LSQHA Blog Reviews

At this morning's roundtable I worked with five new entrepreneurs who came to the roundtable very well-prepared. They had already done a good deal of validation of their businesses and this led to a richer discussion about each business. An unusual piece of trivia: four were women and two were named Joanne. It is clear from the amount of work they have all already done so far that each has the essential work ethic needed to be a successful entrepreneur. Sponsor Sramana Mitra is a technology entrepreneur and strategy consultant in Silicon Valley. She started holding free Online Strategy Roundtables for entrepreneurs in the fall of 2008. She has founded three companies and writes a business blog, Sramana Mitra on Strategy . She has a masters degree in electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her three books, Entrepreneur Journeys , Bootstrapping, Weapon Of Mass Reconstruction , and Positioning: How To Test, Validate, and Bring Your Idea To Market are all available from Amazon. Her new book Vision India 2020 was recently released. Mitra is also a columnist for Forbes and runs the 1M/1M initiative. First, Mithun Ekbote introduced his company, PalmShell . He has the exclusive license for five years to sell a low-cost and more-efficient building material in India. While we discussed connecting with his potential buyers - the builders of low cost housing - he explained that he has learned that these builders in India often make more money if jobs go on longer than expected, as the property values continue to grow over time and they are able to raise their prices. They are not always interested in the more efficient option. In this case, I think Mithune may need to do some more validation to better identify his customer segment. Meanwhile, this is a good time for Mithun to explore partnering with an NGO that is aligned with his goal of building better low cost housing in India. The Ramakrishna Mission is such an organization and I will introduce him to the appropriate people there and see if we can move this effort forward. RKM is the largest NGO in India and I have good contacts there. Joanne Lang presented AboutOne , an online service that organizes your personal and household information. As a working mother of four boys, Joanne personally felt the pain of keeping everything organized. She initially targeted her service towards working moms, but through her validation process found that the target segments include military wives who move a lot, expats, and anyone caring for someone with a special need. After discussing her potential revenue streams, she said she feels she needs to raise funds in order to hire more employees to help develop the product. Not at all true! In fact, she can hire very good developers from India and Eastern Europe as contractors to help her continue to build at a sixth of the rates she is currently paying. I pointed her to Elance , Guru.com and odesk and we discussed the importance of checking the references of potential contract workers. This will save her money, help her finish building her product and build up her revenue stream. For all bootstrappers, using freelance developers is a key cost-saving mechanism. Joanne Griffith pitched Jane Hannah Media , a multimedia production company specializing in social media management and online profile building strategies for businesses and creative individuals. She would like to grow her business and has been successful working with small businesses, but their budgets are usually limited. As someone who has a variety of experiences working for companies like the BBC and NPR, she really needs to differentiate herself from the many competitors offering similar services. We discussed how she has started copyediting blogs, but I pointed out that this is a service that can been done very cheaply by people overseas and is a complete commodity. This will not help her differentiate her business. I also pointed her to Elance , Guru.com and odesk as sites to join and help her explore who her competitors are and where the opportunities lie. These sites, in her case, would be good channels for customer acquisition. And perhaps focusing on podcast or video is her way to move forward with something differentiated. Again, for all services companies, these channels are excellent means of accessing customers, building reputation and references. JT O'Donnell pitched her business, Careerealism as being like a career HMO. She has brought together a site that offers expert career coaching at a reasonable price. I like this project - JT has thought everything through quite well. Her question was should she focus on one vertical, and I think, considering the current job situation, that focusing on college students and recent graduates will work quite well. I suggested that she recruits unpaid interns from campuses to help spread the word about her service, and she loved this idea. She has been successful using interns in the past and repaying them with free coaching. This business is imminently bootstrappable - don't waste your time looking to get financed JT. Up last was Anita Lamb of Altitude Fasique , a clothing line offering trendy attire for tall working women. Anita has found what seems to be a great opportunity and has done her research. The TAM is quite large. But I believe that the designs as she describes them, fitted and tailored, do not lend themselves well to being sold online. My recommendation is that she changes her designs to focus more on the basics for this segment. I think she should set up a private label store online. My Web 3.0 framework offers a good formula for building your own brand online and layering in all the components. This business could fill a very nice niche and has the potential to grow into a very large business. These roundtables are the cornerstone programming of a global initiative that I have started called One Million by One Million ( 1M/1M ). Its mission is to help a million entrepreneurs globally to reach $1 million in revenue and beyond, build $1 trillion in sustainable global GDP, and create 10 million jobs. In 1M/1M, I teach the EJ Methodology which is based on my Entrepreneur Journeys research, and emphasize bootstrapping, idea validation, and crisp positioning as some of the core principles of building strong fundamentals in early stage ventures. You can find the recording of this roundtable session here . Recordings of previous roundtables are all available here . You can register for the next roundtable here . Photo by Justyna Furmanczyk . Discuss

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Startup Strategy Roundtable: Beyond Validating Your Ideas

Last summer IBM began asking their 120 venture capital partners what it would take to launch the world's most successful initiative for helping startups capture new business. They concluded that the initiative had to be offered to startups for free, with no upsell and regardless of VC status. Add to this IBM's preferred software, as well as access to IBM's social network of 8 million IT professionals and you have IBM's version of BizSpark . So today is launch day and Drew Clark, Director of Strategy for IBM's Venture Capital Group defined Big Blue's new initiative for startups as a "small crisp set of capabilities that are what startups most want." Sponsor Of course what IBM offers is anything but small. With over 400,000 employees world-wide their strategy to collaborate with startups in areas of health care, energy efficiency, retail and manufacturing under the SmarterPlanet vision is significant. At the start of the year we covered CEO Sam Palmisano's London speech about IBM's heavy investment into this sector, which is often refered to as smart systems or internet of things. Yet there have been few commercial success stories for startups in this sector so it stands to reason that IBM needs to focus on supporting startups in this emerging market. Drew Clark recognizes that this initiative may not be for everyone, but if your startup is in alignment with IBM Smarter Planet ambitions they want to work with you. So today in Bangalore, India they are announcing their Global Entrepreneur Initiative . Claudia Fan Munce of IBM Venture Capital Group says, "Our vision of a smarter planet is really a collaborative vision. It's about collaborating with all aspects of the ecosystem: with academia, with government, and more importantly, with the real innovators." The initiative's aim is to help your startup find and develop your niche with markets and developers who most suit you, which they refer to as "impedance matching." Here's a breakdown of what IBM offers once you sign up , and are accepted: Access to IBM's Software IBM provides software access either on-premise or in a cloud computing environment to help you build your software applications. Expertise will also be made available to help you better understand how to navigate and fully utilize the full range of the software options IBM is making available. Access to IBM developerWorks Last April we told you about IBM's big geek network, reportedly the largest online technical resource for software developers in the world. Today, half of the world's developers use it; that's around 8 million members. Dedicated Project Managers to Help You Build, Market and Sell Jim Corgel, IBM ISV and Developer Relations, says that "...real project managers are going to be assigned to work with our entrepreneurs." So whomever your target client is, from consumers, to small businesses, to large corporations, to governments both small and large, IBM has a project manager familiar with that territory. Work Side-By-Side With Scientists and Technology Experts With more than $6 billion per year invested into Research, IBM has more than 3,000 workers in eight major labs around the world. In 2009 year they produced nearly 5,000 patents. With this many patents being produced imagine how eager they are to work with startups who can help get their new patented technologies into the market place? Attend Global SmartCamp Mentoring and Networking Workshops Smart Camps will be occurring every other month around the world. Locations over the course of this coming year are: Boston, Paris, Stockholm, Dublin, Israel, England, and the Silicon Valley. At Smart Camp you'll not only get feedback on how to present and refine your startups, but you'll also be able to network with the people most prepared to guide you in gaining the notoriety your startup deserves. The Smart Camp Community is also a collaborative online group where your projects can be reviewed and refined in connection with upcoming Smart Camp events. The criteria for start-ups to participate in the IBM Global Entrepreneur Initiative are; 1) the company must be privately-held; 2) in business less than three years; and 3) actively developing software aligned to IBM's Smarter Planet focus areas. To apply go here . Discuss

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New IBM Strategy: Help Startups Capture More Business

Many Brands That Adopt Social Are ‘Throwing Away’ Hard Earned Traffic Many brands are jumping on the social media bandwagon, without giving proper though about the impacts to their marketing effort.  In particular, many brands are putting ’social chicklets’ on their homepage to “Follow us on Twitter” or “Friend us on Facebook” without considering the ramifications.  Marketers spend millions of dollars to get people to visit their corporate website, so why would they be so quick to send them away?  Use this strategy matrix to help make your decisions.  Be deliberate by first understanding the ramifications: Matrix: Evolution of Social Media Integration and Corporate Websites Sophistication Example Benefit Challenge 1) Do nothing, no social integration Corporate websites that have no integration with social tools at all. Cheap. Ignorance is bliss, at least in the short term Your corporate website is irrelevant . 2) Link directly away without a strategy Corporate homepages that have chickelts that say “Follow us on Twitter” sending traffic away Encourages growth of social channels Sending traffic away, without having a strategy 3) Link away, but encourage them to share with a pre-populated message A chicklet that encourages new Twitter followers to Tweet at their friends “I’m no following X brand” Triggers a social alert as a form of endorsement Better than the above, it may not have a followup or call to action 4) Brand experience is integrated in social channels Extending the brand to social channels, so the corporate experience is somewhat mirrored on social channels Regardless of wherever users go, they are still experiencing the brand Social channels sometimes serve better as a conversational area –not for traditional branding campaigns 5) Aggregating the discussion on your site Aggregating select conversations from Tweets like the skittles homepage did, top discussions in communities or blogs Centralizes the discussion on your site, making it a resource to first look at. Low cost content Lack of control over which content can be created, still links off site 6) Social login systems that allow users to stay on site Using FB connect, or Twitter connect allow users to use their existing logins to access site, see how Janrain and Gigya (client) helps May increase sign ups, widening marketing funnel, chances are content is more accurate than a sign up form May not have access to email addresses, as users passthrough using social logins. 7) Social login systems that allow users to stay on site, but triggers viral loop In addition to the above, there’s an actual social or interactive experience on the corporate site that triggers them to share with their friends Users stay on site, interact with brand or peers, yet recruit other members in social networks Requires planning, a campaign, and extensive resources. 8. Complete integration between corporate site and social sites Other than URLs there’s no difference between a corporate site and a social site, the experiences are seamless Customers, prospects, and employees mix together, churning on new members and viral activity It doesn’t exist, yet. Use This Roadmap To Be Deliberate in Actions Use this guide to map your current situation and where you plan to go, copy and paste the framework into your corporate planning deck, and identify where your assets are now.  Get actionable by taking these three steps: Take inventory of current corporate website assets. Social strategists must determine what level of sophistication they are at now, and document in their project plans.  Take inventory of all corporate web assets and tag with this framework. Identify what the desire state is, and then build a plan against it. Note that the further you go down in sophistication, the more resources and stakeholder buyin are needed.  Start small and slow, and be sure to have a strategy. Don’t arbitrarily jump into to social marketing space without measurable KPIs. Be deliberate in your actions.  Indicate on paper what the measurable goals are and how they’ll tie back to business metrics:  Increase brand awareness, increase leads, increase site conversion. Once you’re ready to get actionable, and are ready to integrate the technologies, see this important matrix of Roadmap: Make Your Corporate Websites Relevant by Integrating Facebook, Google, MySpace, LinkedIn, or Twitter .

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Matrix: Evolution of Social Media Integration and Corporate Websites

A new service from AwayFind lets you ignore your inbox without worrying that you're going to miss an important message. It's one of those ideas that seems so obvious, you're left wondering "why didn't someone think of this already?" With the new service and its optional web browser plugin, you're able to configure alerts for critical, "can't miss" email messages and can choose to have those alerts sent to you via instant message, Twitter, SMS text message or even a phone call. Sponsor AwayFind 2.0 The new service, dubbed AwayFind Orchant, is an expansion of AwayFind's core product, an email alerts service that helps you deal with the very real-world problem of information overload. With the original product, AwayFind 1.0 ( previous coverage ), people who email you are directed to your AwayFind contact page where they can fill out a brief form describing the nature of their emergency. Those who do so will be rewarded by having their message actually reach you, either via text message or via an email to another inbox, even though you're away from your primary email account at the time. However, that auto-responder, while nice to have, put the burden on those contacting you to make sure their message was read. It also allows any person to reach you, even if you don't consider the message urgent or important. (Case in point: you would be surprised how many PR professionals decided to use the AwayFind service to pitch me "urgent" news about some startup!) With the new service, you are back in control. You designate which emails are important. This configuration takes place during the setup process where you specify filters similar to those you already use to sort messages into folders or labels in your inbox. With these filters in place, you're telling AwayFind how to identify which messages are important to you. For example, you could filter for any message from your boss, messages containing the word "urgent" in the subject, messages sent to a specific email address, messages sent to your project team from the team leader, etc. You can then specify what actions AwayFind should take in order to alert you. You can choose to be contacted via IM (AIM, MSN, Yahoo Messenger and Google Talk are supported), Twitter, another email address, a SMS text message or a voice phone call. You can also configure other options, like which auto-responder template to send when a message matches a specific filter. You can even specify if there is someone who shouldn't get your auto-response while everyone else does - perfect for playing hooky without the boss catching wind! Web Browser Plugin Brings Filtering to the Inbox Itself All of this configuration is done from AwayFind's online service but you can also configure settings from the place where you spend the most time: your inbox. This is where the Firefox plugin comes into play. After installation of the plugin , a small arrow appears next to a contact's name in an email message. When clicked, you're provided with options so that you can set up a filter for that sender instantly, including how you want to be notified (Twitter, IM, phone, etc.). Requirements and Future Plans At the moment, the new service supports Gmail and Google Apps accounts, all IMAP accounts (think me.com , mac.com , aim.com , etc.), Hosted Exchange 2003, 2007 and 2010 accounts (assuming Exchange Web Services is supported, which is usually the case), and in the near future, full Yahoo support will arrive. The web browser plugin only works in Firefox right now but a Chrome plugin is just weeks away. Plans for an Outlook plugin are in the works, too. Also, in the case of Gmail/Google Apps, the plugin uses oAuth which means that it doesn't need to request your password. However, for the other connections you'll need to provide your password plus your account settings where applicable. This service is currently in private beta, but we have 500 invitations to give away. Just click here to sign up . Discuss

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Escape Your Inbox! New Email Service Alerts you to Urgent Mail by Phone, Twitter, IM

McKesson is a global health care leader that has 26 operating companies. The centrial IT group had the vision to automate "the last mile" of IT planning, the budget approval process. We think of it as the budget approval dance, and when containing costs, it's a ritual that can leave scars. This company has evolved to the point of improving the cost of budgeting, and making it faster and smarter by understanding the assets, services, and service delivery of IT. Budgeting can be painful because it can be in slow-motion. Contrast this with the real-time controls of such as VMware V-Motion and Amazon's web service console and we see a great linkup for driving process change through budgeting. And driving budgeting by cloud and virtualization. We took a look at McKesson's journey and the service catalog functions of NewScale , an IT services catalog company. Sponsor McKesson: Let's Start with Less Meetings and Less 5mb Spreadsheets NewScale has customers like McKesson and Charles Schwab and competitors like HP, IBM, Tivoli. The company has been growing its customer base and helping stable-state enterprises to leverage Service Management. And that leads directly into cloud procurement. We tracked the use case at McKesson, where the company landed at the service desk in the cloud as a means to the end in their journey to build a low-impact budget process . We see a lot of benefit in this approach, where if successful, it would mean that the advantages to go with commodity pre-approved services dramatically improves the timing and effort of procurement. This is a lever that gives Finance a significant hand in the IT spend. Since cloud and virtualization offerings can be spun-up with service call, the cloud is well positioned to be there as budgeting and approval processes are automated. In phase one, the company reported significant progress in moving processes towards the service catalog. One click vs. Fill Out the Form In the end, the move towards enterprise standards may be won over simplicity. Is it less clicks to provision. This means connecting the dots between processes, systems, software, teams, and policy. To EC2, or to EC2 through Official Channels: That is the Question IT services management comes into the picture and could make a difference in how the business and technical contributors of organizations are rewarded for moving to a standard platform. Information Technology Infrastructure Library is tool set that has been given to IT managers to try to wrap standard language around IT service management. It gives the enterprise a common way to manage processes for IT and track the changes involved in building and operating systems. Services platforms like Amazon and Salesforce can be considered IT disinter-mediation. We all know a IT leader out there somewhere who is funding their project by credit card out in the cloud. IT, of course, knows this also (especially since they are likely watching your network traffic). One part of the service management offering is making it even easier than Amazon. Carrot, vs. stick. Service catalog management has the promise when it wraps things like Amazon's EC2, or VMwares offerings, gives the enterprise a way to get the same service from the web. And, with budget approval and IT approval baked in, the carrot is there. All of IT moves towards transparency and IT processes as being measured as processes. In the ITIL community, there is discussion of the next layer of the library moving towards service delivery in the move towards ITIL Version 3. It's easy to see that "provision server" becomes fully automated. Soon, all the IT functions below it become invisible. We see this as a future cloud inflection point, where instead of there "cloud services", we are all in one. Zen Mashup What has been your experience in mashing ITIL, ITIL Service Delivery in your environment? Do your IT services flow like water? Discuss

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Got Budget? Virtualization as Poster Child for Less Meetings