Archive for January, 2012

Startups don’t need startups

Thursday, January 26th, 2012

If startups are everywhere, what shouldn’t be a startup?

Institutions. Governing bodies or platforms, make startups possible. The copper wires of the AT&T network made internet ventures possible. The electric companies of the 1900s made appliance ventures possible. The Amsterdam exchange of 1602 made trading ship ventures possible. These institutions lay the ground rules for innovation. They protect ideas with potential and limited resources, and allow for experimentation.

A scientific, design, or financial mindset can be important to ventures. What’s more important is the ability to deal with the unknown, and create or collaborate with the budding institutions of the day to create something new.

Execution beats Possibility

Tuesday, January 17th, 2012

Amazon just shipped my new moleskin in under 24 hours, for free.

I’m a prime member. I have a kindle, and and iPhone, a wii connected to a projector, and a laptop which plugs into my monitor. I find where to eat on Yelp. I chat with friends on Facebook. I manage my career on Linked-In. This is normal.

What’s new is that I can start a business and compete with such essential services, and maybe win. Technology-wise, I could build a Facebook, Yelp, Amazon, iTunes in a number of days. But the risk isn’t technical, its cultural. A web business is as common place as a 1-800 number, and its now about execution. Listing more than 122,787,271 products might be doable, under 24 hours is tough to beat.

So many times when I hear a new business idea its about possibility.

Why not try excellent execution as a starting point?