Michael Skok, Co-Founder and Partner of Underscore.VC was invited to give the keynote presentation at the 2016 Innovation Roundtable Summit in Copenhagen.
Company Formation - Foundations for an Enduring Company - Competitive Advanta...Michael Skok
Developed for the Harvard Innovation Lab workshop series on Startup Secrets.
This is part 2 of the 5 part series by Michael J Skok on how to get competitive advantage as a startup.
It features the case study of Acquia who participated in the workshop.
Michael's slides are the agenda for the workshop, and are NOT self contained. For fuller coverage of the slides, visit Michael's website http://www.mjskok.com/
Startup Secrets - Have you got what it takes?Michael Skok
There is a belief in the business world that founders can’t scale. Put another way, a company’s growth curve will eventually outstrip the capabilities of its founder’s ability to remain CEO.
What is needed to build a startup? What are the milestones along the way? And how to do you pull that pitch together to get the venture attention and funding your idea deserves. This Slideshare was given at the Harvard iLab and offered:
-- The holistic checklist to think through your venture in a business like plan
-- What matters to a VC/Investor
-- How to think about your roadmap from startup to public company
Turning Products into Companies – Case – Actuality SystemsMichael Skok
Through this case example, Actuality Systems Founder Gregg Favalora offers helpful insight into the path Actuality took from product design, to its acquisition by Optics for Hire in 2009 - and the ultimate patent sale (and exit) in 2011. Offering an insider’s view of building and commercializing 3D display products, Gregg offers his thoughts on some powerful lessons he learned as he grew his company.
A company is only as good as its team, which is why the hiring process is so critical as you build out your venture. And anyone who has made a bad hire along the way knows that hiring the wrong person can cost you far more than time and money. This presentation shares a framework comprised of three areas of focus critical to hiring success.
We all know a company is only as good as its team, which is why the hiring process is so critical as you build out your venture. This presentation focuses on the different considerations an entrepreneur should make with regard to hiring, featuring insights from Russ Campanello, iRobot’s senior VP of HR, and Eric Gaffen, Acquia’s global manager of talent acquisition. The presentation also provides recommendations on specific questions to ask when trying to find your ideal candidate.
Building a Compelling Value Proposition - Competitive Advantage for StartupsMichael Skok
Developed for the Harvard Innovation Lab workshop series on Startup Secrets.
This is part 1 of the 5 part series by Michael J Skok on how to get competitive advantage as a startup.
Michael's slides are the agenda for the workshop, and are NOT self contained. For fuller coverage of the slides, visit Michael's website http://www.mjskok.com/
Company Formation - Foundations for an Enduring Company - Competitive Advanta...Michael Skok
Developed for the Harvard Innovation Lab workshop series on Startup Secrets.
This is part 2 of the 5 part series by Michael J Skok on how to get competitive advantage as a startup.
It features the case study of Acquia who participated in the workshop.
Michael's slides are the agenda for the workshop, and are NOT self contained. For fuller coverage of the slides, visit Michael's website http://www.mjskok.com/
Startup Secrets - Have you got what it takes?Michael Skok
There is a belief in the business world that founders can’t scale. Put another way, a company’s growth curve will eventually outstrip the capabilities of its founder’s ability to remain CEO.
What is needed to build a startup? What are the milestones along the way? And how to do you pull that pitch together to get the venture attention and funding your idea deserves. This Slideshare was given at the Harvard iLab and offered:
-- The holistic checklist to think through your venture in a business like plan
-- What matters to a VC/Investor
-- How to think about your roadmap from startup to public company
Turning Products into Companies – Case – Actuality SystemsMichael Skok
Through this case example, Actuality Systems Founder Gregg Favalora offers helpful insight into the path Actuality took from product design, to its acquisition by Optics for Hire in 2009 - and the ultimate patent sale (and exit) in 2011. Offering an insider’s view of building and commercializing 3D display products, Gregg offers his thoughts on some powerful lessons he learned as he grew his company.
A company is only as good as its team, which is why the hiring process is so critical as you build out your venture. And anyone who has made a bad hire along the way knows that hiring the wrong person can cost you far more than time and money. This presentation shares a framework comprised of three areas of focus critical to hiring success.
We all know a company is only as good as its team, which is why the hiring process is so critical as you build out your venture. This presentation focuses on the different considerations an entrepreneur should make with regard to hiring, featuring insights from Russ Campanello, iRobot’s senior VP of HR, and Eric Gaffen, Acquia’s global manager of talent acquisition. The presentation also provides recommendations on specific questions to ask when trying to find your ideal candidate.
Building a Compelling Value Proposition - Competitive Advantage for StartupsMichael Skok
Developed for the Harvard Innovation Lab workshop series on Startup Secrets.
This is part 1 of the 5 part series by Michael J Skok on how to get competitive advantage as a startup.
Michael's slides are the agenda for the workshop, and are NOT self contained. For fuller coverage of the slides, visit Michael's website http://www.mjskok.com/
3 Skills to Master the gift of Mutual MentorshipMichael Skok
Mentorship is a seemingly simple concept. Get some help from someone more experienced than you. So why do we bother teaching a class on it? Because like anything else it's a skill to mentor and be mentored. And if we can learn that skill it can be a real gift, both to give and receive.
But first of all you've got to know what you're looking for in mentorship. Is it a handout or real help? Do you want answers or are you really looking to learn? For those looking to learn and build not just knowledge but skills for self sufficiency, mentoring can be a mutually rewarding gift.
Think of the process of being mentored as a game of chess. You can easily ask for the next move, but wouldn't you rather learn to master the game?
See the presentation to learn 3 skills to get you going on that path:-
This presentation provides an overview of approaches to developing you vision and mission, as well as the critical nuances tied to company culture. It also features an insightful case example from Salsify.
Startup Secrets - Funding Strategies to Go the DistanceMichael Skok
Having been a venture capitalist for the last decade, I have found that the topic of funding is one that everyone wants to know about but is openly discussed by few. Ironically, the more it is talked about, the more educated entrepreneurs will be, enabling them to make the right decisions as they seek funding for their startup.
Ideas are worth very little without a culture to guide the selection of talent and a big, bold vision to attract and unify the team. Human capital is what separates great from good companies – which is why establishing a strong culture to attract and retain the right people, while unifying them behind an inspiring vision and mission is essential to any significant venture.
Game Changing Business Models - V2! - with case examples - Competitive Advant...Michael Skok
Developed for the Harvard Innovation Lab workshop series on Startup Secrets.
This is part 3 of the 5 part series by Michael J Skok on how to get competitive advantage as a startup.
Michael's slides are the agenda for the workshop, and are NOT self contained. For fuller coverage of the slides, visit Michael's website http://www.mjskok.com/
You’ve figured out your value prop and you’ve got a great product under development. Now what? How can you develop a roadmap to build a company? Venture Capitalists often qualify deals as being a “feature”, a “product” or a “company”. Which do you have and how will you get where you want to go? This presentation addresses how to think about designing your product as a foundational element of your business. This includes thinking beyond UX and Architecture to Whole Product, Ecosystems, and Strategic partners. It also focuses on formulating how to design your go-to-market strategy and business model into your product (with a modular architecture, distinctive packaging and a frictionless approach).
Harvard Innovation Lab Workshop on developing the Perfect Pitch, by Michael Skok.
Michael is an entrepreneur turned venture capitalist, who has seen both sides of this. He spent 21 years as a CEO, building companies and raising over 100 million to build a number of software businesses. And then has spent the last decade as a VC seeing thousands of pitches from entrepreneurs raising money, and invested in companies that have generated over a billion dollars in value.
So with that in mind, the idea here is to give you an insider's checklist for your own pitch,
Driving to Market - V2! - How to "Drive" Competitive Advantage in your Go To ...Michael Skok
New version 2 - including case examples from Spotfire, Demandware, Hubspot and David Skok.
Developed for the Harvard Innovation Lab workshop series on Startup Secrets.
This is part 4 of the 5 part series by Michael J Skok on how to get competitive advantage as a startup.
Michael's slides are the agenda for the workshop, and are NOT self contained. For fuller coverage of the slides, visit Michael's website http://mjskok.com/
Game Changing Business Models - Case - Dries Drupal, Open Source, Co-CreationMichael Skok
This is a case to exemplify how disruptive open source and co-creation can be as part of your business model. Presented by Dries Buytaert, founder of Drupal, the largest open source project on the planet.
This is part of the workshop on Game Changing Business Models - itself part of the series on Startup Secrets, by Michael J Skok on how to get competitive advantage as a startup.
Michael's slides are the framework for the workshop, and are NOT self contained. For fuller coverage of the slides, visit Michael's website http://mjskok.com/
Presented at Business of Software 2014, Michael Skok (North Bridge Ventures) looks at what it takes to create a scaleable billion dollar business.
Full of insights and practical tips. Read if you're in the early stages of a startup, considering strategy or wondering how to accelerate.
Turning Products into Companies - Case - SolidWorksMichael Skok
John McEleney, former CEO of SolidWorks, discusses how the 3D design company became a market leader. He reviews how it is easy to start a company but hard to build a business, offering an instructive view of the approaches he took that led to his success and the company’s ultimate acquisition by Dassault Systems.
Startup Secrets: Raising Funding - Case – GivologyMichael Skok
This is a guest presentation from Alok Tayi, PhD. He is a postdoctoral fellow, in the Whitesides Lab at Harvard University. Alok has been working to provide sample case studies on for the Startup Secrets series. Special thanks to Coulter King and Joyce Meng of Givology for their contributions to this case study.
Givology is a student-run social enterprise that helps individuals find and fund education-related projects around the globe. Givology was launched in 2008 and founded by three University of Pennsylvania undergraduates: Joyce Meng, Jennifer Chan and Carl Mackey.
More: http://www.mjskok.com/resource/startup-secrets-raising-funding
Value Proposition – Case – Diagnostics for AllMichael Skok
This case example provides an overview of DFA’s approach to defining its value proposition, as well as its ability to address qualitative evaluation and gain/pain ratio requirements.
This is part of the Startup Secrets focus on Value Proposition development. For more information on this and other Startup Secrets focus areas, visit http://www.startupsecrets.com
Building a compelling value propositionMichael Skok
This presentation is an overview designed to help startups create their value proposition. It was developed in partnership to Actifio, arguably the fastest growing storage startup ever.
It is part of the Startup Secrets focus on Value Proposition development. For more information on this and other Startup Secrets focus areas, visit http://www.startupsecrets.com
Startup Secrets - Getting Behind the Perfect Investor PitchMichael Skok
These days the pitch to a VC displaces the old business plan because most investors simply don’t have time to read a full business plan, and most entrepreneurs don’t have time to write one. That said, the business strategy still serves as the foundation for any presentation you create.
Startup Secrets - Game Changing Business ModelsMichael Skok
In our industry, it’s not uncommon for entrepreneurs to become so mono-focused on the novelty of their product that they forget to innovate sufficiently around their business model. A disruptive business model can be at least as important as a discontinuous innovation.
3 Skills to Master the gift of Mutual MentorshipMichael Skok
Mentorship is a seemingly simple concept. Get some help from someone more experienced than you. So why do we bother teaching a class on it? Because like anything else it's a skill to mentor and be mentored. And if we can learn that skill it can be a real gift, both to give and receive.
But first of all you've got to know what you're looking for in mentorship. Is it a handout or real help? Do you want answers or are you really looking to learn? For those looking to learn and build not just knowledge but skills for self sufficiency, mentoring can be a mutually rewarding gift.
Think of the process of being mentored as a game of chess. You can easily ask for the next move, but wouldn't you rather learn to master the game?
See the presentation to learn 3 skills to get you going on that path:-
This presentation provides an overview of approaches to developing you vision and mission, as well as the critical nuances tied to company culture. It also features an insightful case example from Salsify.
Startup Secrets - Funding Strategies to Go the DistanceMichael Skok
Having been a venture capitalist for the last decade, I have found that the topic of funding is one that everyone wants to know about but is openly discussed by few. Ironically, the more it is talked about, the more educated entrepreneurs will be, enabling them to make the right decisions as they seek funding for their startup.
Ideas are worth very little without a culture to guide the selection of talent and a big, bold vision to attract and unify the team. Human capital is what separates great from good companies – which is why establishing a strong culture to attract and retain the right people, while unifying them behind an inspiring vision and mission is essential to any significant venture.
Game Changing Business Models - V2! - with case examples - Competitive Advant...Michael Skok
Developed for the Harvard Innovation Lab workshop series on Startup Secrets.
This is part 3 of the 5 part series by Michael J Skok on how to get competitive advantage as a startup.
Michael's slides are the agenda for the workshop, and are NOT self contained. For fuller coverage of the slides, visit Michael's website http://www.mjskok.com/
You’ve figured out your value prop and you’ve got a great product under development. Now what? How can you develop a roadmap to build a company? Venture Capitalists often qualify deals as being a “feature”, a “product” or a “company”. Which do you have and how will you get where you want to go? This presentation addresses how to think about designing your product as a foundational element of your business. This includes thinking beyond UX and Architecture to Whole Product, Ecosystems, and Strategic partners. It also focuses on formulating how to design your go-to-market strategy and business model into your product (with a modular architecture, distinctive packaging and a frictionless approach).
Harvard Innovation Lab Workshop on developing the Perfect Pitch, by Michael Skok.
Michael is an entrepreneur turned venture capitalist, who has seen both sides of this. He spent 21 years as a CEO, building companies and raising over 100 million to build a number of software businesses. And then has spent the last decade as a VC seeing thousands of pitches from entrepreneurs raising money, and invested in companies that have generated over a billion dollars in value.
So with that in mind, the idea here is to give you an insider's checklist for your own pitch,
Driving to Market - V2! - How to "Drive" Competitive Advantage in your Go To ...Michael Skok
New version 2 - including case examples from Spotfire, Demandware, Hubspot and David Skok.
Developed for the Harvard Innovation Lab workshop series on Startup Secrets.
This is part 4 of the 5 part series by Michael J Skok on how to get competitive advantage as a startup.
Michael's slides are the agenda for the workshop, and are NOT self contained. For fuller coverage of the slides, visit Michael's website http://mjskok.com/
Game Changing Business Models - Case - Dries Drupal, Open Source, Co-CreationMichael Skok
This is a case to exemplify how disruptive open source and co-creation can be as part of your business model. Presented by Dries Buytaert, founder of Drupal, the largest open source project on the planet.
This is part of the workshop on Game Changing Business Models - itself part of the series on Startup Secrets, by Michael J Skok on how to get competitive advantage as a startup.
Michael's slides are the framework for the workshop, and are NOT self contained. For fuller coverage of the slides, visit Michael's website http://mjskok.com/
Presented at Business of Software 2014, Michael Skok (North Bridge Ventures) looks at what it takes to create a scaleable billion dollar business.
Full of insights and practical tips. Read if you're in the early stages of a startup, considering strategy or wondering how to accelerate.
Turning Products into Companies - Case - SolidWorksMichael Skok
John McEleney, former CEO of SolidWorks, discusses how the 3D design company became a market leader. He reviews how it is easy to start a company but hard to build a business, offering an instructive view of the approaches he took that led to his success and the company’s ultimate acquisition by Dassault Systems.
Startup Secrets: Raising Funding - Case – GivologyMichael Skok
This is a guest presentation from Alok Tayi, PhD. He is a postdoctoral fellow, in the Whitesides Lab at Harvard University. Alok has been working to provide sample case studies on for the Startup Secrets series. Special thanks to Coulter King and Joyce Meng of Givology for their contributions to this case study.
Givology is a student-run social enterprise that helps individuals find and fund education-related projects around the globe. Givology was launched in 2008 and founded by three University of Pennsylvania undergraduates: Joyce Meng, Jennifer Chan and Carl Mackey.
More: http://www.mjskok.com/resource/startup-secrets-raising-funding
Value Proposition – Case – Diagnostics for AllMichael Skok
This case example provides an overview of DFA’s approach to defining its value proposition, as well as its ability to address qualitative evaluation and gain/pain ratio requirements.
This is part of the Startup Secrets focus on Value Proposition development. For more information on this and other Startup Secrets focus areas, visit http://www.startupsecrets.com
Building a compelling value propositionMichael Skok
This presentation is an overview designed to help startups create their value proposition. It was developed in partnership to Actifio, arguably the fastest growing storage startup ever.
It is part of the Startup Secrets focus on Value Proposition development. For more information on this and other Startup Secrets focus areas, visit http://www.startupsecrets.com
Startup Secrets - Getting Behind the Perfect Investor PitchMichael Skok
These days the pitch to a VC displaces the old business plan because most investors simply don’t have time to read a full business plan, and most entrepreneurs don’t have time to write one. That said, the business strategy still serves as the foundation for any presentation you create.
Startup Secrets - Game Changing Business ModelsMichael Skok
In our industry, it’s not uncommon for entrepreneurs to become so mono-focused on the novelty of their product that they forget to innovate sufficiently around their business model. A disruptive business model can be at least as important as a discontinuous innovation.
Funding Strategies to go the Distance – Case – Endeca: By Steve Papa, founder...Michael Skok
Endeca was acquired by Oracle in 2011 for $1.1 billion. In the below presentation, Endeca Founder Steve Papa discusses his path to securing the funding that helped make the company a success. Steve also shares key lessons learned, such as the significance of macroeconomics and how fundraising efforts start long before you are actually pitching to investors.
Webinar Slides: Become a MongoDB DBA (if you’re really a MySQL user)Severalnines
So, maybe you’ve been working with MySQL for a while and are now being asked to also properly maintain one or more MongoDB instances. It is not uncommon that MySQL DBAs, developers, network/system administrators or DevOps folks with general backgrounds, find themselves in this situation at some point in time. In fact, with more organisations operating polyglot environments, it’s starting to become commonplace.
With that said, we’d like to introduce a new webinar series: ‘How to Become a MongoDB DBA’ to answer the question: ‘what does a MongoDB DBA do’?
In the space of three webinars, we will walk you through the most important tasks a MongoDB DBA routinely goes through and provide you with options on how to best complete these tasks.
In this initial webinar of the series, we will go beyond the deployment phase and show you how you can automate tasks, how to monitor a cluster and how to manage MongoDB; whilst also automating and managing your MySQL and/or PostgreSQL installations.
Agenda
Introduction to becoming a MongoDB DBA
Installing & configuring MongoDB
What to monitor and how
How to perform backups
Live Demo
Speaker
Art van Scheppingen is a Senior Support Engineer at Severalnines. He’s a pragmatic MySQL and Database expert with over 15 years experience in web development. He previously worked at Spil Games as Head of Database Engineering, where he kept a broad vision upon the whole database environment: from MySQL to Couchbase, Vertica to Hadoop and from Sphinx Search to SOLR. He regularly presents his work and projects at various conferences (Percona Live, FOSDEM) and related meetups.
2012 Future of Open Source - 6th Annual Survey resultsMichael Skok
The annual Future of Open Source Survey provides a report on the state of the open source industry and analysis of future trends. Now in its seventh year, this annual survey was supported by nearly 30 collaborators open source software industry leaders and collaborating organizations, and compiles results from hundreds of respondents from the open source community.
2014 Future of Open Source - 8th Annual Survey resultsMichael Skok
The annual Future of Open Source Survey provides a report on the state of the open source industry and analysis of future trends. Now in its eighth year, this annual survey was supported by with over 45 collaborators, open source software industry leaders, and collaborating organizations, and compiles results from hundreds of respondents from the open source community.
Go To Market – Case – Demandware RebrandingMichael Skok
While we looked at initial branding for startups here, in this case study we discuss a more mature example with Demandware, a company that is now past its IPO and was looking to rebrand to extend its leadership and position the company for continued growth.
Lviv IT Arena is a conference specially designed for programmers, designers, developers, top managers, inverstors, entrepreneurs and startuppers. Annually it takes place at the beginning of October in Lviv at Arena Lviv stadium. In 2016 the conference gathered more than 1800 participants and over 100 speakers from companies like Microsoft, Philips, Twitter, UBER and IBM. More details about the conference at itarena.lviv.ua.
The Lean Product Lifecycle Book- Product Innovation & Business Growth (Craig ...strongandagile.co.uk
An overview on how The Lean Product Lifecycle can transform your business to simultaneously innovate and grow by taking on insights from Venture Capital, Private Equity, Budgeting, Agile, Lean, Lean Startup, Beyond Budgeting and more.
Know how to take your idea and build a successful business.
No startup business experiences the same journey to success, but there are general stages that most companies move through as they grow:
1) Validation
2) Product Development
3) Commercialization
4) Scale/Growth
The Center for Entrepreneurial Innovation (CEI) helps its clients through these stages of business development and offers best practices for each stage. Represented by an amazing lineup of speakers, including Hart Shafer (Innovation Coach / Founder, Theraspecs), Eric Miller (Principal, PADT Inc.), Nate Curran (Entrepreneur-in-Residence, CEI) and Russ Yelton (CEO, Pinnacle Transplant Technologies, "The Startup Lifecycle" presentation offers unique insights and best practices for entrepreneurs growing their business.
The incumbent’s playbook for launching a vertical SaaS product (Directions EM...Martin Karlowitsch
Presentation held at Directions EMEA 2017 in Madrid.
Been on the market for decades? Living from upfront license revenues and services that you sell alongside? Think of developing a SaaS product, but not sure where to start? Think of building a vertical Microsoft Dynamics 365 SaaS app/product? Come and join me, and I will share my experiences with you from building www.just-plan-it.com on Azure and integrate it with Dynamics 365. I will provide real life experiences, share tips and tricks, books to read and tools to use on that journey. My purpose is encouraging you to go the SaaS development route as you as an incumbent have a huge advantage over funding series driven start-ups: you know your market and have you a sustained cash flow to finance growth. In essence, I will cover the following questions:
1) How to identify and validate market demand?
2) What the heck is an MVP (minimum viable product) and how can it help?
3) How can I easily start the inbound lead generation journey?
4) How to organize development to stay at the “pulse of the market”?
5) How to measure and manage initial success?
6) Why is user onboarding so crucial and difficult?
7) How to prepare for scale?
Optimize Your Funnel By Getting Inside Your Buyer's HeadDavid Skok
Part of finding product/market fit is turning early wins into repeatable, scalable, and profitable sales. In this talk given as part of the Heavybit speaker series, I discuss how to shorten the time to customer conversion from trials, freemium and open source products.
The Importance of Product Validation by RetailMeNot Dir. of PMProduct School
Product vision and strategy are key components to empowering teams to act with any meaningful degree of autonomy. But is an inspiring vision and an intentional product strategy enough to guarantee success?
Any Product Manager worth her salt knows that product validation is critical to building a successful product. And yet, product validation may be one of the hardest things you'll ever do in your career. During her talk, Laura shared insights on a product validation framework that will help Product Managers avoid the most common hypothesis pitfalls, learn more about their customers, and improve and refine their ideas along the way.
Никита Галкин "Technical backlog: инструкция к применению"Fwdays
Дилемма “новые фичи быстро VS технический долг” известна всем. Одним из инструментов её решения является ведение технического бэклога. В ходе доклада мы поговорим:
что такое технический бэклог;
чем и как его наполнять;
как “продавать” элементы технического бэклога заказчику и команде;
и, конечно, как проводить демо элементов техбэклога.
Содержимое доклада будет интересно, всем членам команды. Результатом применение идей и инструментов из доклада станут улучшение эстимейтов, налаженность технических процессов и управляемость техническим долгом.
How to Succeed in a Product Innovation Role by Verizon PMProduct School
Main takeaways:
- What are some of the various types of Product Manager roles?
- What skills are required to build a career in Product Innovation?
- How do you market or acquire these skills?
How to build a startup SLASSSCOM Talk Aug 2015Raomal Perera
An introduction on how to build a startup using lean techniques. The talk was hosted by SLASSCOM and sponsored by Virtusa, Regus Sri Lanka and Pick Me.
Integrating user insights and validation on a weekly basis to product teams
* Building team capabilities to create low and high fidelity prototypes (design, engineering, and product management)
* Experience prototyping events as a method to de-risk and learn from end-users
* Evolutionary and lean iterations that create a revolutionary product
From Project to Product: “Big Rock” Constraints and How to Overcome ThemCprime
Project-based thinking and process is often the largest inhibitor of achieving agility. It explains why the notion of ‘Project to Product' has gained such popularity to the point of becoming a buzzword in recent years.
Despite the enthusiasm about becoming a product-driven organization, many companies still hang onto their old project-based ways due to some “big rock” constraints, including funding and separation of IT and business.
So, what can you do to make a successful shift?
Join Anne Steiner, Cprime’s VP of Product & Technology, to explore the challenges you may face in your product agility journey and how to overcome them. We’ll explore:
- Common constraints you may encounter when shifting from project to product and how to address them
- How to shift to product based funding models
- The role of the product manager
- Benefits you’ll experience with true product agility
Migrating off legacy platforms while still delivering value - DNA & SAFe AU...Em Campbell-Pretty
Many organisations have been on legacy, business critical platforms far longer than they would have liked or want to be. Many organisations faced with the massive transition are tempted to revert to a waterfall approach to accomplish the mission. This talk will outline ways to move from the existing platform to the new architecture in an incremental way.
Learning Objectives:
1. Use the business Roadmap and Architectural Runway to understand how to incrementally move to a new technology platform
2. Define the business outcomes and align the migration effort to deliver those outcomes incrementally Learning Objective
2. Apply DevOps considerations from the beginning to help size and shape the total migration effort
Motarme Customer Development workshop provided to participants of Trinity Launchbox, July 2015. Includes a definition of Customer Development, some techniques for testing and validating a new product, leading into a process for Customer Acquisition. Also quick review of Agile principles. Includes list of recommended links / books.
Every large enterprise needs to manage portfolios of business initiatives. Portfolio Management encompasses
• The formulation of initiatives, and the assessment of their value, effort, and Return on Investment
• The approval and scheduling of initiatives
• The evaluation of the status of ongoing initiatives
• The decision to continue or terminate an ongoing initiative
This webinar will provide guidance on effective ways to conduct Portfolio Management, using our concepts of Agile Governance to simplify and expedite the key decisions. These techniques can applied for Agile, hybrid, and classic plan-driven processes.
Kickstart Your Product with a Design Sprint by thestartupfactory.techProduct School
In a fluid and fast-paced world of Product, Product Management and building Product Roadmaps, even the most skilled of teams can struggle with a specific proposition, have misaligned priorities or simply get stuck from time to time. That's where the Design Sprint comes in – a process born at Google Ventures. This presentation unravels how a Design Sprint can get you and your team back on track in just 5 days. Not only that, but get a sneak peek into Design Sprint 2.0: now 20% faster than the original!
Similar to 2016 Innovation Roundtable Keynote by Michael Skok (20)
Mentorship is a seemingly simple concept. Get some help from someone more experienced than you. So why do we bother teaching a class on it? Because, like anything else, it’s a skill to mentor and be mentored. And if we can learn that skill it can be a real gift, both to give and receive.
Ask these basic questions: How much capital does your growth require? What will be your cost of capital over the growth of your venture? Can you afford to grow at all costs? When will growth not be the basis for valuation? What if factors beyond your control impact growth?
The 2014 Future of Cloud Computing Survey was conducted in partnership with 72 Collaborators. The survey is the most widely endorsed survey of its kind in the industry. To tweet individual slides, please note the banner on the upper right hand corner of each page. Visit the Blog on http://mjskok.com/resource/2014-future-cloud-computing-4th-annual-survey-results and follow us @futureofcloud #futureofcloud to join the conversation.
Andy Jassy Illuminates Amazon Web ServicesMichael Skok
Andy Jassy, senior vice president of Amazon Web Services, provides an overview of AWS at the May 8, 2013 Startup Secrets session at Harvard innovation lab.
This case example demonstrates how Disqus developed its value proposition, while offering insight into how the company addressed the qualitative evaluation process.
This is part of the Startup Secrets focus on Value Proposition development. For more information on this and other Startup Secrets focus areas, visit http://www.startupsecrets.com
Sharpen existing tools or get a new toolbox? Contemporary cluster initiatives...Orkestra
UIIN Conference, Madrid, 27-29 May 2024
James Wilson, Orkestra and Deusto Business School
Emily Wise, Lund University
Madeline Smith, The Glasgow School of Art
0x01 - Newton's Third Law: Static vs. Dynamic AbusersOWASP Beja
f you offer a service on the web, odds are that someone will abuse it. Be it an API, a SaaS, a PaaS, or even a static website, someone somewhere will try to figure out a way to use it to their own needs. In this talk we'll compare measures that are effective against static attackers and how to battle a dynamic attacker who adapts to your counter-measures.
About the Speaker
===============
Diogo Sousa, Engineering Manager @ Canonical
An opinionated individual with an interest in cryptography and its intersection with secure software development.
Have you ever wondered how search works while visiting an e-commerce site, internal website, or searching through other types of online resources? Look no further than this informative session on the ways that taxonomies help end-users navigate the internet! Hear from taxonomists and other information professionals who have first-hand experience creating and working with taxonomies that aid in navigation, search, and discovery across a range of disciplines.
This presentation by Morris Kleiner (University of Minnesota), was made during the discussion “Competition and Regulation in Professions and Occupations” held at the Working Party No. 2 on Competition and Regulation on 10 June 2024. More papers and presentations on the topic can be found out at oe.cd/crps.
This presentation was uploaded with the author’s consent.
Acorn Recovery: Restore IT infra within minutesIP ServerOne
Introducing Acorn Recovery as a Service, a simple, fast, and secure managed disaster recovery (DRaaS) by IP ServerOne. A DR solution that helps restore your IT infra within minutes.
This presentation, created by Syed Faiz ul Hassan, explores the profound influence of media on public perception and behavior. It delves into the evolution of media from oral traditions to modern digital and social media platforms. Key topics include the role of media in information propagation, socialization, crisis awareness, globalization, and education. The presentation also examines media influence through agenda setting, propaganda, and manipulative techniques used by advertisers and marketers. Furthermore, it highlights the impact of surveillance enabled by media technologies on personal behavior and preferences. Through this comprehensive overview, the presentation aims to shed light on how media shapes collective consciousness and public opinion.
Getting started with Amazon Bedrock Studio and Control Tower
2016 Innovation Roundtable Keynote by Michael Skok
1. Proprietary and Confidential@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
START UP
SECRETS
An insider’s guide to unfair competitive advantage
Hi
Copenhagen Innovation Roundtable Keynote
Tweet questions to: @mjskok #startupsecrets
startupsecrets.com
November 2016
Michael J Skok
3. Proprietary and Confidential@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable @mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
Startup Secrets - Tasters
Our agenda today includes some small samples from the Startup Secrets
series:
Value proposition - Fundamentals
Products to companies – Friction free, “slippery” products
Business model - Basics
For the full details of these and other workshops see:
startupsecrets.com / twitter: @mjskok
@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
4. Proprietary and Confidential@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable @mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
If you want to build a billion dollar
business…
Start with a MULTI billion dollar problem
@mjskok @underscorevc startupsecrets.comCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
5. Proprietary and Confidential@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable @mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
E.G. eCommerce…
Market:
eCommerce:
• $4.7 trillion
• ~7% penetrated
• Growing in mid teens
Problem:
“Under siege”, Disruptions
• Offline -> Online
• Physical -> Digital
• Mobile -> Omni Channel
@mjskok @underscorevc startupsecrets.comCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
7. 7Copyright 2012 Demandware, Inc. – CONFIDENTIAL |
Demandware is at the Confluence of
Three Significant Markets
$317 Billion
$12 Trillion
Global Retail
$10 Billion
Global eCommerce
16%
CAGR
(‘10 – ’15)
Global SaaS
18%
CAGR
(‘10 – ’15)
Data Reflects 2010
Source: Gartner (Global SaaS Market) and Euromonitor
(Global Retail and Global eCommerce)
8. 8Copyright 2012 Demandware, Inc. – CONFIDENTIAL |
Demandware Delivers the Best of Both Worlds
A Unique and Better Approach to eCommerce
The Best of
Both Worlds
Build and Run Internally
The Pros:
Control
Customization
The Cons:
Costly
IT-Constrained
Performance/Security
Responsibility
Slow Pace of Innovation
✗
Outsource / ASP
The Pros:
Less Hassle
No Infrastructure
The Cons:
Inflexible
No Merchant Control of
Merchandising
Limited Customization
✗
11. Proprietary and Confidential@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable @mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
Amazon’s problem?
Internal software projects were taking too long
• Causing competitive issues
• Internal scaling challenges
• Reinventing the wheel
If they could solve it for themselves, could it solve it for others?
Andy Jassy / AWS team were a level 8 problem solver.
• What level will you be?
http://www.startupsecrets.com/amazon
12. Proprietary and Confidential@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
www.startupsecrets.com
VALUE PROPOSITION
(excerpt)
13. Proprietary and Confidential@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable @mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
Evaluate Build
Gain Pain
Value
Prop
Define
Ideas
Problem
Solution
Agenda - Define
13@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevc
14. Proprietary and Confidential@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable @mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
Unworkable
Unavoidable
Urgent
Underserved
Problems worth solving
are usually 4U …
Problem
14@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevc
15. Proprietary and Confidential@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable @mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
Broken business process
Consequences ?
If the consequences are costly or painful,
so much the better.
E.g. who gets fired if this doesn’t work?
Unworkable
15@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevc
16. Proprietary and Confidential@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable @mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
Accounting
Regulation
Is the problem so fundamental you can’t
avoid it and just have to comply?
Unavoidable
16@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevc
17. Proprietary and Confidential@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable @mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
Relative to other needs …
Priority
• Determines resources allocated
If you’re not at the top of the list, are you at least in the top 3?
If not will you get moved up or down over time and why?
Urgent
17@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevc
18. Proprietary and Confidential@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable @mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
You will compete in a zero-sum game
Finite:
• $
• Time
• People
• Attention
Underserved – Business…
18@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevc
20. Proprietary and Confidential@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable @mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
Evaluate Build
Gain Pain
Value
Prop
Define
Ideas
Problem
Solution
Agenda - Evaluate
20@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevc
21. Proprietary and Confidential@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable @mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
Is it “blac” & white?
Blatant
Latent
Aspirational
Critical
Blatant
Latent
Aspirational Critical
Blatant
Critical
Qualify the problem
21@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevc
22. Proprietary and Confidential@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable @mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
The gain delivered to the customer
vs.
The pain and cost for the customer to adopt
“Gain/Pain ratio"
Gain Pain
35@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevc
23. Proprietary and Confidential@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable @mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
• Revenue
• Cost savings
• Time
• People
• Competitive advantage
• Reputation
• Etc..
Gain
Gain Pain
36@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevc
25. Proprietary and Confidential@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable @mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
• Switching costs?
• Default = do nothing
• Alternatives?
• Good enough =
good enough!
• RISK on a startup
Inertia,
RISK
Inertia
Gain Pain
39@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevc
26. Proprietary and Confidential@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable @mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
What’s the right ratio?
Inertia,
RISKGain Pain
40@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevc
27. Proprietary and Confidential@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable @mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
Customer view = Gain/Pain
• Revenue
• Cost savings
• Time
• People
• Competitive advantage
• Reputation
• Etc.
• Inertia
• Switching costs?
• Default = do nothing
• Alternatives?
• Good enough =
good enough!
• RISK on a startup
• Find (See)
• Try
• Buy
• Implement
• Deploy
• Own – e.g.TCO
Inertia,
RISKGain
Pain
27@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
28. Proprietary and Confidential@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable @mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
“An order of
magnitude”
Customer view = Gain/Pain
Inertia,
RISK
Gain
Pain
>10
28@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
• Revenue
• Cost savings
• Time
• People
• Competitive advantage
• Reputation
• Etc.
• Inertia
• Switching costs?
• Default = do nothing
• Alternatives?
• Good enough =
good enough!
• RISK on a startup
• Find (See)
• Try
• Buy
• Implement
• Deploy
• Own – e.g.TCO
29. Proprietary and Confidential@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
www.startupsecrets.com
PRODUCTS TO COMPANIES
(excerpt)
30. Proprietary and Confidential@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable @mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
How do you take away the pain,
and reduce friction?
… make it SLIPPERY
(Reduce the Pain in
the Gain/Pain Ratio)
@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
31. Proprietary and Confidential@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable @mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
• Simple
• Low to no initial cost
• Installs easily
• Proves value quickly
• Plays well with others
• Easy to use
• ROI is obvious
• Your customers can’t live without it – it’s stickY
Friction Free, SLIPPERY products
31@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
33. Proprietary and Confidential@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable @mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
Microsoft Sony
Which is better?
@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
34. Proprietary and Confidential@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable @mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
Microsoft, Sony Apple
Neither! = Less is More!
@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
35. Proprietary and Confidential@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable @mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
Simple ≠ Easy !
Simple often means complex technology
that makes your product “magic”
Simplification Innovation
(search algorithms in the cloud)
Simple ≠ Easy to do
@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
36. Proprietary and Confidential@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable @mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
features are the enemy of function
functionality can overwhelm users
applicability is all that ultimately matters
@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
Less is More…
37. Proprietary and Confidential@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
www.startupsecrets.com
BUSINESS MODEL
(excerpt)
38. Proprietary and Confidential@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable @mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
New Market
& GTM
Disruptive
Business Model
Disruptive
Technology
@mjskok @underscorevc startupsecrets.com
Perfect Startup Storm
38
39. Proprietary and Confidential@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable @mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
How can your Business Model…
Change the game?
Rewrite the rules?
Cause an innovator’s dilemma
Be as disruptive
as your technology?
New Game
New playing field
New boundaries
New rules
YOU choose players
@mjskok @underscorevc startupsecrets.com 39
41. Proprietary and Confidential@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable @mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
Process or Product?
Software or Services?
Open or Proprietary?
Content or Data?
Freemium or Premium?
Subscription or License?
Business Model – Sample Questions
@mjskok @underscorevc startupsecrets.com 41
42. Proprietary and Confidential@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable @mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
Your
Capabilities
Of
Really
Exceptional
Value
Focus on it!CORE
First key question
What is your CORE value?
@mjskok @underscorevc startupsecrets.com 16
43. Proprietary and Confidential@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable @mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
Where is your CORE value?
Software/other technology
Data
Content
Service, support
User network
Disruptively monetize it!
• To your competitive advantage
• Where are others most vulnerable?
COR
E
Cut to the CORE!
@mjskok @underscorevc startupsecrets.com 43
44. Proprietary and Confidential@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable @mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
Google Apps vs. Microsoft office
• What is the C.O.R.E for each ?
Software, Data, Advertising ?
Don’t compete head-on
• MS Office = enterprise market
• Google Apps = consumer market
• Free vs $500 license
• Simple vs Complicated
• 80% solution vs Professional Tool
- Ex 1 Apps
@mjskok @underscorevc startupsecrets.com 44
45. Proprietary and Confidential@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable @mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
How can you compete with a market leader who has 80% to 90%
market share?
1. Don’t compete head-on
2. Innovators Dilemma – go for low end
3. Disruptive technology, business model, or market approach
4. Examples: Gmail, Google Apps, Chrome
– Competing with Market Leaders
@mjskok @underscorevc startupsecrets.com 45
46. Proprietary and Confidential@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
BUSINESS MODEL
& PRODUCT
(example)
www.startupsecrets.com
49. Proprietary and Confidential@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
OK, BUT NOW WHAT ABOUT
ME ?!
(LEADING GLOBAL INNOVATORS)
50. Proprietary and Confidential@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable @mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
You: Large Global 1000 Innovator…
50
• Resources
• Brand
• Credibility
• Distribution
• Etc…
• Speed, agility
52. Proprietary and Confidential@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable @mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
Innovate!
Get out!
• Not just technology
• Business Model,
GTM etc
There is no failure,
only learning
• #nofailure
• #onlylearning
What can I learn from
you?
52
Evaluate Build
Gain Pain Value
Define
Ideas
Problem
Solution
53. Proprietary and Confidential@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable @mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
Thank you for listening.
But what can we learn from you?
I’ve shared a small sample of some of the Startup Secrets …
Value proposition - Fundamentals
Products to companies – Friction free, “slippery” products
Business model - Basics
startupsecrets.com
twitter: @mjskok / @underscorevc
@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
54. Proprietary and Confidential@mjskok startupsecrets.com@underscorevcCopenhagen Innovation Roundtable
START UP
SECRETS
An insider’s guide to unfair competitive advantage
Hi
Copenhagen Innovation Roundtable
Tweet questions to: @mjskok #startupsecrets
startupsecrets.com
November 2016
Michael J Skok
Editor's Notes
Intelligent line art only
Text in box resizable
Amazon
Be sure to emphasize fact that eCommerce continues to take larger & larger share of Retail. Happening due to measurability of everything (war story about large CPG prospect just as interested in measuring consumer reactions as revenue) & fact that costs automatically flex with revenues with no big upfront capital investments to grow (unlike stores). Connect this to examples like Tory Burch, Marks & Spencer, Columbia, expanding to many international sites.
In IR 500 for 2010 (last full yr), over 50% of 70 non pure plays had eC as >10% and 25% had eC>25%. Indicative of how much room within existing customers.
Our belief that we have approximately 1-2% market share by customer count.
We still have our first customer, Zabar’s. Note P&G, Columbia, Lands End, Barney’s, Jones New York, Tory Burch, New Balance. (different set in UK)
Our customers as channel.
Defining the problem….
Customer problem or need
And ultimately applicability to the customer’s need and job to be done…
Disruptive to the industry and the competition and NOT the customer (remember the gain/pain ratio)
Arbitrage - ?
AirBnB – commission on P2P rentals
Mint – lead gen, not software – caused Intuit to acquire them
Think about this for the customer too eg – Capex or Opex
Sell or rent ?