Startup Revolution

Music For Startups
Listening to Simon Sinek read Start With Why during my drive to the James Cancer Center in Columbus it struck me that this book may be more important for startups than Eric Ries' Lean Startup.

I'll use our founding of Curagami as an example. Had I read Sinek's book before reading Ries I would have altered my startup's (http://www.Curagami.com ) process. We jumped right into the HOW and WHAT of the company giving up our WHY much too easily.

This means more WHY work was required. A company''s WHY, the reason it exists, needs to inform everything from strategy and tactics (it's HOW and What) to who the company hires. Sinek notes how companies with clear WHYs such as Southwest and Apple KNOW WHO TO HIRE.

He discusses something called The Celery Test. Imagine you are at a party and four people suggest products your new company should sell:

* M&M's.
* Rice Milk.
* Oreos.
* Celery.

You follow your friends' advice and buy all of those items in order to do market research. Someone observing your checkout wouldn't know what YOU or by extension your company was after. Now imagine your WHY is to create a company that promotes health.

Instantly we know your visit to the grocery store will only include 2 of the four products. Your WHY defines the boundaries needed to focus your research. Your WHY informs or should inform every aspect of what you do.

Sinek's ideas are so clear and consistent with Curagami's vision we will be sharing more details about the collision of favorite ideas (Gladwell''s Tipping Point, Moore's Chasm and Kim's Blue Oceans) soon. If you are creating or thinking about creating a new company read Start With Why AND The Lean Startup.

Know thyself is great Internet marketing advice and this post helps explain how to define your Unique Selling Propositions and Unique Customer Aspirations.

UCA is the startups secret weapon. When you are aligned to UCA your startup scales. When your ideas are out of alignment or not communicated well (been there, done that) your startup doesn't scale.

Wrote this piece for Atlantic BT during my tenure as Marketing Director.