startups Archives - Page 61 of 117

the Collective Age

Posted on September 20, 2011 by Steve Sammartino

We are entering the Collective Age. Connections are circumventing traditional systems. An age of horizontal eco systems that disrupt the top down Industrial era. An age we’re we will not be governed for long. An age where the owners of the factors of production are desperate for our input and use of these idle resources. An age where we don’t vote and hope, rather where we collaborate and create. An age where every garage will become a factory – via innovations like 3D printing and sharing designs of stuff on-line. An age where National Government data is being handed back to us so we can mash it up and create software applications to run our cities and countries better than they ever could. An era were we can use digital communications to organise ourselves in real time…. and change our landscape before the bureaucrats have time to realise what has happened.

Technology is facilitating emergence, we are finally becoming one organism that serves the collective.

In fact, this hasn’t happened yet. And it may not happen if we let it pass us by – the question for entrepreneurs is how will we embrace this opportunity for revolution to create the actual world we want to live in?

Give us a taste

Posted on September 8, 2011 by Steve Sammartino

I was recently flying with Emirates and got talking to the cabin crew. When I later asked for a cappuccino they gave me a nice little extra effort. See below:

For the uninitiated, that is the Emirates tail logo as the chocolate on my coffee. I was impressed so much I didn’t want to put sugar in and mess it all up. She did mention that it was normally reserved for 1st Class passengers, but they thought I might appreciate it in business class. They gave me a taste of for next level.

My question to entrepreneurs is this: How are you giving your customers a taste of the top tier?

The pie

Posted on August 31, 2011 by Steve Sammartino

I was at a startup angel session last night and it reminded my why I love the startup mentality so much.

All the participants where not interested in the end, as much as they were the process. Their interest was primarily in baking a pie they could be proud of. Which is the opposite to what we often see in the corporate scene. People whose interest is in getting the largest slice possible of a pie that someone else baked.

The key question we should ask ourselves, corporate executive or entrepreneur, is this: Are we baking or eating?

Have a drink on me!

Posted on August 31, 2011 by Steve Sammartino

I was at lunch today and got to talking to the owner of this restaurant seen below:

He mentioned that looking after regulars was important to generate return custom. One of his tricks was to provide a free glass or bottle of wine at the end of a meal. He empowered his staff to do the same. He said as reward and ‘thank you’ tell said customers this:

‘That last bottle / glass of wine is on the house!’

Problem was that some of his staff got the language ever so slightly wrong. Instead they would often say:

‘The next bottle / glass of wine is on the house!’

As you can imagine this changes their view on what to order (Hint: it comes from the top shelf). Instead of where they would normally focus their purchase. The strange thing is that the benefit to the consumer is essentially the same:

A free drink you didn’t expect to pay for.

The problem with getting it wrong is a cost to the business that could be many times higher.

Startup blog lesson: Our words to our audience matter. Small changes can have a huge impact.

Idea or invention?

Posted on August 22, 2011 by Steve Sammartino

Marketing polymath Seth Godin was asked for his distinction between an idea and an invention on his blog today. I think it is important and worth sharing right here:

An idea is something you can write about in a science fiction book.

An invention is when you build something that people who read about it in the science fiction book said was impossible

Before we venture into our next startup and invest capital (Human or Financial) it is worth knowing which one we have.

Content vs Context

Posted on August 11, 2011 by Steve Sammartino

While reading the Age newspaper on my iPhone yesterday I happened upon an unfortunate advertisement. Have a look at the series of screen shots I took to see if you can notice it:

No doubt you too can see that a red Double Decker bus ride is probably not so compelling in the middle of a street riot. Although it is pretty funny, this could and should have been avoided. Why digital media providers don’t have a simple tagging system where certain advertisements don’t run is beyond me. Simple example;

Key word for advertisement: Flight & London. (run adv)

Don’t run advertisement tag: Flight & London & Crash (don’t run adv)

Pretty simple really, so why the GUI internet is nearly 20 years old and these mistakes still happen is beyond me.

If your startup ever runs digital placements, be sure you include your ‘do not run’ tags too.

I'm in love with Shwood

Posted on August 10, 2011 by Steve Sammartino

I saw this video below and fell in love with all of it. Every single P. Of the 4P’s that is…

The Product: So cool. Who doesn’t want something hand made, that has a story, that looks uber cool, and is recycled?

The Price: I almost don’t care, so long as it wasn’t more than what I would expect to pay for this product, then it is fine. Really. In fact, I’d probably pay a little more.

The Place: I hate shopping. I like ordering over the web and not have to go find a car park, pay for parking, deal with condescending retail worker fashionistas. In fact, I’m not even sure how these will look on my head. But I figure because they are so cool, I’ll feel cool and they’ll automatically look cool on me. (hey, I’m not pretending sunglasses are not a fashion accessory)

The Promotion: Well let’s put it this way. All I have ever seen is the video below. No one has ever spoken to me about this brand or product. In fact it is my first exposure to it. I loved the film, the light and most of all the story. It was beautiful to watch. I have already placed an order over the web. I found out via a tweet that someone sent. (By the way over 10 million tweets a day are about brands). That was all it took.

And now I’m in, part of the brand and spreading the word. This is how startups gain traction. Making cool stuff and embracing new methods to go to market.

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/26124634]