The Surprising Benefit of Self Rationalization
Behavioral psychology books like Subliminal, Predictably Irrational, and Brain Bugs encourage becoming more conscious of self rationalization.
Plenty of studies have proven humans exhibit this behavior by creating evidence to support an outcome if it benefits us. This has generally led me to believe self rationalization is something to avoid.
After hearing a TED talk by philosopher Ruth Chang, I’ve realized this may not be the best mindset for certain types non-data driven decisions. [Read more…]
What is App Deep Linking and How it Can Drive Growth
[Update: As of iOS 9, Apple no longer supports the URI / URL scheme mentioned in the intro below. Branch Metrics provides a great overview of the switch to the new scheme, called Universal Links. Everything else in this post regarding deep linking strategies for growth still applies.]
For the uninitiated, app deep linking is a fancy way to refer to a URL that points to a specific part of an app. It’s analogous to a URL that points to a subfolder of a website. For example, Instagram assigns a deep link to every user’s profile: [Read more…]
Personal Hack: Becoming Genuinely Thankful
There’s an overwhelming amount of evidence that being thankful greatly improves the quality of one’s life.
Living a happy and fulfilling life must be pretty easy then, right? Just think of each of your possessions and friends, followed by a mental, “Thank you.”
This was my initial perception of what thankfulness meant. [Read more…]
All About the Product(s)
I’m a big fan of Fab.com CEO Jason Goldberg’s product philosophy. He recently wrote a blog post of 90 things he learned from founding 4 technology companies, and every point is a gem. Here are my favorite four: [Read more…]
App Hack: Tracking Desktop-to-Mobile Download Conversions
Tracking the referral sources of downloads for your native mobile app, and what people do after downloading, is difficult. The app store acts as a “black hole” and breaks the conversion funnel between a referral source (i.e. organic keywords) and a conversion inside your app (i.e. a purchase). I’ll vent write more about this later.
Most app landing pages have an “Available in the App Store” badge that links directly [Read more…]
Jonathon Livingston Seagull and Being Different
I just finished reading Jonathon Livingston Seagull and my mind can’t stop racing. If you’re an entrepreneur and need a motivational kick in the pants, read this book (90 short pages). Author Richard Bach will make you draw parallels between yourself and a seagull.
There’s a core message in the book rings true for every entrepreneur; [Read more…]