later edit: MacOS eastern egg – the same words are on the TextEdit (the Mac notepad) icon.
Archive for Lessons to self
Change the world. Think different.
Posted in Business, Lessons to self
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Necker Island, here we come
Last Friday I made a promise to take my business sky high!
As a proof of my commitment I invited everybody that was present with me that evening (+ their dear ones), in 5 years or sooner, on a trip to Necker Island – Sir Richard Branson’s home and favorite hideaway.
We’re looking at at least a $50k bill so this ought to be good ;)
Love
Love. Love your company. Love your co-workers. Love your investors. Love your partners. Love your suppliers. And most importantly, love the people you come home to — the people whose support makes it possible for you to get up and do it again each day.
No #13 from 13 Things You Must Do Every Week As A Startup CEO
Image source.
De ce aleg România?
Hate something, change something.
Pentru că mi-a plăcut. Mult. Asta.
Aş mai adăuga:
- aici lucrurile se petrec mult mai repede decât oriunde altundeva. ardem etape la greu.
- simt că România are o misiune specială în “ecuaţia universală”
- cred că misiunea fiecăruia e în strânsă legătură cu locul în care fiecare a ales să se nască
- pentru argumentele din comentariile de aici
- pentru cele ilustrate mai jos. fotografii de: iustyn. (mai puţin cea de mai sus ;))
Mai completează cineva lista?
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Why it’s harmful to listen to the users
It’s time for brands to step up and trust themselves again.
Take Apple. One evening, well into the night, we asked some of our friends on the Apple design team about their view of user-centric design. Their answer? “It’s all bullshit and hot air created to sell consulting projects and to give insecure managers a false sense of security. At Apple, we don’t waste our time asking users, we build our brand through creating great products we believe people will love.” Another hyper-growth brand, IKEA, has the same belief. One of us had the privilege of working closely with IKEA’s global brand and design leaders; at IKEA the unspoken philosophy is: “We show people the way.” IKEA designers don’t use user studies or user insights to create their products. When I asked them why, they said “We tried and it didn’t work.” Of course, neither Apple nor IKEA will say this publicly since they are both extremely closed companies and would risk offending users (and the design community) by speaking out against user-centeredness. And since no one will speak up, the false value of the user-as-leader has spread.
Users insights can’t predict future demand
The demand for something fundamentally new is completely unpredictable. Even the users themselves have no idea if they will like an entirely product before they start using it (and maybe, only after years of use). Demand for something new cannot be predicted.
Full article: User-Led Innovation Can’t Create Breakthroughs; Just Ask Apple and Ikea (Written by Jens Martin Skibsted and Rasmus Bech Hansen)
Photo: Mihai Dragomirescu
Posted in Business, Lessons to self
Tagged Apple, IKEA, innovation, user-centric design, users
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…
@eCostin Sa-ti fie bine. Cu oricine ai fi, oriunde, din orice cauza. Bine. Nu ca-n filme de bine, ca-n viata.
@danielapetrescu
Daniela Petrescu
pe Facebook e mai romantica lumea la ora asta:
Primesc si public si alte raspunsuri directe la intrebarea de mai sus, “Ce e cel mai important in viata?”
Startup Commandments
Startup Commandments
- Your idea isn’t new. Pick an idea; at least 50 other people have thought of it. Get over your stunning brilliance and realize that execution matters more.
- Stealth startups suck. You’re not working on the Manhattan Project, Einstein. Get something out as quickly as possible and promote the hell out of it.
- If you don’t have scaling problems, you’re not growing fast enough.
- If you’re successful, people will try to take advantage of you. Hope that you’re in that position, and hope that you’re smart enough to not fall for it.
- People will tell you they know more than you do. If that’s really the case, you shouldn’t be doing your startup.
- Your competition will inflate their numbers. Take any startup traffic number and slash it in half. At least.
- Perfection is the enemy of good enough. Leonardo could paint the Mona Lisa only once. You, Bob Ross, can push a bug release every 5 minutes because you were at least smart enough to do a web app.
- The size of your startup is not a reflection of your manhood. More employees does not make you more of a man (or woman as the case may be).
- You don’t need business development people. If you’re successful, companies will come to you. The deals will still be distractions and not worth doing, but at least you’re not spending any effort trying to get them.
- You have to be wrong in the head to start a company. But we have all the fun.
- Starting a company will teach you what it’s like to be a manic depressive. They, at least, can take medication.
- Your startup isn’t succeeding? You have two options: go home with your tail between your legs or do something about it. What’s it going to be?
- If you don’t pay attention to your competition, they will turn out to be geniuses and will crush you. If you do pay attention to them, they will turn out to be idiots and you will have wasted your time. Which would you prefer?
- Startups are not a democracy. Want a democracy? Go run for class president, Bueller.
- You’re doing a web app, right? This isn’t the 1980s. Your crummy, half-assed web app will still be more successful than your competitor’s most polished software application.
- You will have at least one catastrophe every three months.
- Outsource effectively, or be effectively outsourced.
- Do you thrive on stress and ambiguity? You’d better.
- The best way to get outside funding is to be successful already. Stupid but true. But you, cheapskate, don’t need money, right?
- People will think your idea sucks. They’re even probably right. The only way to prove them wrong is to succeed.
- A startup will require your complete attention and devotion. Thought your first love in High School was clingy? You can’t take out a restraining order on your startup.
- Being an entrepreneur requires a healthy amount of ignorance. Note I did not say stupidity.
- Your software sucks. So what. Everyone else’s does also, and re-architecting is the kiss of death for a startup. Startups are no place for architecture astronauts.
- You do have a public API, right?
- Abject Terror. Overwhelming Joy. Monstrous Greed. Embrace and harness these emotions you must.
- Mark Fletcher ( http://www.startupping.com/ )
~Founder of Bloglines.com
Posted in Business, Lessons to self
Tagged insightful, Inspiration, inspiring, startup
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Keep up the enthusiasm
I saw the job request ad below and I remembered that I had a rough week trying to prepare my most important pitch so far. It was for the job interview at MPI and I had to do a market analysis on a segment and then based on it to propose a new business in this segment and develop the business plan, forecasts, competition study, marketing plan, etc.
Initially I thought that this task was to hard for me/my experience and that I would never manage to come up with something remarkable. But, driven by the desire to get this job and to do something better for my career, I received an enthusiasm overdose and managed to see the light with my project. Presenting it was something very confusing – I didn’t know whether I was doing it right or not, I had cold feet and thought I was terrible. Everything was lightning fast (at least that’s how i felt it) and only after a couple of hours, a text message from my current boss cleared out the fog from my head – “it was excellent!”. I managed to sell myself, and I did it good.
So – important moment – high enthusiasm – over achieve – performance & success. What about the daily tasks, the moments that don’t seem that important? How do we keep up the enthusiasm? How do you stay driven everyday? How do you manage to be motivated in daily repetitive tasks and dealing with difficult clients? Always seeing the big picture? Enjoying every single thing that you do?
This guy certainty knows how to sell himself, how to make all those bad things from his past work in his advantage:
Posted in Business, Lessons to self
Tagged Business, enthusiasm, Inspiration, interview, marijuana, motivational, MPI, Orlando
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Hate somenthing, change something
“Hate something, change something” is a very powerful message and I wish I could remember it everyday and apply it accordingly in business and personal life.
But it’s also the motto for a multi-awarded Wieden+Kennedy Honda ad that has a very nice story – Kenichi Nagahiro a Honda designer – hated with all his guts the diesel engines:
How did Honda react?
It was a memorable presentation. It’s a great thing taking in a guitar. In fact, my advice is, always take in a guitar. Even if you’re not presenting a song. People can’t help being nice to people with guitars. We sang live as we flipped through our doodled storyboards. When we’d finished, Honda said ‘Make it just like you’ve presented it.’ The following five months was about trying to capture the spirit of that presentation. It was pretty much the only direction Honda gave us until we delivered the finished ad. They understood our vision was all in our heads and they encouraged us to make it happen. A truly amazing client.
Via Dragos Bucurenci
