The Agile Scaleup

Trojan Horse; $12 million; What is Trust; June 2 Webinar

"...insights for scale-ups"

HEADLINES:

June 2 (2pm ET) Webinar -- I will be hosting the 4th of 5 Scaling Up webinars, this one focused on Execution, more details below, but first...

June 9 Bucharest, June 10 Amsterdam, June 12 Barcelona -- the European Growth Summits are coming up - faculty include Steve Martin, Ari Meisel, Alex Osterwalder, Alan Miltz, and me - for more info.

$12 million in 60 Days -- my favorite entrepreneur story of the last few months has been the father-son beekeeper team out of Australia that invented a better way to harvest honey called The Flow. Hoping to pre-sell $70k worth of their $600 3D printed solution (love that part of the story as well), they posted on Indiegogo and sold $1 million in 3 hours; $2 million in 14 hours; and over $12 million within the 60 days of the campaign! In the old days (24 months ago), if you launched a venture it normally took longer than 2 months to generate over $10 million on a $600 product.

All the Trends in One -- BTW, they are still selling using Indiegogo's new InDemand feature. What a great time to be an entrepreneur - 3D printer manufacturing; crowdfunding/sales; viral marketing/social media - these two used all the latest tools. For more details, this Washington Post story is the best.

Fortune Summit Summary (Day 2) -- below are three 5 minute or less FORTUNE interviews of the Day 2 keynote speakers highlighting their main points - 12 minutes of content worth listening to while plowing through emails. NOTE: Our next "meet-up for scale-ups" Growth Summit is Oct 20 - 21, Dallas.

Powerful Trojan Horse Strategy -- John Warrillow, author of The Automatic Customer, kicked off day 2 of the Summit sharing some of the 9 strategies (and giving us time to work through them) any company in any industry can use to create automatic customers. In this 3 minute interview, John shares some of the powerful economics behind why companies want to pursue this recurring revenue/recurring touch point strategy and how the dirty little secret is how this approach serves as a Trojan horse in getting customers to spend a lot, lot more. The Amazon numbers he shares in the video illustrate this situation perfectly.

3 Keys to Trust and Giving Feedback -- you can create a killer strategy, but a team lacking trust will crush it. Christine Comaford, author of Smart Tribes, shared a series of tools with our audience that helps strengthen the effectiveness of any team. In this 5 minute interview she unpacks what are the 3 necessary components that create or destroy trust - safety, belonging, and mattering - and what you need to do to make sure all three exist. Then she goes on to explain the right and wrong ways to provide feedback using her "Feedback Frame". Our choice of words really does matter! Go to 2:02 in the interview and listen to the next minute several times until you really get her simple two step sequence for providing constructive feedback.

Your Brand is Your Story -- it all comes back to "the story." Nick Nanton, 3 time Emmy award winning director and author of StorySelling, walked our audience through how to construct and tell a compelling story, sharing clips from various films he's produced for business leaders that follow one of the 4 classic plotlines. It was fun to have time to work with each as Nick helped us construct our own story. In this 4 minute interview Nick outlines those 4 plots and makes a case for why your brand is your story.

Think Like a Winner (NYC and DC) -- as a bonus, Rabbi Stephen Baars shared a short presentation on how to "Think Like a Winner"--and as always, he was the hit of the FORTUNE Summit! If you live in or near NYC or DC, you should check out his ongoing 9-part series Monday and Tuesday evenings at 8pm. CLICK HERE for more info.

June 2 Scaling Up Webinar on Execution -- During this one hour presentation (2pm ET start) I'll be discussing the key habits/routines that drive industry leading profits and reduce by 80% the time it takes to manage the business so you can be more focused on the market-facing activities that drive growth. Claim your spot here.

COACHING:

What is the value of working with a Certified Gazelles International Coach? There are four key roles a coach plays in helping your company Scale Up...listen here to learn.

TECHNOLOGY:

Better Book Club -- What's your team reading? Increase your books read per team member. Easy, Proven, and in the Cloud at http://www.BetterBookClub.com.

Align Dashboard -- Want to keep track of your plans and progress in the cloud? The complete Growth Tools and Rockefeller Habits disciplines in a SaaS offering.

Don't Do This to a Friend; 3 Investing Criteria; Lessons from Billionaires; Toronto and Dubai Workshops

"...ideas (videos) for scaleups"

HEADLINES:

ASIA-PACIFIC ONLY -- need a process for attracting and hiring the right people 90%+ of the time? Hosted for the first time in the Asia-Pacific time zone, the Topgrading certification course - more details below, but first...

How to Be a Friend -- do you have a friend in need who has suffered some kind of loss? Just do something for them. Notes this NY Times article:

BE A FRIEND IN DEED Our instinct is often to say to a friend who's suffering, "Let me know if there's anything you need." While well meaning, this gesture unintentionally shifts the obligation to the aggrieved. Instead of offering "anything," just do something. I heard of friends who sent packing supplies to someone getting divorced, and others who held a "fire shower," a bridal shower type of gathering for a friend who had lost her home.

And in most cases, avoid the "happy talk" like "everything will be OK." Take 3 minutes to read the article to see what you should say instead plus pick up some additional tips on how (and how not) to be a great friend. Thanks to Adam Grant, author of Give and Take, for pointing me to this article.

FORTUNE Summit Summary -- last week's Summit hosted a record crowd of over 600 CEOs and executives of scale-ups. Below are four short 5 minute or less FORTUNE interviews of the Day 1 keynote speakers highlighting their main points - 20 minutes of content worth listening to while plowing through emails. NOTE: Our next "meet-up for scale-ups" Growth Summit is Oct 20 - 21, Dallas.

3 Criteria for Investing -- Nir Eyals, author of Hooked, kicked off the Summit with a three hour workshop on creating products/services that are habit forming (addictive?). His 5 minute interview includes the three criteria he uses for evaluating ideas and making investments - GEM - growth (number of customers), engagement, and monetization. If a business model drives all three, you'll create a highly valuable company.

Real Time Everything -- once you've designed a killer product/service, you need to get the word out. David Meerman Scott, author of The New Rules of Sales and Service, emphasizes the importance of real time response as he guided the audience through how they might "newsjack" Tom Brady's deflategate story, which several did in real time, generating tens of thousands of social media hits within 24 hours. Enjoy his 4 minute interview.

9 Times Productivity Gain -- now that customers have found your habit forming products/services, it's time to execute. Rather than throw people at the problem, as you rapidly scaleup, Paul Akers details how a series of 2 Second Lean (name of his book) initiatives reduced a 45 minute process down to 5 minutes over a period of just a few weeks - and how he's repeated these same productivity gains over and over and over both inside his own 50 employee firm and helping hundreds of others. Toyota, Amazon, Microsoft, and other organizations around the world visit his facilities to learn how to streamline any process (or office). His 5 minute interview highlights some of his approaches.

Lessons from Billionaires -- what's the key to scaling to a billion? John Sviokla, co-author of The Self-Made Billionaire Effect, suggests you don't need to find a blue ocean. Based on the largest research effort ever undertaken of self-made billionaires, John shares the 5 habits of mind unique to those that scale big. In this 4 minute interview he lists the five and then discusses the critical pairing of producers and performers. And he shares some great advice for young entrepreneurs - including the importance of going to work for a big company first.

Learn From A Bad Example -- Apple CEO Tim Cook's recent 20 minute commencement address proved you don't need ANY charisma to lead (he's not Steve Jobs)! Only watch if you need an example of how not to deliver a speech - style, substance, delivery - it had none. Don't make the same mistake - hire a speech coach like David Butlein, PhD ([email protected]) who attached our FORTUNE Summit last week and has helped thousands of executives become more influential and powerful public speakers.

Scaling Up Workshops Next Week -- May 26th Toronto; May 27th Dubai.

ASIA-PACIFIC ONLY -- Win the talent war with the online Topgrading class. For any organization, finding great people is difficult. Good news for the Asia-Pacific region, you can now learn and IMPLEMENT the Topgrading methodology from the comfort of your office or home with the help of live-coached sessions at GMT +11 Time Zone.
Win the Talent War and join this 3-month program. Protect your brand and culture, register here. This class has limited capacity and seats are filling in fast. If you have any questions or are looking for assistance while making your decision, please do not hesitate to contact Juan Gonzalez at [email protected] or skype him at: juanjosegzz

COACHING:

What is the value of working with a Certified Gazelles International Coach? There are four key roles a coach plays in helping your company Scale Up...listen here to learn.

TECHNOLOGY:

Better Book Club -- What's your team reading? Increase your books read per team member. Easy, Proven, and in the Cloud at http://www.BetterBookClub.com.

Align Dashboard -- Want to keep track of your plans and progress in the cloud? The complete Growth Tools and Rockefeller Habits disciplines in a SaaS offering.

Elon's constraint; Best biz book; Meeting Stucks; 10x the team

"...insights for scale-ups"

HEADLINES:

Control the Constraint -- I still consider the late Eli Goldratt's classic book The Goal one of the top five biz books of all time. One of the first business books to teach in parable, he details his "Theory of Constraints" and how you're wasting your time and resources if not directed at the constraint (chokepoint) - within you, your business, and ultimately within your industry and the world.

Industry Constraints -- John D. Rockefeller bought up all the oak barrels since the transport of oil was the constraint (he later went on to focus most of his efforts on the railroad and boat transport of oil). A hundred years later, Apple bought up the rights to the Toshiba flash drive that powered the first iPods - and launched iTunes to address the real constraint in the distribution of digital music. Robert Taylor, the entrepreneur behind Softsoap, spent $12 million to lock up the spring pump supply to protect him from Colgate Palmolive and P&G (detailed in my second book The Greatest Business Decisions of All Time). So, what is the constraint in your industry? How are you addressing/controlling it?

Batteries are the Constraint -- Elon Musk is doing precisely the same thing by focusing on batteries, notes Matt Jones with Austin-based Gossett Jones Homes in a recent email to me. Jones goes on to explain:

Several years ago, the biggest concern for electric cars future was their short battery life and that they would "never be mainstream" until this was addressed. Now Tesla has constructed a gigafactory in Nevada and is cranking out batteries left and right. What's even more amazing is they aren't only for cars. Tesla has announced batteries for homes.

As a home builder, Jones is tuned into this opportunity. And he's right - Musk is aiming to control a key constraint in producing electric cars and harnessing solar energy. "A Tesla battery in every car and home" (my suggested BHAG) sounds a lot like Honda's "engine in every garage" and Microsoft's "on every PC and desk and mobile."

Jone's Constraint -- and thank you Matt for this additional note "Just wanted to drop a note of appreciation for the Scaling Up book and also the Scaling Up Master Course (online). We love it. 2 years ago we failed to implement the Rockefeller Habits because we came on too quick. This time we have the company on a One Thing Priority for the quarter & year and people are really buying in this time, one bite at a time." The best way to implement the Rockefeller Habits 2.0 is to follow the constraint - one priority at a time.

Stuck? Better Daily Standup Meetings -- Ireland-based The City Bin Co. (featured prominently in my book Scaling Up) continues to evolve our methodologies, including the daily huddle. Notes Parisch Browne, IT Manager, "I want to share a few small points that we have introduced here about a month ago. They have completely transformed our Dominic St. team stand-up:"

1. Changed the word 'stuck' to 'blocker' as people (generally) do not want to admit that they are stuck.
2. Clearly defined a blocker so that there is a shared understanding of what size and shape it is. For this particular team, a blocker is any issue (usually coding) that they have not been able to solve themselves within 1/2 day. (This does not preclude them for asking for help before this)
3. Introduced a sliotar (ball). The person with the ball starts, and can throw it to anyone in the circle. The last person takes the ball away and starts the meeting 'tomorrow'. I was reluctant to introduce the ball as it seems a bit 'happy-clappy', but it has given the biggest benefit. Everyone is engaged, as they need to be ready to catch and share their information and they also have to remember who has spoken and has yet to speak. Previously everyone just looked at me and reported info to me; now they are all engaged and sharing with their peers.

Sums up Browne, "The meeting (within days) changed from boring & stale into a very good exchange of info and positive peer-assistance, and the team having a laugh with the ball (even when there are issues to solve)."

Stuck on Stucks -- Browne's point is well taken. Those familiar with the three agenda items we recommend for a daily huddle, we're finding that the term "stuck" is a sticking point with many people (and cultures). So pick a term that works better for your team - block, constraint, chokepoint, roadblock, concern - the key is to share something very specific and avoid generalities e.g. "I'm unable to move this contract forward waiting for a final decision from Dave on suggested pricing changes." The key - identify and focus, immediately, on the constraints every day.

10 Tricks to Appear Smart in Meetings - and thanks to Bill Becker, CEO & Design Director of BDI, for sharing this hilarious but often accurate link on 10 ways to appear smart in meetings.

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COACHING:

What is the value of working with a Certified Gazelles International Coach? There are four key roles a coach plays in helping your company Scale Up...listen here to learn.

TECHNOLOGY:

Better Book Club -- What's your team reading? Increase your books read per team member. Easy, Proven, and in the Cloud at http://www.BetterBookClub.com.

Align Dashboard -- Want to keep track of your plans and progress in the cloud? The complete Growth Tools and Rockefeller Habits disciplines in a SaaS offering.

4 Buffett Rules; 1 Key Influencer; 7 Lessons from Dad; Young Inventor's Mom

"...insights for scale-ups"

HEADLINES:

Grit Score -- Have you ever wondered how much grit you or your teen have? Now you (and your children) can take the Grit Scale Test to find out! Scores on this test have been closely linked to success and have proven to be a statistically significant and reliable indicator of performance at a wide range of institutions including West Point Military Academy. I'll report out some composite scores from insight readers (I'm guessing you're higher than average).

7 Precious Business (sp!) Tips From Dad -- Notes Steve Sergi, founder of Warriors Recruiting, "I brought my 12 year old daughter Mary and 13 year old son Mason to work yesterday. They sat through several meetings, poured coffee for my team and even checked the mail. Instead of going to school, I asked them to simply keep a list throughout the day of 5 things they learned about business. I thought I'd share, using their spelling, because after reviewing their lists I thought it was timeless simple advice on how we should all run our businesses."

"Business Tips Learned Today with Dad":

1. Be on time. Actually be early.
2. Dress Nice
3. When you go to a meeting and meet someone you got to shake their hand and look them in the eye.
4. Ask the person what she does before you talk about yourself or Warriors. See if they would be a good business partner.
5. Listen close
6. Talk to your team a lot and tell them what's going on. Problems and good stuff too.
7. Warriors Recruiting recruits smart people who need a computer job. (That's actually pretty darn close to accurate!)

Steve, love the idea and the list - thanks for sharing!

4 Rules Working With Buffett -- if you want to survive as a CEO working with Warren Buffett, here are four rules highlighted in this FORTUNE interview of 3 Berkshire Hathaway CEOs:

1. Don't mess with the brand - above all else protect your reputation
2. Here's the pool, swim! - expect to run your own show, but Warren's available
3. Don't worry about tomorrow - it's about the next quarter....century!
4. Don't make me angry - refer back to #1

Four good rules for children to follow as well (do you have family values - never too late?)! Take 2 minutes to read through the details and view the interview.

1 Key to Influence -- "After 12 years of teaching communication skills, I am pretty sure this is the single most important ingredient that you must learn in order to be influential," notes serial entrepreneur and IESE professor Conor Neill. As I've mentioned before, I listen to, read, and pay attention to what Conor says. And as he explains in this 3 minute video, you can use this idea at home! FYI, this excerpt was from a presentation he made to 800 leaders in Bucharest, Romania speaking along with a full orchestra. "It took a lot of preparation to mix the speech with the music!" exclaimed Conor.

1/8th the Wealth of the World -- Named by Life magazine as the single most important individual the past thousand years, Thomas Edison received his first patent at age 21 and went on to hold 1093 patents and launch 14 companies including the present day GE. It's been calculated that one eighth of the wealth of the world can be traced back to his inventions (fun fact). Notes this Real Leader article:

His mother, a schoolteacher, opened his eyes to the world by teaching him, "how to read good books quickly and correctly," as Edison later recalled. As an adult Edison was a voracious reader, and his ability to read and process large quantities of printed information contributed greatly to his success.

Another good parenting point! Thanks to Matt Levy with Credera for pointing me to this fact-filled article.

Age 14 Goal -- Jordan Spieth became the second youngest winner of the Masters golf tournament (a few months shy of Tiger Woods), smashing many tournament and PGA records in the process. Not surprisingly, it was a goal he articulated when he was 14 - not just to play in the Masters but to win it. Note in this short video the important role his coach plays -- we all need a coach!

Meet Up for Scale-Ups -- safe travels to Orlando for the Leadership Summit next week - you'll be in great company with over 650 CEOs and senior leaders of scale-ups from around the world - our best attended Leadership Summit to date (though always room for more if you can make it last minute!). The fall Growth Summit is Oct 20 - 21, Dallas - block your calendar.

COACHING:

What is the value of working with a Certified Gazelles International Coach? There are four key roles a coach plays in helping your company Scale Up...listen here to learn.

TECHNOLOGY:

Better Book Club -- What's your team reading? Increase your books read per team member. Easy, Proven, and in the Cloud at http://www.BetterBookClub.com.

Align Dashboard -- Want to keep track of your plans and progress in the cloud? The complete Growth Tools and Rockefeller Habits disciplines in a SaaS offering.