Yes, its been a while ...

Ok, I know it's a bit of a cliché, but I cannot believe how quick this year is going. Thinking is was just a couple of months since I last posted, I checked the blog and can't believe it was in November!!


Now that does not mean that I have not been "thinking about entrepreneurship" of course ;)  And 'doing' quite a lot as well ... but that can wait for another blog.


I have been prompted to get back to this blog because last night was the first night of teaching for a Post Graduate class that I have been teaching for 10 years now on Maori entrepreneurship. Previously they have been asked to keep a journal to record their "thinking about entrepreneurship". This year they have been asked to contribute to a blog. Yes, I have finally moved into the 21st century with regard to course assessments. Except I cannot take any of the credit for this - rather I am teaching with a young colleague, Kiri, who is quite the social media guru.


I posted on a wonderful blog  last year - Indigenousknowledgenetwork.net - about Takarangi, the double spiral of creation,  ( https://indigenousknowledgenetwork.net/2015/09/06/the-space-in-between/ ) and last year on this blog about the "space in between". Both of these talk about productive collaboration and innovation, the emerge of opportunity in this space.


Working with Kiri is another example of how the framework of Takarangi and ako (learning together) come into play. Kiri was a student in this class in 2009 and went on to complete her masters and is now enrolled as a PhD student. So she is now teaching me and encouraging some very good changes to this course and I am learning and adapting the course with her input. And having a great deal of fun in the process. So if we are asking students to blog, then well, I better get back into it as well :)

Yes, its been a while ...

Ok, I know it's a bit of a cliché, but I cannot believe how quick this year is going. Thinking is was just a couple of months since I last posted, I checked the blog and can't believe it was in November!!


Now that does not mean that I have not been "thinking about entrepreneurship" of course ;)  And 'doing' quite a lot as well ... but that can wait for another blog.


I have been prompted to get back to this blog because last night was the first night of teaching for a Post Graduate class that I have been teaching for 10 years now on Maori entrepreneurship. Previously they have been asked to keep a journal to record their "thinking about entrepreneurship". This year they have been asked to contribute to a blog. Yes, I have finally moved into the 21st century with regard to course assessments. Except I cannot take any of the credit for this - rather I am teaching with a young colleague, Kiri, who is quite the social media guru.


I posted on a wonderful blog  last year - Indigenousknowledgenetwork.net - about Takarangi, the double spiral of creation,  ( https://indigenousknowledgenetwork.net/2015/09/06/the-space-in-between/ ) and last year on this blog about the "space in between". Both of these talk about productive collaboration and innovation, the emerge of opportunity in this space.


Working with Kiri is another example of how the framework of Takarangi and ako (learning together) come into play. Kiri was a student in this class in 2009 and went on to complete her masters and is now enrolled as a PhD student. So she is now teaching me and encouraging some very good changes to this course and I am learning and adapting the course with her input. And having a great deal of fun in the process. So if we are asking students to blog, then well, I better get back into it as well :)

Picasso and entrepreneurship

I am in New York at the moment attending a conference on Social Entrepreneurship. I went along to MOMA on Sunday and saw a sculpture exhibition by Picasso. There are many great peices on display, of course. But the one I love is The Bull's Head, a wonderful metaphor for entrepreneurial creativity - seeing what everyone else sees, but doing what no one else has done. Bike seat and handle bars - a Bull's Head - wonderful.

Disciplined Entrepreneurship - achieving sustainable growth

Over the past 15 years I worked with the ICEHOUSE - an organisation focusing on growing NZ businesses (www.theicehouse.co.nz). In particular, I have worked with SME owner managers - the "unsung heroes" of our economy - the only people who both earn and pay their own wages!

Here's  a video that I did with them recently on Disciplined Entrepreneurship  ... and yes, I do need my hands to talk! ;)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Y-BdB5dYmA

A wonderful opportunity - Wilding & Co: "making scents of nature"

I wanted to share a great social business that has recently launched that addresses "opportunity" in a really interesting way. Wilding & Co (http://www.wilding.co/), founded by a group of enterprising entrepreneurs led by Michael Sly. They take a serious environmental challenge, Wilding Pines, a non native pine tree that grows wild in NZ and thrives in our environment,  and turns it into an essential oil that is exported to the US - "making scents of nature". They are now supplying DoTERRA, the world's largest essential oil reseller and recently launched their product to 40,000 delegates at a conference in the US (plus an  online audience of 2 million!).  They "make scents of nature" - taking a "waste" product in one market, to provide a premium product in another.

This reminds me of the story of Watties (http://www.watties.co.nz/- founded in the 1930s, Jim Wattie saw rotting fruit on the ground and thought there had to be something more productive that could be done with the fruit, rather than see it go to waste. From that starting point, Watties is now a household name in NZ, and there would be few NZ households that wouldn't have Watties products in the cupboard - with Watties tomato sauce being a favourite - (this is a retro commercial that states the importance of this product to Kiwis - a trip down memory lane for some:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qazPkHH74L8 ).

So there is $$ in waste - taking a problem and turning it into a viable business - two examples of great Kiwi entrepreneurs.

Step 3: Target Customers

Here are three questions to consider when we think of a target customers:

-         who are they?

-         what problem does our product solve?

-         how does it solve it?

Last year I spent six months at Cambridge University in the UK while on sabbatical - its a hard life I know, but someone has to live it! I didn’t want to buy a radio or TV – I was after all there to work (and didn’t have a lot of spare cash – remember, we were renovating our house back in NZ). And then I came across the BBC iPlayer and I was able to both listen to the radio and watch Dr Who (and other TV programmes) whenever I wanted! Problem solved, it was fantastic. But obviously I am not the only one to think that. Up 10% of UK online traffic can be attributed to this wonderful little app. (http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2009/05/features/the-man-who-saved-the-bbc/viewgallery/256434)

So who are the target market? Anthony Rose, the head of the iPlayer team said …

"It has to appeal to Mrs Smith, aged 65, who just wants to watch EastEnders, as well as the Twitterati". In other words, it had to be easy to use, by anyone that had previously watched TV or listened to the radio.  I know that there are now many other products that can do the same thing, but the BBC iPlayer has led the way in this regard. And Rose and his team were able to answer the key questions regarding the target market.

Back to Step 2 and value creation: was value created for the user? Well it certainly was for me and others have suggested that not only has the BBC iPlayer found its target market, but it has also helped redefine TV and how we use it.

And as I watch an early Dr Who episode my iPad, my partner watches the latest English Premier League game on their iPad, and our children watch a movie on a TV that was recorded a week ago, we now have to explain to our children that we can’t fast forward a “live” TV programme when the ads come on! 

Evaluating opportunities: Step 2. Value Creation - The Offer

While I believe that "repetition can make permanent", I also know that repetition can make for boring ... A key question when considering value creation and "the offer" is : what value are you creating for the customer or the user? In my blog post last week (Tuesday 8th) "What we are buying ..."  I certainly gave that question a bit of air space so in brief - consider what is the customer buying rather than what you are selling. The follow up question might then be - what product or service will deliver what they "want to buy". From a marketing perspective, a prompt question would "what are the benefits" from the point of view of the customer.  Enough said (or read my previous blog!)

I was thinking about this "value creation" challenge from a slightly different perspective last week ... what value do we create for the people that work for us? What am I "buying" when I go to work each day? I use a clip by Guy Kawasaki at the start of many of the courses I teach on. The clip comes from the Standford University Entrepreneurship Corner (http://ecorner.stanford.edu/) a great resource . In this he talks about the need to make meaning in a business (aligned to Step 1 Purpose). To make meaning he argues that we must do one of three things: 1. Increase the quality of life, 2. right a wrong (particularly relevant for social enterprises) or 3. Prevent the end of something good. (http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=1171). On reflection, "what I am buying" each day as I go to work, or sit at my desk at home  is the chance to increase the quality of life for both myself and the hopefully the students in my class.  Exactly how I might do this for my students, well that's the next post as Step 3 in the this framework is "the Customer".