Twitter Use?

It’s been a while since I’ve posted.  Since then a lot has changed.  I completed my first full-time year of my MBA, added a puppy to my life and joined Twitter.  The first two changes are profoundly important, but Twitter has changed the way I operate unlike the other two.  I actually joined Twitter about 9 months ago; when I first joined I didn’t understand the craze.  Now I do.  I have three Twitter accounts; one personal (@eshooman), one for the company I work part-time for, and one experimental account (@munchmylunch).  I plan to promote my blog and partake in entrepreneurial chatter with my personal account once I have a better understanding of Twitter’s best uses, I utilize social marketing making announcements of new offerings and promoting other social media such as the company blog for the corporate Twitter account I administrate, and I use my experimental account for exactly that, experimenting.  My experimental account is where I’m really learning about Twitter.  I use best-practices and strategies I’ve learned from other tweeter’s blogs and the book Twitter Power by Joel Comm (@joelcomm).  This account focuses on food, so I follow other foodies, food press, chefs and restaurateurs.  Following others provides me with up-to-the-second information about Boston restaurants’ daily specials, menu additions, openings and closings.  I am currently working on building relationships by participating in conversations and initiating comments to others’ tweets.  My social network is expanding almost exponentially without getting up from my computer… with people I’ve never met before, but have always wanted to meet!!!  I am now holding direct conversations with celebrity chefs and TV personalities; providing helpful input they may never have honored if met randomly on the street.  Twitter is amazing for building relationships.  What else is Twitter useful for?  I like to break the usefulness of Twitter down into the personal, professional, and marketing contexts.  I have my own opinions, but would love feedback to understand how others are using Twitter.

Entrepreneurial Innovation

Wow. I haven’t posted since 2008!!! I will not make excuses, I love blogging, and I am excited to get back into the groove. So much has happened over the past 2 months like the inauguration of President Obama, Sully the Pilot’s heroics, and hitting a 10 year low in the stock market. Over this period I’ve had some epiphanies, one which I would like to present today… that being, innovation is incremental.

Innovation is Incremental – Since August I’ve been working with a team of engineering students to develop a mobile application for a Fortune 500 company. We’ve had our ups and our downs. Recently we had an internal discussion regarding our goal; the question was if we needed to create an innovative interface or an innovative application? The application we began developing was clearly an innovative interface; all the content existed, the basic idea and concept is widely available via other applications, all we were doing was presenting it in a “cooler” manner. I hated this application, and voiced my opposition on the grounds of lack of innovation. Before revealing the idea to the sponsor company, we had an internal review revealing our application to a group of PhD’s. During the review the innovative interface application was bashed by the PhDs also due to lack of innovation. We had a list of 8 other applications we created, 3 of them which I considered innovative. The presented application was dumped. Our new task was to choose 1 of these 8 remaining ideas using innovative application as the main criteria. This is when I realized innovation is incremental.

People used mail before electronic mail (email), listened to Walkmans before iPods, and instant messaged before twittering. These are incremental innovations. While selecting a new mobile application to develop I was unaware of the incremental nature of innovation. I campaigned for the most innovative of the 8 applications, but my team pushed back saying the idea is a new paradigm, which is bad. New paradigms change behaviors, which is a risky endeavor (especially for a conservative Fortune 500 company). I became aware the most innovative application may be ahead of its time, and too far a jump from the current market. Eventually we settled on an application using current content, presenting it not only in a “cool” manner, but also in a different manner by mixing medias to create an interactive experience unlike any other. The mobile application we are moving forward with is an innovative interface and an innovative application, but without creating a new paradigm. The application marries two behaviors together in a manner never done before to create an incremental innovation with great potential. Taking the innovation is incremental approach facilitates us in delivering a great mobile application.

Most Memorable of 2008

Throughout 2008 I’ve attended many conferences, met many people, and become aware of many great start-ups. As the year dies down I’ve been thinking to myself, out of all the impressive companies I’ve become aware of in 2008, which seem headed for further success in 2009? To answer this question I decided to list the 5 most memorable companies from my 2008 experiences: (In no specific order)

Company: Mimobot
Location: Boston, MA
Website: http://www.mimoco.com
Product: Designer USB Flash Drives
Customers: Hot Topic, Newbury Comics, Urban Outfitters, W Hotels
What I Like About the Company: Mimobot makes creative USB flash drives and has licensing agreements with Star Wars and Halo. I spoke with the founders (they just so happen to be Babson MBAs) who hinted to product expansion in 2009; adding USB cords and other hi-tech designer offerings. Keep an eye on Mimobot as they enter an untapped novelty market.

Company: Boxee
Location: New York, NY
Website: http://www.boxee.tv
Product: Media Center Software
Partners: Netflix, Hulu, MTV, flickr
What I Like About the Company: The perfect solution to marrying my addictions to Hulu and Apple TV. Boxee is still in alpha testing, but once their internet based streaming HD television catches on, it will be a run-away hit. One rumored feature is the ability to instant message with friends from your TV while watching the same show or movie. I can’t wait for the beta.

Company: HubSpot
Location: Boston, MA
Website: http://www.hubspot.com
Product: Inbound Marketing System
Customers: TheLogoFactory.com, Kadient, Vocio
What I Like About the Company: I’ve blogged about HubSpot before, they still don’t hesitate to impress. With a poor economy and high unemployment, many more will be forced to start their own businesses in 2009. The most efficient way to create sales for new entrepreneurs is to have customers come to them. HubSpot’s inbound marketing system provides start-ups with nice websites, SEO expertise, and guidance to make the most of a start-up’s shoestring marketing budget.

Company: Inigral
Location: San Francisco, CA
Website: http://www.inigral.com
Product: Secure Learning Management Facebook Application called “Schools”
Customers: Abilene Christian University
What I Like About the Company: BlackBoard is the 800lb. gorilla of the Learning Management System (LMS) world, but Inigral is leveraging the Facebook platform to put up a fight. Inigral does not have the functionality of BlackBoard, but they do have an audience in Facebook. Inigral’s Schools application organizes individual Facebook accounts by grouping coursemates together, creating a one-stop-community for one’s higher learning needs. Visit their website to watch videos to learn more about Inigral’s impressive functionality.

Company: Igloo Software
Location: Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
Website: http://www.igloosoftware.com
Product: Social Networking Enterprise Software
Customers: Motorola, Thomson, Canadian Corporate Council Association (CCCA), McGill University
What I Like About the Company: Major corporations’ needs when moving to online collaborative software differ greatly from the general public; they value security, ease of access, and knowledge management as essential. Igloo Software demonstrates the most functional and sexiest solution for enterprise software and has the clientele to back it up. I blogged about Igloo back in June naming them the Enterprise 2.0 Winner.

Please share the companies you think we should keep an eye out for in 2009.

TBE Makes List of Top 150 Blogs for Entrepreneurs

The Boston Entrepreneur is proud to be included in Open Business’s list of Top 150 Blogs for Entrepreneurs. Being named in a list acknowledging TBE’s contribution to entrepreneurship is an honor.

The Power of Numbers

We’ve all heard it, to assume is to make an “ass” at of “u” and “me.” Making business decisions based on feelings, preferences, and observations are marred by biased assumptions. Strong businesses decisions emerge from fact; and there are no stronger facts than numbers. Quantitative analysis is essential to business decisions; it’s the power of numbers.

Quantitative Analysis – I have a simple process for performing quick quantitative analysis.

Step 1) Identify the Desired Destination – Know where you want the numerical data to take you, why the data will take you there, what the data can tell you, and how the data is working. Without knowing your destination, you may quickly get lost. Know your destination.

Step 2) Collect and Organize the Numbers – Finding the numbers is not easy. Choose whether to manually gather the data through surveys or to collect it from published (or unpublished) sources. If you encounter trouble collecting data, speak to a librarian (they are expert data gatherers and can be your best free resource). Once you have your data, organize it properly and you will get to your destination efficiently. Organizing your data can be as easy to choosing the order of the columns or as difficult as creating tables within Excel.

Step 3) Manipulate the Numbers – Now that the collected data is organized, can you get to your destination with the data in its current state? If not, then figure out what needs to be done, and do it. Make sure you don’t ruin the value of the numbers with your manipulations.

Step 4) Get the Facts – Use your answer to the question, how is the data working to get to your destination?, to apply calculations to the numerical data (collected & manipulated). The results will provide you with facts. These facts will be used to make your decisions.

Step 5) Don’t Take the Results for What They Are – Finding patterns in large outputs is like searching for a needle in a haystack. The output of facts may seem sufficient to make your decision, but pictures tell a thousand words…

Step 6) Graph the Results & Make the Decision – Graph the outputs. Graphical dashboards are valuable components of decision making because they show patterns that one might miss by just looking at the raw numerical facts. More outputs produce more factual support, but also more data and better graphs. Better graphs produce easily interpretable facts, which are used to make strong concrete business decisions. The graphs accurately get you to your destination.

Again, this is a simple process I use to make concrete business decisions. In the context of more time, resources, and risk, I would apply statistical and economical regression and forecasting to make stronger factual business decisions. The importance lies in using numerical data to provide factual insights in making business decisions, demonstrating the power of numbers.

The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur

Today my friend and serial entrepreneur Mike Michalowicz came out with his new book The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur. The book provides insight for cash strapped visionaries with little or no entrepreneurial experience. Mike is an expert entrepreneur as he’s founded, operated, and sold two multi-million dollar companies. Mike also authors a great entrepreneurial blog he updates daily. Join me in congratulating Mike in his first book release.

From EmTech08: Desh Deshpande

Desh Deshpande, serial entrepreneur and Chairman of the Board at A123 Systems, just left the EmTech stage. Desh had great entrepreneurial insights, but the one that sticks out refers to the current economy. Desh believes over the past ten years the top students from best US universities were graduating and going to financial firms; with the current condition and unknown future of the US financial systems, Desh believes the top graduates will stop taking high paying Wall St. positions and will become the next generation of entrepreneurs powered by technological innovation.

Desh was also asked, “What comes first, the company or the rights to the Intellectual Property?” The ‘ol “Chicken or the egg” question. It depends. If the intellectual property (IP) is for the long-term and projected to have a long lifecycle, then licensing the IP comes first (without the IP there is no company). If the IP is in a rapidly innovative arena, then the company comes first, because the IP may be antiquated by the time it gets licensed. In an innovative arena the company must hire innovation savvy employees and not rely on intellectual property; if the company relies on the IP then it may survive for the short term, but will struggle with growth.

TR35 Winners: EmTech08

And the winners are…

TR35 Humanitarian of the Year – Aimee Rose – ICx Technologies

TR35 Innovator of the Year – JB Starubel - Tesla Motors, Inc.

From EmTech08: Ning.com

I’m currently at the Emerging Technologies Conference (EmTech08) put on by the MIT Technology Review.  This morning Gina Bianchini, founder of Ning (a platform for creating online social networks) gave an engaging presentation stressing the importants of consumer usability, simplicity, and web 2.0 revenue generation.  Ning was launched a little over a year ago and already has over 500,000 social networks.  Gina is a serial entrepreneur with a MBA from Stanford.  I highly recommend visiting Ning and playing around.  More to come on her specific usability, simplicity, and revenue generation points…

We’re All Salesmen: The Power of “Why”

As entrepreneurs, at times we’re accountants, at times we’re marketers, at times we’re human resources; overseeing all aspects of our companies makes us feel safe. We wear many hats along our journeys, but with growth responsibilities must be delegated. We hire competent employees, and hand our hats off, but one hat seems to stick to our heads; the sales hat. To be a viable entrepreneur one must be passionate about his/her company. Passion is demonstrated by sharing ones company to inspire others. An Inspiring message is in essence a sales pitch. If you are a passionate inspirational entrepreneur then you are a salesman, even if you don’t realize it. For this reason, all entrepreneurs must study sales and build their own salesman’s toolbox. The salesman’s toolbox is a compilation of best practices learned through experience, study, and guidance. One tool every entrepreneur must have in his/her toolbox is the “why” tool. The most powerful tool in a salesman’s toolbox is the word “Why?”

Why is “Why” the most powerful tool? “Why” is a salesman’s most powerful tool because it’s the shovel that digs the truth. Asking prospects “why” squashes objections and uncovers the truth behind pushback, for an example I’ll take the role of a computer salesman trying to sell a computer to an 80 year-old hardware store owner named Ray. I walk in, greet Ray, and notice Ray is taking inventory… with a pen and paper! I think to myself, “great opportunity!” I ask Ray if he’s ever used a computer, he answers “no.” I ask “why?” Ray says, “I’m too old.” I wasn’t born yesterday, if my 90 year-old retired grandfather is able to use a computer, then an active 80 year-old hardware store owner sure can. I ask, “Why are you too old?” Ray answers, “I’ve never used a computer, why start now?” I reply, “Why not start now?” I’m filtering threw Ray’s smokescreens; I’m making him think. Ray says, “Because they’re just too complicated.” I respond, “Why do you think computers are too complicated?” Ray adds, “I actually tried to use a computer about 20 years ago. It was too complicated.” I just uncovered incredible information! Knowing Ray found computers 20 years ago complicated is no surprise, because 20 years ago computers were complicated! I dug the truth out of Ray by using the power of “why.” I uncovered the true reason why he objected to using computers, and I can tailor my sales message to show him the simplicity of using a modern computer. Now the easy part starts, all I need to do is demonstrate my passion and inspire him to purchase one of my computers.

People hide the truth. We don’t like saying no.  It’s human nature.  It’s OK.  The solution is to open your salesman’s toolbox and utilize your “why” tool.  Understand the power of “why,” use it, and inspire people with your passion to complete the sale.