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The Scientific Approach to Building a Successful, Innovative and Sustainable Business – The Lean Startup

By on April 29, 2012 | Category: Article

The Lean Startup, by Eric Ries, is a book that leverages the scientific method to redefine entrepreneurship as the process of developing successful, innovative and sustainable businesses.

I just finished reading a book that will undoubtedly influence decisions that I make for the rest of my life. The book is called, The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses, and was written by Eric Ries.

Background

Here is what I have learned about Eric Ries:

  • He graduated from Yale in 2001
  • Ries was the CTO and co-founder of IMVU, a successful startup based on the framework outlined in the book
  • He has received numerous awards and accolades from various business and tech publications
  • In 2010, Ries was selected by Harvard Business School as an Entrepreneur in Residence
  • He is equally well-versed in both the technology and business aspects of leading a successful startup

After being a part of a startup that failed in the infamous dot com boom/crash, Ries went on to achieve great success by applying the scientific method to the art and practice of entrepreneurship. Over the last several years, he has become the leader of the Lean Startup movement that has taken both new and existing businesses, inside and outside of the tech world, to sustainable models of growth. After years of speaking, training, consulting and blogging about these proven strategies, Ries published a book on the subject in September 2011.

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Steve Jobs: Real Innovation Requires Working Backwards

By on October 13, 2011 | Category: Article

I truly believe that the best way to succeed in business is to deliver substantial value to your clients. Value, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. The service or product that you offer may be of significant value to you, but its true value (according to free market principles) is based on the buyer’s perception. So to deliver value, you have to get inside the client’s head.

Once you have an idea of how something you deliver will improve the outcome of your client, work backwards to determine how best to deliver that solution.

In the world of technology, when a product or service alters consumer’s expectations of what is possible, the buzz word you hear most often is disruptive. In other words, that technology disrupts the previously held views of what is possible, thus transforming the marketplace in a positive way.

Apple’s products have disrupted the consumer space many times. But, as many people know, there were times in Apple’s history where the company was not successful, and on the verge of failure. After being ousted, Steve Jobs returned to Apple years later to reclaim the helm. At that point, the company’s engineering teams seemed to be headed in numerous incongruent directions.

Below are two videos shared by Garr Reynolds, at Presentation Zen, in his post addressing Steve Jobs’ incredible focus (definitely worth the read). To set the stage, these videos come from the 1997 Apple Worldwide Developer’s Conference (WWDC), as Steve fields questions from developers in the audience that are learning about changes within Apple that will impact their own products and services.



Too many people put the proverbial cart before the horse, putting forth technology for the sake of the technology. Technology is a set of tools. Knowing what tool to use for a given situation is the mark of a true master.


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Gary Vaynerchuk and Steve Jobs: Work-Life Balance

By on August 25, 2011 | Category: Article

There are a lot of people that I have admired over the years and drew inspiration from. In no particular order, here are a few: my parents, Coltrane, Bird, Dizzie, Miles, Jerry Garcia, Dalí, Sartre, Nietzche, Lao Tzu, Hemingway, Tom Robbins, Fela and Femi Kuti, Tom Waits, etc.

Within a space of a couple days, two heroes of mine both announced that they were walking away from the very thing that most people identify them with. On Monday, Gary Vaynerchuk announced that he was “retiring” from regular online wine video production. Here is the final episode of The Daily Grape, which succeeded Wine Library TV:

Yesterday, as a significant portion of the world’s population knows, Steve Jobs announced that he was stepping down as CEO of Apple.

What’s The Point?

Every person is still just another person. Some people achieve fame and awareness among many. In the case of Gary Vaynerchuk, in addition to being involved in the strategic management of multiple companies, he also has a wife and young child. Speaking engagements, TV appearances, and “the hustle” have kept Gary away from his family many, many times. The wine show, also known as “The Thunder Show,” only added to the commitments that threaten the already precarious work-life balance that exists. In the case of Steve Jobs, the man has been fighting real serious health problems for years. While he has taken Apple to previously unimaginable success as the world’s biggest corporation (in terms of market capitalization), his family and health took a back seat.

I am actually quite happy that both of these heroes of mine are taking back some of their lives. Vaynerchuk has a lot of years of hustle left in him, and he isn’t really “going away.” Jobs, on the other hand, is nearing the end. Imagine how much worse the news would have been if the headline read, “Steve Jobs Drops Dead In A Conference Room At Apple Campus.”

Life is to be lived. Work is a necessary part of life, but there’s much more to life than working. What do you want your legacy to be?


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Moving Projects Forward By Moving Past Fear

By on July 18, 2011 | Category: Article
Motivation is a tricky thing. Mostly because it all comes back to yourself and your choice to do something or not to do something. All the tips and tricks in the world are no good if you don’t use them and then chase your ideas. So, if you have an idea that you are not starting on, stop looking for advice, try one of the ways to get started above, and then make your idea a reality.
Chris Smith

Chris Smith published a nice list of seven ways to get started with a new project or venture. The point of the post isn’t just how to start a project from fresh, but also how to restart a project that may have stagnated due to internal fear. Entrepreneurs, in my opinion, face two harsh enemies: Fear and Reality.

The Reality component is easy enough to overcome – just accept it, no matter how painful it might be.

The Fear component is more difficult to overcome. Self-doubt and fear of the unknown are crippling. Sometimes the only way to move forward is to move past the fear. In Smith’s article he offered the following ways to move forward, hopefully allowing the fear to subside:

  1. Outline and Act
  2. Copy and/or Steal
  3. Prototype
  4. Brainstorm with Outsiders
  5. Focus (!)
  6. Identify Fears and Then Smash Them
  7. Expect Everything Less Than Perfection

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Seth Godin: Failure And Success

By on May 3, 2011 | Category: Link

Seth Godin – short, sweet, and to the point (as always):

You can’t have success unless you’re prepared to have failure.

As soon as you say, “failure is not an option,” you’ve just said, “innovation is not an option.”

Via Seth’s Blog.


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