While just surviving may be a first priority for many businesses today, the “new normal” in 2010 also presents an unique opportunity for growth and profitability. Businesses with a vision of new growth and profits will need to nurture entrepreneurship and create an environment that offers room for creativity and innovation. Business leadership has the…
“You will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm.” -Colette I love that quote. Entrepreneurs need to take chances and do unconventional things and risk looking foolish. The mundane mass market is not the domain of the entrepreneur. Instead, it is the under served or overlooked customer segment which begs for a solution. The…
“In order to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe.” – Carl Sagan, astronomer Many “wannabe” entrepreneurs struggle with the idea of coming up with the perfect product or solution. This obsession with being the best keeps them from launching the product. Instead, they stay sequestered in the pre-launch stage…
Much is being said and written about how the increased price of oil to over $140 per barrel is injuring our economy. Moreover, the prediction of $200 per barrel by the year end is being heralded as the “Tripping Pont” by many pundits—an unthinkable change in the landscape of western civilization. My response to these…
“In order to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe.” – Carl Sagan, Astronomer Creating new products can be complex but it is not as complicated as the above quote suggests. Rather, I think new products need to withstand a feasibility test, also known as a concept test. This feedback…
Innovative products need to be marketed and sold differently than other offerings since they require a special customer who is receptive to innovation. Most customers are skeptical and will wait until innovative products are mass marketed. Here are a few suggestions on how to market innovative products: • Not everyone will understand the need for…
Creating innovative products can come via sheer serendipity, but most of the time they are the result of hard work and taking deliberate steps in an innovation process. Here are the basics steps for inventing new products: Awareness: A problem, idea, or random thought jumps up and bites you and it makes you think to…
That’s a quote from Vittorio Alfieri, an Italian dramatist considered the founder of “Italian tragedy”. OK, I had not heard of him either, until I saw the quote and looked him up on Wikipedia. Regardless, this quote reminded me that inspiration may be an important part of marketing and entrepreneurship, but no idea is so…
Show me a startup without a business plan and I will declare it a “rudderless” ship. For without a business plan to guide you, a business will just float along chasing one opportunity after the next, while ending up nowhere special. Business plans are not hard to write, but they do challenge you to think…
Maybe the smartest money ever spent by an entrepreneur is to conduct a “concept test” which is basic market research on an offering before you go to market. Concept testing can use qualitative or quantitative research methods; most commonly, qualitative tools such as in-person interviews and focus groups are chosen for their expediency and live…