Posts Tagged ‘Innovation’
Standing Out: How to Sustain Your Competitive Edge
Having a competitive advantage means that you bring something unique to the table that your competitors do not. Depending on the industry you’re in, this can come from a number of different sources. For some, they offer the best technology, whereas for others they market to the proper demographic. Companies that keep a competitive advantage…
Read MoreHow to Break the $10 Million Ceiling in Your Business
Getting over the $10 million hump in our business has taken some time and has not been an overnight process, as some might think. My company, Star Staffing, has been in business since 1998. I joined the company in 2009 as vice president, and my business partner transitioned from CFO to CEO. We worked tirelessly on repositioning ourselves…
Read More8 Myths That Can Inhibit Innovation in Your Business
Starting an entrepreneurial business, or maintaining the competitiveness of a mature business, requires innovation. Yet everyone I know seems to have a different perspective on what constitutes real innovation, and why is seems to happen so rarely. Another challenge is to debunk some of the common myths that seem prevent many from even assuming they…
Read MoreHow to Outwit Your Smartest Competitors
Let’s face it. There aren’t many stupid people running Fortune 2000 companies. At the same time, I know plenty of ridiculously successful entrepreneurs who studied beer, pizza and the opposite sex in college. (Sorry, Mom and Dad.) Come to think of it, many of my entrepreneurial friends never went to college at all. So how is it…
Read MoreWhoa. Wow! Hmmm. Yes! (How Steve Jobs Got It Right)
Credit Dr. Mark Goulston with this headline. Mark teaches that there is a process to innovation that can be summed up with these four words. In fact, he states, that’s exactly how Steve Jobs described his “aha moment.” So let’s paraphrase Mr. Jobs as we describe this process. Jobs was invited to Xerox Parc research…
Read More10 Ways an Entrepreneur Can Build a Winning Culture
If an entrepreneur can’t build a culture of excitement and commitment at a startup, the chances of long-term success are negligible. It simply doesn’t matter how great your solution is. Every investor knows this. That’s why they insist on spending a day with your team as part of the due diligence process. A winning culture…
Read MoreHow the Leapfrog Effect May Affect Your Business
The “leapfrog effect” has become a global development buzzword, and it’s easy to see why. It’s an appealingly optimistic concept: the term refers to the phenomenon, in fast-growing emerging economies, of technological advances permitting shortcuts in infrastructure building. Instead of working through all previous iterations of a technology, countries are able to jump straight to…
Read MoreA Creative Way to Get Products in Front of Willing Buyers
Twitter is adding buy buttons. Instagram is doing the same. Amazon offers same-day grocery delivery in several markets. All of these are retail experiments to discover the ideal strategies that use technology to connect buyers to products in the systems that buyers find most convenient. It’s a very creative area in retail and one where…
Read MoreWhy Software Subscription Serves It Up Fresh
Take General Mills and its goal to eliminate artificial flavors and colors in cereals due to the consumer demand for simple ingredients. That’s easier said than done when entire product lines, food production, and recipes require overhauls on a massive scale. But, in the end, it’s a matter of market survival and a better product. Waves of…
Read MoreThe Next Wave of Manufacturing Industry Trends
Time and technology wait for no one, especially when you’re talking about the ever-evolving, fast-paced world of hardware manufacturing. Not only are advances being made in materials and connectivity capabilities, but hardware VC firms and incubators such as Bolt and Lemnos Labs are flipping the script on the traditional way of doing business—from seed funding to expensive tools and…
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