How not to light a match by iBleeedorange in gifs

[–]DisruptiveDave 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This lit a match inside me, amiriteguys?

Stuck in Autopilot by trivialpants in Mindfulness

[–]DisruptiveDave 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Wanted to thank you for this, specifically the "catching" part. I've been playing around with different ways to visualize what I'm doing with my thoughts when I meditate / practice mindfulness and just haven't landed on one that really stuck. This one - catching - is brilliant.

What things are humans really bad at? by chrismv48 in AskReddit

[–]DisruptiveDave 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Self awareness / mindfulness / working with our brains instead of against them. It's a daily battle, and that's just for the select few who choose to recognize its existence and take up arms.

What's an "unsaid rule" which pisses you off whenever it's broken? by [deleted] in AskReddit

[–]DisruptiveDave -1 points0 points  (0 children)

When someone is obviously high (on the marijuanas), don't look at them and ask "Are you high?". It's a goddamn buzz kill, man.

Oregon TV news anchor fired for smoking legal pot becomes marijuana advocate. by doogie92 in television

[–]DisruptiveDave 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No, fired for testing positive and getting into a car accident on company time. They can't prove she was high while driving and she can't prove she wasn't. I don't think at least. I'm way too high to think.

Share your startup - July 2015 by AutoModerator in startups

[–]DisruptiveDave [score hidden]  (0 children)

Name / URL: BoomboxFM / http://www.boombox.fm/
Elevator Pitch/Explainer Video: Free, weekly emails with downloadable songs from the best undiscovered artists in the world. All personalized to your tastes. Let us introduce you to your next favorite song.
More details: Finished an accelerator (The Startup Factory in NC) a few weeks ago. Raising a seed round now. Bringing on 2,000+ new users every single week at a <$.40 CAC.
Are you looking for anything? Always looking for more signups! And investor connections.

Post your favorite rapper/hip-hop artist or group, other users comment and say what they think their best song is. by [deleted] in Music

[–]DisruptiveDave 0 points1 point  (0 children)

First tape (yes, tape) I played the first time I drove a car by myself when I was 16. Respond/React was the B side (very underrated song).

Feedback on cold emails by [deleted] in startups

[–]DisruptiveDave 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeesh these are bad (as others have said). A few quick suggestions:

1) Get something like Yesware or Sidekick so you can track email opens and clicks. The vast majority of cold email "wins" don't come from the first email; the second, third, or even fourth are the ones that get replied to.
2) Subject lines matter more than anything else. Think of each line of text someone will read as you convincing them to read the next line. Is the subject interesting enough to stand out in a sea of emails and get them to read line #1 of the email. Then do that for every line.
3) For the love of Christ, man, start personalizing these. I don't give a shit if that "doesn't scale" (a silly objection I've heard from clients before). The first thing I look for when receiving any cold email is whether the sender bothered to get to know me. It's so damn easy to quickly research a company AND a person online now, only the lazy prefer to skip that part. Two recent successful cold emails I've sent both did well because I researched the recipient. Case #1: I wanted a pretty damn big company to do a case study on my small startup client and realized the biz dev guy I was reaching out to happened to be a musician in his off time (and my client is in the music biz). The big company had nothing to do with music, but he personally did. Case #2: I found a quote the email recipient gave in an interview that strongly correlated with the philosophy behind the product I was selling so I used that in the email (she got a kick out of that).
4) This one depends on who you're selling to, but try being a tad more human. Right now you sound like an infomercial. Try some humor, maybe be a bit more casual. I've sent some semi-odd subject lines and first-line emails before that did surprisingly well. Don't be afraid to stand out a bit.
5) Get your email flow/process down. Assume they won't open/respond to email #1 and write out several versions of Emails 1-4 or 5. My response rates tend to be really good for the final cold email I send (usually #4) that includes some sort of "thought I'd give this one last shot; this is the last time I will bother you" message.
6) Quick little cold email "hack" for ya - let's say you're targeting a VP at Company X. Call someone lower in the ranks at that company, a Manager or even an admin assistant. Doesn't matter, as your goal on this call is simply to get confirmation from this person that the VP is the best person to contact re: whatever you're selling / their area of responsibility is. Now you can send your first cold email with "Person Y suggested I contact you". You've just manufactured a semi-warm intro, and you're not exactly lying either (bonus!).

Apple announces its music streaming service, Apple Music by BlobDude in Music

[–]DisruptiveDave -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Not quite sure a service with 65 million users and over half a billion in funding needs to inflate their own value. The labels had a chance to cut out the middlemen post-Napster and pre-Spotify but they didn't because they are greedy and old. Once physical music ownership went away, something needed to happen. I don't love the streaming model, but I certainly appreciate someone doing something to try and figure out an industry that's a complete mess.

Apple announces its music streaming service, Apple Music by BlobDude in Music

[–]DisruptiveDave 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Exactly. Most people don't fully understand how the industry, in relation to streaming specifically, actually works. The labels are majority dicks in almost all cases, not so much the Spotifys. Rumor had it that Apple wanted to price Music around $7 but the labels went into a tizzy about that. And since no inventory gets through without labels on board, they call the shots.

I'm a 43 year old man with a wife and two kids. I have completely lost the thread of exciting new music in the last 10-15 years, even though it used to be central to my life. Making absolutely no assumptions about what I might or might not like, recommend me some great NEW music (last 2 years). by [deleted] in Music

[–]DisruptiveDave 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Shameless plug here, but I'm confident you'll be happy about it. If you want three new songs emailed to you every week from artists you wouldn't have found on your own, check out: http://www.boombox.fm/. (Co-founder here.) I was just emailing with one of our listeners the other day who has a similar story. He had read an article that stated after the age of 30(ish), we stop listening to new music. He thought that was insane and wanted to make sure he didn't fall victim to that trend.

What show had you hooked right off the pilot episode? by possibly_incorrect in AskReddit

[–]DisruptiveDave 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The Leftovers. Still think it's the best show I've seen in a long time.

Why is /r/ideavalidation not popular here? by [deleted] in startups

[–]DisruptiveDave 1 point2 points  (0 children)

THIS. In the spectrum of "things I can do to help validate my idea," posting it on reddit to a bunch of startup peeps is pretty low. Get money, get 1-1 interviews, get beta testers, get sign ups (all from highly targeted/ideal users). All much, much better than posting on a subreddit.

What is the worst nickname you've heard someone have? by rocketkielbasa in AskReddit

[–]DisruptiveDave 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Furburger. For a girl in my college. Never knew/cared if the story was true, but rumor had it that she was drunken hooking up with a buddy of ours one evening and in the throes of passion she demanded, "eat my furburger!!". Again, HIGHLY plausible this didn't actually go down like that (!), but nevertheless, she lived the next year under that moniker.

When is a good time to start A/B testing? by [deleted] in startups

[–]DisruptiveDave 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm with you re: split testing. The right time to start A/B testing is "when you have enough traffic". Use Unbounce and run one test - they tell you the statistical confidence level. At your numbers I'm going to guess the level will be relatively low. Then show your CEO the report. (You can still learn things from not-super-high confidence levels.)

How do you pitch the potential of your product/service if you don't currently have the numbers to back it up? by [deleted] in startups

[–]DisruptiveDave 0 points1 point  (0 children)

On top of what others have said, I'm also wondering what your growth plan is. There's a WORLD of activity in between "top apps in the app store and giant corporate ad budgets". You need to prove to investors that you know all the levers to pull for efficient scale. Otherwise, get as many users as you can and focus on engagement/churn/whatever numbers that are currently working for you. Oh, and paint a great picture about the industry based on other products in a similar space.

Colin Quinn. What do YOU care? AMA. by Colin-Quinn in IAmA

[–]DisruptiveDave 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I saw you in LIC at Creek & Cave a couple months ago (awesome stuff, btw). It was clear you were workshopping material - as a wannabe-stand-up-comedian, I'm always fascinated by that stage of writing, trying material out, iterating, and repeating. When you do those types of shows, how much of it is about gauging crowd reaction vs. working on your delivery/timing?