The Nifty 50 Websites and Resources for StreetSavvy Business Executives

My business partner, Brian Newton, and I were talking about resource for business executives.  Since I host a segment of a business cable TV Show called EYE on Business (Time Warner/Spectrum) and my section focuses on StreetSavvy Business (from my days growing up on the streets of New York, hence the image to the left), we decided to develop a "Nifty 50" list of those sites and resources that would be ideal for the StreetSavvy Business Executive.   StreetSavvy Business is aimed at finding solutions to complex business problems and by so doing executives are leading their companies in new thoughts, directions, and opportunities.   StreetSavvy Business is a way to prevent companies from regressing to the mean - and worse, mediocrity.

There more than 750 million URLs for websites in the US and around 200 million that are “active.” There are certain sites because of their breadth, content or unique perspective that can help entrepreneurs and executives alike in understanding the business environment, changing behaviors of different segments of the population, the economic environment, and the political environment. C-Level Partners put together a selection of sites that they have found to be useful to business leaders of all kinds.

We divided these sites into categories but clearly there is overlap among the websites. Based on the collective wisdom of C-Level Partners and its advisory group of more than 60 C-Level Executives, these are the sites that are used time after time by those queried.

Much of the information is free while there are premium services or subscription services. Even if there is a fee for premium services, signing up for the blogs or free newsletters will help the executive get and stay ahead. A word of caution: A website is only as good as the information that it provides for an intended purpose.

General Business

www.businessweek.com Originally called Businessweek and now called Bloomberg Businessweek, this magazine provides information and opinions on what is happening in the business world. It focuses on issues shaping markets, technology and politics, and provides options on developments which affect the business world.

www.ceo.com CEO.com is a resource for executives seeking out the latest in business news and leadership strategy. Our editors probe the web and handpick the most relevant content for the site that will help you become a more effective business leader.

www.cfo.com Targeting corporate financial executives this site offers information on Accounting & Tax, Banking & Capital Markets, Risk & Compliance, Strategy and Technology. Their content includes articles on current topics, white papers and links to other relevant content.

www.cio.com For this site’s content the “i” means “Information” so much of the content is related to technology topics. When visiting the site in January 2017 I noticed a piece on European privacy regulation which, having lived in London for 14 years, can be a minefield. Given the current state of flux in these regulations, a firm with activities linked to Europe would be well-served to remain compliant. Of course, there were many technology related items on this site which has extensive content.

www.forbes.com Published bi-weekly, Forbes features original articles on finance, industry, investing and marketing topics. Forbes also reports on related subjects such as technology, communications, science and law.

www.fortune.com Fortune Magazine competes with Forbes and Bloomberg Businessweek in the national business magazine category and distinguishes itself with long, in-depth feature articles.^[2]  The magazine is best known for the Fortune 500, a ranking of companies by revenue that it has published annually since 1955.

Economic/Financial/Political/Technical

www.ft.com The Financial Times is the cornerstone of international business news, analysis, market data and company information. It provides perspective on global business issues and provides clarity in a complex business world. Also, as it is UK based, the points of view presented are less US-centric than many other publications in this list. 

www.money.cnn.com Purportedly the largest business website, CNN Money provides information on business, markets, technology, media, luxury, personal finance and a section on small business.

www.theeconomist.com The commentary makes it a requisite for any business professional. You need to stay up to date on all news to cultivate partnerships and understand the new realities of both the political and economic climate to be successful whether you are an entrepreneur or a corporate executive. Like the FT mentioned above, The Economist is UK-based and the point of view is less US-centric and thus useful for US executives to better understand communications with overseas partners or customers.

www.reuters.com Reuters.com brings you the latest news from around the world, covering breaking news in business, politics, entertainment, technology, video and pictures.

www.research.stlouisfed.org.  The St Louis Fed offers an outstanding range of publications and data on economic, financial and policy issues. Their FRED service is the data service and they make available an Excel Add-in that allows you to download historical data including thousands of series covering the entire world.

www.gartner.com, www.forrester.com, www.idc.com We lump all these together and you can add others as well. These sites provide market research, analysis and advisory services on a range of technology and Information Technology that is critical for the Chief Information Officer, Marketer and even other executives to understand.

Investment/New Technology

www.yahoofinance.com Yahoo Finance provides one of the most complete sites for business, finance and stock market news including quotes on stocks, options, and portfolio management.

www.investors.com One of my favorite sites with news and information that moves the markets and a complete tool for analyzing stocks and financial markets. It has a new America section which focuses on technology trends and companies that will change the economy.

www.motleyfool.com This is Dave and Tom Gardner’s site which became famous for its investment insight, and analysis of stocks. You can also find out which stocks and industries will make the most changes to our economy during the coming years.

www.marketwatch.com MarketWatch operates a financial information website that provides business news, analysis, and stock market data. It is a subsidiary of Dow Jones & Company, a property of News Corp.

www.seekingalpha.com Seeking Alpha is a crowd-sourced content service for financial markets. Articles and research cover a broad range of stocks, asset classes, ETFs and investment strategies.

Leadership/Management

www.bain.com Bain is a top management consulting firm that advises companies on strategy, marketing, organization, operations, IT and just about every aspect of business. They have a tab called Insights which is their blog that can help executives find new ideas that generate results.

www.mckinsey.com In the same vein as Bain, McKinsey and Company is a global management consulting firm that serves leading businesses, governments, non-government organizations and non-profits and helps them realize their performance goals. Their blog provides stories about people and research which might be useful to find and implement new ideas.

www.strategy-business.com Business strategy news articles for CEOs, corporate executives, and decision makers who influence international business management.  Their prime focus is to highlight the complex choices that leaders face — in strategy, marketing, operations, human capital, governance and other domains — and the impact of their decisions.

www.enpinstitute.com Executive Next Practices Institute is a research, collaboration, and thought leader forum composed of several thousand C-Level executives from Fortune 5000 companies, including those from C-Level Partners. Their focus is on first look innovations, beyond the current best practices.

www.cebglobal.com CEB (formerly known as the Corporate Executive Board) is a best practice insight company with several subspecialties in HR, IT/Operations, Marketing and other functional areas. It develops its programs in partnership with leading organizations around the globe and shares solutions to drive corporate performance and to effectively manage talent, customers and operations.

www.hbr.org Harvard Business Review is one of the cornerstone magazines for new ideas and classic advice on strategy, innovation, leadership, technology and marketing from the world’s best management and business thinkers.

www.linkedin.com Everyone should be on LinkedIn, the largest professional database. You can find people, new opportunities, and through groups engage in dialogs on trends, technology, marketing, business, economics and almost everything else. By participating in posting articles or sharing information you will also encourage others to find you and that can lead to business deals. Everyone likely knows that Microsoft bought LinkedIn in 2016.

www.edgar-online.com EDGAR Online is a leader in helping professionals uncover intelligence from financial disclosures. EDGAR Online offers distribution of company data and public filings for equities, mutual funds and other publicly traded assets. Check out the 10k filings of publicly traded companies to get a good understanding of the business climate and insight into their business strategy.

www.marshallgoldsmith.com Marshall Goldsmith is a leadership coach with some of the key corporate, public and non-profit leaders of the world. His books include What Got You Here Won’t Get Your There are insightful and offer many useful suggestions for motivating and energizing your teams. Also, his subscription service provides weekly 3- to 5-minute videos which offer useful suggestions for better handling challenging, or even very obvious, situations.

Innovation and Entrepreneurship

www.cbinsights.com This venture and start-up website contains a private company financing and angel investment database. It also provides excellent infographics on technology trends and shares eco-systems of market categories.

www.slideshare.net Authors, writers, and companies share their information through presentations, infographics, and documents. Owned by LinkedIn, you can now link your presentations to your LinkedIn account.

www.techcrunch.com. TechCrunch is a leading technology media property, dedicated obsessively to profiling startups, reviewing new Internet products, and breaking tech news. Check out its companion site, www.crunchbase.com, which provide an excellent database on innovative companies, their funding, and the people behind them.

www.ted.com TED Talks are inspiring and revealing. While the site talks about new ideas and trends, it is more than a site for entrepreneurs as it has a strong community. Information from these talks is beneficial to both entrepreneurs and successful corporate business people. Check out www.mashable.com as well, as these two are nice complements to each other.

www.fastcompany.com Fast Company provides a breath of fresh air as it inspires new innovative and creative thought leaders who are inventing the future of business. While aimed at the younger generation and start-ups, Fast Company provides good information on leadership and management that is applicable to the corporate executive as well giving them an edge in business.

http://www.eofire.com This is a platform and podcast for entrepreneurs and marketers. Founder, John Lee Dumas, interviews inspiring Entrepreneurs.

www.quora.com Leaders and entrepreneurs in the tech industry share their information and answer questions from the reader base.

www.entrepreneur.com This site provides the latest in news and advice for the startup entrepreneur. And the information is also useful for those in the corporate world who delve into innovation.

www.inc.com Find out the latest in tips, news, management, leadership and other resources for entrepreneurs from one of the most reputable magazines in the industry.

Marketing

www.chiefmarketer.com Chief Marketer serves marketing professionals at consumer and business-to-business brands, as well as their agencies, with rich, detailed information on measurable marketing strategies, tactics and techniques. Marketing executives discuss marketing and technology challenges, how to understand the relationships, and how to determine which tools are most effective, and the role of data and content.

www.hoovers.com Hoovers has one of the largest databases for use by business people, sales people, marketers and others and which provides in-depth information on more than 85 million companies. You can use this for targeted mailing lists and depending on the subscription you choose, you can get industry information and competitive information as well.

www.advertisingage.com Advertising Age has been around for a very long time and this website helps marketers understand advertising as part of the overall marketing mix. Many marketers still are behind in digital marketing knowledge and this site can help by sharing ideas on what others are doing. As part of Advertising Age, www.btobonline.com provides specific information for the B2B marketer including news, advice, trends and technology.

www.avention.com Avention is the new name for OneSource, a database of companies that marketers can use to find information on companies in their industry, competitors and even use it as a lead source for direct marketing campaigns.

www.marketingtoday.com Marketing Today is a combination marketing magazine and blog covering such topics as general marketing, digital marketing, social media, advertising and public relations.

www.marketo.com Marketo is basically a marketing automation site and a good one at that. It provides through its webinars, events and blogs a host of useful information that marketers can use to generate sales and partners.

www.hubspot.com Hubspot has a fantastic blog covering a range of sales and marketing topics, including A/B testing, content marketing and e-mail marketing.

www.econsultancy.com Econsultancy shares the latest digital marketing and ecommerce insight from a team of analysts and experts.

www.kissmetrics.com The KISSmetrics blog aims to help you track, analyze and optimize your digital marketing.

Miscellaneous/ Specialty

www.apple.com/education/itunes-u The iTunes U app gives you access to complete courses from leading universities and other schools — plus the world's largest digital catalog of free education content — right on your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch.

www.businessinsider.com This site has spent the past few years providing free articles and reports on a wide range of business, technology and policy issues. Quite recently they have begun to charge fees for many of their reports, which are, in fact, well researched. However, whether they’ll be considered value-for-money has yet to be determined.

www.instantcheckmate.com This is a relatively new yet interesting site which claims to have the ability to find out background information on most people. You can use it to verify people you want to hire or partner with.

www.lynda.com This site contains over 2,000 video courses on a wide range of topics which are led by industry recognized instructors. For an introduction to a new area of interest, or to dig deeper on a topic than you already are, this site likely has courses to meet your needs. This is available for a small registration fee and offers a 12-week free trial so you can assess whether this is right for you.

www.mashable.com Mashable is a global, multi-platform media and entertainment company with a focus on the intersection of technology and culture. Check out its YouTube channel as well.

www.wired.com Wired probably needs no explanation. Everyone is connected in some way to something or someone. The content is current, often leading edge material that typically is reliable. If you are unfamiliar with it, check it out. Likely you’ll be impressed and use it going forward.

If you are interested in becoming a StreetSavvy Business Executive, call me or Brian to find out how you can qualify for a complimentary 45 minute appraisal.   My telephone is 949 4394503 and email is dfriedman@clevelpartners.net.  Brian's email is bnewton@clevelpartners.net.  

6 Steps to Beat the Competition: Analysis and Discipline Pay Off

It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.
                                    Sun Tzu- The Art of War

I am a believer in the Art of War, especially applied to business and marketing. When I talk to groups on business and marketing subjects I use this quote and it has guided me in the way I approach building businesses and helping companies grow. I have listened to numerous investment pitches at TechCoastAngels screenings (a real Shark Tank) and have heard too many times that the entrepreneur believes there is NO competition. There is always competition, i.e. another way to solve a problem or provide a service. Even when a company realizes that there is some semblance of competition, many executives believe they have more attributes, a better business model, and a stronger brand than reality leads them to accept.

Sadly, this problem extends way beyond the start up world. In 2008, Jim Keyes, CEO of Blockbuster said: “Neither Redbox nor Netflix are even on the radar screen in terms of competition.” While Redbox had its glory days and has now faded, Netflix continues to soar as they are able to take advantage of streaming media and they have evolved their business model. Blockbuster and its ubiquitous blue and yellow stores have faded into oblivion after ceasing operations in 2013. When I was at RCA (when it existed as a standalone company) one of the execs in the tube division beat his plan but unfortunately failed to recognize competition from semiconductors. He was fired. And let’s not forget other companies such as Digital Equipment Corporation, Wang, Motorola and Nokia in the tech field. Not only did they fail to understand the competition, their business strategies did not evolve. We are now seeing consumer companies such as Macy’s and Kohl’s which failed to recognize the competitive environment fast enough (can you say Amazon and online shopping) and are now closing many of their stores.

There is hope though, for most companies as they consider their competition, the environment and the competencies they need to put in place to execute a new business strategy. To that end, here are the six steps companies must take to gain and/or retain a competitive edge.

1. The first step to beat the competition is to recognize that there is competition! Competition comes from direct competitors, i.e. those offering the same type of product or service; indirect competitors; and even the do-it-yourselfers. Even if a competitor is small today, should technology or macroeconomic trends change, a small new company can become dominant. That is what happened to Blockbuster. Competition doesn’t have to come from the same players in the industry. Who would have thought Google and Apple, both, would be developing an autonomous car or at one time a smart phone. As we celebrate the 10^th anniversary of the iPhone, there was a time when dominant companies in the market such as Nokia and Motorola did not consider Apple a threat and frankly, they did not believe companies like LG and Samsung were threats either. Both Nokia and Motorola have lost their luster.

Keep alert and be paranoid. Use user panels talk to “lead users” who are early innovators of new products, set up Google Alerts on companies that are current competitors as well as those which have the right competencies to become competitors. Your product might be better and that message needs to be conveyed to your target audience. You can recognize the competition through the use of user panels, discussions with “lead users’ and even setting up Google Alerts.

2. The second step is to know the competition. A couple of months ago, I was watching a classic war movie called Patton. Patton was reading the works and biography of Rommel, his nemesis, competition and enemy. Rommel in turn was trying to learn through books and other sources, how Patton thinks and how he would fight. It’s classic Sun Tzu! Even without teams of analysts and staff there are a few tips in understanding and knowing your competition.

Executives can become the equivalent of Undercover Boss. When I was the top marketing executive for US Cellular, I personally visited both my stores and those of my competitors. It’s easy to do even in a business to business environment. Other tools that can be used include Customer Advisory Boards, user panels, cross-functional teams that meet regularly to discuss competition and the environment. At ATX Group (now Sirius Connected Car), every other Friday morning I hosted a cross functional group of executives to discuss new technology and competition. Certain execs were tasked with following specific competitors and sharing that information in Microsoft Exchange folders for our sales, marketing and technologists to use. Other tools include Spider diagrams, focus groups and market research including subscribing to the industry analysts that cover your industry. In the tech field those industry analysts include Gartner, Forrester, IDC and Ovum among others. If a public company is a competitor, read their 10-Ks; it’s amazing how much information is available in that document.

3. The third step is to know yourself. Some of the same tools used to understand the competition can be used to understand your own company. Spider diagrams, side by side market research matrices that can highlight those attributes that are important to your customers and for which you perform well or poorly can help set your company’s strategic imperatives. I am a huge fan of developing a SWOT analysis which covers strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. To do SWOT well companies should seek out key thought leaders in their company, regardless of level and even use newly recruited employees who have a different perspective because of their recent outside experience. Doing mystery shopping even in a business to business company is also relatively easy. At a telecom company in New Jersey, one of my marketing managers set up a false company called The Fred Racciopi Cement Shoe Company of Central New Jersey (obviously we set this up tongue and cheek) and became a customer of each competitor and well as our own company. It’s amazing what we learned and through those learnings we adjusted our training program, branding, positioning and marketing material.

4. The fourth step is to develop and explain the factors that make you different. Customers buy from companies that provide a unique value for their needs. If the value is significant, relevant to the customer, sustainable and credible, the company will have a differentiable advantage. This enables executives to create a “moat” around their company and its products, protecting the company from competitive incursions. The strength of your differentiation is akin to the size of the moat. Even commodities have moats. Think about salt or rice, two very basic commodities. Do you believe that Morton’s salt is better than other salt and worth a 15% price premium? Or how about Mahatma rice vs Kroger-branded rice? What about chicken? What company said: It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken?” (The answer is Purdue Chicken.)

If you can differentiate these commodities, you can differentiate any company and its products. There are several ways upon which to differentiate. Intellectual property (IP) or Patents is an obvious one. Even IP may not be sustainable or even relevant to your target market. Other ways to differentiate are based on what Adrian Slywotsky, author of Profit Zone, calls strategic control points which are defined as some type of unique advantage for a company based on competency or partner relationship. All companies can find at least one. These could include their brand, their business partners, distribution partners, unique processes, innovation, low cost of manufacture, unique customer knowledge, access to certain resources be they commodities or people and similar items. A company has to find those strategic control points that are relevant to their markets and be consistent and credible in delivering on those elements.

5. The fifth step is to develop plans: Developing and executing a plan is critical to success. A written plan should include specific elements. By target market, a goal needs to be defined, a strategy clearly enunciated, and tactics developed with specific milestones, costs, and a person responsible for delivering the tactics. Our opinion is that a plan should have one specific leader who is accountable for the entire result. Individuals who report to this leader need to be designated for each tactic and milestone. C-Level Partners also believes that these plans need not be long winded and in fact the best plans have focus and clarity and might even be codified on one or two pages at maximum. I personally am in favor of one page plans with specific deliverables. I like using a method called RACI (responsible, accountable, consultative and informed) to ensure that the right people in a company are involved in the development and execution of the plan.

6. The sixth and final step is to monitor, measure, modify.  Each plan developed in step 6 should have a complementary set of metrics to track the success of the plan. Metrics vary depending on the plan and some of the metrics can include: average revenue per sale, total sales, return on investment, market share, win/loss ratio of business, aided and unaided awareness, average order quantity, SEO, the timeliness of performing the tactic, and other operational, business or product criteria. Each month these metrics should be added to a scorecard – preferably balanced – and reviewed with the operational or executive team. If a metric is not on target, then the executive responsible for the metric has to provide a corrective action plan. If the metric is very critical to the business strategy or to the overall goals of the plan, then a separate deep dive should be performed where the elements of the plan can be discussed in detail.

As an executive it is sometimes hard to see the competitor when you are mired in the day to day operations. You can always look to outsource part of these six steps or recruit internally some of the best and brightest less tenured people in the company. Successful companies couple strategy with competitive analysis to create and maintain an advantage. When I first converted from an engineer to a marketer, I cut my teeth on competitive analysis. It was the perfect start to figure out how to gain an advantage for the new products I was developing for my customers. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to help drive the strategic vision of my company at the same time. That integration is, in my opinion, critical to a company’s success.

Once you gain a competitive advantage, you have to stay ahead of the competition. That is a subject for a future blog, yet we at C-Level Partners believe that maintaining a competitive edge means companies have to continue to innovate, with technology, with their people, and through their processes. They must maintain contact with customers and open their ears and even seek out criticism. And they must strive for not only incremental improvements but also stretch for what we call the “art of the possible.”

As a technologist and business executive, I always keep in mind the title from Andy Grove’s book, “Only the Paranoid Survive.” Yet with discipline and a plan as outlined in these six steps we believe that companies will be able to develop a competitive edge and flourish in this hyper competitive environment.  

If you have comments or would like to see if you qualify for a complementary appraisal contact me at dfriedman@clevelpartners.net or call me on 949 4394503.

Do You Have What it Takes to be a Visionary?

Do You Have What it takes to be a Visionary?

Visionary. (noun). A person with original ideas about what the future will or could be like.  These visionaries will change the world for the better over time. Who are those visionaries around you?  Do you – or they – have what it takes to be a visionary?

Visionaries come from different walks of life and professions. But generally, they are activists, artists, scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, and in, general, non-conformists. All have a different view of the problems they face. All have changed the world. We know who visionaries were in the past. Here’s a short selection of some of my favorites: Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Albert Einstein, Gandhi, Walt Disney, John F Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Steve Jobs, and Elon Musk.

I decided to give my perspective on the characteristics of a visionary. This is not a well-researched statistical piece; it is based on what I have read and observed in my 30+ years of business and worldly experiences.

1. Open-mindedness. This refers to one’s ability to keep an eye open for new thinking and not be closed to new ideas just because they are different. In fact, actively seeking out new ideas would be ideal.
2. Values diversity of thought. Sometimes surrounding yourself with people from the same background provides a very narrow focus and homogeneous solutions to the problem. I like diversity of people and diversity of thought. That is how I like to construct cross-functional and matrixed teams and I find it amazing to see the robustness of decisions and options.
3. Action oriented.  There is a difference between a dreamer who thinks about a different world and a visionary who sees the different world and puts a plan in action to get to that point. If Martin Luther King’s Dream Speech just shared the dream of one world with all people created equal change would not have occurred or occurred as fast. Rather, he put into place activities that began to implement his dream.
4. Conviction.  If you are a visionary, you might be treading on existing ideas and values. Many people don’t like change. So visionaries have to have a firm conviction that they are right in seeing a new world even when many shun those new ideas.
5. Persistence. Coupled with conviction is the characteristic of persistence. Being visionary challenges prevailing wisdom and the road to change is fraught with difficulty, roadblocks, and potential legal and regulatory restrictions.  A visionary accepts those challenges and preseveres. A significant amount of energy comes from the visionary’s followers.
6. Inspiration.  We all know of inspirational and charismatic leaders. I used to think that inspirational leaders were vocal and can get a crowd excited by rhetoric. I was wrong. To be inspirational the visionary needs to deliver clarity in the new world order and be articulate in explaining the benefits.
7. Clarity. A fuzzy vision doesn’t work because with change, people must “see” and believe in an end result. Think about JFK’s speech on Sept 12, 1962 to 35000 people in Rice Stadium in Texas wherein he said “We choose to go to the Moon! .. We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win..”  This was not a fuzzy vision of space travel but a clear goal and vision of space exploration taken with first steps to land a man on the moon in a specific time frame. And, of course, in 1969 I watched as we landed a man on the moon.
8. Boldness.  Along with clarity, the vision should be bold, something that is not just an incremental improvement but a major change, a major shift in the way things are done. Sometimes we call this a BHAG – a big hairy audacious goal. Boldness with conviction is critical because it rouses the energies within people to achieve success.
9. Risk-tolerance. Along with risk tolerance is the lack of fear of failure. Thomas Edison said that “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”   He framed his end product in such a way as to give him the will to succeed. By positive thinking that he is closer to an end result, he was able to maintain his work ethic and develop the electric light bulb.

Are you born with these characteristics or can you learn them?  My personal belief is that there is some internal encoding of these characteristics in your DNA but that family and environment coupled with some good mentors and influencers will solidify these characteristics.  Reading biographies and auto biographies can also help understand the thinking of visionaries.

There may be other characteristics of a visionary and you can certainly add to this list.  When you attend entrepreneur events and innovation conferences think about how these apply to the people who present and the people whom you meet.  Then imagine you, the reader, having these characteristics and the opportunity to change the world.

C-Level Partners is dedicated to helping companies achieve value creation through revenue growth and margin improvement.  We can also help with your innovation plans, advisory services and helping establish a framework for innovation (see our blog on this subject at http://clevelpartners.blogspot.com/2016/10/how-to-institutionalize-innovation.html).  Or feel free to call me at 949 4394503 for a complimentary analysis.

Cheat Sheet to Innovate New Products and Services

Today, as part of TechCoastAngels (TCA), I participate in pre-screens and screenings (shark tanks), mentoring teams who have new ideas they want to pitch, and judging fast pitch competitions. Before I became an angel investor I worked in the corporate world as an intrapreneur. It is quite different in many ways but similar in other ways. I have found that what I learned in both the corporate world and the angel world can be shared with future innovators and visionaries and these ideas and templates can potentially help them to get funded and be more successful. I put some of these learnings into the following checklist.

Many entrepreneurs, especially those more technical, are sometimes ill-prepared to make a pitch. They get enamored with new technology. It’s interesting to note that many in the corporate world, too, have that same fixation. So, when I developed pointers for entrepreneurs as they pitch TCA, I believe that basically the same type of checklist can be used in the corporate setting as well. Whether a business model canvas is used or an opportunity template is developed, the same questions appearing on this checklist would need to be considered. In the end, the checklist is used to tell the story of why the opportunity, start-up idea, new product/service concept or new business model makes sense as an investment to be funded by third party investors, or internal corporate resources.

While this checklist presents a sequence that might work for some, I understand that each entrepreneur or intrapreneur may want to tell the story of the business or service or product in a way that fits their style and personality. Therefore, it is ok to sequence the presentation story in a different manner. For example, some intrapreneurs or entrepreneurs with a very strong background, having done similar ventures before, or those with exceptionally strong teams, may want to lead with the team structure.

Realistically though, in the first few minutes of the presentation, the entrepreneur or must state the problem that is being solved so that the “investors” listening to the pitch “get it.”  
Recognize that not all the points below will be answered in detail and some may not be answered at all. Yet, each of the 10 elements must be covered in some manner to tell a solid story of why the product/service or business is unique, sustainable, and a good investment with the potential to increase revenue and value for the investor or company if it is internally funded.

1. Summary of what problem is being solved and why your company/product/service is different

·         Problem customers face. Maybe there is a lead user (a potential customer that kludges a solution that can serve as the initial customer).

·         Short simple 15-30 second pitch on what the product/company/service is and why you are different from the competition (and there is always some form of competition, be it direct or indirect).

·         What you do relative to alternatives and why your solution is better. 

·         The entrepreneur or intrapreneur can state the vision for a product/company/service which may be much broader but he or she must specify the initial target.

2. Market Size (Answering the questions of what is the market, its size and growth potential)

·         Your specific target market in the short term.

·         Some mechanism to determine the size of the market.

·         What does that market look like? I.e. what is the “ideal” customer and how do you find them? 

·         Can you leverage existing partners, channels, relationships?

3. The company/product/service (Answers the question of how do you make the product/service or put the business together)

·         What is the technology to be used?

o   Patented or licensed?

·         What is the “architecture“ of the company and the product/service?

·         How do the pieces fit together?

·         What is the IP behind the company or the product? 

·         Is this an execution play, i.e. land grab or land and expand?

·         What is the unique differentiation of the product?

o   What is the brand promise?

o   How do you create a moat around your business or product?

·         What are the strategic control points, i.e. where do you have strength and why in distribution, unique customers, brand, IP?

·         Is the product scalable and to what markets and with what resources?

4. The Team (Answers the question of who will be responsible for execution of the plan if approved)

·         Executive team and past experiences and accomplishments.

·         Advisory or BoD that supplements exec team and how you can use the team to help your business get off the ground or grow.

·         Setting up the RACI (responsible, accountable, consulted and informed) of how you will get information, make decisions, and share those decisions with your constituents.

5. The Financial plan. (Answers the question relative to the goodness of the product/service or business and whether you can make money and have adequate margin.)

·         Growth path, i.e. product plan, partnership plan, channel plan over time.

·         Business model including pricing for different markets.

o   Growth plans and sequencing of new products, services, alliances, partnerships.

·         Metrics for determining success (Some examples follow yet may be unique to the industry).

o   Cost per acquisition

o   Time to close sales

o   Churn rate

o   Inventory turns

·         5-year revenue growth path, EBITDA.

·         Different revenue paths over a five year planning horizon.

o   Routes to revenue and business model for each.

·         Risk impact and contingency plans. (See our earlier post by Brian Newton on risk impact analysis.)

o   Risk includes technical, market, regulatory, key personnel, development, operations, resources, supply chain and manufacturing risks among other categories.

6. Competitive analysis

·         What is the brand and can you sustain the brand?

o   Part of an existing family or new product/service family?

·         The basis for your idea being different.

·         Feature differences.

o   Use “Harvey balls” for making comparisons of features and benefits

·         Sustaining the differences.

o   R&D

o   Marketing

o   Partnerships

o   Acquisitions

7. The Deal (if it is an externally funded deal)

·         Pre-money or current valuation if known.

·         Convertible note v. equity.

·         Prior investments/ cap table.

·         Capital and expense requirements (Required even if internally funded).

o   How long will the money last?

o   Will you need additional funding and if so when?

o   Organization growth plan

8. Use of Funds (What will you use the money for and over what period of time)

·         How will you spend the money and on each of the following categories.

o   Sales and marketing plan 

o   Operational plan

o   Distribution plan

o   Partnership plan

o   Development plan

·         What milestones will you achieve with the funding gained?

·         Will you need more funding, how much and in what time frame?

9. The Exit or Integration

·         What is your plan going forward?

o   Will this be a separate business? Product line? Merged with another entity?

·         Will you sell and to whom?

o   Why would they buy the company?

10. Summary

·         The five major take-aways from the pitch and a recap of why this makes sense to pursue.

These questions make sense and are easy to ask. Yet it takes significant strategic and tactical thinking to build an executable plan. Let me know your thoughts on this and how you think it integrates with other templates such as the business model canvas. Our belief is that if you can at least address these 10 questions, whether you are an intrapreneur or entrepreneur, you will have a better chance at success. If you want to chat further, feel free to contact me at dfriedman@clevelpartners.net or call me at 949 439-4503.

How to Institutionalize Innovation?

I am an innovator by nature. I am always trying to do something more, to try something different, and for the companies for which I worked, to move them ahead of the competition. And I have been at the forefront of innovation thinking for quite some time through my associations with the Product Development and Management Association in the past, an angel investor with TechCoastAngels, and an Entrepreneur in Residence at UCI’s Applied Innovation.

I have been asked by clients and start-ups if a company can institutionalize innovation. The answer is simple: You bet. And you have to have a culture and management that supports innovation.

Let’s step back for a moment. First, do you know the difference between creativity and innovation? Creativity is defined as the spark generating a new idea. Innovation takes the idea to a new level and the essence of innovation is implementation through execution. Now with that out of the way, can companies figure out a way to create innovation in their company? To me the answer is clearly YES! How do you do that?

What are the categories of innovation? Here’s one list that I put together and depending on the company and their goals, there may be other categories. For innovation to take place, it should be put in the context of the company’s strategic and business plans.

1. New products and services, ranging from line extensions, to new-to-the-company products, to new-to-the-world products.
2. New ventures putting companies together in different ways to solve a problem.
3. New market development such as paint companies introducing anti-bacterial paint for hospitals and children’s rooms. (Also can be classified as a new product.)
4. New business models – for example the SaaS model replacing ownership of resources.
5. New partnerships such as GM and Lyft or Apple and McLaren for autonomous vehicles.
6. New business practices like Home Depot implementing Velexo’s one button installation for new technology and equipment.

There are several models that can be used to define the architecture of innovation for a company but let’s take a simplistic approach. For each of these categories, I believe we can define five different ways the categories can be analyzed and the driver of innovation can be investigated. These areas include: customer, competition, competencies, technologies, and processes.

• Customer. Think about how you can develop new ideas. One concept is to make sure marketers and developers talk to customers on a regular basis. In Japan, engineers routinely visit customers to understand how they work with their current products and ask questions on what else is needed. Another thought for integrating customers into a company’s product development cycle is to include customers on internal development teams as we did when I was at Connexion by Boeing. Or set up a living lab where customers can play with new concepts and ideas as I believe Ford has done in the past as it designed new cars and continues to do with their new designs.
• Competition. Looking at the competition can give insights into what is possible. Perhaps you can build off of what the competitor is doing and does it better, faster, cheaper by using new technology or developing new processes. Tools such as Spider Diagrams and SWOT analysis can provide perspective and focus.
• Competencies. I like what Intel does and how they go about innovating. They are not afraid to make their current products obsolete and in fact, they are always thinking two steps ahead. Their competence is engineering skills. But even Intel misses the mark and has left opportunities for others in the mobile chip area such as AVAGO/Broadcom, NXPI (in the process of being acquired by Qualcomm), Skyworks and others. Companies can focus on building their competencies in various ways such as partnerships with schools/universities, labs, and even smaller, more nimble companies. An attendant benefit which we often see is that the larger company buys the smaller company because of the smaller company’s unique competencies.
• Technologies. This, to me, is the kingpin for growth. I am probably biased as I am a technologist by training who converted to marketing and to being a business executive. Technology, above all, provides corporations the opportunity to think about the Art of the Possible. Technology can be developed internally as it used to be at Bell Labs or IBM, or can be acquired through licensing deals with universities, individuals, or start-ups.
• Processes. Companies can look at new processes as a way to innovate. Think about ways to do self-service support for various products and services. What if a car dealer set up a few bays to enable customers to do their own repairs using their equipment and their parts? Think about Sears which has a fleet of service vans and can set a new process such that when a customer orders a washer/dryer the customer can push one button to have it installed. This is process change enabled by new technology, e.g. Velexo, which benefits both the customer and the company.

What are we missing from this model? The key requirement for innovation in a company is when senior management drives innovation and sets a standard and goal for innovation to take place. This includes the reward and recognition system that encourages innovation and makes heroes out of the innovators. Companies like 3M encourage people to spend 10% of their time developing new products. Think about the classic story of Art Fry innovating not only a product but a market based on glue that did not bond well i.e. post-it notes! Or think about how Google encourages self-directed teams to form to develop new products and services. They recognize that most of these new ideas will not be commercialized although there will be substantial winners along the way.

And let’s not forget how companies can set a metric for the number of new products that should be developed and the revenue obtained from those new products so they can sustain growth. Can anyone say Newell Rubbermaid a formidable product developing Fortune 1000 company whose brands such as Lenox, Sharpie, Sunbeam, Dymo, Oster and a slew of others?

Finally, let’s look at a few ways companies can execute their innovation program: Here are just a few ways that we have seen in the past and have participated in over the years.

• New product advisory boards to generate new ideas on features and products.
• New channel management advisory committees where companies can leverage their channels view of their customers and work with the channels to develop unique products and services using a common platform.
• Appointment of a new product czar or growth leader to be the focal point for new ideas. In one of my prior assignments I formed a small organization called Ideation and Feasibility (IF) with the goal of “adopting” ideas from outside the industry to our industry.
• Product/service roundtables that meet once every few weeks, but certainly on a recurring and regular timetable and that would include cross-functional members from technology, marketing, account management, IT, and perhaps other groups as needed. Each member will have specific roles and even track specific competitors. Think about using Dropbox or some other common storage area for posting what the competitor is doing. Better yet, how about a “war room” where the group can track what customers and competitors are doing?
• Participation directly or through Corporate VC or business development functions in entrepreneurial activities such as the angel investment groups like TechCoastAngels and venues such as UC Irvine’s Applied Innovation where the corporation can invest in or participate in other ways in new start ups. This might be particularly true of innovations in the life sciences and cyber security areas.

In a future blog I will cover how to evaluate such opportunities in order to drive profitable revenue growth. In the meantime, if you want to discuss this topic feel free to reach me at dfriedman@clevelpartners.net.