That's the only kind of new there is. Unlike used, old, established, tested, discarded or broken, new is always temporary. Tomorrow, we start over and you get another opportunity to do something new if you choose to. Is there any other market that open?  

Computer wonks like to talk about garbage in/garbage out. A simple example: if there's a mistake in the way a blog post is encoded, many XML/RSS readers will choke on it, preventing all future posts from showing up. The IT guys put up their hands and say, "well, if you did not have a lousy…

How do you compete with something that's being out for free? How does a wedding photographer or a travel agent, someone who used to make a good living performing a task that was hard to do without them, compete against ubiquitous free alternatives? There's only one way: Sell something better than free. Make a product…

The first kind of loyalty is the loyalty of convenience. I'm going to look around, sure, but probably won't switch. Switching is risky, it's time consuming. Switching means a new account manager or moving my software or reprinting something. Switching means I might make a mistake or lose my voyager miles or have to defend…

More often I hear people say the next Mark Zuckerburg will come from Africa or that the next Twitter will be from Africa. With respect I don't necessarily think that Africa needs the next facebook or twitter. I think Africa has unique challenges and African innovators and entrepreneurs need to come up with innovations that…

Just finished reading Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek. If you are into leadership and entrepreneurship, I highly recommend it. In a world of highly corrupt leaders in business, public and civil service where we are surrounded by greedy bankers, entrepreneurs, and corrupt politians, Simon reminds us what true leadership in the 21st century is all…

When people comment on something, then it is remarkable. The old model, which focuses on companies making average products for average people, is not remarkable. Companies that are not remarkable cannot grow quickly. By making products worth talking about, companies can become remarkable.

One list highlights: the lucky breaks, the advantages, the good feedback, your trusted network. It talks about the accident of being born in the right time and the right place, your health, your freedom. It features your education, your connection to the marketplace and just about every nice thing someone has said about you in…

Do you believe Mark Zuckerberg set out to gain one billion users when he first started Facebook? Not. He found ten lonely hearts at Harvard who loved his platform. Who then told ten friends, and so on, and so on. Call it niching down to reach a billion. If you can find ten people and…

Are you a freelancer or an entrepreneur? You decide A freelancer sells their talents. While they may have a few employees, they are doing a job without a boss, but not running a business. There is no exit strategy or pot of gold, but they make their own hours and are their own boss. Examples of…

We have a shortage in generosity to be patient and play the longer game. We have a shortage of the generosity to not believe "the thing we have happens to be the greatest and everyone better buy it." Customers don't have to buy from us, they don't us to buy from us. It would seem…

Fail Until You Get It Right Scared of failure, we run from it. Our families don't like it. Neither do our investors, team members and partners. But this is crazy. How can we begin to argue out how to solve the problems of our customers without risk? Trying new things, testing and failing? You want…