobs because there is still a gender gap to close in STEM heavy jobs and you don’t want to be on the wrong side of history. Early adopters of this diversity hiring initiative have an opportunity to build it into their brand story and earn the respect of female tech talent around the world.
Companies that don’t make an effort to hire more women may not feel the effects today, but they may start to notice how a clearly male-dominated workspace can be a deterrent for otherwise interested candidates.
Here are a few steps that every tech company should take in order to build greater gender diversity in their workforce.
How to Hire More Women
Sounds easy enough right? If you have a racially/ethnically/gender diverse workforce as a whole and in each individual department, you are fine. That being said, even reasonably diverse companies can fall short on diversity in specific departments.
At Google, women only make up 17% of their technical staff. At Facebook, only 15% of technical employees are women and at Twitter, only 10% of technical staff are female. The reasons for this trend are debated, but the solution is simple: hire more female tech talent.
Though you should always focus on candidate qualifications first, getting more women into tech starts with acknowledging that there are very few women in tech. Your interviewers should always be focused on skills, experience and qualifications, but they should all be aware of your company’s goal of increasing the diversity of your team. Having people of different genders, backgrounds, education, skills, etc will always put your company at an advantage over others that only hire the same people over and over.
A diversity of opinions, talents and backgrounds is essential for effective innovation, and strengthening your ability to hire a diversity of tech professionals will be essential for employers going forward.
Ask Tough Questions
If you want to improve the gender balance on your tech team or at your company, you may need to ask some tough questions. For instance:
“If I were female, would this (joke)(comment)(question)(attitude)(policy) make me feel uncomfortable?”
Men account for the vast majority of tech employees and, as any guy who has been stuck in a room full of other guys can tell you, things can get out of hand. A “fun” work environment is only worth having if it’s fun for everyone, and a male-dominated company culture has the potential to drive off female tech talent and deter female candidates from accepting your offer.
There are plenty of horror stories out there from women in the tech industry who unwittingly joined companies and departments that had become man caves, boys clubs, nerd bunkers, etc. and this is not the sort of press or reputation you want for your organization.
Every company has its own unique culture, but this culture also needs to work for everyone and adjust to new members of the team. Ask the tough questions about your company’s culture and use the insights that these questions produce to effect a change in your organization, if necessary.
Make it Public Knowledge
Though this issue is raised on a consistent basis, the progress being made is slow. Make it public knowledge that your company’s goal is to employ more women in technical roles, and you can generate a huge increase of interest from female tech candidates.
Creating this sort of reputation for your company can be a lightning rod for female tech stars from all corners of the industry. By announcing this goal in a press release and/or on social media, you stand to gain a powerful recruiting tool.
A diversity of ideas and backgrounds is what drives innovation, not cramming 100 near-clones into a basement and expecting something original to emerge. So, when you are making a choice between several qualified candidates, consider the impact that you could make on this issue by choosing a woman for your open tech job. This trend isn’t going to reverse itself overnight, but getting more women into tech starts with changing attitudes and acknowledging how much work is left to be done on this issue.
Startup Marketing Framework
In the startup world.
You either market or die.
Having a killer product just isn’t enough anymore. How you position and market can be the ultimate factor in deciding your success.
Which begs the question? Is there a framework that startups can follow to make sure that they start off on the right foot?
Below you’ll find our ideal startup marketing framework. Keep in mind this template will need to be customized based on your product and industry.
Read more
The BlockChain Bible
Blockchain is the foundation of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency, a trend that has been getting huge levels of attention recently.
Whether or not Bitcoin is a worthwhile investment remains to be seen, but for those who bought Bitcoin in the beginning, their investment has yielded insane dividends.
Bitcoin was founded in 2009, but it wasn’t until a year and a half later that man named Laszlo Hanyecz was the first person to spend Bitcoins in a financial transaction.
Lazlo traded someone 10,000 bitcoins to for two papa john’s pizzas, a transaction of 41$. Today, the Bitcoins spent to relieve his craving for take-and-bake, are valued at 150 Million.
The reason that Bitcoin’s value has increased in such a dramatic way?
Though many forces are causing Bitcoin’s value to rise, such as shifting attitudes of large investors and Bitcoin fans refusing to sell bitcoin to drive up the price above 1M per-coin, none of the success of Bitcoin would be possible without blockchain.
Blockchain for Beginners
Before we cover more applications of the blockchain technology behind Bitcoin, here are the basics for those who are less familiar with blockchain.
What is Blockchain?
A blockchain is a data set known as a “distributed ledger” that creates connections between different data points, called blocks, in a chain that is unbreakable and unalterable.
Blocks are linked by “hash pointers,” which connect each block and encrypt the information within blocks.
Hash Pointer:
Hash: Cryptographic hash of information (ie. a Bitcoin transaction).
+
Pointer: A link to where the hashed data is stored.
Stored in this encrypted format, the data in a blockchain is accessible but unalterable, a perfect record of whatever you happen to be recording.
Essentially, blockchains are massive spreadsheets, and the entries in this spreadsheet range from the transactions conducted using a Bitcoin, to the location of a product being shipped, to the policy information of insurance holders.
What is Blockchain technology?
Blockchain technology is technology that uses blockchain to achieve or support its functionality. Technology using blockchain is poised to become the new standard for many business processes and for data security, data storage and data sharing needs of companies.
Examples of Blockchain Applications
Here are just a few examples of companies that are applying blockchain to innovate in established industries:
- Providence – Tracks Yellowfin Tuna from catch to plate with blockchain.
- Symbiont – Blockchain applications for enterprises to manage loans, the distribution of index data, private equity and crowdfunding and ensure data accuracy/security.
- Kik – A messenger platform that uses blockchain for message threads.
- Shapeshift – An online exchange for different cryptocurrencies, (ie: bitcoin into z-cash, ether, etc.).
- IBM – A wide variety of blockchain applications, from verifying food safety and tracking commodities through supply chains to clinical trial management and data security.
What is Blockchain Wallet?
Blockchain wallets are applications used to save the addresses of blockchain currencies and conduct financial transactions with Bitcoins or other cryptocurrencies.
What is Blockchain Used for?
Blockchain has proven to be useful or even revolutionary in a number of industries, from healthcare to finance, from insurance to education.
Here’s how blockchain is changing the way that business is done in established industries:
What is Blockchain in Insurance?
Using Blockchain for data storage in the insurance industry may become the new standard before long.
The data security offered by blockchain, along with the ability to eliminate fraud and redundancies in policy information, make blockchain a natural fit for the insurance industry.
Blockchain also allows for “smart contracts” that can automatically approve or deny insurance policy claims, based on whether or not claim data meets the conditions of the smart contract.
What is Blockchain in Finance/Banking?
In finance and banking, blockchain has the ability to manage a huge number of processes and is speculated to have sweeping applications throughout the finance and banking industries.
Here’s an excellent take on blockchain in finance from the Harvard business Review:
“Money, equities, bonds, titles, deeds, contracts, and virtually all other kinds of assets can be moved and stored securely, privately, and from peer to peer, because trust is established not by powerful intermediaries like banks and governments, but by network consensus, cryptography, collaboration, and clever code.”
Additionally, as cryptocurrency gains popularity and major financial powers like China take steps towards embracing digital currency, blockchain may revolutionize our financial system and may remove the need for as many intermediary companies involved in finance and banking.
What is Blockchain in Healthcare?
Blockchain in healthcare helps to manage data and automate processes in an industry where accuracy is literally a matter of life or death.
Medical error is one of the most common causes of death in the US, and storing patient records in a distributed ledger reduces redundancies and errors that lead to these deaths. Blockchain also allows for more accurate tracking of pharmaceutical medication, which will both help patients and help to reduce the diversion of opiates into illegal markets.
What is Blockchain in Supply Chain / Logistics?
In the supply chain and logistics industries, blockchain makes it much easier to track the location of commodities as they are created, packaged and shipped to different points along the way to store shelves.
Smart contracts will allow payments and authorizations to be triggered by the GPS location of packages as they are shipped, helping to increase efficiency in the 1.5 trillion dollar industry.
What is Blockchain in Real Estate?
In real estate, blockchain is helping to increase the efficiency of property transactions by decreasing the time it takes to verify an individual’s financial information and improving transparency in the industry.
Blockchain would also help to make forged ownership documents and fake rental listing scams impossible, by having all transactions related to a property being incorruptibly while in a blockchain.
What is Blockchain in Education?
In education, blockchain could help to standardize the authentication of certificates issued from learning institutions.
Blockchain will also help to ensure that the credentials of all educators are valid and eliminate redundancy and error in student performance data.
What is Blockchain in Marketing?
Marketing applications of blockchain are diverse, and this industry will improve accuracy when targeting consumers as well as increasing data transparency for these consumers.
Blockchain can be used to ensure that people are not over-exposed to particular ads or even to automatically pay people for using their data. It can also be used to verify that followers are people, not bots and to guarantee the legitimacy of sponsored contests, ensuring that only one vote is given to each participant.
What is Blockchain for Business?
Blockchain has a great number of applications for businesses of all kinds, from improving the accuracy and transparency of records to eliminating time consuming back of office processes.
The applications of blockchain in business are still being discovered and optimized, and we may see a widespread adoption of this technology across industries in the coming years.
Why Blockchain Matters?
Blockchain matters because, for now, it is one of the most secure and practical ways to store data sets, especially when these data sets are used by multiple parties for multiple purposes.
Early adopters of blockchain applications are already reaping the benefits of improved data visibility, integrity and security, and, as use of blockchain proliferates, more and more industries will grow to depend on this technology.
What is Blockchain Mining?
Blockchain mining is most commonly applied in Bitcoin mining.
Bitcoin Mining is where individual “miners” solve math problems created by mining computers to add a series of bitcoin transactions to the public record of bitcoin transactions.
Here’s a detailed explanation of Bitcoin Mining from The Economist:
“Every ten minutes or so mining computers collect a few hundred pending bitcoin transactions (a “block”) and turn them into a mathematical puzzle. The first miner to find the solution announces it to others on the network. The other miners then check whether the sender of the funds has the right to spend the money, and whether the solution to the puzzle is correct.
If enough of them grant their approval, the block is cryptographically added to the ledger and the miners move on to the next set of transactions (hence the term “blockchain”). The miner who found the solution gets 25 bitcoins as a reward, but only after another 99 blocks have been added to the ledger.”
Blockchain Glossary, Terms, and Definitions
Here’s an informative glossary on blockchain terms and definitions put together by Blockgeeks:
551% Attack
When more than half of the computing power of a cryptocurrency network is controlled by a single entity or group, this entity or group may issue conflicting transactions to harm the network, should they have the malicious intent to do so.
Address
Cryptocurrency addresses are used to send or receive transactions on the network. An address usually presents itself as a string of alphanumeric characters.
ASIC
Short form for ‘Application Specific Integrated Circuit’. Often compared to GPUs, ASICs are specially made for mining and may offer significant power savings.
Bitcoin
Bitcoin is the first decentralised, open source cryptocurrency that runs on a global peer to peer network, without the need for middlemen and a centralised issuer.
Block
Blocks are packages of data that carry permanently recorded data on the blockchain network.
Blockchain
A blockchain is a shared ledger where transactions are permanently recorded by appending blocks. The blockchain serves as a historical record of all transactions that ever occurred, from the genesis block to the latest block, hence the name blockchain.
Block Explorer
Block explorer is an online tool to view all transactions, past and current, on the blockchain. They provide useful information such as network hash rate and transaction growth.
Block Height
The number of blocks connected on the blockchain.
Block Reward
A form of incentive for the miner who successfully calculated the hash in a block during mining. Verification of transactions on the blockchain generates new coins in the process, and the miner is rewarded a portion of those.
Central Ledger
A ledger maintained by a central agency.
Confirmation
The successful act of hashing a transaction and adding it to the blockchain.
Consensus
Consensus is achieved when all participants of the network agree on the validity of the transactions, ensuring that the ledgers are exact copies of each other.
Cryptocurrency
Also known as tokens, cryptocurrencies are representations of digital assets.
Cryptographic Hash Function
Cryptographic hashes produce a fixed-size and unique hash value from variable-size transaction input. The SHA-256 computational algorithm is an example of a cryptographic hash.
Dapp
A decentralised application (Dapp) is an application that is open source, operates autonomously, has its data stored on a blockchain, incentivised in the form of cryptographic tokens and operates on a protocol that shows proof of value.
DAO
Decentralised Autonomous Organizations can be thought of as corporations that run without any human intervention and surrender all forms of control to an incorruptible set of business rules.
Distributed Ledger
Distributed ledgers are ledgers in which data is stored across a network of decentralized nodes. A distributed ledger does not have to have its own currency and may be permissioned and private.
Distributed Network
A type of network where processing power and data are spread over the nodes rather than having a centralised data centre.
Difficulty
This refers to how easily a data block of transaction information can be mined successfully.
Digital Signature
A digital code generated by public key encryption that is attached to an electronically transmitted document to verify its contents and the sender’s identity.
Double Spending
Double spending occurs when a sum of money is spent more than once.
Ethereum
Ethereum is a blockchain-based decentralised platform for apps that run smart contracts, and is aimed at solving issues associated with censorship, fraud and third party interference.
EVM
The Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) is a Turing complete virtual machine that allows anyone to execute arbitrary EVM Byte Code. Every Ethereum node runs on the EVM to maintain consensus across the blockchain.
Fork
Forks create an alternate version of the blockchain, leaving two blockchains to run simultaneously on different parts of the network.
Genesis Block
The first or first few blocks of a blockchain.
Hard Fork
A type of fork that renders previously invalid transactions valid, and vice versa. This type of fork requires all nodes and users to upgrade to the latest version of the protocol software.
Hash
The act of performing a hash function on the output data. This is used for confirming coin transactions.
Hash Rate
Measurement of performance for the mining rig is expressed in hashes per second.
Hybrid PoS/PoW
A hybrid PoS/PoW allows for both Proof of Stake and Proof of Work as consensus distribution algorithms on the network. In this method, a balance between miners and voters (holders) may be achieved, creating a system of community-based governance by both insiders (holders) and outsiders (miners).
Mining
Mining is the act of validating blockchain transactions. The necessity of validation warrants an incentive for the miners, usually in the form of coins. In this cryptocurrency boom, mining can be a lucrative business when done properly. By choosing the most efficient and suitable hardware and mining target, mining can produce a stable form of passive income.
Multi-Signature
Multi-signature addresses provide an added layer of security by requiring more than one key to authorize a transaction.
Node
A copy of the ledger operated by a participant of the blockchain network.
Oracles
Oracles work as a bridge between the real world and the blockchain by providing data to the smart contracts.
Peer to Peer
Peer to Peer (P2P) refers to the decentralized interactions between two parties or more in a highly-interconnected network. Participants of a P2P network deal directly with each other through a single mediation point.
Public Address
A public address is the cryptographic hash of a public key. They act as email addresses that can be published anywhere, unlike private keys.
Private Key
A private key is a string of data that allows you to access the tokens in a specific wallet. They act as passwords that are kept hidden from anyone but the owner of the address.
Proof of Stake
A consensus distribution algorithm that rewards earnings based on the number of coins you own or hold. The more you invest in the coin, the more you gain by mining with this protocol.
Proof of Work
A consensus distribution algorithm that requires an active role in mining data blocks, often consuming resources, such as electricity. The more ‘work’ you do or the more computational power you provide, the more coins you are rewarded with.
Scrypt
Scrypt is a type of cryptographic algorithm and is used by Litecoin. Compared to SHA256, this is quicker as it does not use up as much processing time.
SHA-256
SHA-256 is a cryptographic algorithm used by cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. However, it uses a lot of computing power and processing time, forcing miners to form mining pools to capture gains.
Smart Contracts
Smart contracts encode business rules in a programmable language onto the blockchain and are enforced by the participants of the network.
Soft Fork
A soft fork differs from a hard fork in that only previously valid transactions are made invalid. Since old nodes recognize the new blocks as valid, a soft fork is essentially backward-compatible. This type of fork requires most miners upgrading in order to enforce, while a hard fork requires all nodes to agree on the new version.
Solidity
Solidity is Ethereum’s programming language for developing smart contracts.
Testnet
A test blockchain used by developers to prevent expending assets on the main chain.
Transaction Block
A collection of transactions gathered into a block that can then be hashed and added to the blockchain.
Transaction Fee
All cryptocurrency transactions involve a small transaction fee. These transaction fees add up to account for the block reward that a miner receives when he successfully processes a block.
Turing Complete
Turing complete refers to the ability of a machine to perform calculations that any other programmable computer is capable of. An example of this is the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM).
Wallet
A file that houses private keys. It usually contains a software client which allows access to view and create transactions on a specific blockchain that the wallet is designed for.
Blockchain Slang
Last, but not least, here’s a glossary of blockchain slang to help you as you read more about blockchain and blockchain applications:
#ALTCOIN = Any crypto currency other than bitcoin.
#ASHDRAKED = A situation where you lost all your money.
#BAGHOLDER = A person who buys and hold coins in large quantity hoping to make good profits in the future.
#BEAR/BEARISH = Negative price movement
#BTFD = Buy The Fucking Dip (an indication to buy a coin when it has dumped so hard)
#BULL/#BULLISH = Positive price movement
#DILDO = Long green or red candles
#DUMP = To Sell off a coin
#DUMPING = Downward price movement
#DYOR = Do Your Own Research
#FA = Fundamental Analysis
#FOMO = Fear Of Missing Out (A coin is pumping and you get the feeling it’s gonna pump more, so you buy high)
#FUD = Fear Uncertainty & Doubt
#HODL = Hold/Hold a position
#JOMO = Joy Of Missing Out
#LONG = Margin bull position
#MCAP = Market Capitalization
#MOON = Continuous upward movement of price
#OTC = Over The Counter
#PUMP = Upward price movement
#SAJ #CANDLE = Huge green candle
#SHITCOIN = A coin with no potential value or use
#SHORT = Margin bear position
#SWING = Zig zag price movement (Upwards and downwards)
#TA = Technical Analysis
REKT = When you have a bad loss
REVERSE INDICATOR = Someone who is always wrong predicting price movements.
RSI = Relative Strength Index
WHALE = Very Wealthy trader/Market mover
Hockey Stick Growth for Startups
We work with several startups and one of the most common terms used when founders want to describe their growth is hockey stick growth.
What is hockey stick growth?
Definition: Hockey stick growth is used to define a growth pattern that a company experiences which starts on a linear trajectory, and then once a certain point is hit, growth takes off astronomically. When charted on a graph, the image looks like a hockey stick.
How long does it take to hit hockey stick growth?
The linear growth phase can last from days to years before the right product/market fit is found and truly takes off. We once worked with a startup that experienced constant linear growth, and after enough branding and marketing efforts, the company’s revenue growth took off exponentially — creating the hockey stick effect on the growth chart.
Do all company’s experience hockey stick growth?
The short answer is “No.” Not all companies will experience hockey stick growth, some will just continue on a constant upwards trajectory, or even see ups and downs depending on various factors.
How long does hockey stick growth last?
If you’re wondering if it lasts forever, the answer is also “no.” Eventually, growth will start to taper off and flatten, especially s you face the challenges of market penetration, competition, and saturation.
How to achieve hockey stick growth
There is no set strategy to create a hockey growth trend for your business. However, certain businesses do have models that are ideal for growth hacking or viral growth. These businesses (like Dropbox) are able to offer free versions or incentives for referring a friend. My favorite example is Dropbox. They had a refer a friend program to provide users with additional storage space for each friend that became a user. This resulted in tremendous growth for the company. Over the years we've built several programs to play on the incentivized referral model to help startups grow.
What's Your Number? Your SaaS Magic Number
The term “magic number” in the SaaS world has come up frequently. The term SaaS magic number became popular on Will Price's Blog.
Generally, the SaaS magic number reflects how efficiently a SaaS company is growing their recurring revenue relative to their expenses. Pretty simple right?
How to Calculate Your SaaS Magic Number
To calculate your SaaS magic number, simply take the difference in quarterly recurring revenue between your last quarter and the one before, multiply that by four, and then divide everything by ALL the sales and marketing costs of the quarter before last. And voila!
Magic Number = (((Last Quarter Recurring Revenue) – (Quarter-Before-Last Recurring Revenue)) * 4) / (Quarter-Before-Last Sales and Marketing Expense)
Interpreting the data is pretty easy. If the magic number is greater than one, you should be investing more into sales and marketing. If the SaaS magic number is less than .7, then you should spend your time making customer acquisition more effective.
Another way to think about the SaaS magic number is that you're penalized if you waste sales/marketing spend (bad marketing programs, bad sales execution, wasted advertising), if your churn is high or if the market has issues (market saturation, competitive forces, failure to address needs). It also has a very high correlation with Q/Q growth rates so in general, the higher the magic number the better.
One Page Strategic Plan Example
Recently, I've been talking to several startup founders who all had the same problem: no clear plan or strategy for sales and marketing. While putting together an overall strategy and the marketing automation to support sales can be pretty complicated, getting the base-level structure is simple.
Here’s an example Simplified One Page Strategic Plan for a made up Taco Startup in San Francisco.
Example One Page Strategic Plan
Purpose
- To support and fill the stomachs of Bay Area residents through delicious tacos made from organic, free-range meats.
Core Values
- Edgy, in your face, transparency, honesty, fun
Market
- Bay Area residents, specifically young urban professionals, and foodies.
Brand Promise
- Our tacos will be the most delicious and Instagrammable
Elevator Pitch
- We provide the most delicious tacos in the entire Bay Area, featuring 14 hour smoked brisket and carnitas, Texas style sausage, and a world famous breakfast taco. All of our tortillas are made in house with the finest ingredients -- everything is organic and free-range.
3 Year Target
- Sell 1,000,000 breakfast tacos and feed several thousand Bay Area residents.
Annual Goals
- Revenue
- Net Operating Income
- Yelp / Facebook / Google / Trip Advisor Ratings
- Social Media Followers
Quarterly Goals
- Total Revenue
- Instagram Followers/Revenue
- Yelp rating
Quarterly Priority Projects
- Creation of weekly Taco specials menu
- New outdoor patio
- Weekly live music events
For the annual and quarterly goals, there would be a table with four columns: goal name, start value (e.g. $0), current value (e.g. $150,000), and target value (e.g. $1,000,000) as every goal should be SMART. Everything else should be pretty straightforward.
This One Page Strategic Plan is one of my favorite worksheets as it ties everything together. The simplified one page worksheet brings vision, accountability, and alignment for every member of the company. If you needed a single document to start from, then this is it.
How to Create a Reseller Program
Building a Reseller Program
I've had the pleasure of building some amazing channel programs (also called partner or reseller programs), as well as having been trained by one of the very best in Reseller and Channel Programs.
Building a reseller program isn't as simple as flipping a switch. There are several projects that will require collaboration from multiple members from different departments.
But before we get into that, we'll start with the three stages for creating a reseller program (partner or channel program).
3 Stages of Reseller Programs
Reseller Program Creation.
This is the initial stage of creation - duh. It's where you define the scope of your reseller/partner/channel program including the different levels, features, policies, partner margins/payouts, training/certification requirements, and the level of support offerings.
This area alone can get really complicated. For each different area you could have multiple feature docs for different product tiers, subscription levels, partner applications, MDFs, lead policies, sample email promotions, acceptable advertising content, powerpoints, demo scripts, etc.
Recruiting Resellers and Channel Partners.
Time to find and sign-up the resellers. Tactics for this will remain very similar to other marketing and recruiting related communications. You'll want to keep your core messaging and value proposition, but want to position your platform for reseller partners and the value it would help them bring to their customers.
We'll touch more on email scripts and reseller marketing strategies in another post since we'll cover a lot of material.
Reseller / Channel Partner Enablement.
Reseller or partner enablement is probably the lever for success. If you provide resellers with all of the material they need to make a sale, then your channel program will have a higher probability of success. However, a lack of attention here will most likely lead to poor results.
Some key areas to focus on here are training in your market, analysis of your competition, product training, product sales training, and channel resource training. You'll want to make it dead easy for them to promote your product over everything else out there.
Building a Reseller Partner Program
Building a reseller or channel partner program requires lots of marketing materials.
Below you'll find a list of the basic materials needed to build a reseller channel program:
Reseller Powerpoint
This powerpoint describes the reseller and partner program, the various levels, requirements, and the benefits to your channel partner.
Introductory Letter
This is an introduction letter to the partner program, as well as an overview of what's included and their benefits. Typically, you'll send this over as an email upon their agreement to join the program.
Partner Program Checklist
This is a checklist to help your reseller/channel partners understand the order and steps to become authorized product resellers.
Reseller Application
Back in the day, you would send this over as a printable doc to get all the information you need. These days, you can use Typeform or Wufoo to quickly create forms that help qualify potential resellers.
Reseller Agreement
Big ups to LegalZoom. For any reseller or channel program, you'll need an agreement that outlines the relationship between your company and the reseller partner. We recommend using LegalZoom or your attorney to create an agreement that outlines this relationship.
Reseller Partner Levels
Create some documentation around the different reseller levels. For example, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Authorized, etc. Make sure to include the benefits of each level as well as requirements.
Reseller Policies
Build a set of policies and procedures that explains how your channel partners are to deal with everything from leads to demos. Include information on what to do with leads that aren't in their wheelhouse, rewards, how to refer, etc. Also, include information on how you will pass them leads, how to use the portal, training and anything else.
Contact Information
A no brainer. Make sure your reseller partners know who and how to contact the people they need.
Reseller Not-For-Resale (NFR) Prices
Depending on your channel program, you'll want to include discounted copies of your product that your partners can use. The goal is to get them to use your software so they can better sell it. For SaaS, this is normally a free account with discounted or flat rate versions for their customers. But again, this will vary depending on your program.
Sample Sales/Marketing Materials
Provide your channel partners with a sales/marketing kit that has all the resources they'll need. This kit should include everything from product matrices, datasheets, demo decks, and more.
Customer Demo Deck
Along with the above materials, you must include a sample demo deck. This should be able to be customized so customers can use their branding as well (especially if they're whitelabeling or including in their services). I recommend hosting these in a Dropbox folder or somewhere on your site.
Training/ Support Documents
If you're old school you can create PDF documentation regarding certifications and requirements. Otherwise, build a page in your channel program section that talks about support and training sessions, as well as links to relevant documents.
FAQ
Contains answers to common questions you expect from resellers and their customers.
26 Productivity Tips For Restaurant Owners
Restaurant and small business owners always face one similar challenge — there’s always an infinite list of things to do, but not enough time to do everything!
This means you’re either up at all hours, or putting off some of your responsibilities. Face it, the life of a restauranteur or small business owner is one that’s filled with constant tasks and stress.
But there are solutions. Little things you can do to automate different processes and parts of your day to help you get more done, with less stress.
Here are some of my top tips to automate your small business tasks.
1. Buffer + Quuu
This is one of my favorite combos. Depending on your line of work you’ll want to frequently update your twitter or Facebook page. Using Quuu with Buffer you can automatically have content (based on your selection criteria) get posted at scheduled increments on your social media accounts.
2. Archie
Archie is a drop dead simple tool that helps you automatically engage with your Instagram audience. You’ll want to take some time to think about your customers and their interests to make sure you start automatically gaining Instagram fans.
3. Use MailChimp
Automate email marketing newsletters and promotions with MailChimp.
4. Kickoff Labs
Kickoff Labs lets you build viral marketing campaigns that can build you a lead list fast. Your customers likely have friends that would be ripe for your messaging, and Kickoff Labs helps you get them to invite them to try your restaurant.
5. Google alerts
Set google alerts to track any mentions of your restaurant. This will give you material to promote to your fans or help drive new visibility.
6. Yelp Reservations
If you're managing a restaurant that utilizes reservations, then integrate Yelp to help you automate reservation systems and messaging.
7. Automated Loyalty Programs
Systems like Square give you a POS system that is familiar, modern, and can create automated loyalty programs to keep your customers coming back.
8. Instagram Photo Contest
Consider having an Instagram photo contest for your fans. Have them share and the photo with the most likes wins. This is an easy way to get a collection of high quality photos that you can re-use and promote your restaurant at the same time. Foodies love taking pics.
9. Delivery
These days there are several services like Favor, Uber Eats, GrubHub, Postmates and more. Let them handle the hassle of delivering your items and increasing your revenue and exposure.
10. Proofreading documents
When writing any sort of documents, you'll probably spend hours proofreading. I recommend using a tool like Grammarly to quickly and accurately catch all typos and grammar errors. You'll save hours of time/week in proofreading.
11. IFTTT
If you have tons of bills to pay (and we know you do) IFTTT helps you create formulas that will send you automated reminders to take care of everything at a specific time.
12. Shyp
On those rare occasions you need to mail an item, but don't want to deal with the post office. Shyp sends a courier right to your location to handle it for you.
13. Declutter your inbox and highlight work items
Unroll.me consolidates junk emails into daily digests that will help unclutter your inbox. This will help keep a focus on the most important emails, while removing all the spam and junk mail.
14. Electronic/Online Checklists With Notifications
Whether it’s using a checklist tool for your own personal day-to-day tasks, or one to help keep your employees on track, online checklists with notifications are a sure-fire way to increase employee productivity. Overall, this helps you reduce costs, and minimize your managerial workforce.
15. Customer Complaints
Managing customer complaints is often mismanaged by restaurants and small businesses. This happens because you want to take the time to give them a personal email but will often put it off for other high priority items. An automated system may not completely address every situation, but will help you respond in a timely manner to help minimize fraud, losses and a poor experience for customers.
16. Automated Employee Scheduling
Wouldn’t it be nice if you didn’t need to deal with employee schedules? Tools like WhenIWork offer free ways to automate your employee schedules, send instant updates to reduce no-shows, and even manage time off requests. Best of all, it’s completely mobile making it easy to keep employees accountable.
17. Automated Time Off Requests
Leverage tools to track team availability to automatically handle time-off requests. This will save you hours of stress and time managing the process.
18. Automate New Hire Paperwork
Face it, hard copy paperwork is a thing of the past. It’s easy to lose track of and more difficult to manage. Tools like KinHR give you a quick and easy way to have employees fill out their paperwork and ensure it’s stored in an accessible and secure location for you.
19. Ordering Kiosks
Nowadays, there are restaurants that operate completely by machine. I’m not recommending going that far, but by using order kiosks/tablets you can streamline your entire ordering process, minimize cashier staff, and provide a consistent experience.
20. Data Analysis
Using a good POS and back office system makes it easy to analyze orders, costs, and find new ways to optimize menus and inventory. Utilizing sales data/historical data/ and pricing data to make logical cost saving purchases.
21. A Good Accountant
With all of the headaches you need to deal with on a daily basis, you’ll want to Yelp yourself a great accountant. The time they save you in the long run is more than worth their costs.
22. Employee Performance Management
Rather than guessing who your top employees are, use an automated system to rank your employees performance. You’ll quickly learn which employees slack off or hurt your business’ brand.
23. Inventory Ordering System
Knowing what to buy and when to buy it can be crucial for success. Having an automated ordering system that also tracks inventory usage can ensure you get notifications when supplies are running low so you never run out of your popular items.
24. Automated Training System
Streamlining new employee training using an online system like WaitTrainer can minimize the time you and your other managers spend bringing new hires up to speed. The faster you get them trained the more you save in costs.
25. Payroll
This falls in line with the new hire paperwork, but using a system like Gusto you can automate your employees payroll to ensure employees get their paychecks on a regular basis without you needing to worry about it.
26. Support Local Businesses
Promote local artists, musicians and other complementary businesses and they'll help promote you. Some ideas that can help increase your social media profile are hanging artwork from local artists on your walls, work with local food distributors, or even feature some items from other local restaurants. For example, if you're a local coffee shop, then talk to some bakeries and see if you can feature some of their items at your shop.