Kitmondo.com

Reputation

Verifying the credentials of the other party in a transaction is an important step for any buyer or seller. B2B equipment deals throw up specific challenges: deals are frequently international, time critical and of high value. Inevitably, these factors sometimes result in a buyer or seller having to take a very exposed position in order to get a deal done - usually during the grey period between payment and delivery.

Being able to assess the credentials of a buyer or seller before equipment or money changes hands is therefore extremely valuable. But other than providers of financial information (e.g. Dunn & Bradstreet, Experian) there are few resources to turn to if you want to run the measure over a new buyer or seller.

This may be set to change. Michael Arrington reviews a startup called Rapleaf who are launching an online ‘reputation management’ system. The idea is to create an open platform that will allow users to leave feedback on anyone they complete a transaction with. Over time this would become a resource for anyone looking to verify buying/selling credentials of anyone else.

I can foresee plenty of problems ahead for Rapleaf, not least the question of false or malicious feedback submissions, but if they succeed it will be hugely important.  One need look no further than eBay to see how powerful reputation management (the phrase is growing on me) can be. Arguably, its feedback system has been the most important factor in its growth. Amongst other benefits, it has enabled small-scale traders to create “brand” trust on the back of publicly viewable evidence of good service. A reputation previously developed via years and years of word of mouth recommendation can now be achieved in a short – but successful – period of trading on eBay.

However, eBay’s feedback mechanism is directly connected to transactions and exists only to manage reputation within its own marketplace. Rapleaf are attempting to create the same value out in the open. It’s going to be very tough to pull off but I wish them the best of luck.

Miro

(graphic from SiliconBeat)

Google have taken down its Miro doodle. I don’t know if this is a result of complaints made by Miro’s representatives yesterday or simply the end of the doodle’s rotation. Whatever reason, it’s a shame it seems to have caused such bad feeling.

It does seem amazing that Google wouldn’t ask permission before it used a representation of an artist in a commercial context. Especially as it displayed the artist’s work in the most viewed two square inches on the Internet.

On the other hand, Google displayed the artist’s work in the most viewed two square inches on the Internet! How many zillions of Internet users around the world have had their first glimpse of Miro’s work because of the doodle?

I can understand Miro’s representatives being a bit miffed they hadn’t been asked first but, if I was in their position, I think I might have bitten my tongue for a few days and soaked up the global audience.

Hire Education

Terry Gold has posted some good advice for startups considering taking on their first sales person. He describes two types of candidate you should be on the lookout for:

Candidate A: “the New VP spends a lot of time thinking about Positioning. They talk about Executive Selling, Leadership Alignment and Developing Value Propositions. What they probably won't talk about during the interview or after being hired is how many phone calls they are going to make to new prospects every day.”

Candidate B: “the best sales people jumped right in soon after they arrived…on the phone and planning visits pretty quickly.  If they are too afraid to make the calls then they may not have what it takes. The successful people were quick to admit that they weren't experts…and the successful sales people don't try to fake it with customers.”

It struck me these profiles could just as easily describe the “personality” of the startup itself….

Startup A: spends a lot of time at the whiteboard optimising the model, writing the business plan, identifying the target market and planning for growth. It waits until the sum of its knowledge and understanding exceeds its fear of failure.

Startup B: builds rather than plans. It achieves understanding through action. It gets something together, puts it in front of its customers and listens.

Who would you hire…?