Category: entrepreneurship

For a while we have had a maths and numbers obsession in the world of commerce. Careers were created and destroyed on the premise of mathematical ability. What a shame.

Thankfully, words are making a comeback. You see words are human. Words are what differentiate us from every other species. Words are where the emotion and value is. The numbers are only achieved when the words that precede them are thoughtful. It’s the right (correct?) side of the brain that matters. And finally business is catching on. I am so excited that we are outsourcing the left side of our work to the power of Moores Law. Which means us humans can get back to the stuff that matters. Love, design and nurturing. We can leave the manufacturing and piece work to the machines and microchips. And instead we can innovate and humanize what we do to earn a living.

What we ought be thankful for is those who sacrificed their time and days during the transition period of the industrial revolution. It’s really akin a war that was fought by our forefathers to help us get past ‘bit’ work.

Welcome to the new world of emotional labour.

It’s never been easier to test market anything in the history of startups. The web is our best friend for testing regardless of which market we compete in, or are launching into.

How would we do it? There are many simnple methods:

– Google adwords testing various ideas to see which ones get clicked on the most

– Build a landing page for a certain product idea to see how many hits it gets

– Set up a ‘coming soon’ registration facility to assess market interest and ask the punters what they’d pay for such a service / product.

– Tweet our idea for feedback (which is what I did for www.startupschool.com.au) before the launch to assess interest)

– Start a facebooks fans page for a non-existing thing / service or idea that you’ll build afterwards.

– Start a blog on the topic and see how many followers and participators we get to see if there is market support.

How will you pressure test your next startup idea?

You may have heard I’ve taken up a new role in advertising with the Grey Group Global. You can read about it here.

Many of my readers have been curious about my decision. Both as it pertains to my role as founder & CEO of rentoid.com, but also as an entrepreneur and startup blogger.  So in the the age of authenticity, I’ll lay it all on the line right here at startup blog:

I didn’t go searching for a job, it kinda just happened. After having some discussions with Grey about the advertising and media landscape, I was essentially asked to come on board as Director of Planning and Integration. Integration being the digital and ‘one to one’ side of media, which they admit is an area of opportunity for their business. They needed someone with what they told me was a rare mix of skills:

• Understands pure marketing & advertising (as it was)
• Has a grasp on the web & digital landscape (as it will be)
• Is entrepreneurial in nature, can invent change & lead a firm into the future
• Can generate new business & be heavily involved in the pitching process

If you’ve been following my blog and life over the past few years, you’ll know that’s a reasonable description of what I do.

Rentoid.com is at a stage where the model is right, after nearly 4 years of iterating.  The team is in place and the business is growing organically. Although I have sold off a portion of it, I still have a large equity stake.  My involvement will now be more directional and ‘chairperson’ like. Which to be honest is a new challenge in my entrepreneurial development where the key skill will be directing and coaching rather than doing. Working on the business, rather than in it. I’m confident it will continue to grow and thrive.

I’ll still be blogging, tweeting and teaching at Melbourne University and running my annual Startup School. Grey know this is what gives me the edge.  I wont be doing any FMCG consulting anymore which took up about 20% of my week.

Some stuff worth noting:

1. Google was my CV.
2. Unless I created rentoid.com and wrote this blog, I would never have been offered the role.
3. There was no competition. The role was invented for me because of what I have done and what I can offer.
4. I’m still and entrepreneur who still owns businesses.
5. The role is more exciting and senior than my previous marketing roles.
6. Being an entrepreneur opens up more doors than being an employee. It helps us leapfrog the competition.