Andy Murray

Big Ideas don't come from Epiphanies but from...

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 18:27:00 -0800

Everything is a Remix Part 3 from Kirby Ferguson on Vimeo.

Great video on how true creativity really works. It doesn't come from a single epiphany, but from a series of innovations over time combined with finally a cross-over thought that merges into something truly new.

Remixing is important but so also are the ideas of having a Human Truth to base them on and the Constraints to accelerate them.

Without constraints and human truths, the idea of cross-over doesn't go far enough to create a truly disruptive idea.

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You Can't Teach Talent!

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 07:25:00 -0700

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Walk toward the barking dog!

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 20:33:00 -0700

I heard an old saying many years ago from a friend of mine and executive coach Steve Graves, "walk toward th barking dog."

What the metaphore means is that in every organization and situation of change there is this barking dog that is meant to initimdate you and scare you off from making the passage to change. These loud, angry, barking dogs live in the junkyards and their sole mission is intimidation. What Steve told me, and I firmly believe, is that these dogs feed off of our fears. They smell fear. The react to fear. And yet, they are just boisterous barking machines.

In his experience over many years of consulting, if you walk toward the barking dog with confidence, the dog shuts up and wimpers off.

There are far too many barking dog issues that guard our path of going from good to great. Way too often we prefer to avoid conflict or choose the path of least resistance.

The truth of the situation, once we dial up our courage, is that if you walk towards the barking dog, unafriad, confident, and secure, it will back down and retreat.

That sounds easiear said than done but I have found throughout my career that insight to hold true. Once you have mastered the skill of walking toward the barking dog that is challenging you via fear and intimidation, you can accomplish anything!

Go for it. Walk toward the very thing that scares you the most that you have been avoiding. It is only in confronting these fears and nonsense will you ever see the full potential of what you can become.

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Utterly amazing video; a break from virtual to the extremes of the real world! Believe you can fly!

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 19:27:19 -0700

I Believe I can Fly ( flight of the frenchies). Trailer from sebastien montaz-rosset on Vimeo.

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Bill Gross video Loaded w/Insights for start-ups!

Sun, 23 Oct 2011 06:23:00 -0700

- Let your business model be your best IP; meaning, create such a uniqe and powerful business model that it becomes your competitive edge.

- Don't rush a new market idea; be scrappy, stretch out your money, and let the idea find its place as the market evolves. Don't just pile cash behind an idea.

- Idealab structure very innovative.

Tons of practical advice for entrepreneurs building a company.

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Kauffman Foundation Video on the Challenge of Growing Start-Ups

Sat, 22 Oct 2011 12:14:00 -0700

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Awesome Video Animation done entirely in Pencil.

Sat, 22 Oct 2011 09:54:00 -0700

PencilHead from qwaqa on Vimeo.

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Why Content is Still King

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 18:09:00 -0700

via readwriteweb.com

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The most exciting and game changing film I've seen in a long time!!! Must See.

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 15:47:41 -0700

Press Pause Play is an amazing project that everyone in the digital, media, creative space will want to watch.

Because of technology advances, the barrier to entry for production and distribution for a creative product has smashed through the floor.

This opens the door for Small Business and Entrepreneurs to explode new ideas creatively and reach broader audiences than we've ever seen before.

This film is the most interesting and exciting film I've seen in a long time!

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HP Bringing Back the Touchpad...I'm so NOT surprised!

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 19:50:00 -0700

I'm shocked to find so many people "bewildered" by HP's decision to bring back the TouchPad at $99/per. Why? Because the response to the device at this price point has been outstanding! I was deluged by people in my company inventing all kinds of reasons to get one of these devices at this price point to support ideas like field research, dedicated social media devices, and more because of the value they presented at $99/per.

Make no mistake, general Q public is very aware of value and the right market price. At $99, HP has hit the true market value "wow" factor that they probably needed to hit at the introduciton.

While many are curiously in a quandry about how HP will make money on a $99/per TouchPad when the analyst predict their cost to be $207/per unit, I'm not perpexed at all.

I believe:

- the costs of manufacture and distribue of HP of $207/per unit is grossly inflated compared to the new market volume metrics of $99 at scale.

- that HP is keenly aware of the demand spke at this $99 price point.

- and the brillliant thing on HP's part is to bring this device back at a market-leading $99/per unit price point!

We'll see what happens in the fuure but the market has spokena and I, for one, believe HP is diong the wise thing in keeping this product on the market!

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Don't be "on top of your business." Lead from the front.

Sun, 21 Aug 2011 07:41:00 -0700

When things get tight and corporate execs get put to the test, the most natural act is to put the prioirty on "getting on top of your business!!!" Apologetic corporate emails start flowing about how tough times are coming and we need to buckle down. Everyone is clear the real message is "forget about raises, promotions, and bonuses." An era of micro-management is ushered in as "the most responsible thing to do" when under a crisis.

That's what it means to "get on top of your business."

That's the style of professional managers and operators under crisis. Especially those who have never commanded a team through a crisis.

But there is another way to face a tough challenge.

It's called - getting in front of your business!

Getting in front of your business is what great leaders do in times of crisis and history is chock full of examples where being in front as the leader was more effective than being on top. General Patton, lead from the front lines in the most intense periods of fighing. While being pressed he outmanuevered Rommel to take the advantage where less aggresive leaders would be trying to preserve diesel and run out the clock.

It is crazy watch the bunker and scrimp mentality take hold when leaders are faced with a great opportunity to lead.

Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase is a lead-from-the-front kind of CEO. While the markets were tanking he was out in front, on the road, making a difference! Check out his video from a few weeks ago Jamie Dimon.

What does it mean to be in front as the leader?

- You, personally, bring value-add to the table for strategic vision.

- You, personally, inspire and encourage those on the front lines vs asking your managers to do it.

- You, personally, communicate the big picture, where things are headed, and how you will navigate the changes.

- You, personnly, set the example by calling clients and customers and secureing new sales and relationships.

It is not about "doing it all" but it is about showing the way and being "in the game" with the organization.

You can't cost-cut your way to growth. Cost cutting never set a new strategy or created new opportunties. It is not enough to be satisfied cutting cost and sitting on the organziation. Cost cutting is table stakes, everyone has to do it to survive. But when markets get tough it creates enormous opportunity for the swift and agile to acclerate growth opportunties as others retreat. Tough markets can be the juicy markets to grab footholds left open by retreating competitiors.

While your competitors are focused on cost-cutting and "more bricks/less straw" a leader who is at the front will get more external knowledge acquisition faster than one who is preoccupied with internal knowledge acquisiition.

As we potentially enter a second recession, the leaders who can pivot from top-level organizational leaderhsip to front-forward leadership through crisis will be rewarded with a more loyal and committed staff and perhaps breakthrough performance.

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How to deal with the dynamic world of digital if you are a marketer from Alex Yoder, CEO of Webtrends

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 21:36:00 -0700

Alex Yoder, CEO of Webmetrics, does a great job of explaining the challenges of keeping up with what is happening on the web as it relates to your brand ecosystem.

Video streaming by Ustream

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Ram Charan - "You are a leader of people first, not numbers!" Wow, does he get this right. Leaders who focus on numbers over people are doomed.

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 23:20:00 -0700

Another great video by Big Think.

I've always admired Ram Charan's POV on business strategy. Now I like him for his views on how to prioritize connecting with people over the focus just on numbers. Nothing wrong with numbers - they are table stakes. But the true leader goes above that and makes human connections and inspires higher purpose. In doing so, the numbers follow.

Check out my about.me profile!

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Actor and Entrepreneur Edward Norton on the Reality of a Start-Up

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 20:48:00 -0700

I hear a lot of people talk romantically and philisophically about being their own boss and starting a company. However the reality of what a start-up feels like is very different than any romantic notion.

Edward Norton talks candidly about the feelings all entrepreneurs have when in the middle of a start-up. As having lived through the experience before and in the middle of starting something now, I can tell you what he says is true. It is the terror and fear of failure that prevent many from taking the plunge to leave perfectly fine corporate jobs and start something from scratch.

But it is also this feeling of being totally exposed, all on the line, completely in the moment that is focuses you and energizes you to persevere.

Big Think does a nice job of covering Edward's start-up through a series of well produced videos. Worth a look.

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Why “Venture Funds” launched inside of agencies seldom produce new companies.

Sun, 17 Jul 2011 09:42:00 -0700

I’ve been really perplexed by one of the hottest new trends in agency land to create in-house “venture funds” for launching new companies. Do these things really work? Is this really how you start companies today? I’ve seen a number of these up-close-and-personal through my work in the M&A space.

The concept is simple in theory. Agency owners pony up some capital in the form of a commitment-to-fund a number of new ideas to be launched as new companies. Employees who have those ideas can carve out some time to work on them and the hours invested are often deducted from the venture fund pool. The idea is prototyped quickly and up and running. Potential customers flock to the new app/idea, VC’s get interested, agency creates liquidity event, employees who participated in the event get rich.

I’ve had a chance to talk with several agency leaders involved with these funds and while they love the concept I haven’t seen a big case history of results.

That is because in reality, new companies aren’t built this way. Under this new in-house venture model, most of the time ideas do get built and do go to market. But the customer base does not develop. The employees lose interest, and the idea peters out.

What’s wrong with this picture?

One would think the very talented agency people who toil on clients’ businesses making them rich and famous could create their own new businesses and become equally rich and famous.

There is one big flaw in the model. The flaw is in the assumption for what it takes to start a company. The assumption that you can build a company by just having a great idea and the talent to build the idea is deeply flawed.

Ideas don’t create companies.

Developers don’t create companies.

Designers don’t create companies.

Corporate execs don’t create companies.

Investors don’t create companies.

Entrepreneurs do.

And successful entrepreneurs know that the only way you can create a successful company is full-on, full-energy, full-love, and full-passion for the customer you are trying to serve, solving the problem that customer has, and building the solution to that problem. All of those components are critical to any successful start-up. Without the singular driving force of the entrepreneur, ideas cannot be born into companies.

For many agencies who are trying to catch the VC/tech wave, this comes as an epiphany after a couple dozen false starts. The point of this is not to discourage the idea of creating a venture fund for new ideas. The venture fund concept inside a company has such enormous appeal to recruits and employees that they are worth having for those reasons alone.

The point is to set realistic expectations of what it takes to turn and idea into a scaleable company.

As an experienced entrepreneur, I suggest re-ordering the process. Today the approach in most agencies is 1. Start a fund, 2. Build and idea, 3. Look for customers, 4. If successful, find someone to run it. Perhaps a better order would be 1. Start with an entrepreneur, 2. Develop your customer base, 3. create the revenue-creating product, 4. If still needed, fund a venture fund. More detail below:

Entrepreneur Development.

Focus first on incubating entrepreneurs vs. ideas. The best place to start is by understanding what an entrepreneur looks like, how they think, and how they are different than corporate types. See Harvard Business Review six year study on how entrepreneurs think as a good starter.

Customer Development.

Become a student of the customer development process using todays’ new marketing tools. Who’s the customer you are trying to serve, what is the problem you are wanting to solve, and how are you going to solve it are the most important questions most companies brush over when they start creating new apps/ideas. Read Steven Blank’s Four Steps to the Epiphany.

Idea Development.

After you understand the customer need and how you will develop them, it is important to have a framework for how you will build the idea. I’m a huge fan of lean start-up and getting crystal clear what is your Minimum Viable Product (MVP), meaning the least you have to build in order to have a user experience that solves the problem. There are several methodologies teams can coalesce around including XP, Waterfall (not recommended), Lean, Agile, Scrum, etc. And there are hundreds of forums and communities under each to get support and understanding. I’m a fan of the Scrum approach as it has daily status updates to work through the biggest barriers. You can find great resources by going to On Startups in linked in or jump into Google’s lean start-up circle.

If you can resist the temptation to start with funding then jumping to idea development, and instead start with entrepreneurs and customers, the chances of creating ideas that can scale to great companies go up tenfold.

Victor Hugo got it half-right when he said, “Armies can’t stop an idea whose time has come.” I would modify it slightly to, “Armies can’t stop an idea whose time has come with an entrepreneur.”

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So are entrepreneurs crazy? Or just crazy enough? Great TED talk.

Fri, 08 Jul 2011 22:42:00 -0700

Joshua Walter's short talk at TED is wroth injesting and contemplating. I've never met an entrepreneur that wasn't just a little bit Bi-polar.

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37 Signals Co-Founder gets it right; the fundamentals of building a great company haven't changed in the new VC world.

Fri, 08 Jul 2011 19:13:18 -0700

David Heinemeier Hansson speaks at start-up school on the importance of buidiing a company to make money vs. just to flip. I have great admiration for the lesn start-up model and smart business thinking buy 37 signals. Trust me, it is very easy to start spinning the flywheel and letting momentum for the idea outpace the natural evolution of a great company. Building a sustainable company takes time as culture, best practices, customer passion, and great quality aren't integrated into a start-up overnight.

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Cool Retail Innovation by Tesco in Korea

Thu, 07 Jul 2011 06:29:00 -0700

While probably not sustainable with simply QR codes and smartphones, the idea of integrating the shelf in alternative physical locations is a first. A good example of innovation from the fringe.

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Do you have what it takes to start a company? See Entrepreneur flowchart

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 07:17:21 -0700

Today there is an abundance of ideas and and abundance of capital. The scarecity is in the availability of qualified entrepreneurs who can convert capital into a working company.

I get asked a lot about what it takes to become an Entrepreneur. Today's definition of an entrepreneur is broad and includes just about anybody with an idea.

I believe an entreprenuer is a person who has a passion for building and scaling a sustainable company that can create jobs and wealth. Even though I have a lot of respect for small business owners, I don't automatically classify all small business owners as entrepreneurs. Many are very happy running a small operation and have no intentions of wanting to see it grow or scale. To me, these are simply successful small business owners. Their passion is not in the same space as the passion of an entrepreneur. Another group of professionals often get thrown in the category and that is what I would call the "innovators."

Not all innovators are entrepreneurs. Being an innovator means coming up with something new, something never before seen. This isn't the same skill or scope as an entrepreneur. However, many innovators go on to become successful entrepreneurs. The difference is in the passion and focus of scaling a sustainable company vs. the pasion and focus on producing the innovative idea in and of itself.

Being an entrepreneur means:

- Being able to connect the dots across multiple spheres of knowledge in order to assimilate where the new opportunities in business will emerge.

- Having the courage, passion, and resolve to move forward every day with self-directed energy when every bone in your body says give up or go play golf.

- Possessing a willingness to actually drive fast into the fog without needing extreme clarity.

- Having the actual courage to step out and take the plunge. 99% of being an entrepreneur is in having the courage to actually get started and committing yourself to risk.

- Inspring ordinary people to do extraordinary things through vision, challenge, and role modeling.

- Insatiably curious as a constant learner on all things required to grow a company and grow personally.

Many corporate execs dream of starting their own company but the very skills that made them successful are the least important in starting a company. They have a romantic idea of being the owner but lack the practical understanding of the steps that must be taken, in what order, and at what velocity. They are afraid to Jump, and if they do jump, they don't know where to start.

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Beginners Guide to SEO

Mon, 04 Jul 2011 10:15:00 -0700

Every now and then you run into a resource so well designed in content and design that you want to share it with as many as you can. The Beginners Guide to SEO by SEO MOZ is one of those kind of resources.

Simple to use and a great go-to resource for improving your digital understanding.

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