Tag: startups

The those who can and those who teach lie

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

free guitar lesson

You’ve heard the saying ‘there are those who can, and those who teach.’ Well, this is the greatest hoax of all time, well, maybe not all time, but it is definitely a hoax.

I’ve known people who are the worlds greatest at something, and can’t teach it.

I’ve known people who can’t do it, but teach it better than anyone who has ever done it.

I’ve known people who can do it, and teach it just as well.

I’ve known people who can’t do, or teach – but for some reason try to do both. (avoid these people where possible).

Here’s the thing, doing and teaching are both important. Two different skill sets. Add to this that two different students might have a completely opposite experience learning from someone…. one might love a teaching method which the other hates.

Arbitrary statements of truth are the real problem here. What works for one person might not work for another. What we need to do, is be smart enough to make up our own minds and forget the cliches, especially when it comes to making personal connections.

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Why the ecosystem is more important than market share

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

tomato

The caterpillar hidden in a tomato from my garden is great news for me as the gardener. While it’s one less tomato to eat, the presence of this little creature is enhancing the ecosystem I’m trying to build. I’ll put that tomato back into the ground. There’ll be more bugs, and butterflies which will make my soil more fertile. In turn they’ll help pollenate the flowers for next season, and they’ll be more tomatoes and resulting nutrition than their was last season.

While it is true that the bugs and competitors reduce my yield now, they increase it later by helping me create more of what I’m trying to grow. The systems approach takes longer, but usually creates more for all participants. This is why market share is never as important as growth. Market share is a me versus you, reductionist measure – it’s very yesteryear. The thing I’m trying to grow is the system. In a world of increasing abundance I want to participate in creating something which means more for everyone. I have little desire to dominate what is already here.

Sammartron snap

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More proof there are many paths to the same destination

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

The people in this video below have been two of my digital mentors for a long time; Gary Vaynerchuk and Seth Godin. Seth even blurbed my book! Both are in a very similar market space, and I imagine they both share many of the same customers. They are both NYT best selling authors on business in the modern era. Both provide keynote speeches to old industrial centric businesses. Both are proponents of the new era of technology and the incredible opportunity it provides, but in short they are both teachers.

This video interview below has a lot of interesting tension throughout it.  While they respect each other, they clearly don’t agree on many things. They both employ different tactics, and have a different approach to essentially achieve a similar outcome. It’s more proof that there isn’t a way, but many ways. And even though their philosophies might differ, both are incredibly authentic in their approach and go about their work in a way which suits them. And that’s exactly what we should all do – be the best ‘us’.

It’s worth watching and a great reminder that our ideal strategy is probably the one that best matches our personality.

 

If you haven’t got time to watch the video – my favourite have is to turn any youtube content into an MP3 on this link. Then you can listen as a podcast.

The problem with 'How To' advice

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

How to Advice

The internet is filled with How To advice. Which proves how important it is in building the life you want. But it has a simple flaw we ought remember:

How to advice is disposable.

How to’s are a set of tactics which need to change as the world around us changes. This means we need to constantly re-assess what we know, and ask if it is still relevant. With the pace of technological change today, this is a question we need at the top of our list.

This is why philosophy is always greater than tactics. Philosophy is enduring, and tactics and temporary. If we have a guiding philosophy on what we are doing and why, finding the best tactic for the day becomes infinitely easier.

You should totally read my book – The Great Fragmentation.

Why OzTam's Aust TV ratings are still way behind the times

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

Television man

The TV industry in Australia recently claimed its ratings measurements have now ‘caught up with the times’ – as they now include catch up TV. Here’s a question for them: Do the ratings include Youtube views?

It’s pretty clear now that TV is not the aggregation of the formal channels. There is no such thing as TV, there is only this: All audio visual content streamed to eyeballs = TV.

This means that every video we view on Youtube is TV. Every Video we watch on Facebook is TV. Everything we send from our mobile to our big screen is TV. Every Snap we watch is TV. The real problem the TV industry is facing is it’s limited definition of the market today. Twenty years on and they still don’t get it. Their recent announcement confirms that the thing they are measuring is their share of a shrinking pie. Sure, it’s not in their short term interest to expand their definition of the market, but pretending it isn’t so, doesn’t make it go away.

Yet another reminder that in times of dramatic technological change market share is a fools measure. Put simply, new solutions to old problems mean our real competitors are usually invisible.

You should totally read my book – The Great Fragmentation.

Why being better is not enough

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

better

We have to make it more than just ‘better’. It’s got to be worth the hassle of changing over. The previous sentence really matters when we launch anything. That’s the bit that provides the real context to a startup. What level of friction do our customers have to endure to engage us instead?

We might be lucky enough that they can simply choose us at a shelf instead. Or maybe they’ll need to undertake complex changes to access what we have brought to the market. Install software, change operating systems, create new habits, remember to come back, or communicate with strangers. A big part of starting anything is getting our audience past the associated friction they have to overcome.

It pays to know what these challenges are before we start. Sometimes making a better X is the easy bit.

You should totally read my book – The Great Fragmentation.

 

Why profits are better than wages

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

profits vs wages

Profits are better than wages for two reasons. The first is, you can make money when you are not in the room. The second reason is a bit more curious:

You can sell a profit making ‘machine’, while you can never sell a wage. This means that every dollar you earn from profits has a natural multiple built into it. If you earn a dollar through profits you may be able to sell that dollar for 2, 3, 5 or more than 10 dollars.

In the end, it’s the simple difference between carrying buckets of water, or building a pipeline directly from the source.

You should totally read my book – The Great Fragmentation.