Most entrepreneurs I meet are not short of business ideas. Some are good (e.g., web intelligence); some are bad (e.g., restaurant bathroom touch-screen marketing); Some will find markets; Others will not. One of my roles as an entrepreneurial law attorney is to help these individuals recognize and focus of their core competitive products. How do we get the key products to market? And, how fast can we do so?
Technology entrepreneurs in particular have a hard time with this. They have a tendency to focus on tangents to their core innovations – on adding bells and whistles to their technology. There is often where the difference between what the technology expert and the consumer sees as being important. Often a focused technology without bells and whistles, a technology that is simple to use and understand, and meets a core need in the market creates a better business strategy.
Take the original iPhone for example (before the gazillion apps became available). I bought one right away and loved it instantly. But with certain functionality, such as e-mail, my old Palm actually had more features, was more reliable, and was easier to use. So why was the iPhone so great?
Apple saw the opportunity to focus on simple design rather than allowing for every technical function which could potentially be added. They found that consumers wanted media, phone, e-mail and “real” Internet all in one product. They also found that a majority of the consumers did not care about full functionality – they wanted something that was quick, easy to use and cool. So the iPhone was designed simple.
At the same time, this “focus” should not kill creativity. Just because something is not part of this "core" product, don’t kill it. Put it aside. Schedule time to work through these ideas. This is where innovation develops. Certain “tangents” may eventually become core products.
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Alerding Castor is an Indianapolis law firm focusing on business law, information technology law (including SaaS law and legal technology consulting), private equity consulting, and business litigation.
Posted by: Nathan on Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Couldn't agree more. Keep things simple and focused. It's better for everybody.
Posted by: Kristian Andersen on Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Well said! "Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away." - Antoine de Saint-Exupery www.kaplusa.com/blog
Posted by: Chris Baggott on Thursday, May 7, 2009
Well since I can't compete with KA on French Philosophers, :-) here is one from John Chambers that sums it up: "The most critical thing i think most business leaders and future business leaders need to understand is to stay focused on the things that you can control and influence, and then: Execute Execute Execute"