Alexander Horré

"The biggest mistake in projects is confusing ‘getting started’ with ‘start..."

Thu, 24 May 2012 12:49:44 +0100

“The biggest mistake in projects is confusing ‘getting started’ with ‘start coding.’”

- Drew McManus, Pivotal Labs Lecture

"There goes the guy with the funky sound."

Fri, 11 May 2012 11:39:30 +0100

“There goes the guy with the funky sound.”

- Beastie Boys

"Revenue is a beta feature"

Tue, 08 May 2012 13:48:37 +0100

“Revenue is a beta feature”

- Ted Roden

"Only when the design fails does it draw attention to itself; when it succeeds, it’s invisible."

Mon, 07 May 2012 16:04:46 +0100

“Only when the design fails does it draw attention to itself; when it succeeds, it’s invisible.”

- John D. Berry

"Collaboration without commitment is just talking."

Sat, 05 May 2012 14:55:00 +0100

“Collaboration without commitment is just talking.”

- Neil Denny, Do Lectures

"You don’t have to do it first, you just have to do it right."

Thu, 03 May 2012 08:20:01 +0100

“You don’t have to do it first, you just have to do it right.”

- Jack Dorsey

"A million guys walk in to a Silicon Valley bar. None of them buy anything. The bar is declared a..."

Tue, 01 May 2012 15:59:15 +0100

“A million guys walk in to a Silicon Valley bar. None of them buy anything. The bar is declared a rousing success.”

- Quora

"You can converge a toaster and a refrigerator, but those things are probably not going to be..."

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 10:18:19 +0100

“You can converge a toaster and a refrigerator, but those things are probably not going to be pleasing to the user.”

- Tim Cook, Apple

DIBI in one slide My review of DIBI is this slide by @seb_ly summing up what DIBI was all about....

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 16:42:00 +0100

DIBI in one slide

My review of DIBI is this slide by @seb_ly summing up what DIBI was all about. Every talk had this theme involved at some degree or level. The middle for us all is where creativity is and we should all strive to reach that synthesis.

You wanted to talk about business in the North East? Yesterday I spent a few hours sitting around a...

Sat, 14 Apr 2012 17:24:00 +0100

You wanted to talk about business in the North East?

Yesterday I spent a few hours sitting around a table of thinkers and doers. We were invited by Simon Hanson, working for the Federation of Small Businesses to meet MP Ian Wright, to talk about business prosperity for the North East. I met Simon at a Codeworks Event and then another time during a NENT talk of mine.

I also had the pleasure of being accompanied by Tristan Watson, Paul Rawlings, Rob Mathieson, Richard Exley, Diane Gates and Michael Dunn, plus more. The member of Newcastle City Council whom attended didn’t have much to say—I didn’t even get a name, after three hours. But let’s get to the important stuff.

A lot was said and nearing the end a sense of unity became apparent around an understanding of unification regarding funding, leadership, city and transportation infrastructure, and the union of better education and hiring. We even started muttering a pretty good marketing slogan: “Have a go in the North East.”

We agreed that transport must be easier by plane or train to get to London and elsewhere because otherwise we’re cut off and it’s simply too expensive for us not to mention the other way around. Stop city councils fighting each other and work together for once. Stop whoring companies to fill your empty office buildings. Start working with universities and tell them what you need. Lots of talent goes overseas because there are no student visas yet the universities keep filling their coffers with overseas students. The ones that do stay only get promoted the Graduate Schemes for London companies. See the problem?

However, to me, something more concrete and direct is needed and it starts with one swooping realistion: Stop right now. Stop trying to be something you’re not. Stop attempting to copy Silicon Valley. Silicon Valley, or should I say “Silicon Pennisula” with the inclusion of San Francisco is a melting pot of everything that England’s regionalism since the dawn of time can’t match.

Dr. Exley took a nice jab at this with his perspective on instrastructure and population: the base of our [North East of England] pyramid is too small to copy the larger likes of London or Berlin.

I know in the past, working with output forms, the word that should be known as a swear word from now on is the government’s use of ‘High Growth’ businesses due to a itch to put more Sage FTSE100 large businesses on the chopping blocks. This mentality has to stop. Building large business parks sprawled out in the wrong locations which remain empty since I’ve been here for five years is ludacris. For every Sage success you have BT who just left—the jobs go with it. Stop trying to attract large companies and allow SMEs to become large companies.

How? So what’s the solution? Maximise what you’re good at. I mentioned if Ian wanted a case study better than printing the keyword Silicon Valley from Google than you best look no further than Boulder, Colorado. What makes talented people leave New York and San Francisco to live in Boulder? Tech Stars. A startup incubator trained with funding, resources, mentoring, and direct access to higher education. You want to reboot? It’s Boulder, Colarado. A small city, like Newcastle, that competes with San Francisco just fine because it maximises what it does well—incubation of talent and this talent starts companies that can given the chance to be high growth.

The funding going into the North East region should target the creation of a ‘Startup Academy’ that recruits, promotes, houses, mentors, and dare I say incubates the manufacturing of startups. We have low cost expenses and provide more access to funding outside of London in the UK. Stop with the jabs and go for a precise, laser beam of an upper cut. Knock out punch.

Inject this knockout into projects like Ignite 100 where you’re not just letting 10 startups have at it. You’re bringing in 25 to 50 one after another and then injecting them into the local cities with offices and commerce as a byproduct results. There’s a reason why it’s called the ‘Invisible Hand.’ Founders with ideas, with passion to hire, with an infrastructure to become that high growth business can not only grow the North East but lure London to visit for a change. Guess what? You’ll fill up those offices sitting there for years, empty.

When you decide to do what you’re good at suddenly your policies are truthful and your execution is a laser beam. The Government talks about entrepreneurship is in all of us—then have at it. Don’t spray and pray funds away down the toilet to individuals where the current policies kicks them off a cliff with a shoebox of an idea and expect them to grow wings with zero support. Put the money into a gigantic startup academy and flick the switch to on–watch the tide of talent roar into the city centre and prevailing areas all chanting “We’re the North East.” We’re not Digital City. We’re not Science City. We’re not Software City.”

“We’re the North East. Have a go.”

Because as it stands right now I see more and more founders and business owners in the digital sector standing outside on the curb all lined up not beause they’re out of jobs. They’re holding signs up for anyone to see: we’re hiring. But not one is coming. Designers, developers, everyone with a talent to perform can find work if only someone was there that listened with a sense of observation: when a rock breaks a window, replace the window. Don’t go off and build another building.

"Our goals are very simple — to design and make better products. If we can’t make something that is..."

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 18:59:49 +0000

“Our goals are very simple — to design and make better products. If we can’t make something that is better, we won’t do it.”

- Sir Jonny Ive of Apple

"Work on stuff that matters. Work on stuff that you’ll look back on and be proud of."

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 18:20:33 +0000

“Work on stuff that matters. Work on stuff that you’ll look back on and be proud of.”

- Tim O’Reilly at SxSW

"I don’t think it took us so long. We just had priorities. Had we tried to be both on Android and..."

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 07:58:47 +0000

“I don’t think it took us so long. We just had priorities. Had we tried to be both on Android and iPhone at the same time, it would’ve been tough to innovate in the way that we have.”

- Kevin of Instagram

"Solve a real pain point, and don’t be afraid to charge for it."

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 15:08:00 +0000

“Solve a real pain point, and don’t be afraid to charge for it.”

- Danny When, co-founder of Harvest

"The best ideas are just on the right side of impossible. I don’t know if this one is possible,..."

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 17:17:18 +0000

“The best ideas are just on the right side of impossible. I don’t know if this one is possible, but there are signs it might be.”

- Paul Graham

"“The actual customer has a completely different mindset than the early adopter” &..."

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 16:05:00 +0000

“

“The actual customer has a completely different mindset than the early adopter” & “you will be embarrassed by version 1” #LeanStartup #sxsw
— Anthony Fontana (@anthonyfontana) March 10, 2012

“Failure is not about taking too much risk. It’s about building the wrong thing” #leanstartup
— Anna Dahlström (@annadahlstrom) March 9, 2012

Awesome Ogilvy Notes version of my #SXSW talk. twitter.com/ericries/statu…
— Eric Ries (@ericries) March 10, 2012

”

- SxSW with Eric Ries

"@ethank hah. startup plan: find something with 200 buttons and replace it with something that..."

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 11:27:00 +0000

“

@ethank hah. startup plan: find something with 200 buttons and replace it with something that doesn’t have 200 buttons.
— Johnnie Manzari (@johnnie) March 5, 2012

”

Two sweet months with the Larderbox The startup entrepreneur Tristan Watson put together a product...

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 16:01:00 +0000

Two sweet months with the Larderbox

The startup entrepreneur Tristan Watson put together a product with amazing potential. It’s called the Larderbox. A subscription model where Love Your Larder , his company, goes out and selects four to five items you’d normally never think to buy and delivers it to your door the first Thursday of the month. That’s it. So how’s it been so far for me? Sweet.

The first box: The chocolate mix blew my mouth off. The popcorn lasted minutes. The honey and vinegar took my homemade whipped cream and sauces to the stratosphere. The mixed spice mixed with honey was a great addition to some pork medallions. The thyme is growing in my windowsill, albeit slowly. Call me Farmer Alex.

The second box: The earl grey tea blew my socks off. I want to drink this tea before I drink my coffee. That’s never happened. Just last night I fried up some steaks with the rapeseed oil. Did you know rapeseed oil burns at a higher temperature? Simply put your steaks are without a doubt always medium rare. The Moroccan spice was added to yogurt for a chip dip. Thank you that was delicious.

What makes the Larderbox so special is that I’m personally receiving items each month I’d never really buy. Too much choice on the shelves prevents me from buying these items myself in the first place. What do I discover first? Larderbox fixes this problem by saying this item is good—try it. Each time I open this damn box I begin searching Google for things to do with them. I’ve begun educating myself.

Educating customers should be the Larderbox’s ultimate goal. The items are the vehicle for folks to learn more about great food products we’d never buy most likely, allowing us to feel like and surely become experts. This item goes with this and this for this reason and this if you’re doing something special. We as consumers feel special and share this with our friends. I recommend pushing the #larderbox hashtag to get other subscribers sharing their experiences. Rapeseed oil anyone?

Educated customers suddenly want to continue learning more since the experience so far has answered the “is it worth any value” ages ago. Now that Larderbox has me I want to have lock-in. Where’s the redemption loop? The last week of the month before the next Larderbox, send me an email with a long tail of items from the Larderbox to click and purchase from Love Your Larder. You can even point to related items, and these Larderbox members also bought this item. You can even point to items that didn’t make the Larderbox for one reason or another.

Use Larderbox to halo me into your existing website of distributed product partners by locking me into a convenience model. I now know I can get some of these items I’ve experienced at local stores, but do they have it in stock? I don’t have to worry because I’m already with Larderbox. You have my bank account. Let me tick a box and not have to worry about whether or not the local Waitrose has the product I want, a product I discovered using Love Your Larder.

Lock me in Tristan. Take my fracking money.

http://www.thelarderbox.com/

@alexhorre “halo me into your existing website of distributed product partners” use English man not Hipster ;)
— Kieron Donoghue (@kierondonoghue) March 4, 2012

Get a clue from history Reading the news about Apple having difficulty securing acceptance from...

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 16:21:55 +0000

Get a clue from history

Reading the news about Apple having difficulty securing acceptance from media companies about content distribution on Apple’s upcoming Apple TV juggernaught is somewhat humorous. If you just look back at something called history you should all be laughing right now.

Apple is very good at something called the halo effect in business. You garner attention around one product’s success. When its second iteration comes along you then begin marketing it alongside a complimentary product saying together these will make your product even more enjoyable. What happened?

iPod and iTunes
iPod and MacBook
Macbook to Macbook Pros
iPod to iPhone
iPhone using iTunes on a MacBook Air
iPad explosion
iPad with iTunes syncing to your iPhone
iPad airplay with your Apple TV
iCloud and iTunes
Any iTunes content has free storage on iCloud
See where I am going here?
App store downloads of Lion
MacBook Airs are outselling MacBooks
iPads are outselling MacBook Airs
There are no physical discs
More time is spent on the computer than a TV
MacBook Pro with no DVDs will launch
No one can play their DVDs
Media cow cash is mortally wounded
Media rushes to promote streaming services
iTunes has lock in with the biggest credit-card holding user base
Oh crap.

Get a clue.

Never let anyone confuse you otherwise I was at TEDxGateshead yesterday. The quality of talks...

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 11:55:00 +0000

Never let anyone confuse you otherwise

I was at TEDxGateshead yesterday. The quality of talks always surprise me. Consistently TED delivers talks that get to the heart of the matter that make you think and trigger constructive and creative thinking. Two quotes from two talks stuck with me.

Small teams with passion and strong focus can do anything.

If you remove the fear of failure the impossible suddenly becomes possible.

When you’re with a team building a product there’s a great chance your idea is simple. A lot of products out there are simple ideas. Venture Capitalists and entrepreneurs call this the ‘low hanging fruit.’ You build the same presentation of the same idea only with new execution. Lots of startups building products that are simple in this regard can reap success.

But sometimes your with a team building a product that isn’t a simple idea. There are too many market barriers to entry that must be removed or avoided. If you’re a smart cookie and did your PESTEL and introduced a Risk Register in your agile planning, these barriers simply become a game of chess, but perfection is paralysis. You as a team have to introduce iteratively towards constructing a truer product.

Products like Pinterest started in March 2009 in private beta. It’s now 2012 and it’s still in beta. But Pinterest’s true product isn’t photo pinning, just like Instagram’s isn’t about taking photos. It’s about the ecosystem of visual language that is the product and how such a system can monetise itself without eroding its principles. When you have millions in funding big visions grow quickly.

Lots of people fear this sort of path to product development. It takes guts. It takes more passion. It takes a Yoda-like body of armour to keep yourself from giving up. It takes attitude to not let others confuse you. It takes the removal of fear and the immensity that joy brings when folks get it and join you. Small teams with a focus to deliver something that can indeed change the world right beside them. No matter how interesting an app like Path is, it’s not changing the world. A faster horse was suddenly a car. A better radio was suddenly a television. A speaker at TED from DARPA said: It’s not about Mach 10 anymore. It’s about Mach 20. Like Facebook is realising now: It’s not about social sharing anymore . It’s about storytelling. Context redefines how users behave and perceive the solution to a problem.

Products are relative and context is critical towards priming a user of a product’s ultimate goal, when the idea isn’t simple like sharing a photo, to build an ecosystem. Twitter wasn’t an Interest Network like it is now. It iterated into its product because what it was wasn’t a simple product. Don’t confuse technical solution of a 140 characters as product. A product solves a solution when there is a problem. When Twitter launched it was baffled and ridiculed: I have instant messaging, texting and email. Where’s the product? Twitter needed to build an ecosystem based on Metcalf’s Law to survive. It became a product.

Don’t confuse the success of others as the pathway to your success. Products being relative mean you’re building an answer to a different problem than another’s product. The context you’re constructing to give your product a premise and future can be big or small. The bigger it is the more daunting it is. Those who take the longer road charting out the bigger context and challenges to surmounting monumentous uphill battles can very well cross paths with those exploring the lower altitudes—their context takes them only so high. People may question your resolve: “Why are you carrying so much gear? It’s not needed down here.” People who don’t fear failure will continue the climb higher. Everest isn’t a mountain. It’s the highest summit on Earth.