The new currency & the new gold reserve in the Sharing Economy

A new survey reveals:

Customer experience will overtake the product and pricing as a key brand differentiator. ( I am not saying so to promote my book on Customer Experience in times of social media “The Bread is moving”. Check the source of the survey here.)

Many enterprises are either not yet aware about the customer experience or they have other priorities than working on to create a customer experience focused organisation.

But a few statistics will awake the decision makers and people responsible for P & L A/C. Read more...

SIGH of an Entrepreneur

You started your enterprise to serve your customers with your skill and passion. However in the process you need to manage people, policies, processes , acquisition, various regulatory compliance and many other things apart from serving customers.  Managing the management of business is Herculean task. It is this task which is the major culprit in diluting and shifting focus from customer experience.

Yesterday I was with one senior doctor managing her own clinic. With deep sigh she uttered " I am tired. Managing patients is fine but its the other things about practice that is too tiring. " I think most entrepreneurs in their entrepreneurial journey must be going through this SIGH.

It is important for entrepreneur to remain deeply focused on customers and delegate all peripheral activities of " Management " to others. It is the customers and only serving customers is the objective of the business and who are going to pay for the business to survive  All other money are debt and at cost. Customers money is adding to the networth. 

Before you lose sight of customers while managing MANAGEMENT part, its time to wake up and get a grip of what you always wanted to do - SERVING the CUSTOMERS and in the process making them RAVING FANS of your business.

Who R Your ADVISORS??? Everyone needs not One but MANY.

I have three personal advisors:

1) Technology for Me - My Son ( Age: Late Teen )

2) My Fashion and Entertainment - My Daughter ( Age: Early Teen )

3) My Diet and Fitness - My Wife ( Well,  Fitness Guru )

I am thinking that what (all the 3 areas) I used to handle once upon a time, I was having latest updates on the subjects is NOW not within my domain!!!

This applies to everyone in life be it individual or entrepreneurs. Tom Peter in his one of the books (Circle of Innovation)  a decade back had written that if yr IT dept has no one in the age of Teen , yr are soon going to be obsolete.

As a successful entrepreneur ( With I know Everything Bug/EGO )  if One is not investing in the start up business started by people in their teens and twenties & if one is  not surrounded by various critical domain experts, hie/her business OBITUARY is in the making.

To make 2011 Happier, take decisions which U have never taken out of fear /EGO or any such emotions or U thought U dont need to.

Wake Up to the new realities of 21st Century.  Decade No. 2.

Ideas @ IIT Mumbai Eureka 2010

Wow!! Young Indian r bubbling with Gr8 Ideas. Exciting FUTURE. 

What I learned ; 

1) About site www.foursquare.com

2) How Japanese Magnetic Rail Works?

3) Robotics & School Syllabus

What I Shared:

1) Dont rush for VC Money. Act Frugal and manage with money from known circle.Reasons: Entrepreneurs get flexibiity and dont sale cheap.
2) Take idea to next level. Atleast some prototype or some market traction.
3)  Have some road map to follow, it should be as detailed as possible.
4) Have team with complementary skills and allocate area of accountability.
5) Have simple business model of present problem area. Initial complexity may prove non starter.

Ideas are in plenty , Making it happen is the real challenge. 

All the best to all entrepreneurs and people with gr8 ideas for Making it Happen.

Movie Script & Business Script

Seen SLB's Master Piece movie GUZARISH last week. Wow - Master ART!! 

Movie making encapsulates all forms of ART. SLB has taste of creating MASTER PIECE in all forms of ART in one single movie. amazing Story, screen play, acting, music,songs,costume ,back ground sets, star selection , dialogues , every scene & every  screen , in all every other aspects meticulously thought of , planned and executed.

I wonder HOW Movie Making is different from Setting up an Enterprise or Designing Memorable Customer Experience!!! No Way.

From Script to Complete Movie from no where. From Business Plan to Running Business from no where. Movie however is tougher as unlike business there no scope for improvement post customer feedback/market response.

Therefore every thing is planned and visualized before even camera action starts. Attitude of lets go to market and we improve can not work here. That is the learning. We have entrepreneurs in a hurry to go to market, speed up and mess up on many aspects. You have your own share of learning when you touch the market but there shall not be shallow thinking at planning stage.  Nano Car learns from market reality but there must be huge thought process under gone into design and manufacturing of the Nano Car.

Be it making a master Piece Movie or setting up an enterprise or Designing Delightful Customer Experience - Its an ART ,ART to Change life of who experiences it.   

 

Meeting Young Entrepreneurs @ IIT Mumbai

Entrepreneurship Cell at IIT Mumbai has invited me at their Mentoring Session on 11th Dec.

Getting in to IIT is a Dream come True. Few lacs appears and few thousand qualify. Great sense of achievement. (Unlike CA Course, entry here is difficult where as in CA course exit is difficult.)

However getting in to the IIT (Or IIM) is the beginning or the first step. Life begins when U r out of the Inys. What U do with IIT degrees matters. One CAUTION when one is from IIT, HUGE EeeeGooo. (Naturally)

Technology matters but!!!!! in the world of entrepreneurship again it is the FIRST qualifier. Success depends on Marketing and Financial Results technology brings. If not then Technology has no valve. Microsoft , a successful technology company but more than that smart marketing company with fantastic financial results.

IITians many a time believe and focus so much on technology that they ignore importance of the other 2 important business functions.  If U r in JOB then fine , other expertise are available with the company but when U r acting as an entrepreneur, one need to not only learn and acquire marketing and financial talents but also respect the importance of the same.

Technology plus Marketing Plus Finance plus Social Impact makes a successful enterprise. Look forward to meet many young IITians and come back with much more insights to share. Cheers.