Category: entrepreneurship

Yes, we are all in the technology business

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

A few weeks ago the surfing world was astounded when Kelly Slater released a video of his new wave pool.

The launch of his 10 year long project to KS Wave Co, and OMG did surfers loose their minds. The reason it matters for this here blog has little to do with surfing. It has to do with technology. I would never have believed a wave this good could come from a pool. That waves I spend thousands of dollars each year chasing, could happen all day, every day. And so you now, this picture below is typically how terrible wave pools are for Surfing – A wave pool from 1985 where they once held a Pro Surfing event.

Tom Carroll in wave pool

And the reason it is now possible is not to do with machinery, it’s because of what software can do. It’s because of what we can model it before we turn soil. We are entering a phase in life where possibilities confound expectations. Where dreams from our childhood and coming to life in all manner of entertainment and industry. The future has finally arrived.

If the worlds most nature driven zen sport, surfing, can enter an artificial arena, then it’s fair to say we are all in the technology business now. It might even be time to ask yourself if that ‘thing’ you dreamed about is possible now.

And Kelly, if you’re reading – I’d be happy too buy the rights for Melbourne.

You should totally read my book – The Great Fragmentation.

 

The simplest brand building tool of all

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

black mercedes

Building a brand with meaning is a difficult thing to do. But there is one hack which tells us more than any other signal, and it takes less than a second to give that signal.

The price.

If it’s super cheap or outrageously expensive, it tells a stronger story than any other feature immediately.

It tells us where it sits in the scheme of things, the consideration set of where I could cast my dollar votes. It tells me if this is option is in my range or not for me. Sometimes the price is most important feature, we want people to know how much we paid. The story I tell myself has already began. I make a decision based on the price which tells me I’m being smart and frugal, or I deserve this most expensive option. In some categories like apps and software, these days there’s an expectation of no price at all.

If our price stands out, then even before our product or service has been trialled we have a brand perception. The only challenge of course, is making sure that after consumption the experience lives up to what was expected.

You should totally read my book – The Great Fragmentation.

Podcasts are a University on wheels

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

podcast head

After a false start in the mid 2000’s podcasting is back killing radio. For anyone who spends a fair amount of time driving, exercising, travelling or just existing as a human, it is the ultimate short cut to ‘get learned’ by some of the worlds best thinkers – University on Wheels say some.

So here are some great podcasts I literally rub my ear balls in whenever I am on the move.

My top 7 Podcasts:

  1. EconTalk with Russ Roberts – Not as highbrow as it sounds. An incredible array of topics related to business, culture and sociology. The most insightful look into our economic lives you’ll ever listen to.
  2. The James Alticher show – Mostly about entrepreneurship, technology and financial independence. He interrupts the guests a bit much, but with good thoughts & questions. Has great guests on the show.
  3. Crap Hound with Cory Doctorow – Mostly about cyber security, IoT, income disparity, privacy & surveilance, Gov policy regarding digital rights, and other important digital issues around control and the world you’re about to live in. Eye opening view of the future. One the globes sharpest minds.
  4. HBR Idea cast – Podcasts of around 20 mins. Perfect for short trips. Covers topical issues in business and management. Gets to the critical issues quickly.
  5. The Long Now with Stuart Brand – Seminars about long terms thinking. Generally a long 1 hour plus podcasts which are from Keynote speeches from the Long Now Foundation. Has the world best thinkers on key topics regarding the long term survival of humanity. Kinda heavy I know – but the topics are more ‘human and now’ than you’d expect. Everything from why stories last to can we live on Mars to the long arc of moral progress.
  6. Planet Money NPR – Great stories about all things money and finance. Super interesting stories with insights you’d never expect. Totally entertaining on the usually boring topic finance. Short podcasts too around 20 mins.
  7. Here’s the thing with Alec Baldwin – Has a great range of guests with entertaining content regarding creative and business pursuits. Lots of laughs and relaxing.

If you like hearing me rabbit on, then you can always check out the #BBB podcast (Beers Blokes and Business) which I appear on and I recent recording I did for the newly launched Future Sandwich podcast.

Oh, and if you’re wondering why podcasting has made such a massive comeback in the past couple of years, there’s probably a myriad of reasons. But here are two that spring to mind. (1) We’ve had a couple of super ‘hit’ podcasts to put it on the agenda like ‘Serial‘ and (2) I think the increased data most people now get on their phones these days removes the download it now and listen barrier. No need to plan and download at home.

Startup blog says – let your ears do the reading.

You should totally read my book – The Great Fragmentation.

The only way you can compete on price

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

Screen Shot 2016-01-11 at 11.52.46 AM

My favourite blogger Seth Godin talks about competing on price as being a race to the bottom. I couldn’t agree more. Yet, it can be a valid business strategy, and here is the only time when competing on price is a smart thing to do:

When everything the customer does not see is focused on price.

If you want to compete on price, then the price tag itself is the least important part of the ‘low pricing strategy’. It’s the back end, and every single thought and action in your business needs to be about efficiency and reducing cost, all day, everyday.

If we can manage to do this, then we can win on price. But we should always remember a price sensitive customer is always the least loyal.

You should totally read my book – The Great Fragmentation.

Confusing needs and wants

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

We need an SUV for our family. No – you want and SUV, larger families survived in sedans for decades.

We need air conditioning. No – you want to have air conditioning during hot months. 

We need an annual vacation to somewhere warm. No – you want a vacation somewhere warm.

Our kids need an iPad to keep them occupied. No – you want to give them an iPad because it requires less effort to manage them.

(FYI screens have an unreported danger for kids where they can suck imagination out of them via the LCD nipple.)

In our modern world it is easy to confuse needs and wants. Must haves, versus nice to haves.

One of my favourite must haves, is the amount of money people say they need before they could get out of the system. Silicon Valley like to call it FU Money.  I hear numbers like $5, $10 and $20 million from people who are regular salary earners. Yet just a 5% return on 5 million would generate $250,000 per annum. A very good living indeed, much more than most people live on, and certainly more than most people I speak to giving me these large figures as their ‘get out number’. And just $1.5 million in investments would generate the average income in Australia without getting out of bed in the morning.

The bench mark of financial freedom is not nearly as high as we think. If you want to get to your ‘freedom money’ quota, the first step should be understanding the difference between needs and wants, when we do this the quota gets even lower. Another option is to stop chasing dollars doing what you hate, to have enough money to finally do what you love. Just jump straight the passion work, and you might find the money doesn’t matter as much.

You should totally read my book – The Great Fragmentation.

The Great Fragmentation – In Chinese

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

I got a delivery in the mail with a new copy of my recent book from my publisher  – The Great Fragmentation.

The Great Fragmentation - Chinese

I was really thrilled to see my ideas being made available to the most spoken language in the world – Chinese. Mind you all dialects of Chinese read the same characters, and you need to know around 3000 characters to be able to read most anything fluently. So, I’m incredibly thankful to whoever had that job to translate my 65,000 words. I imagine it would not have been easy given much of the content is nuanced. My book covers the 20 big ideas changing the world, and much of it has only been around a few years. Add to this the complexity of the differentiated digital landscape in China and it is a reminder that our little world in English speaking countries is well, a minority.

Here’s the Top 10 Languages spoken globally:

  1. Chinese – 1,197,000,000
  2. Spanish – 414,000,000
  3. English – 335,000,000 (Just 10% of the top 10 languages spoken)
  4. Hindi – 260,000,000
  5. Arabic – 237,000,000
  6. Portugese – 203,000,000
  7. Bengali – 193,000,000
  8. Japanese – 122,000,000
  9. Javanese – 84,300,000

It’s a great reminder that as our economy truly globalises, we need to remember that we might be the ones who need to adapt. Just check out how many Youtube comments are in Spanish these days. It’s even possible the USA could become a Spanish speaking country sooner than you’d imagine.

If you want to read some reviews of my book – you can do so on Amazon here. If you like my blog I’m sure you’ll enjoy the book – it’s punchy and makes points quickly – I don’t labour on the point. If you’ve read it, firstly thank you, and it would be great if you could write a short review for me. You can also do that here. Thanks for your support.

Design and destination

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

future man

Five years from now you will arrive at your destination. This destination can either be well designed, or undesigned. Regardless of what you choose, five years from now you will arrive. Undesigned destinations though, can be kinda sub-optimal. You might end up working where you don’t want to work, living where you don’t want to live, driving what you don’t want to drive and doing things you don’t want to do.

If you need proof of what any five years can create, have a look back at what you designed five years ago. You’ll see that where you are is mostly a function of what you designed.

While we can’t re-design our destination to arrive at a five year place overnight, we can change our direction today. We go the way we face, so it’s best we design our direction.

You should totally read my book – The Great Fragmentation.