The following materials are from "The Art of the Start" conference, book, and speeches.
The Art of the Start - How do you get going from just an idea? Learn the simple but critical steps necessary to quickly and effectively jump start your company. Video: Guy Kawasaki presents The Art of the Start at TiECon 2006
The Art of Raising Capital - You've got to know the rules to get funded. First you have to decide if you are venture fundable. Then you have to figure out which investors are right for your company. Then you have to convince them — or find alternative funding options. Audio (mp3): The Art of Raising Capital
The Art of Selling - The three most important words: revenue, revenue and revenue. Ten proven sales strategies and techniques for making the cash register ring. Let it Rain! Audio (mp3): The Art of Rain Making
The Art of Pitching - To be effective presenting your company to investors, partners, or customers, you have to know what to say and how best to say it. Article (pdf): Perfecting Your Pitch
The Art of Bootstrapping - What do you do if you are not (yet?) venture fundable? You do what lots of wildly successful companies did — you bootstrap! It worked for HP, Microsoft, Apple, Dell and eBay. Learn the tricks and traps of bootstrapping, including some recent variations on the technique. Audio (mp3): The Art of Bootstrapping
We live in a world ruled by information. Much of our lives are involved with the consumption of information. We read the newspaper in the morning. We sit in meetings at work. We check our email every hour. We read advertisment all across the cities we work in. We watch the news on television. We surf the internet and check blogs.
Our minds become so full of information that the words become noise. We feel tired from the constant demand on our attention; at work, at home, on weekends. More is not less. Less is more. Clarity is more.
The ability to simplify any concept is an incredibly valuable skill in this information rich society. Not only is conciseness a vital skill in business, but in any and all communication. It demonstrates clarity of thought. It allows you to communicate information and ideas to be easily digested and understood.
Small is the new big... less is the new more... simple is the new full-featured
Have you ever looked at super creative or innovative people, and felt they are special beings blessed with gifts? Have you felt that you are not as fortunate?
1. Persistence - Innovation involves more than just great ideas. We need faith, hard work and a laser sharp focus for the end result to keep persisting for our vision in the face of roadblocks. We tend to see the end result of a creative idea in awe, but what we don't see are the actions, hard work and persistence behind the scene to make the vision a reality.
2. Remove Self-Limiting Inhibitions - Under the spell of inhibition, we feel limited and stuck. We need to free ourselves from these mind-created constraints by removing assumptions and restrictions. This is what we refer to when we say "think outside the box". Encourage ourselves to be open to new ideas and solutions without setting limiting beliefs. Remember, innovation is more about psychology than intellect.
3. Take Risks, Make Mistakes - I believe that part of the reason why we create self-imposed inhibition is due to our fear of failure. Expect that some ideas will fail in the process of learning. Build prototypes often, test them out on people, gather feedback, and make incremental changes. Rather than treating the mistakes as failures, think of them as experiments. "Experiment is the expected failure to deliberately learn something." (Scott Berkun). Instead of punishing yourself for the failures, accept them, then take your newfound knowledge and put it towards finding the best solution. Live up to your goal of producing the best result, but understand you might hit roadblocks along the way.
"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." –Thomas A. Edison
4. Escape - Our environment can and does effect how we feel. The more relaxed and calm we are internally, the more receptive we are to tap into our flowing creativity. This is why ideas sometimes come to us in the shower or while we're alone. Each of us have different triggers to access our creative energy. I get into the 'creative zone' from sitting at my dining table, with a warm cup of chai, and my noise-canceling headphones. Many great thinkers go on long walks to help them solve problems. Experiment and find what works for you.
5. Writing Things Down - Many innovators and creative people keep a journal to jot down ideas and thoughts. Some keep a sketch book, scrap book, post-it notes, loose paper. They all have a method to capture their thoughts, to think on paper, to drop their inhibitions and start the creative process. Leonardo Da Vinci's famous notebook was purchased by Bill Gates for $30.8 Million dollars.
6. Find Patterns & Create Combinations - Ideas come from other ideas. Did you know that Edison wasn't the first one who came up with the invention of the light bulb? He was the first to build a workable carbon filament inside a glass bulb, that made light bulbs last longer. You can increase your exposure to new ideas, look for patterns and see how you can combine ideas to improve upon existing solutions.
7. Curiosity - Many innovators are just curious people who are inquisitive, and like to solve problems. Practice seeing things differently. For example, When seeing the solution to a problem, ask yourself, "What are some alternative ways to doing this?". Ask a lot of questions and challenge the norms or existing methods.
SPENDING on online advertising in the US will grow to more than US$21 billion ($22.6 billion) this year, and double to US$42 billion in 2011, according to research firm eMarketer.
The company said generally gloomy industry forecasts for traditional advertising – a result of concerns about the US economy – were unlikely to hurt online advertising as badly as the rest of the media.
"Even as the credit crunch pulls ad money off the total media table, the internet looks to be more resistant to economic turmoil," said eMarketer senior analyst David Hallerman.
In fact, 2007 marks the first year that marketers will spend more than US$100 to reach each person online. And, by 2011, advertisers will be spending nearly US$200 per user.
"Computer games don't affect kids; I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic music."
"Paid search advertising grew to take the largest share of Australia's online advertising spend in 2006, according to a new report by online researchers Frost & Sullivan.
Spending on paid search advertising – in which the advertiser pays to have their link appear when certain key words are searched for – increased 65.5% to $416 million in 2006, according to the report, writes The Australian newspaper.
That beat spending on online classified advertising, which took $407 million, banner advertising on $384 million, and online directories such as Sensis's Yellow.
According to the report, the total online market will grow 30% to $1.857 billion by 2008, with paid online search likely to continue to be the fastest growing category, likely to increase 38% to $574 million."
The Government is comprised of politicians and public servants with no special insight or wisdom. Despite that, it constantly tells us what is best for us and how we should run our lives.
if the apple evangelists actually achieved what they preached, then they would be unhappy as they wouldnt be unique anymore...
if you love your apple so much, just shut your mouth and feel special that the rest of us cant be bothered with your simplicity...
technology is complex, and mastering complex technology is a skill, a skill that empowers... learning to use an apple and flaunting it is like being proud of mastering duplo/lego....
we have both dell and apple computers in our company, and we run windows, OSX and linux... who cares its all the same...
computers are computers, they just help us communicate and help us improve our productivity...
just because your simplicity is packaged more elegantly than our mastery of complex tools doesnt mean your more productive or useful than the rest of us
btw: has anyone tryed to use excel on a mac... game, set, match
"I have been primarily interested in how and why ordinary people do unusual things, things that seem alien to their natures. Why do good people sometimes act evil? Why do smart people sometimes do dumb or irrational things?" --Philip Zimbardo
1. The Halo Effect ... the idea that global evaluations about a person (e.g. she is likeable) bleed over into judgements about their specific traits ( e.g. she is intelligent). Hollywood stars demonstrate the halo effect perfectly. Because they are often attractive and likeable we naturally assume they are also intelligent, friendly, display good judgement and so on.
2. How and Why We Lie to Ourselves: Cognitive Dissonance ...The ground-breaking social psychological experiment provides a central insight into the stories we tell ourselves about why we think and behave the way we do. The experiment is filled with ingenious deception...
3. War, Peace and the Role of Power ... a classic study of prejudice and conflict, has at least one hidden story. The well-known story emerged in the decades following the experiment as textbook writers adopted a particular retelling. With repetition people soon accepted this story as reality, forgetting it is just one version of events, one interpretation of a complex series of studies.
4. Our Dark Hearts: The Stanford Prison Experiment - The famous 'Stanford Prison Experiment' argues a strong case for the power of the situation in determining human behaviour.
5. Just Following Orders? A psychological experiment so powerful that simply taking part might change your view of yourself and human nature? What experimental procedure could provoke some people to profuse sweating and trembling, leaving 10% extremely upset, while others broke into unexplained hysterical laughter?
6. Why We All Stink as Intuitive Psychologists: The False Consensus Bias - Many people quite naturally believe they are good 'intuitive psychologists', thinking it is relatively easy to predict other people's attitudes and behaviours. We each have information built up from countless previous experiences involving both ourselves and others so surely we should have solid insights? No such luck.
7. Why Groups and Prejudices Form So Easily: Social Identity Theory People's behaviour in groups is fascinating and frequently disturbing. As soon as humans are bunched together in groups we start to do odd things: copy other members of our group, favour members of own group over others, look for a leader to worship and fight other groups.
8. How to Avoid a Bad Bargain Bargaining is one of those activities we often engage in without quite realising it. Iit happens every time we want to reach an agreement with someone. This agreement could be as simple as choosing a restaurant with a friend, or deciding which TV channel to watch. At the other end of the scale, bargaining can affect the fate of nations...
9. Why We Don't Help Others: Bystander Apathy ... the 'bystander effect'. In social psychology this is the surprising finding that the mere presence of other people inhibits our own helping behaviours in an emergency.
10. I Can't Believe My Eyes: Conforming to the Norm We all know that humans are natural born conformers - we copy each other's dress sense, ways of talking and attitudes, often without a second thought. But exactly how far does this conformity go? Do you think it is possible you would deny unambiguous information from your own senses just to conform with other people?
Read the full articles below if you have the time :)
"Don't just talk at consumers, engage in a conversation with them" - Stan Relihan
"One of the themes that has emerged from conversations with my guests over the past few weeks has been about how Social Networks offer marketers the opportunity of engaging with consumers in a way that is not intrusive, but relevant - sometimes even welcome."
A fantastic show with Stan Relihan and Ian Lyons from PureProfile
Some great tips for working with Bloggers as part of your PR / Communications strategy from Brian Solis
Thanks Brian
Building relationships with bloggers has been the hot topic of the last year .
PR & Communications Agencies are more and more interested in working with Bloggers as part of their Communications Strategy
Conversations are taking place right now about your company and your competitors. What are you going to do about it?
1. Why does Blogger Relations matter to your company
- Blogger relations is about interacting with people who are talking about your business, many of whom might be customers and peers. - They matter because their opinions are seen online when people search google about your business - They matter because negative opinions about your business will spread from blogger to blogger - More and more mainstream journalists are influcened by bloggers, and bloggers opinions filter into mass media
2. Engaging Bloggers - The Art of Relationships
- Be knowledgeable, transparent, honest, and trustworthy. Add value or don't bother. - You don't have the "right" to pitch bloggers, so really think about it before you approach anyone. - Conversation seems to be the "it" word, but it all comes down to respect, articulation, and relevance. Personality helps. - No one likes to sold "to" or marketed "at" - each person needs to hear things differently, so think about that. - There is no market for messages. - You are empowered and expected, as a PR person, to know what you're talking about, it's benefits, and why it matters to the markets you're trying to reach. Become an expert. - Less is more. This isn't about numbers, this is about doing PR in the Long Tail so that you can develop more meaningful relationships that have a more significant impact on the brand, business, and customers service. Quality vs. Quantity. - Stop thinking about PR in terms of pitches and audience. The pitch is dead. The audience is dead. - It's all about trust and respect - Determine their preferred method of contact - note it might not be email, but rather various social tools. NOTE TO BLOGGERS: Please help PR help you. Create a page or update your "about" section with tips and recommendations for developing relationships with PR people.
3. Promote and build relationships with Bloggers on the own turf - through Social Media
- Submit their posts/articles to social networks and news aggregators such as digg and reddit. - Link to them. - Comment before reaching out with meaningful content - participation is marketing. - Leverage personal networks.
4. Utilize Social Tools
- There are alternative contact channels to email and forms ( No spam or invasive tactics allowed) - Social networks such as Facebook, Yahoo Mash, LinkedIn, Plaxo Pulse. - Micromedia such as Twitter, jaiku, Tumblr, Utterz, Pownce.
5. Be Creative
- The traditional press release has no business in blogger relations. You're going to have to put things together as building blocks in order to help someone tell a story.
- Video, create short video demos, intros, events, greetings, or skits, that are specific to markets you're trying to reach.
- Podcasts, invite them to co-host a podcast or to be a guest on something like BlogTalkradio. Or create pre-recorded interviews or discussions that matter to bloggers. Think about creating custom content for different people. One shoe doesn't fit all just like one message or one tool doesn't matter to everyone.
- Social bookmarks, Bookmark content that matters to bloggers through services such as StumbleUpon, ma.gnolia, and delicious. Also, create purpose built pages dedicated to providing unbiased market background and perspective to help bloggers gain expertise and context through one link.
- Tagging, Tag items within social networks for specific people.
6. Find the People Who Can Help You
- Google Alerts allow you to be notified if anyone is talking about your company, competition, you, or other important topics. - Blogpulse reveals blogs and bloggers that have strong authority around relevant memes. - Technorati allows you to discover blogs that cover certain key words. - BuzzNumbers ... shameless plug... Our blog monitoring, analysis and reporting tool...
7. The Art of Listening
- Read lot of blogs, and explore your target bloggers blog history. - Explore their blogroll and find common topic of interest - Use an RSS aggregator or feed reader to simplify the process of reading the important blogs and their coverage. - Read the comments (and participate). Sometimes the greatest insight is unveiled outside of the post.
8. The "C"s of Blogger Relations
- Concept: what's the compelling plan. - Context: why is it relevant to them. - Consumption: create a package that makes it easy for bloggers to write their story. - Credibility: what makes you credible? Become the expert. - Community: join it, participate without expectations. - Conversation: you are not invited to the conversation as a marketer. This is about people, so be articulate, responsive, honest, smart, and resourceful.
9. Expand the scope,
- Don't get caught up in the A-list bloggers. - Focus on the magic middle, bloggers with 20-1000 blogs that link back to them.
Ok so it sounds pretty conspiracy theory, but apparantly all the Venture Capitalists who funded Facebook are on the Boards for the VC funds the CIA setup. Also the terms and conditions of facebook are pretty scary in regard to what information they can give away about you. All this leads to some interesting conclusions, that no one is denying...
Raises more questions than answers... definately worth your 3 mins...
The Government is comprised of politicians and public servants with no special insight or wisdom. Despite that, it constantly tells us what is best for us and how we should run our lives.
It tells us we should eat healthy foods, not smoke, wear a helmet when we ride a bicycle and not use marijuana. It tells us how to discipline our children, whether we can renovate our houses and who we are permitted to marry. It stops us from obtaining help to end our own lives even when we are in terminal pain.
It ties up enterprising businesses in regulations and red tape that prevent them from investing, expanding and employing more people.
The LDP believes people should make their own choices and accept responsibility for the consequences.
It believes governments have neither the expertise nor the right to tell people how to run their lives and should stick to things like protecting Australia from attack and safeguarding property rights. The LDP believes in legalising assisted suicide, the right of self defence and voluntary voting. It considers property owners (including hoteliers and restaurateurs), not the government, should decide whether smoking is allowed on their property and whether to remove trees on their land.
Even when the choices that individuals make are unwise and could harm them, so long as nobody else is involuntarily adversely affected the LDP says, "It's your choice, not the government's."
The Head of Global Enterprise IT Giant SAP Shai Agassi, has left to start what he plans to be the biggest car company in the world and whats more he plans to give cars away free!
Details won't be announced until December, but the basic concept is that you'll pay for the electricity, not the car.
Think razors and blades, or companies giving away free cellphones to lock you into a monthly contract of minutes.
"The cost of the average used car in Europe is now cheaper than the cost of gasoline to drive it for a year."
That's why "free" cars make sense: because the purchase price is now a small fraction of their lifetime costs. Shai's company is taking a bigger view of the business they're in--rather than selling cars, they're selling personal transportation, and charging a rate proportional to use. When fuel seemed nearly free compared to price of the car, companies sold cars. Now cars seem nearly free compared to the cost of the fuel. Thus an opportunity for a car company that thinks different.
According to a recent eCosultancy survey, Viral Marketing campaigns are up by 60%.
This has been a fantastic growth year for viral marketing, we're really starting to see a more mature approach by brands as they realise that viral can communicate effectively and efficiently with their target audience.
With all this viral marketing comes the need to track and measure effectiveness. Ahoi hoi BuzzNumbers
Just how valuable is online media? How do you measure what online media has influence and what has value?
We have been reading a few blogs recently on the topic and Technorati comes up again and again. Whilst this is really good indicator it seemed a pain in the ass to have to lookup every piece of media we found (let along finding and documenting all the online media we generated for our clients online)
We have now put a couple of our clients on BuzzNumbers , an aussie based online media monitoring service, and the amount of time it has has saved us is increadible (let alone the media it found that we would have missed)
If your interested in measuring your online value, come have a chat with the Shifted Pixels team. We can help you with online reputation monitoring and reporting.
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We have been having some interesting discussions recently about what happens when social networks meet.
For example we recently hooked up out Twitter account to Our Facebooks, and all of a sudden you realise you send messages to Twitter that you probably don't want your Facebook Friends to see.
It is our understanding that different social networks often have different types of social contacts and require different types of communications.
Twitter are my geek/blogger/influencer friends
Facebook are my school buddies
MySpace is all the Cool Bands i like
LinkedIN are all my serious contacts i know through work.
WAYN/Hi5 etc are my Travel/Global Buddies
Well if you thought the safety (and sanity) of keeping different information available for different social networks was here to stay, Google OpenSocial, blows that wide open.
According to the Google Press Release, Google OpenSocial will unite MySpace, Bebo, Engage.com, Friendster, hi5, Hyves, imeem, LinkedIn, Ning, Oracle, orkut, Plaxo, Salesforce.com, Six Apart, Tianji, Viadeo, and XING. A fairly large list.
Here's the big question - Will Facebook now be forced to join OpenSocial? Google says they are talking to "everyone." This is a major strategic decision for Facebook, and they may have little choice but to join this coalition.
Some people are saying this is Google Attack on Facebook. Instead of buying a right in facebook, like microsoft, google decides to compete.
I love Seth Godins take on this one
"Usually, when you destroy the barriers in an existing industry, everyone loses... except you."
Have you had any experiences of social networks colliding? What do you think of Googles Plans? Please leave a comment or reply to this on your blog :o)
"Computer games don't affect kids; I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic music."
According to the Google Press Release, Google 
