The Idea and a great product before anything else.

A colleague of mine at BLiNQ Media, Zack Adams shared a series of lectures by Sam Altman called “How to Start a Startup“. The first lecture (video below) provides some great insights for anyone considering starting up a company or part of a company that operates like a start-up (Like BLiNQ). Sam’s lecture on the importance of an idea and especially on getting the “product right” was relevant to me in my role at BLiNQ Media. It’s a big reason I took on the role and why I’m excited about BLiNQ’s feature and ability to create great product for a specific type of customer.

The fundamental lesson Sam points out is that you need a great product you can stand behind before you purse anything else. Great press and articles about the CEO, your company, your past, or speaking engagements, etc. should not be a priority until you have a product you believe in and a mission you and the company can drive towards. Success and/or fame will come only until you’ve build a great product and your obsessed with it’s perfection. It’s an important reminder to any entrepreneur or CEO. I hope to embody this believe at BLiNQ.

Enjoy the video.

Published by Raj Choudhury

Raj’s leadership style focuses on building strong cultures and teams that drive to tackle complex problems with innovative solutions for some of the best brands in the world. In his earlier career, Raj co-founded Spunlogic in 1998, leading it to become one of the largest privately-held digital agencies in Atlanta. Spunlogic was acquired in 2008 by Halyard Capital to form Engauge, which was then acquired by Publicis Groupe and merged with Moxie to create the largest digital agency in the Southeast. More recently, Raj served as chief delivery and innovation officer for Ansira, one of the largest global independent technology and marketing agencies with over 1,700 employees. Raj came to Ansira through the 2019 acquisition of BrightWave, a leading eCRM and cross-channel agency, where he was president. During his tenure there, he helped build an incredible high-performance team and culture that was sought after by leading brands. He also previously served as CEO for the social advertising tech company BLiNQ Media to provide a new vision and rebuild its technology teams before merging the business unit within Tegna. Raj is also an investor in a number of technology startups, as well as a mentor to fellow entrepreneurs. Through his unique agency endeavors, Raj has become known for his hands-on approach, calm manner, and work-hard, play-hard mentality. Additionally, Raj participates as a board member and advisor for a number of non-profit groups, including 48in48 and the Atlanta BeltLine Partnership (ABLP). Born in Uganda, Raj moved to London at age nine. He earned dual Bachelor of Science degrees in Economics and Geography from Kingston University (London) and an Executive MBA at Georgia State University. He has traveled extensively throughout the world and is always looking to explore new places, or at least blow off some steam snowboarding. Raj and his wife, Tovah, have three young children, a dog, and have called Atlanta home for over 21 years.

Culture, People, & Office Space, Innovation and Ideas

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Website Powered by WordPress.com.

Up ↑

%d bloggers like this: