Know When To Declare Defeat And Toss Out A Bad Idea – Do Not Be Afraid To Say, “That Baby Be Ugly!”
By John Greathouse | August 24, 2010
As Founder and CEO of Motown Records, Berry Gordy devised an effective methodology to objectively evaluate and critique the label’s music.
Gordy created a unique culture which deemphasized cronyism and encouraged open and honest debate regarding the subjective quality of the company’s creative output. During the 1960’s, Motown’s artistic success was unprecedented. From 1960 through 1971, Motown released 111 singles which entered Billboard’s top-ten ranking, of which 28 rose all the way to #1.
Startups consistently identify more ideas and opportunities than they have the time or resources to pursue, such as potential partnerships, new products, entering emerging markets, etc. Motown’s disciplined quality control techniques can be mimicked by startups to objectively evaluate which initiatives should be pursued in the near-term, which should be considered in the future and which should be dismissed entirely.
Topics: Corporate Culture, Entrepreneur, The Fringe | 2 Comments »
Mark Suster on Influence and Persuasion
By John Greathouse | August 20, 2010
Noted entrepreneurial blogger and respected Venture Capitalist, Mark Suster, who is also a Partner at GRP Partners, recently published a great post related to influence and persuasion, which is excerpted below:
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Mark Suster – Both Sides Of The Table
I recently read a book I’d highly recommend to every reader of this blog called “Yes, 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to be Persuasive” by Robert B. Cialdini who is also author of a very well received book called “Influence” (which I plan to read).
“Yes” was given to me by one of my favorite angel investor / seed VC’s to work with – John Greathouse of Rincon Venture Partners and author of the blog InfoChachkie that you should check out because it is filled with great info from a guy who has been a very successful operator. Rincon is part of the new breed of Seed Stage VCs and with the leadership of Jim Andelman has charted out the most authentic early-stage investment strategy in Southern California. Any SoCal entrepreneur raising early-stage money should put Rincon on their short list.
John gave me the book after I spoke at his entrepreneurship class at UCSB. I was excited to read it because Robert Cialdini had been a speaker at Google when my wife worked there and she told me that many members of the senior management team at Google had been raving about his work. I decided not to be bothered by the cheesy title and to read it anyhow. You should, too. (no, I don’t take affiliate commissions!)
<<<Click Here to Read More>>>
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If you are not already a subscriber of Mark’s Both Sides of the Table blog, you need to be. There is a reason Both Sides of the Table is one of the most well-read startup blogs. I strongly encourage you to check it out.
Topics: Entrepreneur | No Comments »
Intellectual Property – Worthless To A Startup, Priceless To A Big Dumb Company
By John Greathouse | August 10, 2010
“Good Lord Boyet, my beauty, though but mean,
Needs not the painted flourish of your praise:
Beauty is bought by judgment of the eye,
Not uttered by base sale of chapmen’s tongues”
William Shakespeare, British Playwright, from Love’s Labour’s Lost, 1598
Intellectual Property (IP) is an ugly thing at a startup. It requires you to expend your two most valuable resources, your time and your money. Yet, it does nothing to help you execute your business model.
However, to a Big Dumb Company (BDC), a startup’s IP is a thing of beauty. Although BDCs often act irrationally, in this instance, their perception of beauty is highly rational.
Read the rest of this entry »
Topics: Corporate Communications, Entrepreneur, Partnerships, Strategic Planning, The Fringe | No Comments »
Create An Industry Alliance: Entrepreneurs Need Friends On The Startup Playground
By John Greathouse | July 26, 2010
In early December of 1818, Jose de la Guerra devised a brilliant plan to thwart the French pirate Hippolyte de Bouchard who was lurking off the coast of Santa Barbara, contemplating an attack. Even though the Santa Barbara garrison was outmanned nearly six to one, Commandant de la Guerra tricked de Bouchard into believing that his force was formidable by repeatedly marching his small cavalry over a ridge that could be readily seen from the pirate’s ship.
Each time the men crossed the hill and descended out of view, they changed clothing, mounted different horses and then paraded again before the pirates. This ruse caused the pirates to assume that each corps of horsemen was a different contingent of soldiers streaming into the Presidio. Believing he was outnumbered, Hippolyte aborted his plan to sack Santa Barbara and proceeded south where he subsequently pillaged San Juan Capistrano.
Entrepreneurs can emulate de la Guerra’s strategy and make their adVenture appear far larger than reality and thus increasing its influence and market reach while discouraging competitive threats by creating an industry alliance.
Topics: Entrepreneur, Networking, Partnerships, The Fringe | No Comments »
Building a Successful Startup Team
By Michael Cole | July 13, 2010
In this video John Greathouse does a small Q&A about building what traits/roles are needed to create a strong start-up team.
Q&A:
Topics: Team Building, Video | 1 Comment »
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