How effectively do you exist with your product ?

In one of the Innovation demos i was a part of a particular idea team started their pitch. Roughly speaking their idea was about enabling the remote access across various networked Mac software (there were more nitti-gritties that spelled uniqueness of this invention which can't be shared due to Intellectual Property reasons).

They started their pitch with a PPT with an usual agenda slide. The last item in the agenda slide was 'Demo'. The presenter (say John) did a great job to complete the pitch on time and now it was the time for demo. John paused for a bit and said- 'There's no separate demo. The presentation you saw was the live demo'.
What he meant was that the presentation he was showcasing for last 5 minutes, was actually running on a remote system with John having keyboard-mouse control.

This was one of the outstanding things i heard while going through a demo pitch. It sent a clear and crisp message to judges that the team wasn't selling a concept that 'will' be used at some point by a certain segment of users. It was actually in-use by the founding team and working like a charm.

In my experience in attending many innovation demos, i have often noticed a certain disconnection of demos with real-life. Demos are often seen as a representation of future, a reality that hasn't been stitched yet in it's entirety. Another cause is the non-existence of users in early stages of the Innovation projects. Innovators, I believe, should try and be seen as 'existing' with their products as John (in previous example) managed to do.

I was also reading interesting Forbes piece on Zoom.us CEO Eric S Yuan. A part that caught my attention (in the context of this post) was that Eric made just 8 work trips in five years as a CEO. Why ? Because he made it a priority to conduct his business via his product, a video conferencing software. This is what i meant when i said 'existing with your product'. More seamless our connection with the product is, more clearer the message around value proposition is.

Sharing the cited part from Forbes article:

As the founder of Zoom, which provides video conferencing software over the internet, Yuan practices what he preaches. After Yuan hired hundreds of engineers in his native China, he went three years between in-person visits. When he raised money from top venture capital investors, he showed up just once, to make sure every investor in the room had downloaded the Zoom app. For his IPO road show, Yuan deigned to make the 50-mile trek from his San Jose headquarters to San Francisco for a single investor lunch—and then bolted back to work. Everyone else, money manager big or small, met with him virtually, over Zoom. When Yuan flew to New York for the IPO, it was just his eighth work trip in five years.
“Customers have always said, ‘Eric, we’ll become your very important customer, you’ve got to visit us,’” says Yuan. “I say, ‘Fine, I’m going to visit you, but let’s have a Zoom call first.’” That’s usually enough.

Leadership lessons from Eric S Yuan's tweet

While we all were busy reading a storm of content in our social media feeds last week, one of the simple, yet extraordinary tweets might have not gotten as much attention as it should have. Here's the tweet that i am talking about.

Source: https://twitter.com/ericsyuan/status/1132102775490265089

To put things in context, Eric S Yuan is the CEO of Zoom.us, the video conferencing company. It's market cap at the time this tweet was sent is close to $20B.

I find the response that Eric gave to a user extra-ordinary at many levels.

1. Most visibly, it's shows Eric's strong desire to go extra-mile to delight the user. Among the fundamentals that are responsible for the success of an organization, customer centricity is top of the list. Many say it, only a few do it.

2. As a CEO, to be able to go out in public and tell that he is willing to roll up his sleeves and do the work to make user happy, is almost a culture-defining moment. I firmly believe that the organization or team's culture flows directly from the top and manifests in the form of stories like these. A CEO can either put up posters about what he values or prove the same via his actions. The latter is often more effective.

3. Quoting one of the tweets citing Phil Knight: In quest to build great things, "there is no finish line". Eric is certainly looking like living these lines. More often the average teams get complacent after the product achieves product-market fit, and sales starts flowing in. Great teams strive harder for success not just when they are struggling but on a continuous basis, without any drop in intensity.

What are your favorite insights from this tweet ?

What is your preferred way of building products ?

How Porsche built Cayenne:

Let's move the clock back to 1990s. Porsche wasn’t doing that well. Annual sales were 1/3rd of what they were in 1980s. The arrival of a new CEO brought in cost and process discipline. As a result, cost fell and sales rose. The CEO knew that cost control alone wouldn't win the future for them. He put a big bet to build a new SUV. Skeptics said that customers wouldn't have the brand association as

Porsche was known for speed and engineering and that it was not a family car made for loading groceries. Porsche adopted an outside-in approach for building Cayenne.

If the customers were not willing to pay for what they wanted in Porsche’s SUV, they would walk away from Cayenne. The result was running extensive analyses and validation cycles to gauge not only customers’ appetite for SUV but also their willingness to pay the price.

They ensured that every single feature stood trial before the customer. At every turn, they removed the features customers didn’t value. Cayenne was a roaring success. Porsche’s famous six speed racing transmission was not on the wish list of Cayenne. These interactions convinced Porsche engineers to include a large cup holder, which the customers weren’t used to.  Over time, Cayenne enabled Porsche to generate the highest profits per car in the industry. 10 years after it hit the market, Porsche was selling close to a 100000 Cayenne’s annually - almost 5 times it did in the launch year!

How Fiat built Dodge Dart: Fiat Chrystler had six times revenue that of Porsche. In 2009 they started the work into getting the new segment: a reimagining of the classic 1970s Dodge Dart. They wanted to get int compact car segment. Fiat Chrystler’s approach to developing the compact car was totally radically different from Cayenne. Rather than looking at a hard look at customers, they had a hard look at the product. They came out with a marketing video- TV commercial and announced that their product development way was:

Design it -> Build it -> Rethink it -> Design it -> Build it -> Rethink it -> Until engineering team felt the car was ready to go. “Perfection” as defined by Fiat Chrystler and not the customer.

The market performance was a disaster. Launched in 2012, the Dart sold about 25000 units- a quarter of the total predicted by the market analysis.

(Stories source- The Book: Monetizing Innovation: How Smart Companies Design the Product Around the Price)

These 2 cases are contrasting in terms of 1)Outcomes 2)Approach taken to deliver products. While Cayenne was built with Customer Centricity at it's core, Dodge Dart was built with Engineering at it's core.  At the heart of the way Cayenne was built were the principles of Lean Start-up (as it is known

in today’s times), comprising of but not limited to the following concepts:

1.     Validated learning: learning what our customers want before building.

2.     Build-Measure-Learn cycle: More than a cycle, it is a mindset. Tackling the cycle backwards, it is intended learning that drives the building cycle.

3.     Pivot or Persevere: Be ready to change direction if the learnings and measures indicate so.

While following these principles is no certain guarantee to success as the start-ups can still fail for other reasons but these do increase your odds to attain success.

Fiat Dodge Dart’s approach was essentially engineering centric i.e. with focus on engineering at its core without much involvement of customers in the process of product development. One of the biggest disadvantages of this approach is that it increases the feedback loop i.e. the late we show the product to the customer and seek feedback, the late it is to gather any meaningful feedback and make any changes. This is more so for design-heavy products like cars.

But like with anything, there are exceptions to the rule. When Apple built say its first iPod or iPhone, it did follow design-first approach, but the products remained heavily engineering focused. Customers may have been involved secretly but given the way Steve Jobs operated, most of validation remained a secret, almost under-the-wraps till the product was released.

What is your preferred way of building products ?

Image source:

https://www.amazon.in/Monetizing-Innovation-Companies-Design-Product/dp/8126564288/ref=sr_1_1?crid=28UCWZOAKYGSR&keywords=monetizing+innovation&qid=1559189607&s=gateway&sprefix=monetiz%2Caps%2C275&sr=8-1

17 things I learned from Erik Weihenmayer's talk

I had a privilege of listening live to Erik Weihenmayer during the recently concluded Citrix Synergy event. Erik is the first BLIND person to climb Mount Everest. He is also among 150 people who have successfully climbed Seven Summits, the highest peaks in 7 continents only BLIND person to do so.

He came on to stage with his dog who peacefully sat while he weaved magic with his words. He was articulate, fluid and super clear in his thought process. His intensity was high and it only grew as his talk proceeded. I could see his eyes moist while he narrated the stories of his and the differently-abled persons like him, who achieved feats that average full bodied people consider as impossible.

I have to admit that I left his session earlier than the finish time. It was less due to the fact that I had a meeting bordering on the close time but more to do with the fact that I got more than what I thought I would in an hour that I spent. In short, I found my emotional and mental cups overflowing with unprecedented wisdom. I have to admit this was the first time I felt that I got so much that I couldn't take anymore.


May be some day I would want to go back and watch the recording, but for today I just want to share the wisdom that I gathered in the nuggeTs that follow:


Three types of people:
There are 3 types of people:
Quitters,
Campers,
Climbers.


What makes Climbers rare:
“Climbers are a rare group. They continue to grow, evolve, and explore. They continue to challenge themselves until the day the die.”


Why is being a Climber so hard:
“The question is, how do we climb when it is so much easier to camp?”


How does growth happen?
"It would be nice if growth happened in a nice linear curve. The truth is, growth happens the way a volcano spews lava."


My favorite learning from this session:
"What's within you is stronger than what's in your way."


When you are lost, remember...
“There is always a way forward, but it doesn’t always start in a glamorous way.”


Surround yourself with positive people:
“My secret weapon was the people I surrounded myself with”


“Link yourself with great people, tap into each other’s experience and wisdom. Stop each other from falling.”


Dealing with adversary:
"The amount of adversity we allow into our lives is directly related to the length of our reach"


"Alchemists will always find the way, even with the adversity. Harnessing the challenges in our lives is our greatest advantage."


"Alchemists always find a way." "Keep climbing!"
"We're all in the elevation business."


When we commit to this no barriers life we bring adversity into our lives... and then you commit tremendous energy to attacking the adversities that wear us down. It takes a courageous team to square off with adversity and head into the storm. -


Don't build walls around yourself:
“I was tired of building walls around myself. Life is full of choices."


When you are down, don't forget to try:
"Never say you can't do it. Don't ever not TRY."


“The process is always the same. Iterate, fail & try again. Never stop innovating.”


Embrace an no-excuse mindset:
"Many make excuses and accentuate challenges, instead of using them as fuel to move forward and make a meaningful impact."

"You have to come down the mountain before the climb really matters. The culmination of the journey isn't when we're standing on the summit, it's when we use the gifts we've been given to elevate our lives."


Are you living a no barriers life? Commit today to attack what is in your way.

A Simple Playbook for Effective Conference Presence

I spent most of the last week at Citrix Synergy in Atlanta. Synergy is one of the primer conferences on end-user computing. With the conference happening at a massive venue at Georgia World Congress building and 5000 plus people attending, I got to interact with many customers, partners and colleagues.
One of my colleague who captured everyone's attention was Manbinder Singh. Manbinder is a Senior technologist at Citrix's. He had a few expert sessions at Synergy and he pulled them off well with his technical acumen. For me, one of the highlights was how Manbinder pulled off a great presence at the event.

Rather than me starting to put in words, let me start by sharing this video from his session.

Let me dissect what you saw in this video in what I call a simple playbook for effective conference presence.

Key principles in building effective conference presence:
1. Be as interesting (to others) as you can be.
2. Bring your own uniqueness to the fore.
3. Be at ease, comfortable carrying yourself.
4. Hustle, hustle, hustle
5. Have an surprise element.

Five phases of building conference presence:
1. Conceptualize and Prepare
2. Before the conference begins.
3. During the conference.
4. During the session.
5. After the conference.

How five phases pan out ?:
In the first phase, look out your unique skills that you can bring towards the conference. Marrying his avid passion towards a musical instrument called as Tumbi and his interest in singing, Manbinder penned a song that went with the theme of his presentation (check the video).
Not only this, he designed an add-on to his attire, a Rocket that went with the theme that he chose for his session.
In doing this, he successfully applied the principles of being interesting and bringing your uniqueness to the fore

Musical Instrument: Tumbi

In the second phase, a few days before the conference began he started to periodically tweet about what people can expect from his sessions. He gave little teasers almost every day with the right hashtags to make his messages searchable
He thus applied the principle of hustling to generate interest and capture attention in advance.


In the third phase, during the conference Manbinder ensured his presence. It was a three day conference with ample networking time and opportunity. When his session was not on, Manbinder ensured that he always wore the specially designed rocket add-on. Seeing an unusual add-on, it intrigued people and drew them towards him. Many people approached him to enquire about the concept and helped him build bridges. His Rocket add-on also had a QR code that people could simply scan to register for his session.
In doing this, he applied the principles of being interesting and also the principle of being comfortable carrying himself.


In the fourth phase, what happened is very evident in the video shared. He started with aeroplane theme (very apt as the attendees had flown to the venue), introduced himself as pilot and put together a spectacular song performance very aligned to the theme.
He successfully applied the principle of bringing his uniqueness to the fore while being interesting to the audience.


In the last phase, post the conference he again took to Twitter to thank the new fans and followers and ensured a good level of engagement. As a measure of success, he gained 30% more followers on Twitter.

Me with Manbinder at Citrix Synergy

In many of my conversations with Manbinder during the event, his approach quite resonated with me which inspired me to write this post. In many of my public presentations, I had followed doing small magic shows as ice breaker. Doing something unexpected always catches people's attention positively and has a potential to make an otherwise routine topic interesting.

Did you find this post useful? What is your playbook to build effective conference presence?
Please share in comments.

The Power of Rehersals

I am attending Citrix Synergy at Atlanta this week. The below tweet by Citrix CEO made me think of something. David Henshall is a seasoned public speaker. I admire him for his ability to bring a certain effortlessness in the way he communicates on the stage. The lucid way he crafts his message certifies his authenticity. He is known to give forward looking speeches. Only time he looks backwards is when he thanks the team for all the efforts and outcomes. This speaks of his empathetic nature.

 

Keynote rehearsals are in full swing this morning. Excited to show everyone what we’ve been working on tomorrow at the kickoff of #CitrixSynergy 2019! pic.twitter.com/sKEEnH5q1F

— David J Henshall (@DavidJHenshall) May 20, 2019

Having seen him at All Hands, employee meetings and several other forums, I always got the sense that public speaking came so naturally to him, almost as if it's his second nature. So when i heard the word 'Keynote rehersals', it really made me wonder- no matter how seasoned you are at your craft, it is the consistent honing of elements that make up your expertise- which makes an eventual difference to the outcome.

The virtue of practice becomes more so important for a skill as visible as public speaking. Not only there's an audience in the room but there's also an audience connected virtually. It's almost as if people watching you get a license to judge you. And if you are a speaker, you got to see it as an opportunity to positively influence, inspire (note that i did not use the word 'impress') and add value to the audience. Rehersals are a sure-shot way of ensuring that you are doing justice to the role as a speaker.

While on the flight to Atlanta, i completed the book: 'Why I Stopped Wearing My Socks'. The author Alok Kejriwal (Founder, CEO of contests2win.com)
shares his learnings on the subject of rehersals

As a salesperson, have learned to practice practise, practise till I have become near perfect. When it becomes painful, I think myself as a movie star, getting my 'take' right. If you are starting up, I would advise you to practise your pitch on friends and colleagues and make them object, askyou random silly questions and agitate you. When you go out in the real world to sell, these things are going to happen to you. So practise beforehand. Finally, remember that when you sell, you not only sell your service or product, but you also sell yourself. Think of the last time you bought something from a dull, snobbish or ill-tempered salesman. Entrepreneurs have to keep selling themselves to VCs, the press, strategic clients, and customers and it's important that they remember the golden mantra: 'Practice Makes makes a man perfect'.

I personally have a habit of rehearsing the sequence of an important event or a speaking all in my mind just before i sleep or if i find quite time. One place that I have found useful to practise is the lonely car rides where you have to of course focus on the road, but it is always possible to carve out a bit of attention to practice the message.

What are your strategies for rehearsing?

Most effective mentors ask hard-hitting questions

I was reading the book 'Why I stopped wearing my socks'. This book outlines Alok Kejriwal's journey as an entrepreneur. This blog is inspired by the of the stories in the book.

During the early phases of evolution of Alok's company- Contest2win.com, he was speaking with a lot of venture capitalists. One of them was eVenture. At one of the meetings, eVenture's representative Neeraj Bhargava asked Aolk a couple of questions before giving a go ahead for further funding:

1. Asked for more clarity on business model (they weren't charging their clients any money then)
2. Asked for the credentials of his team (he didn't have anyone from pedigreed Ivy league institutes).

While Alok gathered composure and answered as well as he could, Neeraj dropped another tough exercise on Alok as he asked him to list his top 10 clients along with their numbers so that he could call them and check their credibility.

Alok narrates this incident in the book and mentions that he had tremendous learning from this conversation. Though it was not a direct mentoring conversation, he took it as being mentors while answering these tough situations.

During the Innovation programs that I run, one of the key things is how the teams choose their mentors. While many teams take the familiar route and choose the mentors who are familiar to themselves or are technically good. But the teams that are more successful in achieving the intended outcomes from these programs are the ones who choose mentors that makes them uncomfortable.

Collating the learnings from Alok's story, here is what I believe the playbook for business mentorship should be looking like:

1. Choose a mentor who asks you tough and hard-hitting questions.
2. Choose a mentor who can potentially upset you with his/her questions.
3. Don't always look for formal mentorship. Be open to be mentored in unlikliest of the situations (like Alok did with the VC in this story).
4. Don't take any tough questions and flaws in business approaches personally. Many people foolishly let go of good relationships when rendered into uncomfortable situations by mentors.

What else would you add to this ?

Image source:

https://www.amazon.in/Why-Stopped-Wearing-My-Socks/dp/9387578704