The absolute barebones you need to test an idea.
Even better if you can get someone else to pay for it. Although when it is the bare minimum chances are you can fund it yourself.
Also it’s a million times easier to sell the vision when you’ve got the minimum viable product. Much much easier.
Is that it happens anyway. Whether or not you want it to.
The benchmarks & comparisons happen subtlety, subconsciously.
Even when you don’t think it’s happening it does.
That’s part of the problem with the brain drain, the top people who are normally benchmarked against, leave the country. So the benchmark changes, it lowers. So suddenly what people are comparing against is a lower performer. As a result the whole status quo drops.
Jack Daly gave me a practical example when I talked with him, offering incentives (like iTunes gift cards) to those who won, the real reward was lifting the average performance of everyone.
Startups create the new ideas, systems & validate the market need. They pave the way.
Then at one point they become a big company, that value is mass market, so they begin trading it off. Systemising it, maximum customers. They bring the scale & the behaviour that scale requires.
They are completely different, work with it.
I’ve just kicked off another project in the last few days.
It’s not built around fast, it’s built around a little bit of change each day. 10/15 minutes.
It takes a little longer to get started, but once you’re going, it starts to snowball. Real fast.
It also forces you to focus on what’s important, best way to achieve that & breaking down big goals into small digestible parts.
If someone has done it before, find out what they did, take it on board and start iterating. It’s the exact model we did at College, find some good ideas, reference them, link to our own. How come we don’t do this in business?
Hire smarter (than you) people, learn from them, decode others ideas, break them down, rebuild them.
The key source of dissatisfaction or frustration? It’s when we swap from creating to managing.
We’re not creating physical things, new products, ideas, development. We’re maintaining, reporting…… not making actual change.
Constantly creating, curating & connecting ideas is what you want to do, create your systems so they generate. Talking to Michael Gerber of E-Myth fame earlier this year, he says the absolute best companies are those that make their customers creators, they help them create.
His business helps you create the business you want, McDonalds helps you create your meal, Apples whole product suite is based around creating & expressing.
I triple double guarantee that anytime you start to get sick of something, it’s because you’ve stopped creating.
Kaizen, an ongoing commitment to continuous improvement.
[From Wikipedia] The cycle of kaizen activity can be defined as:
This is the standard business model.
It’s worth acknowledging that everything has a need for continuous improvement, constant maintenance, growth, nurturing.
The idea that you can set & forget doesn’t make any sense, especially in a technology driven world. Embrace it.
Just because a decision was made once that you were/weren’t going to do it that way, it doesn’t mean that you should stick to it.
I’ve seen a few bootstrapped startups over the years do bootstrapping very very well BUT have in the last 12 months missed out on their tipping points. As others have recognised the opportunity, taken investment and grasped the market.
Their fundamental decision to bootstrap initially which was their biggest strength became their biggest weakness. Don’t be afraid to admit that what was right a year ago, doesn’t mean anything today. It’s this inability which can kill a very quickly.
It is difficult, as you are changing from what you know and have advocated but recognising & switching might mean you need to swallow your pride this month, will mean you will definitely win in the long term.
..
NB: You are always wrong.
It’s the new personal media.
Instead of checking into your local media site 10 times a day
You’re checking into your personal media wall.
Most often it’s presenting the same information, but you’re checking for what’s new, what’s changed, what’s happening.
An interesting swap in media consumption that we’re seeing.
If your idea doesn’t get traction online, it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t exist, moving along.
You can pour your heart into an idea for 2-3 years then release it online & it can be culled within hours…literally. Or it’s deemed a good idea & someone with more resources will just build the same idea.
It is ruthless. But it’s good. It forces you to execute better ideas all the time, an eco-system that breeds & rewards the best ideas.
Sometimes you need to quit an idea to open up room for the next one.
Prepare for them, plan them out, be ready.
Be ready to win a massive client. Have your bag packed for that last minute flight. Build the capability to grab that opportunity.
Alan Webber shares in his book, 52 rules of thumb, the difference between a crisis & an opportunity is when you learn about it.
If you are prepared for it, it’s not a crisis, it’s an opportunity.
Hint: Companies get acquired when they’ve prepared for it.
This buzz phrase has stuck with me for about 10 days, since Dan (who works for us) mentioned it, his goal is to mention it as many times as possible.
It just keeps ringing around & coming back to the forefront of my mind. It’s annoying. Like a pop song.
But you see, it’s the power of an idea, it has resonance.
It keeps bouncing around, resonating with your customers.
The question is does your idea have resonance?
Finally companies have a way to run a locals discount with the daily deal sites.
It lets us as locals be incentivised to use these deals.
It gets us out & exploring our local town.
On a mass scale that’s got to be good for culture. Amazing in fact. It’s the first step in changing consumer behaviour.