Seek, Chase and Tackle Advice

Too often as entrepreneurs we get caught up in the heads down "execution". But what are we executing on? What's the strategy? How does what we are doing get us 2 steps closer to the big picture, the dream?

Most of the time, it really doesn't, or it doesn't most efficiently... and in the early stages we don't have time to waste with drawn out efforts chasing bad decisions.

People talk about relationships and you never understand how important relationships are until you really need them or noticed that you "would have done that different if you had someone helping you".

The difference between successful and failed execution is in my opinion ALWAYS the leaders fault. If you don't have the knowledge; seek it, chase it, tackle it and make sure you don't dismiss it because it's not what you do well. If you do have the knowledge; question it, evaluate your reasoning and ask people who won't be cheerleaders. A really good kick in the ribs is much more valuable than some screaming and pom poms to keep you excited about a bad decision.

Listen, Learn, React. We hear this all the time. But listening means more than just listening to customers it means listening to those that know what you don't know, know what you don't know to ask and know where you will fail.

Don't get married to ideas or concepts of what you think the product should be.

1. Identify a small, addressable market by demo, psycho and geo

2. Do usability testing and understand what the market wants, since you're not selling to yourself it seems kind of silly to design for yourself don't you think?

3. Keep it simple trying to solve one problem for that addressable market.

4. Listen, Learn and React quickly to what the market is saying and not saying (IE... what are they using, not using, not even paying attention to... what's frustrating them)

5. Do more usability testing to see and hear what's working and what's not

6. Say "NO" to some requests and yes to those that make sense from a business perspective. Users will ask you for a rake but never use the rake... so pay attention to what they do and compare that to what they say.

If you don't know how to execute what I've just written.. you need help... so ask all of your contacts and find someone who does. It doesn't make you look stupid saying "I need help here, it's not my area of expertise" it does make you look stupid if you had too much pride to ask...

Love ya my fellow entrepreneurs... I'm glad to be back in the mix... until the next time. David

Tis Better to Receive than Give!

Newspapers, Television, Radio, Telephone, Internet, Mobile Phone... Every time a new channel or device enters the market advertisers froth at the mouth imagining how much spam, I mean content, they can throw at the consumer each minute.

Until the internet came to town sending your message and hoping for a response through another medium was the only option. But now with the internet and even more powerful the smartphone a major shift is happening.

The most valuable experiences on the web are the social networks where the user creates the content. So why aren't we thinking the same way about mobile devices? Why aren't we doing more than just pushing social networks onto the mobile device but creating networks where the mobile phone is THE device, the point of interaction and the place where the consumer has their voice?

Now before I continue let me tell you how I define voice. Voice is the expression of an individuals opinion, perception or experience communicated in any manner available including but not limited to text, voice, video and photos.

Back to the post. Foursquare and Twitter have done a half descent job at demonstrating the virality of location-based, real-time, user generated content... the question... is are they missing the mark?

Twitter has become spam. It takes too long to weed through what's important and what's a marketer hashtagging content to get my attention... and Foursquare... Ok... it is cool, but sounds a lot like a way to make Loopt work. I know where you are... I see the value there but they are still missing the real value.

So what's the magic mix? Here are the questions that I am asking when I look at companies. What content can individuals create that businesses won't or can't? What content can individuals create that professional content creators can't afford to collect? What content is interesting enough to post, tag, talk about and search for?

Figure it out... there are many options and the winner is... Well, the winners have yet to be determined but for once I agree with a few of the useless user products out there, "you must have a relentless commitment to the user".

Stop pushing, start listening and see where your users take you.

The Winner Makes Fewer Mistakes

I read this quote the other day from a tennis player talking about the difference between winning and losing. "It isn't who is higher ranked or more experienced, but who plays better that day... the one that makes fewer mistakes.. that's the one that wins."

Mistakes are made when decisions are made based upon emotions like impatience and fear or bad personality traits such as greed, pride or ego.

In all of our lives there has been that moment where we felt as though we made the perfect decision. We took in all of the information, analyzed the different paths and made a decision based upon the data. Note that sometimes a data point is "I get a bad feeling about this"

Early on in every business, product or strategic decision there is that moment where you have decided to succeed or fail. This moment, this decision... it isn't driven by the actual decision that you've made but by how you came to that decision.

The hardest part about this is the struggle I see many young entrepreneurs experience "how do I innovate rapidly and analyze my decisions properly?" It is a process, one that must be unique to each individual.

Here is what I do.

1. I do a quick analysis of success (How do I define it, is is feasible, at what cost)
2. I come up with a high level execution strategy including costs, partners and pitfalls
3. I pass this information on and discuss it with trusted friends, family or colleagues. I make sure I get the opinion of at least one trusted individual who knows me but knows nothing about the industry I am targeting. This ensures I will have someone looking at the concept from a strictly practical perspective.

If the strategy passes these three tests it's time to formalize the execution strategy... detail the costs and action items, rally the troops and execute. Research, analyze, adjust and execute