By Linda Forrest
Francis has always been a stickler about not filling client releases with meaningless buzzwords, and rightly so. There are some words and phrases used to market technology that are overused and virtually meaningless. Chief on this list? “Solution.” His dislike for this word is well documented – even on this blog, in this earlier post.
Every time the word “solution” is suggested — and it is suggested almost every time — I implore the workshop participants to imagine the word doesn’t exist. “Now,” I ask them,” What is it that you actually do?” The answers immediately get much sharper and focused and far more meaningful.
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Thank you for being with us for the second month of our new blog. In case you missed any posts, here is a recap, beginning with, in chronological order, the lastest installments in our ongoing series on getting technology to market, The Commercialization Ecosystem, which explored startup incubation, the right stuff entrepreneurs need to succeed and other pearls of wisdom.
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This is the 10th article in a continuing series that examines the state of the ecosystem necessary to successfully bring technology to market. Based on dozens of interviews with entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, angel investors, business leaders, academics, tech-transfer experts and policy makers, this series looks at what is working and what can be improved in the go-to-market ecosystem in the United States, Canada and Britain. We invite your feedback.
By Francis Moran and Leo Valiquette
As we have said before, entrepreneurs must have a vision that will stretch the boundaries of what they know and challenge what they believe is attainable. They must be willing to seek the outside counsel and feedback that will reveal the weaknesses in themselves, their teams, their technology and their paths to market. It’s difficult to overcome a weakness if you haven’t recognized and acknowledged it.
We conclude our Words of Wisdom string today by looking once again at the human factor and the right stuff that individual entrepreneurs and management teams need to succeed. There is no denying that the greatness of an organization is defined by its people. But how do you ensure that you are making the right hires?
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By Alexandra Reid
The acquisition of the social media-monitoring platform Radian6 by enterprise cloud computing company Salesforce for $326 million made headlines this week as a major win for the Canadian venture capital and startup community.
Radian6 is a prime example of how a startup can be successful by establishing itself as a leader in a relatively unknown and risky space. Social media monitoring platforms are still far from perfect and were in their infancy when Radian6 entered the market. The huge acquisition also supports the argument that entrepreneurs should build their companies to sell, even if they haven’t the slightest ambition to do so.
Allow me to elaborate.
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As part of our ongoing series examining the ecosystem necessary to bring technology to market, we asked Janice Calnan, an Ottawa-based leadership trainer and executive coach, to share her thoughts on how leadership impacts an organization’s performance and competitiveness. We welcome your comments.
By Janice Calnan
To grow and maintain market share, companies must constantly look for new ways to improve both their businesses and their people. If they fail, they may still make their numbers in the short term. But in the long term, they’ll lose their best people and their organizations will suffer accordingly. In the absence of a leader’s great interpersonal skills, even a growth period renders teams ineffective. People are your greatest resource. Nothing happens without them.
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How to determine market demand on a startup budget
March 30, 2011 by Alexandra Reid
Monitoring social media is like drinking from a fire hose. If you don’t abridge the flow, you will get washed away. As a community manager, I have an intimate understanding of what it feels like to be pummeled and drenched by content […]
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What is your Market Validation Plan?
March 29, 2011 by Peter Hanschke
Here’s the situation: Your development team is busy creating a Minimum Viable Product (MVP). You have people off in all directions trying to secure some funding. But do you have a Market Validation Plan? Furthermore, are you executing this plan along with all the other activities? In other words, is this an activity that you are currently performing? […]
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Words of wisdom: Some things change with time, others don’t
March 28, 2011 by Francis Moran
There is a German proverb that states, “An old error is always more popular than a new truth.” This is often evident in the business of getting technology to market, particularly among nascent entrepreneurs and startup management teams who are coming into the process of commercialization well-versed in the engineering of a product […]
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We’re going to fill the tank when we get there
March 25, 2011 by Francis Moran
No sane person setting out on a long journey of indefinite length would wait until they had arrived before filling up the gas tank.
And yet technology companies tell me all the time that they’re going to do exactly that. […]
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Dogs in our midst
March 24, 2011 by Bob Bailly
I was looking over pictures of my last month down south in Argentina. As I was smiling over a photo of a Buenos Aires dog walker – who are well represented in that great city, can be seen everywhere and are not always so good about cleaning up after their care – I was reminded of some research I recently uncovered. It’s about dogs too. But more specifically it’s about the potential business implications of our relationship with “man’s best friend.” […]
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Who is the custodian and guardian of Intellectual Property in your firm?
March 23, 2011 by David French
In my previous post, I addressed the importance of a company’s intellectual property and how it can contribute to the bottom line, negatively or positively. In this part, I address the issue of how intellectual property is being managed within your organization. Who in your organization knows or is able to understand all of the issues and requirements in order to ensure that you have good IP hygiene? […]
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How influential is influence?
March 22, 2011 by Linda Forrest
Whenever the concept of influence comes up, I’m immediately confronted with a mental image of Will Farrell positing that he’s “kind of a big deal,” a memorable and oft-quoted line from the raunchy comedy Anchorman. The irony is that in the film, he is, as stated, kind of a big deal. The same is true of influencers, tastemakers, trendsetters, or whatever term best describes people whose opinions and actions hold weight amongst your target market […]
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Words of wisdom: What can you learn from a thunder lizard?
March 21, 2011 by Francis Moran
A startup is ultimately about, not just about whether an idea or a product works, it is about whether or not you can create a business around it. Whether or not the ecosystem will support it, the customers will buy it, if the channels will support it, and if the manufacturers will actually create it. And because of that, we need to be able to test all these different facets of our business model, and do so quickly […]
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By Linda Forrest
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The Future of A&R – Walabe : [...] http://francis-moran.com/marketing-strategy/top-10-questions-every-strategic-communicator-should-ask... [...]
Traditional Marketing is Dead – Long Live Bikini Waxer Marketing | Scalexl : [...] pointed out by Alexandra Reid on the Francis Moran website content marketing is becoming more and more like journalism. So, it is not just about the content, [...]
It’s Summertime…and the Networking is Easy? | THE MERRAINE BRAIN : [...] In fact, summer is perhaps one of the times least used to network, yet at the same time has shown to be the most productive time to network. People tend to be in a brighter mood compared to during the gloomy winters-especially where I am from in England! Networking needs to be fun and not approached as another chore, like mowing the lawn. (http://francis-moran.com/marketing-strategy/social-media-strategy-why-meeting-in-the-real-world-matt...) [...]