Informative, helpful, and often actionable insights, recommendations, best practices, and “how-to” articles
The United States Patent and Trademark Office was established in order to protect inventors and give them the freedom to operate without concerns or push by larger corporations. “The strength and vitality of the U.S. economy depends directly on effective mechanisms that protect new ideas and investments in innovation and creativity.” — USPTO Most patents[…]
In my innovation workshops, we believe in learning from playing with ordinary objects. I’ve written recently about improving creativity using LEGO pieces. But pipe cleaners can also be very useful for exploring creativity. What’s special about pipe cleaners? They are simply thin wires coated with some fuzzy plastic material. What can they do, besides clean[…]
Introduction Does it ever make sense to abandon objectives in order to achieve those objectives? Perhaps counterintuitively, the answer is sometimes “yes!” It was early morning when I got a weekly blog from my business coach. As I was reading the first few lines, I could clearly hear my mind was whispering “no” somewhere in[…]
The concept of LEGO pieces is brilliant. In the latest iteration, the company uses computer technology to transform any image into a structure that can be assembled from LEGO pieces, based on a design submitted by a customer. The only condition is that the final assembly still looks like it is built from blocks. That[…]
The literature is rife with articles, books, blogs, magazines, and online posts on the art of interviewing and hiring. How to interview, what to look for, what questions to ask, use of psychoanalytic tools, and reference checking can all be part of the process. The intent of this post on hiring is to provide some[…]
Be creative. How often have we heard that phrase, “be creative”, typically from within our own brains? When confronted with an unfamiliar problem, and we can’t find a ready solution, what do we do? Today, most people start by doing a Google search. Indeed, search engines have proved to be immensely useful in our lives.[…]
The Entrepreneurial Dilemma Imagine your startup on the verge of breaking through, just needing another round of capital infusion to make it over the top. Your product is top notch, well reviewed, and fills a market niche. Your marketing is set and is already producing sales. Visions of an IPO swirl amongst the founders and[…]
Company founders face a sour challenge: How do I build my startup team without neglecting my primary job of running the business? To be sure, attracting top talent is a critical endeavor for your company. In the era of the knowledge worker, human capital is arguably a company’s most prized resource to achieve long-term success. But[…]
When mining for diamonds, what are you looking for? What are you seeing? How can you determine the potential value of a diamond in the rough? Isn’t every new business venture, from a raw startup to a re-start of a tired company, to a Fortune 500 corporation re-positioning itself, a bit like a diamond that[…]
Throughout my career, I have joined early-stage companies and have been charged with building the commercial organization and meeting the organization’s revenue objectives. In two very specific cases, the founders had built great products and closed several early customers. They believed they had identified the right revenue metrics. The companies did revenue modeling based on[…]