With 11 rounds of its original monthly event under its belt, Switchyards Downtown Club is still going strong, and opened the new year with yet another sold-out edition of the Consumer Show. Not even the fact that co-founder Michael Tavani has been known to (loudly) hassle stragglers into front-row seats kept the crowd from staking out standing-room-only spots around the Western & Atlantic coffee bar. (I applaud you, standing-room-only people, who repeatedly refused the four chairs next to Tavani and Blake Byrnes and stalwartly remained standing near the beer. A strict strategy.)
Read moreI am a wordy sort of person. I take a lot of notes. I make a lot of Facebook posts. I send a lot of emails, texts, Slack messages, tweets and whatever else using any medium at-hand to communicate in writing.
(I also talk a lot, but that's another post.)
Read moreMy people, my people! I missed you last month, but Shannon did a fantastic job stepping in — thank you, Shannon, you are all that is great about the Switchyards community! — and last Thursday I was back for the tenth occasion of a packed-out house for #theConsumerShow. (It's #THEConsumerShow, not #ConsumerShow. That's a different, somewhat more niche sort of thing, in case you were wondering.)
Read moreI've been doing a lot of culture interviews lately.
SalesLoft is growing at a crazy rate, but hiring people means participating in a lengthy interview process, from call screens to sending email questionnaires to filling out assessments to speaking in-person. And hiring the right people means doing even more interviews.
Read moreHello AlyintheATL Land!
Happy to stop by for a short visit. Aly was kind enough to introduce me before hand so no one would freak out when I showed up. It’s weird when you expect the norm and abnormal arrives instead.
As you may know, I’m Shannon Kroll — director of Root City Market, an Atlanta-based pop-up market focused on creating community through shopping local.
Read moreThe streak had to end sometime, y'all. After eight months in a row, I finally had a scheduling conflict to cover The Consumer Show. (And it's the TechStars Edition! I know, I know. I'm sad too.)
Fortunately, Switchyards is full of amazing people doing amazing things, and one of them, Shannon Kroll, is willing to help me out. She'll be guest-posting here with her own take on the monthly recap, so keep an eye out at the regularly scheduled time (usually the Monday after, unless Jason Seagle's rushing me).
Read moreI hate standing in lines. It's inefficient (even if you're lucky enough to be in a place that uses a serpentine line), and all I can think about is what else I could be getting done. And one of my least favorite times to wait in line? When I'm shipping a package.
If you've ever shipped a box of Christmas presents, you've been there. If you've had to return an item you purchased online, you've been there (let's not even get started on the lies around "fit as expected" clothing). If you use eBay, you've been there. If you're a small business or out-of-your house consumer-facing venture (hi, Etsy sellers!), you've been there, too.
Read moreThe other day, I watched a startup founder who was actively looking for funding cut a VC off mid-sentence and walk away.
Read moreI know, I know, you think I'm late. It's really not my fault — usually I write the recap for the Consumer Show the weekend after, and wait for Jason Seagle to post his brilliant photos on Monday-ish so I can borrow them (with credit, of course). But he got all motivated this time and pushed out the photos on Friday and I got all flustered and now it looks like I'm late even though I'm actually on my normal schedule. Jason's just early, y'all. I'm ... just gonna blame him for being industrious and making me look lazy. (Hi, Jason!)
SO anyway. I know what you're here for. On to the Consumer Show!
Read moreIt's been nearly six months since I moved from Client Success to the Product department at SalesLoft. I learned a lot in the first 30 days alone, but the next 150 days were a blur of discovering how different methodologies work, what user experience research should look like, and of course working crazy-hard to deliver new or improved features to our clients.
Because I'm a writer at heart, I thought I'd document this journey, all of the ups and downs and what-the-heck moments, and share it with the world. Maybe it'll help someone else. It'll certainly be good for a laugh later!
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