Lean Startups Trivia 2
Who coined the word “Pivot”? “I want to introduce the concept of the pivot, the idea that successful startups change directions but stay grounded in what they’ve learned.” Eric Ries, of course.
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Strategic Planning for New Ventures. Part I: What the heck is strategy?
When working for a large company, I remember the arduous, but necessary process of yearly strategic planning, albeit I wasn’t personally invited to the swanky off-site or wherever “the generals gathered in their masses”. Now that I’m part of the management team of an early-stage biotech startup, I get invited to the party – yeah! Then it dawned on me
Read moreIf it Ain’t Fixed, Break it!
You’ve probably heard the idiom, “If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it”. Well, this is probably the last advice you should apply to early stage ventures. Guess what, it probably is broken and you need to fix it! Let me give you a couple of examples where the reverse is actually what’s needed (Break it before you can hope to
Read moreMagic vs. Logic in Entrepreneurship
I’m often asked the question “What is more important to corporate innovation or external financial investors – an idea that’s Magical (appeals to their creative or emotional side) or an idea that’s Logical (appeals to their critical reasoning, rational side)”? It reminds me of the question posed by Niccolo Machievelli in ‘The Prince’: Is it better for a ruler to
Read moreLean Startups Trivia
Lean Startups Trivia Who came up with the term Minimum Viable Product? Frank Robinson
Read moreSearch for a Scalable Business Model
In their book “The Startups Owner’s Manual” authors Steven Gary Blank and Bob Dorf argue that almost everything we know about taking products to market is wrong! How’s that for an opening statement!? They go on to illustrate how the world of new product introduction is littered with failures, mostly because companies (including startups) are using the wrong new business
Read moreMemo to large companies: Listen to Lean Startups
Taking a page from Lean Production (the rigorous scientific-like management practices used by Industrial Engineers since the day of mass production, coupled with a heavy dose of Japanese-management style employee engagement), the Lean Startup movement has taken the entrepreneurship world by storm – finally providing a playbook to make a system out of winning in what has previously seamed like
Read moreAgainst the Wind
When Christopher Columbus ‘pitched’ Queen Isabella of Castile and King Ferdinand of Aragon to fund his golden voyage west bound to India, what do you think was the nature of the opportunity? Here’s one way to think about it. First, think about the ‘Prize’ – What was the intended prize for the second Iberian power (Portugal being first at the
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Necrophone 