Blogmatic

I am going to have a two posts dedicated to some of the start-ups that I admire here in Ottawa. Last year I picked my three favourites. I have followed up with the CEO’s from the three companies and asked them to share their companies’ accomplishments for the past year. Both Rob Brennan (Triacta) and Kareem Sultan (RaceDV) were kind enough to reply to my request for more information. Unlike many “companies to watch” posts I plan on following my alumni into the foreseeable future.

RaceDV is a very cool start-up here in Ottawa and one that I have gotten to know quite well over the past year. RaceDV is enriching the motorsport experience for amateur racing enthusiast in North America. The owners have those key entrepreneurial characteristics that are necessary for success; Passion and Persistence.

RaceDV has developed their own hardware platform and introduced a production system for their racing DVD’s. They have gone from a standing start to a substantial run rate over the summer and expect to increase that again by 50% over the next couple of months. Their web traffic is also increasing rapidly. On the marketing side they have identified their key market verticals, won several key customers and have plans to continue to grow over the next year. I really like team Kareem (Rob) and look forward to reporting on their progress again next year.

Rob Brennan started Triacta based on a business case he had prepared for the consulting project in his Queen’s MBA course. The business case has stood the test of time and in my opinion Triacta is one of the strongest start-ups in the Ottawa area. Their product is smart meters for small business and residential hydro applications. A growing market, strong demand, clean tech friendly and an experienced capable management team make Triacta a start-up to watch. I continue to see announcements about customer wins for Triacta and expect them to continue their trajectory of success.

Cheers,
Ian Graham

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Very exciting news.

Ottawa start-up Loyalty Match has been selected to present in Boston at the Venture Summit East 2008. Way to go to Mike Ball and the Loyalty Match team. Wishing them much success and a great trip.

cheers,

Ian Graham

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I just finished reading “Outswim the Sharks” on the weekend a good learning opportunity and a great read. Will start with the story on how I obtained my copy of the book. I had written a post regarding Piero Ferrucci’s book “the power of kindness” another great read. Anyway, Reut Schwartz-Hebron author of “Outswim the Sharks” had left a comment on that post (you can check it out here) and after exchanging a few emails and a phone call she was kind enough to send me a copy of her book. “Outswim the Sharks” is certainly blogmatic recommended reading.

The key concepts of the book are; Real Knowledge, Simplicity and Systemic Thinking. Wrap around all of these concepts a kind management style and you have the basis for the book “Outswim the Sharks”. I am a huge believer in kind management as the best way to create a positive results oriented culture.  My favorite quote from the book is “Unlike any other “material” the only way you can get human beings to co-operate in recruiting their desire and skills to excel is if they chose to share it with you.” What I particularly liked about “Outswim the Sharks” is that it provides a framework for implementing a kind management style. While the book focuses on large enterprise organizations and their managers there are certainly some very valuable lessons for start-ups too.

The quotes and examples used in the book are first rate, actually I think just reading the quotes was more than worth the price of admission, they are carefully chosen and highly relevant to the subsequent chapter. The quotes used in the book are truly amazing.

The greatest challenge for me was wrapping my head around two concepts; focusing on process rather than results and the idea of systemic thinking.

Reut postulates that real knowledge is more readily acquired when you focus on training and process rather than results. If you focus on process results will be the natural outcome. While I understand the concept I still struggle to internalize the lesson. My personal view is that process is an enabler of results which I believe is consistent with the premise outlined in “Outswim the Sharks”.

The second and more significant enlightenment for me comes from the chapters on systemic thinking. To paraphrase, systemic thinking is all about identifying repetitions and contradictions between functional bodies rather than focusing on the functional areas. Said another way you can identify and resolve more issues by examining the linkages rather than the objects. This is a very powerful concept and I will be rereading the systemic thinking chapters another time or two before fully grasping the concept.

All in all a very good read and I would recommend “Outswim the Sharks” to anyone considering how to implement kind management.

Cheers,
Ian Graham

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My Grandfather owned a restaurant in Saint John, New Brunswick called Graham’s Restaurant.  When we used to visit Saint John my cousin and I would work in the restaurant washing dishes for the princely sum of $2 per day which at the time was a lot of money when you consider that; this would buy several comic books or plenty of candy or a water gun with change left over.

I remember one day “Bumpy” my grandfather took me with him to visit with his suppliers. We stopped in at one produce supplier that had provided some sub-standard carrots (IIRC) to the restaurant. My grandfather had a rather heated discussion with this particular vendor and after sometime wrung a concession out of the produce supplier. After the discussion Bumpy and I got back in the car and he said to me “you need to keep your suppliers honest”. For whatever reason these words of wisdom have been etched in my memory.

As I go about setting up TheCodeFactory infrastructure I am finding that, yes in fact you do want to keep your suppliers honest. The question is how you do this in a constructive way. First of all I think letting your suppliers know that there is competition is a good thing. Make sure that your requirements are well documented and clearly understood by all of the suppliers bidding on a particular project. If you are not clear about what you want you will receive different bids that are not an apple to apple comparison, more of apples to orange. Be specific. Be prepared to negotiate. As Canadians we are conditioned to pay the price that is on the tag, however, there is always room for negotiations.

Cheers,
Ian Graham

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Are entrepreneurs downright stupid or perhaps stupid passionate? Stupid passionate is being so passionate about bringing their idea or product that the obstacles that seem insurmountable to any other rationale person are merely a speed bump to the stupefied entrepreneur.  Stupid passion gives that numbness and drive to get past the obstacle.

Stupid passion is a desire to “gitter done” that is virtually blind to anything that gets in the way of the goal. Where would the world be if Wilber and Orville Wright had listened to their contemporaries? What if someone had said to John F. Kennedy it is impossible to send a man to the moon? That dogged determination that characterizes stupid passion is the key.

Entrepreneurs that exhibit stupid passion are the ones that facilitate real change and revolutionary new developments. Stupid passionate entrepreneurs have no common sense and they tend to be unreasonable. Stupid passionate entrepreneurs are also the ones that change the world.

Cheers,
Ian Graham

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Something’s missing in Canada’s tech community - the chance to informally interact with VCs, learn about what it is exactly that they do and how the funding process works.

The VC Roundtable series aims to fill this gap, by hosting small (free!) get togethers across Canada’s major cities where Rick Segal, JLA Ventures Partner and VC blogger (http://ricksegal.typepad.com) will walk through what getting involved with VCs is all about.

Rick Segal will be hosting the Ottawa edition of the VC travelling roundtable on April 16th from 11am to 1pm at everyones favorite pub TheClockTower at 575 Bank Street. If you would like to attend sign up on the link below.

http://ottawa-vcroundtable.eventbrite.com/

cheers,
Ian Graham

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Planning is an essential element of any business; however, planning gone awry causes paralysis by analysis. Ideally you spend about 10% - 15% of your time planning and 85% - 90% of your time doing. Plans are great for drafting that high level view and general flow of projects. You can’t plan for everything and if you do odds are you have spent more time planning than you have doing. Stuff doesn’t get done by writing great strategic plans, stuff gets done by doing.

There are probably a few project managers (perhaps even Craig Fitzpatrick) reading this going this guy is nuts, you need gant charts, pert charts and the whole process mapped out with all the interrelated tasks. That may work well in a mid and large corporate environment or bureaucracy; however, most start-ups don’t have dedicated project managers.

The “What about” or “Did you think about”

“What abouts” and “think abouts” are often dependant on the circumstances at the time in which they occur. Again, you can plan for a certain amount of stuff; however, to get something done you need to do. Your planning should reveal most of the major bumps in the road and you can plan for them. When you start doing new bumps occur and you need to deal with them. The best example I can think of to illustrate this is a home renovation. You make your plan you start to do the work and then something unforeseen happens. No amount of “strategic planning” would have found this bump in the road. Planning finds the “known-known and known-unknowns” doing finds the “unknown-unknowns”. Often the true challenges lie in the “unknown-unknowns”.

If you want to get stuff done, get doing.

Cheers,
Ian Graham
 

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What you know or don’t know will affect how you perceive situations or opportunities.

My wife recently saw a talk show that described how Yael Naim, the lady that sings the song “New Soul” for the new Apple Macbook Air ad on TV, was discovered. The show explained that the Apple advertising team had heard the song for the Macbook Air while in Europe. The song was performed by the French artist that at the time was relatively unknown. Since the airing of the Apple ad the artists career has sky rocketed.

What I found incredibly interesting about the ad was that before I knew the artist was French I just enjoyed the song for what it was not detecting any accent. After finding out that the artist was from France and hearing the song again I thought to myself, now that you mention it I can detect a French accent.

What you know will affect how you perceive.

Cheers and have a great weekend,
Ian Graham

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“Those who think they can change the world, … are often the ones who do” Steve Jobs

“Whatever authority that I may have rests solely on knowing how little I know” Socrates

“Tell me and I will forget; Show me and I may remember; Involve me and I will understand.” Confucius

“Expect the best, prepare for the worst, and capitalize on what comes”  Zig Ziglar

“Long-range planning does not deal with future decisions, but with the future of present decisions” Peter F. Drucker

Cheers,
Ian Graham

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Most people remember the first man to step on the moon but few remember the second. The benefit in first mover advantage is being first, gaining that recognition and market leadership. The challenge with first mover advantage is that the fast followers tend to improve upon your innovation. Once you are in the lead it is incredibly important to continue to adapt and maintain leadership over the competition.

Beta and VHS product introduction is an excellent example of a new competitive technology displacing the early leader. While Beta technology did adapt and come out with a longer tape length to accommodate feature length movies. The change was too slow in coming about and VHS had already secured the production studios channels to market. The ability to adapt rapidly to changing market demands or product short comings is essential if you develop a first mover strategy.

The Ford Model-T was perhaps the companies most successful product every with Ford at one time having a 60% share of the world wide automotive industry. This product had a sustainable first mover advantage for many years, however, when Buick started to introduce new models in different styles and colours Ford failed to react. The famous Henry Ford saying was “You can have it in any colour you want so long as it is black.” The lack of adaptation cost the company significantly and sales of the Model T plummeted between from just over 2M units per year in 1925 to 0 units per year in 1927.

If you are going to adopt a first mover strategy then keeping an eye on your competitors innovation and your product up to date are essential.

Cheers,
Ian Graham
 

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