Ryan Lilly's Blog, page 2

Mockingjay Startup Communities

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Successful startup communities share one another’s successes.

In the book-turned-movie franchise The Hunger Games, mokingjays are birds which mimic or repeat what others have said. Translating into social networking terminology, they “retweet” what has just occurred.

One of the hallmarks of a high-functioning startup community is… well, community. When an entrepreneur has been successful — at launching a new product or obtaining a new customer, for example — everyone should congratulate them and share the news.

In addition to retweets from other startups, retweets should also come from other parts of the community — like education, government, chambers, and certainly incubators and accelerators that may exist there.

Because their win is our win. And each win makes the community stronger.

Setup Google and Twitter Alerts for startups in your community. Be sure to congratulate someone and share something every time there is a success. Become a mockingjay in your startup community, and encourage others to do the same.

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The Power of a Pepsi Challenge

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I’m not a Pepsi drinker, but there is a lot to admire about the Pepsi Challenge.

Begun in 1975, the Pepsi Challenge is of course a blind taste test that pits Pepsi against Coca-Cola. Participants take a sip of each drink (unknowing as to which one is which), they pick their favorite based on taste, then the brands are revealed. 

I once knew a school librarian who was adamant about teaching kids to construct sound arguments and backup their statements with facts. She was known for asking questions of students and, once they answered, firing back with “Well, prove it to me!”

Your customer is asking the same question.

You say that your product/service is better.

Well, prove it to them!

If an entrepreneur goes out and makes claims about their product solving a problem or being better than their competitors, it can be so incredibly powerful to offer a demonstration. To PROVE it. Think of the Oxy Clean commercials, which showed a regular stain remove on one side and the stain-fighting power of their product on the other.

This is not to say you should create some marketing gimmick where you impersonate Vince from ShamWow and perform a cheesy product demo at every opportunity. But providing some kind of proof… assurance that your offering is the real deal… will help you establish credibility in the mind of your customer and ease the buying decision that much more.

So, what’s YOUR Pepsi Challenge?

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Comfortably Uncomfortable

Incubators, accelerators and co-working spaces should be full of creative tension. That’s right, tension: an unsettling feeling which elicits a response of some kind.

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Many make the mistake of making their programs too comfortable. Come in, put your feet up, and relax. No, entrepreneur development programs need to be comfortably uncomfortable. That is, they should provide just the right balance between someone enjoying the process and their wanting to move proactively through it, towards graduation and closer to real-world success.

Think about high school. You were learning and growing, but you didn’t want to stay there forever, did you?

Keep in mind this is a positive, not negative, tension you want to foster. It’s not about creating fear nor employing scare tactics to keep people on their toes. It’s about an environment and system that establishes clear expectations of behavior and progress. Where startups keep one another accountable to their own benchmarks and are vested in one another’s success. Where everyone is moving in different directions, but everyone is doing everything they can to move FORWARD.

I don’t know about you, but that’s the kind of program I would want to be a part of. And my guess is that this is where you would want to be too.

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The Content Creation Imperative

Whether you’re an entrepreneur, a startup, an organization (like an incubator), or just an individual professional, you are your own brand. Brands are their own media outlets. Media outlets create and share content. Therefore, YOU must create and share content.

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Creating content isn’t easy. Like any creative act, it takes time and effort. And if you’re going to consistently create content, it takes discipline. Writing a blog post once is hard enough — doing it consistently requires that you are intentionally setting-aside time and committing to writing copy. The same goes for podcasts, YouTube videos, and other media.

One of my favorite personal development gurus is Tony Robbins who once said that a person can motivate themselves to do anything… if they have a big-enough WHY. If you have a big enough WHY, you’ll figure out the HOW. So here’s the WHY on creating content: It is at the heart of building your brand! You could be the greatest person in the world at doing X, but unless you create content of some kind, no one will know about it and you won’t benefit at all.

For entrepreneurs, your personal brand and that of your startup’s are linked (at least in the early stages). Thus, when your company shines, you shine. And visa-versa. All the more reason to put great content out there!

For incubators, you could have the greatest program, residents, and graduates in the world, but unless you let people know about what’s going on — by producing content — no one will know and your brand will suffer as a result.

Content creation is no longer a choice, it’s an imperative. Start today and keep going…

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Elements of a Golden Business Model

When creating your business model, the top two considerations should be scalability and replicability. Can it get bigger (independent of direct inputs) and can it be repeated (independent of you).

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But there are also other considerations you should be mindful of — if you can make them work for your particular startup. Here’s 10 to get you started…

1. Crowd-funded or crowd-sourced — If you can get others (or better yet, your customer) involved in the creation of your offering, or get them involved in the funding of it, they’ll be more likely to buy. (Example: Threadless)

2. Recurring Revenue — Think beyond the first sale. How can you create a steady stream of daily, weekly, or monthly revenue from the same customer? This is obviously more challenging than a one-time sale, because it requires that you consistently provide value and build trust over the long haul.

3. Repackage-ability & Add-ons — How can you take one product/service and re-package/re-cycle it into a new one? How can you tack a little something extra onto it to provide some additional value or incentive to the buyer? Movie theatre’s are not making their big profits off of movies, they’re doing it with the add-on concessions (candy). And a lot of those movies you’re watching are re-packaged storylines from long ago.

4. On-demand/Just-In-Time — Any time there is a gap between when something is produced and when the money for that thing comes into your bank account, there is the potential for a cash flow problem. And cash flow problems KILL startups. If you have a digital product (like an app or an ebook), this won’t be an issue. If you’re creating something physical or delivering a more customized product/service, give this one some thought.

5. Intrinsic Virility — This thing which you have created is such an awesome concept that people will be drawn to it. It’s a Purple Cow in Seth Godin’s terms. It pulls so you don’t have to push. Customers sell to other customers for you at no charge.

6. Zero Marginal Cost and No Overhead — Is it possible you can make each additional sale at no additional expense to the company, and also eliminate the fixed-costs of overhead? If not, how can your business model keep both to a minimum?

7. Create Connection — If your product/service connects people to one another, or serves as a new channel for communication, you have something special. Don’t think of Facebook here. Think of how your offering might connect members of an under-served group or demographic (i.e soccer moms). Consider how your company can catalyze community.

8. Timelessness — Some things never go out of style. If your product/service and business model are trend-based, then it may soar high for a time — then crash into the ground. But if you are doing something which has been done for thousands of years (like educating (Skillshare), helping people feel loved (eHarmony), or helping them become healthier (FitBit)) then you’ll always have customers at your doorstep.

9. Social Impact — How can your business model give back? Specifically, how will each purchase make the world (and not just your wallet) a better place? Consider donating a percentage of your profits to a cause your individual customer cares about.

10. Free — That’s right, how can you give stuff away for free? Maybe you sell add-ons and derive profit that way. Perhaps you charge for a concierge service. But getting people to trust you may mean that you give them something at no cost to start with. In your business model, does customer acquisition start with something your customers get for nothing? It’s a radical idea, but give it a try.

Give all of these a try… or at least some thought.

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Ideation and Realization

Incubation happens first in the mind, then in the physical world.

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We’re all incubating thoughts right now — about what we’ll eat for dinner tonight, which TV show to watch, or what book to buy.

Some ideas simmer longer than others, but the subsequent and corresponding actions arising from these thoughts (if we get around to acting on them at all), are just the tip of the iceberg. What lies below is the all-important, yet often-neglected ideation process.

Startup communities need places for BOTH ideation and realization.

Ideation Spaces:

Here’s a great example of a facility meant for ideation, brainstorming, and creative problem-solving (for existing companies too): http://thinkubators.com/

To some, places like this might seem silly. But that’s exactly the point.

Facilities such as the Thinkubator allow people to escape the real-world and retreat into (or out of — depending on perspective) their imaginations.

And in a new, knowledge-based economy, that’s not silly at all.

Realization Spaces:

In the same way that certain environments foster ideation, some are also better at helping bring ideas to fruition.

And that’s where incubators and accelerators come into play.

More than a physical place, these programs serve as protective, supportive, resource-rich environments for ideas to take root before and/or during their launch into the marketplace.

Note: Many incubators now incorporate spaces meant for both ideation and realization. That’s a powerful combo.

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Entrepreneurial Attribution Errors

This is rarely, if ever, that.

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For Entrepreneurs:

You’re not Mark Zuckerberg or any other entrepreneur.

Your business model is not Facebook’s or any other startup’s.

This is not to say that you can’t try to emulate certain aspects of other entrepreneurs.

Nor is this to say that you can’t borrow pieces of other business models.

What this does say is:

This is not that.

You are you. Your company is your own.

For Entrepreneurial Ecosystems:

Your startup community is not Silicon Valley. And it’s unlikely it will ever become Silicon Valley.

The incubator, accelerator, or co-working facility you toured in a neighboring city likely can not be cloned in your own.

Certain aspects of other startup communities CAN be replicated and scaled in your own community (if the necessary supply and demand for those programs and services exist).

But in general, your community is not theirs.

This is not that.

Attribution errors lead to painful outcomes. Lost time, lost money, lost hope.

Bask in your uniqueness. Take pride in being genuine. Above all, be yourself.

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Startup Shepherds

Shepherds feed, guide, and protect their flock.

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As a leader within an entrepreneurial community — whether you are an incubator/accelerator manager, entrepreneur service provider, or otherwise — leading means feeding, guiding, and protecting those you serve.

1. Feed — Feed them resources. (TA, connections to capital, etc.)

2. Guide — Don’t dictate, but guide entrepreneurs towards self discovery and an iterative learning process.

3. Protect — Remove, minimize, or point-out harmful barriers in your entrepreneurial ecosystem. Maybe these are political or regulatory in nature. Perhaps there are people within your startup community who do not want to see young companies succeed. Whatever the barrier or threat, protect the flock.

Startup communities are beautiful. But they are also fragile — at least at first.

Make sure your ecosystem’s focus is not simply on growth, but also on feeding, guiding, and protecting the very entrepreneurs who drive that growth.

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Instagram Style Innovation: Pivoting Paradigms

We would all do well to take a lesson from Instagram.

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In the same way we apply filters to our photos, we can put filters on our problems… that is, to begin applying filters to the innovation process.

Another word for filter might be a paradigm or a “point of view.”

Few have developed the skill to pivot their paradigms… to change their filters. In fact, most people only use a small handful of filters their entire lives.

A few points on filters:

1. Develop as many filters as you can, and keep them handy. — Create an innovation toolbox.

2. Steal/borrow filters from other innovators. — How can you apply a filter from another industry, place, or time to your own problem?

3. Share your filter liberally. — The world needs your unique point of view!

4. Be conscious of what filter you’re using. — Is it the right one for the problem at hand? Don’t let your ego or bias play a role in selecting one filter over another.

5. Swap em’ out. Experiment. — You’ll rarely get the filter right the first time. Thomas Edison applied over 1,000 filters before he perfected the electric light bulb.

Learn to apply new sets of filters and you’ll not only be as trendy as Instagram, you’ll be a better innovator too.

Implications for incubator/accelerator managers:

What new filters could you apply to challenges within your program?

How can you facilitate interaction among entrepreneurs, so they collide and swap filters with one another?

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Startup Choices In Incubation

Startups, like all businesses in the free enterprise system, are free to make choices. As it pertains to incubation and acceleration, startups really have three primary choices.

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Startups must decide:

1. Whether or not to join an incubator/accelerator.

2. Which incubators/accelerators to apply to.

3. Once accepted, which programs/services to participate in — and their level of participation/engagement overall.

For each of these decisions, incubator/accelerator managers must…

1. Show Value — Not simply saying “we offer this” (those are features) but “here’s how what we offer can help you” (those are advantages and that’s where the true value is found).

2. Tell a Story — Stories are incredibly powerful compared to statistics. Tell a meaningful, memorable, and sharable story about one of your current clients or graduates. How have they been successful? Can the entrepreneur you are communicating with envision themselves achieving the same results?

An important caveat:

Business incubation is not for every entrepreneur (and likewise, not for every startup).

Incubation/acceleration professionals are not car salesman. They’re more akin to automakers viewing concept cars and judiciously deciding which ones to assist in developing further.

The difference for the practitioner is a self-less willingness to help the entrepreneur, even if that means your program is not a fit for the prospective applicant at hand.

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