From Antifragile: Things that Gain from Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Showing posts with label Entrepreneurship. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Entrepreneurship. Show all posts
Sunday, January 10, 2016
Saturday, November 28, 2015
The LEAN Startup Checklist
I’m an early adopter of Lean Startup. Ever since Eric Ries starting writing about his thoughts on the Startup Lessons Learned Blog, I was hooked.
I was hooked because he just made sense. Eric put a language to concepts I had believed in ever since the first startup
I joined in 1999 pivoted from B2C to B2B. Of course we didn’t call it a
pivot back then, nor did we base it on any meaningful data. When we
realized we were B2B, then that’s when things took off, we survived the
dot com bubble and were acquired in 2006.
Since 2009, I’ve read everything I could find from Eric Ries / Steve Blank / Kate Rutter / Laura Klein / Janice Fraser / Alexander Osterwalder / Ash Maurya / Dave McClure / Brant Cooper / Patrick Vlaskovits / Jeff Gothelf / Josh Seiden / Giff Constable and then went off and tried these ideas, in the real world, with my clients.
I’ve
been advising startups and corporations on Lean Startup for about 5
years now, and I wanted to report back on some of my findings:
- Minimum Viable Products are optimized for learning, not scaling. This is one of the hardest things to convey to people who’ve spent their lives building to build, not building to learn. These are people who’ve been burned in the past and told to release a half baked prototype to thousands of customers. These directives come from management who thought that if you throw enough people at the prototype, then everything would be fine. So be patient when people aren’t eager to adopt the MVP concept right way. This is the main reason I start with Learn in the Build Measure Learn loop. What do you need to learn about the customer? The market? The problem? When you start with learn, it helps soften the blow.
- The second hardest thing about Minimum Viable Products is that while you decide what’s Minimum, the customer determines if it is Viable. You’ll need to lead your team out of the trough of sorrow after they experience this despair for the first time. Never have I experienced a team where they released an MVP and on the first try, had wild success and then made millions of dollars. It takes weeks or months of experimentation to see if there is a there, there. Remember that the goal of the MVP isn’t to scale or generate revenue, it’s to learn in the market by generating qualitative & quantitative data. You use that data combined with your vision to then, in turn, make a more informed investment decision. Not many people understand this nuance yet.
- The most common pivots I see in practice are Customer Pivot, Problem Pivot and Solution Pivot. A Customer Pivot is when you are passionate about the problem, but during customer discovery you find it is a different segment that has the problem. You pivot from one customer segment to the other, based on what you’ve learned. A Problem Pivot is when you are passionate about the customer, but the problem you thought they had isn’t their most painful one. You pivot from one problem to the other, and stay locked in on that customer segment. A Solution Pivot is when you are dialed into the customer and problem, but your solution isn’t a good fit. The value proposition resonates and yet still no one uses it. You pivot from one solution to another, based on what you’ve learned, in hopes of solving the problem in a sustainable manner.
- Almost no one is using Innovation Accounting correctly. Startups aren’t using it because they don’t take time or lack the skills to instrument analytics and create a baseline. Corporations don’t use it because they either aren’t allowed to use the proper analytics tools or can’t trace the metrics across fiefdoms of functional silos. One of the most powerful concepts in Lean Startup, Innovation Accounting, has yet to even be fully realized.
- As a founder, it can be harder to raise big money if you use Lean Startup. All of that experimentation you’ve done to learn about the market, the customer and the solution essentially means you are no longer the sexy unicorn founded on a team and a dream of 1B valuation. However, don’t get too depressed that Lean Startup won’t help you land home run funding, because it will still significantly increase your chances of raising base hit funding.
- Customer discovery never stops. Have a landing page and people are signing up? Great, go interview them and ask them why they signed up. People love your new mobile app and are referring all of their friends? Awesome, go ask them why they are so passionate about it. You cannot uncover why people are signing up, using and evangelizing your product by just looking at metrics. Quantitative metrics tell you the what, not the why. You still need to go talk to them.
- Lean Startup is not a fad and is here to stay, in one form or another. It reminds me very much of Extreme Programming (XP). Both had “theory of relativity like” ideas and a small, but passionate following. XP became the catalyst for modern software practices like Pair Programming, Test Driven Development and Continuous Deployment. I believe Lean Startup is similar, in that it is the catalyst for the next generation of entrepreneurship and modern product development.
Sunday, August 23, 2015
Saturday Morning Breakfast Club - POP - Ottawa Towers Open House Development for September 19th, 2015
Saturday Morning Breakfast Club topic on Ottawa Towers Open House for September 19, 2015 - Phyllis Carroll invited her fellow graduates of the Detroit Microloan Collaborative -
who will be participating in the Open House & Co-Locating.
Todd Gulich speaking on Tech Shop as part of the unfolding PLAN (he visited and toured on the way to MOPOP Festival and picked up materials for distribution on behalf of our CROSS-POLLINATION efforts in developing the Entertainment/Entrepreneurial District)
Hubert Price, on advocacy towards a Library Annex at Ottawa Towers as part of the unfolding PLAN
Phyllis Carrol introducing fellow Entrepreneurs, recently graduated from Lifeline Solutions, New Economy Initiative, Women's Foundation collaborative Entrepreneurship program at Tech Town - supported by Michigan Economic Development Corporation and Huntington Bank -
Tae Wallace on Community Center development in 8 School Properties purchased by Ottawa Towers
Bethany on her evolving fashion line in partnership with Phyllis Carroll
Harrell's Italian Ice, Christine Myers
Kevin's Cheescakes - moving into 2nd Stage
Daniel Johnson - Dignity Memorial Providers of Detroit
For context, viewed Bruce Katz on the future of Innovation Districts and Placemaking - to understand the assets of Ottawa Towers and Phoenix Center as aids to catalytic economic and community development efforts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g58dujNkN2U
Tuesday, August 4, 2015
White House Demo Day - #WHDemoDay
White House Demo Day
Opening the doors to entrepreneurs from across the country.
TUNE IN
Come back to this page on August 4 between 1:30 and 4PM
Participate online using the hashtag #WHDemoDay
Tomorrow, Tuesday, August 4, the White House is hosting a Demo Day where we will showcase the wide-ranging talents of innovators from across the country. Unlike a private-sector Demo Day, where entrepreneurs “pitch” their ideas to funders, innovators from around the country will join President Obama to “demo” their individual success stories and show why we need to give every American the opportunity to pursue their bold, game-changing ideas.
But we don’t want the day’s activity to be limited to events in Washington, DC. That’s why we’re encouraging entrepreneurs, innovation spaces, universities, and more to host their own Demo Day events and follow along live as we engage in a conversation about how we can ensure that everyone has access to the tools and resources they need to make their ideas a reality.
How Can You Join In On August 4
Host a Watch Party:
Whether in your garage, dorm room, or Maker space, gather members of your community to tune in to the White House’s Demo Day activities and have a discussion about the challenges and opportunities facing entrepreneurs. Demo Day is a great opportunity to connect with other people and organizations in your community.
Whether in your garage, dorm room, or Maker space, gather members of your community to tune in to the White House’s Demo Day activities and have a discussion about the challenges and opportunities facing entrepreneurs. Demo Day is a great opportunity to connect with other people and organizations in your community.
Here are some ways to organize events on Demo Day:
Individuals
Individuals can volunteer to mentor and share their skills by hosting workshops or classes in areas of their community that have fewer opportunities for designing and developing businesses.
Colleges and Universities
Colleges and universities can host events at on-campus spaces or programs that are accessible to students, faculty and the broader local community to dream, design, and build their own businesses or products. They can also share best practices with other educational institutions through networks and communities of practice.
Companies
Companies can highlight entrepreneurship in their community by helping designers, inventors, and other aspiring entrepreneurs create American jobs by navigating the startup transition from ideation to realization, or in creating sustainable business plans that help nascent companies to develop.
Entrepreneurial financing establishments
Entrepreneurial financing establishments like venture capital firms, the angel investment community, and crowdfunding entities—can showcase their efforts to expand access to capital and educate and inspire more entrepreneurs to seek funding for their business in creative ways, like hosting an educational workshop or panel or by volunteering their time in local innovation spaces to help entrepreneurs prepare effective pitches or presentations for funding.
Wednesday, February 4, 2015
LIVE Webcast Today on New Brookings Report on Advanced Industries 9am-12pm - #AdvIndustries
Powering Prosperity: Introducing America’s Advanced Industries
February 5, 2015
Summary
Innovation and STEM-worker (science, technology, engineering, and math) intensive “advanced industries” are the prime movers of regional and national economic competitiveness in the United States. Industries like aerospace and auto, oil and gas extraction, or software and health IT stand at the forefront of the most disruptive technological and business dynamics of the moment, and will be central to U.S. prosperity going forward.
To consider the future of these industries, the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program is hosting a major CEOs forum on February 5, 2015 highlighting the importance of the nation’s advanced industries and the opportunities and challenges they face. Informed by new research from Brookings, the morning-long dialogue will convene advanced industry CEOs as well as elected officials to discuss the increased viability of the U.S. platform for advanced industry investment as well as the extraordinary technology trends now altering the terms of competition.
Time will be reserved for audience questions.
Follow the conversation on Twitter using #AdvIndustries.
For media inquiries please contact Allison Courtin.
EVENT AGENDA
Welcome
Framing Remarks: America’s Advanced Industries and Why They Matter
- 9:35 - 10:25
Panel 1 - Locating U.S. Advanced Industries: “Off-,” “Re-,” “Next-“ Shoring and Beyond
- 10:25 - 11:15
Panel 2 - Convergence and Disruption: Assessing the Advanced Industry Tech Scene
- 11:15 - 12:00
Perspectives
Saturday, November 22, 2014
Visioning day/meeting @ the Incubator with the Pontiac Sun Timebank & resulting visits to Lyrics on Vinyl & the Webber Media Arts Academy
Vision & Innovation Districts photos above by Nahshid Sulaiman @ http://instagram.com/onebedoublelo7
Pontiac Sun Timebank
Gameplan photo by Nahshid Sulaiman @ http://instagram.com/onebedoublelo7
Lyrics on Vinyl, 73 N. Saginaw, Pontiac MI
Webber Media Arts Academy
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