With the Detroit big 3 going under (for a very good reason - lack of flexibility), much has been said about unions and their impact on industries. I don't care to have a discussion on this blog about the benefits and disadvantages of the unions. They are irrelevant in most of the stratup world. But, ...
Category Archives: Leadership
Ideas are worthless!!! What entrepreneurs can learn from hip hop artists.
Some of you may remember viral video of Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer running on the stage during keynote at a software developers conference in a sweat-drenched shirt yelling his heart out “Developers! Developers! Developers!”. I bet he remembered all those failures where ideas of mighty Microsoft failed to gain market traction. Anyone remembers Microsoft Bob? As you watch this short video of Steve Ballmer, in your mind change his words to “Paying customers! Paying customers! Paying customers!” Key to your idea being anything more than just another worthless filing in the USPTO are paying customers. Better yet, paying customers who evangelize your product.
Sampling of the biggest mistakes startup leaders make
This topic has been in my drafts folder for a while. I take it to heart, because I find it important not to repeat mistakes I have seen others and myself make. My father always used to stress that he succeeded, because he chose to learn from mistakes of others rather than have to learn ...
If your staff does not get it, neither will the customer!
One of the biggest branding/marketing failures I have seen in my career was due to decisions made in a vacuum. The founders were all fired up about the new strategy, but they failed to market it to the staff. They were the only people in the company who were involved in the process. Worse yet, since founders never really sold the service, they had no idea how customers perceived the brand. Staff refused to use new marketing materials and new terminology. It took a while, but founders had to go back to the drawing board after dumping all that money. Unfortunately, money was not the only resource wasted. Morale took a huge hit too.
About THE FOUNDER
Apolinaras is a business operations leader with 12-year track record of helping companies manage growth, build diverse teams, harness technology, and get a lot more profitable.Read More About Us »
The Operations Guy Blog
