Category Archives: Philosophy

What do you do when a giant encroaches on your territory?

This week, Box held its annual conference, BoxWorks 13.  The online storage leader made two big announcements about products it intends to launch in 2014. Box Notes are editable web pages, which users can write, edit, comment on, and embed content within.  Sound familiar? Box also announced that it will be adding metadata to files,Continue reading “What do you do when a giant encroaches on your territory?”

“Talk To The Software”

Sometimes, the best salesperson is an error message. One question that often arises for SaaS companies that sell to the enterprise is whether they should funnel customers through salespeople, or offer a self-service product. Usually, the partisans of the two sides are like opposing factions in a holy war.  The Church of Sales insists thatContinue reading ““Talk To The Software””

Why We’re Letting Accelerators Give PBworks Away

This morning, we announced our “PBworks for Startups” program.  We’re working together with five different startup accelerators, TechStars, 500 Startups, Acceleprise, DreamIt, and Lemnos Labs, to offer PBworks Starter Pack licenses (normally $1,995 per year) free to any of their portfolio companies. While giving away premium licenses may seem like it contradicts the principles ofContinue reading “Why We’re Letting Accelerators Give PBworks Away”

Official Announcement – We're changing our name!

When PBwiki launched in 2005, our founder David was excited to build a fast and easy way to create a wiki. He even named the company PBwiki – because starting your own wiki was ‘as easy as making a Peanut Butter sandwich’. In fact, it’s still easy to use our product, and you can definitelyContinue reading “Official Announcement – We're changing our name!”

The Spirit of Flowerdale

You’ve probably heard me focus relentlessly on my core message that PBwiki helps teams become more productive and profitable.  But while my job (VP Enterprise Marketing) requires me to focus on helping paying customer, it is quite wonderful to hear stories about PBwiki making a difference in a non-monetary way. When devastating wildfires struck AustraliaContinue reading “The Spirit of Flowerdale”

A business perspective on the evolution of PBwiki

Gil Yehuda, the Enterprise 2.0 industry analyst (formerly of Forrester Research), has a great post up about his perspective on how PBwiki has evolved over time. Here within PBHQ, it’s easy for us to forget what the changes to PBwiki look like to the outside world.  New features like the Mobile Edition seem like oldContinue reading “A business perspective on the evolution of PBwiki”

Do you need to hate your enemies?

(Image courtesy of aaardvaark) Do you need to hate your enemies? Business is all about competition. If someone buys your solution, they’re not going to buy from your competitor, and vice versa. So do you need to hate your enemies? Recently, Kristine, PBwiki’s customer evangelist, struck up a Twitter conversation with the product manager atContinue reading “Do you need to hate your enemies?”

Terms of Service: We Got Your Back

When I was putting together PBwiki’s Terms of Service a few years ago, I spent extra time with our lawyers to make sure that it was as pro-user as possible. The first few versions I got back weren’t good enough and I pressed them to make it shorter, simpler, and to put more rights inContinue reading “Terms of Service: We Got Your Back”

The Elephant and the Ant: Why Companies Need Processes As They Grow

Seth Godin had a recent post about how organizations tend to go from crisp to soggy over time. While I agree with his points, I think that there’s a better analogy to explain why companies need processes as they grow.  I call it the principle of the elephant and the ant. Hollywood horror movies nonwithstanding,Continue reading “The Elephant and the Ant: Why Companies Need Processes As They Grow”