Chasing Your Competiton = Suicide

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It's widely accepted that you should never say that you have no competitors when giving a presentation to investors or business professionals. The theory goes that if you're the only one who has thought of this idea, or similar ideas, then it's probably not a good idea. Some form of competition validates what you're doing.

But that doesn't mean that you should spend too much time focused on what these competitors are doing. I think you should be aware of what they're doing, but never let their actions and features inappropriately drive your strategy. If you do, you're just a copycat - a follower instead of a leader.

And chances are you're not doing or planning the same exact product or feature-set as these "competitors". You must be doing something unique and innovative, otherwise where's the value in what you offer? So, you'll want to do it differently than your competitors IF you want to do it better.  Reminds me of this quote (attribution unknown):

"Different isn't always better, but better is always different."

And if you're doing is differently (and hopefully better), then you should not be copying your competitor. That's just lazy and closed-minded.

Irritate, Innovate, and Iterate

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I recently said this to someone in regard to product design, and I'm not sure if it's original or not. But it hit the spot:

You don't have to pay attention to the details, just don't be surprised when your competitor does.

I think it's really important to nit pick - to find things that could be improved upon, even if only marginally. Doesn't every little bit count?  Focusing on little things may sound trivial, but little changes (especially in the copy text and UI of software used by thousands or millions of users) can make a big difference.

And what does it say about your company if your product clearly shows a lack of focus on the details? Don't get me wrong, sometimes we only have the resources available to address the "big issues" and focusing on the little one's is irritating. But innovation doesn't always involve big ideas and big plans.

The Personal Advisory Board

Jeremiah Owyang tweeted this earlier today, and it got me thinking......the premise here is that the individual gets advice and the adviser gets something in return - what Jeremiah calls the "equity". This is analogous to the corporate advisory board where advisers receive equity or options in a company in exchange for their advice. So, what is this value that the personal adviser receives?

First, I think we need to look at the value that the individual setting up a personal advisory board gets.

What I've found to be the most powerful force in the personal advisory board structure is accountability. It's an interesting phenomenon, that the individual who creates a personal advisory board gains more from just having someone (or a team of people) to "report to" than from the advice they might receive. It's like that old adage about writing down your goals. If you don't write them down, you're less likely to achieve them. The same is true here.

By just having a "personal advisory board", you will achieve what you set out to accomplish more times than not.

That's because you will be more realistic about what you can achieve when you have to say it out loud to those that you respect. Additionally, you're more likely to succeed at your goals when you know that failure means having to justify to others why you failed. Self-justification is easy. Facing up to others is hard.

Image by lunaweb via Flickr

And so the "equity" for the adviser is really just the satisfaction of seeing a friend or a respected colleague succeed. It doesn't require a lot of time and resources to be a "personal (accountability) adviser"; you just have to "be there" for them - a listening ear. And to me this means that the kind of personal adviser that one should seek out should be someone they have a good relationship with - because these are the people that want to help. And they're the ones that gain value (aka equity appreciation) in helping others.

On a related note, I find that many of the "social tools" that we use online are an extension of this accountability factor. Your "social graph" is in many ways your personal advisory board.

Imagine how accountable you would feel if you tweeted your goals. That's the power of "social media". Give it a try. Tweet your #goals. Your advisory board is listening.

One of my Favorite Non-Profits: PCRM

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I'm really excited about Zemanta's new campaign to raise awareness and funds for the non-profits that bloggers care about the most. Corporate sponsors have provided the cash, and Zemanta is giving the money away to the non-profits that are blogged about the most over the next few weeks.

Details are here: Blogging For A Cause, by Zemanta

And so, I thought I'd put in a plug for one of my favorite non-profits, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. They publish the handy Vegetarian Starter Kit pictured at the right. Putting 2 + 2 together, you're probably not surprised to hear that they're medical doctors that advocate a vegetarian diet. I think the science is very compelling. Here's a brief description of them:

Founded in 1985, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) is a nonprofit organization that promotes preventive medicine, conducts clinical research, and encourages higher standards for ethics and effectiveness in research.

Please do your part by blogging about your favorite non-profits. It only takes a minute, but the great feelings last a good long time.

This blog post is part of Zemanta's "Blogging For a Cause" campaign to raise awareness and funds for worthy causes that bloggers care about.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Blogging For A Cause (zemanta.com)

About Blue Venture Community

[This was a test post I did while doing a live demo of Zemanta for the Blue Venture community Meetup on March 10, 2009]

Blue Venture Community (BVC) is a private community for Columbia students, alumni and employees interested in all aspects entrepreneurship. The group welcomes members from any school, sector or industry function (e.g., entrepreneur, VC, lawyer, etc.).

Image via Wikipedia

BVC seeks to foster entrepreneurship by facilitating communication, providing access to resources and creating community. Through BVC members meet every few weeks to participate in an array of events. Event formats include idea incubation, demo events, educational panel and speaker events and happy hours.

Individuals must possess a Columbia email address to join.

This group is a privately operated group not affiliated with Columbia University.

Related articles by Zemanta

• TheFunded.com: The VC Apocalypse: Careful with Your Time (tsurch.com)
• Tough Times Call for New Entrepreneurship Efforts (gigaom.com)
• What do you really want in a VC? (marsdd.com)

Stuff You Don't Get Paid For

This post is about the work entrepreneurs do for free.

It's easy to hoard your knowledge, shield your contacts, or be resistant to helping others unless you're compensated in some way. It's human nature to want to know "what's in it for me?"

But the truth is, we live in a world of abundance, not scarcity. If everybody came to the table asking, "wha-jya get me?" then no one would get anything. If, however, everyone came to give, all would receive.

Sharing and helping others will benefit you by demonstrating your worth and goodwill. The beneficiaries of your advice and support will want to return the favor. At worst, you'll be known as a facilitator (nothing wrong with that). At best, you'll have a large network of people that are ready and willing to help you.

I look at this unpaid work as the price of entry.

Another instance where we end up working for free is when we take risks, such as starting a company - and end up having to shut it down for any number of reasons. It's easy to be angry, disappointed, and embarrassed by this failure. But to move forward, we need to learn from our mistakes and the forces beyond our control.

I look at this unpaid work as the cost of an education.

Zemanta - A cool blogging tool

I'm writing this piece to test out a new blogging plug-in - well, at least it's new to me. I think Image via CrunchBasethey've been around for a year or so. It's called Zemanta and it recommends articles, pictures, tags, etc that are related to my blog post as I'm writing it. It just proposed that I link the word "Zemanta" to their website. I didn't have to leave the browser window that I'm in, and I didn't have to type out the URL.

And I just dragged in that image of their logo. Pretty cool stuff.

I had heard about these guys - vaguely - from reading various tech blogs. But it caught my attention when Albert Wenger at Union Square Ventures (USV) told me about them. USV invested in them a while back.

They integrate nicely with Blogger and just about every other blogging platform out there.
I recommend you check it out.