Here’s a meme from the Cluetrain Manifesto guys. It was written some 9 years ago and still rings true. The predictions herein are still evolving today, and yet some corporations still haven’t got it.
Start ups out there; invest 5 minutes with the ideas below, embrace them and you’ll be well ahead of the game.
[slideshare id=7027&doc=cluetrain-28722&w=425]
“Being busy is a form of laziness – lazy thinking and indiscriminate action.”
Timothy Ferriss
Startup blog agrees, and adds – if we blame our employers for the above, there’s no locks on the door…. and we’re still being lazy.
I found out the other day that MTV used to play music videos… here I was thinking that the ‘M’ stood for ‘Miscellaneous’
But seriously, they have lost the plot a little. It’s rare to turn it on and find a song playing.
It’s one thing to diversify revenue streams it’s another to forget why you are there in the first place. And this is why alternatives like VH1, Music Max et al had room to move into the market in the first instance.
I get my music from youtube now – on demand. Simply because none of the music channels on cable (pay TV) cut it anymore.
Sure, evolve, but don’t forget why your business / brand / startup exists.
Big business and Governments the world over constantly search for the big idea, the way forward, the next world beating innovation. This viewpoint evolves from a mass culture of domination and power to the few. The military industrial complex where large investment, and owning infrastructure can create long term profitability, and ultimately control over constituents.
If there’s anything to be learned from the internet and media revolution, it’s that the silver bullet has disappeared. It’s not the answer. Fragmentation is inevitable.
The answer lies in the aggregation of ‘collective yet differentiated’ resources. Aggregation is how we can overcome and take advantage future fragmentation. This is how the business opportunities of tomorrow will evolve.
The energy / oil / enviro / climate crisis faces the same future…. and I’m betting that the answer isn’t a single substitue for the barrel of oil.
Start up blog mantra:
Delay expenditure
Bring forward investments
Know the difference between the two. If unsure, ask.
Create a file in your email folder. Title it ‘encouragement’
For the occasions when you get inspired, thanked or congratulated. Keep it. File it. Refer to it.
Delete the insults.
We were told that our business was a great idea. A super concept.
So we went for it.
Then we started work on the blue prints, and they looked great. Everyone said it was a sure thing.
So we built it.
Then once it was built everyone was in awe of how we took it from concept to reality. They told us we we’re sitting on a gold mine of potential, they starting asking us what life would be like when we made millions, if we’d still be their friends!
So we marketed it.
Then all new and potential customers loved it and told us how they’d buy it and tell everyone. sell it for us and keep coming back for more.
Then we realized there was a lot of brick walls between enthusiasm and reality. A lot of brick walls between a great idea, and that great idea becoming a great business.
There was a lot of brick walls. Walls which were hard to climb. Walls that almost ‘consumed us’ to the point of forgetting the easy, early days of enthusiasm.
These walls are put here to test us. They are asking us if we really want it. They are in fact our best friend. They make climbing over hard, and keep the pretenders out. Those who don’t really want it (maybe competitors?)
We ought thank the walls.