Recently in Traction Category

Michael Bodekaer was a founder and CTO of Smartlaunch, which makes software for Internet cafes worldwide and IPO'ed in 2005. Michael explains how they initially got traction by, among other things, giving away their product for free to leading cafes when entering new regional markets. He also talks about his Top 7 Beliefs and his new passion, Project Getaway.

We start talking about Smartlaunch in min 13. Also note that I didn't plan shamelessly plugging my startup with my shirt.

This interview is ~45min. For just audio, there is an mp3. You can also get it on your iPod via iTunes. 

For more, check out the Traction Book site.

Eric Ries is the founder of The Lean Startup, a methodology that startups can use to get traction. Eric explains the methodology in detail and answers some very specific questions about it. The first Lean Startup conference is actually this Friday (in San Francisco), and will be broadcast live.

This interview is ~60min. For just audio, there is an mp3. You can also get it on your iPod via iTunes. 

Note: If you are super familiar with Lean Startup thinking, you might want to skip to 14:30.

For more, check out the Traction Book site.

Patrick McKenzie is the solo founder of Bingo Card Creator. BCC makes bingo cards for elementary schoolteachers. After achieving traction trough scalable use of SEO and AdWords, Patrick was able to quit his job and start selling software full time. He explains the exact strategies he uses and how they are repeatable in a variety of niches.

This interview is ~60min. For just audio, there is an mp3. You can also get it on your iPod via iTunes. 

Update: Patrick has also outlined the interview on his blog. He's also answering questions on HN.

2Todd Vollmer has been involved in enterprise software sales for twenty years, the last twelve helping startups define, implement and execute effective sales processes. Todd lays out a comprehensive framework for how to approach sales from the perspective of a B2B startup.

Todd explains how it is a numbers game to get potential customers engaged. He then walks through how to execute the sales cycle thereafter, by getting the customer to continually validate a mutually agreed to plan around five key areas.

This interview is ~40min. If you just want the audio, use the 4mp3 version. You can also get the video on your iPod/iPhone via 5iTunes.

For more interviews, visit the 6Traction Book site.

Paul English is the co-founder of Kayak, the travel search engine. He relates how Kayak got traction, including an early deal with AOL and how they launched with 15K searches/day. Paul also gives advice on recruiting and explains how it impacts getting traction in a fundamental way.

This interview is ~30min. If you just want the audio, use the mp3 version. You can also get the video on your iPod/iPhone via iTunes.

For more interviews, visit the Traction Book site.

Satish Dharmaraj is a partner at Redpoint Ventures and lead investor in posterous, former angel and was CEO of Zimbra, which sold to Yahoo ($350M). Satish gives the investor perspective on getting traction and explains how Zimbra got traction through an open source community, PR and product/market fit. Satish also comments on idea generation, posterous and onebox.com.

This interview is ~40min. If you just want the audio, use the mp3 version. You can also get the video on your iPod/iPhone via iTunes.

For more interviews, visit the Traction Book site.

Justin Kan is a founder of Justin.tv, the place to watch and record live video. Justin.tv started out as a reality show, and before that the founders had a YC-backed calendar startup (Kiko). Justin explains how they made two major pivots and translated initial press about the show into the current business. Justin also talks about scaling and idea generation.

This interview is ~40min. If you just want the audio, use the mp3 version. You can also get the video on your iPod/iPhone via iTunes.

For more interviews, visit the Traction Book site.

Garry Tan is a co-founder at posterous, "the dead simple place to post everything." Posterous was part of Y Combinator in the summer of 2008, and immediately got traction after being launched on Techcrunch.  Garry explains how product development, idea generation, YC, previous experience and execution contributed to their success. He also gives advice on press and customer support.

This interview is ~40min. If you just want the audio, use the mp3 version. You can also get the video on your iPod/iPhone via iTunes.

For more interviews, visit the Traction Book site.

Steve Welch is the author of We Are All Born Entrepreneurs, a partner at Dreamit Ventures, and the founder of Mitos, a biotech company that he sold to Parker Hannifin in 2007. Steve talks about the skills required for entrepreneurs to get traction. He also explains how his company got traction through cold calls, creativity at conferences and product development.

This interview is ~30min. If you just want the audio, use the mp3 version. You can also get the video on your iPod/iPhone via iTunes.

For more interviews, visit the Traction Book site.

Jimmy Wales is a co-founder of Wikipedia and Wikia. Wikia hosts hundreds of popular Wikipedia-like wikis on specific subjects, e.g. star wars. Jimmy explains how each project got traction over time. He also talks about press and vision.

This interview is ~30min. At Jimmy's request, we did not record video, so I put his picture up throughout the audio. If you just want the audio, use the mp3 version. You can also get the video on your iPod/iPhone via iTunes.

For more interviews, visit the Traction Book site.