The founder of Meetup tells his story starting up the Webs leading site for local gatherings/meetings.
A great case study on using the Web to shape a global trend -- and create a generic brand. Meetup’s done for meetings what Hoover did for vacuum cleaners.
Do you Meetup?
A host of famous, successful entrepreneurs dropped out of academia (check Steve Jobs), proving a university degree might not seem to be on the critical path when developing innovative, ground-breaking ideas.
Yet a new survey by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) underpinned by experts from 31 countries claims otherwise! Apparently education is a key factor in shaping attitudes on entrepreneurship. The poll also states that academic training in the field remains inadequate.
Tuition, especially at a young age, can cultivate an entrepreneurial spirit, but 60% of individuals engaged in entrepreneurial studies acquire it from informal sources. Most universities offer courses on entrepreneurship and countries with government policies that support entrepreneurs have the highest levels of training.
Sadly, the annual survey published by GEM has shown insignificant improvements in the effectiveness of education since 2,000.
While the likes of Sir Richard Branson and Simon Cowell get to create some of the world’s best-loved companies without any kind of formal degree, they’re the exception, not the rule. Training is beneficial- if not essential- especially in start-ups operating knowledge-based products or services.
Do you want to be exception or rule?
Premysl Pech, entrepreneur at Innovatrs and founder of Binarynow tells us how he started up and converted a local software vendor into an international supplier with customers in 200 countries.
Binarynow was founded in 2009 in Jacksonville Beach, Florida as a multi vendor, online software store offering essential software tools for everyday use.
Innovatrs: What made you do it? Why did you take the plunge, became an entrepreneur and give up that cosy corporate job opp?
Premysl: Although I worked at my previous employer for 17 years I never got that “cosy corporate job opp”. As co-owner and founder of 2 subsidiaries I had to find new business opportunities, set up branches and expand into new countries. I got to develop as an entrepreneur while working under an extablished brand – enjoying the benefits of a bigger corporation. But I needed more so I set up a new company. I think I was born to be an entrepreneur. My personality type forces me to take risks and work hard – even if the return is not guaranteed.
Innovatrs: What does your venture do?
Premysl: BinaryNow is a digital content distributor. We partner with a load of software developers who need to promote their software and distribute it over the Internet to the masses. We generally work with unrecognized software authors and titles trying to make them more popular. We also partner with well recognized brands that want to outsource their online distribution and reduce company expenses. Our partners are from all over the world, including China, Czech Republic, Israel, India and other countries. Our titles are available in 14 languages and our customer base spans 200 countries.
Innovatrs: What was the original @ha Idea?
Premysl: Original @ha idea was to create a digital only, one-stop distributor for lesser known software titles. Each title we offer gets evaluated by our experts. We only add titles we believe to be good quality and value. Our goal is to provide the best applications from multiple, non-competing vendors.
Innovatrs: And when/where did it hit you?
Premysl: We started in April 2009. We kicked off with a relationship with the largest software manufacturer from China helping them place their products into consumers hands in the US and other Western countries. Other vendors followed.
Innovatrs: Is this your first business? What past experiences helped you take this fast route to masochism?
Premysl: No it’s not. My previous experience opening the US branch of a Czech software vendor was invaluable. It got me to start this venture and offer our skills to others.
Innovatrs: What was running through your head when you started up? What crises hit you early on?
Premysl: There was an unlimited amount of the work that needed to be done and only limited resources. I split my workload into 3 categories: tasks that must get done, tasks which I love doing and those which should get done. I still make daily decisions on that basis. I guess an entrepreneurs life gets easier if he has partner(s) who loves doing what should get done.
Crises? Not really, but the hardest part about our business is building trust with new vendors coming from foreign countries with different cultural and ethical backgrounds. We quickly learnt that it takes time to earn that trust.
Innovatrs: What are the long-term goals for your company?
Premysl: Once we complete our software application catalog we want to enter the entertainment and gaming sector, then electronic books and beyond. We also want to dive into retail distribution with download cards.
Innovatrs: Have you felt pangs of fear or anxiety when building your business? If so, over what and how did you deal with them?
Premysl: Not yet, we’re still in the early stages, growing cautiously and loving what we do.
Innovatrs: What big ol’ failures have you had in the past and how have they helped you get to where you are?
Premysl: As a minority partner in a previous venture I failed to convince other partners to invest in my new model. Thanks to that, I’ve ended as a majority partner in this venture.
Innovatrs: Have you looked for investors? If so, how?
Premysl: No, not yet. We’ll seek outside investors down the road if we need to expand our portfolio and can’t finance it from our own growth.
I remember my father teaching me about the economic cycle.
It’s really simple, he told me. It goes like this. Every 5 years each economy experiences a cycle of boom to bust.
That’s 5 years from peak to trough. It’s just gravity. As hard as economists and politicians try to find ways to smooth the cycle they fail.
Whenever we reach the top of the cycle we get cocky and assume that growth will continue for ever. Equally, when we’re at the bottom of the cycle we get all depressed and assume that growth will never come again (which is where we are now). Both are wrong.
This time around it’s worse than usual. We saw an extended boom through the noughties, then experienced an extended bust over the last 2 years.
The Western world probably hit the bottom of the cycle in the spring of 2009. Which means we’re more likely to see an extended growth cycle (not a double dip recession as gloomers predict) that should peak in 2014 – then its down again folks.
Manage your business to the cycle and you should be OK. Defy gravity at your peril.
Great interview on how to innovate for social and sustainable development. Not just hard profits.
Do you?
Fast Magazine has published its annual list of companies which made changes that mattered last year!
Actions speak louder than words so with more than 400 million active members Facebook hit the top of the list.
The revolutionary new concepts and features regularly introduced by Zuckerberg and crew got cloned by many, yet Facebook remains the networking platform of choice.
Other breakthrough ideas that made it were the obvious splattering of: Apple (3), Nike (13), Spotify (15) and Twitter (50).
There were a few surprises though. Frito-Lay? Producing snacks with your health and our planet in mind!
33 of the companies are new entries, showing that there’s still a bunch of room for new and innovate ideas.
So think outside the box and focus on making innovative yet solid, reliable products/services that solve real needs and one day your customers might vote you in as one of the most innovative companies around. Hey, worth striving for.
Fast Company publishes their pick of companies annually – hopefully next year’s top 50 will be even funkier.
Thomas Hodges, award winning and internationally acclaimed photographic artist, founded the art movement “Imaginism” in 2006.
His goal is to become an international household name in the world of photographic art and to establish a foundation, so that his legacy can continue to serve others. We believe that artists are the purest form of entrepreneur.
So we interviewed him and chatted about his latest venture, photoconception.
Innovatrs: What made you do it? Why did you take the plunge, become an entrepreneur and give up that cosy corporate job opp?
Thomas: I guess I’ve always been an entrepreneur and my past corporate positions have been with companies that I either founded or had an ownership involvement with. As such, I’m not really jumping into unknown waters.
Innovatrs: What does your venture do? What was the original @ha Idea ? And when/where did it hit you?
Thomas: My venture focuses on blending photographic art and design. It goes beyond taking photographs and selling them to collectors. I have a passion for design and I’m constantly exploring new ways to present my work in conjunction with creative design concepts.
Innovatrs: Is this your first business? What past experiences helped you take this fast route to masochism?
Thomas: No, this is not my first business. I’ve founded businesses involved in engineering, transport, arts and crafts, and financial services. My previous entrepreneurial activities prepared me well for my current existence.
Innovatrs: What was running through your head when you started up? What crises hit you early on?
Thomas: I had reached a point in my career as a financial engineer, where I felt I could no longer be effective to the extent that I needed to be (I was working in development finance). It had long been my dream to pursue my life-long love of photography as a career, although it had to be more than just being a photographer. After a couple of years moving closer to photographic art, I decided to take the plunge as a full-time artist.
No crises as such, although capital requirements to finance artwork production and design projects, tend to be a heavy burden on cashflow. Of late, I’ve had some personal set-backs due to theft and robbery, but my reputation and status as an artist continues to grow.
My goal is to become an international household name in the world of photographic art. To leave a legacy of my work and to establish a foundation so that my legacy can continue to serve others long after I’m gone.
Innovatrs: What are the key lessons you’ve learnt over the past few years?
Thomas: I’ve learnt that “nothing can substitute hard work” ! That’s it – and don’t under-estimate it.
Innovatrs: Have you felt pangs of fear or anxiety when building your business? If so, over what and how did you deal with them?
Thomas: Constantly ! However, I guess it’s a question of never losing self-confidence, whilst at the same time taking a realistic overview of what the situation truly is. I’ve struggled frequently in my quest, but been fortunate to have won a number of accolades for my work, which has helped me to keep ‘the faith’.
Innovatrs: What big ol’ failures have you had in the past and how have they helped you get to where you are?
Thomas: I’ve had my set backs, some corporate failures, money illegally misappropriated, etc., but I guess you just have to get up, dust yourself off and get on with the job. On the whole I’ve backed more winners than losers !
Innovatrs: Have you looked for investors? If so, how?
Thomas: Not until very recently, and primarily through friends and personal contacts.
I’m not content to merely produce “art for art’s sake”, just for the personal pleasure of having created it. No, I need more, I need acclaim, I need controversy, but most of all I need to get my art and designs in front of the world’s public, and I will !
I was recently told of a Spanish saying which states that ‘money hides’. Never has this been more real.
Last week we wrote an article on ‘Banks Battle Entrepreneurs’ which got a flurry of entrepreneurs contacting me with their particular war stories. Shocking.
The reality is things are even worse than I thought. You see, it’s no longer just banks running from entrepreneurs, it’s also venture capital firms, hedge funds, government entities and even Angels. ‘Money is hiding.’
There are 2 unfortunate consequences. First, entrepreneurs have to spend more time than ever digging out investors and cash. Right at a time when they’re stretched delivering for ever demanding clients with never fewer resources. Our entrepreneurs could get overloaded – burn out might emerge as the next social challenge and threat to economic growth.
Entrepreneurs need to learn how to efficiently mine for cash as well as any professional gold miner. ‘Cos you’re less likely to find venture financing right now than digging for gold in California. Money hides. So seek it out online, at your local bank, friends, family, the local pub. Anywhere and everywhere. Think alternative financing, Venture Capital 2.0, micro-financing, whatever.
Think smaller. All today’s prospective investors are risk averse and believe we’re heading for a double dip recession, particularly in the Western world. So ask more investors for less cash. Perhaps even $1,000 – $5,000 amounts. That way they’ll get the benefit of ’safety in numbers’ and probably get less concerned about the valuation of your business. You could both win – so long as you’re OK managing multiple investors.
Go equity, not debt. If we’ve learnt one thing from the last 2 years it’s that while equity costs you more down the road (if you’re successful) it’ll make your business a whole load stronger in the short term – and you, the entrepreneur, less stressed.
Find money from your customers. For early stage businesses it’s much easier raising cash by selling products or services to customers than by chasing banks or investors. Just do it.
The second unfortunate consequence of money hiding lies with the investors. While they’re busy hoarding and hiding they’re missing out on one of the best opportunities for early stage investing. There are more ideas than ever, more available entrepreneurs, more innovation necessary and achievable than at perhaps any other point in history. And there is a massive, smart, available pool of human capital to support this thanks to downsizing, poor employment and business automation.
Innovation opportunities abound. The world is embracing the Web, mobile, Social, real-time, SaaS, MaaS, green, pharma, technical manufacturing, digital media, clean technology and life sciences like never before and the start-ups are smarter, more advanced, prepared and techno’d up than ever. They’re coiled, ready and waiting to be unleashed. With a little investor juice they could go a long way.
Together we can drive the world through its next great social and technological leap.
Investors just need to start thinking with their heads and hearts again – not under the mattress.
Getting enough funds to start a new business sometimes feels as likely as winning the lottery! But there is a silver lining – at least in the UK.
Hi-tech startups can apply for the all new UK Innovation Investment Fund.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced that life sciences, plus digital and advanced manufacturing businesses are at the top of the list of companies that can claim a piece of the £200 million government commitment plan for growing enterprises.
But, will the £200 million up for grabs be enough if divided by 3 hi-tech industries? £1 billion would probably be more in tune.
UK Plc in tune? Maybe not, but with the eligibility of bank loans close to zero, it’s a half start!
Serafima Bogomolova, publisher, entrepreneur at Innovatrs, tireless globetrotter and seeker of experiences, co-founded Avantoure magazine, a modern lifestyle publication. We interviewed her recently.
Avantoure is available exclusively in digital format and can only be purchased online. It focuses on inspirational individuals, adventurous travels, virtual world trends, international lifestyle and cultural issues.
Innovatrs: What made you do it? Why did you take the plunge, became an entrepreneur and give up that cosy corporate job opp?
Serafima: It was a mixture of different circumstances and influences. Prior to ‘taking the plunge’ I got a taste of what it’s like to start your own business. First when I spent a year at a media start up and then as a partner at a more established business. Both influenced my decision to go it alone. Besides, I’m an adventurer and explorer by nature.
Innovatrs: What does your venture do?
Serafima: Avontoure is a digital format lifestyle magazine. The publication is produced on the YUDU Media platform which allows rich media (such as video, audio, animations) to be incorporated into the layout of the magazine. Avantoure is distributed and sold online.
Innovatrs: What was the original @ha Idea?
Serafima: The original @ha idea was to create an interactive magazine based on a concept of ‘Life is a Game!’. We wanted it to appeal to an international audience. A lifestyle magazine, with an adventure theme, in a game-like cutting edge format (digital format with rich media elements) that knows no borders (online distribution).
Innovatrs: And when/where did it hit you?
Serafima: The idea of launching my own magazine came to me at the end of 2005 after I left Heho a Mano magazine (a luxury publication produced in Moscow). I knew a small group of like mined people in Moscow and had some funds (plus our savings), so I decided to give it a go.
Innovatrs: Is this your first business? What past experiences helped you take this fast route to masochism?
Serafima: Yes, it is my first ‘solo’ business. Many of the experiences I gathered prior to this event helped me in one way or the other. For example, while working for a media start up in London I learned about how not to do certain things. Specifically I learnt that it’s better to keep a ‘low profile’ before your venture is successful, work on establishing good relationships with the trade and your partners, so they’ll be more forgiving if things go wrong…
Innovatrs: What was running through your head when you started up? What crises hit you early on?
Serafima: It was pure exhilaration, excitement, and fun. I had loads of enthusiasm and faith in what I was doing. The toughest part was entering an undiscovered territory (e-editions were not taken seriously at that time). Pioneering is hard. Everyone is so sceptical. Further, I was a young entrepreneur in a new field. I quickly realized that my journey would be long and hard… I can only compare this to diving in the sea, into waters that are ice cold and stormy with no one around to lend a hand…
Innovatrs: What are the long-term goals for your company?
Serafima: In my field long-term goals don’t really apply, due to the high degree of unpredictability. It’s vital to stay alert to changes, be accommodating and adaptive and play it by ear when you come across the unexpected… Digital publishing is about becoming not being…
Innovatrs: What are the key lessons you’ve learnt over the past few years?
Serafima: My biggest lesson has been that you learn a lot more from failures than from successes. Without failures you would have less reason to develop and strive to excel at whatever you do… Also that a lack of money in business can be a good thing – it motivates you to think out of the box, innovate, and come up with more creative solutions.
Innovatrs: Have you felt pangs of fear or anxiety when building your business? If so, over what and how did you deal with them?
Serafima: Yes. I had a real fear of failing since our future is so uncertain… But what I realized later was that anxiety and fear are merely stages on the route to success… I overcame this fear by experiencing how failure transforms into innovation and enriches your overall experience.
Innovatrs: What big ol’ failures have you had in the past and how have they helped you get to where you are?
Serafima: I can think of two big ones. First (while working for a media start-up company) was the failure to realize a bunch of my ideas (due to the start-up folding) which left me feeling incomplete. Second (this happened when I was a partner in an already established business) came from losing a battle of wills and as a result struggling to money out of a business. Thanks to these two negative experiences I decided it would be better to go it alone and launch my own business.
Innovatrs: Have you looked for investors? If so, how?
Serafima: When I launched Avantoure I did not look for investors as I had enough savings to start up. At a later stage when I needed more development capital I looked for an investor through contacts and at a private networking community. I found 3 who showed some interest. When I engaged with them I realized they were not the right people for my business. Investing in a business is not only about bringing money, it’s also about compatibility on a personal level and bringing knowledge and contacts that complement the business one invests in. Finding an investor or business partner is like finding a husband/wife…
Just when the world thinks it has a handle on the process of innovation Apple changes the game.
You see conventional wisdom dictates that innovation either bubbles up from below at startups or from the outside at a remote R&D lab or – God forbid – by McKinsey.
Some bright spark comes up with a new way of doing something and then runs around trying to find venture financing or corporate sponsorship. Startups do innovation while corporates strive to innovate better. Ya de yadda.
Once the idea turns into product or service it has to wend its way through the political maze – internally and out in the market. Most withering on the execution vine.
Not so at Apple. Apple has mastered the very process of innovation. It is who they are. Apple has to be different because they don’t just make products that improve our lives, they make products that change our lives. Change industries. They have nailed the entire arc of innovation – from concept to market domination. Excelling at every step. Every time.
Entrepreneurs, CEO’s and strategists think innovation is just one of a number of processes they need to be good at. A business aspirin. How many times have you heard leaders bark ‘we need to innovate better’. Not so at Apple. Apple believes that innovation is the very essence of who they are. Innovation is their brand. Their mission. Their only reality.
So they have become the innovation masters. It is their strategic process. They’re right. Perhaps Steve Jobs’ greatest skill is connecting the dots. Predicting the future. Strategising like no one else. He has, as a result, figured something out that we all need to learn – the dots keep changing!
That’s the modern world. Changing faster than ever before. The only way to stay ahead is to keep re-arranging the dots. Which means to endlessly innovate. Not just producing another product. Another version, but to permanently worry about changing your industry. Irrespective of the cost to existing products. Endlessly smashing eggs to make omelet’s.
So which one are you? Into innovation, wanting to do it better, making it one of your key business processes. Or a true innovator. A specialists in one thing and one thing only – constantly re-inventing your space. I have this nagging feeling that the latter is the only way to stay ahead in the 21st Century. Cheers Steve.
Michael Lenox, from the Batten Institute, talks about Green/clean technology and entrepreneurship.
The video interview provides a neat summary of the factors driving adoption of ‘green’ technologies and services. Check it out.
Once this Great Depression is said and done there’ll be a smoking gun byline left hanging in the pungent air: ‘The battle between banks and entrepreneurs’.
I cannot think of one conversation I’ve had with an entrepreneur in the last year – and we talk to a great deal – which did not include them mentioning an unfortunate episode they had with their bank. Credit refused, overdrafts removed or insane demands for personal guarantees. And credit card rates just keep going up.
One example is a leading, profitable, public, multi-million dollar turnover tech business that had a ten year relationship with its bank and a long standing overdraft. The overdraft facility was not even that big. Yet it was removed, for no reason, with almost no notice. Nonsensical.
Most recently I heard of a small, innovative pharma company that won a massive 3 year contract worth nearly $5 Million from a world leading retailer. The entrepreneur went to his bank clutching the signed contract and asked for a small extension to his overdraft. He was refused. Go figure.
I could add hundreds of thousands of like stories. Since the credit crisis began in earnest 18 months ago banks in the Western world have been battling start-ups and small businesses more than at any time in modern history. The banks, of course, will deny it. Ignorance is bliss. Mum the word. But the consequences could be huge.
First up, the Eastern world – particularly China, India and South East Asia – has not had such credit issues and has been busy financing and developing the next wave of start-ups, small businesses and their innovations at an unprecedented rate – uninterrupted. This could give them a huge small business leg over the West in coming decades.
Secondly, todays entrepreneurs have had to turn to alternative forms of financing like never before. This has led to a wave of alternative funding options, which is a positive. Micro-financing, Crowdsourced funding, alternative transactions systems and new banks are proliferating. Buzzwords such as Venture Capital 2.0, social lending and ‘local bank’ are the new cool.
But there is also a dark side. Loan sharks have never had it better. In Italy alone billions of Euro’s have been lent by loan sharks to small traders and start-ups sometimes backed by the Mafia and often sporting interest rates of 10% per month. We can all guess at what happens when you fall behind.
Third up, small businesses drive GDP growth and almost all new employment and innovation. Stifle them and you guarantee to stifle your countries future development, stability and competitiveness. Entrepreneurs have not been able to start-up or they have started businesses only to watch them whither at the vine due to a lack of available funding. All because the banks have been left to batter, bruise and turn away the very entrepreneur they should be courting.
Fourth, the Western world has bred a generation of entrepreneurs that have built their business without relying on banks and are comfortable with alternative forms of financing. When things get better these entrepreneurs may turn their backs on the very banks that scorned them. Instead they’ll back new banks, alternative forms of lending and they will have stronger balance sheets. But we will have fewer entrepreneurs and less jobs.
The long term winners of this great Western battle between big bank and entrepreneur will be the East, the strong entrepreneur, the Angel investor, new banks and alternative forms of financing. But it’s a shame that Western governments did not spot this conundrum earlier – because I fear the cost to Western competitiveness will be greater than anyone can imagine. And the consequence will be higher levels of unemployment for longer. A Western demise.
I wish the worlds media would spend more time examining this rather than endless headlines strewn with banker bonus after banker bonus. This is the real story. Let’s talk about it and get behind tomorrow’s entrepreneurs.
Rob Wirszycz is an active member of Innovatrs entrepreneur network and a rare, serial Chairman of innovative, early stage tech and Web start-ups. He shares his experiences and insights with us.
Innovatrs: What made you do it? Why did you take the plunge, become an entrepreneur and give up that cosy corporate job opp?
Rob: Corporate jobs are rarely cosy if you are ambitious. However, the ambition is the thing that drives you to do your own thing – there is a minor arrogance too in that you believe that you can do it better than others…
Innovatrs: What does your venture do? What was the original @ha Idea ? And when/where did it hit you?
Rob: I’m chairman of 7 companies and have two other ventures – in all of them I’ve not been the person with the first idea but the one who has spotted how to exploit and market the technology or concept, converting the idea into a marketable proposition.
Innovatrs: Is this your first business? What past experiences helped you take this fast route to masochism?
Rob: Over the years I’ve been involved in literally hundreds of businesses. I love the creativity and growth prospects of entrepreneur-led companies. If that is masochism, let me have more of it!
Innovatrs: What was running through your head when you started up? What crises hit you early on?
Rob: Over 30 years I have learned more about what not to do rather than what to do. I have learned as part of this to never though transfer learning from one context to another but to take everything on face value, evaluating everything against the market context. The one lesson I have learned that is universal and persistent is that you ignore the market at your peril! Oh, and that cash is more important than profit.
Innovatrs: What are the long-term goals for your company?
Rob: I only work with what I call growth companies, organisations that have a vision beyond just the commercial, that have propositions that literally travel to new and bigger markets, and where there is an energy and desire to succeed
Innovatrs: What are the key lessons you’ve learnt over the past few years?
Rob: See 4 above
Innovatrs: Have you felt pangs of fear or anxiety when building your business? If so, over what and how did you deal with them?
Rob: Constant fears. I am a natural paranoid and an incurable optimist. Both states are compatible! You have to be able to sleep well and find a way to take that break out from the pressures and worries – as long as it is not chemical anything might work and you have to find what works for you
Innovatrs: What big ol’ failures have you had in the past and how have they helped you get to where you are?
Rob: My biggest failure was to invest the profits from a business I had in the early 90s into property – we owned our own sites. The property crash revalued the assets and drove a huge hole into our balance sheet. Told me not to mix different business models in one business and link them in a way that kills them all!
Innovatrs: Have you looked for investors? If so, how?
Rob: I constantly look for investors for my businesses. The best way is to talk to investors, be they institutional or personal and keep talking to them. There is no magic formula, rather you need to build relationships – investors invest in people not ideas.
Innovatrs: What does innovation mean to you and what does it mean in your sector/space?
Rob: I like innovation, those new ways of operating, new ways of delivering value to customers and markets. I do not like inventions – they scare me, as do inventors, who are usually overly wedded to their concept and are blind to what the market is telling them. Give me innovators any day.
In this digital era, where intellectual property focused start-ups are the new norm, positioning is paramount.
Take a recent, high profile example, Apple’s iPad. The last year or so we have been peppered with media buzz around the tablet. Then bingo, we discover Apple’s answer to this new hardware category – the iPad. Apple, behind the scenes, has been furiously working on developing the category – the tablet – and making us all feel like we need one.
This is a well tried and tested approach. Figure out your business strategy, then your products positioning – then map it to an existing category or define your own. Become a mover and shaker or even shaper of that space and finally drive your product through it. Making it a category winner over time.
It takes strategic thinking and mapping but the category you play in is everything for an emerging, innovative business. Green categories include, solar, wind, wave, agricultural and each of those have sub categories. Hardware peripheral categories include the mouse, cables, speakers, keyboards etc. You get the picture.
So find your category and drive your product strategy through it – not the other way round. Apple are the masters at it. Had they not convinced us all, and the media in particular, that the tablet was the next big thing then their iPad launch would have been a much lower key event.
Interesting interview with Offerpal’s CEO Anu Shukla on ‘What is Entrepreneurship?’.
This video reveals the future of computer interfaces – today. Innovative, powerful, stunning.
Engadget shared it with us – click here to read full article.
Locus OS Interface from Barton Smith on Vimeo.
Dr Dan Nicolau, engineer, mathematician, biologist and entrepreneur at Innovatrs co-founded Altitude Medical in Oxford, UK in 2007 .
Altitude Medical is an innovative company that aims, through the development of inexpensive and user-friendly devices, to reduce the number of life-threatening infections, both in private and in public buildings.
Innovatrs: What made you do it? Why did you take the plunge, become an entrepreneur and give up that cosy corporate job opp?
Dan: I’m a scientist both by training and by personal interest, so corporate jobs were never part of the plan. Academic posts can be cozy, but they can also be isolating, intellectually and in other ways, starting a company carries with it a very different set of challenges than does research and I was hoping to learn a lot in the process – (I have not been disappointed!) and to develop a new set of skills. The real reason for launching Altitude Medical had nothing to do with jobs. When we started this, my co-founder (Alex) and I were having a long-running conversation about what it would take to save a million lives – how would one invent or deveop something that would prevent a million preventable human deaths? That was the motivation behind the company. What can I say, we were young and wanted to do something noble.
Innovatrs: What does your venture do? What was the original @ha Idea ? And when/where did it hit you?
Dan: Hospital acquired infections, like MRSA, kill more people in the West than car crashes, breast cancer, AIDS and house fires combined, and cost hospitals tens of billions of dollars. Altitude Medical makes devices that prevent the spread of these infections in hospitals and outside of hospitals (e.g. swine flu). They do this mainly by ensuring that people’s hands get sanitised regularly without interfering with their workflow or routine. It’s done automatically for you as part of your day: when you open a door, when you go to the bathroom, etc. While we were doing our PhDs in Oxford in 2007, my co-founder and I were thinking about this ’save a million lives’ project and we had a bunch of ideas. One day we were drinking coffee and he told me about a new idea… we talked while sketching it out right on some napkins, and off we went. Since then, our other co-founders, Jake, Virginia and Will, have each had aha! moments, and all of these aha!s put together have led us to this point. Most people think it’s one bright flash in the bathtub and next thing you know, you’ve got a successful product. It’s not like that… it’s a whole bunch of insights and aha! moments, it’s a process.
Innovatrs: Is this your first business? What past experiences helped you take this fast route to masochism?
Dan: This is not my first business, but it’s my first business that really had to be built from the ground up, with rounds of funding, patents etc. (the previous company was a consultancy, which is much easier in many respects, but also less rewarding). I don’t know about masochism… being an entrepreneur is really fun and exciting. You have to work hard, but you’re working to build something new, you’re working for yourself rather than someone else and in our case, you’re working to improve or save the lives of other folks. So it’s not painful (for me), though it is challenging, and sometimes it can be stressful.
Innovatrs: What was running through your head when you started up? What crises hit you early on?
Dan: We had no idea what we were getting into. Very little was running through our heads, I guess, ha ha, other than altruism and a vague desire to be millionaires someday. Early on we found out the hard way that to build a company, you need to work with and rely on many other people, you need to manage relationships and build new, meaningful ones, not fake ‘networking’ ones but real, lasting professional relationships. And we learned that this isn’t something you can do 2 hrs per week in your garage. It takes a lot of time, sweat, patience, perseverance, a hell of a lot of luck and a well-developed sense of humour.
Innovatrs: What are the long-term goals for your company?
Dan: We want to grow in a scalable way, to make sure that we really make a positive difference to our customers and to the community, and we want to change how people think about infection prevention… to change the ecosystem, so to speak.
Innovatrs: What are the key lessons you’ve learnt over the past few years?
Dan: I’ve been fortunate to learn a lot of things from a lot of people… but the most important lesson, I think, is summarised eloquently by the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius: “Living calls for the art of the wrestler, not the dancer. Staying on your feet is all; there is no need for pretty steps. “
Innovatrs: Have you felt pangs of fear or anxiety when building your business? If so, over what and how did you deal with them?
Dan: We are constantly worried about what we are doing. I think it’s natural. Anybody who isn’t afraid of making mistakes while building a business probably shouldn’t be building one! Starting a company is like navigating a wooden dinghy through a storm in the middle of the ocean: you’re always one step away from disaster. Early on in the company, every decision you take makes a lot of difference. But people help you… you take lots of advice, double-check stuff, have backup plans B-Z and hope for the best.
Innovatrs: What big ol’ failures have you had in the past and how have they helped you get to where you are?
Dan: We have been very, very lucky to not really have had any real failures as a company… As an individual, well… again I’ve been very lucky to not have had any major disasters (thought not for lack of trying!). I think when something goes wrong, you have to try to really analyse what happened and how you can do better next time; and you ought to try to see if you can’t turn that negative into something good. If you can do those two things, then, as my Dad says, ‘every kick in the ass is a step forward’, so that’s what I try to do.
Innovatrs: Have you looked for investors? If so, how?
Dan: Yes, we have been fortunate to have received investment twice, both times at critical stages. We went through high-profile entrepreneurship competitions both times. They were great as a platform for getting our message out to investors.
Innovatrs: What does innovation mean to you and what does it mean in your sector/space?
Dan: To me personally, innovation implies using a novel approach or a novel idea to improve on an existing problem or to change something for the better. In our space, what that means is thinking about how infections are passed around, what are the primary mechanisms by which that happens, what opportunities for intervention does this present, and how can we intervene to substantially change the dynamics of this process.
At Innovatrs we get to chat with a number of interesting VC’s and funds across the US and Europe. Many of them are all hot and bothered about green and clean tech startups. They’re scouring solar, wind, wave, agriculture and other energy innovators for the next big, er, well, Enron!
Enron? How uncool is that? It doesn’t quite have the same ring as saying we’re looking for the next Google.
But the opportunity is massive. Not just to build a next generation energy leader, but to really save the planet at the same time. For investors and entrepreneurs alike it is a rare spot of hope dashed with big risk, big dice, big return opportunity. I just wish the media would spend less time barking on about blow-out bankers and social media chatterings and a little more of their bitewaves on the clean energy revolution. It’s so much more interesting.
Countless billions of Dollars are going into it from venture and sovereign funds throughout the world. This is a global opportunity with global investors chasing start-ups spread throughout the planet. The trend could benefit any entrepreneur from any country and does not necessitate a Sand Hill Road address. Clean energy start-ups are just as likely to come from Denver, Detroit, Delhi or Dubai. Anywhere really.
The 21st Century’s gold rush is on but it’s entrepreneurs and investors, with their armies of PR and marketing folk, need to get better at explaining their projects and technologies in plain English so the journo’s can splatter our news sites with as much hype and excitement on clean breakthroughs as they do covering Apple or Facebook gizmo launches.
Calling all clean tech entrepreneurs!
Peter Jones, entrepreneur and Dragon’s Den dragon, shares 10 rules for entrepreneurial success.
A little preachy in style but the content’s spot on!
What can you learn from others’ mistakes?
Photo by apozzodiborgo
Mike Butcher over at Techcrunch wrote a great article about European startup failures in 2009.
We support the ‘lessons learned’ approach taken.
We’d like to add one more to the list: Storytlr. We used Storytlr as a tool for some of our businesses in the past and loved the project.
They recently announced they were suspending operations.
Lots of fans got upset about the decision. 20 days after the announcement, in a dramatic shift, the company announced the decision to go open source.
Lesson Learned: if you can’t do it by yourself, let the community handle it.
Vincent Bryant, father and entrepreneur at Innovatrs, tells us about his venture, PI Consulting, which specialises in designing and delivering effective and sustainable business performance improvement projects and corporate transformation programmes.
PI Consulting works across a wide range of sectors including: financial services, manufacturing, distribution, agriculture, retail, SME’s and not for profit organizations.
Innovatrs: What made you do it? Why did you take the plunge, become an entrepreneur and give up that cosy corporate job opp?
Vincent: I’ve always had an inner drive to take on new challenges, solve new problems and experience new things. I left school at 15 to serve a 4 year apprenticeship on the shop floor and at 19 enrolled at a college of further education… the rest as they say is history. I have found that corporate roles can provide challenge for a period of time but generally within 2 years or so the role reaches a steady state and the inner drive to take on a new challenge kicks in. My career progression has pretty well followed this pattern. When I took the plunge it was something I had wanted to do for many years but for whatever reasons the forces for security (kids at school etc) were greater than the forces for self-actualisation. I have not been disappointed; I’ve not had a dull moment since establishing the business.
Innovatrs: What does your venture do? What was the original @ha Idea? And when/where did it hit you?
Vincent: PI Consulting is a consulting company specialising in performance improvement, business transformation and business turnaround. As an innate problem solver that delights in building and improving things my business is simply a natural reflection of my inner drive and personal motivation. Throughout my career, either as an employee or as a consultant, I have had roles that have provided the opportunity to improve, transform or turnaround organisational performance. The @ha Idea was simply the idea that I would have more fun and challenge building something from scratch and delivering services with a level of passion, commitment, agility and customer focus that can be difficult from within the large corporates. I get huge satisfaction from a job well done where our intervention and support has motivated and enabled significant improvements for our clients’ businesses. We are systems thinkers and our consulting approach and range of services reflect this.
Innovatrs: Is this your first business? What past experiences helped you take this fast route to masochism?
Vincent: This is my first business created from a strong desire to build something from scratch and build value for myself and my business partners whilst doing something I thoroughly enjoy doing. My previous commercial and consulting experience has provided a deep understanding of the potential risks and pitfalls and so it hasn’t felt like a ‘fast route to masochism’; more of a one way trip to Nirvana!
Innovatrs: What was running through your head when you started up? What crises hit you early on?
Vincent: Once I had made the decision I moved very swiftly. I established the business, developed the web site, acquired basic IT systems and hardware, joined relevant business networks, arranged insurance, set up the office, bought necessary equipment, registered for VAT, appointed an accountant etc with my typical focus and drive. As a result the basic business entity and infrastructure was in shape very quickly, enabling me to focus on business development and sales immediately.
The key issue for any small personal service business like a consultancy is managing the balance between business development and service delivery. To overcome this, the business needs additional people: people who can embrace the shared risk/partnership model; have the energy, passion and commitment to deliver great client service; possess the necessary depth of consulting and business management experience; and have the interpersonal skills to develop our brand and reputation. Finding such people is our biggest issue. It is important to try new ideas, adopt a problem solving approach and of course learn from others.
Innovatrs: What are the long-term goals for your company?
Vincent: To grow an international consulting practice with a solid reputation for being great to work with and for making a sustainable difference to client organisations.
Innovatrs: What are the key lessons you’ve learnt over the past few years?
Vincent: Manage the pace of growth and adopt rigorous interview and assessment processes for new joiners and associates. Taking on people that don’t work out absorbs a lot of energy with very little return – a small business, in any sector, can’t afford this.
Innovatrs: Have you felt pangs of fear or anxiety when building your business? If so, over what and how did you deal with them?
Vincent: The biggest single anxiety when building a business is maintaining sales and cash flow and particularly when the future sales pipeline is lean. The only way to overcome it is to get everyone involved to put more energy into business development, try new ideas and increase the level of networking and sales activity. It is crucial to be objective and maintain a very positive mind set to any potential set backs. In fact I would say that this very positive mental attitude to overcoming set backs and barriers is one of the key characteristics of an entrepreneur.
Innovatrs: What big ol’ failures have you had in the past and how have they helped you get to where you are?
Vincent: Early in my management career I didn’t place sufficient emphasis on the need for people to really understand what is expected of them and especially so in a change situation; I made too many assumptions about other’s level of knowledge and comprehension. Consequently I learned early on that leaders must provide clear and compelling reasons why people need to change their approach. Ultimately everything is delivered through people and it is easy to forget the range of perceptions, interpretations and fears that human beings can experience when faced with change. In the absence of clear expectations and understanding of priorities people interpret situations in a variety of ways. In general few employees really understand what drives growth, profit and customer loyalty or how their job contributes to overall business performance; there is a huge amount of latent potential in the average business.
Innovatrs: Have you looked for investors? If so, how?
Vincent: I have helped other businesses prepare their business plans and raise finance but we are entirely self-funded thus far.
Innovatrs: What does innovation mean to you and what does it mean in your sector/space?
Vincent: At the basic level innovation is originality, improvement and idea generation. In a commercial setting innovation needs a focus and yet too much focus may reduce innovation levels or reduce the possibility of the unthinkable idea that becomes a major breakthrough and a significant source of growth. In my experience innovation needs to be encouraged and embedded in the culture of the organisation on the one hand whilst maintaining discipline over the R&D process and investment on the other; this is the innovation dilemma.
In our sector innovation is geared towards improving client service, delivery and positive and sustainable impact. For example, the use of new tools and technologies and the way these are aggregated with IP to improve service delivery and client engagement to improve results. On a day-to-day basis every client situation is different and our recommendations and interventions need to fully recognise client context and develop strategies and design programmes that are effective given this context. For example, an apparently perfect strategy that the client finds impossible to execute has little value. We need to achieve the best balance based on the facts of each case. Sometimes this will require us to develop new business models or introduce new technologies or simply create an environment where people understand business priorities and are motivated to question the status quo against a better knowledge of what is possible. Having been a buyer of consulting services it is important for us to create a strong vision of the proposed solution for the client and underpin this with a disciplined and transparent delivery process.
A current example of the need for innovation is in the Public Sector and meeting the challenge of reducing spend whilst maintaining services. In the past there has been a lot of piecemeal and incremental change but not all of this has resulted in increased value for money, improved resource efficiency or better levels of customer service. For the Public Sector to overcome the challenge to ‘deliver more for less’ it will require innovation in terms of business models, changing culture and sustainable delivery mechanisms. This is what we mean by innovation in our sector.
This is the time of year when business leaders from around the world get together in Davos with politicians, bankers and the odd celebrity to discuss the economic future of our planet.
It’s great for media sound bites, trend analysis and networking and a bit like the Oscars for big company CEO’s but without, well, the Oscars. It even used to be motivating for the less worthy masses to follow. But, somehow, no longer.
You see, the problem with Davos is that it’s the gathering of gatherings for leaders of ‘big’. Big businesses, big banks and big government. Yet today is about small. If we should have learnt one thing from the recent economic meltdown it’s that anything big tends to be self serving and the opposite of innovative.
The world needs innovation. And disruptive innovation almost always comes from lone entrepreneurs and new startups. That’s not Davos. So Davos increasingly looks like that aging nightclub for equally aging rockers. Fun if you’re an aging rocker but a bit irrelevant and cringey for everyone else.
Perhaps the World Economic Forum should change its remit and ensure that next years get together is led by innovative startup entrepreneurs and disruptive scientists with their views on life. Smack them up against political leaders, economic gurus and, of course, Bono. My money would be on this lot setting the world to rights – the 21st Century way. But that’s just my view.
A timely video interview with Klaus Schwab, Founder and Chairman of the World Economic Forum.
Check it out.
