Rahul Pathak : My Personal Blog

I think there are two components to trust and in my mind it comes down to intent and competence. Both are critical. At LookStat, we’re aggregating microstock earnings data and crunching it to create actionable information for microstock contributors. A critical part of this is convincing users to trust us with their earnings stats.

What are your intentions? (Or more accurately, what do people think your intentions are?)

It’s not enough to just have good intentions. That’s nice, but it only counts if other people (ideally your users) believe that you have them. Potential LookStat users need to see us as people who are genuinely interested in creating value for them rather than doing them harm.

For a startup with little to no brand recognition, the only way to do this is by being open, transparent and accessible and working to convince one user at a time until word gets around. In the early days, who you are and who will vouch for you is critical. At some point, the balance shifts and the individual becomes less important than the brand, but that will take time. Until then, get out there and make friends - meet as many people as you can.

Do you know what the hell you’re doing?

Good intentions are worthless unless they can be backed up with appropriate actions. Our potential users may believe we want to do the right thing, but if they don’t believe that we are competent, there’s not much point going further. People have to believe that you have the skills and technical competence needed to protect them.

The Answer to Both Questions Has to be Yes

Each component taken by itself is necessary but not sufficient to gain trust. Being honorable, but clueless or being competent, but evil leaves you in a similar place from your users’ perspective. You need both components to start to gain trust. One closing (but very important) reminder - like most things that are worthwhile, trust is hard to gain and easy to lose. You have to take it seriously and you have to keep working at it.

The snow is fantastic because it’s so rare in the city. Macy and I got out early this morning to play some fetch at the park. Dog wasn’t too happy to leave…

Snow in Seattle 2008

On my morning walk to get coffee, I spotted an Audi A5 parked outside Roxy’s in Fremont. Really nice lines and proportions.

It snows so rarely in Seattle that it’s always a treat when some of it does stick. I was out walking Macy and she absolutely loves the snow. The photo below was taken just before midnight.

Seattle Snowfall 2008

I love getting messages like this from users. Knowing that what you’re building matters to someone other than you is a wonderful feeling for an entrepreneur.

I’m excited about what you’re doing - wonderful - much needed - THANKS!

The photo below was taken at sunrise over Labor Day in Southworth, WA. Shot from a cheap tripod (trust me, spend more than the bare minimum you won’t regret it) using a Panasonic DMC FZ-18. Photo quality is ok; the coolest thing about the camera is 18x optical zoom.

If someone tells me they have good news and bad, I want to know the bad immediately. I imagine that most people feel the same way. It’s interesting though, if you’re the bearer of the news I imagine you might want to lead with the good.

A friend just IM’ed me this line he read in a forum:

some people are like slinkies : they are not good for anything but they still bring a smile to your face when you push them down a flight of stairs

Brilliant.

Another photo from my walk tonight of boats moored on Lake Union.

I was out walking the dog with my camera in hand and caught the sun setting over the Fremont Bridge. I love how the clouds are glowing.