Need wifi, printing, coffee, hot cocoa, etc. while waiting in Charlottesville for Obama? OpenSpace FREE for MEDIA today! 455 2nd St. SE

While doing the morning rounds on FastCompany, I came across an article with Mark Pincus of gaming company Zynga.  His company has grown to hundreds of millions of users per month. His drive, focus, respect for employees and a desire to build community have all contributed to the great success of his company and their product. With any entrepreneurial endeavor, there are a lot of dreams backed by even more enthusiasm. Check out how Mark responded when asked how he prioritizes.

How important is prioritization?

One of the most important things a manager can do on weekly basis is ruthlessly focus on prioritization. There’s never any lack of good ideas. Every team has 10 great ideas they’re really excited about. The problem is picking which of the 2 or 3 to focus on.

The lesson we get over and over again is a small number of features really connect with the users and get explosive results. You actually have diminishing returns with more features. When you’re picking the right features to go deep on, the user starts to have this trust and expectation that the next thing you bring out is going to be great.

No matter how big or how small your company is, you are always resource constrained. If you talk to Microsoft, or Google, or Yahoo–the biggest companies with the most engineers–every product manager will say they’re resource constrained. If they just could have twice the people, they could get everything done. No matter where you are, you have to be ruthless about how you’re using people.

Read the rest of the article here.

A HUGE thanks to Fritz and Mountfair for a fun evening of wine tasting. I mean, wine tastings are always fantastic, but when Fritz and wines with names like Wooloomooloo are involved, well it’s just perfection.  Definitely take the time to head out to Mountfair and try their wine. You won’t be disappointed.

Nest Realty

Jim Duncan

A long-time resident of Charlottesville, Jim Duncan knows the area and the respective real estate. With a passion for realty, he became a founding partner of Nest and continues as an associate broker.  Jim is focused on the residential aspect of realty in the city and county.  He also is responsible for the well-respected blog RealCentralVA which was one of the first blogs focused on real estate.

Why OpenSpace?

Jim is impressed with the level of passion that Jeff and the OpenSpace team have for the company and clients. The design elements and vibrancy of energy provide an experience that is unique. Energy is key in a working environment and there is a buzz around OpenSpace that is apparent in time spent here.  Also, networking is an important aspect of the OpenSpace community and an important part of the real estate industry; meeting and interacting with new people inherently expands the social sphere.

What about Nest?

Jim’s primary dream for Nest is that it will grow well. There’s no target or production goal, he simply hopes that it grows in a way that benefits clients: an organic growth. Jim also hopes new realtors recognize Nest as a standout company and the opportunities associated with it.

Connect with Jim:

Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
jim@realcentralva.com

(photo by Billy Hunt)

On Thursday, October 21st, please bring a guest and join us for a wine tasting with Mountfair Vineyards. The event will be held at OpenSpace from 5pm-7pm. The evening promises to be filled with conversation, a little oenological education, and relaxation with the OpenSpace tribe.

To learn more about the vineyard, owned and operated by one of our very own members, please visit: www.mountfair.com

Hope to see you there!