Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Company Logo

For the company logo, I have opted to use the services of 99Designs.com. This service is a "crowd-sourced" logo design one where 10,000 of designers from all over the world can be reached. 

How it works

Designers submit designs, you rate them and upon contest expiry, you choose a winner.
The overall experience was overly positive: great customer support, great value for the price:
  • ~100 designers submitted
  • ~200 designs
  • Total cost: 580$US
  • Total time to result: ~14days (extended period to pick a winner available)
Overhead
The one notable downside was the amount of overhead required to manage a successful campaign.  I received upwards of 100 email comments but most of them I could deal with just by "rating" the associated design submission.

Be prepared though to dedicate an amount of attention proportional to the prize contest amount i.e. the higher prize you offer, the more submissions/comments you will receive.

Drawback
The first contest one runs cannot be a "blind" one i.e. everything thing is public. "Blind contests" are only available the next time around.  The drawback of this approach is that the more you comment on your preferences, the more copy-cats you will get tagging along.

Return to start-up life

After more than 16 years evolving in a big enterprise, I am making the jump back in start-up land.  Actually, the situation could better be described as follows:
  • 1994: Joined NetCorp (Ethernet switches) as 1st employee
  • 1997: Joined Positron Fiber Systems (SONET/SDH transport equipment)
  • 1997: Positron Fiber Systems IPO
  • 1998: Reltec (access equipment) acquires Positron Fiber Systems
  • 1999: Marconi (SDH transport equipment) acquires Reltec
  • 2005: Ericsson (leader in mobility equipment) acquires Marconi
I've lived through 1 IPO and 3 acquisitions, debuting in a start-up and ending-up in a tier-1 network equipment vendor with over 70,000 employees worldwide.  The ride was quite interesting and enriching to say the least.

One thing I learned
Experience cannot be summarized in 1 sentence but taking a shot I would say:

Culture is paramount: people do not follow Moore's Law

Whether it comes to "mergers" or building a team, choose your people wisely.

One piece of advice
If I was allowed to give only 1 piece of advice:

Manage your career as you would manage your projects

When it comes to your success, the most important actor is yourself.  Always be one step ahead: immerse yourself in your next target job, learn the ropes on your free time and you'll be prepared when opportunity comes knocking on your door.