To Innovate For Others We Must Innovate Ourselves

When I started Rockhill Strategic, the mission was to provide world-class marketing ideas to clients who value beating their competition with smarter thinking, not more spending. Luckily a lot of companies share that philosophy. Thus, it is still the center of our brand vision. 

The key to success with this strategy is to know where your consumer will be at various points of time in the future. Knowing your former customer and your current customer is important, but not nearly as important as reading the demographic and trend 'tea leaves' and making a plan to adapt.

Deciphering trends for clients requires a lot of research, daily observation and a knowledge of demographics. Then the science is balanced out by the art of naming, branding and creative. In the course of daily client work, you start to also observe missed opportunities. Unexplored gaps in the marketplace. These new ideas frequently find there way into my Moleskine notebook. Random notes, incomplete ideas and sketches. Hundreds of them. I am sure some are good, and some our terrible. 

Now to the point of this post. I have decided that it is time to start picking a few of these ideas and developing them for market. Yes, Rockhill is launching an Innovation Lab. We are starting small with one project. If successful, it will propel the creation of more consumer ready products and projects. At the best, we launch some great products that people love. At the worst? It makes us smarter and stronger for our clients. We are continuing to develop relationships with great innovation centers like DigitalSandBox, the Kauffman Foundation, SparkLabKC and Tumml. We are excited to learn and grow. 

So without further ado, we give you NeighborsGrow. 

More will be revealed as we move to beta.

Until then, please follow the NeighborsGrow Team on Twitter

at @NeighborsGrow and sign-up for the beta here. 

      

Creating America's Most Entrepreneurial City

This past year the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce rolled out their Big 5 Ideas for improving the Kansas City Region and making it great. One of those "big ideas" is the bold goal of making Kansas City "America's Most Entrepreneurial City." To advance that vision, they appointed a committee headed by Peter DeSilva, CEO of UMB Financial. Mr. DeSilva has organized a series of Community Conversations, comprised of small business owners, academics, educators, corporate executives and more to discuss and form some tangible plans for achieving the goal.

Recently I attended one of these sessions and came away impressed. Many of the same old ideas and challenges were bandied about of course. But between the 90% of same, there were some new and exciting ideas. One of the ideas that came from the team I was on sought to look at barriers to entrepreneurship from a different perspective. We chose to look at it from a human perspective. Think about the life of an entrepreneur outside of their business plan. From this the beginning of a big idea was formed. The Entrepreneur's Safety Net idea seeks to remove barriers that make founding a start-up, growing a new company and even selling and starting over possible.  

Hopefully, these ideas will be added to the well of ideas that come from these sessions. They will grow, evolve and become something great and meaningful for current, and future, innovators in our region. I simply left too inspired by these ideas to just sit and wait for the larger committee to take them on. I felt starting a virtual dialogue might help. 

Thus, you have the forming ideas of the the Entrepreneur Safety Net Program

1. Healthcare

Creation of a community-based healthcare program that is portable and affordable for small businesses and individuals. It could be portable and consistent, as individuals change employment status or even employers within the region. It would be preventative-based and use technology to keep costs low. Cerner as a global leader in healthcare technology should play a leading role in creating a regional healthcare program. Ideally there would also be a shared pool created were the business community could help to subsidize healthcare for some start-ups while in their early launch phase and they would contribute back to the pool as they grow. 

2. Childcare

Much like healthcare, childcare is a major barrier to many small innovators. Kansas City is known as a great community to raise a family, but the childcare network is sporadic and expensive. Using the model of the larger corporations and universities that have created their own highly successful childcare centers, we would propose a civic network of childcare centers that are designed to accommodate the children of the creative class and the start-up business owner. Flexible hours, tiered cost structure, community activities and more. 

3. Advanced Entrepreneur Education

One of Kansas City's great assets is how the city's non-profit organizations and universities have created exceptional programs for entrepreneurs. From the Kauffman Foundation and their FastTrac program, the Helzberg Entrepreneurial Mentoring Program, the various great university programs, such as the UMKC Bloch Business School and the Kansas City Art Institute; there is no lack of opportunity. There is however a problem with cohesion and selection. All of these educational programs need to create a clearinghouse and sharing program with the student in mind. What program or combination of programs are best for an individual? Then help that student craft a course of study that benefits them and sets them on the best path for building and growing a business in Kansas City.    

4. Primary Education

Like most mid-size and large American cities, Kansas City has a serious problem with urban education. Many other initiatives are underway to attempt to address the challenges facing our educational system and I wish them well. For improving entrepreneurship, we need to look at current realities, and how we can create a school (or school network) that appeals to those considering our city to start a business or are already here. These women and men are generally highly educated and creative and want to find great schools for their kids. Currently, they are limited. Why not create a "district" that spans state lines and district borders and focuses on creative high-quality education? Use the new Kauffman School as a basis, but for K-12 and not limited to the current Charter School constructs.       

5. Continuity of Resources (Entrepreneur Concierge)

This is perhaps the easiest one of the eight ideas to accomplish. All of the government entities need to put aside their differences and work with the local non-profits to create one simple gateway for all new business start-ups. The Area Development Council has had some success with this, but they are not conducive to the small start-up. There should be a singular point of contact throughout the entire life cycle of a company, regardless of the location in the metro or the type of business. Have one "concierge" that is there to assist and guide a business.  

Additionally, our region has several great small business incubators such as Office Port. What the region needs is an effort to connect and unify the incubator programs. Tie together and leverage resources across for-profit facilities and university facilities.   

6. Community-Based Venture Capital

We have one of the great philanthropic community funds in America. The Greater Kansas City Community Foundation currently administers over $1-billion in assets that benefit countless programs in the region. We also have several great venture capital funds in our region. The great missed opportunity is the creation of a community-based venture capital fund that is designed to support and fund early stage start-ups for the benefit of our community. A fund seeded by the philanthropists and local corporations and administered by a board of local leaders.  

7.  Start Up Neighborhood

All great cities known for innovation have one particular area or neighborhood especially known for the vibrancy of the entrepreneurial spirit. This becomes the hub from which the identity grows. Businesses may start in that area and then move to other areas within the region as their needs change. By designating and aligning assets to help create one key innovation hub, we will be able to better craft our message and story to the rest of the world. This benefit then spins off to the entire region. Creating an energetic center of innovation also reinforces the idea of the "Third Place" for individual interaction and idea exchange. Richard Florida does a great job explaining this in his book Who's Your City.   

Hopefully these thoughts will coalesce into something tangible. Perhaps they will spur new ideas, debate and perhaps even real action. I am excited to continue to be an entrepreneur, while also pushing this greater discussion of how we can create a true American Entrepreneurial City.

Now I want to hear from you. Please share this article and leave your thoughts on this first draft of ideas. I will edit and refine as we continue a virtual dialogue.

Thank you.






Article first published as Creating America's Most Entrepreneurial City on Technorati.

Entrepreneurs and The Cult of Stubbornness

Definition of Stubborn adj.\ˈstə-bərn\
1. Having or showing dogged determination not to change
one's attitude or position on something, esp.
in spite of good arguments or reasons to do so.2. Difficult to move, remove, or cure.
See also, 'Being a Dick.'  

I will admit that I am stubborn. From early childhood I was usually convinced that my way was the right way. My Lego airplane was perfect (even if it did have one wing twice as large as the other), my own special way of doing algebra was the right way, and so on. That carried over into adulthood, and on occasion, it still rears it's ugly head.

However, in advertising and design you need to let go of the ownership of ideas and realize that sharing, collaborating and refining a vision many times results in a much better outcome.
That is probably true in most life decisions, but for this post, I will limit it to simply my profession.
Over time, I came to the realization that letting go of my stubbornness, embracing new ideas and swallowing my pride in ideas usually led to more success.
That brings me to today's lesson kids.

MOST ENTREPRENEURS ARE STUBBORN S.O.Bs!  

In fact, the entrepreneurial community teaches and rewards stubbornness. It is a cultural problem as much as an individual problem. Institutions that breed founders of startups, the great MBA programs, the tech startups, the incubators and the entrepreneurial foundations ALL reward and admire stubbornness. They may mask it in business speak or call it a 'can do' attitude, but ultimately, it is stubbornness that hurts them.

Let me give you a recent example. While consulting with some of the most talented new entrepreneurs selected from over 1,100 applicants the number one refrain was "Your idea is the best." The second message was "Don't let anyone tell you it will fail." Waaaaaaay down the list of ideas taught where "listen to experts" and "value constructive criticism." So, what was the result?
Several of these fledgling start-ups eschewed expert advice on naming, branding, marketing, product array and market research. They were willing to stick to their idea even if the facts were stacked against them. They were unwilling to alter their idea even a bit.
Some even refused tens of thousands of dollars in free design and brand work provided by the non-profit in order to crowd source a logo from their own ideas. So what happens when the Cult of Stubbornness kicks in?

Invariably many of these stubborn entrepreneurs will succeed. The road may be tough and they may burn through a lot of good people, but they will probably succeed. Many will fail. Many would fail with great collaborative efforts. The belief however, that they succeeded by being stubborn is a fallacy. The institutions that teach and reward this stubbornness should instead instill in these entrepreneurs the value of collaborative work. They should teach them how to identify great talent. How to hire quality branding and advertising agencies. How to stick to the core idea that is their own, while collecting and sorting customer data and feedback to make it better.

Entrepreneurs that bring a great idea to the table and then bring the right partners on to refine it will have the best chance at success.
Great entrepreneurial institutions like the Kauffman Foundation could refine their message to benefit the entrepreneur and the great support network that is there to help them launch. VC firms should also insist on this before investing.

That is my stubborn idea. 

  

The Art & Science of the Startup

It seems that one of the hottest new trends is the attempt to define and compartmentalize the entrepreneur. To define how they are created, if they can indeed be created, who they know, how they were educated... on and on we go . I guess it is human nature to try and quantify then replicate the conditions that make a successful entrepreneur. I believe there are indeed some traits and experiences that can lead to success as an entrepreneur. There are also some pitfalls that lead to incredible failure, but more on that in a later post.

Having worked with a lot of entrepreneurs as clients, and with the leading entrepreneurial foundation, The Kauffman Foundation, it is my conclusion that there are some markers that help to define an entrepreneur. Those markers alone do not create success, however. You cannot crate a set path for individuals and expect the same outcome. Entrepreneurs are as diverse as the startups they create. They also need a level of support and guidance different from others. More on our work on that later as well.

Regardless of the value of determining the 'origins of entrepreneurs' our friends at LinkedIn have created a very nice summary of some of the markers that help us to define successful entrepreneurs. It is worth a look:

Sequencing the Startup DNA from LinkedIn

There is a link to a more detailed study at the bottom of the article.