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70%!important;” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_css_main_element_last_edited=”on|phone” custom_css_main_element_tablet=”width: 100%!Important;” custom_css_main_element_phone=”width: 100%!important;”][et_pb_divider _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_divider][et_pb_video src=”https:\/\/youtu.be\/iKxe2gBaSgc” image_src=”https:\/\/cjwray.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/how-to-save-airtable-data-to-a-p-1024×576.jpg” thumbnail_overlay_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0.6)” _builder_version=”4.19.0″ custom_padding=”||||false|false” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_video][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.19.0″ text_font_size=”16px” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
In this video we’re going to look at creating pdf documents from Airtable data.<\/p>\n
This was an issue that was brought to me by one of my startups. They have lots of data within Airtable
\nand often need to send this to their clients in a pdf document. What was different about this particular
\ninstance was they wanted to send the data in the gallery view because the pictures were really important in terms
\nof getting the data across.<\/p>\n
I’m not going to say that this is hard to do but it’s not necessarily intuitive in terms of the best way to do this.[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_toggle title=”Transcript” _builder_version=”4.19.0″ locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”]How to save Airtable data to a PDF document using the gallery view<\/p>\n
In this video we’re going to look at creating pdf documents from Airtable data.<\/p>\n
This was an issue that was brought to me by one of my startups. They have lots of data within Airtable
\nand often need to send this to their clients in a pdf document. What was different about this particular
\ninstance was they wanted to send the data in the gallery view because the pictures were really important in terms
\nof getting the data across.<\/p>\n
I’m not going to say that this is hard to do but it’s not necessarily intuitive in terms of the best way to do this.<\/p>\n
Here we are in Airtable and you can see we have our Airtable data. For this particular exercise i’m using the real estate template because
\nit has the main image and then it has the gallery images, then a little bit of information about each one.<\/p>\n
If we were to build pdfs from this, generally the place that most people go is the apps side of things. Then you would add an app
\nhere and there are lots in terms of building pdfs and so on and so forth. Some of these are kind of complicated. We’ve got page
\ndesigners and the low-tech pdf and so on and so forth. <\/p>\n
We could go into the details but actually i found one of the simplest solutions was just to use the functionality within
\nAirtable itself but it’s not necessarily easy to find, and here next to the ‘view’ is this tiny little grey arrow and when
\nyou click on it you kind of get the usual information in terms of editing and renaming, but down here there is this thing called
\nthe ‘print view’ and this is what i ended up using in terms of building the pdf document.<\/p>\n
The idea is that you would use this in order to print to a printer, but it actually you could just output it to a pdf instead.
\nHere we are once the pdf has generated the preview. We can see here that we’ve got four items on the page. We have some borders in here as well. <\/p>\n
You can decide the format you want to print, i’m going to print all of the pages’. Normally it’s set as the printer but you just need to click this box and save it as the pdf.
\nIn here there are some more settings, you can change the number of items on each page, you can do so many pages per sheet. Here we can
\nsee we’ve got eight on a page, personally I ended up preferring the the one page per sheet and then ended up putting it in landscape mode.<\/p>\n
The margins aren’t always set, so if you’ve got no margin you get this, but you notice on the right hand side and the bottom they’re a bit odd so you do end up fiddling around with the margins. I ended up moving this to custom, and so you could reset the size of the margins here just by dragging the margin over. That will reload a preview so you can play around with this and you can also scale it. So as it builds the preview so you can say I’m going to put this at 80 percent, and you can see that your margins will change as a consequence. <\/p>\n
You can also play around with this scaling. I found that 110 kind of worked for me. You can also have the option for these headers and footers. I wasn’t entirely sure what we should use them for because it just puts the date, the
\ntitle of your Airtable and this url which I didn’t find particularly useful. <\/p>\n
So you just save that and it will save as a pdf document.<\/p>\n
So that was a quick way to output your Airtable data into a nicely formatted pdf when using the gallery view.[\/et_pb_toggle][et_pb_text disabled_on=”on|on|on” _builder_version=”4.19.0″ text_font_size=”16px” disabled=”on” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”]Project Management<\/p>\n
When I was told that there just isn\u2019t any Project management training in Phnom Penh, I wasn\u2019t entirely sure it was true. Surely most organisations run projects, so they would need project managers to run them. As I discovered in some of my networking meetings this isn\u2019t always the case. When I took a look at some of the recruitment sites in Phnom Penh, there were very few ads for businesses looking for project skills. I\u2019ve come to the conclusion that I\u2019m one of the few project management trainers in Cambodia. (Unless someone tells me otherwise). This must mean that there is no need, or no understanding of the value of good project management or the training in it.<\/p>\n
The most common consequences of poor project management are overruns in terms of cost, time and the lack of quality in the final results. This crosses sectors in terms of construction, administration and of course software development where Digital Rain has its\u2019 core skills. A failure to plan is a plan to fail as the saying goes. This quote being as true today with modern technology, as it was generations ago. Collaboration and communication tools have all helped improve some issues, but where people and technology overlap, there\u2019s always room for improvement. Investing the effort in planning and communication up front, always has a benefit down the line.<\/p>\n
I teach the Prince2 project management methodology. I can also teach how to integrate the Prince2 framework with Agile software development to get the best of both worlds.
\nThe courses take a generic view of best practice as well as being able to tailor the lessons to fit particular customers and create a custom course for your team.<\/p>\n
Courses can be structured as a short overview, to a six session course with practical exercises.[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text disabled_on=”on|on|on” _builder_version=”4.19.0″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Montserrat||||||||” text_text_color=”#666666″ text_font_size=”18px” disabled=”on” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
\u201cThis code is a bit crap\u201d, I said, as an off the cuff comment to a developer. The developer just got up and walked out of the meeting. It was the first and last time I did that.<\/p>\n
Here’s a few other things I learnt about having too much of a tech bias in startups.<\/p>\n
Generally, techies don\u2019t really see things from a customer\/user perspective. When it comes down to their business idea and tech stack, techies are often focussed on the code and the functionality, and not what their solution can do FOR the customer.<\/p>\n
Techies rarely talk to customers and this abstracts them from the end user. I know there are stereotypes regarding developers but, in general, customer interaction is left to marketing and sales. Sometimes telling a techie that customers don\u2019t like what they\u2019ve produced is tantamount to telling a mother their child is ugly. I made this mistake myself once, \u201cthis code is a bit crap\u201d I said as an off the cuff comment. The developer just got up and walked out of the meeting. That was the first and last time I did that.<\/p>\n
I spent some time with a tech led startup recently. Their roadmap was just awesome, finely tuned, detailed, and they were getting through the development of the roadmap with lightning pace.
When I asked how many customers they had\u2026a pause\u2026lots of fidgeting\u2026.. \u201cOne\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
Admittedly I beat them up in that meeting, but what\u2019s the point of developing all of this stuff if no one\u2019s using it ? Sadly, this is a familiar story. I\u2019ve spent the last 4 weeks going through conversion funnels in detail with another startup, they think we\u2019re looking at functionality, I\u2019m constantly asking about the customer and if the customer\u2019s actually going to convert.<\/p>\n
Reid Hoffman\u2019s famous quote: \u201cIf you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late.\u201d says it all.<\/p>\n
The first iPhone was missing a whole bunch of features when it launched. More recently, Notion users were so in need of functionality that only arrived in the last few months. (You know, having more than one column!)
I\u2019ve seen so many startups delay launch, to do just a bit more testing, add just a bit more functionality, just another sprint and then it\u2019s done. My advice\u2026 Launch it, before your competitors do.<\/p>\n
Know exactly who your customer is. Talk to your customers as often as possible, ask them what they need most, how many of them need it. Release the stuff that the majority need first. Adding obscure fixes in a sprint just delays everything for everyone. It’s the 80\/20 rule. A happy 80% when you deliver the top 20% of features or bug fixes.<\/p>\n
The thought of it. Getting out from behind those screens and actually speaking to real people\u2026shudder ! I know, I know, I\u2019m stereotyping, of course there are exceptions. There\u2019s no smoke without fire though.
Do some Webinars, closed user groups, and special events that bring the techies and the marketing and sales people together. You\u2019ll learn so much, you won\u2019t regret it. Trust me, when the 20th person shows you that bug, you really want to stop squirming and get back to the office to fix it.<\/p>\n
Some of you will cringe at this and tell me I\u2019m wrong, but others will agree. I\u2019ve seen it happen. Startups solve problems that don\u2019t exist. Pain points that aren\u2019t painful or scratching an itch that only you have.<\/p>\n
Am I wrong ?<\/p>\n
Why Tech Startups Struggle<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/cjwray.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Chris-Manuela.jpg” title_text=”Chris & Manuela” align=”center” disabled_on=”on|on|on” _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” disabled=”on” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text disabled_on=”on|on|on” _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Montserrat||||||||” text_text_color=”#666666″ text_font_size=”18px” disabled=”on” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
So the stall is set up and it looks fab, Manuella describes the 2 million breakdowns that happened along the way, but here she is having leaned on family and friends to help, worked a few 3am nights and generally pulled out all the stops. The first day goes well, the first customer is Siegfried Kr\u00f6pfl<\/a> one of Austria\u2019s most famous chefs. He buys a box and promises to be back\u2026..result !! It\u2019s only Friday, the weekend will be much busier.<\/p>\n Down to earth with a bang. Saturday morning does not go well. Add another breakdown. Someone stole 400 chocolates overnight.<\/p>\n Unperturbed, family are despatched back to the kitchen, and production starts again to make up for the losses. In parallel weekend visitors arrive and sales skyrocket, double yesterday’s numbers.<\/p>\n I\u2019m sat in our cottage in Czech building the final pieces of the ecommerce store, I\u2019ve gone well beyond mentor and I\u2019ve become the tech team. Payment gateway, delivery integration and now onto \u2018build a box\u2019 where you can choose your own flavours for the box. In between calls and messages – \u201ccan you check this, what do you think to that ?\u201d – I\u2019m normally a WordPress\/Woocommerce store person, I\u2019m suddenly learning Shopify.<\/p>\n The final day arrives. The store is fully stocked, but not for long. Sales do as well as yesterday and there\u2019s really not much left. Our estimates were pretty damn good. But there\u2019s more\u2026. OK, so now as the adrenaline starts to die down, let\u2019s pump it up again with the website and store launch. So at 8pm European time on Sunday we go live. This is of course the happy ending, but it’s not a fairy-tale. It’s the startup world, the highs are high but the lows can be really low. Lower when you\u2019re on your own. Not everyone has Manuela\u2019s tenacity. The more tough stuff that happened, the more determined she became to make the business a success. They call it \u2018The Hunger\u201d and not everyone has it.<\/p>\n Yesterday I delivered this story to the new Cohort of startups at Startup Factory.<\/a> We were studying the startup lifecycle, the \u201cTrough of Sorrow\u201d that startups go through when it’s really hard. So many don\u2019t get through this part, it’s easier to give up sometimes. But\u2026 if you can just keep going\u2026 there is opportunity on the other side.<\/p>\n You can find out more about Dulceria Chocolates here: https:\/\/dulceria-chocolates.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n
Manuella and I find ten minutes for a quick call. Manuela uses her charm and two reps from one of Europe’s largest supermarkets learn how hand-made chocolates are created, production questions follow and eventually they conclude they\u2019re looking for new products and these vegan chocolates fit the profile perfectly. It doesn\u2019t come much better than this.<\/p>\nONLINE LAUNCH<\/h2>\n
Immediately there were orders, we knew some customers were queued up. 5\u20266\u20267\u20268\u20269 orders. Then we spot an error on the product pages. I frantically go through the back-end and hide the offending items (thank you Google, Shopify so needs a \u201cdo not display\u201d button on its products) and the orders continue to come in. Success number two !!<\/p>\nCONCLUSION<\/h2>\n