Over 200 independent consultants in 16 countries…

helping companies get from here to there

www.fast-bridge.com

Who am I to talk about Speed ?

10 Start-ups, 6 countries, 8 wins, 1 loss, 1 I am trying to

figure out

Professor new product marketing (KU Leuven) and

Entrepreneurship (Solvay)

Fast Bridge: I didn't have a good business idea, so I

decided to help others

▫ A network of +/- 200 people that want to help start-ups

▫ I see lot's of business plans and hopeful entrepreneurs

▫ We work with about 1 in 40

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10/31/2013

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Pick a direction Be committed to your ideas Get cash now Get partners you can trust Make sure you are first Go as fast as you can Do more and more

And success will follow…

What you’d expect me to say about speed ..

“If things seem under control, you’re just not going fast enough.” —Mario Andretti

Wrong ....

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These are comfortable, logical ideas

and what we have been taught….

But, they are not the whole story

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Focus on needs, keep your options open

Myth:

Pick a direction and stick to it.

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Needs first, not ideas first !

Develop a solution

Find a need Find a market Ideas First

Success Rate*

5-10%

Find a need Develop a solution

Find a market Needs First

70 %

* According to Strategyn research on outcome driven innovation…

A test... Who are these companies

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personal podcasting and sharing audio content

Answers…

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personal podcasting and sharing audio content

Paypal

Facebook

Flickr

Twitter

“If people are not buying they are not stupid… they might not want what you’re selling.”

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Don’t drink the Koolaid

Myth: Be committed to your ideas

The biggest 2 mistakes of Entrepreneurs/ Innovators

1. Investing in the wrong business

2. Staying too long in the wrong business.. (after you should know it is time to change…)

• Lots of products only a mother could love

• Think in terms of base rates: 9 out of 10

products fail

• Be prepared to be wrong (more than once)

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The big innovation Paradox

Whoever Makes the Most Mistakes Wins

Richard Farson & Ralph Keyes

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Costs per stage

Introduction 19

A checklist …

Talk to 20 people (that are not your friends)

If no one hates the idea, be scared

Ask people “if this fails” why would it fail (you’ll get a lot more information than asking what they think of the idea !)

Keep it simple … check do people really understand

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Stay lean, until your business model is proven

Myth:

Get cash now

You lose money

Lessons learned (the hard way)

• Way too much time spent

looking for cash

• Fail fast, fail cheap

• Go for cheap and easy on

the cash, prove your

business then cash will come

to you

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Failure is easy !!! Are you spending more time looking for money than building your business model

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Learn to trust almost everyone

Myth:

Get partners you can trust

The facts...

• Ideas are cheap

• Original ideas are rare

• Great ideas are built through friction

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A question:

Is there any idea someone

hasn’t talked about on the Internet

(If they haven’t talked about yours be scared… )

Innovation = Size ^ power value

Power value

Cities Companies

1.3 0.7

Innovation output

1 100% 100%

Size 5 690% 309%

25 4759% 952%

Innovation per person

1 100% 100%

Size 5 138% 62%

25 190% 38%

Source: Geoffrey West: The surprising math of cities and corporations

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The Power Laws of Innovation

As cities grow and contact increases… innovation increases (25 X bigger = 2X more innovative) Why: contact increases … As companies get bigger and have more resources… innovation falls (25 X bigger = 60% less innovative ) Why: contact decreases

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Imagine this…

BMW has some of the best designers in the world and sells their designers by the day below cost

Why: to build creativity…

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Fast seconds are also a viable option

Myth:

Make sure you are first

The glory of fast seconds …

• A fast second lets other companies innovate and

experiment to create new market.

• Entry just as the dominant design is about to emerge,

helps create dominant design, and uses its [size] position

to capture the market

• Famous fast seconds

– Desktop printers (HP)

– Disposable diapers (Pampers)

– Discount shopping (Walmart)

– Search (Google)…

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Build in pauses and time to reflect

Myth: Go as fast as you can

Operational speed vs. strategic speed

• A study by Economist intelligence unit 312

companies

▫ Go, go, go

▫ Companies that paused at strategic moments

▫ 40% higher sales, 52% higher profits

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6

Build in tripwires to stop and think

• Set up times for decisions • Define how you will be decision before the time

comes... (1000 sales might be great, but not if you predicted 25,000)

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A detailed contract for companies setting up the installations Buried deep “M&Ms, but no brown ones” If they found a brown M&M they wouldn’t play

Do less to do more (write a do not do list)

Myth:

Do more and more

The productivity Paradox

• Even good people, spend most their time doing

the wrong things or things wrong

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Right thing Right thing

Done wrong Done Right

Wrong thing Wrong thing

Done wrong Done Right

“With so many things to do and so many great ideas… what we decide not to do is infinitely more important than what we decide to do”

– Steve Jobs

Research on innovation

211 companies

Worst Avg Best Top vs. bottom

% of revenues from new products 17% 28% 47% 2.76

% of profits from new products 11% 25% 44% 4.17

% of products that meet profit targets 43% 48% 66% 1.53

Go / Kill criteria set up front 26% 57% 85% 3.28

Decisions are objective / fast based 15% 42% 57% 3.85

Decisions are made in review meetings 26% 51% 60% 2.32

Cooper, Robert G. "Perspective: The Stage‐Gate® Idea‐to‐Launch Process Update, What's New, and NexGen Systems*." Journal of Product Innovation Management 25.3 (2008): 213-232.

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Summary

Pick a direction Focus on needs, keep your options open

Be committed to your ideas Don't drink the koolaid

Get cash now Stay lean, until your business model is proven

Get partners you can trust Learn to trust almost everyone

Make sure you are first Fast Seconds are a not bad

Go as fast as you can Take some time to think

Do more and more Do less to do more (write a do not do list)

And success will follow...

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Case:

Sophie’s Shopping Club vs.

Consodata

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Data

Providing/ Use

Data

Acquisition

Data

Management

The Belgian Context

Stop, please stop thinking about Belgium as a market

Find some one you can fight

Stop thinking about doing it alone

Get out of the office, belly to belly with10 people per week

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Discussion:

A live case, Nomadesk

Nomadesk is a leading provider of file sharing, storage and synchronization software that enables users to access, share, synchronize and safeguard files from any location, whether online or offline.

There were the first and might still be the best

Not even identified as an alternative ! On 9 of 10 sites

Interview with CEO

Mobile user and nomadic professional Work with / without 100% internet access Better file security

Not cloud But seen As cloud

Discussion

• What would you do if you were Nomadesk now ?

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My thoughts

Guidelines Your thoughts

Focus on needs, keep

your options open

Is all about unlimited and security

Don't drink the koolaid Say we're like XXX, but better in

the following ways

Stay lean, until your

business model is

proven

Develop and test alternative

business models...

Learn to trust almost

everyone

Work with 4-5 of the smaller

companies in the same space

Fast Seconds are a not

bad

Change the dialogue, make

dropboxes strengths weakness

Take some time to think Set up tripwire and real market

tests

Do less to do more (write

a do not do list)

Cut away from 80% of work

being done now (eg no

consumer)

Key take aways…

• Don't go for speed before you have a business

model

• Don't grow so fast you can't follow

• Don't grow just to grow

• Don't worry too much about being second

• Stop thinking about “Belgium” as a market unless

it is really the market..

But when you have it right, go, go , go ...

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Thank you

Bryan Cassady bryan@fast-bridge.com

+32-475-860-757

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