entrepreneurship Archives - Page 82 of 235

They brand you

Posted on October 25, 2011 by Steve Sammartino

We are so busy building our brands that we often forget what are brands are supposed to do in the new world. But every now and again we are given a simple reminder on why we give our loyalty to certain companies:

They recognise our brand and self importance. They brand us, and not just themselves. Sometimes they do this via association, and sometimes they do it more directly like the picture above. My coffee custom could go to a lot of places, and call me old fashioned, but I do like it to go somewhere where they make the effort to learn and use my name.

Sometimes the simplest loyalty strategies are the most effective.

Which ones does your startup employ to recognise your early adoptors?

Investing in staff

Posted on October 13, 2011 by Steve Sammartino

I was recently speaking with someone about training staff, and the benefits of really investing in our people. To which he replied:

‘What if I train them and they leave?’

I said:
‘What if you don’t, and they stay?’

Value creation & extraction

Posted on October 11, 2011 by Steve Sammartino

The web has changed business models so much, it’s hard to know where to start when discussing the implications of revenue streams.

In the past I’ve been very clear on my views about Free – it is not a business model. It’s a sampling campaign, or a related revenue strategy. But in truth, the methods for extracting revenue are being totally reinvented by the web. Given the cost of producing everything from flat screens, the flat pack furniture to microchips is in a state of rapid deflation means we need to reconsider the revenue equation – or more appropriately, the timing of the revenue.

For a business to survive, revenue must be extracted.

But before revenue can be extracted, value must be created.

When creating web based startups it is very hard to create value, until we have large numbers of participants (espoecially if we are not selling physical or virtual goods). The way to get large numbers of participants is the reduce the barriers to usage and entry. And the best way to reduce the barriers to entry, is to reduce the price, or even remove it entirely in the short term.

So when thinking of pricing models we need to forget about the price and start thinking about value. It isn’t until we have created value, that we will be able to extract it. So the real question is not ‘what to charge’, but has value been created yet?

What to reduce

Posted on October 10, 2011 by Steve Sammartino

Most advice we receive for startups is about what we should grow, do and build. Here’s one that is the opposite. In fact, two things we should do our best to reduce in a webby world.

Clicks and complexity.

If we can help people use the service while reducing the above in any redesign, then it should takes us closer to a good place.

Trust and my dad

Posted on October 3, 2011 by Steve Sammartino

My dad has an interesting viewpoint on the idea of trust. He says that it doesn’t need to be earned with him rather, he gives it out freely and automatically with anyone that he meets. He says that it is implicit in the human make up. He says that trust should be an automatic ‘gift’ in the human operating system.

Occasionally his trust gets abused – that’s the price he is willing to pay for it does happen. The upside of all the trust given far outweighs the few exceptions.

In startups and business, we’ve tried to de-humanize trust and replace it with forms and legal agreements. I really believe that we should trust ourselves and our gut just a little more. But I’m excited that new technology is making us more human again. The fact that digital footprints are largely permanent may even circumvent the need for mistrust and formal agreements. We can instead go back to trusting peoples word and enjoy the speed that organic development gives us versus making lawyers wealthy.

Radvertising from Calsberg

Posted on September 29, 2011 by Steve Sammartino

Here’s the latest piece of radvertising according to Startup Blog. Why is it rad?

It’s simple. It reminds us what deserves a Carlsberg – It’s sharable. I like it.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RS3iB47nQ6E]

The truth about degrees

Posted on September 29, 2011 by Steve Sammartino

Education is vital, but the obsession we have with where we get it from is very unhealthy. It’s exclusionary, it’s elitist and it goes against the fundamental reason education should exist: To build collective knowledge for mutual benefit.

The truth about most degrees is that we don’t really need them to do the actual work – except for a few, think medicine, dentistry, engineering – the remainder of business, design and economic degree skills can be learned informally.

The biggest change the web has brought us is access. Access to people, access to information, access to research, access to innovation. Much of this access has circumvented the formal education channels simply because it moves too quick for them. In addition to this, we now also have the tools available to us to become an expert in almost any field. A $500 laptop and broad band cable and the rest is up to us. We can do this because we have forums where the world leading thinkers publishing all their thoughts – as they happen. We too can publish our thoughts and prove evidence of industry. That is, personal effort to obtain the expertise – and then share our earned expertise to gain reputation..

If we are waiting for ‘acceptance‘ into a forum (Ivy League School) to deliver what we know we are capable of, then we are ignoring the revolution. The revolution says that it is all here if we are prepared to prove ourselves. The barriers are gone in nearly every economic and intellectual arena – lack of formal education these days, is just an excuse.