The 3 resources which matter for start ups and any business are listed below:
What do we need in each of these areas?
How do they interact in our area of business?
How will they change over time?
The questions about the 3 resources above should be in constant review. They remain in a constant state of flux.
If our current execution plan does not cover these areas and their interddence, then we’ve got a rocky road ahead – guaranteed.
When we think about innovation, our minds get lost in big ideas and large investment. The Space shuttle, Electric cars, desalination plants, the Airbus A380. We’ve been influenced by mainstream business media, and the military industrial complex. As entrepreneurs we’d be much better placed to think as micro as possible when considering how to innovate. Because unless we are ‘inventers’ or ‘engineers’, the only innovations we need to care about are those which get to market.
Take this simple innovation from the publishing industry.
Magazine subscriptions which have been repacked to be sold in a new / yet existing distribution channel.
Before this shift in mindset, magazine subscriptions were only sold as in magazine leaflets, through call centers and via door knocking. Enter new packaging format, and all of sudden a magazine subscription is being retailed in newsagents and bookstores (This photo was taken in Borders). It becomes a simple ‘gift’ which provides us something we can hand ‘hand over’ to the recipient to touch and hold – we can even gift wrap it. It opens new revenue possibilities.
It’s clear that there is little capital expenditure with this innovation, which is simply a widening of distribution. In fact – new forms of distribution are often the most profitable innovations.
Start ups – When innovating, think micro.
Steve – founder rentoid.com
Google images is a “good” place to find a photo or image – if we have it in mind.
Flickr is an “awesome” place for ‘creative inspiration’. When ever I’m struggling to find an image for something, and just can’t think of the best visual to do it…. I let the Flickr community do the thinking for me.
It’s a very cool way to leverage ‘semantic web’ for a visual solution. We can find visual interpretations our life experience would just never think of. Just click on the examples below and quickly scroll to see the great images we find for these words:
Sure, visuals aren’t game winning. But if we’re going to use them, they may as well be poignant and memorable. Oh yeh, be sure to use creative commons before you rip ’em.
(Irony – no visual in this post!)
Steve – founder rentoid.com
Love him or hate him, here’s another cool quote from Bono – which entrepreneurs can take with them:
“I don’t want to be in a crap band and any minute U2 become a crap band, we’re all out of here. And crap is not measured in sales, or even relevance. it’s about the sense of adventure.
Is it still there? Are you still blowing your own mind?”
Steve – founder rentoid.com
I noticed this morning that a particular area of my box hedge isn’t growing as well as other areas. See the two photos below.
In order to remedy the situation I thought about what the different things I could do:
In fact, I’ll try the methods above. What I wont do is ‘remove’ the box hedge. I really need it because it forms part of the garden perimeter. It provides the required symmetry. It’s an integral part of the garden. I will give it the extra attention it deserves, and talk to it. I won’t pretend it will fix itself, because I know that is just a fantasy.
So, why do we take the opposite view with our staff / employees or business partners? We rarely ask first what we can do, and most often just ‘cut them out’, get rid of them, or even chastise their performance, before we look at the reasons for it. Maybe they:
You’ve probably noticed how many of our people problems have strong analogies to my box hedge. In fact, both nature and people, need nurturing.
Steve – founder rentoid.com
In tough times, operating in a non revenue generating business gets difficult. All your business may even dry up.
It doesn’t mean these activites aren’t important, it’s more a reflection of human behaviour. Unless the link of the activity to the transaction is clear – it will get pulled. This is true for consulting, marketing budgets or even your job. So the question we then must ask is this – how close are we to where money changes hands? Are we close to the transaction or in the backroom somewhere?
The further say we are from the money – the greater redundency exposure we have, in business and employment. Closeness to money is why many real estate agents who are often intellectual dodo’s still make big dollars. I’m sure you can think other examples too.
If you want to be an indispensable business partner in tough times, make sure you are close to the money.
Steve – founder rentoid.com
While watching a documentary on the evolution of video games I heard the coolest company mantra ever.
It was from EA sports, the gaming company which focused on creating games which closely represented the real thing. More important for startups was how they got there. One of the key developers came up with the internal motto “if it’s in the game, it’s in the game”. This later evolved to be the brand tagline “It’s in the game!”
EA went the extremes to put everything ‘in the game’. Some of these extremes include:
The result being amazingly realistic games. Amazing games which wouldn’t have been possible without the mantra – a mantra which simply did not accept compromise.
Mantra is only powerful if we embrace it in every thing we do. EA sports did and went on to be a $4 billion US company with large profit margins.
What is your startup mantra?
steve – founder rentoid.com