
Office Hours - bjonathan
http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2011/04/office-hours.html
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jasonfried
I've been doing office hours via phone since Oct 2009
([http://37signals.com/svn/posts/1973-announcing-ceo-office-
ho...](http://37signals.com/svn/posts/1973-announcing-ceo-office-hours)).

It's been great. Lately I've been available less so I haven't been as
consistent as I'd like to be, but it's definitely been worth it.

<http://37signals.com/officehours>

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tansey
Seems like there is a qualitative difference here, though. Your office hours
are effectively 37signals customer support from the CEO. Fred's are more of an
altruistic way to give back to the startup community. Both are great, just
noting the distinction.

I'd be very interested if you tried Fred's style of office hours.

~~~
jasonfried
The majority of the calls I get are from entrepreneurs asking for business
advice or my thoughts on their concept/ideas. I barely get any calls re:
37signals products.

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rstocker99
You know what I'd pay for? Enterprise sales office hours and online customer
acquisition office hours. That would rock. Basically 15 minutes of an experts
time over Skype. They'd have to really be an _expert_ but I'd happily pay.

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meterplech
A few companies do that actually. Their analysts/consultants will work with
you for an hour or so and then try to set up a longer term deal to help you.
It makes sense: the economics of even an hour long meeting aren't great
factoring in customer acquisition costs. I think Gartner and maybe some others
do this though.

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Lost_BiomedE
This is such a great idea. It can be used in so many places where it currently
is not available, due to culture or other reasons. It can also be a meet the
____ that is scheduled for whoever and whenever.

I imagine that a lot of opportunities, connections, and collaboration is lost
due to no sense of being welcome or fear of wasting time. It reminds me a bit
of the comments that Nobel prize winners often kept their office door open to
welcome all.

While the idea does not appear to be new, it is definitely underused.

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meterplech
I just had office hours with Albert Wenger. The process is really great. I
tried to get into office hours last round (I think they do them twice a year?)
and made the waitlist. I was then contacted this time to see if I was still
interested.

I actually didn't have a pitch or anything. I'm just about to move to New York
and wanted advice on getting involved in the startup scene. He was very
interesting to talk to and had great advice. Highly recommend doing these
office hours.

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joshu
Albert is awesome. He was my COO at Delicious and is now on my board for Tasty
Labs.

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joeyespo
When I applied to AlphaLab, a Pittsburgh-based startup accelerator, they
offered the same thing. I felt it was extremely helpful.

It's an incredible opportunity to meet the people you may be working with
right at the start. It's also very helpful since you, the guest, can get a
better feel for how they operate and even get some quick, low-risk feedback on
a pitch or about your story.

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arethuza
Did I read that correctly? _Anyone_ can try and get a meeting and there is no
screening?

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pclark
What is the worst that can happen in 15 minutes?

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hugh3
Do you want a literal answer to that question?

Of course if we're talking "getting stabbed" then it's probably more likely to
happen on your way home rather than in your office, so I don't think it's
worth worrying too much about.

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pclark
That was my point, and why I questioned arethuza on his emphasis on anyone, I
was curious what he meant.

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arethuza
I guess I'm just more used to VCs in the UK - which are usually a bit more
standoffish (perhaps with a couple of exceptions).

