This guy put some effort into writing the words that appear on his website. The result of his writing is around 10,000 people shared it with their friends. Read it.
www.alittlebitofsomething.co.uk
The words we publish matter a lot.
Tag: startups
My Google Plus Problem
Like most people I recently joined Google plus. I went in and set up my account. I was reasonably impressed and it looked quite cool. It had a couple of nice ideas, including the circles of friends concept of segmenting conversations. After I set up the account, it has been on my list of things to do. That is, to go into it, have a play around, get used to the system and better understand it.
A few weeks later I still haven’t done it.
The interesting thing is that during this time I have still engaged with the social networks I already use. Including this blog and my twitter account. Turns out I still have time for social networks, just not that one. The only reason I will use Google plus is because I need to know about it, not because I need it. The fact that I need to invest time to ‘learn how to navigate and use it’, is also sub optimal.
If everyone ends up loving Google plus, I’m sure I’ll get on board. But my Google Plus problem is that currently I don’t have a social networking problem.
Revenue Compression
When chasing new business in startup land or any business for that matter, the time to revenue is more important than the amount or revenue.
It’s easy to believe that a big $500,000 project is better than a little $5000 project. Maybe the big one takes a year. Maybe the small one takes a week or two.
I say the small projects rule! But before I choose, the questions I usually ask myself include:
- How long will it take to get the revenue?
- What is the potential for expensive mistakes?
- What is the probability that the project will go over the time estimate?
- Are we paid in time put in or final completion of said project?
- What level of resources need to go into pitching & winning the project?
- Will we get more smaller projects after successful completion of the first?
When we answer these we usually find that the $5000 project that takes a week is a far better option than the $500K project that takes a year. And the reason that they are better is that the revenue is compressed.
Innovation never ends
I happened upon this video (being a surfer and all) and was totally inspired by the product innovation. In real terms it is innovation at its core:
Problem – Solution.
They had to find and invent the technology to solve the problem. Rather than having some technology they were trying to find a use for. The video is worth watching, as the lesson is one any and everyone can take heed from.
It also reminds me that innovation will never end. Just when we thought the wetsuit solved all the problems it could (cold water / sunburn, wax rash) a human need takes it to the next level. Just like Bucky said: eventually we’ll be able to create everything from nothing.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gqs_kLW7bSE]
Big props goes out to Billabong. If I was running Ripcurl, or a surfing startup, I’d be working on a wetsuit with an oxygen pouch!
The genius excuse
I’ve heard a lot of people call entrepreneurs ‘a genius‘. Usually when someone has achieved amazing success. The most recent call of ‘genius’ has been directed to Mark Zuckerberg – though some may refer to him as the evil genius. I to have been guilty of this affliction. I play the ‘genius card’, when I have envy over what someone else has achieved.
It’s a great card to play, because it infers luck. It infers that they have been born with unusual and exceptional skill. A lucky sperm! This genius birthright is then the result of their success. Not hard work, not embracing failure, not sleepless nights and hours down in the skunk works. The genius card in reality is our way of justifying our own lack of success, or more aptly – effort.
The challenge we must set ourselves is to stop using the genius excuse. Because we know deep down in our hearts, we are trying to marginalize others success so that we feel a little bit better about ourselves.
Richard Branson – Live
I’m going to a breakfast 7-9am with Richard Branson tomorrow – (Australian Eastern Standard time) Well we aren’t exactly sharing an omelet, but I’ll be in a prime seat near him. I intend to live tweet some interesting sound bites, and take some mobile video footage.
So be sure to tune in to my tweet stream: http://twitter.com/#!/sammartino to get your share of Branson brilliance.
By the way – a massive hat tip to uber entrepreneur Valerie Khoo for making this possible and getting me a seat at the table.
Steve.
the new FMCG strategy
As far as I can tell this is the strategy of every large FMCG company – (Fast moving consumer goods – think supermarket and convenience stores).
- Keep prices low. Never take a price rise.
- Sell to who we’ve always sold to.
- Only make things the factory can make.
- Focus on volume, that’s what keeps the factory busy.
- Deliver short term quarterly profits.
- Innovate incrementally. Flavours, sizes, fragrances, colors.
- Only invest in a brand if there is an immediate return in sales.
- Buy media on mainstream channels. Interruption marketing.
- Buy startups who innovate in our category.
- Conduct significant research to test ‘everything’. Make all changes research suggests. Safety in research. Don’t be edgy.
- Roll out good ideas from one market (Country) in all countries.
And this industry wonders why it fails to grow, increase revenue or attract change agents. As someone who has worked in the space for many years, it’s time someone told the industry to forget everything they think they know. This strategy isn’t working. It’s why companies like Kraft foods have the same share price they had 10 years ago. That is zero capital growth. It’s one example of many large multinationals with a similar financial performance.
So far the consumer goods industry has been quite lucky. They’ve been insulated from the effect the web has had. But this is all about to change. Startups, innovators and Amazon will come. The squeeze is about to happen, and unless they reverse their strategy over the last 50 years, the future is not bright. In fact they need to flip everything they currently do:
The new FMCG strategy (for those who want to thrive more than survive)
- Innovate so that price is not an issue. Make stuff people will pay a premium for.
- Open up new channels of distribution. Over invest. Compete against their retailers.
- Make things people want. Focus on the design of the product, not compiling it. (Manufacturing)
- Focus on revenue. Ignore volume. Remove it from all tracking and all documentation. Report everything in dollars.
- Do not give the market forecasts. Report results on year end only once.
- Innovate dramatically. Embrace failed launches. Most fail anyway, so get more to market.
- Invest in brands without expecting a short term revenue boost.
- Build your own brand media channels.
- Set up startups in your category. Put them in a skunk woks facility. Different space for a new culture. Then sell the startup to your competitors. Do it again.
- Do not do market research. Only research what can be done & know how to do it. Invent the future for the audience
- Sack all global marketing & innovation teams. Innovate locally.
This won’t happen in most large FMCG companies. There is too much to protect. Things like reputations, executive bonuses and careers. The courageous few will try. But 10 years from now every FMCG will be asking what happened, just like information industries and the car industry did. The change is coming whether they like it or not.