Tag Archives: Lean Startups

Effectuation – The best theory of entrepreneurship you actually follow, whether you’ve heard of it or not

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University of Virginia Darden professor Saras Sarasvathy’s groundbreaking 2001 paper “What Makes Entrepreneurs Entrepreneurial” finally gained some widespread recognition when Vinod Khosla posted a copy on his website with some personal notes, one of which read: “First good paper I’ve seen”. Professor Sarasvathy developed the Effectuation theory of entrepreneurship after exhaustively interviewing 27 serial entrepreneurs.  Her research findings greatly advanced

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Magic vs. Logic in Entrepreneurship

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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

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Search for a Scalable Business Model

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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

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“Lean” is back. And this time, it means business!

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When the American auto industry desperately needed help in the 1980’s to catch up to foreign competition, namely from Japan, it essentially followed the motto: ”If you can’t beat them, join them.” Unconditionally, American auto companies gradually adopted a management philosophy that came to be known as “Lean Production” to improve competitiveness in operations, from logistics to manufacturing and sales.

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Think Molecule, Not Atom

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When formulating a new venture, consider the bond between invention and business model discipline – aka, Innovation.  The birth of the Ford Motor Company story serves as a prime example. How many of you have ever heard of James Couzens?  Without James Couzens, you probably would not have heard of Henry Ford.   James Couzens completed Henry Ford. Ford, the visionary

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