Oct 2009
Ecosystems are not just for waterfowl
23/10/09 16:35 Filed in: Business Development
However, do you also know that the same holds true with your business? It does not matter what stage of growth your company is at, the reality is that if you are not tapped into your ecosystem, then not only are you missing out on opportunities, chances are you may be putting yourself risk of being wiped out. As we have mentioned above, in an ecosystem each organism (company) is interdependent upon the others within the same habitat. As a very simple example of this, a photocopier company and its products are useless without paper suppliers and the paper that they deliver. Both the paper and the photocopiers are reliant upon toner in order to produce the results that they both promise - multiple copies of an original document. Without the toner suppliers and products...the paper is blank and useless...and the photocopier is a piece of metal and plastic that produces nothing. This is a very basic example, however it clearly demonstrates the value and vital importance of an ecosystem.
So, if you are not tapped into your ecosystem, and finding ways to help your partner companies to survive and succeed, then you may want to start putting in place a plan and some actions items to do so sooner rather than later. If you are not sure where to start, then the following are some ways that you can begin to identify some of the other organisms (companies) within your ecosystem:
1. From your customers perspective, what do they rely upon in order to make your product or service work? For example, lets say you are providing a brand new type of word processor software. Well, your software does not work that well without a computer. This example alone is what has lead to Microsoft being the dominant player in the word processor, presentations, and spreadsheet market. They struck deals with the hardware manufacturers to bundle their office automation solution on the computer as they were being delivered to the customers. Also, your word processor does not work without an operating system....again the example is with Microsoft except for this time they just had to bundle with their own products.
2. From your customers perspective, what other products or services do they use that needs your product or service to work? Chances are your solution is not stand-alone and is part of an overall solution or process. For example, lets say you have developed a brand new payment system to allow users to securely purchase items off of the internet. In this case, then the websites cannot sell their products without a system like yours. They are part of your ecosystem.
3. What does your product or service make better? Are there any solutions or processes that others offer which become better with your offering? A simple example may be if you offer remote controls. Sure a TV can work just fine without a remote, however with your remote it makes the experience much better for the user.
4. What makes your product or service better? The above example still works but only imagine that this time you are the TV manufacturer. Although your solution (the TV) may work...it works even better and gives the end user a much better experience with the remote.
5. What other companies or solutions can be combined with your products or services to help your customer achieve their goals? All of the items listed above involve a level of reliance. However, there are also other potential partners in your ecosystem which you can work with to satisfy unique customer requirements or to give you a competitive advantage. Here is an example....we are currently working with a client that is building a turn-key, pay per use download solution for small to medium sized companies. A requirement for one of the Federal Government department came out wanting a solution to have a content conversion system. In other words they want to take all of their historical items (documents, video tapes, audio files, etc.) and put them into digital format and available for download. Our client cannot help with the conversion of the items into digital format, and there are other companies that do this but do not allow for the items to be downloadable. By making a few calls we have identified some potential partners where we can work together in order to satisfy the government clients requirements.
There are many other ways to identify the other companies...and individuals in your ecosystem. However, it is up to you to take the time to identify these other companies, and to pick up and make contact. Get out there, and talk to the others in your ecosystem to find ways to work together. In today's economy....it is vital for everyone to be working together, to find ways to thrive together.
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Their loss may be your gain
13/10/09 21:17 Filed in: Competition
As a business, are you using all of the tools that you have available to you in order to keep on top of your competition and to uncover new opportunities? If not, then there really is no excuse considering all of the tools and technologies that are available to us today.
The best way to communicate this point is with a true story that happened today. First off, one of our clients is building a new electronic download/distribution solution. In essence it is a turn-key solution that will help small to medium sized companies to get their software, video, audio, documents, or data solutions hosted and downloadable/viewable from any platform including through the web and on mobile devices. Anyway, while doing some research to help connect our client with some real-world customers, I did a quick Twitter Search. What appeared was a bunch of tweets talking about how one of the current leaders in this industry recently lost a contract with one of their key customers (one of the largest software companies in the world). After sending out the information to our customer to make sure that they were aware of some of these developments, I then went to LinkedIn and did a search on the name of the person from the company which cancelled the contract that was quoted in one of the articles. I noticed that I did not have a direct connection with this person, but did notice that I had a two degree separation from one of the other executives. I then picked up the phone and called them, and then sent them a note through LinkedIn just to see if it would be possible to have a conversation with them. The goal of the conversation is not to "sell" them on using our customers solution, but rather simply to open up the dialogue with them to better understand what they liked...and disliked about the current market leaders solution. This information is extremely valuable to our client so that they can ensure that they deploy and market a solution that truly meets the needs of all of their clients including larger prospects like this major software company.
Although there is no guarantee that all of this will result in a meeting or conversation, the one thing that is guaranteed is that "You will always miss on 100% of the shots that you do not take". If I did not make the call....then it would be guaranteed that we would not have any type of meeting or conversation with this large software manufacturer. However, the point of all of this is that you have a number of different tools and technologies available to help you identify, understand, and contact potential customers. If you are not using them, then you may be missing out. This is a perfect example of how one of our customers potential competitors loss may result in a gain for our client. Make sure you are using all of the tools available to you to ensure you are gaining from a competitors loss and not the other way around.
The Anatomy of an Entrepreneur
05/10/09 18:52 Filed in: Entrepreneurship
In a recent paper published by The Kaufmann Foundation of Entrepreneurship, the motivation and family background of "typical" entrepreneurs has been examined. The Anatomy of an Entrepreneur is a pretty interesting read if you are interested, and there were some things that really jumped out at me in this research:
1. Do you think that most entrepreneurs are under the age of 40? If so, then you would be wrong. The majority of the founders started their companies at the age of 40+.
2. Entrepreneurship is genetic! Nope. Only 15.2% of the entrepreneur surveyed had a sibling that had also created a company.
3. Only people who are single or do not have children have the time needed to be an entrepreneur! Wrong again. 59.7% of respondents had one child, and 43.5% had two or more children.
4. Starting a business because you cannot find work is not the best move! This research reiterates this fact as only 4.5% of those surveyed stated that they started a business due to their inability to find employment.
5. The average number of businesses started by the entrepreneurs surveyed was 2.3.
Check out the paper, and find out how you stack up with the respondents of the survey. The biggest point to take from this is that the only person that decides if and how good of an entrepreneur you are... is you. It does not matter about your age, it does not matter if you have entrepreneur genes, or if you have a growing family at home. If you have the desire, the proper goals, and the right attitude...then you are an entrepreneur.
1. Do you think that most entrepreneurs are under the age of 40? If so, then you would be wrong. The majority of the founders started their companies at the age of 40+.
2. Entrepreneurship is genetic! Nope. Only 15.2% of the entrepreneur surveyed had a sibling that had also created a company.
3. Only people who are single or do not have children have the time needed to be an entrepreneur! Wrong again. 59.7% of respondents had one child, and 43.5% had two or more children.
4. Starting a business because you cannot find work is not the best move! This research reiterates this fact as only 4.5% of those surveyed stated that they started a business due to their inability to find employment.
5. The average number of businesses started by the entrepreneurs surveyed was 2.3.
Check out the paper, and find out how you stack up with the respondents of the survey. The biggest point to take from this is that the only person that decides if and how good of an entrepreneur you are... is you. It does not matter about your age, it does not matter if you have entrepreneur genes, or if you have a growing family at home. If you have the desire, the proper goals, and the right attitude...then you are an entrepreneur.