Scaling Your Company: Choosing a Growth Strategy
Rory O’Driscoll discusses “Scaling Your Company: Choosing a Growth Strategy.”
Rory O’Driscoll discusses “Scaling Your Company: Choosing a Growth Strategy.”
Steve Blank discusses “Getting Out of the Building: Customer Development.”
When you’re trying to achieve a social good and build a solid revenue base, things can become a bit overwhelming, but despite the dual focus, entrepreneurs still need to concentrate on the metrics that account for their viable business and as well as their bottom line.
The whir and high-pitched screech draw my ear, but the flashing specks of bright light shooting up from a work station across the garage force me to look away. The mentor and student working around the station do not flinch. They’re both used to all the excitement by now. MINDDRIVE has become their second home on Saturdays, as it has to all the other mentors and students participating in the program that teaches kids how to build cars–from scratch.
Brad Feld discusses “Startup Boards: Forming & Organizing Your Board.”
Rory O’Driscoll discusses “Scaling Your Company: Scaling Product Development.”
Starting with a random array of marketing tactics is never a good idea, no matter how free or exciting the tools are. Diving into marketing without understanding your niche in the market or where your competition stands in comparison could end up costing you greatly down the line.
A mentor can increase the success of your business or point out a flaw or upcoming hurdle for your venture. But finding the right mentor is not always an easy task. You need someone who cares about you and your business, but also brings an outlook and perspective that tells you the truth–even if you might not want to hear it.
There is one consistent asset all successful entrepreneurs have in common–a pivotal mentor. For every other resource that helps an entrepreneur turn their dream into a venture, a mentor who helps to make a connection, point out an unseen pivot or lend an intellectual ear is crucial and mandatory along the way.
When Steve Jobs tasked his team with building the iPod, he continuously reminded them to “stay beginners” to treat your interactions with the device as if it was the first time. This meant not to assume a consumer would know how to work a certain aspect of the device, or that he or she would instinctively know how to navigate from one area to another. The smallest details mattered.