I Listen to ALOT of House Music, Here's Why

Anybody who knows me knows that I'm really passionate about music. I listen to everything... literally everything. From classical to metal, dubstep, hard dance, dark techno, trap, bluegrass, folk rock, classic rock, big band... whatever. The only place I don't really listen to music oddly enough, is in the car. For whatever reason I always end up listening to talk radio or podcasts. Regardless, music is a huge part of my life, and that includes during work.

For me, work hours are restricted to house music in various forms. When I'm not on the phone or in a meeting, I've got techno in my headphones. No particular sub-genre, but it needs to have a 4-on-the-floor beat with lots of energy and the longer the track, the better (live/recorded DJ sets are good). The most important attribute however, is little to no lyrics.

I always find it fascinating when people listen to rock or hiphop when they're trying to get shit done. For me at least, if someone is talking to me while I'm typing, I will inadvertently end up typing what they're saying. Same goes for any music with words, I'll end up with a bunch of song lyrics in the email I'm writing. I've tried classical, ambient, jazz, and various world music as well, those genre's just don't have enough energy to keep me productive. This is also not to say I absolutely can't work with wordy music in the background, but if I have it on in my headphones I find that the quality of my work dips and it takes me longer to complete if it's not a banging house set.

Would love to hear some thoughts on this... what do you listen to at work, if anything?

Also, here is my personal repository of work tunes for your enjoyment/productivity:

Matt's "Get Shit Done" playlist of sets

I also have a set of turntables and record my own sets sometimes, those are here:

Matt's Techno sets

Big Company vs. Startup

As many of you may know, I made the jump from Cisco to run Sales Engineering for a small startup in the valley. Even though my gig at Cisco was awesome, I am confident this was the right move for me. I know there are a lot of folks out there wondering whether or not they should take the plunge (because it is a huge risk), so I thought I would talk a little bit about my thought process in making this move. 

I have always been a risk-taker. I love fast cars, snowboarding, skating, cliff diving… you name it. My wife always tells me I’m missing that little voice in the back of my head that says ‘are you sure you can do this?” So I guess you could say my personality is slightly unhinged to being with… but that’s only part of the reason why I love startup life.

 I began my career as a sales engineer at a startup in 2007. I was employee number 25 in a company based in Boston with a satellite office in LA (I was in LA at the time). I was the 4th SE hire, which was impressive for a company of that size, but the way the model was built we had two SEs in Boston and two SEs in LA. 

I had no idea what I was doing, but I loved it. 

I was getting in early to prep and spending time with the engineers to learn the technology and the industry late night. The days were long, the office was a dump, my sales team was a shit-show, and my commute was horrific… but I didn’t care. I was learning new things at lightning speed, living in the awkward every day, learning the iron-clad fundamentals of what it takes to be successful, and attempting (and succeeding) at doing things I had no business doing. It was fun. 

I have often reflected on what I thought made this absurd lifestyle enjoyable for me. Why on earth would someone do that for a few days and then not run for the hills? For me, the reason is the challenge, the opportunity for rapid career growth, and the love of the unknown. My then CEO had this great saying that we were all just “bozos on a bus”, and I like that. 

I can actually sum up why I love startups in one quick back-and-forth in 2008 with one of my early mentors. We were out for a “career lunch” which you need in your 20s at a startup because you’ve been working insane hours and there’s no money yet for a raise and your manager needs to give you a pep talk and discuss the “long run”. Anyways, I was baffled about how she knew so much and always seemed to have a plan. So after a few beers I asked her, “You seem to know exactly what you’re doing… how do you know it’s the right decision? Have you done this before? When do you know what the next move is going to be?” 

Her answer would forever change my outlook on business and life. 

“Matt”, she said. “I just make it up as I go along. I never know what the next move is going to be, I make the most educated decision I can and if that doesn’t work, we say fuck it and try something else”. 

That’s why I love startups. Big companies can take chances as well, but if a decision is made to change something there are many layers of bureaucracy that your idea has to pass through before it can be implemented. What I love about startups is, if your idea is better than the idea currently in place, your idea becomes the company idea. The opportunity is always there to swing for the fences and make a huge impact in a very short amount of time (not to mention the upside potential, but more on later). 

That said, startups are not for everybody… and even with the ability of extreme influence and upside, not all startups are something you actually want to do. My first gig was pure luck. I interviewed on a whim, got the job, and it turned out to be one of the most rewarding decisions I’ve ever made. It started me on the path to where I am today. The thing is, if I hadn’t been willing to put in 12 hours a day for 3 or so years non-stop, it would have been a blown opportunity. 

That’s the other thing, in big companies everything is already established… tried and true. You can just leverage what others have done before you to make yourself successful. I think of it as hiking in the jungle. Big companies have already cut a trail for you that you can get to the top of the mountain. The path is well-formed with benches and supply stops, but it’s a roundabout way that’s going to take you a while to traverse. A startup has a general direction to the top of the mountain… maybe a few people have cut back some branches here and there… but it’s essentially bushwhacking. You have a map and a compass so you know where you need to go, and the way is potentially much shorter, but you have to figure it out (and you could be heading in the complete wrong direction). No supply stops, no rest areas, just a general idea and a goal. 

So why did I drop one of the cushiest jobs I’ve ever had to go bushwhacking again? Because I love the hunt. I love just "figuring it out." I love working with a bunch of intrepid explorers in uncharted territory, blazing a trail where there’s never been one. New technology, new market, new challenges... I love trying something new and failing because failure helps you grow. I love trying something and succeeding, I love helping other people succeed where they thought they couldn’t. I love the camaraderie, the “everybody does everything” mentality. I love the possibility of a MASSIVE payout if we pull it off. I love accountability and transparency. I love the trust that everyone in it is working just as hard as the next guy. 

So should you drop everything you’re doing and go join a startup? I don’t know… like I said earlier it’s not for everybody. There is also the very real possibility that the startup you join will crash and burn… most do. I must have turned away at least 60 or so companies before I finally made my choice… Cisco is a great company and I wasn’t going to leave for just any ol’ group of kids with a good idea. Going with a startup is losing your safety net… but with great risk comes great reward. At this point in my life my wife and I are in build mode so we’re swinging for the fences. It takes hard work, sacrifice, and “balls like church bells”. I’ve only been in it two weeks and I'm working as hard as I’ve ever worked my life… and I love it. So I guess you have to ask yourself “am I willing to work my ass off and take that risk?” For me, that wasn't even a question because that's what I do. 

How to make a compelling demo every time

Demos are one of the core competencies of being a Sales Engineer. Every customer-facing SE has done at least one demo in their career... most of us learned how the business works by doing them. But, like everything we have to do that's repetitive, it can get old over time. I can't even tell you how many phone screens I've done over the years with senior SEs who tell me "oh, no... I don't do demos anymore... you don't have junior SEs or sales people who take care of that part?" Erm... no.

I believe it takes great skill to learn something new and to master it, but it takes FAR more skill to keep the edge sharp on something you've already mastered. To me, calling yourself a great SE and not doing demos is like saying you are an excellent pastry chef but you don't make the batter. Sure, sometimes you'll have a sous chef, just like occasionally you'll have a junior SE do a demo, but if you don't enjoy doing it, you aren't practicing the craft in it's entirety. 

Far more often than this, I run into SEs who still do demos, but begrudgingly so. And I get it... you're at an early or mid-stage company that's trying to train junior salespeople on how to book activity... and you're on your 5th unqualified, woody demo of the day. Trust me, I've been there... it's rough. By the time 3 o'clock rolls around you're getting a bit snippy with your AEs and you're slugging back that last cup of coffee you always regret. You probably have Facebook and a few other time-wasters opened in a browser window on your other monitor, thinking about your commute, wondering what your friends are doing... you're BORED. 

If you're at this point, chances are your demos have been fairly shitty for awhile now. Usually the first indication that you're heading in this direction happens shortly after you memorize your demo script and find your own spin on it that works (around 3 mos in, usually). Once you've found your groove, you start to get lazy and go on autopilot... then it's an avalanche of mediocrity from there. When you're lazy, you're not paying attention or asking the right questions. If you're not asking the questions, the prospect isn't engaged. If the prospect isn't engaged, chances are they're probably doing the exact same fucking thing you're doing right now... looking at a slideshow of the 10 worst child-star celebrity train-wrecks on buzzfeed or something. It goes without saying this is a MASSIVE waste of time for everyone involved, but how do you beat the boredom? How do you get excited about something you've already done hundreds of times and will probably do thousands more of before you're done?

The hard truth is, if you're bored doing demos it's your own damn fault... period. 

Some of the biggest mistakes I see SEs make are reading slides, not asking questions, and regurgitating the same content over and over again the exact same way. Don't get me wrong, the demo script is there for a reason, let it be known one of the keys to becoming a great SE is to read and memorize what others have built before you BEFORE you add your own spin to it. The reason for this is not so you can just chug thru the script verbatim for every demo you do, it's so you can nail down the CONTENT, then build variations on it to make it more compelling for the prospect. It's like riding a bike... you shouldn't do wheelies until you can ride in a straight line for a bit. 

So reading slides... I'm not going to belabor the point of how sleep-inducing this is, but if you have to read your own slides or say things like "as you can see on this slide", you may as well just put down your headset and go take a nap because that's what your prospect is doing. Instead of reading, ask questions about the slides. Pick a talking point on the slide and ask "do you ever deal with <insert point here> in your day to day?" It's a win-win for getting more information. If they say yes, then dig into it; if they say no, then you can respond "interesting, most folks I talk to in your shoes deal with that all the time. What does your day-to-day look like?" Worst case scenario, you get them talking and you learn something. 

This feeds right into my next point... not asking questions. I actually call this out on my demos before I even start presenting. I'll say something like: 

"my intention is to figure out whether or not my product is a fit for your environment. If it is, that's excellent; we'll figure out a package and I'll help you deploy it. If it's not, that's ok too; I wouldn't sell you anything you don't need. In order to keep my comments relevant to what's going on in your world, I like to have an open dialogue so feel free to ask me any questions you have and I'll do the same. Does that sound good?" 

If I don't get a verbal "yes" in one form or another, I will say "No problem. We have a huge library of videos on the website you can sift through and our marketing team runs a great webinar every Wednesday. My AE will reach out in a few weeks to check and see how that goes... if you like what you see we can try this again at a later date." and kick it back to sales.

This probably seems like a dick-move, but in actuality it's really not. If the prospect doesn't want to talk to me, having me pepper in questions and them feeling uncomfortable answering is an unproductive use of time. They will be much more engaged watching a non-interactive video than sitting there biting their fingernails hoping I won't talk at them. There's also a right and a wrong way to ask questions, which I will get to in a future post. 

The last piece is keeping your material fresh. This piece is different, because it's as much for you than it is for your prospect. Sure, they'll benefit from topical anecdotes and new feature release information about your product, but you will benefit arguably even more because you will draw energy from new content. This can be anything, to be honest. Maybe you inject a story about a previous call you had with a different prospect that will lay up a value-add for your product:

"I was just on a call with another guy earlier this week who was scanning all 8000 devices in his network BY HAND. "

 then try a question

"How big is your network? Does it take you that long to scan your devices?" 

Blogs are also a great place to get fresh material. If your company has a blog, grab a quote or an idea from one of the thought-leaders in your company and find an appropriate place to inject in your demo cadence. I have a plethora of blogs and news sites I check every morning to start my day with new hotness.

Lastly, on the other end of that phone is a person. Just TALK to them. Some of the best demos I've ever given were ones where I never shared a single slide. They're expecting to see your product, but the dirty little secret is there's probably lots of products that do what yours does. Customers don't buy products just because of the product, they buy the product because they like the people who are selling it to them. Don't be a demo donkey.

Why I Quit Playing Video Games So Much

I love video games. I love the idea of playing in a world where there aren't any real consequences. All of these games out there that say "you die once, you start over" or "we try to make it as realistic as possible"... screw that. Why would I want to play a game where you can only carry two guns instead of 12? Why would I want my character to be able to actually die when I jump off a building for no reason? Doesn't make any sense to me... I want to be able to stand on the roof of a car going 200 mph through the middle of a city and shoot a RPG at a jet fighter from my bionic arm. THAT'S what I want.

My favorite types of games are the ones where you get to upgrade your player and your player's stuff over time. GTA series? Love it. Just Cause 3? Amazing. No Man's Sky? Beauty. I love the ones where you feel a connection with your character, the ability to make your character cooler and more powerful over time... being able to build up an arsenal of currency, weapons, and vehicles to the point where I'm nearly invincible... that's what I like. That being said, I am very particular about the games and type of gaming I play. I have no interest in playing online against other players, nor do I want to play as more than one character so I'm not susceptible to WoW or any of those other MMORPG's.

Even when you omit the online play, there's a few inherent problems with playing video games... in my case the main one being how much time it takes to amass the attributes for your character. Any gamer will tell you that the level of investment for modern games is monumentally more time compared to what it was 20 years ago. Ever play GTA5? It ain't Mario Kart. It takes time to learn the controls, it takes time to learn the game dynamics, and it takes time to collect, build, store, and master other elements in the game. Over hours, days and weeks you build up an amazing world for your character in your TV... and as a result you spend all your time in front of it because it's more fun than real life.

The second big problem is a side effect of the first. While you're building up your amazing world in your TV, your life outside the TV isn't actually getting any better. You're not learning anything new from the game that would be applicable to your real life. None of the amazing button-pushing skills you've mastered will make you more well rounded, and you're DEFINITELY not doing your wallet any favors in the long run. Yes, maybe you're not going out to the bars and spending cash as much... but at least at the bar you have a chance of something positive happening that benefits your REAL life, or AT LEAST make a good story.

It's also not limited to consoles and computers anymore either. Clash of Clans, Game of War, Boom Beach, Candy Crush... these are all even worse in my opinion. These are called "casual games"... but they're not "casual"... and they're fucking expensive if you actually get into it. A couple months ago I met a 50-something mid-level business guy in an airport who had his iPad out and he was playing Game of War Fire Age. I asked him about it and he proceeded to brag to me that he was one of the top 100 players in the world... as if I would be impressed by this somehow. Turns out, to get to that level he had spent close to $5,000 in micro-payments. 5 large on a fucking iPhone game!!! This was the worst I've ever heard of to this day, but I hear stories like this all the time. People get caught up and end up wasting hundreds of dollars on something that has NO TANGIBLE VALUE.

It's basic escapism. It's the same reason people end up partying too much... you don't like your reality, and it's easier just to ignore it than it is to fix it. But I can tell you, the longer you let this shit go on, the tougher time you'll have getting out of it. The longer you live in your virtual reality, the further behind you get in your actual reality. I'm a firm believer that there will come a time when business is conducted in VR, and you will end up leveraging technology for most business dealings, but the skills you learn from playing a video game will still never apply.

Looking for alternatives? Learn something. Read a book, write a blog, go outside, goto a museum, go sit at a bar and talk to people who sit down there, walk the streets of your city, people-watch, exercise... there are million things to do in this life (I'm beginning to sound like my father, but he was right). The reason I quit playing so much is because I started to realize how much money I was losing. All the time I was wasting sitting in front of the TV could've been used to increase my skill level and further hone my craft... but instead i was blowing up zombies and crashing cars. Sometimes the value from video game alternatives is indirect, but at least once a day now I am able to see tangible benefits in my career from putting down the controller.

I get it, the real world sucks sometimes and you're an introvert so video games are entertaining... but you know what is also entertaining? MAKING MONEY. And I know there are games where you can buy/sell stuff in the virtual world.. but what happens when you're 40 and morbidly obese with zero social skills? Talking about impressing the ladies (or gentlemen)!

If you feel the need to play and it's something you really enjoy, by all means go for it. I still play every once in awhile on the weekends... but don't let it take over. Your real life will thank you.

 (courtesy of dorkly.com)

This post is dedicated to one of my dearest friends and business partners who recently called me out on my bullshit. Always surround yourself with people who care more about your success than your feelings.