Notes

Disrupt You!

Success in business depends on logic, not luck. Through constant reflection and redirection, entrepreneurs drive disruption across industries and around the world. They search for real problems, and sell solutions. Of course, not every idea they have is golden. But when these entrepreneurs do fail, they always fail forward – quickly scrapping bad business concepts, identifying new opportunities, and using data to improve their decision-making process.

Actionable advice:

Train your brain for success.

Every morning, take five minutes to visualize your goals coming to fruition. Not only will this exercise put you in a positive mindset – it’ll also bring you one step closer to success, mentally preparing you to build the future you’ve envisioned.
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When everybody’s looking right, look left.

In the early 1990s, computers were still fairly new. Countless entrepreneurs were competing in a race to monetize technological innovation. Who wound up winning, you might ask? The last person you’d expect. The first start-up to sell for $100 million during that era wasn’t a software or hardware company. It wasn’t launched by a coding connoisseur. In fact, its founder, Billy Myers, didn’t even know how to use a computer. And he didn’t need to. As a born entrepreneur, Billy drove disruption by straying from the status quo. While others waxed lyrical about processor speed or storage space, he took a completely fresh, left-field look at what was happening around him.

That’s when inspiration struck.

People were paying $2,000 for personal computers – but they didn’t have anything to protect their investments. Determined to change that, Billy began producing plastic dust covers for computer monitors, processing units, keyboards and other accessories. Ever used a mouse pad or floppy disc case? You can thank Billy for those inventions, too. These products cost him almost nothing to make. In an era of high-tech entrepreneurship, they were stupid-simple. But that didn’t matter. What did matter was that Billy was the first to identify a fledgling need. While everyone else was looking one way, he looked the other.

Wondering how you can achieve similar success? Fortunately, it’s not as difficult as it sounds. In fact, “eureka” ideas are fairly easy to come by – as long as you’re keeping your eyes and ears open.

To get your creativity flowing, the author suggests completing a daily exercise. Every morning, jot down three things you notice that could be improved about the world around you. For example, you might ask: Which processes are inefficient? How many products don’t work as well as they should? Is there anything I dread doing each day – and, if so, what invention might fix that? The exercise will be easy at first. But, over time, it will get progressively harder. And that will force you to pay even closer attention to your surroundings. If you ever find yourself avoiding the exercise, just remember: today’s observation could be tomorrow’s fortune. One idea is all it takes.
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Successful businesses sell solutions, not products.

What is a cell phone? No, this isn’t a question from Jeopardy – and yes, it does sound absurd. But don’t brush it off just yet. When you purchase a new cell phone, are you buying a palm-sized piece of metal? Or are you buying a way of connecting with people across the globe? Of course, the answer is obvious. You’re not purchasing a physical object, but rather the possibilities it unlocks. You’re buying the ability to call friends and family at any time. You’re investing in communication, community, and comfort – which are all far more valuable than just some metal and plastic.

That brings us to our next lesson: Successful businesses don’t sell products; they sell solutions. Take toothpaste, for example. Do people buy it over and over again because they love the product itself? No. They buy it because they love the solution to the problem of halitosis and tooth decay: minty-fresh breath and clean teeth. Following that same logic, the $1 billion GPS software company Waze doesn’t just offer drivers smart maps. Rather, it gives them time – minutes or even hours are saved by taking the quickest route from A to B. Look closely at any successful company, and you’ll see that they are mass-producers of solutions. For them, it’s never about the products as such, no matter how snazzy. It’s always about the promise of what those products can do. Mattress companies sell comfort. Skydiving companies sell adventure. Dating apps sell love.

So whether you’re pitching to investors or writing web copy for consumers, keep your company’s unique solutions front and center. They are your competitive advantage; they’re the reason people will keep coming back for more. And whatever you do, steer clear of nonexistent problems. Nobody wants to be sold sand in a desert. If you’re offering a solution to a problem that isn’t really there, you’ll have no customers, no profits – and, eventually, no business. Stay grounded in reality, and move on as soon as your company stops solving real problems for real people. For twenty-first century companies, constant innovation isn’t optional; it’s an organizational imperative. Businesses can either disrupt or be disrupted – take your pick.
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If the market doesn’t love your invention, you’ll never make money.

Of course, having a lightbulb moment is just the beginning. Upon closer inspection, many ideas – even “million-dollar” ones – aren’t so fantastic after all. That brings us to another valuable lesson: When something stinks, kick it to the curb. Once upon a time, there was a website called Tune In Hook Up. Ever heard of it? Didn’t think so. The site aimed to disrupt the world of online dating, but was a flop. While most dating sites featured images of prospective partners, this one showcased videos instead. The founders thought their idea would make millions. They were wrong. Turns out, consumers didn’t care about using videos for dating. However, data showed that they did love watching videos – just not in this context.

And so the site’s founders pivoted. They scrapped their original dating site concept and launched a free video-sharing platform. Its name? YouTube. After just one year in business, YouTube was acquired by Google for well over one and a half billion dollars – and the founders’ lives changed forever. This may sound like a one-in-a-million story. But flipped failures are more common than you might think. Successful entrepreneurs are masters of evolution, constantly iterating until they find something customers really need.

Take Instagram, for example. In 2010, it launched as a mobile check-in app. But before long, data showed that users were obsessing over one feature in particular: photo sharing. With that, the founders ditched their original concept and created the billion-dollar photo-sharing app we all know today.

The bottom line? As an entrepreneur, you need to drop bad business concepts – and fast.Many people are so keen on their original idea that they ignore red flags in an attempt to “make it work” – even when walking away and starting fresh would be the most sensible option. Successful entrepreneurs, on the other hand, know when to call it quits. Data has a permanent seat on their board of directors – and when it speaks, they listen. So next time emotion encroaches on logic, let data drive your decision-making process – or risk staying wed to a bad idea . . . till death do you part.