August 27th, 2009 by Scott Annan
Last night I attended the Ottawa Startup drinks and met some great people. As usual, I left the event with a dozen business cards from people who were really interesting and that might lead to some great future collaboration.
So now what?
As usual, I’ll follow-up with everyone today, while our conversation is fresh in my mind, and we’ll probably exchange an email or two. But now, unlike before, I’ll enter their contact information in Network Hippo – including where I met them, what we discussed, and tag them with keywords that will make it easy for me to find their information in the future. My email to them will be saved in the system, as will their response, and Hippo will remind me to stay in contact with them over time.
No more business card graveyard – and I’ve got a much better chance to build stronger relationships with interesting people.
SHARE THIS POST:
August 19th, 2009 by Scott Annan
We’ve just added the capability in Network Hippo to manage deals in multiple currencies!
This has been a request from members with international clients (AIM Group, Wistia, Global Racing Schools) – (btw: I love that small businesses can work globally!) and from some of our power users in the UK (Coherence Design) and Asia.
Now you can manage deals in multi-currency, fixed bid, monthly contract, or hourly rate, and add multiple contacts to deals.
We’ve also made some improvements to email importing (with much more to come) and fixed a number of issues that have been reported.
We’ve got a lot more improvements and some integration surprises that you’re going to love.
Now that we’ve launched Network Hippo we’re working even harder than before at building a leading relationship management tool that can provide professional and business transformation!
Stay tuned… we’re only getting started!
SHARE THIS POST:
August 18th, 2009 by Scott Annan
Three months ago I spent several hours trying to convince my brother, a recent PHD graduate in Bio-Chemistry, how our software (Network Hippo) was valuable for everyone, including science “people”. He was trying to see how it was applicable, but kept explaining that scientists are pretty anti-networking: they avoid talking to people at conferences, don’t hold “mixers”, and rarely go out beyond the lab or the local pub.
They just don’t see networking as part of their DNA – they stand on the merit of their work.
Over the last few months he has been preparing for a move from Montreal to Ottawa. It was a lifestyle choice, and he holds a great job that he can “do from anywhere”. However, his wife is a teacher and they have three kids, so there’s a lot of work setting up a new life in a new city.
This morning he called me and told me that everything is in place: they’ve found a house, his wife has a teaching job, a new school, and childcare for the youngest. He asked me if I remembered the discussion that we had several months ago. ”You know, you were right.” (that may be me editorializing) ”The house was recommended and made possible from a relative, the job interview was setup by a friend, as was the school, a nanny was recommended to us… Everything around our move happened because of our network. I never realized how many people we knew who could help”.
It was their network of family and friends that opened up opportunities and made moving possible. Networking isn’t (just) about attending new events and “schmoozing” by the bar – it’s about keeping in touch with people you know who are willing – even happy – to help.
Do you have any examples of how your network made a difficult move possible?
(PS – reference to moving cheese is based on the book “Who Moved my Cheese” by Spencer Johnson, one of my brother’s favorite books)
image cred to zazzle.
SHARE THIS POST:
August 7th, 2009 by Scott Annan
After a year of development, user testing, customer feedback, and amazing responses from readers of this blog, we have finally launched Network Hippo. We’re really proud of the final product and have been getting some very positive feedback!
We’ll be posting a ton of pictures and stats about Network Hippo over the next few weeks, but I wanted to thank everyone for all of your support during the long development road.
We’re promoting the launch in our typical “grassroots” style, and if you’re interested in helping out (and making some easy ca$h), check out the partnership program here: http://partner.networkhippo.com.
Thanks again for all of your support!
- Scott
SHARE THIS POST:
