No doubt, that businesses throughout have seen the writing on the wall and started adopting the values underlying the global goals. Thanks to the UN who boldly ignited the sustainable development goal (SDG) era in 2015 not only have we become aware of the major impact we can make. We also genuinely believe that every individual can make a difference. …
Buyers of SMEs can learn from the selling founder
Three sets of hard-edged practices and underlying attitudes underpin high performance well-known from founder-led companies. 1) Purpose. 2) Customer obsession. 3) Willingness to change. They can all be learned.
3 inputs on your way to product market fit
Startup is no land for long lasting leaders. You either get traction or run out of resources. But what happens once you actually get to product market fit? Before product market fit Product-market-fit (PMF) marks such a critical turning point in the company lifecycle. Life changes significantly. But don’t try to get there too early … Product: Trade the fine-tuned …
Your why may be your true north, but …
Every touch point a customer or prospect has with your company will shape their view of you. But … Consumers would not care if 82% of brands disappeared.
Corporate ideology must change
Corporate leaders have so much to loose. This is why they are so reluctant to tear down those walls of bureaucracy.
Entrepreneurs decline. Up is conglomerates
A celebrated software company had managed to accumulate 600 vice presidents by the time it reached USD 4 billion in revenues…
Export is a model game, forget the product
Use some of those 75% of the resources you spend on innovating your product on the business model instead. Particularly in exports.
21st century corporate innovation tools
Familiar with the fear of failure or lack of speed in corporations? Although hard to accept, as a corporate innovator you can learn tremendously from startups. Here is why. Corporation vs. startup A corporation is a permanent organization designed to execute a repeatable and scalable business model that they have built over time. In a corporation ‘fear of failure’ inhibits …
Team, product, or market? The X factor of growth
There is this continuous debate on what matters the most. The right team, the product, or the market. Until recently, I would have argued the team before the product. If you ask entrepreneurs or VCs which is most important, the most likely answer would be the team, partly because in the beginning of a startup, you know a lot more about the team than you do …
Innovation? Forget corporate metrics
If you make your innovation a hedging process – like we discussed here – then how do you lead and manage innovation? What are the particular ways of reversing the process to foster valuable innovation? Leading innovation and what is considered good leadership are not the same. The default conception of the leader’s role – setting out a vision and inspiring people to follow – works when …