Thoughts from LGA in New York

1. The end physical product represents 5% of the design process. Making that part of business work is a highly specialized and small trade.

2. The steps necessary to get a product to a shelf (the other 95%) is best learned through experience or intense study because most of the tool/methodologies used are "behind the scenes". The major exception to this rule is people. 70% of communication is visual. A lot of it comes down to body language and tone.

3. America is an aging nation. The % of the population in the 55 - 75 age range will have more purchasing power over the next 20 years. Comfort will be more important than contemporary.

4. I have never seen so many beautiful women before in my entire life. In particular and most importantly, lots of foreign women. Move to New York? Teach English?

5. I got positive feedback from a mentor. It felt got. I also got negative feedback from a mentor. That felt less than good. Its important to trust the people you ask for feedback from and that they themselves are in the top 10%. My mentor was both. These people are valuable and important to hold on to.

6. I love great service with a fanatical sense of passion. Danny Meyer's restaurant Union Square Cafe absolutely blew me away. The waitress was smooth in her approach, a star example of off the cuff humor and flawless in her execution. At its core I find great service extremely good for this world and useful.

7. Art comments on society. In particular, MOMA talks about the last 50 years. Thinking in different frameworks can be fun, frustrating and useful all at once. Mostly fun though.

8. New York reaffirms that people are time poor.

9. Too much of the world is about the visual and it frequently doesn't reflect reality. This is not inherently bad, but without a compass can be destructive.

10. While it sounds cheezy, family is the foundation of many critical aspects of life. Always remain thankful and let them know it.

Blogger accepting i phone & trip to NY

First off thank you to blogger for enabling i phone users to post. Now insights can be written about from anywhere in the world and at any time.

Second, Im currently in New York and its incredible! More on this later but this city clearly has the most variety and spunk of any in the US. I cant think of a better, juicier place for anyone eager to learn about american passion and the things and people it creates.

Arresting forces

The style of design I am always excited to see is what I have coined, hurricane images. Hurricane images stop you dead in your tracks and instill an immediate and powerful sense of awe.

From what I can tell, each image in this realm is built upon a specific environmental structure. Two different, but not directly opposing factors intertwine creating a new and unusual picture. To work it out in my own head I think of colors. The two factors don't exactly interact like black does with white, but instead share a more complex relationship. One that incorporates elements of environment and camera angle. A black hat with a purple electron if you will.

I ran across two good examples today. One is a phrase, the other is a picture.

First,
"Credit Suisse Report Sets Gold Market On Fire"
Gold on Fire. Wow. That is an amazing image.



Second,


This man's name is Akeel. He is a lawyer.

Specificity drives results

As I learn more and more about the start-up world I am beginning to see a widening gap between what is public and what is true. The engines that propel the press focus on a niche of the world and repeatedly comment on it. Sex, drama, and celebrities are the first that come to mind. This leads me to believe that there exists a vault of information about how things work that is hidden. What does the un-obvious look like? Its a much larger conversation than I currently have time for but lets explore a brief example and we can come back to it later.

The topic is cats.

I. The Set Up
CatTV is a business that was started in 1989

Core insights:
- People spend a lot of time with their pet
- People spend a lot of time watching TV

Need:
- How can owners deepen the meaning of their relationship with their cat?

Solution:
- TV programing for cats. Pictures of birds and squirrels.
- Owner will feel useful and needed by their pet

This sounds ridiculous. I know. Lets face it, it is ridiculous. How could this ever work? Wouldn't someone have already figured it out if it worked?

But lets get into the details of the operation and think about why its actually a very good business to test.

II. The Detail
1. Target segment is extremely specific. United States cat owners. Easy to study target, multiple established marketing channels, large volume of potential customers.
2. The production costs to get the business up and running are nothing. Video tape some birds, put a few adds out and set up a phone number/website
3. No competition. People frequently flock to popular or fantastical markets because they've shown explosive growth (including me). Well, why not go where no one is? The end game is to win with customers. Isn't it easier to win when you're the only option?
4. Speedy arrival at the margin. All of these components combined get the business owner to the point where he/she can test their product and success very quickly

III. The Result
So here's the nuggets. What actually happened.

The production costs where actually relatively high: $25,000 and took 4 months to produce. Thats a good amount of money for a cat video. (Twice as expensive and twice as long). Only 400 videos were sold in the first year and half. (Have patience). As soon as one newspaper article was published sales jumped to 30,000 a year. (Don't be an idiot, market your product where people who are interested will see it) Sales stayed at 30,000 a year for 10 years!

The videos were priced at $14.95. The math? $4.5 million in revenue. Oh yeah!

Drucker

Peter Drucker was right. The only way to judge your own performance is to go back to the original goals you set for an initiative or project (after work has been done) and grade yourself on reaching those goals. I recently conducted this analysis on my performance in a recent project and came up with this 4 step tracking tool to focus my work and accelerate delivery.

My plan is to check my performance each day 4 times a day on the four below criteria.

1. Delivery Focus - "Stop paying attention to smiles. Do you have a goal, do you have a list?"

2. Execute sub-segments - "Which sub-segment of the project are you executing on?"

3. Hit your daily goals - "Are you on track to hit your daily goals? If no, start shedding."

4. Work with experts - "Are you working with experts to improve the quality of your work?"

I am in the production business. Producing high quality information under a specific time frame is my game.

One of the interesting things I discovered during the process is that my likeability frequently prevents me from receiving real feedback. My people skills can actually be a weakness. At times I have even found people even intimidated/overly impressed with my people skills. Upon reflection I think this is one of the great pitfalls of many people's personal development. Many occasions, environments, companies reward people that are nice and well liked. My view is that its actually a crime to teach people that just being nice gets the job done. It doesn't. Producing and having impact gets the job done. Consequently I coined the phrase "Stop paying attention to smiles" and created the column for delivery focus. Its something I look forward to working on.

(Ever heard the phrase: "You want to get something done ask a busy person". Why? Its because those people are producers and live their life to have impact)

The approach

Its challenging when you go through an entire day and 90% of the people you run into are just existing...

New learning: Start every day with a new song. Each day is the beginning of your battle to change the world. Start it fresh, with new possibility in front of you.

Tutor Vista

Last week I read an article about a phenomenal new business venture called Tutor Vista out of India. Tutor Vista is leading the outsourcing 2.0 trend. The concept is simple: Unlimited tutoring for your high school student for a monthly fee of $99 a month. It was started by a successful call center tycoon in India.

Its simple, meets a defined need and is built upon a steady supply of product. Solid business venture.

The need to create

Sometimes after a long day at work (like today, 14 hours) I reach home pining to create something, to arrive at a new insight, to develop something on my own. This comes out of deep desire to feel independent and like I can determine my future after spending many hours punching away at excel sheets.

My insight for today is "The Time Trump Card"

Probably the most discussed and researched management question of the last 50 years is "what makes great leaders effective?" There are multiple ways to approach the topic. McKinsey (the ilk I come from) says structure. Take a problem and break it into pieces. Identify the sub-questions, then the sub issues. Locate a source for each set of data. Construct a work-plan, put names next to sections and execute rigidly. I once heard Jack Welsh speak and he frequently talked about how personal accountability is critical to team leadership and accomplishing goals. Other people say learn from experts. Latch on to the best and soak up what you can. And still others spout the age old tune, its who you know not what you know.

The best and highest bang for your buck starting point in my opinion is to look at one simple factor: time. How do you spend your time? Drucker argued that since time is the scarcest resource we have, treat it like its gold. Record how you spend your time over a couple weeks and you may be surprised. For me? On my latest project its been time alone that drives the most results and has proven the most effective use of the day.

Time is also a sharp lens into consumer behavior, cutting through the noise of what many people say but don't mean. It all comes down to a simple question about human nature. What do people really value? Answer: Look at how they spend their time. (This is also a great tool in assessing individual character - it quickly separates the well wishes from the impact agents). The key learning here is that how people spend their time frequently contrasts how people say/think they spend their time.

I have been stapling candy wrappers up on my cubicle wall to see how much I really eat. So far its been 1 week. The results are staggering (and tasty).

- Often, just watch where people's eyes go and begin counting - The wrappers on my wall told me that my eyes frequently go to the candy bowl. The amount of wrappers per day tell me the quantity of my engagement with Totsie Rolls. It probably my most repeated activity other than checking in with my direct team mate and e-mail.

- What tools does the individual require? - By far the greatest driver of my eating this candy is convenience. I would not go across the street or even down the hall for the candy. Consequently, the most important, in fact the critical factor of Totsie Roll's success, is their access point - in this case the dealer, our office assistant Carrie.

- Debunkify Myths - 'JP is a good guy that I bet takes care of himself at every chance he gets' ...debunkify... he eats a teaspoon of sugar a day. News today is just terrible, what can America do? ...debunkify... USA today is the fastest growing newspaper in America. Are readers complaining? Bottled water hurts the environment and it popularity is decreasing rapidly ...debunkify... Whole Foods (the haven of the environmentally friendly, features as its number one seller, wait for it, yep Bottled Water!


Fun stuff.

Insights from the protein shake industry

My mom recently sent me a great article on protein drinks from the nytimes (http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2007/10/18/fashion/
20071018_PHYS_SLIDESHOW_index.html). Bellow is my response e-mail that outlines the key takeaways from the aritcle.


Thanks for sending the NY Times article on protein drinks. Isn't it interesting that these workout drinks have seen steady growth recently? Functional drinks seem to be the hot product right now. It struck me that the article provided some solid learnings on how to approach a fragmented high growth beverage market.


I took away two key points:

1. Established brands stretch into new product lines - 3 of the 5 drinks featured are well known brands in other beverage or workout categories. This transition of a brand to a new product line can work extremely well as long as the core equity isn't stretch too far. Successful Transition: swiffer - its brand has been expanded into air freshners and dusting tools. Unsuccessful Transition: Coke - coke plus, its tough to think that consumers will ever consider a soft drink healthy...learning: invest in new categories (water for example) to capture health segment (maybe refrain from using the coke name all together).

2. Product attributes must build upon eachother - EAS's screw on cap sets it product apart from the competition in a distinct, visual and repeatable way. As the woman said I "absolutely loved the resealable container". The intriguing detail however is that the "Muscle Milk" product also had the screw cap (saw it in the picture), but it wasn't mentioned by the author. This tells me that the cap is not the primary driver of purchase but instead the secondary or tertiary driver. My guess is that the design of the bottle comes first, with contents and taste second, and package function third. The funny thing is, frequently the fundamentals (design in this case) must be met before a consumer will consider additional attributes. This hits on a concept I have been exploring: on the margin businesses. What does it take to get to the margin? What must be delivered upon just to be considered? The thought quickly pushes you to simplicity if you're thinking about starting something new. Its also the key advantage of expanding established brands into new categories, they're frequently already at the margin from day 1.

Learnings from James D Watson

Doctor Watson, author of double helix and winner of the Nobel prize, has come out with a new book entitled "Avoid (other) Boring People". I particularly enjoy his a clinical writing style. For each chapter he starts with "Manners from (insert stage of his life)" and closes with 5 to 8 key learnings.

Peter Drucker, the late famous management guru, frequently emphasize the usefulness of the self-reflective approach utilized by Watson. The study of past performance at attaining goals Drucker argues, is the most effective and arguably only method of assessing what you're good at.

Below are my 5 key learnings from the past 2 years in life and business.

1. Dancing is critical to happiness - You don't like dancing? Comon! I know your true feelings. As Prof. Moroson, hallowed Russian Literature professor at Northwestern, said while sharing life lessons with students during my Last Lectures series, "don't forget to play".

2. Depth = learning - Getting into a subject, synthesizing it, reiterating, reiterating, reiterating, showing your thoughts to experts, getting back at it, refining it are so critical and the roots of intellectual joy. (I've refined this post 6 times now)

3. Attitude can make or break you - A thirst for life actually changes what exists not solely what you see.

4. We all excel in certain areas and not others - For me: my key strengths are people, marketing intuition, and delivery when times are tight. My opportunity for growth is structured planning/thinking.

5. Offbeat is more fun than onbeat - (Even when creating new words!)

Building a product

I recently read an article on a redesign of a car air freshner in Packworld magazine that highlighted three key steps in the design process.

Goal: Clear through the clutter

Step 1: Customer research - conduct an awareness and usage study with target customers across multiple geographies with 4 products (including your current offering) to identify needs not currently met. In this case it was an ability to smell and test the Aero Metrics product before purchase.

Step 2: Choose the most important points of differentiation and begin redesign process. The Aero Metrics team described this step as particularly challenging with the small space provided on the product for words and visual information. They chose the test and sniff function and designed a sniff hole in the product.

Step 3: Store and shelf research - Products exist in physical environments and it is important to understand their place on the shelf. Aero Metrics saw that most competitor products banged up against each other on the shelf and that store lighting reached only the first couple rows. The team shrank the size of the packaging to reduce friction and muted the grey color to bring out further visibility of products way back in the shelf.

Two thoughts regarding the above approach.
1. Solid methodoical and process driven approach to redesigning a product
2. It seems they did not have a core definition of their own brand equity from the start. Single-mindedness on what you offer and consequently what you mean to customers should be cristal clear. Re designs like this, especially with regard to new functionality, should occur rarely and executed with the utmost care.

My Start Up Life

As Ben quotes at the end of his book.

"Mavis Leyer once said, "The object of life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting, Holy shit, what a ride!!!"

Networking - highlights from Ben Casnocha

Ben Casnocha, author of "My Start Up Life" has some great tips on networking and why its critical to business success.

Networking 101
1. Know yourself - What is your pitch? What unique skills, perspective, knowledge do you bring to the table?
2. Set goals - Develop a network before you need one
3. Do research - If you are about to reach out to someone know who they are and where your skills match with theirs
4. Develop a platform - Write a blog. Then you can ask questions like "I would like to do an article about you"

Networking 202
1. The "what you know" is important - While who you know is critical, its important to establish value to continue these relationships
2. Weak ties vs. strong ties - both are important
3. Maintenance - This one I like the most
a. e-mail newsletter - once a month
b. send some "touch base" snail mail
c. send articles to people
d. make introductions - a couple a week

www.kiva.org

This is what business is about. Helping people help themselves. For that matter, thats what life is about too.

check it out.

www.kiva.org

McDonalds is on fire

After a longo day at the job I wanted to briefly discuss my lunch experience today. I was out on the road visiting a business client and stopped at McDonalds following my meeting for a quick meal. I decided to go inside instead of the classic drive through. This turned out to be a great move.

Look at the above picture. That is the most pretty, highly refined, colorful, sharp $6.90 meal I have ever seen. And everything and I mean everything (except the bathrooms funny enough) have this brilliant design. Colors and sleek design is everywhere (including the tables, you can't see it here but they have a picture of a burger on each table - it looks better than the burgers I cook at home on my grill).

I especially love their packaging. It like each of those boxes has a present in it and each of the colors coordinates to a different type of prize. It reminds me a lot of casino chips. While I don't frequent those establishments their chips are brilliantly designed (especially their weight). Surprised that McDonald's have brought back Monopoly? Nope. I think they've found a way to make the McDonald's experience about rewarding yourself. I superb accomplishment for a brand built on quality food, speed, and price. I really think this is a great example of secret sauce. They have hit all of their core differentiators so well they have entered into uber-marketing world and are delivering something magical.

Honestly, I felt better after leaving McDonalds. I don't think I've felt good after leaving that place (and leaving is important, because I'm usually hungry on the way in and willing to eat a loaf of bread off the back of a truck in Manhattan) since I was a short kid. And of course, what else they do so well right now? Thats right, just like all great large companies...they sell happiness. (Arguably they are the front runner right now with BP). I saw a guy turn to one of his buddy's in line today and say "I want to be that guy" and pointed at a drawing of a man on a couch on the side of his bag. This guy in line...how old was he? He was a teenager! A teenager! I've never heard a teenager voice anything more than sarcastic optimism in my entire life.

I smiled. Thats gold. There's no way around it.

Get human

This is a really great idea.

www.gethuman.com

The Stamp

1765

The mob of 40 ravenous men, stomping as they marched to the house of the governor made people lock their doors. Like a hungry dog they broke every piece of glass in the large house, tearing the stuffing from couches and pulling back the floor boards.

Luckily Governor Williams had heard from neighbors of the impending mass and escaped minutes before their arrival. The next morning the Governor wrote to his trusted political friend pleading with him to halt any new legislation that might prove "unpopular". "The risks are dire" he said.

At his desk under the light of a white candle, Mr. Franklin read the letter and then sat back in his chair feeling slightly nervous. He had seen and even led battles against Indians on the border lands of Pennsylvania he thought, but these were Americans. He knew some of these men.

Then his eyes fell back to the letter lit by the candle on his desk. On the outside of the envelop he saw the red mark. A stamp. The new taxation on this basic object of everyday society is why those hungry men had splintered the Governors home. But yet there it was. Its power could reach him inside his home, over 80 miles from Philadelphia.

He began to sweat. The same object that was the Governor's crutch, was the gatekeeper for reaching his allies. Without it, could he even even ask for help? Franklin swallowed deeply. There was not a house in the colonies that didn't use that red object. On every kitchen table it sat. It was how they would do it. It was how those 40 men would enter into every family's home without invitation.

This rebellion was bigger than anyone had ever thought.

The Design Dividend

I have talked at good length about the increasing power of design in the American psyche. In one of my previous posts I mentioned how design focused companies have outperformed the rest of the market by 10 to 1. Above is the chart that demonstrates the point.

A component of the American design revolution that is missing from the above and only briefly mentioned in the October issue of Fast Company is what to do with a great peace of design. If you are fortunate enough to have a designer that can create the next i-pod, how do you market it? What steps are necessary to build the essence? This is the stuff I love.

page 339

In 1761 with the commencement of night travel for postal riders, mail delivery was at the peak of service excellence. An individual could post a letter and receive a reply the next day. This record would not be rivaled for two centuries.

Thats awesome. The speed of a man on a horse with passion and a mission held through the perfection of the locomotive, the advent of the automobile and mans conquering of the skies.

The personal revolution

6 of the 10 non-fiction best-sellers at Barnes and Nobel have pictures of individual people on their cover. The interesting thing is that as I looked at each book, a clear and distinct emotion came from each. Clinton's new book made me think powerful man. The Jenny McCarthy new book made me think caring mom. My guess is that what drives most consumers to pick up one of these books and bring it to the counter for purchase, is that they aspire to be the person who wrote it. Someone should test this theory by manufacturing a book with a famous celebrity's face on the cover (Gary Coleman...?) along with some nice text on the back and front covers but completely void of any text inside.

A couple thoughts from the last few days

1. My last blog entry was moderately clear at best
2. Design will continue to enter into more and more categories as a large driver of purchase. I was reading in the most recent issue of Fast Company that a three year study of more than 40 Fortune 500 companies found that organizations focused on customer-experience design have outperformed the S&P 500 by 10 to 1 from 2000 to 2005.
3. When you speak in front of large groups demonstrate value. Utilize examples, data, stories or accomplishments. Speaking in platitudes or methodologies is opaque and a waste of everyone's time.
4. I'm still not sure what makes people successful in large companies. Its been 2 years and I'm still shocked at who rises to positions of leadership. It seems the "I started with $x and grew it to $x in 3 years, etc." is not actually what accelerates people up the corporate ladder.
5. "Hurricane Products" It always amazes me how marketing can move large masses of people. Particularly the products that are built upon belief and substitute traditional functional attributes with heavy doses of emotion. Like a hurricane, they come through and dominate the environments they play in and command attention from everyone. So far I've nailed down two. Fireworks and diamonds.

Focus

As one of my bosses used to say. Work on one project at a time. I remember reading in a Peter Drucker book about how an executive at (the former) Bank One used to have meetings with his key people once a month. Each of those meetings were 1.5 hours (to match as he said, his max attention span for one topic). The executive came prepared to each meeting, having previously read all pertinent presentations/materials, and expected to discuss only the remaining questions he had. He divided his day in half. Morning: 3 one and half hour meetings with 3 fifteen minute breaks to return phone calls. Afternoon: personal reading and study.

I find the example of Tivo explored below particularly powerful.

Why your start-up will fail

WIL SCHROTER

Forbes.com

September 25, 2007 at 10:15 AM EDT

Whatever the exact figures, no one would argue that scores of budding new ventures die on the vine. One of the most common killers: lack of focus.

With precious few resources to expend, hewing to a specific, well-defined vision is critical for start-up companies. When entrepreneurs attack too many problems or chase too many opportunities at one time, they often end up with nothing to show for it.

• In Pictures: Top Five Startup Killers.

Why do so many entrepreneurs lose focus? The same reason they became entrepreneurs in the first place: ferocious ambition. Entrepreneurs are dreamers; restraint is unnatural. When it comes to staying focused, here are some lessons to keep in mind.

Internet Links

• Secrets of the self made
• Ready to turn your business into an empire
• Ten ways to torpedo your sales pitch
• Do-it-yourself PR tactics

Perfect One Idea First

Start-up Internet company Kiko was off to a terrific launch in 2005. The online calendar service was attracting high-profile investors, impressing industry luminaries and garnering fantastic press with its new product. By all accounts, Kiko was ready to take off.

But instead, a year later, the company went from being at the top of its game to being auctioned off on eBay for $258,000. What happened?

Many speculated that Google's new calendar service spelled Kiko's demise. But if you ask the founders and investors behind the company, it wasn't just about losing to Google. It was also about losing focus on their product.

"One of the reasons Kiko died was that the founders spent several months working on another project," says YCombinator's Paul Graham, a Kiko investor. "If they'd spent those months working on Kiko instead, they might have been far enough along to withstand Google calendar when it came out."

Graham admits that focus alone may not have been enough to survive Google's onslaught, but it would have given Kiko a fighting chance.

Don't Attack Too Many Problems At Once

Face it: You don't have enough money, time, brains and limbs to fix everything that's wrong with your company. That's why you have to focus on the handful of issues that truly demand attention.

Jessica Livingston, author of Founders at Work, has profiled dozens of start-ups. Many have struggled to maintain their focus--even companies that eventually sold shares to the public.

Take TiVo. In its formative years, TiVo wanted to build a network server that could provide an array of home-media services, from movies to music. Soon enough, writes Livingston, the company realized its snazzy box would not only be complicated to install, it would be hard for customers to understand. TiVo's decision: Focus on one killer application and branch out later on.

That "killer app" was the digital video recorder, or DVR--now a market unto itself. TiVo's current market cap: nearly $600 million.

Identify The Real Opportunities

Sometimes the challenge is not focusing on one value proposition, but being flexible enough to recognize when another is more compelling. It's not uncommon that entrepreneurs find their greatest opportunities in products they didn't even realize they were building.

Flickr, the popular photo-sharing site, started life as one feature of a totally different concept: a multiplayer online game called "Game Neverending." Soon the developers started noticing that their photo-sharing feature was stealing the show.

The founders knew they didn't have the time and resources to work on both opportunities, so they shifted their focus (with some regret at the time) to Flickr. Good move: In 2005 Yahoo! shelled out a reported $20 to $30 million for Flickr, now the cornerstone of the Web portal's popular photo-hosting service.

Stick To What You're Good At

Yes, the world is full of opportunities. But the key to making money is recognizing the thing you can do better than the competition.

In his book, Focus: The Future of Your Company Depends on It, author Al Ries describes how behemoths like Dell Computer Home Depot and Best Buy have all built powerful franchises based on one simple concept: being good at one thing.

Like your high school English teacher said: "Keep it simple, stupid."

Wil Schroter is the founder and chief executive of the Go BIG Network, a leading community of start-up companies.

Paperbackswap.com

This is a great idea. Imagine the hundreds (soon to be thousands?) of books traveling across the United States at any one time. Napster for books ...

www.paperbackswap.com

Verbal communication

In many ways being an entrepreneur is no different than working in more traditional businesses. One of the essential skills that overlaps both spheres of the commercial world is verbal communication. I was fortunate enough to be born with a natural inclination towards the verbal gab and grew up in a household where the traditional tools and techniques of persuasion could frequently be heard around the dinner table.

With all that said ... as I spend more of my time talking with various potential business partners I am struck that when I reflect upon my impact and overall effectiveness in communicating the point I would like to get across, that my performance is varied. Sometimes I find myself "in the zone" and my tone is firm but generous, I interject appropriate humor as the conversation gets tense or uncomfortable, I remember to smile and to look directly in their eyes and I keep ready that mental check list in my head and easily transition to the next point or topic at the appropriate time. Other times ... its just bad. I feel uptight, nervous, can't remember what I have to say and my overall effectiveness deflates almost immediately as these things happen.

I would like to begin to document some of the key steps in conducting a concrete conversation in order to develop a process that I can repeat and refine as time progresses.

Two very important ground rules:
- Be kind and purposeful in all of your comments. This is really critical, and the best businessmen/women I've seen perfect this balance. Getting mad is almost never worth while and timidity earns little respect from even the least sophisticated individuals. In the end, take to heart what your mother taught you. Always be respectful and kind and set your own path in this world.

- Prepare. Its amazing how much even 3 minutes of note jotting can help prior to a conversation. While prep time varies a great deal depending upon the circumstance, knowing in your mind the list of 3 -4 things that you would like to get out of the conversation or from that person seems basic, but its frequently overlooked and an easy step to take.

Ok, so now to the chronological conversation.
First - Say your name and why you're speaking with that person. If the occasion presents itself, provide an introduction, but when you get to a question be specific but not confrontational.

Last - Ask if there is anyone else they think might be a helpful person for you to speak with. End every interaction with that question. A lot of the whole business game its networking and finding the correct people.

Theres a lot more in there and I'll add as I track more of what feels most effective. How do you approach business interactions? What works best on your end?

Communicate, communicate, communicate

Clear communication is a learned art (just ask my writing teacher in college), but at the same time has the added benefit of being simple in its finest form. Look for it and you'll see it in a snap. Ba da ba ba ba ... I'm lovin it. The quilted quicker picker upper, bounty. Expect more, pay less.

Great communicators are able to sift through the clutter, to sift through all the nosie and arrive at a simple, short, and emotional message. In today's highly competitive marketing world short and simple could not be more important. Take a look at TMZ.com or USA today ... or my all-time favorite, cnn. Its almost like American consumers want to be woken up every 7 seconds ... maybe we should start selling dancing monkeys for the kitchen counter top.

The three companies below, two new and one established, use different tools and methods to clearly communicate their message. Frequently they employ a small twist, and it makes all the difference.

1. Ebates - Cash in my pocket (instead of discount). I ran across these guys in a recent article on new web2.0 companies. The article discussed how google was considering advertising models that offered partial compensation to users for clicking on adds (sorry, not yet folks). Ebates is currently utilizing this model in its online store. The name, ebates, communicates rebate + internet. The pages are organized by how much you get back for each product purchased. While Amazon may offer 20% off the new Harry Potter book, Ebates pays you to buy things off their website.

2. Real Age - You are infact younger than you get credit for (instead of health information). Don't prevent aging affects, return to how you feel, to your youth! If I remember correctly these guys were just bought by a private equity shop. Again, why listen to your doctor or health planner when you can have Oprah tell you how young you actually feel (that show is a lot more about youth ideals than it at first appears ... its the second - or first - youth for the housewife). (Small side note, this is whats so brilliant about Adam Werbach's new environmental plan with WalMart employees, he keeps its personal, emotional ... don't attack the world, improve your own life first. Its personal and its sharp.)

3. Abercrombie & Fitch - Sex (instead of sexy clothes). Walk into one of their stores. Go ahead, I know its painful, just try it. It hurts, I know, but its simple, short, and emotional. Take one of those posters home with you and put it in your bathroom. My dad said last week, and this is really strange if you know my dad, that sex is used in selling every product except no product. Own a component of design (or in this case messaging) and leverage it at the expense of the other components. Its how you want to see yourself down the road...

The big & sticky

Sometimes when you are in the weeds of trying to accomplish your weekly goals or reaching out to make industry contacts, you find yourself glued to a computer screen or on the phone for two, three, fours hours of the day. Coffee becomes your best friend. For me, after those long nights I try and revisit and test my current answers to some of the higher-level questions that are critical to the success of the overall business.

In a recent article on women run businesses from Entrepreneur magazine there were some good ideas on what some of these higher level questions are.

1. Is your idea scalable?- a product/service that rides a trend that blooms in 3 - 5 years. Most importantly, an expandable distribution system, manufacturing relationships that can sustain higher volume levels, a plan for increasing the sales force and a plan for scaling up advertising.

2. Is it a commercially viable business model? - this is a kind way of saying do you have a solid understanding of the costs of the business / industry you're thinking of entering. For instance, how do advertising expenses affect your break into the black.

3. Viable exit strategy - not fun stuff, but necessary.

4. Clear pitch - It can be easy to "know" your business but not be able to explain it well. I've run into this stuttering phenomenon more than once. Practice is really critical. This is also a great area to get feedback from your advisory board on. Their role is not only to help with understanding the dynamics of new industries / setting up relationships, but also to ask you the tough questions to crystallize your thoughts.

Naketano

These guys are on to something special. I've always loved strong colors in almost anything, but especially in clothing (just ask anyone who knows me). Naketano has added strong cuts to a no reservations attitude towards neon. It just clicks, I love it.

http://www.naketano.de/

The answer

1. What can I give people? What do they want?
Access
Free stuff

2. What can you learn if you tried to start a business with the simple idea mentioned above. I want advertising dollars. I want traffic. I want eyeballs. Its a good scoping tool.
A. Advertise on the website where you get it (youtube. Go to this website and fill out information, and take a look at these ads for other free stuff.)
B. Whoever distributes this to the most people gets a free mercedez
C. Provide your information to ... and you get a free mercedez. (use it as a tool to gather personal information for another company. People provide their personal information so valuemail can send you advertisements for other products.)
E. Sign up for ... and you could get a free mercedez (Three points 1. The information you provide can be used for advertising. 2. Funnel you into purchasing another product. 3. You send the e-mail to other people.) How about an easy function where you can automatically send it to everyone in your e-mail account.
D. Give me a dollar.
E. Hold an event where people pay to get in. Give me x % of all ticket sales (charity auction).

How big is the advertising $ on the internet?

Bigger than I had originally thought. Huge. I just wanted to remind myself to discuss. NYTimes dropped their paid subscriptin business today due to greater revenue opportunities in advertising dollars available from consumers who would read their articles online if it were free.

Two questions to consider:

1. What can I give people? What do they want?

2. What can you learn if you tried to start a business with the simple idea mentioned above. I want advertising dollars. I want traffic. I want eyeballs. Its a good scoping tool.

The important stuff

Hard work and dedication are critical to execution. Remaining who you are at your core however, prevents you from committing some awful mistakes ... for the line between genius and insanity is thin.

Consider an example. Steve Jobs delivers revolutionary creations better than almost anyone. Imagine Steve without a moral compass. It becomes clear that he could accomplish some pretty terrible stuff without guidance and in a different environment/society/country. What should we take away? Make sure your porpoise. Get your head above the water and ask your-self which destination you want to head towards. Don't be afraid to have those vulnerable 'college' conversations about life ...

One thing that I have learned the hard way over these past two years is that once you've affirmed your destination make sure you tilt heavily in your dedication. Hard work accelerates learning exponentially. Don't be afraid to stop hoping and start believing.

So now I've argued both sides of the coin. One last tid-bit. Write thank you notes by hand. Its personal and it matters.

WSJ Article - Self Funded Entrepreneurs

Fascinating article from the WSJ on "bootstrappers" or self-funded entrepreneurs from my buddy Conall. Below is my e-mail to him and a copy of the article. Thanks Con!


Conall -

Solid, solid article. Thanks for sharing. A few takeaways ...

1.Small, if for no other reason than to learn & and to keep a full stomach. A couple things came to mind:
- Design competitions. Link small businesses with creative designers to tackle a specific design problem. The twist is that you provide the business challenge to multiple designers and hold a pot of gold at the end for the winner. (This one has been on the mind for a few months)
- Beer vendor for college students. Need beer? We'll bring it to your dorm/apartment door any night of the week.
- Massages on college campuses at the library. Engage the University to pay for it.
- Consulting 101, the real thing. You know all those guys/girls at top Universities who want nothing more than to work at a consulting firm. Teach them, charge them.
- Timely and cost effective transportation for the night shift community. The middle and lower class are frequently overlooked, but they are huge (7.6 M HH) and growing (Hispanics accounted for 49% of population growth from 2000 to 2004).

2. Government loans. I like it. Tell me where and how, I'm there.

3. Buy small companies and make them lean. How many businesses do we walk into and recognize that they are focusing large amounts of resources in the wrong areas? Kinkos, sandwich shop down the street. Set up people with what they want to buy! Also, this is a great way to take another perspective on your own business plan. If I wanted to buy the business I am trying to start, what would I do differently on the first day? Small time private equity ...

4. Start with what is free. Who has a vested interest in providing you with low cost/free stuff.? Companies based on advertising ... facebook and whateverlife.com come to mind. For me, how can I engage a philanthropy early on to assist in purchasing the first round of product?

The overall message of the article is really powerful - easy and cheap. Its a great way to bring the challenging proposition of starting a business down to size ... and making it executable. Test, learn and keep moving ... keep getting better. Its exciting.


Best,
JP

----
----
----

The Benefits of Using
Your Own Bootstraps

By KELLY K. SPORS
June 10, 2007

When Seth Riney started a hybrid-auto taxi service in Boston in 2003, the 33-year-old aerospace engineer didn't pursue private investors. Instead, he found a more compatible financier: himself.

Mr. Riney traded in his 2002 Dodge Dakota pickup truck for a Toyota Prius. He kept a day job and worked early mornings and evenings ferrying around friends and family willing to pay for a lift. After a few months, he squirreled away enough money to hire his first employee and put a down payment on a second Prius. He kept adding more hybrids and more drivers as his cash stash grew.

Today, Mr. Riney's business, PlanetTran, has grown to a fleet of 35 hybrids and about 75 employees. He recently expanded his taxi service to San Francisco with the help of some investors. The company had $1.5 million in revenue in 2006, and Mr. Riney expects it will reach $4 million this year. "It was the kind of business that could grow organically without spending a lot of money in the early stages," he says.

Less Can Be Better

Would-be entrepreneurs often think starting a successful business requires a large cash infusion to pay for an office, employees and professional marketing to make a cannonball splash in the market. But many are discovering the advantages of "bootstrapping" -- or using little or no external capital and conserving as much cash as possible to grow the business. It's about finding effective ways to build a business yourself without running thin on cash.

There are many compelling reasons to do it. For one, the fewer outside investors you take on, the less equity and control you forfeit to people who often have vastly different priorities than yours. Outside investors may want the business to grow as rapidly as possible so they can see quick returns on their money, even when slow growth is the better business model. "When you bring on other investors, you're instantly conflicted because what's in the best interest of shareholders may not always be in the best interest of you as the CEO of the company," says Bill Payne, an expert on private investing for the Kauffman Foundation, a Kansas City, Mo., center for entrepreneurs. What's more, keeping a tight lid on spending during the start-up phase means the mistakes you make will be far less expensive than if you'd spent a lot, he adds.

Keep the Day Job

There are many methods that bootstrappers use to self-finance and save on cash. For starters, many tap into their own bank accounts, credit cards, and home-equity lines of credit. Of course, this is risky if the business fails. So like Mr. Riney, one way to make sure you don't go broke early on is to keep a day job until the business is profitable enough to stand on its own.

There are also business-plan competitions and government grants available to some start-ups, as an alternative to outside investors. And sometimes businesses can strike deals with their suppliers and other business associates to delay bills and get paid early -- at least until the business is profitable enough to stand on its own.

Wendy Fergerson, president of Integrated Printing Solutions, an Overland Park, Kan., corporate- fulfillment service, bought her business for $170,000 in 2004, while the company was $1.2 million in debt. She spent the following months calling the company's vendors and suppliers to explain the situation and renegotiate terms, including scoring a $400 discount on monthly rent from her landlord. She also devised a strategy for maximizing her use of personal credit cards. She kept moving around $60,000 worth of credit-card debt among about 15 cards and paying off the balance in the grace period before interest kicked in. She also made use of 0% interest introductory offers as much as possible.

Today, the company is in the black and had $1.7 million in sales last year. "I used personal resources and personal skills to save this company," she says.

Other bootstrappers do as much as possible to keep their costs low, whether it's buying used office equipment on eBay, using interns and freelancers instead of hired help or seeking out free advice.

Home Base

Mark Roberge last summer launched a social-networking site, PawSpot.com, for pet owners looking to swap pet-sitting duties, arrange play dates and share information on local pet-services vendors. Starting the business as a Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate student, he pulled together $500,000 from outside investors to help fund his start-up needs. Although there were opportunities to raise more, he didn't want to forfeit more control of the company.

So, instead of buying or leasing office space, Mr. Roberge worked from home for several months and held meetings in cafes. He paid four graduate students about $1,000 a month for 10 hours a week of freelance help with marketing and technology analysis. And, he used several open-source software programs -- software often available free or at low cost online to the general public -- to test out potential site features before investing money to create them internally.

He also signed up for affiliate-marketing programs and Google's AdSense program to make some extra cash from the site when visitors clicked on ads or purchased goods from the advertisers.

Pro Bono Help

There are numerous resources for start-ups looking to minimize costs, says Candida Brush, an entrepreneurship professor at Babson College in Wellesley, Mass. Many colleges and universities offer free and low-cost help to local entrepreneurs, such as legal or intellectual-property counseling by law students.

Joining local business networking groups or a small-business development center can also give entrepreneurs the opportunity to get advice from other entrepreneurs and perhaps even barter for necessary services such as accounting help, instead of paying cash.

Some recently launched Web-only businesses now offer traditional services -- such as legal help with incorporating a business, public relations and creating spot TV ads -- for a fraction of what they traditionally cost. So entrepreneurs who shop around for services, Ms. Brush says, can find numerous ways to keep their costs low.

"Cash is king," Ms. Brush adds. "If you manage your cash well, you're probably going to do a better job of making the business work."

Design is about how you see the future

What could be? How will it be different? How will this make me look better ... sexier, happier, more caring? Shapes, particularly the contour of a line speak loudly to our eyes about how things will look in the future. Products must strive to be held, strive to be touched, strive to show depth about what will change for the better.

I was struck by this insight last night after I reaching a milestone in my business plan following many, many, many hours spent plugging away at coffe shops & bookstores. I went out to celebrate and took to a "thinking" walk. (Ya know, the "life is great, it has so much to offer" ... kind of walk. Not the "where is it all going" walk.) I found myself close to a large grocery store near my hoouse (Giant Eagle) and went in to buy some tasty food and drink to celebrate.

As I walked through the front doors and past the produce I was in free flow mode. Usually I walk into the grocery store with a mission, a mental checklist (80% pancakes and bacon products), and a brisk walk. However this time it was definately different, I was just coasting, almost subconsciously floating through the store.

I was thinking, "What would be good? What would be good to celebrate? What's an indulgence that would make me feel good?" Then I saw it, Fiji water ... and I felt oh yeah, relaxing and luxurious, I've accomplished something ... I may even be rich. Now I don't even buy Fiji water. I admire their branding and the company's story but its not a water I search for. But at that moment, as I rode the high from my new business idea and thought about the future I wanted to bring Fiji water with me, I wanted it to be my ambassador. I wanted to feel something and I needed my fix. I had a problem and Fiji fixed it. Its thats simple.

So I'd like to take a look at 5 products that mean something to me and explore some of the reasons why. The magic lays in their design so lets focus on the visual.

1. Fiji Water - Its the indentation from the top into the middle and the subtle angles of the box. Its the absence of anything but the word Fiji and the picture. Great example of another design principal I like: take one design component (preferrably the most important one) and leverage it at the expense of the others.

2. Gushers - Fruit gummies that explode with juice in your mouth. Does anything else scream fun like that? So clear and simple a two year old could have come up with the name ...

3. I-phone - Look at it. Its the most complex phone ever made for the mass market and what else is it ... this simplest looking phone ever made for the mass market!!! Its also really pretty.

4. The McDonald's Arch - Its a smiley face, upside-down. And its yellow. (Guess what else is, WalMart anyone? People just want simple and happy) I'm convinced that large corporate America just tries to sell happiness. Think about it, British Petrolium ... yep, happy little people with a sun, driving through magical greenness. Is it a mistake the sun turns into their logo? Nope. Everytime you see it, thats what they're making you think. Happiness and clean. Coke, happiness. Pepsi, happiness & fun.

5. The bug - every been suprised by the amount of people driving bugs that you never thought would be? And how many of them keep that stupid flower on their dashboard? Its really an environment more than a car. An accessory. Cars frequently represent what people want to be if they really had what they wanted, if they just had the time, the freedom. Instead, they just get a little dose of the ideal everytime they walk to driveway in the morning. The secret? Its an animal.

What do you want to bring with you into the future?

Nuggets from Ben Franklin

I'm currently reading H.W. Brands book on Benjamin Franklin, "The First American" and have found many of Franklin's business methods noteworthy. Below are a few of the best nuggets:

1. With people, the direct approach is frequently the ineffective approach.

2. Your written word is another voice.

3. Bad things happen, continue to determine your future.

4. Preparation, not strength, sets the odds for any battle.

5. Read, read, read.

Hillarious

"The world is going really really slow." Thanks goodness we're not all high and dieing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnZb5wi_jsU

Its amazing how some people spend their time

Wait I'm watching it....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZpD0btOZx8

This is incredible

Hillarious and cool as hell
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMnk7lh9M3o

30,000 feet vs. 6.6 feet

Corporate Strategy vs. Starting a Businesses

Corporate Strategy thinking
1. Focuses you on down-stream industries/businesses (and what to stay away from - IT)
2. Teaches you how to write and make a clear argument
3. Introduces you to smart, experienced professionals whom you can learn a lot from quickly

Starting a Business thinking
1. Requires you to think through a level of operational detail that teaches you how the business/industry works in reality
2. Teaches you how to think in multiple disciplines (marketing, finance, operations)
3. Teaches you to enjoy spending time alone to explore

The road to failure is lined with many good intentions

In the New York times on July 22nd Ron Nixon wrote about Greg Wyler, a 37 year old tech boom millionaire, and his honorable efforts to bring the internet to Rawanda. He was unsuccessful.

Three points are worth taking away from his experience:
1. Understand the infrasctructure of the system in which you will work and what pieces can be manipulated. Recognizing that the rules are different from the rules you are used to is a critical step.
2. Pick something small and changeable if for no other reason than to establish credibility
3. Operators must operate. Get your hands dirty or find someone who is more talented to do it for you. Especially when an infrastructure doesn't currently exist, it is frequently necessary to create one or leverage another system. America is a rare environment in that if you create a compelling product; the laws, distribution systems, talent, and eager consumers are all waiting for you. The same is not true in emerging markets. While they both offer potentially attractive rewards, each presents a different set of challenges.

One final closing note": as Roosevelt said,"it is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena..."

ectolearning.com

www.ectolearning.com
While I imagine this website is far from the first attempt at effectively merging the classroom with techonology, it has struck an important cord in the evolution of user created content: organizing examples.

I chose to join a "web 2.0" group on the site. There were two youtube videos provided to begin the learning experience. Each took a different angle on the sugject. While wikipedia might define web 2.0 with text, it does not (yet) go out into the internet and pick out the best examples. I watched both of videos and discovered that they were made by "experts" (read people with passion for the subject) somewhere out in cyberspace. I found one of the videos engaging and extremly well presented. So I asked myself, why can't I find these people for other things that interest me?

The internet has opened the doors into remote corners of the world from the comfort of my living room couch. If I want to, I can find someone half way acorss the globe who shares my passion for underwater basket weaving and practices the art 24/7. Why not bring these people and their experiences front and center for people to learn from? So far no one has effectively managed and organized these powerful "examples" online.

When I'm tired after a stressful day at work sometimes I just want to watch a funny video. I boot up my computer and go to youtube. Frequently my search for amuzing entertainment ends in vain. Instead of just providing the "most popular" videos, take it down to a deeper level. On a subject, for a topic, what are the most pertinent and engaging videos....? Ecto may be on the brink of starting something powerful.

UNIQLO - The next big visual revolution

Pictures. A large part of my brain has always resided with the world of images and the emotions that lay behind them. After a long day at work analyzing nums and compiling large powerpoint decks, a simple photograph on the front page of a newspaper, or the angle of a person's face as she sits at a cafe talking with a friend can easily bring a smile to my face. So, with that said, I am going to start a series of commentaries upon the visual world - advertisements, pictures, art, images, movies, anything counts... The world offers too many not be inspired.

To start, lets move across world to Japan. UNIQLO is one of the coolest retail operations I've run across in a while (next to Abercrombe of course - terrible stuff, but boy is their brand clear. Think model runway star and walk into one of their stores - genius. I should hit myself for saying that.) Uniqlo is one of the largest retailers in Japan and from the limited amount of info I've gathered, pretty good at what they do. But, to the content. 1. Use of space and time in their advertising reflects a flexibility with the boundaries of physics that I have rarely seen in the U.S. (My guess is that a lot of it stems from the prevalence of martial arts in their culture - think Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon...but this is purely a guess.) This manifests itself in a mold between the mechanical and the graceful. Nike is the closest to this style in the U.S. but still far from capturing it. 2. While an initial impressions may lead viewers to think that UNIQLO's style organically grew from martial arts and athletics (including myself), upon further study I reach a different conclusion (and contradict myself). A large part of their style comes from extracting beauty in the ordinary. The pictures suggest that every part of you hold powerful beauty, that at each and every moment of you life...you can be a hero. They find the nugget of beauty in someone walking down the street or watching a play, extract it, blow it up, and put it front and center. Take a look at their website (http://www.uniqlo.com/), the picture of a girl in a hoodie is a good example....doing her hair anyone? One last thing for discussion next time. We'll just call it redonculous for now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_j67wgWqZ5U