I’m currently building a new company and we’re doing productization and going through all the basic stuff. As this is new company everything has to be started from the beginning… Finding new committed people around the company and making the product interesting to everyone and the lot. So how do you do this?
I like to follow the following rule. Do good – Feel good. When brought to startup field it means that you should give your employees things which feel to them that they are doing something good. Generally when people do things like that (and obviously they have to like it) they start feeling good too! Or when speaking of a product, market it so that people who are buying feel that the product is doing good for themselves or to someone or something they care about. Of course everything is easier if you have business idea and product which is about doing good!
This approach means that you have to know the person you’re talking to but after that it’s mostly only about emphasizing the right sides of a product or a job. Try it!
Say you have a new idea. It could be about new business or about anything. And you want to make it come true. How can you refine your idea so that when you start working you don’t need to waste time with too much testing or mistakes?
The single best way is to talk about your idea. No not alone or in front of a mirror. But rather talk about it with everyone! The more you share the idea with other people and talk about it the more angles you cover. It’s always good if you can talk with the experts but talking with your friends/spouse/neighbour will help. If nothing else happens you learn to articulate the idea better when you present it and this alone can be huge leap forward! This is especially true with complicated ideas.
I’ve gotten so much out of sharing and talking about the ideas that tomorrow I’ll be presenting at least five business ideas 9 in the morning in Protomo Jyväskylä which is local idea factory and meant to bring ideas and entrepreneurs together. Protomo also provides some money for the first expenses to research the idea etc!
Earlier this autumn I was in a bioenergy seminar where Danish-Italian Silvia Magnoni had excellent story when ideas happen. In her opinion ideas happen when out of comfort zone!
She gave an example of Italians and Swiss people. In the middle of last century Italy was in war all the time and Switzerland was neutral and peaceful as always. Italy had Michelangelo, Renaissance and everything else. What did Switzerland invent? The Cuckoo clock!
I agree with Silvia that ideas won’t happen when inside the comfort zone because if one want’s to actually use the idea there’s going to be a lot of pain before the idea gets realized. And why would anyone go willingly out of their comfort zone? This is also one of the reasons it’s said that ideas are free but the people who make them happen are gold!
Is it easier to keep on working 24/7 so that you don’t have to stop and be with your thoughts alone? Do you feel that when you are working you don’t have to focus on your inner thoughts and who you truly are?
Or do you just work so much because you have to see if your idea is worth anything?
Or do you feel that you’re worthless if you don’t work enough (which happens to be 24/7)?
However why is it that when you ask anyone who has chosen to work almost normal hours they never regret it and always say they achieve a lot more and their work quality increases. Also usually people tend to use excuses (I know I do and few of my friends do) why they keep on working when the real reason might be something completely different. Do you even know what’s the real reason – the force driving us?
In Finland we have a lot of creative people. However as we have a lot of engineers the innovations are mostly done from the engineers viewpoint. Usually that means that the idea exists is just because the engineer needed exactly that and it’s definitely not easy to use nor is it what market wants or needs. Also most of the engineers and geeks (myself included) love all different electronics, buttons and switches which the normal people hate.
Steven Johnson gave excellent example in his TED presentation where good ideas come from? For example one very simple way of bringing down infant mortality rates by up to 50 % is to keep infants warm and in clean environment. In western countries this is done with extremely expensive $40,000 incubators. These are also given to developing countries in form of development aid. However when these things break down after few years there’s no way to fix these because of lack of expertise and spare parts so effectively you end up with $40,000 brick. There is a company called Design that matters and they started thinking how to fix this problem. They came up with an idea of incubator which is made of parts that are readily available even in developing countries. So what are these parts? Car parts! Basically everywhere in developing countries cars are always fixed and running and there’s expertise on this front.
This shows how the “engineers wet dream” which has all the electronics and bells and whistles is not always the best solution. All the customers are different so all the solutions have to be different… And most of the time way simpler than what the engineer designed it! Besides in this case I’m sure one would be able to give at least 10 of these incubators for the price of 1 western model.
Every new idea feels stupid in the beginning. If the idea is brilliant most likely when you present it to a friend or colleague they will laugh or at least smile at you. That’s the hard part of the innovation! Get the idea right, push through the criticism, learn while you’re at it and refine the idea and finally get everyone else accept it.
I’ve made a fool of myself several times already… Once I got invited to a VC to present my idea (which was still in pure idea stage which I did say to them before!). But you can imagine what happens when a guy with crazy new idea (grow algae!) meets a VC with tough questions… But I did learn a lot during those very embarrassing 30 minutes! As Taneli Tikka once said it, going to a VC with unfinished idea is one of the best ways to find out the shortcomings of that idea! And if the VC is any good it feels mentally as if you were the punching bag of pro boxer. That was two years ago and last summer we already built two 400m2 pilot raceway ponds and next summer we will be building few bigger ones next to the old ones!
You can also imagine what happened when Bill Gates decided drop out from school and work from his (parents’?) garage. I can almost hear the laughs from some people who were thinking poor guy! Or how about Michael Dell who started his business from his dorm room?
GO! Make a fool of yourself! Innovate! Fail! Start from the beginning! Make a difference!
In yesterday’s post I wrote about perseverance and how entrepreneur has to be ready to go even through concrete walls if needed! Here’s a good example of why! Speaker is Les Brown and he’s speaking about his dream to become radio DJ.
Tell me WHY I can’t do something in your opinion. That’s a lot more valuable as I know it’s not going to be easy and I don’t need you to tell me that! This is especially the case with new truly sustainable and mind-blowing ideas which are badly needed today.
No true entrepreneur stops doing something because someone says it can’t be done. They want to know why and then if possible fix the problems. Only when they’ve hit to tenth concrete wall they might stop… Or just have a coffee break, get new helmet and keep on going.
I think Seth Godin summed it up quite nicely in his post. The question is not how can you be entrepreneur in the current bad economic and do all the stressful decisions every single day. The question is rather how can you stop yourself from starting?
I personally can’t stop when I get an idea. I have to see if it’s good and if it has possibility to succeed. Sometimes it even wakes me up at night! It’s my force. What’s your force? What’s your idea?
Entrepreneurs mindset is vastly different from the normal cubicle workers. I’ve come to think that if some parts of the entrepreneurs mindset would be inserted into every one of us life would be slightly better. Most of the things relate to how we see our work. Following four points are the reason I disagree with Boris on TNW Entrepreneur. He blogged about Please stop promoting entrepreneurship. While I agree with him that entrepreneurs will start doing what they like anyways there are loads of people who could use some encouraging words and some new thoughts! Also some advice is always good on a field as complex and multifaceted as entrepreneurship.
Right to work vs Opportunity to work. Are you taking your job self-evident or are you really fighting for it each day by doing your share of the work better and better? By doing this you are also making sure you’re not the first to leave when there’s possible downturn.
Covering your ass vs taking responsibility When something goes wrong do you try to avoid your responsibility and try to cover your own precious ass or do you stand up and admit your mistake? When you start taking responsibility you don’t want to make mistakes either so your quality of work will get better.
Do you keep trying? Everyone makes mistakes! But do you let them get to you or do you keep getting up when you hit the ground? It’s always easy to say something wouldn’t work than trying to find reasons why something would work and then DO IT yourself!
Understanding business This means only that sometimes the business is just not doing good and layoffs are the only possibility. In this case CEO has to decide if they should fire 10% and keep rest 90% employed or fire none and risk the company going down. Nothing personal for you definitely!
All of these are almost minimum requirements for being entrepreneur! You should always fight for your company and ideas and do your best. You yourself are always responsible for your actions and decisions. Entrepreneurs always make mistakes and they can’t let the first, second or hundredth mistake keep them down. Understanding business is also crucial. Entrepreneurs really can’t start crying that it’s someone elses fault when their business goes down because usually checking the mirror is in order.
If you work by these principles in your job I’m sure you’re making your bosses job easier and when you help them they have possibility to do better thus helping the whole company! As with everything someone has to be the first and take the first small step. So why shouldn’t you start today?
