Intentionally - The Education of Sean Johnson

September 29, 2005

Visited Rollyo this morning. It's basically Yahoo! Search results, filtered to only include results from sites you trust. You can create your own 'searchroll,' check out others, etc.

Another great example of a group of smart people seeing an opportunity, build a beta version of a simply, easy-to-use web app, and work with their growing community to make it better. I love this trend - it's not about trying to sell something as perfect, or about trying to build expectations that you eventually fail to live up to (the method far too many companies make in trying to grow their businesses.)

There's a feeling of honesty, of transparency behind the whole thing. It's as if the company is saying, "Here's our idea. It's new, it's rough, there's probably a lot wrong with it. There are probably dozens of things we can do to make it better. Take a look, use it if you want. If you like it, help us improve it."

I'm not sure if the methodology transfers to the offline world, but it represents a refreshing, very human approach to conducting business and building relationships.

What's the opportunity sitting underneath your nose? How would you go about bringing such an idea to the world?

September 28, 2005

What in the world is this? My German is rusty, but the last frame says something like "The safest cars in the world come from France."

I'm not a car person, but I'd be curious if this makes car people want a Renault...

September 27, 2005

A brilliant woman brought this to my attention this morning...

The recent issue of Forbes had a feature on the richest men and women in the world. Not too many surprises, but get a load of this: the majority of individuals on the list didn't have a college degree.

I don't think this says that the education system turns out mediocre businesspeople. I do, however, think that this speaks to the fact that an entrepreneur has a radically different mindset than the general population.

From an early age, we're spoonfed that we're to 'go to work, get good grades so we can get a nice job.' Seems like sound logic, and yet the people who tend to 'make it' in this world often ignore this advice. They choose the school of real life, full of fear and failure and dissapointment...and eventually, success.

Makes you wonder - what assumptions do you make about the way the world works, about what it takes to be successful? What if your assumptions are wrong?

September 25, 2005

Buzzmarketing by Mark Hughes

Finishing up reading Buzzmarketing by Mark Hughes. It's a fantastic, quick read, full of examples from companies large and small who've successfully built word-of-mouth in a systematic way. The great thing about it is that it moves beyond theory (we all know that WOM is the perfect mechanism for growing a business,) and gets into practical application. You may not be able to get on Letterman a month after reading it, but it will surely get your mind working.

Take a look the next time you're at the bookstore.

September 16, 2005

Had a meeting at TCU yesterday. The school's mission is to prepare students to be leaders in the global community, and they mean it. They encourage their students to experience anything and everything life has to offer, and as a result the vast majority of their students participate in fantastic internships, join numerous student groups, study abroad, master a foreign language. Their students are articulate, cultured, intelligent, and are truly ready to take over the world.

Not enough companies and organizations have a strong enough mission. Mission is something that gets thrown around in business school almost ad naseum. But for most companies - most people - the mission is lifeless. They realize that the true mission of the company is to make the owners or shareholders as much money as possible. It rarely gets beyond that.

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