Test. Test. Test.
Everything in business is a test. The good ol' days - writing a business plan, pitching for investment, building out a product for the exact market stated in the business plan, launching the product through a large budget Launch strategy - those days are over.
As an entrepreneur, you should now consider yourself a scientist. Your job now is to run as many tests as possible, with the least amount of expenses to find mass adoption of your product. The tests should start in the ideation phase and shouldn't ever end. The single worst thing you can do now as an entrepreneurial is have one idea and do everything you can think of to bring that specific idea to market. Start with a problem area and test ideas around it.
Test for consumer problems
What problems are present in which you can bring a solution to market? The best businesses solve a problem consumers have (or didn't know they had but now realize life is better with your product). I heard the other day: You cannot just ask consumers what they want - they do not know. But if you observe and test them, their actions will lead you to holes that need to be filled. Inefficiencies will present themselves. Great entrepreneurs see these inefficiencies early.
Test for Product/Market fit
Once a problem is found and a solution has been built, the real work starts. Take it from me, your first attempt will not be the golden fit and you will have to re-align somethings. Call it pivot, call it whatever you want... it will happen. I don't know why we are making such a big deal about pivoting, great entrepreneurs constantly pivot their ideas until they get the right market fit. Ask Edison, he pivoted like 5,000 times...
Test for Business model
How to make money is the question every company must face. I believe this is an area a startup must test early and often. This question should never have just one answer. Small tests on business model, payment options, advertising (I know... I know....) and other methods of creating revenue. It's just a test. Do some A/B testing on a select group on users. Release a payment option to 1% of users and see what happens. You might just discover your next big innovation and create a new billion dollar industry.
Test for Perseverance
Ask any founder of a startup (still running) and they will have hours of talking on the subject of perseverance. The startup experience will test you and your perseverance. Just don't give up. Do anything you can think of to put off the quitting of your vision. Read Delivering Happiness by Zappos Tony Hsieh to get an idea on Perseverance. I had no idea they went through the hell they did with their startup. You need to read this book if you are a founder of an early stage company not knowing if the future is bright or bleak.
Test for leadership
I laid out the importance of brand and company leadership expansively in my last post The One Thing That Separates Apple From Microsoft. Suffice it to say I think this is the most underrated, under-talked about, overlooked but most important aspect of building out your long term brand. You must answer he question: Why are consumers going to want to use my product? Believe it or not, it will be due to the leadership of the company CEO. Test your leadership skills early and often to find the right connection with general consumers.
Test for Funding
Investors don't tell you this, but they are testing you at every stage of the game. First time you meet them at a "social event" they are testing your IQ and your EQ (your social intelligence) to see if you are someone they would even want to take an interest in. Next time when you meet for a pitch, they will test your concept and your perspective on the market. When they don't call you back, they are testing your perseverance. When they give you money, they are testing your ability to turn X into 10X. If you pass that test, you will most likely be able to get money from them anytime thereafter.
I could go on... but I think you get the point. If you thought your tests were over after graduation, think again. They only have just begun. Embrace the test.
Image courtesy of Flickr user Canyon289
Visual Source: Newseum
Chris Cillizza:
Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty raised $4.2 million over the past three months, a total likely to raise questions about his perceived status as the primary alternative to former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney in the 2012 Republican presidential race.
This race looks like it's between Romney, Bachmann and maybe Perry. The pundits are just doing some CYA by saying otherwise (but don't worry—their track record won't be any better than usual. The ones that get it right still will, the ones that get it wrong... will get raises.) The so-called Very Serious Candidates are also-rans, especially Pawlenty who doesn't deserve the Very Serious label. At least Huntsman does, even though he can't win:
There’s a reason he barely has a pulse in the polls. He speaks so softly that even his aides sometimes have trouble hearing him at events. He is making civility a cornerstone of his campaign, at a time when Republican voters are ravenous for red-meat conservative policies, and an epochal showdown with Obama.The GOP base, sensing weakness in Obama, wants a brawler, the sort of Republican who prospered in dozens of races in the 2010 mid-terms. This is the main reason so many activists are clamoring for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to get in the race. Huntsman, by contrast, is running as a diplomat.
So many activists are still clamoring for Christie even though he's unpopular at home and can't carry his home state? You mean media types are clamoring for the very quotable Christie. Let's not get them confused.
Chron.com:
Longtime Democratic attack dog James Carville made a Tuesday appearance on CNN to explain why he (mockingly) supports a potential Rick Perry candidacy.“I hope he runs because anybody that talked about secession needs to run for president,” he said.
“(Perry) talks a lot and he’s not very bright,” he added. “And that’s a combination I like in Republicans.”
The Caucus/NY Times:
“It would be nice if we could keep every tax break, but we can’t afford them,” he said, reprising a theme he struck in a news conference on Wednesday. “Because if we choose to keep those tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires, or for hedge fund managers and corporate jet owners, or for oil and gas companies pulling in huge profits without our help – then we’ll have to make even deeper cuts somewhere else.”
NY Times:
A federal appeals court on Friday struck down Michigan’s 2006 ban on the consideration of race and gender in public-university admissions and government hiring in the latest round of the decade-long fight over the University of Michigan’s affirmative action policies.The 2-to-1 ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, in Cincinnati, said the voter-approved ban “unconstitutionally alters Michigan’s political structure by impermissibly burdening racial minorities.”
“This is a tremendous victory,” said George B. Washington, who represented the coalition challenging the ban. “We think we’ll win in the end, however many appeals there are.”
Dana Milbank:
The comedian Stephen Colbert flew down to Washington this week to parody the nation’s campaign finance laws. But there was a flaw in his plan: The campaign finance system already is a parody.
National Journal:
Stephen Colbert came to the Federal Election Commission on Thursday as a walking and talking funhouse mirror, utterly distorting and strangely clarifying American politics at the same time.Comedy Central’s mock conservative pundit skewered the campaign finance system more effectively than any government watchdog or muckraking journalist by launching his own political “Super PAC’’ committee. The underlying backdrop: Citizens United, the landmark Supreme Court case that allows unlimited corporate and special interest money to flow directly to campaign advertising.
<b>News</b> of the World Hacked Cops Investigating <b>News</b> of the World Hacking
We already know that the News of the World hacked the phones of virtually everyone in England, including dead people and the prime minister and, probably, you. But with the latest revelation, the scandal has actually ...
<b>News</b> of the World Hacked Cops Investigating <b>News</b> of the World Hacking<b>News</b> Corporation Looks to Bolster Stock With Buyback Plan <b>...</b>
The company's stock price has dropped since the revelations of a wider phone hacking scandal at News of the World.
<b>News</b> Corporation Looks to Bolster Stock With Buyback Plan <b>...</b>Phone Hacking: Rupert Murdoch's Leadership Of <b>News</b> Corp Comes <b>...</b>
LOS ANGELES — As investors punished News Corp.'s stock again on Monday, questions arose anew about the leadership of its chief executive, Rupert Murdoch. The phone hacking scandal in Britain now threatens to engulf top ...
Phone Hacking: Rupert Murdoch's Leadership Of <b>News</b> Corp Comes <b>...</b>family bobby ferguson
<b>News</b> of the World Hacked Cops Investigating <b>News</b> of the World Hacking
We already know that the News of the World hacked the phones of virtually everyone in England, including dead people and the prime minister and, probably, you. But with the latest revelation, the scandal has actually ...
<b>News</b> of the World Hacked Cops Investigating <b>News</b> of the World Hacking<b>News</b> Corporation Looks to Bolster Stock With Buyback Plan <b>...</b>
The company's stock price has dropped since the revelations of a wider phone hacking scandal at News of the World.
<b>News</b> Corporation Looks to Bolster Stock With Buyback Plan <b>...</b>Phone Hacking: Rupert Murdoch's Leadership Of <b>News</b> Corp Comes <b>...</b>
LOS ANGELES — As investors punished News Corp.'s stock again on Monday, questions arose anew about the leadership of its chief executive, Rupert Murdoch. The phone hacking scandal in Britain now threatens to engulf top ...
Phone Hacking: Rupert Murdoch's Leadership Of <b>News</b> Corp Comes <b>...</b>Test. Test. Test.
Everything in business is a test. The good ol' days - writing a business plan, pitching for investment, building out a product for the exact market stated in the business plan, launching the product through a large budget Launch strategy - those days are over.
As an entrepreneur, you should now consider yourself a scientist. Your job now is to run as many tests as possible, with the least amount of expenses to find mass adoption of your product. The tests should start in the ideation phase and shouldn't ever end. The single worst thing you can do now as an entrepreneurial is have one idea and do everything you can think of to bring that specific idea to market. Start with a problem area and test ideas around it.
Test for consumer problems
What problems are present in which you can bring a solution to market? The best businesses solve a problem consumers have (or didn't know they had but now realize life is better with your product). I heard the other day: You cannot just ask consumers what they want - they do not know. But if you observe and test them, their actions will lead you to holes that need to be filled. Inefficiencies will present themselves. Great entrepreneurs see these inefficiencies early.
Test for Product/Market fit
Once a problem is found and a solution has been built, the real work starts. Take it from me, your first attempt will not be the golden fit and you will have to re-align somethings. Call it pivot, call it whatever you want... it will happen. I don't know why we are making such a big deal about pivoting, great entrepreneurs constantly pivot their ideas until they get the right market fit. Ask Edison, he pivoted like 5,000 times...
Test for Business model
How to make money is the question every company must face. I believe this is an area a startup must test early and often. This question should never have just one answer. Small tests on business model, payment options, advertising (I know... I know....) and other methods of creating revenue. It's just a test. Do some A/B testing on a select group on users. Release a payment option to 1% of users and see what happens. You might just discover your next big innovation and create a new billion dollar industry.
Test for Perseverance
Ask any founder of a startup (still running) and they will have hours of talking on the subject of perseverance. The startup experience will test you and your perseverance. Just don't give up. Do anything you can think of to put off the quitting of your vision. Read Delivering Happiness by Zappos Tony Hsieh to get an idea on Perseverance. I had no idea they went through the hell they did with their startup. You need to read this book if you are a founder of an early stage company not knowing if the future is bright or bleak.
Test for leadership
I laid out the importance of brand and company leadership expansively in my last post The One Thing That Separates Apple From Microsoft. Suffice it to say I think this is the most underrated, under-talked about, overlooked but most important aspect of building out your long term brand. You must answer he question: Why are consumers going to want to use my product? Believe it or not, it will be due to the leadership of the company CEO. Test your leadership skills early and often to find the right connection with general consumers.
Test for Funding
Investors don't tell you this, but they are testing you at every stage of the game. First time you meet them at a "social event" they are testing your IQ and your EQ (your social intelligence) to see if you are someone they would even want to take an interest in. Next time when you meet for a pitch, they will test your concept and your perspective on the market. When they don't call you back, they are testing your perseverance. When they give you money, they are testing your ability to turn X into 10X. If you pass that test, you will most likely be able to get money from them anytime thereafter.
I could go on... but I think you get the point. If you thought your tests were over after graduation, think again. They only have just begun. Embrace the test.
Image courtesy of Flickr user Canyon289
Visual Source: Newseum
Chris Cillizza:
Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty raised $4.2 million over the past three months, a total likely to raise questions about his perceived status as the primary alternative to former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney in the 2012 Republican presidential race.
This race looks like it's between Romney, Bachmann and maybe Perry. The pundits are just doing some CYA by saying otherwise (but don't worry—their track record won't be any better than usual. The ones that get it right still will, the ones that get it wrong... will get raises.) The so-called Very Serious Candidates are also-rans, especially Pawlenty who doesn't deserve the Very Serious label. At least Huntsman does, even though he can't win:
There’s a reason he barely has a pulse in the polls. He speaks so softly that even his aides sometimes have trouble hearing him at events. He is making civility a cornerstone of his campaign, at a time when Republican voters are ravenous for red-meat conservative policies, and an epochal showdown with Obama.The GOP base, sensing weakness in Obama, wants a brawler, the sort of Republican who prospered in dozens of races in the 2010 mid-terms. This is the main reason so many activists are clamoring for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to get in the race. Huntsman, by contrast, is running as a diplomat.
So many activists are still clamoring for Christie even though he's unpopular at home and can't carry his home state? You mean media types are clamoring for the very quotable Christie. Let's not get them confused.
Chron.com:
Longtime Democratic attack dog James Carville made a Tuesday appearance on CNN to explain why he (mockingly) supports a potential Rick Perry candidacy.“I hope he runs because anybody that talked about secession needs to run for president,” he said.
“(Perry) talks a lot and he’s not very bright,” he added. “And that’s a combination I like in Republicans.”
The Caucus/NY Times:
“It would be nice if we could keep every tax break, but we can’t afford them,” he said, reprising a theme he struck in a news conference on Wednesday. “Because if we choose to keep those tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires, or for hedge fund managers and corporate jet owners, or for oil and gas companies pulling in huge profits without our help – then we’ll have to make even deeper cuts somewhere else.”
NY Times:
A federal appeals court on Friday struck down Michigan’s 2006 ban on the consideration of race and gender in public-university admissions and government hiring in the latest round of the decade-long fight over the University of Michigan’s affirmative action policies.The 2-to-1 ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, in Cincinnati, said the voter-approved ban “unconstitutionally alters Michigan’s political structure by impermissibly burdening racial minorities.”
“This is a tremendous victory,” said George B. Washington, who represented the coalition challenging the ban. “We think we’ll win in the end, however many appeals there are.”
Dana Milbank:
The comedian Stephen Colbert flew down to Washington this week to parody the nation’s campaign finance laws. But there was a flaw in his plan: The campaign finance system already is a parody.
National Journal:
Stephen Colbert came to the Federal Election Commission on Thursday as a walking and talking funhouse mirror, utterly distorting and strangely clarifying American politics at the same time.Comedy Central’s mock conservative pundit skewered the campaign finance system more effectively than any government watchdog or muckraking journalist by launching his own political “Super PAC’’ committee. The underlying backdrop: Citizens United, the landmark Supreme Court case that allows unlimited corporate and special interest money to flow directly to campaign advertising.
<b>News</b> of the World Hacked Cops Investigating <b>News</b> of the World Hacking
We already know that the News of the World hacked the phones of virtually everyone in England, including dead people and the prime minister and, probably, you. But with the latest revelation, the scandal has actually ...
<b>News</b> of the World Hacked Cops Investigating <b>News</b> of the World Hacking<b>News</b> Corporation Looks to Bolster Stock With Buyback Plan <b>...</b>
The company's stock price has dropped since the revelations of a wider phone hacking scandal at News of the World.
<b>News</b> Corporation Looks to Bolster Stock With Buyback Plan <b>...</b>Phone Hacking: Rupert Murdoch's Leadership Of <b>News</b> Corp Comes <b>...</b>
LOS ANGELES — As investors punished News Corp.'s stock again on Monday, questions arose anew about the leadership of its chief executive, Rupert Murdoch. The phone hacking scandal in Britain now threatens to engulf top ...
Phone Hacking: Rupert Murdoch's Leadership Of <b>News</b> Corp Comes <b>...</b>bobby travel ferguson
<b>News</b> of the World Hacked Cops Investigating <b>News</b> of the World Hacking
We already know that the News of the World hacked the phones of virtually everyone in England, including dead people and the prime minister and, probably, you. But with the latest revelation, the scandal has actually ...
<b>News</b> of the World Hacked Cops Investigating <b>News</b> of the World Hacking<b>News</b> Corporation Looks to Bolster Stock With Buyback Plan <b>...</b>
The company's stock price has dropped since the revelations of a wider phone hacking scandal at News of the World.
<b>News</b> Corporation Looks to Bolster Stock With Buyback Plan <b>...</b>Phone Hacking: Rupert Murdoch's Leadership Of <b>News</b> Corp Comes <b>...</b>
LOS ANGELES — As investors punished News Corp.'s stock again on Monday, questions arose anew about the leadership of its chief executive, Rupert Murdoch. The phone hacking scandal in Britain now threatens to engulf top ...
Phone Hacking: Rupert Murdoch's Leadership Of <b>News</b> Corp Comes <b>...</b>pa bobby ferguson
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