Jockey vs. Horse

To create any successful business, you need (among other things) a great idea and a great team. But what is more important? This is a question that has been on the forefront of business news recently.
Anyone who saw the movie “The Social Network” knows exactly what I am talking about. Would Facebook be Facebook without Mark Zuckerburg? Had Mark teamed up with the Winkelvoss twins, would it be nearly as successful? They had a great idea for a website, but Zuckerburg saw the true nature of the idea and the potential it had to change the way the world communicates.

Would the Winklevoss twins realized what they had? Would they have been gutsy enough to turn down $1billion from Yahoo? $15 billion from Microsoft? Would they have been smart enough to not generate ad-revenue immediately? Would they have jumped-the-gun with opening up the site to those without ".edu" email addresses? Would they have created just another college themed myspace?

What do you guys think? What is more important… the jockey or the horse?

Integrity

We are constantly inundated with stories that vilify the business leaders and their shady tactics. We hear story after story about wall-street “fat cats” duping grandma and grandpa out of their hard-earned pension funds. I question how much of this is the norm, or if it just makes for a compelling journalistic story.

I recently had an experience that helped restore my faith… at least in the rising generation of business leaders. I was recently running a business plan competition that had a $500 purse. That is a lot of Top Ramen for any poor college student. We had invited local business leaders to be guest judges for the event.

Just before the event was about to begin, on of the participants met eyes with one of the judges and then walked over and greeted him. They talked for a few minutes, and then the participant walked back over to me and told me that he was going to withdraw from the competition.

The participant (I am not using his name on purpose) told me that the judge was a former business partner, and wanted to avoid even the appearance of impropriety. I was completely floored. I could not believe what I was hearing.

I was so impressed. This student could have participated (and most likely could have won) and not told a single soul about his past relationship with the judge. He gained a lot of credit in my book, and in the book of many of the other business leaders in attendance, which could be worth much more than $500.

1984 No More

There was  a showdown yesterday... Steelers vs. Packers was only a small part of it. This is the time where the ad agencies come out to shine. Many agencies have been built on the notoriety of a single SuperBowl ad.  One of these agencies is Chiat/Day, responsible for the classic "1984" Apple Macintosh commercial. Chiat/Day hung their hat on this ad, and leveraged it to gain many more accounts.

Yesterday, Google took a direct shot at this classic SuperBowl ad, Apple, and Apple users. Was it smart? Take a look.

I thought that this was a fairly clever ad at first. It was an interesting "throwback"  to the classic 1984 ad. 

Here is my problem with it....

It portrays all Apple users as mindless conformist drones. As a recent Apple convert, I had to take offense. I am guessing most of the people who are interested in a tablet, might have some Apple product of some sort... even if it is just an iPod shuffle. 

Rule #1: Don't insult your target market. 

Here is another problem...

Where are the features? If you are going to introduce a product to market, do not show the most boring and obvious features of your product. Show the features that make your product distinctively different than the incumbent. This ad shows that you can look at maps, and view videos on this tablet. Just like the iPad. 

Beautiful concept, poor execution.

Memory vs Experience

My “new” (it is new to me) favorite website is TED.com. If you haven’t heard of it before, TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design. TED is like a Youtube channel for geniuses, business leaders, and gurus.

I was watching a talk recently on the difference between experience and memories. You can find a link to the video here.  The video really got me thinking about this concept from a marketing perspective. Are we selling experiences or memories?

In the video Daniel Kahneman asks the question, “If money and time were not a factor, where would you want to go on vacation?” He then asked the follow up question, “If you could not take any pictures and left with complete amnesia of the vacation, would the location or activities change?”

The point of the exercise was to determine what you value more, memories or experiences. It was his contention, that the population values memories more than experiences and we choose our vacations and other activities based on the future anticipation on memories.

This has a very interesting application to the marketing process. So much of marketing is selling an experience. We sell the thrill of driving a new sports car, or the pleasure tasting a gourmet meal. According to Daniel Kahneman we should be selling the memory of the drive, and the meal instead of the experience. We value remembering the drive, describing it to our friends and looking at the pictures of where we went. We value thinking of the great food we ate and comparing other food to it.

If this is true, marketers should develop a value proposition that focuses on the memories gained rather than experience created. 

Made vs. Design

I am a recent convert to the world of Mac. I received an iPod Touch a few years ago for Christmas, and was absolutely blown away by the capabilities of such a tiny device. This was just the foothold Apple needed to wiggle its way into my life. After literally years of debate, and a lot of peer pressure, I finally purchased a brand-new MacBook Pro.

I am in love. It was such an easy conversion from PC to Mac. Whenever I got tripped up, or wasn't sure how to do something, I asked myself one question... "If I had never used a computer before in my life, how would I perform this task?" Inevitably, it was my own instincts and not the user manual that helped me learn my new Mac.

This brings me to my real point. When I opened the box to my new computer... I mean Mac, (any Mac-evangalist will tell you that it is not just a computer) I noticed on the inside of the box, these words

"Designed by Apple in California"

So powerful. So much of their brand and corporate image is summed up in that short little sentence. My Mac was not "Made," it was "Designed."  I instantly thought of people in clean white rooms, with designer glasses and black turtlenecks. Complicated formulas and images drawn on whiteboards. Plastic models and clay renderings. Tony Stark with his 3D graphic interface.   Moreover, it was "Designed...in California." Outside of this futuristic design studio, was palm trees, beaches and beautiful people. This was the American dream, come to life.

This is by far one of the most powerful marketing sentences I have seen. So much imagery in so few words. Perfect.

Ask the Patient Where it Hurts!

     So often when a person is coming up with a new business, or a business is developing a new product, they fail to ask the all-important question: "What problem am I solving?" So often (especially in the Technology sector) businesses are so obsessed with the "What it will be" they never stop to think about the "Why it will be." They develop elegant and beautiful solutions to problems that do not exist.

     This entire blog could be dedicated to the companies that fail in this regard. One of the most recent examples of this, is the Microsoft Kin. "Folks and Microsoft lovers were too much excited when the Kin was launched but it flopped. The main reason is that everyone is after the smartphones and wow, Microsoft launched this worst possible phone ever. Main flaws in the Kin are, it gives a pathetic browsing experience. Screen is not large enough if we compare Kin to HTC or Apple, you can easily buy a Droid for the amount you are paying for Kin. Kin disappeared after a month and half after release." (worsttech.com)

     The first rule of medical inquiry is to "Ask the patient where it hurts." The patient is always the best guide to a correct diagnosis and eventual remedy. Business leaders need get the stethoscope out of their ears once in a while and listen to the patient. Otherwise you are stuck trying to cure cancer with a cough-drop or a cold with chemotherapy.

What are your "favorite" terrible products?

Wow... started "blogging" and "Tweeting" all in the same week.

    Part of the purpose of this blog is to share with the world (actually only about 3 people so far) my passions and interests. I always try to stay up to date with the big trends in the business and technology industry. I have posted a few articles that I have found particularly interesting on this blog. I find myself wanting to post so much more, but I do not want the ratio of articles and actual post by me, to be out of balance.

    To keep this balance, I have decided to not post anymore articles in the actual blog. Instead, I have embedded a Twitter feed, and will "Tweet" the articles that I find interesting. I think this will help keep things a little more organized.

    Please check them out. Some of them are amazing and quite insightful.

Dear Google... I love you!

Dear Google,

     I know that we have only know each other for a few years now, but I am really glad that we decided to get serious. I am not sure what the future holds for us, but I am excited to find out. You are always there when I need you. You always take the time to answer my questions. Sometimes you may not know the answer right away, but you are always willing to help me find it.

    You are constantly changing and trying to better yourself and not afraid to try new things. Sometimes you are great at them and sometimes not, but I am glad that you are at least willing to try. When I was frustrated with the lack of features on my Blackberry... you were there to help with your friend Android. When I needed help working on a group project for school... you were there with Wave. When I wanted to connect the calendar on my phone with the calendar on my computer... you were there to help too (and I was connecting it to a Mac!). Even now, I am writing this letter with your friend Blogger.

    I want you to know that I sometimes see Yahoo! around, but we are just friends. I sometimes just check the top stories, but it is strictly plutonic. I still have a few accounts there, so I have to drop by once in awhile, but don't worry... you will always be my homepage and default search engine.

Thanks for all the good times!

Love,

wilso93

Alright gang, what do you love about Google?

Are We Headed for Another Dot-Com Crash? [POLL]

From Mashable.com By:Jolie O'Dell

Startups are raising huge rounds of financing. Valuations are rumored to be in the billions. Everybody and his dog has an eye on (or a hand in) the social media scene of web apps.

So are we headed for another cyclical bust, or aren’t we?

While some of the numbers being floated around — Groupon will IPO at a $15 billion valuation! Facebook’s worth $50 billion! Zynga raised$366 million! — are dizzyingly high, high enough to make us wonder if investors, entrepreneurs and journalists aren’t all a little out of their minds, there’s another set of number that balance out the picture. Numbers that, as this journalist and others recall, one didn’t hear a lot of during the first dot-com boom-bust cycle: real revenues.

For example, Facebook made $2 billion in 2010 through a mix of advertising and virtual currencies. And Groupon’s annual revenues, which come from profit-sharing splits with the local and national brands that run daily deals on the site, are between $800 million and $2 billion.

Of course, naturally, a lot of these reported revenues are likely inflated. But they still represent a pretty big difference from the kind of revenues and business models we saw in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Rare is the startup that continues to operate and raise money without a business model. (Twitter andFormspring are notable exceptions.) No longer is a huge userbase enough to net popular support and a ton of funding. No longer is a really great idea alone an adequate foundation for a business.

And no longer are developers and eager entrepreneurs indiscriminately bagging every offer of funding that comes their way. In fact, bootstrapping has become a cool new cult in the startup world. And if they’re not bootstrapping, many entrepreneurs might not be interested in taking money for an unprofitable side project. Even Chatroulette, one of the simplest flashes in the pan that is the Internet, has shied away from funding offers, instead trying to find a way to make money.

As a group and as a culture, we’ve learned from our dot-com mistakes, both on the investor side and on the entrepreneur side. We’ve learned that a little more skepticism and a lot more realism are the best kind of preventative medicine to ward off another crash. We’ve especially learned, with a few exceptions, to look for business models and find the revenue first.

Still, the startup market is on shaky ground as we head out of a national recession and into uncharted technological territory. In many cases, it’s nearly impossible to say what will make money and what won’t. After all, if you’d asked me a couple years ago to invest in a company that sold cartoon livestock, I would have had you locked up.

So, what’s your take on it: Is the web startup ecosystem headed into troubled waters, or will it be smooth sailing for the foreseeable future? 

Are We Headed for Another Dot-Com Crash? [POLL]

Coming Soon: Why Facebook is KILLING us

Just the way you are

So, this is my first official blog post. Thank you, thank you. I am finally a part of the blogosphere. I am not really sure what this blog will be, but I am excited to find out. I am limiting myself to posts about my top 3 interests: Business, Leadership and Technology. I may post the occasional funny video, or anything else I may just find interesting.

Well.... here goes nothing.

I was listening to a song on the radio today, and the lyrics said something close to... "you are great just the way you are..."  This seemed a really nice notion to me at first, especially because the song referenced physical attributes (her pretty face...etc). I am all for having a positive self image. The pressure of physical perfection, and the litany of disorders that spring from it is heartbreaking.

For some reason I couldn't stop thinking about that idea, and it stuck with me all day. It seems to be a very popular notion, and one that was not unfamiliar to me. I finally realized why I had such a problem with it.

The idea that we are "great just the way we are" can mean one of two things:
1. We are like Marry Poppins (Practically perfect in nearly every way).
2. We are lazy and have given up on self-improvement.

I tend to think those that espouse this idea fall into the second category. They want to be great just the way they are because that means that they do not have to change or improve. They lower the bar so that they do not have to achieve or become any more than what they have already become. They abandon the idea that they can become something better or greater.

Although I think that this notion is intended to be positive, it is so often an excuse for poor conduct. Anyone who has watched even the smallest bit of reality television has witnessed some poor participant remark, "Well, thats just who I am..." after a fit of shameful behavior.

That being said, those who neglect responsibility in the foolish pursuit of something "better" (think of the 50 year old with bad knees who still thinks he might get drafted to the NFL) are just as disappointing.

I love the entire university experience for this reason. I am surrounded (for the most part) by people who are struggling, striving, failing, succeeding, but most of all trying, to be more than they are. They are trying to better themselves, and in turn, all of their communities. They are pushing their limits, and growing in knowledge, wisdom and experience.

Now the question: Would you rather be content and have your potential unfulfilled, or discontent but striving to fulfill your potential?

Hmmmm.....

More to come on this idea as it develops.

Facebook hype will fade

(CNN) -- All signs for Facebook appear to be pointing up. Mark Zuckerberg is Time's Man of the Year, the movie about him seems likely to be an Oscar winner, and now Goldman Sachs is raising $1.5 billion from its favorite investors on behalf of the social networking company.
At the very same moment, Facebook's only real competitor --NewsCorps' waning social networking site, MySpace -- is shedding employees and expenses, most likely in hopes of a fire sale.
But appearances can be deceiving. In fact, as I read the situation, we are witnessing the beginning of the end of Facebook. These aren't the symptoms of a company that is winning, but one that is cashing out.

continued at: CNN: Facebook Hype Will Fade

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