Past Is Prologue As New Industries Emerge: It Ain’t Gonna Be Different
By John Greathouse | March 2, 2010
In 1933, baseball card collectors were frustrated. For some reason, they found it impossible to complete their Goudy Gum 240-card set. No matter how many packages of cards they purchased, they failed to find card number #106, which featured Napoleon Lajoie.
Enterprising collectors who wrote Goudy and voiced their frustrations were rewarded by receiving the Lajoie card in the mail. All other collectors were out of luck.
What was behind the mystery of the missing Lajoie card?
Topics: Entrepreneur, Launching Venture, Strategic Planning, The Fringe | 1 Comment »
Conforming To Your Customers’ Realities: Your Stakeholders’ Perceptions Matter
By John Greathouse | February 9, 2010
The man at left built the first personal computer. He also spearheaded a number of fundamental software breakthroughs, including creating the basic hardware / software architecture which resulted in the creation of the third-party personal computer (PC) software industry.
If this gentleman was such a pivotal player in the early days of the PC revolution, why is he essentially unknown to most entrepreneurs under forty years old?
The short answer is that he failed to conform to his Stakeholders’ realities. Few mistakes would have such wide-ranging implications in the business world over the next two decades.
Topics: Corporate Culture, Entrepreneur, Partnerships, The Fringe | 1 Comment »
Limit… less: Ignore Limits – Focus On Opportunities
By John Greathouse | January 12, 2010
During the late 1800’s, American author Horatio Alger wrote 129 novels, most of which recount the deeds of impoverished young people who overcome their modest means to establish independent lives as self-sufficient, middle class citizens.
Years after Alger created this new genre, it was derisively (and incorrectly) termed “rags to riches.” A common critique is that Mr. Alger’s heroes succeeded by conveying a simplistic formula comprised of honesty, cheerfulness, virtue, thrift, and hard work.
Dismissing Mr. Alger’s works as juvenile rags to riches novels misses the author’s primary point and the reason why the books had such a tremendous impact on several generations of American entrepreneurs.
Topics: Entrepreneur, Fundraising, The Fringe | 2 Comments »
Pour And Stir II – Managing Your Cost Per Customer
By John Greathouse | December 2, 2009
“I know half the money I spend on advertising is wasted, but I can never find out which half.” John Wanamaker
If Mr. Wanamaker had access to the Internet, his oft-repeated quote, would have never been uttered. In the “good old days”, pre- 1999, advertising dollars were largely gambled away.
As noted in Pour and Stir Part I, the key to the successful execution of this strategy is managing the following equation:
The cost to acquire a customer < lifetime value of a customer
This entry focuses on how you can minimize your cost per customer acquired by systematically establishing the infrastructure necessary to track the results obtained from a variety of online and offline marketing vehicles.
Topics: Entrepreneur, Strategic Planning, The Fringe | 4 Comments »
Pour And Stir I – In Pursuit Of The Ideal Business Model
By John Greathouse | October 20, 2009
Note: This is Part I in a three-part series on The Perfect Business Model. Click here for Part II, and Part III
Authentic, hand-crafted Persian rugs always include intentional imperfections. They are said to be, “Perfectly Imperfect, and Precisely Imprecise.” The same is true with many crafts and architecture created in Muslim cultures.
I am not a Muslim scholar, but a layman’s interpretation of this tradition of intentional errors is that it arises from the belief that attempting to emulate God’s perfection is sinful.
Fortunately, entrepreneurs need not fear running afoul of this sin when crafting their business plans, because all of them are inherently imperfect and imprecise.
Topics: Entrepreneur, Launching Venture, Strategic Planning | 1 Comment »
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