6 Books Written by Famous Entrepreneurs

Any new entrepreneur will surely dream to meet the people who made it to the top and are an inspiration for everyone around the globe. Nevertheless, we know that meeting them all to get inspired might not be a possibility for everyone. However, you can always find the stories of struggles and rise to power through various books that have been written by people, who all started as ordinary people but achieved extraordinary feats in business. If you are an aspiring entrepreneur struggling with the dilemmas of a start-up, these are some of the best business books to read.

1. Losing My Virginity by Richard Branson

Losing My Virginity by Richard Branson

The tell-tale of Richard Branson, the owner of the Virgin Group has penned down the fables that has made his entire life a worth read. Richard Branson is person that has the profile-raising drives of P. T. Barnum and expertise of Bill Gates. The autobiography talks about how the name ‘Virgin’ came up, how they remodelled the on-going industries where the customers were ripped off or were treated less than deserved by the competences. Further, it talks about the airlines, music, cola and general store line up of the group, the adversities that were faced and how Richard lived his life amid all the happenings. Losing My Virginity: How I’ve Survived, Had Fun, and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way is Branson’s record to keep things minimal yet making them large at the very same time.

2. iWoz by Steve Wosniak

iWoz by Steve Wosniak

iWoz is the autobiography of Steve Wosniak, the developer of the Apple computers. The book tells about a brief history of life of Steve Wosniak, his founding of the Apple Computers and some other ventures. He talks about his relations with Steve Jobs, feelings towards Apple and some misconceptions that were spread about him and which he would like to clear. The book is written in form of monographs not lasting more than a few pages, in some cases a few paragraphs. iWoz: From Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Personal Computer, Co-Founded Apple, and Had Fun Doing It, the title sums it all.

3. Thrive by Arianna Huffington

Thrive by Arianna Huffington

Arianna Huffington, co-founder of The Huffington Post, has described about her breakthrough of realization of the actual definition of success in her bestseller ‘Thrive’. While the world only knows about the two dimensions of success- power and money- Arianna has subtly pointed out the third and an inevitable dimension of success. Being already successful and having to face an ugly disease, Arianna talks about how one tends to overlook the simple yet the most important aspects of life. As someone wisely said that no one will remember power point presentations at your graveyard and hence we should establish a balance between the professional and personal world. The book is an eye-opener for the person who is working much more than required to reach somewhere that is not a destination but a never ending journey. Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom, and Wonder, exactly preaches its subtitle.

4. Business at the Speed of Thoughts by Bill Gates

Business at the Speed of Thoughts by Bill Gates

Business at the Speed of Thoughts by Bill Gates is not a manual for the current technologies but about how technology and business are intervened. The book talks about the effect of digitalization on the business and how to enhance the business with the help of technology. Bill Gates in his book debates about the cyberspace and how it has been ruling any and every industry for a while now. The book is a piece of sheer brilliance that looks at the world from the eyes of the world’s most successful, rich and influential person.

5. The Blueprint by Peter Thiel

The Blueprint by Peter Thiel

The Blueprint by Peter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal is an upfront bitter truth about the innovation in the current scenario. He has written about how we are not advancing towards future because of the lack of new ideas and the incapability of producing something new to life. Today’s businesses whether technology or any other field is more about refining the existing products rather than giving a new product. The book is a motivation for any person who may or may not be associated with technology. The Blueprint: Reviving Innovation, Rediscovering Risk, and Rescuing the Free Market, is the way to brainstorm for something that still has no blueprints.

6. Pour Your Heart Into It by Howard Schultz

Pour Your Heart Into It by Howard Schultz

Pour Your Heart into It by Howard Schultz is the making and shaping of Starbucks Coffee. What started as a normal coffee shop on Waterfront in Seattle has expanded to an exclusive brand with which today coffee is defined. The idea was to make coffee a taste of the Americans, which it successfully did. The book talks about the wisdom that Schultz gained while on the coffee making journey and also about how to change passion into profit for the right reasons and in the right way. Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time, is a fable about how Starbucks has become much more than a coffee, perhaps a lifestyle.

Reading the words directly from the most influential tellers is one of the best ways to create and recreate self. These business books are the real stories of real people and their real struggles. One cannot escape without reading these enthralling yet heart touching books that gives the reader new insights.

The post 6 Books Written by Famous Entrepreneurs appeared first on Small Business Can.

This post was originally published here - http://www.smallbusinesscan.com/6-books-written-famous-entrepreneurs/ on

5 Lessons A Small Business Can Learn From Pixar

It’s no secret that the Pixar company has a long history of successes. Today’s businesses, both big and small, can learn a thing or two from looking at the ways Pixar has succeeded and even failed. The hard-earned experience of Pixar can be turned into lessons and techniques for enterprises to learn from and adapt to suit their purpose. Below are five adoptable lessons from Pixar.

1. Make sure you’re hiring the right people

If you have a mediocre team, they won’t be able to turn a basic idea into something great. However, if you have a great team working for you, they’ll be able to take the very beginning of an idea and turn it into something amazing. One rule of thumb from Pixar is to hire people who are smarter or more talented than you are. When everyone’s working for the same company and toward the same goals, you’re not hiring a threat, you’re hiring talent that can take the company to the next level. Everybody has unique experiences that they can teach everyone else.

2. Be open to all types of inspiration, from all different places

Everyone at your company should feel free to suggest ideas, whether it’s about how to make administrative activities more streamlined to your app’s enterprise gamification updates. When people aren’t comfortable enough to give you their ideas, you end up missing out on a lot of inspiration that you won’t get from anywhere else. Sometimes the most unexpected sources have the best suggestions; be open to them all. If people are having a hard time being candid, try to figure out why and then fix the problem.

3. Don’t run away from problems

When you carefully craft messaging to downplay issues, you end up looking like a liar or someone who doesn’t care about the company or other people. As a leader, share problems with your team, face them head on, be honest about them and try to come up with good solutions. Talk to your employees about the issues the company is facing. You never know who’s going to have a great idea. The people who deal with the ins and outs of the business often have ways to fix problem areas.

4. Show trust in employees

Tell your employees that you trust them, especially when it comes to moving forward with new ideas. Clarify that by trusting them, you don’t expect them to always succeed. Instead, tell them that you trust them to use their best judgement and do their best. Explain that sometimes failure is inevitable, but that sometimes failing leads to even better, smarter risks in the future. Your employees should know that they have the reigns when it comes to certain projects, but they shouldn’t be afraid of what’s going to happen if they fail.

5. Share the process with the rest of your team, not just the final result

Things can take a long time to come to fruition. Share each step of the way with your employees. It’s important for people to see how ideas go from thoughts to implementation. It’s also good for your employees to see how management handles setbacks. If something isn’t going as planned, you can shift your tactics mid-process to get it onto a better track.

Most of all, Pixar loves taking chances.

Never be afraid to take a risk. If you fail, you’ve at least learned a few lessons that you can apply to your next venture. If you succeed, than the risk was more than worth it.

The post 5 Lessons A Small Business Can Learn From Pixar appeared first on Small Business Can.

This post was originally published here - http://www.smallbusinesscan.com/5-lessons-a-small-business-can-learn-from-pixar/ on

3 Tips to Drawing up a Business Plan for your Startup

Starting up a business maybe exciting but it isn’t a piece of cake! You are bound to come across obstacles and problems, and that’s why a drawing up a business plan for your startup is useful, but missing even a few important points could turn it into a confusing puzzle.

Drawing up a Business Plan for your Startup

Big and small businesses need business plans to attract potential investors and keep their team updated. Don’t even think about venturing into the market without a business plan, if you can’t make one then ask a consultant to do so. Stay active and on top of the market game and under no circumstances let yourself slack off.

If you forget to include these key points, then you risk losing investors and turn your business plan into a puzzle with missing pieces. Nobody likes putting together an incomplete puzzle.

Let’s talk about the few things you miss when drawing up a business plan for your startup!

1. “What If” situations

Prepare for the worst and expect for the best. I think it’s obligatory that you draw up some hypothetical “what if” scenarios in the business plan. They should include anticipated problems and possible solutions; this approach will come handy especially when your company hits big money in profits. Here are some standard scenarios:

“What if” one of the co-founder wants to leave? Is he allowed to sell his part of the business to anyone or current partners will be a priority.
“What if” one of the partners dies?
“What if” business needs another round of funding?

You could allow your devilish mind to conjure up hundreds of unfortunate situations. The more solutions you have, the higher the chance of survival for your business. This will make your business tougher and teach your team to be thick skinned.

2. Mind your Language

It’s funny how people forget the vital role language plays in our lives. I’ve seen too many people look past this and sadly they suffered its consequences. You might not think that it plays a huge role in the beginning of your startup, but trust me somewhere down this road you’ll thank me! Once your business starts flowing and you monitor results of capital investment in marketing, you will see why this actually matters.

Write whatever you speak. This means that use the language you use on a daily basis (in your business execution and interactions) on paper and in documents too.

For instance, let’s assume you handle digital marketing and PR separately. If your business plan is titled as “Marketing Plans”, this could be problematic especially when you try to gauge which channel is giving you more returns and which one needs better marketing budget.

So make life easier for yourself and be particular about wording and language. Make things simple and write in the same manner of speaking. Avoid using jargons or terminology that is out of your speaking routine.

Goals other than profits
Another missing piece to this business puzzle is additional goals to the ‘plan’. I’ve seen too many business plans ignore the inclusion of goals. Of course investors love to see sales growth patterns and revenues, but there’s more than just numbers and profitability.

3. What are some of these goals?

Why are you in the market?
How your product will change the way people think?
How your product is making your customers life easier?

These goals will help your team stay focused and diligent. It will serve as a constant reminder to strive for betterment and this vision ensures quality control and talent within the market.

If you add three of these missing pieces to the puzzle, your business plan is complete. Now you’re ready to entertain investment and experience noticeable success in your business.

The post 3 Tips to Drawing up a Business Plan for your Startup appeared first on Small Business Can.

5 Reasons Cloud Communication Is Vital For Business Prosperity

There is more to running a successful business than just having a good niche in the supply and demand market. Keeping customers satisfied and maintaining a high level of quality customer service is the key factor in how many customers come back. But what allows a good business to meet these demands in a highly competitive and global market? In today’s market economy, technology is the make or break point. Having up to date technology that is easy to use will keep your business running smoothly and more optimal. Today’s up to date technology is cloud based communication systems.

What Are Cloud Based Communication Systems?

Communication systems that utilize the internet as opposed to a computer’s hard drive for accessing programs and data are known as cloud based communication systems. These cloud based systems basically do all their work in the ‘cloud’. This process is known as cloud computing. Cloud computing can take place over various systems; some can be accessed through applications from purchased subscriptions such as Google Apps, Microsoft Office 365 etc. Further, you can smoothly integrate Office 365 with cloud based phone system to enhance your peer-to-peer and clientele communications. Others can take place from a custom created application designed and implemented by the company for everyone within the network to access.

A few of the more commonly used business cloud computing technologies are:

Software as a Service (SaaS): these are purchased subscriptions
Platform as a Service (PaaS): these are the custom made ones
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): these can be rented out from much larger corporations such as Google or Microsoft.

Cloud communication systems are a huge business in and of themselves, generating billions of dollars a year. Here are 5 reasons why you should consider looking into a unified cloud communication system for your business like many others already have.

Advanced Features are More Affordable

Advanced features are often the most sought after in the industry as these features integrate your business’ technological capability. By providing easy access to integrated capacities such as conferencing, presence, phone, messaging, and even mobility, you are putting your business at a greater advantage over others in your market area. Buyers do need to know up front that some cloud based systems utilize storage of some data in the devices there on-site so some mobility issues may need some working through. However, the best unified communications systems are those that are 100% cloud-based with no on-site data storage. This means no on-site IT maintenance.

All Communications Can Be Managed Online

Unified cloud communications system is the term used to incorporate all aspects of technology used in running your business. Unified cloud communications systems allow online portals for easier access from off-site IT specialists to address any troubleshooting needs. Online portals allow greater productivity and help to keep costs low because IT functions are able to be delegated and streamlined in a much more simple and efficient manner. Employees are also empowered to have a greater level of control, maintaining their devices and making communication for all involved much less complicated.

The User Holds the Power

Users covet the ability to have flexible access and more control when it comes to the tools they need to maintain a high level of professionalism with their colleagues and their clients. Being able to have the same resources in and away from the office increases dexterity of the business as a whole and productivity levels of all involved. Not all cloud based systems are able to offer this level of flexibility. Only the 100% cloud based telephone system are designed with the user in mind and not the devices.This also allows technicians to troubleshoot most problems “in the air” rather than on the actual device.

Minimize Downtime Risks

The coined phrase, “time is money and money is time,” rings true for every business. Utilizing a unified cloud communications system reduces lost time from downed systems that may otherwise be experienced from on-site repair needs, power outages, severe weather or other emergency related downtime. This strategic type of entrepreneurial foresight puts the business with a unified cloud communication system at a major advantage over the competition; not only in time saved, but also the costs to address these on-site risks.

On-site Systems Are Cost Burdensome and Complicated

On-site systems require the use of on-site IT staff for maintenance and repair work. These added operational costs decrease a profit margin. The increased risk of communication errors and the technology to become obsolete quicker make choosing a cloud based system over an on-site system the simple and economical choice.

The benefits of utilizing a cloud communications system is a game changer. Increased productivity, decreased overhead costs, higher customer service as a result of more effective technology all help to give your business the competitive edge.

Businesses have changed over the years from when our parents and grandparents were in the market world. The use of rapidly evolving tech is what continues to propel businesses into the future. How far do you want your business to go?

The post 5 Reasons Cloud Communication Is Vital For Business Prosperity appeared first on Small Business Can.

This post was originally published here - http://www.smallbusinesscan.com/5-reasons-cloud-communication-vital-business-prosperity/ on

Award Winning – What’s the Point?

This was my thought process prior to today – what is the point of awards and do they really benefit my business? I have seen many businesses flaunt their award winning this and their award for that and even some businesses who claim that they are award winning without stating what their award is for.

Well I have now joined the ranks of the award winners myself – not for export, not for sales and not even for the amount of businesses I have grown. This wonderful scene on the left is the winner of the Tourism NI Picture Perfect award for 2015!

Whilst not really relevant to the benefits I provide for my clients – it has changed my perception about them. It is my belief that benefits coming from awards fall into 2 main areas, independence and recognition.

Independence

Awards are really only of value if they come from an independent and reputable source – “employee of the week” or awards based on the size of your membership fee creates only scepticism and doubt over your product or service. But if your awarding body ticks the independence box it brings great credibility to your business.

Recognition

It’s great to be recognised and this was a major influence in my change of heart. I always believed I had “a decent eye” but when the judges chose my image, it confirmed my belief. You may believe your product or service is excellent but your potential clients are more likely to take someone else’s word for it. This recognition can also have a major influence upon your staff, building confidence and pride and these have a major impact on productivity.

Words of Warning

Awards are like my image – a snapshot, a moment in time and all because your product or service is award winning in 2015 there is no guarantee that it will be in the future. Plaques and certificates fade and gather dust and if left hanging around your receptions and marketing material without being up to date will lose their effectiveness and lustre. So if you are not striving for those awards annually make sure they don’t hang around as a sign post of past glory days.

So bring on the perfect picture award 2016!

As always I appreciate your comments, your feedback and the sharing of any of my blogs.

The Business Therapist – making your business better.

The post Award Winning – What’s the Point? appeared first on Small Business Can.

Top Ecommerce Tips To Implement For Better Online Customer Experience

Quality goods are no longer sufficient to stay competitive in the digital era. Nowadays consumers have many buying options to choose from and tend to stay loyal to the brands that provide exceptional customer experience. According to Forrester, 73% of consumers would like to buy more where they had a positive customer experience. What exactly you can do to win customers and improve relationships with customers across the entire customer journey? What kind of new tools you can incorporate into your business processes to achieve higher level of customer satisfaction and increased up-selling opportunities? Read on for some Top Ecommerce Tips…

To stay competitive, you should craft strategies taking into account what is trendy and upcoming.

If you are not aware of the emerging trends in the ecommerce field, here are some suggestions to help you revise the basics to achieve superior customer support experience for your online store:

Software for managing online communities

One of the most cost-effective ways of strengthening relations with customers is to build active and supportive community of brand advocates. Online community software solutions can help brands to build and manage their communities online. Such web-based tools, like www.getsatisfaction.com can help you facilitate the conversations between brands and customers, provide a more engaging support experience, build better products reviews, increase SEO and, finally, improve customer loyalty.

Combination of big data and CRM

Another trend to watch for in the ecommerce space are tools that help companies examine the large volumes of data to help them in making data-driven decisions. When taking into consideration customer data, big data refers to large amounts of either transactional data or analytical data. With the help of CRM the information can be structured in various ways for the different purposes: design, pricing decisions or demand forecasting. Ecommerce businesses struggle to make sense of big data because of its volume, the speed in which it should be collected and the great variety of channels it encircles. While big data technology is cheaper due to the open source tools, main spending is connected to CRM implementation to collect and analyze a complex data. The CRM solution is required to have powerful data collection capabilities as well as the ability to get the information from different sources, like bpm’online CRM does.

Multiple sales channels

Nowadays customer browsing is not limited to a single website so ecommerce business owners can consider setting up multiple storefronts to get new clients and better manage customer service. The idea is to welcome customers from multiple channels, building sites for the different target audiences. When online stores are ready to create multiple storefronts, www.shoppingcart1.com can be an example of the software solution that support multiple storefronts.

Free Return

Free shipping has always been appealing for online shoppers. Now free shipping and free return is a proven tactic to turn buyers into repeat customers. Amazon.com was the first store who offered free shipping and return as part of their loyalty program, but in most cases, the consumer still has to pay for return shipping. Offering free return shipping is one of the hottest ecommerce trends, which is becoming popular now among customers. If an online store can offer free returns, it can show the customers not only the confidence about the products, but also the flexibility and great attitude towards customers.

Online shopping has been growing and retailers should look for new reasons to attract shoppers to spend more. As technology continues to rapidly evolve, ecommerce business might employ more sophisticated tools and facilities to make online shopping a lot more efficient and engaging for their customers.

The post Top Ecommerce Tips To Implement For Better Online Customer Experience appeared first on Small Business Can.

Freedom and Passion Beat Nearly Any Job

As an entrepreneur, I am fascinated by people who have a paid job. I went to the dark side and had permanent, pensionable job for four years. Loved it. A regular salary and not having to chase the next contract. It was comfortable. And then it started to niggle, I wanted to be an example for my kids and I realised that Hence Bookbuzz and Smallbusinesscan.

Entrepreneurship is the future

freedom and passion beat nearly any job.My standard advice to every employee is to consider entrepreneurship. If you want to be anti-fragile in the labour market of the future, you will have to.

Hacking your work

The next back thing is for you to take some lessons from “Hacking work”, which is about reinventing your work. There are a lot of interesting books about work, the meaning of work, controlling your own destiny and all that. Even the Dalai Lama wrote a book about happiness at work.

Why is that important? There is a strong economic rationale behind being happy at work. Happy workers are 10-25% more effective (from “Emotionomics”).

Being out of control whilst trying to be in control

“Hacking work” is about organisations being out of control whilst trying to be in control. Corporate big brother. The problem is that Big Brother uses outdated systems that are no longer relevant. It does not allow for meaningful dialogue with your staff, let alone with your customers. It does not allow to do great work (as distinct from mediocre work).

“Hacking work” preaches quiet revolution. Personnel taking control back, creating their your own systems and ensuring their personal return on investment as well as the ROI of the business.

As CEO or owner manager you should take note. The power is shifting towards the workers (Marx is back!). If you don’t allow for this revolution in your workplace, your competitor will. With the consequent a negative impact on staff and customer retention.

A few tips for CEOs:

Presume all your workers have ADD (attention deficit disorder). Actually presume your customer you have the same disorder.
Give your staff a few hours a week to spend on Facebook, LinkedIn, etc..
Embrace a policy of radical transparency
Engage in dialogue with you staff (using social media the same way you would use for dialogue with customers).

ROWE

Or consider adapting to a Results Only Work Environment

I bet that a lot of you go to work and give everything you have. And I bet you are treated like children who, if left unattended, will steal candy.

You go to work and watch someone who isn’t very good at their job get promoted because they got in earlier and stayed later than anyone else.

You go to work and sit through overlong, overstaffed meetings to talk about the next overlong, overstaffed meeting. You see talented, competent, productive people get penalised for having kids, for not being good at office politics, for being a little different.

Ditch the mindset

If any of this resonates with you, then you are by definition an employee – and the organisation you work for holds outdated beliefs about work based on assumptions that do not apply in today’s 24/7 economy.

This is the message in “Why Work Sucks – and how to fix it” by Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson, who claim that there has to be a better way. This better way is only possible when we change our focus from hours to outcomes, when we ditch our traditional Monday through Friday, 9-5 mindset. The 40-hour work week, say the authors, is outdated and outmoded.

ROWE

The authors developed a radical workplace experiment known as ROWE – Results-Only Work Environment, where you control when, where, and how long you work. As long as you meet your objectives, the way you spend your time is entirely up to you. Work is no longer a place you go to, it’s a thing you do. ROWE has no mandatory meetings or fixed schedules, you stop doing any activity that wastes time, no one criticizes you for “leaving early” or “coming in late,” and if you do your best work at midnight or on Sundays, that’s fine.

Guerrilla HR bomb throwers

In case you are tempted to regard ROWE as a utopian fantasy, be aware that it is already a reality at the Minneapolis headquarters of consumer electronics chain Best Buy.

According to the authors, ROWE not only makes employees happier, but also delivers better results. Businessweek describes the authors as guerrilla HR bomb throwers. Intuitively, the idea of treating employees like grown-ups sounds great.

After all, entrepreneurs, freelancers and salespeople already use ROWE principles in their work. No one can seriously doubt that an incredible amount of time and energy is wasted at work.

At least consider to be an entrepreneur at work. You will be happier.

Let us know what you think. Tweet @smallBC, use #hackwork

The post Freedom and Passion Beat Nearly Any Job appeared first on Small Business Can.

Entrepreneurship: Go Bold

An asteroid killed off the dinosaurs in a blink of an eye.

You will be extinct

If you are a large company, you are likely to get killed off the same way the dinosaurs went. Killed by exponential change in robotics, ICT, sensors, AI, synthetic biology, genomics, nanotechnology, 3D, infinite computing, to name but a few of the asteroids. Some of these trends going 5X as fast (biology).

Entrepreneurs will survive

The same way the mammals survived the dinosaurs, so will the entrepreneurs survive the next wave of destruction. In fact they will thrive.

Your time to make a dent

For the first time in history a committed individual can have access to the technology, the capital and the minds to make a dent in the universe. But to make a dent in the universe, you need to understand how exponential works.

Exponential

Exponential has become the new buzz word. The trend that makes everything possible. The trend that will change the world. Probably best described in “The second machine age”, but that books comes with a huge health warning. Exponential also means winners take all.

You can do it too

And now the winners have decided to jump on the band wagon and help others to win as well. It started with “From zero to one” and then “Exponential organisations” and now “Bold”. You can do it too.

6 Ds

There is no doubt that digitisation leads to disruption, to demonetisation, to dematerialisation and eventually to democratisation when it becomes available to everyone for nearly free (as predicted by Chris Anderson in his book with the same title). In between these 5 Ds is deception. You don’t see it coming and suddenly it is there. And that is the phase where most of the large companies like to stay in. For large companies the 6 Ds are the six horseman of the apocalypse.

The 6 horseman of the apocalypse

They are also the 6 horseman of the apocalypse for your job too. 80% of the jobs can be done better by computers. So you might as well accept it, poke the box and become an entrepreneur or in case of a large company, disrupt yourself out of a job.

BOLD

What do you need to do according to BOLD:

Learn from the old skunk works set up
Focus on business as unusual
Set high hard goals and create a higher purpose
Belief in what you do
Create a siege mentality
Isolate your team
Built for speed and for rapid iteration (if you are not embarrassed you launched too late)
Focus on at least 10X better (that why Google has a “captain of moonshots”) so normal assumptions are not applicable and you need to shift perspective
Cut ties between you and expert assumptions
Vocally commit so there is no way back
Create a family
Built a reputation
Always say yes, and……

Flow

When you strive for truly high goals you are tapping into the collective creative accelerant. If you are lucky it will result in flow, the moments of total absorption. Flow follows focus and follows clarity of goals. When goals are clear the mind does not need to wander. Entrepreneurs are more likely to achieve flow for those reasons. Novelty, unpredictability and complexity all add to this as well. So does passion. And finally a high challenge/skill ratio. Entrepreneurship is the ultimate computer game. And flow, particularly collectively becomes a critical success factor.

Golden rules

The authors then shares some of their gold rules. I am sure they mean well, but here they are and they are as glib as the “Create your own monopoly” from “Zero to one” by Peter Thiel.

If anything can go wrong, fix it! (To hell with Murphy!)
When given a choice—take both!
Multiple projects lead to multiple successes
Start at the top, then work your way up.
Do it by the book . . . but be the author!
When forced to compromise, ask for more.
If you can’t win, change the rules.
If you can’t change the rules, then ignore them.
Perfection is not optional.
When faced without a challenge—make one.
No simply means begin one level higher.
Don’t walk when you can run.
When in doubt: THINK!.
Patience is a virtue, but persistence to the point of success is a blessing.
The squeaky wheel gets replaced.
The faster you move, the slower time passes, the longer you live.
The best way to predict the future is to create it yourself!
The ratio of something to nothing is infinite.
You get what you incentivise.
If you think it is impossible, then it is for you.
An expert is someone who can tell you exactly how something can’t be done.
The day before something is a breakthrough, it’s a crazy idea.
If it was easy, it would have been done already.
Without a target you’ll miss it every time.
Fail early, fail often, fail forward!
If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.
The world’s most precious resource is the persistent and passionate human mind.
Bureaucracy is an obstacle to be conquered with persistence, confidence, and a bulldozer when necessary

Musk, Bezos, Branson, Page

It then takes some further lessons from Elon Musk, Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos and Larry Page. Passion, first principles, having fun, experiment, protect the downside, don’t leave it on the table, you need to go all in and radical customer centrism. Disregard the impossible. Being negative is not a way to make progress. Experiment. Fail.

Ask the question “What is NOT going to change?” Ask whether you are missionary or a mercenary? Ask “Why not?” and “Why not bigger?” Apply the tooth brush test.

Are you wasting your time

Are you working on something that is changing the world? If you are not, according to BOLD, you are wasting your life. 99.99999% of us are in that mode at the moment. Are you making a dent in the universe?

All building blocks are there

Once you have established that as a principle, the authors argue that all the building blocks are in place to allow you to do it. You have 5 billion people to have a collective conversation with, access to trillions of free hours and access to the best minds. The crowds are there (fiverr, Freelancer, Tongal, 99designs, Gigwalk, Topsider, uTest, Topcoder) the funding is there (Kiva, Kickstarter) and the technology platforms (Amazon, Google, Techshop, Etsy) are there for you to do anything you want. There are even the competitions to point you in the right direction (Xchallenge, Netflix, Qualcomm).

Do it

The only thing stopping you is you. Instigation capital. The just DO IT. If the purpose is transformative and interesting enough, others will follow and you will become a movement. Together you will start solving the big problems in the world. You will be expressing your creativity and passion and you will access the (collective flow). You will be happy. You will make a difference.

Taleb, Godin, Priestly, Robinson, Gratton, Kelly

And although it is highly unlikely you will become the next Elon Musk, it does confirm everything that Ken Robinson (The Element), Seth Godin (Poke the box), Nicolas Taleb (Antifragile), Jason Priestly (The entrepreneur revolution), Linda Gratton (The Shift), Kevin Kelly (Do it!) and many others are saying.

Entrepreneurship is the future. Tell us what you think. Tweet @smallBC, use #gobold

The post Entrepreneurship: Go Bold appeared first on Small Business Can.

The Gig Economy:To Gig Or Not To Gig?

Entrepreneur Anonymous

I had the pleasure of moderating a panel session at entrepreneur anonymous about the gig economy. So I did some research. The USA, UK and Dutch figures are very interesting.

Figures USA

In the USA the number of free lancers is 53 million. That is 34% of the USA labour market. Intuit estimates that this proportion will grow to some 40% by 2020. A 2015 survey of over 1,000 American workers noted that about 60% received 25% or more of their income from freelance work. It is a $715 billion market in the USA.

Figures UK

There are 1.4 million British freelancers working across all sectors. This has grown 14% in the past decade. It is a £ 21 billion market in the UK. Apparently 50% of people in the UK want to start their own business. Only 1 in 20 do. Which I think is tragic.

Holland

In Holland, the revenue commissioners only defined “freelancers” in the 80s. In 1988 there were 1800 of them. Now it is a 1.1 million and growing. That is 1 in 6 of the total Dutch labour market. In the 90s it was 1 in 17.

Jobshift

In 1994 William Bridges wrote “Jobshift” and predicted fundamental shift in the labour market. He talked about the cake layer model of the labour market, with a winner takes all at the top and the rest serving the top earners. He has not been far off.

The future is entrepreneurship

In my view there is no question that the labour market is shifting. And that the future is entrepreneurship. As an entrepreneur on the labour market or as entrepreneur running their own business. The reasons I belief that is because of “Jobshift”, but also books such as Lynda Graton’s “Shift” and the must read “Antifragile”

Job security does no longer exist

Company life cycles are getting shorter and shorter. Professor Richard Foster estimates that by 2020 more than three-quarters of the Fortune 500 will be companies that we have not heard of yet. Which suggest that job security does no longer exist, that we are all becoming portfolio workers and will be forced to change jobs on an ongoing basis.

Skynet is near

“The second machine age” predicts that 70% of all current jobs will disappear an that robots and IBM’s Watson will take over. Skynet is near and job security is an illusion.

Pension as an argument?

You will also live longer. If you belief in exponential change in health and technology, we all live to be far over a hundred. That is a long career and it will fundamentally change the current pension system. It will collapse. In my view the “security” of a pension is also an illusion.

Your choice

The choice is whether you decide to be in control of your own destiny, or have a someone else (your manager) decide your faith. My belief is with Ken Robinson, Seth Godin and Chuck Blakeman

Build a long term family business

Entrepreneurship, following your passion and your heart and building a sustainable business. And if you are smart you examine the German way of doing business and you create a family business that creates multi-generational long term wealth.

Lots of questions

It raises a lot of questions. The definitions of gigger, freelancer and entrepreneur. I am not sure if they are the same thing. Is it for everybody? Will you have a choice? What about job security? Getting a mortgage? Your retirement? Your ongoing professional development? Stress, your health and dealing with financial insecurity?

I Belief

I belief (I am ware I have used “belief” already 3 times and yes, for me entrepreneurship is a religion):

That financial institutions will respond to this a € 660 billion market opportunity in USA and UK alone (look at what RBS is doing with ESPark and that is just the beginning).
That the sharing economy will make it easier to sweat personal assets in so many ways, that we will all become at least giggers and have income streams on the side.
That the gig, freelance economy will grow faster then most of us expect.
That a race to the bottom is a real threat.
That is could create a winner takes all society.

Which is why I think/belief that basic income will become a reality.

The only question

The only question is how far you will push this, how secure you think you are at the moment (NOT) and how much control you want to take of your own destiny. At entrepreneurs anonymous I pontificated that I regard myself as a failed parent if my children (Alice and Luca) do not become entrepreneurs.

What do you think?

I am really interested in your views. Tweet us @smallBC using #entreligion

The post The Gig Economy:To Gig Or Not To Gig? appeared first on Small Business Can.

7 Things a VC Looks for in a Startup

With the number of startups mushrooming all over the world, one would think that investors are just dying to give away money to new business ventures. Take the case of unicorn startups for instance. Once an unheard of phenomenon (hence the name unicorn startups), these are startup firms that are valued at $1 billion or more. Business Insider Australia reports that a new unicorn startup was born every week in 2015. At the time of writing this piece, there are 124 unicorn startups worldwide, with a combined valuation of $ 468 billion.

All of these numbers probably excite a wannabe entrepreneur and spark the hope that their new venture has what it takes to become the next big unicorn. Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as it looks.

Securing venture capital funding is serious business. Venture capitalists get hundreds of business proposals a week. Of these just a handful even get considered for an initial pitch presentation. So what do these VCs look for in the firms that they shortlist? Here’s some insight.

Solid Business Idea

Go to a VC with a plan to build human colonies on Mars, and chances are you’ll not even be called in to present your thoughts. That does not mean VCs don’t invest in innovative new ideas or cutting edge technology. They do. However, the chances of securing funding are exponentially higher if you are a real business with a real revenue model and a clear path to market.

Your business should be differentiated enough from competition, with a clear USP that makes it attractive to investors.

Strong Leadership Team

Just as “Clothes maketh the man,” a leadership team that knows the business inside out is a bare minimum requirement for any aspiring startup. Venture capital firms essentially give out large sums of money in the hope that your business will keep growing and eventually bring extremely profitable returns. Most VCs don’t involve themselves in the day to day workings of the companies they invest in. Instead they depend on a sound management team to steer the companies in the right direction.

Therefore, having a leadership team that understands the technology behind the business, has the right network of contacts, manages employees beautifully and most importantly, gets along well with each other is a pre-requisite of serious VC funding.

Steady Cash Flow

Just about 1% of all businesses that approach VCs for funding end up getting any money at all. With a failure rate of 99%, it’s vital that you do everything in your power to ensure that your startup does not get the thumbs down in the cut-throat arena of venture capital funding.

A good way to ensure that is by approaching VCs only once you have established a clear revenue model and a steady cash flow to support it. When a venture capitalist sees that your startup is not just another whacky plan, but a living, thriving business, the chances of you receiving a favorable ear are far stronger than otherwise.

Flexibility

A surprisingly large number of businesses that are successful today did not start out doing what they do now. Did you know that YouTube began life as a video dating site? Or that Twitter was not originally a microblogging behemoth, but actually supposed to be a podcast discovery and delivery platform?

A huge reason behind the smashing success that these companies saw was thanks to the fact that they were flexible enough to change course radically when things got tough. I don’t mean that you must bail and move on to something else at the first opportunity, but what you do need is an inherent openness to try new product lines, alternate routes to market or even a major tweak in your core product.

Scalability

A business is investment-worthy from a venture capital perspective when it is in a constant state of growth and has a visible long upward trajectory ahead of it.

Suppose you have a super successful blog – something that rivals say, TechCrunch. A definite way of growing investor interest in your publishing website is by indicating to them how easily you can turn a key and expand into becoming an e-commerce site. A scalable business that can be expanded to newer markets, product lines or distribution channels offers a venture capitalist hope that their investment will not easily result in a crash and burn situation.

Market Potential

We spoke of scalability of the business earlier. However, no matter how scalable a business may be, if the market it operates in is limited, there is very little hope that a venture capitalist will even touch it with a barge pole. Things like a large, growing industry, a favorable geographic location, high entry barriers to competitors are all positive indicators for a company with strong market potential.

Another important aspect to consider is the regulatory environment of the industry your startup operates in. Businesses that operate in extremely controlled industry segments with a high degree of government oversight (e.g. defense manufacturing, tobacco, pharmaceuticals) stand to have a tough road ahead in terms of VC willingness to invest.

Financial Attractiveness

This is probably the most important factor that sways a venture capital firm into investing in a startup. A business that has a proven track record and a strong projected growth rate is a tempting investment avenue for a VC.

Besides generating revenues, other financial indicators that help your case include having few existing investors, a low debt to equity ratio and a P&L statement that has already broken even. A clear and credible timeline that charts out the expected returns on the VC’s investment is a must to ensure your business has a fighting chance.

Wrapping Up

Starting a new business is pretty simple today. From registering the business to finding the right talent, everything is just a click away. As an entrepreneur seeking VC funding, your job is to make sure that you not only make use of the abundant resources at your disposal, but also package your business pitch in such a way that it stands head and shoulder above those of competing firms that enjoy the same advantages.

The post 7 Things a VC Looks for in a Startup appeared first on Small Business Can.

Category Archives: Start Ups