009 : Speaking Tech, the required language of the future with Vinay Trivedi

Vinay headshot When you come from a non-technical background, listening to developers speak can sound a lot like FDJKFJ CJ KCDJK REJISJ KLSSJ K SKD.

Fortunately, my guest this week is here to help. Vinay Trivedi is the author of How to Speak Tech: The Non-Techie’s Guide to Technology Basics in Business. In this episode, we talk about specific things that non-technical people should learn in order to remain relevant in the workforce.

When you’re a novice, sometimes you don’t even know what questions you should be asking. Vinay helps lay a solid tech foundation so that you’ll be able to use where ever your learning takes you in the future. If you’re ready for developers to stop sounding like they’re speaking in tongue, it’s time to listen up.

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Your freelance developer won’t steal your idea

So you’ve worked out all the details of your app, created the wireframes, and you’re ready to find a freelance developer.

But you freeze up. What if your developer steals your idea?

Hell, you just did all that work, and now you’re just handing it over to someone who actually knows how to code.

But the chances of a developer stealing your idea are actually extremely slim. It just doesn’t make sense for a freelancer to steal your idea. Check out the video below to see why. Continue reading →

008 : Securing your startup’s foundation with Nihal Parthasarathi

Nihal Headshot In this week’s episode of the podcast, I talk to Nihal Parthasarathi, the cofounder of CourseHorse, an online marketplace for finding and taking local classes. He shares the story of how CourseHorse came into existence, step-by-step, from idea to rapidly growing company.

Nihal’s story is extremely inspiring, because he follows all the right steps and is reaping the benefits. He shares how he came up with the idea for CourseHorse as well as all the work he and his cofounder did before even looking for a developer.

There are a ton of valuable insights in this podcast, you’ll definitely want to listen.

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Pitching journalists: 5 things your competitors aren’t doing

Pitch email writer's block

I got to see a lot of pitches when I was working full-time as a tech journalist. Every morning, my inbox would be filled with a new batch of people wanting my attention — everyone from major PR companies to sole entrepreneurs launching their first product (and I’m not the only one!).

More often than not, the pitch emails would be absolutely terrible. It wasn’t just the novices that were making mistakes — even major marketing companies would churn out terrible press releases. I often wished I could reach through the computer, grab them by the shoulders, and yell, “YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG!”

Instead, all I could do was hit the Archive button. And archive I did.

But all this incompetence is great news for you: with just a little bit of work, your pitch emails will be better than 95 percent of the competition.

If you want to drastically increase the effectiveness of your press emails, here are five things you should be doing. Continue reading →

007 : Getting The Verge to take notice with Dan Seifert

NNL Podcast When you’re launching a new product or service, getting press on a website like The Verge can really be the deciding factor between massive success and slipping into obscurity. Yet entrepreneurs still make the same mistakes, over and over, when emailing and pitching journalists.

Dan Seifert is a Reviews Editor at The Verge and his email inbox is constantly full of pitches from both solo entrepreneurs and professional marketing companies. In this week’s episode of the podcast, we talk about which emails get replies and which get instantly archived. He also shares the common marketing tactic that comes off as insulting, and how to best build a rapport with journalists before pitching.

After listening to this podcast, you’ll be able to write pitches better than 90 percent of your competitors. And that’s not an exaggeration.

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