By Daylin Mantyka
As a regular feature, we provide our readers with a roundup of some of the best articles we have read in the past week. On the podium this week are Fast Company, Startup Professional Musings, Velocity and Memeburn.
We’re marketers, not soldiers: How combative competition is killing creativity
Douglas Van Praet argues marketers should focus less on conquest and more on unleashing the imagination of creators and customers.
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By Francis Moran
Ah, tech marketing. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
1. The learning curve can be wonderfully steep
It’s not true of all the tech companies and products I have worked with during my 25-year career, but my favourite clients have invariably been the ones that require me to go deep in order to understand them. I don’t have an iron ring on my pinkie finger and although I was once a Canadian math Olympiad, I abandoned the maths and sciences in favour of writing, journalism and business strategy when I hit university. (However, I couldn’t resist taking Calculus — as an elective! — in first year. And it was my best mark.) So it’s a real blast for this engineering wannabe when the subject matter is technically dense and I have to learn all kinds of new stuff. I’m an old dog but learning new tricks is one of my favourite things.
My enthusiasm for complex scientific and engineering subject matter does translate into a swift understanding of all aspects of a technology client’s business, something that has been a key differentiator for me over the years.
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By David French
Inventors often aspire to draft their own patent applications. This is something that they can and should do. But they should never go through the process of filing a patent application without consulting with and using the services of a patent professional.
Nevertheless, if an inventor starts the process of drafting their own patent application, they will save money and have a better understanding of the nature of the exercise. This will help them appreciate whether the prospective patent that they may obtain will be worth the investment. It will also help them improve their own invention and, correspondingly, the value of any patent they might obtain.
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By Denzil Doyle
The recruitment and retention of a good board of directors can be formidable tasks in any company, particularly in a high technology company where a knowledge of the technology as well as an understanding of corporate governance is required.
The first question that the owners of a new company must address is when to start the process of installing a board or if in fact it should be started at all. If the company is a “mom-and-pop” operation and it is the intent of the owners to keep it that way, a board of advisors is likely all that is needed.
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By Daylin Mantyka
As a regular feature, we provide our readers with a roundup of some of the best articles we have read in the past week. On the podium this week are Mark Suster, PandoDaily, Jason Cohen and MarketingProfs.
How to configure your startup team
Mark Suster, 2x entrepreneur and current VC, has been known to base 70 per cent of his early investments on the team — in an unpredictable market with competitors, funding requirements or PR disasters for example, only great teams will pull through. Suster posts his slide deck on “How to build out your early team” and summarizes the key findings.
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