Entrepreneurs, always credit your friends helping you
We have been using Amiando for our conference LeWeb since last year and a few months ago, I gave an idea to the founder, Felix. I thought it would be great to have some viral happening around the tickets. If you like the conference, tell your friends, get them to buy tickets and get a rebate if you do or even your own ticket free. Felix immediately implemented the idea in Amiando and told me all the Amiando customers and partners loved the idea and were starting using it.
Today I was browsing through the TechCrunch archive to see if I had missed anything important and I find out that the idea I gave to Felix is announced as something super cool and a great innovation of Amiando. I am happy for Felix but at the same time I am a little upset. I don't know why. Actually yes here is why. I know I gave this idea to Felix and it's great they implemented it. I have no interest and no shares in Amiando and that is fine, I help them because I like what they do as a friend and happy when they do it. Happy as well because I may use it myself for LeWeb.
What frustrates me is that Felix could have given me attribution. Like Creative Commons, just quote me when you get your story writen by Erick Schonfeld of TechCrunch. It won't cost you anything and will make me happy. Why? Because it's all about making your friends happy. It will push me helping you more instead of being happy for you but a little frustrated at the same time.
I really think this was a great idea Felix, and it looks already like I was right. You should always credit your friends for helping you. I am not really saying this for me to get publicity here but more as an advise to entrepreneurs, a good occasion to share one of the golden rules. It does not cost you any money or any shares. It is free. Just credit people helping you.
Felix if you read this don't get me wrong I value all the efforts of yourself and Amiando to support us and really like you as an entrepreneur, I just had to share that thought.
It reminds me of Julio Alonso who got the idea for Xataka from my blog and even the name from a wiki I launched I think in 2004! Now it is the largest blog network in Spain, thriving, and has more cumulative audience than El Mundo I think. I remember Julio had credited me for this and I felt happy. He has a great business now and I feel happy for him (of course he could also have let me invest but that is another story!).
I will continue sharing regardless of being credited or not, I like helping entrepreneurs, but I think it is just a good thing to do.
update, I already feel sorry for this post in my comment below: Steven Lewis and dsheise, you are right, I actually wake up this morning regretting this post, Felix is a great guy and Amiando a great company, I just removed my filter and felt like expressing myself because I really think it is good advice I apply to myself all the time (credit people helping you to the maximum). For sure, I could have written the same post without charging Felix. Anyway, it's done. My turn to apologize to Felix and Amiando!
