Tag: startups

Why Silicon Valley is a temporary phenomenon

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

Detroit Motor City

If Silicon Valley wasn’t a temporary phenomenon, then Britain would still be the centre of manufacturing.

If Silicon Valley wasn’t a temporary phenomenon, then the Spinning Jenny would still be the most important tool of production.

If Silicon Valley wasn’t a temporary phenomenon, then steam would still be the primary from propulsion of our machines.

If Silicon Valley wasn’t a temporary phenomenon, then Detroit would still be the dominant economy of the USA.

Everything has to start somewhere. It so happens that this thing started in a former orange grove in California. Sometimes we confuse the start with the long term reality. And this is the start, we are merely 20 years into this revolution. It’s worth remembering the combustion engine motor car didn’t arrive until 150 years after the start of the Industrial Revolution. The most important things and locations for our current revolution are yet to emerge. What this means is what you make and where you make it can change the trajectory of the future. But more than that it means we need to have a bigger mindset than thinking one place is the centre of everything.

You should totally read my book – The Great Fragmentation.

 

How the music industry gamified social proof

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

If you grew up when MTV was still a music channel you’ll remember that many music videos were recorded at live concerts… except that they weren’t. Nine out of ten of them we’re in filmed studios in a way which made things look bigger than they were. Clever camera work that looked like the band was already a big thing, when many times, the band was a new thing. It was a brilliant method to gamify social proof that this band rocked! Just take a look at these famous music videos:

Walk this way

Living on a prayer

Wake me up before you Go Go

All of them filmed in studios for bands who weren’t big yet. It’s a very important part of selling anything new, especially a startup. We need to create the perception that others think this ‘thing’ is terrific. We are a social species, and we rely on our social nature as a survival mechanism, and so social proof is one of the most powerful tools we need to build into promoting anything. Blurbs, Stars, Reviews, Fans, Shares, Likes, Hearts, Testimonials.

And before you ask, gaming social proof like the music industry does, is not misleading, it’s necessary. Anything we’ve ever done as a species has at some point required someone to paint a picture of what could be, not what is. We are simply pre-empting the future reality. And unless what we are selling lives up the gamified social proof, it won’t last anyway.

You should totally read my book – The Great Fragmentation.

Irrational fear and the waterfall

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

Jumping off a waterfall

You walk up to the edge of the waterfall. You look over the edge at the drop. It seems a bit higher than it really is. It’s a few meters or so. The water underneath is a beautiful green blue. It’s a popular place to swim and jump off. It’s deep enough and wide enough for some safe fun jumping action. You know it’s cool to do it. In fact, you’ve jumped off the same place a number of times. It’s always been a bit scary, but worth taking the plunge and a joyous relief when you do. But still, looking over the edge is nerve wracking, and the longer you look, the worse it seems. The fear takes over, and you become irrational about the risk. You hesitate and doubt yourself. Eventually you jump, and it turns out OK. Then you remember that it was always going to be Ok and you should’ve jumped much sooner.

I had a week full of waterfall moments.

I’m working on a number of projects where I’ve had to have uncomfortable discussions, and all of them have seemed more daunting than they actually were. Afterwards, it was clear I should’ve jumped much quicker.

A mate of mine calls this waterfalling – jumping off the waterfall. He says, ‘Just waterfall it Steve’. He refers to this story when he is scared of something as ‘un life threatening’ as a business conversation or cold call. We all are. And just like the waterfall, the more we hesitate the more our self talk creates fear. So the next time your at the edge, just jump. Remember it’s water down there, not concrete.

You should totally read my book – The Great Fragmentation.

 

Don't waste time finding the best person

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

The best person

Every now and again there’s a rock band who are global superstars, who also happen to have world class musicians in the band. Eric Clapton and Cream, Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. But more often the great rock bands have a style and an ethic which is amalgamation of the players. But these players are not world class on their own. I’d put U2 in this category. The four Beatles make the Beatles. John Lennon was a brilliant genius and successful solo musician, but he couldn’t make girls scream on his own. He was different.

In startups what we are really building is a team and a culture. We talk about trying to find the best coder, the best UX guru, the ultimate growth hacker, but we should focus on is having the best culture where amazing collaborations can happen. If we want to be the best at something, we should probably be working on our own.

You should totally read my book – The Great Fragmentation.

How to clarify your goals in 1 minute

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

The Jerk Store

Setting goals can be harder than it sounds. Here’s a simple way to do it. Write down the answer to these 3 questions:

What am I trying to to Achieve, Avoid and Preserve.

They are much easier to answer because they provide a value set and a guiding philosophy. The answers will come as soon as your start writing…. try it.

Here are my three answers for my work:

  1. I am trying to achieve a reputation for thinking, writing and speaking on technology & business.
  2. I am trying to avoid working with jerks.
  3. I am trying to preserve my independence with my work at all costs.

These answers inform what I should do with my time and opportunities. To do number 1 I need to write and think everyday. I need to undertake projects and startups to gain the knowledge to write and speak about. To do number 2 I need to be focused more on people than the size of opportunity. I need to sample people I work with before I engage in a long term projects with them. To do number 3 I need to create value for others so I can work as a freelancer, which then funds my projects. I need to think twice about accepting offers for venture capital (say with Sneaky Surf) or highly paid projects which take up too much time.

Oh, and when it comes to questions about goals and what it is that we want to do with our life, it’s important to remember that we can change our mind without notice. Just because your wrote a script, it doesn’t mean it can’t be revised. After all, it’s your script.

You should totally read my book – The Great Fragmentation.

You own prime time now

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

Punch Clock

Prime time used to be a big thing, sure it’s still a thing, but a diminishing one. You can probably remember when the 6 o’clock news mattered. You can remember when the sitcoms hit the airwaves at 7.30 and the movie at 8.30pm. They all made sense because we all worked until 5pm. The shops used to be closed from 12pm on Saturday, and not opened on Sunday. The clock, above all things defined the industrial era. Time zones themselves where invented to serve national railroads. The clock told us where to be and when. We had special clocks at work to punch to show when we arrived and left. And smart media worked around this. While time is the key asset in the attention economy, the clock itself is losing its power.

Old media still thinks the clock matters more than it does.

We still have prime time. We still have that time when we sit down and absorb or participate in entertainment, but the time we do it is determined by us. Maybe it’s 5-6pm on the train listening to a podcast. Maybe it’s 11pm in bed watching a Youtube video, maybe it’s placing ecommerce orders at 3pm. The enslavement that goes with prime time is finally evaporating. We have our own airwaves now.

While this trend has started with media (Tv, News, The Press, Web, Radio, Movies) it’s part of the great fragmentation in all commerce and culture. The only question left is whether we are doing business at times which serve history, or those we serve.

You should totally read my book – The Great Fragmentation.

A tyre is only flat at the bottom

Posted on by Steve Sammartino

flat tyre

When I got my first car I once had a flat tyre and asked my dad if he could come out and help me change it, show me how to do it. And he said;

“I wouldn’t worry about it, it’s only flat at the bottom.”

A pretty funny dad joke. But a very good analogy for problems we face in business.

The entire business is running smoothly, except for some cultural problems in the warehouse.

The UX and product market fit of the app is great, the server is just a bit slow.

The retail store layout, the range and prices are all perfect, we just keep running out of stock.

Our startup is perfectly placed to disrupt this industry, it’s just there’s no way to scale it.

Our customers, supply chain and brand perception are as good as it gets, it’s just our margins are too small to make a reasonable profit.

While the tyre may only be flat at the bottom, it affects the entire operation.

You should totally read my book – The Great Fragmentation.