design Archives - Page 3 of 7

Why everything matters

Posted on April 24, 2008 by Steve Sammartino

Here’s a list of things which actually do matter:

Our diction and vernacular

Our personal presentation & dress code (Doesn’t mean a suit, but to wear what we wear well, have a sense of style)

The way we engage people and treat them

Our smile and attitude

How neat and organized our workspace is

Being on time

Our posture

Knowing our next steps every day

Making sure our technology is in working order

All these things and others, matter all the time. Not just the day you have to do it right, have the big VC presentation or the day you’re meeting your biggest customer.

And here’s why – they’ll become habit. Good habits. And when things are habit, they’re performed much the same way – time and time again.

If we do them well when it doesn’t matter, we’ll do them well when it does.

Great Quote

Posted on April 22, 2008 by Steve Sammartino

“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.

Game Changing

Posted on April 14, 2008 by Steve Sammartino

Often a certain product market or category has a definite paradigm. Take eco friendly or hybrid electric vehicles. They always look like quirky space mobiles.

(Toyota Pruis)

Elon Musk, one of the entrepreneurs of our time – has decided to be game changing instead. His new all electric Tesla Roadtster is anything but quirky and weird.

(Tesla Roadster)

Surely this design will get the blood pumping in any car enthusiast.

If you want your start up to be a game changer – ignore existing category expectations.

Pop quiz

Posted on April 10, 2008 by Steve Sammartino

Two people went to work on their startup business.

Joseph got up early started at 8am and worked until midnight, he finished all the tasks on his to do list.

Mary slept in, was tired, got up mid morning flicked through the newspaper, had a few good solid hours in the afternoon and goofed off after 5.30pm. She did not complete all the tasks on her to do list.

Question: Which entrepreneur achieved the most in said day?

A) Joseph

B) Mary

C) Cannot tell.

Answer: C

As entrepreneurs the most crucial mistake we can make is confusing activity with progress. The entrepreneur who achieved most is the one who made the most progress towards their end goal.

We should not confuse time spent with value created.

Reliability

Posted on April 4, 2008 by Steve Sammartino

4.17pm – Get email from friend advising of a small bug on rentoid.com

4.17pm – I email my main guy from my tech team to ask him to check it out

4.21pm – I receive email from my tech guy saying – bug fixed please check it!

4.23pm – I email my friend advising that it’s all fixed saying – ‘my guy is quick.’

4.25pm – Friend emails me back saying “..Wow… that’s amazing.” Blog worthy!!

As above.

Never underestimate the power strong relationships within supply chains. Strong relationships build efficient supply chains – not the other way around.

Pictures

Posted on March 17, 2008 by Steve Sammartino

I try and use pictures on every blog entry.

I use pictures every time I do a business presentation.

You might see something my words didn’t tell you.

My words might tell you something my picture didn’t show you.

(Where’s wally?)

Ego

Posted on March 13, 2008 by Steve Sammartino

I recently bought the book below. I have read this book before, and yet I felt the need to purchase it and add it to my library.

Yes, I will read it again, but that’s not why I purchased it. In fact it was a $50 impulse purchase.

On close inspection of the photo above you’ll notice this hardcover version of the book has beautiful embossing and a soft silken fabric cover. It’s tactile and premium. This book was an ‘ego’ purchase.

We normally associate ego purchases with items which are on display: Fast cars, haute couture clothing, funky sunglasses, golf clubs, Euro design kitchens and bathrooms, flying first class et al. Places where our consumption choices are on display. However, The Prince by Machiavelli will not be on display – only in my house and head.

The lesson for start ups is this: Our ego can be leveraged in any category. Even boring stuff like books. We’ll often pay more (which I did, more than double) because our ego isn’t an external thing, ego is about self importance, whatever that means to us.