Open Table is an online reservations service. It's free to use and the restaurant pays a dollar per diner. The company has raised more than 20 million dollars to date. (original Times story).

During the company's first three years, they booked a million diners (in total). Now, they book two million every single month. Five years ago, they had 1,000 restaurants to choose from, now they have 7,000.

That's what it looks like when you get through the Dip. They're a superstar, the only choice.

How did they know it was a Dip and not a dead end? Because they were selling to an entire market, not just one restaurant (Chez Panisse still isn't a customer). By measuring incremental progress, they could see that the corner was just ahead.

(And a Dip within a Dip--one happy client is Norma's, a hyped breakfast restaurant in NY. Norma's does huge business via Open Table, largely because they come up on top of the breakfast 'bestseller' list. Like most things that get through the Dip, they're popular because they're popular.)

Corven sends us to this Amazing Video.

 

Like every other person in the audience of this video, I found his performance stirring and even moving. But I was unsettled by a few things. First, that Cord, the blogger who posted the video, felt like the singer had no confidence. I completely disagree. Bad teeth doesn't mean no confidence. His posture on stage makes it clear that he has completely mastered his craft.

But the real takeaway for me is how small-minded, snarky and downright mean the three judges are. Even (or especially) when they are surprised by his performance, they act as if they somehow deserve to sit in judgment of him.

They don't. Critics rarely do.

The market is a harsh critic. It's not always fair and it can be demoralizing. Fortunately for us, Paul ignored all of them until he had pushed through the Dip.

Not sure why that matters, but it does.

Most great books never make the Times. Plenty of lousy books do. Still, the Dip made the business bestseller list in today's paper, and will be #5 on the very tough-to-crack Hardcover advice list next week.

True story: When the Times switched from 10 books on the Hardcover list, they created a list of 15 Hardcovers and a list of 5 Advice, How To and Miscellaneous titles. I wrote in and asked the editor why they only had 5 titles on this list and 15 on the others. She wrote back and said,

"Because we don't want people to read those books."

About the dip and the haystack and getting found. Ina did it.

A short interview about the Dip and brands: Q&A: Seth Godin Says 'Know When To Bail'.