by Andy Brudtkuhl on March 23, 2009
Here are some takeaways from SXSW 2009…
“Stick Your Nose Where You Don’t Belong”
This presentation from Alex Bogusky – of CP+B fame – was about a bike sharing solution they had developed titled “Plan B: Can An Ad Guy Bring Bike Sharing to America?“. And yes – it was really was about bike sharing. The presentation was about the product they had co-developed called B-Cycle, but this was not the point of the presentation. The point was an ad company was taking on an industrial design and environmental challenge… This ad company was “sticking their nose where it didn’t belong”…
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by Andy Brudtkuhl on March 3, 2009
Jeff Bezos (Amazon.com) was on Charlie Rose last week talking about business, the economy, reinventing your business, the kindle, the future of reading, and much more. I love Jeff Bezos and I think he’s one of the greatest business minds around – and he’s awesome to hear speak.
Some notes:
- “Your value proposition to customers shows itself better to your customers in this economy”
- “If I look long term, I am very optimistic”
- “Me too companies tend not to do very well”
The quote I will take with me was…
“People often ask me – Jeff, what’s going to change in five to ten years? But I rarely get asked ‘What’s going to stay the same’? [...] If you base your business strategy on things that are going to change – then you have to constantly change your strategy. Whereas, if you formulate your strategy around customer needs – those tend to be stable in time.”
Brilliant. It’s so easy to get caught up with the changing landscape on the web, in business, etc – and it’s hard to focus on your core competencies. But in the end it always comes back to what your customer needs.
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by Andy Brudtkuhl on February 3, 2009
My company (48Web) has recently teamed up with Lava Row for the What Now? Six-part entrepreneur survival guide series. We felt it was important to help aspiring business owners who have recently been layed off or are looking to ditch “The Man”. Here is the first in that series from Liza Kindred and Brian Hemesath – “Making The Jump”
Join Liza Kindred (Lullabot) and Brian Hemesath (Diligent IS, Catchwind) as they discuss common pitfalls and mistakes made when forming a business, and how to overcome various logistical and emotional obstacles.
Link
What advice do you have for new entrepreneurs? What mistakes did you make? Let us know in the comments!
by Andy Brudtkuhl on January 27, 2009
Some killer advice (as usual) from Gary Vaynerchuck.
Some Notes
- Swing for the fence
- “If you aren’t vanity searching blogs and twitter you are a fundamental clown”
- Monetize through building brand equity
- “The newspaper industry is going to get its face beat in”
- When you care, you win
- Go direct to the consumer
[audio:http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/geekcast/podcast/~5/523483921/asw09-garyvee-keynote.mp3]
Link
by Andy Brudtkuhl on December 8, 2008
Alan Mutter writes the blog “Reflections of a Newsosaur” about the economics of newspapers. In this interview he discusses the near future of the newspaper industry…
“You’re trying to change the wheels on a car that’s coasting downhill very rapidly with nobody behind the steering wheel”
“The next three to six months are going to be the worst ever for the media business” – Alan Mutter
