Journey Archives - Page 4 of 8

Momentum

Posted on September 6, 2007 by Steve Sammartino

Momentum is the key to the success for any start up.

In classical mechanics, momentum is the product of the mass and velocity of an object. P=mV

The start up blog definition is a bit simpler:

Momentum = How big you are X How quick you do things.

Hence, the momentum of anything will increase if either of the above factors increase while the other factor remains constant. That is, you don’t need both factors to gather momentum.

A small thing moving fast can gather momentum. A big thing moving slowly can gather momentum. This is why big companies (although they react slowly) still have momentum, their mass helps them maintain their forward motion and ulitmate power.

The lesson for start ups is simple;

We want to gather momentum

We are small

We must focus on speed

Top 10 movies for entrepreneurs

Posted on August 22, 2007 by Steve Sammartino

While goofing off watching cable, a great entrepreneurial movie came on – it reminded me of life in a cubicle. So here’s the startup blog top 10.

Startup.com (great documentary)
Pirates of Silicon Valley (cheesy but insightful)
Office Space (the motivation to escape)
Fight Club (bootstrapping, viral marketing)
The Corporation (don’t act like ‘em)
7 up Series (life’s journey, dreams & failure)
Prison Break (strategy, contingency, alliances) only TV exception!
Jerry McGuire (the courage needed)
Wall Street (the game – politics of money)
readers choice…

Feel free to add what number 10 should be in comments.

(in case your wondering the movie was Office Space)

Secrets

Posted on August 18, 2007 by Steve Sammartino

I used to think that it’s better to keep your business idea a secret. Then I read that “secrets kill you” in the Bootstrappers Bible by Seth Godin. It’s very true. You can get a copy here.

Firstly – no one is going to steal your idea. The idea is the easy bit. The execution is the hard part. Truth be told it is more likely that someone else will start doing what you are if they don’t know it’s already being done.

Proof – how many times have you had a great new business idea only to find out it has already been done. Then you simply move on.

By keeping it a secret – it not only chips away at your confidence, you remove the potential for your circle to help you nurture it and bring it to life.

Critics & creators

Posted on August 14, 2007 by Steve Sammartino

At some point in your career as an entrepreneur (and entrepreneurship is a career, it’s just there’s no jobs available!), you’ll be told how why it’s a bad idea, an average launch…or just not quite right.

A simple response is this: It’s easier to critique than create.

I do it on this blog. I critique poorly executed marketing activities. We do this to learn and converse – which is part of the whole process. It’s what this blog is about. It’s a conversation on marketing.

But in the journey as an entrepreneur you’ll meet many who provide advice, but have never had the courage to pursue the path. In this situation it’s better to remember those who encourage, and forget about those who critique

And this is why, in any city in the world there are no monuments of critics.

Overnight success

Posted on August 10, 2007 by Steve Sammartino

It’s seems facebook has taken the title as the latest overnight success. It’s a choice whether or not entrepreneurs become jealous or inspired. We ought to take the inspired route.

The thing about most overnight success stories is that they’re usually a few years in the making. And so it is for Facebook. Facebook actually launched in early 2004 and has been almost 4 years in the making. Mark Zuckerberg didn’t whip it together a few months ago. You can get a little history here.

What this means, is that you might be working on the next overnight success -now, it’s just that no one knows it yet. If so, you’ll be all the rage in 2010.

Stay the course. Be patient.

Dreams

Posted on January 8, 2007 by Steve Sammartino

You need believers in your value chain. When engaging potential suppliers, many won’t get it. Sure, they’ll book a meeting with you and discuss supplying their widget. But invariably, ‘Joe Salary’ will find a reason to shut you out. Maybe with a minimum order or a credit history you wont have. You’re not going to help him make his budget this year. He doesn’t care, he doesn’t have to.

Dreams are hard to sell. That’s because so many people have had theirs stolen.

You want a short cut?

It’s much easy to build a value chain with suppliers who were you, 20 years ago. Entrepreneurs that had a dream, and got it up. They will take you seriously. They live in family run firms and SME’s. If you dig deep in the supply chain, they’re out there.

Inventing Money

Posted on January 7, 2007 by Steve Sammartino

The Poor, Middle Class and the Rich all have different ways they approach money.

(By the way, the word ‘poor’ here doesn’t refer to people lacking opportunity, education or health. Moreover parts of the general populous with equal talent, opportunity and potential as you and I, but have financial difficulty.)

The Poor spend money

The Middle Class invest money

The Rich invent money.

Entrepreneurship is about inventing money, this is why successful entrepreneurs become rich. They don’t buy something and wait for it to appreciate. They build their finances conceptually. They get Tony to design something, Paul to pay for the project, Mary to provide the widgets and Joseph to build it. They do this because they intuitively know that Lisa will pay much more for what they invented than it cost to pull together.

Inventing has never been about being a technical genius. It’s about vision and creativity.

Vision and creativity are core for us entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship is about inventing mini economies. We co-ordinate the factors of production, factors of production that aren’t currently linked. We’re inventing transactions.

If we’re good enough, we’ll invent money too.