After digging through Guy Kawasaki’s book The Art of the Start again I realized I had something ass backwards. I was getting lost in writing the business plan and losing focus. In Chapter 4 Guy writes that you should write the business plan after you write the pitch. This is…
With the weekend wrapping up I’m finally, back home. With all partners present and working for the entire weekend I can honestly say this much: there’s a great chemistry between us. To me, that’s the most important part – we can overcome anything but personality conflicts. They’ll rot the team…
Weekends are work days too. Covered multiple business models and worked out next steps and timelines. All without Starbucks and a shower. Oh, I’m learning how to go cheap on everything too.
Up at 5 AM, plowed through all the emails from friends and family that were wishing me luck. As I’m writing this I’m heading for north Florida to work on fleshing out some additional opportunities. It’s 2PM. Left at 10. I think I’ve hit every Five Guys Burgers on the…
This morning, after 11 years at Cox Target Media, I resigned my position as Digital Innovation Strategist. After becoming more involved in the entrepreneurial community that’s building in Tampa and St Pete, and after seeing what USFSP’s Gazelle Lab is doing to support innovation and entrepreneurship, I felt that I…
For those creative individuals that are submitting new cost cutting or product ideas, the incentive may not be strictly financial. That may be a portion of it, but the overall thrill of creating something may be from getting an opportunity to participate in bringing the idea or product to fruition.…
Last night I was watching, yet again, The Pixar Story from ’97. I’ve seen this a number of times and each time I usually get something new out of it. This time wasn’t any different – I picked up on something Jobs said about creating spaces to foster ‘unintended collaboration”…
Or… Allow your employees the latitude to become experts on their own. For those rare and truly passionate people who’s outside interests and daily jobs mesh – giving them latitude to grow and be recognized as team, corporate and then industry experts grows you and your business as well. It…
In reality, the 80/20 rule is 90/10 when it comes to innovation. Only 10% of “ideas” that are generated could be considered in the “good” category. However, of the entire population of ideas, 1% would be considered “great.” The difficult part to begin to grapple with is that of all…
If you’re setting out to brainstorm new ideas and concepts, here’s some things I’ve experienced over the past few years that may help. 1) Get a great facilitator. Someone that’s open minded, will keep people on track and will get people to contribute. 2) Put a great question together and…