“Attack The Problem, Not The Competition” – Dharmesh Shah

A market with no clear market leader is a free for all for a lot of competition.  It’s also a sign that no one has figured out the key value proposition.

Competition tends to lead to a comparison of features and it’s an easy stretch to begin attacking the competition for their weaknesses.

This is an arrogant behavior because it takes focus away from the most important constituent, which is the customer. Attacking competitors takes time, effort and energy.  Worse yet, it is a sign of fear.

The winner in the market will be the one who solves the customer’s problem.

“Starting with no money is an advantage. You don’t need money to start helping people.” – Derek Sivers

Starting with little or no capital forces the entrepreneur to focus on the essentials.

It also tends to focus more attention on creating the key solution a customer’s problem.  If you can only afford to do one thing, it had better be the most important thing.

Read “Anything You Want” by Derek Sivers

“The key to a successful entrepreneur is the ability to listen and there’s no app for that” – Don Weiss

The internet makes it possible for the entrepreneur do run the business with a lot less people and a lot less money than it used to.

Unfortunately, modern technology has a side effect and that is that we have become even more isolated from direct personal contact.

Understanding your customer’s needs can’t be done by surveys, and social media.  It takes more than 140 characters to really understand another human being and build a relationship.

Your customers, potential key employees, investors and partners expect more in the relationship than Facebook likes and and blog posts.

Until we tackle telepathy, there’s only one way.

This quote came from a report on NPR: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=240685227

 

“The best interviews are when the other party does most of the talking.” – Shawn Carson

When validating your value proposition with customers, its tempting to talk all about your product and what it will do and how great it will be.

When meeting people at a social mixer, it’s tempting to talk about your accomplishment and your new startup and how it’s going.

When giving a presentation, especially when you have the chance to receive feedback, it’s tempting to defend your ideas or try to better explain what you tried (and failed) to say.

Here’s the thing…

You are just like the rest of us on the planet.  You like to hear yourself talk.  But when you realize all the valuable information you can get by simply shutting up and letting the other person tell you things, all of the sudden your world will open up in ways you never imagined. The other person wants to talk as much as you do.  But they are giving you something you can’t get from your perspective;  their perspective.

The customer will tell you want’s important them.  You don’t have to…

The other person will tell you what they do for a living and how they might be able to help you, if you simply show interest in them and regard their business card with respect.

That “encourager” who hears your pitch for the first time, will tell you directly if you didn’t make something clear.  You’ve heard your pitch before and they haven’t.  First impressions ARE important.  If they didn’t get it, that’s your fault.

Shhhhhhh….  Listen…..

 

 

“I’d rather be ashes than dust.” – Jack London

Ashes result from entropy – the transfer of energy from one form to another.  It is the result of activity.  The consumption of resources and fuel.

Dust accumulates from inactivity.  It is attracted to things that sit still… for a long time.

Steve Blank says that startups fail because of bad business models.  This is true.  But there is another reason.

A lot of great ideas sit on a shelf and die of inactivity.  They accumulate dust.

Failure should be process of learning.  If you’re going to fail, let it be because you tried everything possible and determined there is no market for your idea.  Then pivot.

“Entrepreneurship is NOT predictable.” – Rob Wiltbank

There are some great resources available now for Entrepreneurs:

  • “The Startup Owner’s Manual” by Steve Blank
  • “Business Model Generation” by Alex Osterwalder
  • “The Lean Startup” by Eric Ries

…and many others.

They all are based on one fundamental premise – All Startups are outliers.  They are a  new creation when they are formed.  Traditional business frameworks and management tools are all based on having data, which means having history.  If a Startup is brand new, with a brand new product, in perhaps a brand new market, how can it be predictable?

It is impossible for anyone to predict the success or failure of a new innovation.  That must mean the potential for success is infinite.  But so is the potential for failure.  Every time Apple releases a new product, there are those who predict their demise along with those who fInd miracles.  So what?

None of this matters to the entrepreneur.  It only matters to the hopeless masses standing on the sideline trying to gain attention by predicting the success of an outlier.

Go make meaning!

Rob WIltbank spoke at the 2013 SSTI Conference in Portland

“Entrepreneurship is NOT egalitarian” – Rob Wiltbank

The best technologies don’t always win.  Sometimes, ideas get stolen.  There are no rules of fairness and getting the government involved with entrepreneurship will only kill innovation.

Rules define boundaries and they constrain creativity.  They focus attention toward the mainstream and their purpose is to create efficiency and yet they consume resources without adding value.  The moment a rule is created, there has to be a measuring system and an infrastructure to evaluate and enforce the rule.

The Federal Government killed the potential of Startups to exit via IPO’s because they wanted to make sure we never have another Enron.

There will be plenty of barriers.  That’s why we have pivots.  Stay focused on the customer.

Rob Wiltbank spoke at the 2013 SSTI Conference in Portland

“Entrepreneurship is NOT normally distributed” – Rob Wiltbank

The statistics on venture investment suggest that 2% or less of startups are “successful”.  But that’s for those actually looking for equity based funding.  The coming of crowd funding is changing that and it’s true that most startups get traction by bootstrapping.

But the fundamental nature of entrepreneurship seems to defy analysis.  Entrepreneurs find a problem in need of a solution and are able to provide that solution to someone who is willing to pay for it.

We have a guy who teaches gun safety.  People come to his classes and have to load their guns by holding them under their arms or in worse places.  So he invented a folding table specifically designed for that purpose.  He had a few made and now others are asking for them.  It’s not the next Apple and he likely will not show up in an HBR article.

But he IS an entrepreneur!

Rob Wiltbank spoke at the 2013 SSTI Conference in Portland