For the past couple of months, my friend Todd Vernon has had Spotify installed on his computer at work. You can always tell when he is about to get serious about putting together a powerpoint deck, because the sounds of Rush begin to…well….rush out of his office.

Whats that? I would ask.

Spotify. It has every band/song you could ever want.

Do you have an invite?

Not for you sucka!

Thats pretty much how the conversation would go. It was like Todd was dangling the fact that he had something cool, and questioning my ability to get an invite.

I figured since I have more than 33,000 songs at home, and could access them from anywhere, that there was no technology that I would miss.

That was until I sent out this tweet:

To which I got this response:

Damn, I thought. This wasnt going to be easy.

Later, when I checked my email, I saw I had two emails. One from a friend in Copenhagen, who forwarded me an invite that was non-US specific (so it didnt work), and one email from the founder of Spotify, Daniel Ek.

Daniel’s invite worked, and I began to use Spotify.

Holy crap! That is one bad ass application.

It literally changes the way I listen to music. The library is solid (unless you listen to really obscure or random music) and the recommendation engine is sweet. It is really an amazing application.

But, being a single user isnt whats cool. I asked Daniel for a couple more invites, which I quickly distributed (it seems the demand is high - hint, hint!), and that is where the really power of the application revealed itself.

I can now IM links to songs or albums or artists, and with a single click, my friends (which is anyone using Spotify) can listen to the tracks. Even more interesting is the ability to create a collaborative playlist that, when shared, become truly, well, collaborative. Anyone with access to the playlist can add or subtract songs. Now, four or five of us will add songs that we think the rest will like, and suddenly we have a crowdsourced music recommendation engine.

Often, after test driving songs, I go and buy them at Amazon (with their mp3’s, I now refuse to buy music on iTunes). I wish there was a direct link in Spotify.

Spotify has quickly become an application that I use daily (for hours). I cant wait for it to become widely available in the US. I truly hope that its model is successful and not shut down by the RIAA.

(Unfortunately, I have given out all my invites. Im guessing, that if you ask nicely enough, that one just might show up in your email box…)

Subscribe to this blog's RSS feed

Over the past week or so, I have had two friends burn out.

Like most professions people choose, entrepreneurship isnt all play time and money. Startups arent filled with foosball and Mac Pros.

We read about layoffs and think to ourselves “Well, its a startup. They arent making any money. I have no idea why they employed so many people. Whiles its horrible, its probably for the best.”

Or we read about the latest funding and think to ourselves “What? They got $5million dollars? Its just a <insert something here>. They will never make any money.”

What most people dont understand if they havent been in a startup (even those that cover startups really dont get it), is that a startup’s culture always has a few key components (not success components necessarily, just that they exist).

1. A general belief that what the startup is focused on is unique, interesting or better than current offerings in the market place (the old better, faster, cheaper argument).
2. That startups have an end.
3. And at that end, there will be some sort of reward.
4. That working at a startup gives you a greater ability to have a bigger influence on the product, brand, business direction, whatever.
5. That you, the employee, can do whatever is placed in front of you, better than anyone else.

And while its easy to intellectualize the long hours and hard work to get to the end of the rainbow, most people dont understand how the startup lifestyle truly effects them emotionally and mentally.

You can get fired/laid off at any time.

Often decisions are made based on the money in the bank, or the expected out of case position, rather than on the true needs of the organization. Often, there is little determination of the effect less people have on overall workload.

A mistake can be magnified.

Because each person has a large affect on the outcome of the business, mistakes are magnified. Code something wrong? It could push back the next release. Push back the next release, and lose a big deal. Lose a big deal, and miss the numbers you expected. Miss the numbers and the world turns on you. Because most startups run extremely lean, it is imperative that each person is competent. Extremely competent.

All the best work can be for naught.

Do everything right, get the product out the door on time and under budget, make the greatest thing since sliced bread, and watch it wither on the vine. Sometimes, for no reason, a great idea/product just dies. Its a sad reality of the risk/reward game of startups.

All of this leads to high level of expectation and stress.

Which leads to burnout.

Successful entrepreneurs and long-time startup employees understand that burnout is part of the lifestyle they have chosen. Everyone burns out at some point.

So what do you do when you feel a burnout coming?

Most people dont. They work and work and work until they fizzle. Their production decreases and mistakes increase. Soon, they have been let go, and dont understand why.

Here are some early warning signs of burnout:

• You are tired all the time. No matter how much you sleep, you cant seem to “catch up.”
• You complain more than usual. Everyone is a moron. You are the only person that can get the job done.
• You snap at friends and colleagues. Since they cant understand the workload you are under, or how unfair that workload is, you snap. You withdraw.
• You start thinking about quitting. It has to be the company. There is a better job with less stress out there. I just made a bad choice of jobs.
• You take little “breaks.” Today, I am going to nothing that pertains to my job. I know its Tuesday, and we have a release coming up, but I can catch up tomorrow.
• When do you get home, you dont take care of personal business. Dude, I just worked for 12 hours straight. Why should I pay bills?
• You wish you can, or you start, working from home more. There are less distractions (and people). I can work at my pace and I do a better job!

Often the signs of burnout are subtle, and the important thing to realize is that working at a startup is a continual ebb and flow of “completely burned out,” to “almost burned out” and back.

What do you do to make sure you dont completely burn out?

• Pick a project that is just for you. Work it at your pace. Work it in your space. Dont “re-grout the tile” or “pull the storm windows.” Remember your passion. What got you going in the first place. Do that, but do it for you.
• Take some time every day away from the office. I make sure it always take a lunch. 30-60min where the focus is on anything except work. My first boss told me, “The concept of a job is that there is work. When there is no work, there is no job.” 30-60min a day will not put you so far behind that it causes issue.
• Laugh. A lot. There is nothing wrong about finding humor in your day. If its a quick trip to ICanHasCheezburger or a joke with a co-worker, make sure to laugh everyday.
• Learn. A lot. Often, we get so caught up in our jobs, we forget that there is always a lot to learn. It doesnt have to be big. It just has to be something. Ask a co-worker a question. Look something up on Wikipedia. Try some different code.
• Engage. The great thing about startups, is that the team is small enough that you can engage with most anyone. There is no reason to go at it alone. Ask a co-worker to review your work. Get involved in something outside your job. Find a team that you can add value to, and get on it. You can also engage outside the company via a blog, Twitter or some other social media outlet.

How do you deal with burnout?

I spent the last couple days with two people that I not only admire for who they are as people and what they have accomplished, but because they are both wildly more competent and knowledgeable about things that I want to gain competence and knowledge in.

The concept of sucking is an interesting one. Most people, especially entrepreneur types, hate the concept. The younger the entrepreneur the more they hate it.

Our American society teaches us that failure is not an option. We must persevere. We must overcome. The American Hero archetype is one that succeeds against all odds.

Americans, you see, dont suck.

But sucking, at some level, is important. When at ServiceMagic, we used to talk about failure, and the acceptance of failure. It was a lesson I learned well, and took with me to my company.

I still tell everyone that works for me the same thing: “Failure is okay when you learn from it. Failure is not okay when you repeat it. After all, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing twice and expecting different outcomes. Dont be insane.”

Failure and sucking is easy to spot, but hard to accept.

Famously, Brad Feld’s motto at his first company was “We Suck Less.” He has written about sucking extensively: here and here are great posts. Another mentor of mine, David Cohen, and I have spoken about the concept quite often in relation to the TechStars teams (not in that they suck, although some do on occasion suck, but how sucking at something can actually be a positive.)

But knowing you suck is only 1/2 the battle (yes, I too, say “GI Joe!” in my head). Understanding how to suck less is the other half.

Compensating for your suckatude just isnt that simple. We can do anything if we put our minds to it (Yes, my mom told me that too).

The first step after realizing that you suck at something is finding people that dont suck at it. Then do two things: Ask questions and listen to the answers.

I try and do that a lot. I try to find people that are great at what they do (designers, musicians, investors, entrepreneurs, developers, parents, bloggers…the list is rather long), and spend time with them. Watch them. Listen to them. Ask questions.

Last week, I was asked to change my role at Lijit. The change came about because I am really good at one thing, and kinda sucky at another. When the discussion began, Todd said to me, “I know you have a lot of pride around what you do.”

I thought for a second.

After all, there are many things I do that for which I am proud. But, if what I suck at was holding back the organization, was I really helping myself? Was I really as competent as I thought? Was what I suck at (project management / organization) something I could fix, or was it something that I needed to take a step back and ask for help?

I replied, “Todd, I have no pride around what I do, just the results. If the results arent there, then I am open for adjustment.” And, from there the discussion continued and what we came up with, I know, is better for Lijit and for me. Now, I am even more excited now about what we are doing and where we are going in 2009.

There is no one that cant list something that they suck at.

It may not directly affect the job that you are doing, but it is something that you must recognize and accept and actively work to reduce the impact. Its that last part that people seem to forget.