business

Interview with Principled Innovation

leelefever — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 14:13:12 -0400

Yesterday I had a great talk/interview with Jeff DeCagna of Principled Innovation for his P.I. Podcast. We talked about the Common Craft story, but also about "Being Lightweight", based on the recent series of posts. Big thanks to Jeff for the invitation.

Have a listen on Jeff's site.

Building a New Foundation for Common Craft

leelefever — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 20:10:23 -0400

For the last few months, we've been "foundation building." For us, this means taking the time to focus on the business behind Common Craft and how we communicate our business to you. Our goal is clarity - if we are clear about the exact business that we run, then we're more able to illustrate our value to potential customers. It's hard work and something we're excited to see come to fruition. Now that it's in place, we can really focus on videos.

The elements of the foundation:

Licenses - We've had a great experience reviewing our licenses. For the first time, a legal team worked with us over a matter of weeks and learned our business from top to bottom. They asked questions, they challenged us, they made suggestions. We came out of it with a new license agreement that:

1. Matches exactly with the business we want to run
2. Matches our plain English style (it fits on one page!)
3. Gives us confidence that our licenses are solid.

These are our snazzy license icons that appear at the end of each video:

Education - Coming out of the review process gave us new insight into the big ideas we must be able to communicate about our licenses. We updated our FAQ, created a Licensing Guide and a new video that describes how to share Common Craft videos responsibly. It's now on the front page and on the Store page - and below:

Click to play

Equipment - We've reinvented our studio to make video production more comfortable and efficient. You won't see big changes in the videos, but you might notice smiles on our faces thanks to having a studio set up that makes production a joy. The big change? We moved the whiteboard off the floor and onto a table, mounted the camera from the ceiling, added a connection to a TV and clamped on smaller lights with less heat. This is hopefully our foundation for years of videos to come.

New Commercial License - As a result of our review, we're now offering a new Commercial License. This license is for companies that would like to display Common Craft videos on their public-facing web site. We ask these customers to fill out a form to apply for a Commercial License.

New School Program - We want students to benefit from our videos. We're now offering a special deal for schools of all types. Entire school districts (K-12), independent, and post-secondary schools only need to purchase a single Site License to use licensed versions of our videos. Further, the Site License is offered to schools at a 50% discount. Apply for the discount here.

New Format: Kindle Books - We've started to adapt our videos into Kindle books that are availabe for purchase from Amazon's Kindle Store. More on this later.

So, we've been busy behind the scenes, but now we can focus once again on videos for you. We've been receiving some great suggestions for future videos. If you have one to add or have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us.

Wow, Thanks So Much for the Feedback

leelefever — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 17:55:47 -0400

We are blown away with the response to the recent post "What Videos Should We Make?" Not just the quantity (over 50 comments and lots of email), but the quality. It's exciting to see suggestions that have opened up new ideas and ones that fit with a couple of the themes that have been top-of-mind.

As I've told Sachi recently, it feels a little like we're at the edge of a pool, preparing to jump in. We're confident that we're on the right track, but the content of our future videos will diverge from the social media focus that people have come to expect from Common Craft. That's why your suggestions have been so encouraging - they help us see that there is a need for the kinds of "back to basics" videos we'd like to make.

At the end of the day, change is not only good, but necessary and the shock of a cold pool quickly becomes refreshing. I think we'll dive-in head first.

Wow, Thanks So Much for the Feedback

leelefever — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 17:55:47 -0400

At the end of the day, change is not only good, but necessary and the shock of a cold pool quickly becomes refreshing. I think we'll dive-in head first.

Wow, Thanks So Much for the Feedback

leelefever — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 17:55:47 -0400

At the end of the day, change is not only good, but necessary and the shock of a cold pool quickly becomes refreshing. I think we'll dive-in head first.

Wow, Thanks So Much for the Feedback

leelefever — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 17:55:47 -0400

At the end of the day, change is not only good, but necessary and the shock of a cold pool quickly becomes refreshing. I think we'll dive-in head first.

What Videos Should We Make?

leelefever — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 14:16:42 -0400

Our big transition is almost complete and we need your help. The new Store is up, we're finishing up the last custom projects and now is the time to plan what videos we'll offer in the Store over the next year. We have lots of ideas, but we really want to know what you think.

We want to make videos that:

Help professionals and educators increase awareness and create change at work
Have a positive impact on the Web

A good example of this is our video "Wikis in Plain English", which is part of our our Social Media series. We've heard from schools, corporate training programs, individual professionals and bloggers that this video has helped them influence others. Ultimately, our goal is to make videos that have similar appeal.

Like our current videos in the Store, our future videos will be offered with these license types:

Individual (personal professional use)
Site (organizational use)
Free (non-commercial, online use)

So, what video subjects or themes would have a positive influence in your company or school?

Another way to think about it... "My company or school would be better-off if people had a quick and easy way to learn about ______."

If you prefer privacy, please contact us directly. Thanks in advance!

What Videos Should We Make?

leelefever — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 14:16:42 -0400

We want to make videos that:

Help professionals and educators increase awareness and create change at work
Have a positive impact on the Web

Like our current videos in the Store, our future videos will be offered with these license types:

Individual (personal professional use)
Site (organizational use)
Free (non-commercial, online use)

So, what video subjects or themes would have a positive influence in your company or school?

Another way to think about it... "My company or school would be better-off if people had a quick and easy way to learn about ______."

If you prefer privacy, please contact us directly. Thanks in advance!

What Videos Should We Make?

leelefever — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 14:16:42 -0400

We want to make videos that:

Help professionals and educators increase awareness and create change at work
Have a positive impact on the Web

Like our current videos in the Store, our future videos will be offered with these license types:

Individual (personal professional use)
Site (organizational use)
Free (non-commercial, online use)

So, what video subjects or themes would have a positive influence in your company or school?

Another way to think about it... "My company or school would be better-off if people had a quick and easy way to learn about ______."

If you prefer privacy, please contact us directly. Thanks in advance!

What Videos Should We Make?

leelefever — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 14:16:42 -0400

We want to make videos that:

Help professionals and educators increase awareness and create change at work
Have a positive impact on the Web

Like our current videos in the Store, our future videos will be offered with these license types:

Individual (personal professional use)
Site (organizational use)
Free (non-commercial, online use)

So, what video subjects or themes would have a positive influence in your company or school?

Another way to think about it... "My company or school would be better-off if people had a quick and easy way to learn about ______."

If you prefer privacy, please contact us directly. Thanks in advance!