Author: Behzad
Competitiveness
Question: how to keep competitiveness besides a core patentable technology?
- Management team (I keep coming back to this one)
- Access to big customers
- Access to certain distribution channels
- Corporate culture and company’s vision are most difficult to replicate
MBA or MFA?
The question is which one helps you better in entrepreneurship, an MBA or MFA?
- The market for beauties never dies out.
- Whatever you make, make it beautiful!
- “Entrepreneurship is about making a meaning, not money“, Guy Kawasaki, watched on IEEE TV
- Never lose the big picture (to make life easier and more beautiful) — need to train your right brain!
What About Business Plan!
How to write a business plan, I asked Aydin, founder of chide.it and here is what he said:
“
1) it makes you write on paper what you are going to do to make lots of money.
2) it shows investors how you plan on making lots of money.
…
but, at the end of the day, look at your plan from a 3rd party perspective and ask yourself, would I loan this business 10k as an angel investor? If your answer is yes, then you’re in good shape”
simple and to the point!
Reliability
This one really stuck with me:
“Even the very best intentions can never take the place of being dependable, punctual, reliable and credible”
Your Attitude Is Showing by Sharon Lund O”Neil, 2006
Good to Great
The best source I found to transform from good to great is the book “Good to Great” by Jim Collins. Great companies have all shown the following traits:
- Level 5 Leadership (the most important)
- First Who Then What
- Confront the brutal facts
- HEDGEHOG CONCEPT (my favorite)
- Culture of Discipline
- Technology Accelerators
Ultimate Fund Raiser
What I like about pan handlers is their persistance to raise a dollar from every passerby! No mattering if it is raining, if you are running or if you look terribly sick, you are no exception to the pan handler!
Ultimate Decision Making Tool
From Get Smarter by Seymour Schulich:
Making a decision is usually boils down to picking between two options; sell or keep, invest or save fund, go for the next degree or get a job, and many more examples. So, you have to answer a YES or NO.
Make two columns; in one column list all the goods and in the other list all the bads about your decision. Depending on your priorities give a weight from 0-10 to each of the listings, 0 for least important and 10 for most important. If the goods outweigh the bads at least twice as much, pick YES, or if the bads outweigh twice as much, pick NO. If it is too close to make a call, don’t make that decision now.
Example:
Do I continue with my PhD or not
Goods
Have the option to become a professor later on:5
Gives more credibility as a new graduate out of university: 5
Gain a good reference from the university: 4
Can join R & D departments: 2
Add another degree to my resume: 6
Start higher in the company hierarchy:5
Learn about RFIDs + Crypt Algorithms: 3
Goods Total: 30
Bads
My last 2 years would be wasted if drop out: 4
Postpone going for MBA degree: 6
Have less time for my startups for another 2 years: 5
Limit areas of business:3
Stay poor for another 2 years: 5
Bads Total: 23
Conclusion: I cannot make up my mind right now and need to take some time!