Social Entrepreneurship
March 10, 2012 Leave a comment
Click on the link for the Power Point Presentation. Social Entrepreneurship
Business networking for your startup
December 5, 2011 Leave a comment
Networking is extremely important for entrepreneurs. Most of the startupreneurs are restricted in time and resources, therefore a good network can help them access suppliers, markets, information and guidance necessary for their startup’s development. I understood the importance of networking while working as an intrapreneur at the beginning of my career and since then have been able to build a robust professional network that I leverage and get support from now as an entrepreneur.
Start your networking with people you know. Among them, look for key characteristics like competency, dependability, and helpfulness that can be useful in your entrepreneurial venture. Focus more on proactive networking and reach out to people. This will also help you in tapping into other people’s networks. Over time your network will grow through reactive networking of others in the ecosystem. Typically your start-up network should have people from your suppliers, customers, service providers, industry ecosystem including your competitors, financial services, government officials and policy makers, colleagues and key contacts from your past workplaces, key connects from your alumni groups, industry specific experts and professionals, among others. However, your focus should not be on building a very large network, but on the intensity of the network. You can build the intensity by selecting the right people and communicating with them regularly to keep the network alive.
While communicating with your network, remember to project your ideas as professionally as possible, be prompt in returning calls and replying to e-mails, refrain from talking bad about people, do not reveal and talk about your flaws, and don’t whine. Keep details of your network contacts handy and periodically update the key information. Remember that its not only ‘who you know’ but what really counts is ‘what they know about you’ for building and managing an effective network.
Some best practices of effective networking are,
- Establish a relationship with people much before you need them. People who have known you for a while will be more inclined to help you.
- Understand what you can do for others as this will help you set your expectations right while asking for help from your network.
- Attend conferences, trade shows, social events, lectures, etc and meet people. Making the first impression is the key here. So do not talk too much, ask smart questions and let them talk. Never forget to carry your business cards and pass it while you are introducing yourself.
- Unless you are rock sure of your points, do not contradict others.
- Read stuff beyond your direct professional subject and expand your information horizon. This will help you connect with a wider audience while engaging them in intelligent conversations.
The final tip: Grow it. Nourish it. Reap it.
Team conflicts at your startup
December 5, 2011 Leave a comment
Individuals from diverse backgrounds face perpetual gaps when they come together to work as a team. Since conflict within a team exists, it must be managed. I believe that collaboration is the key to managing that conflict. The first step is to identify whether the conflict is based on task disagreements or personality related issues. Task conflicts can often be beneficial during the design and preparatory phases. Personality conflicts tend to be detrimental to the team, interfering with the project at hand, taking valuable time away from the efforts, and at times exacerbating personality differences that prevent team members from communicating at all. The goal is to minimize personality conflicts and manage it outside the start-up environment. Team building exercises through social activity is certainly a good way to build confidence and cohesiveness.
It’s not important that team members need to like each other, rather they need to respect each other professionally and focus on the task to get the job done. Once the focus is on disagreements about the job at hand, collaboration can take place. Through collaboration, disagreements can be altered into joint gains. Collaboration here doesn’t mean compromise or giving-in, but more mutually beneficial results based on more effective communication. Following three techniques could be used to support collaboration at your Startup,
- Create a group atmosphere that supports team focus, the capability to solve the problem, trust among each other, and open conflict communication channels. Trust is the critical factor here.
- Look for and act on opportunities for promoting joint gain between the conflicting members. It is also important that team members exchange factual information, that in turn can facilitate trade-offs across different issues. Exchange of views and insights thus becomes very critical, as usually people tend to “one up” each other and the conflict get worse and more personal. They key here is to recognize that this is happening and try to respond with a new tact, a direct response that brings the conflict into the open, or a more integrative and collaborative response that might shift the process back on track.
- Develop and build an attitude of cooperation, collaboration and openness to creative thinking that can often lead to win-win situation during conflict, which often leads to innovative, superior solutions.
Collaboration requires interdependence on other team members. Negative emotional outbursts and attitudes such as frustration and anger tend to interfere with collaboration. These emotions need to be kept in check and resolved as personal conflict outside the work.
7 value attributes of your product
December 5, 2011 Leave a comment
Breakthrough products are driven by a complex combination of value attributes that connect with people’s lifestyles. If you are conceiving a new product, you must conduct a value opportunity analysis that evaluates the current state of products against seven major attributes of value, in the market where the new product requires significant improvement. This is an essential step in any new product development. Failure to thoroughly and thoughtfully complete this phase will have a negative impact down the line.
During the period of mass marketing, good value was based on the lowest cost-maximum features combination. The goal was to keep cost low, profits moderate, and sell in mass quantities (like Big Bazaar, K-mart etc). Value in its true sense, however, is lifestyle-driven, not cost-driven. So a product is valuable if it is useful, usable, and desirable. While cost is still an issue in the times of market segmentation, the more powerful factor is the consumer’s need to connect their product purchases with their own personal values. The higher a product’s perceived value, the more people will pay for it.
The seven attributes that adds value to any product are,
- Aesthetics that builds a positive association with the product.
- Visual appeal
- Products must be tactile
- Elimination of all undesired sounds from the product
- Agreeable smell
- Emotion that a consumer experiences with the product. There can be several emotions that a product can bring about, and they key ones are,
- The product promotes excitement and adventure
- Freedom from constraints
- Feeling of safety and stability
- Luxurious experience
- User’s self-assurance about handling the product
- Feeling of supremacy
- Ergonomics of your product that chiefly focuses on ‘ease of use’, ‘safety’, and ‘comfort’ of your target customers.
- Impact of your product through phases of development to end use. You should target your product for improving the social well-being of the stakeholders. Take care of negative environmental effect that your product might create, through green design that focuses on minimizing negative impacts on the environment due to manufacturing, resource use and recycling.
- Product Identity that also supports your brand identity. Your product should have the ability to fit among yet differentiate itself from its direct competition. Your product should also have a connection with the rest of the products produced by your start-up. Your product must be designed to fit into the context of use.
- Quality in the precision and accuracy of manufacturing process, material composition, and methods of attachment. Your product should be made with sufficient tolerances to meet performance expectations over time, and must hold up to the expected life of the product.
- Technology alone is not enough, but technology is essential. Your core technology must be appropriately advanced to provide sufficient features to your product. Remember, consumers expect technology in products to work consistently and at high level of performance over time.
Keep in mind while working on a new product that it should be aimed at fulfilling a fantasy by facilitating a more enjoyable way of doing something.
Winning team for your startup
December 5, 2011 Leave a comment
A start-up’s success depends on its human capital. It’s not the numbers but the quality of your team that defines the growth path. The team members should be able to handle multiple functions, wear multiple hats, and deliver under pressure. Their skill-sets should compliment yours. Even if you are a one person Startup, you still need a lean management team with whom you can share some of the ‘hats’ for better performance of your Startup. It’s OK if you can’t afford a full time team.
You can avail part-time services of domain experts while focusing your energies on key business operations. The areas/domains that you need a team for are: Accounting, Manufacturing, Sales & Business Development, customer service, and may be industry experts if you are not. You need to outline descriptions based on your Startup needs on different domain/functions and search for resources accordingly. Initially you don’t need a huge team, each heading one of the functions, but an optimum mix of people who can cover all the functions within themselves as a collective team, each complimenting the other. And therefore, it requires time, efforts and careful selection to set-up such a winning team.
Outline skills and experience required for filling the team positions. By doing this exercise, you can actually further strengthen your B-plan and strategy. Also for a set of people to come together and work as a team, it’s of paramount importance that they share common visions and goals. Ineffective teams can be dangerous for the health of the startup. Asymmetrical teams often leads to start-up’s failure. Choose your team wisely.
Remember, that your team composition is the differentiator among loads of business ideas, if you are looking for investment funding. If you are Startup is at idea or planning stage, you should involve your team in strategy building exercises. Use the collective talent pool of your team to create a winning Startup!
