You Dont Change the World from a Cubicle
Morning coffee time and I love this quote from Mary Hodder, CEO of Dabble, that I really simply stole (the whole quote was needed) from Susan 'Do you Yahoo Personals' Mernit. I was speaking to Modelux yesterday on the same topic, namely deprogramming of portalopoly thinking. For me, the "A-Ha" moment happened one year ago, not four; We've been a bit retarded in Australia since 1999 when it comes to rolling out new online products. Thankfully no more.
I've always felt building a successful (new) website was more akin to the making of a film - A high level of creative, technical, logistics, the coordination of high end talent for specific tasks over a 3-6 month period, the focus on the "baby" and building/launching something new. You know, the whole hired guns turning up on motorbikes thing ;) There's the outline, script, elevator pitch, talent attached, director, producer, screenwriter.
For me, a decade in other people's businesses had meant either overly (dumbed down) analytical business planning ("The market is worth X"), (me-too) technical specifications and committee groupthink (kill ideas thru politics/ignorance) or reckless "visions" that weren't backed up with real abilities to deliver post Powerpoint. As Marc Cuban says you "Only need to get it right once" and this time, the challenge is to get each component of "it" right or else the result will be another average (corporate like) consumer product, without the engineering and marketing resources of such entities ("Power of default") which can make something average a moderate success. (run millions of ad per month promoting inhouse products that still dont get used unless ipods are given away, and even then the non network effect means dead duck)
Success for an independent requires actual risks to be taken - with the irony being the larger risk taken, the greater the payoff, and the lowering of risk but only if the idea/execution is right. Heck, if flickr or delicious didnt use open tagging they wouldnt have 'broken out'. The small things. It's the opposite of me-too or emulate and extend. Genuine creativity, authenticity and sometimes countercultural smarts (myspace) are needed to displace the old (mtv) and deliver something which peers keep clicking on (as a utility), forwarding to friends - that is brought into the "Circle of Trust", hehe.
Not to mention understanding your business model, and creation of economic value - Witness Rocketboom selling VideoAds on ebay at very schweet weekly revenue numbers. (its up to $15k for one week, with 2 people running the show) Thank God for someone that doesnt just slap on some google ads and say thats the revenue model covered. (ive got nothing against using google to cover server/bandwith costs "pre" business stage btw but dont get the two confused) Remember the whole 2002 P2P period everyone, and I'm not talking about GOOG Napster, I'm talking "Pathway to Profit" - It's Hollywood, and the box office for the first weekend, really does matter, for both art house ("amateur") and studio flick ("professional"). It is fundamentally different, now versus 12 months ago, and geez are there some big regrets, but I didnt realise how much all this stuff mattered. To me anyway. And thanks people that are helping with things like secondary branding colour swatches. It makes a difference. One cubicle at a time.
Mary Hodder, CEO of Dabble : "4 years ago, I stated that from that moment on I wouldn't work on anything I didn't love, and I would only work on things I loved. (I needed to say it redundantly, because it felt wobbly inside, saying it out-loud. I was terrified.) As soon as I said, it I knew I could never go back. A door had closed. The old way was over and no longer reachable. I could not understand the old way, from that moment on. The new way had clarity, passion and intensity. It doesn't mean I don't do a lot of hard, trying, difficult, long work, but I have to say, but the overall goal, the project, the commitment, must be something I love. And frankly I haven't worked for a second in the past four years. And I work all the time. Because it's not work. Down with work that you hate! Do only work that you love. And the work will pour in, you will have more choices that you know what to do with, the quality will be high, the satisfaction will be high, your life will change, and your free time will become so much more satisfying." OK enuf high pollutin thoughts, everyone move on, nothing happening here.
I've always felt building a successful (new) website was more akin to the making of a film - A high level of creative, technical, logistics, the coordination of high end talent for specific tasks over a 3-6 month period, the focus on the "baby" and building/launching something new. You know, the whole hired guns turning up on motorbikes thing ;) There's the outline, script, elevator pitch, talent attached, director, producer, screenwriter.
For me, a decade in other people's businesses had meant either overly (dumbed down) analytical business planning ("The market is worth X"), (me-too) technical specifications and committee groupthink (kill ideas thru politics/ignorance) or reckless "visions" that weren't backed up with real abilities to deliver post Powerpoint. As Marc Cuban says you "Only need to get it right once" and this time, the challenge is to get each component of "it" right or else the result will be another average (corporate like) consumer product, without the engineering and marketing resources of such entities ("Power of default") which can make something average a moderate success. (run millions of ad per month promoting inhouse products that still dont get used unless ipods are given away, and even then the non network effect means dead duck)
Success for an independent requires actual risks to be taken - with the irony being the larger risk taken, the greater the payoff, and the lowering of risk but only if the idea/execution is right. Heck, if flickr or delicious didnt use open tagging they wouldnt have 'broken out'. The small things. It's the opposite of me-too or emulate and extend. Genuine creativity, authenticity and sometimes countercultural smarts (myspace) are needed to displace the old (mtv) and deliver something which peers keep clicking on (as a utility), forwarding to friends - that is brought into the "Circle of Trust", hehe.
Not to mention understanding your business model, and creation of economic value - Witness Rocketboom selling VideoAds on ebay at very schweet weekly revenue numbers. (its up to $15k for one week, with 2 people running the show) Thank God for someone that doesnt just slap on some google ads and say thats the revenue model covered. (ive got nothing against using google to cover server/bandwith costs "pre" business stage btw but dont get the two confused) Remember the whole 2002 P2P period everyone, and I'm not talking about GOOG Napster, I'm talking "Pathway to Profit" - It's Hollywood, and the box office for the first weekend, really does matter, for both art house ("amateur") and studio flick ("professional"). It is fundamentally different, now versus 12 months ago, and geez are there some big regrets, but I didnt realise how much all this stuff mattered. To me anyway. And thanks people that are helping with things like secondary branding colour swatches. It makes a difference. One cubicle at a time.
Mary Hodder, CEO of Dabble : "4 years ago, I stated that from that moment on I wouldn't work on anything I didn't love, and I would only work on things I loved. (I needed to say it redundantly, because it felt wobbly inside, saying it out-loud. I was terrified.) As soon as I said, it I knew I could never go back. A door had closed. The old way was over and no longer reachable. I could not understand the old way, from that moment on. The new way had clarity, passion and intensity. It doesn't mean I don't do a lot of hard, trying, difficult, long work, but I have to say, but the overall goal, the project, the commitment, must be something I love. And frankly I haven't worked for a second in the past four years. And I work all the time. Because it's not work. Down with work that you hate! Do only work that you love. And the work will pour in, you will have more choices that you know what to do with, the quality will be high, the satisfaction will be high, your life will change, and your free time will become so much more satisfying." OK enuf high pollutin thoughts, everyone move on, nothing happening here.
posted by redbarren at 9:49 AM
1 Comments:
Nice blogging mate
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