andreweverett360 Book Review, Marketing

Traction: A Startup Guide to Getting Customers

traction


Traction: A Startup Guide to Getting Customers
by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares

“Almost every failed startup has a product. What failed startups don’t have are enough customers.”

“Traction is a sign that something is working. If you charge for your product, it means customers are buying. If your product is free, it’s a growing user base.” Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares draw from their own startup experience as well as interviews with some 40 other founders and marketing experts. The book starts with five foundation chapters followed by chapters explaining each of the 19 traction channels.

PayPay founder Peter Thiel says, “It is very likely that one channel is optimal. Most businesses actually get zero distribution channels to work. Poor distribution—not product—is the number one cause of failure.”

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andreweverett360 Book Review, Finance

The Interpretation of Financial Statements

the-interpretation-of-financial-statements


The Interpretation of Financial Statements: The Classic 1937 Edition
by Benjamin Graham and Spencer B. Meredith. New Introduction by Michael F. Price

Benjamin Graham (1894-1976) was a pioneer in the field of value investing. He is most famous for being Warren Buffet’s teacher at Columbia Business School. The Interpretation of Financial Statements was originally published in 1937. This 122-page book focuses on the balance sheet and income statement. Graham also wrote Security Analysis, first published in 1934, and The Intelligent Investor, first published in 1949.

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andreweverett360 Book Review, Management

Stragility

stragility


Stragility: Excelling at Strategic Changes
by Ellen R. Auster and Lisa Hillenbrand

“Tragically, more than 70 percent of change efforts fail and in most cases the organization emerges weaker—exhausted, demoralized, and confused.”  To combat this, authors Auster and Hillenbrand have coined the portmanteau word “Stragility” to represent a skill set for “strategic, agile, people-powered change… Without ongoing agility, even good strategies will fail.”

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andreweverett360 Book Review, Marketing

Outside In

outside-in


Outside In: The Power of Putting Customers at the Center of Your Business
by Harley Manning and Kerry Bodine

“Customer experience is how your customers perceive their interactions with your company. Once you understand that, you can manage your business from the outside in… To achieve the full potential of customer experience as a business strategy… you must manage from the perspective of your customers, and you must do it in a systemic, repeatable, and disciplined way.”

The benefits of providing exceptional customer experience are “higher revenues resulting from better customer retention, greater share of wallet, and positive word of mouth, plus lower expenses due to happier customers who don’t run up your service costs.” One example from the book is a $1.7 billion per year savings in customer service costs and bill credits as a result of Sprint simplifying its confusing plan options.

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andreweverett360 Book Review, Marketing

Contagious

contagious


Contagious: Why Things Catch On
by Jonah Berger

Wharton marketing professor Jonah Berger has studied why certain ideas and products get talked about and shared more than others. He refers to the “psychology of sharing” and identifies six common attributes: Social Currency, Triggers, Emotion, Public, Practical Value, and Stories.

Berger puts the hype of viral marketing in context. “Word of mouth is the primary factor behind 20 percent to 50 percent of all purchasing decisions.” However, “Research by the Keller Fay Group finds that only 7 percent of word of mouth happens online…

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andreweverett360 Art, Book Review

A Gallery Without Walls

a-gallery-without-walls


A Gallery Without Walls: Selling Art in Alternative Venues
by Margaret Danielak

“This book is about selling art in alternative venues and in innovative, cost-effective ways” based on the author’s experience as an artist’s representative. What I like most about this book is that it opens the door to nontraditional sales channels, so you are not competing in the same sandbox with everyone else.

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andreweverett360 Art, Book Review

Vision and Art: The Biology of Seeing

vision-and-art


Vision and Art: The Biology of Seeing
by Margaret Livingstone

Unexpectedly, the most fascinating art book I’ve ever read is written by a Harvard Medical School professor of neurophysiology. “This book is about vision—the process of receiving and interpreting light reflected from objects—and what art reveals about how we see.”

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andreweverett360 Art, Book Review

The Artist’s Complete Guide to Figure Drawing

ryder-artists-complete-guide-figure-drawing


The Artist’s Complete Guide to Figure Drawing: A Contemporary Perspective on the Classical Tradition
by Anthony Ryder

Anthony Ryder presents a thorough and meticulous process for drawing the human figure. This is definitely not a quick sketch approach. “On average, I put in about twelve three-hour sessions for each finished drawing.” Ryder works with either pencil on white paper or pencil and white charcoal on toned paper.

ryder-p92-phases-of-dane-1998-pencil-gray-paper
Phases of Dane, 1998.
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andreweverett360 Art, Book Review

The Artist’s Model: From Etty to Spencer

the-artists-model-etty-to-spencer


The Artist’s Model: From Etty to Spencer
by Martin Postle and William Vaughan

This book is a catalog of figurative artwork produced in Britain from the mid-1800s to the early-1900s, published in conjunction with an exhibition held in 1999. The works, featuring nude and clothed figures, range from anatomical studies to finished drawings and paintings, as well as a few photographs and sculptures. In addition to the artwork, there are four interesting chapters about artists, models, and attitudes of this period. Extensive captions provide additional insights about particular artists and models. A sampling of the artwork follows this review.

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