Category: Business models
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Quirky: crowd-sourcing product development
Quirky is a remarkable company and I cannot believe that I have missed them for so long. They crowd-source product development of their products. So far they have created 299 products and have a community of 826,000 users. Ten percent of the gross revenues of a product is contributed to its Community Cash Pool (my caps). This is the invisible hand…
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The future of Windows
http://feeds.arstechnica.com/~r/arstechnica/index/~3/j34uJD7Eoiw/ This is a very insightful article that shows how Microsoft could be planning to reconcile the different needs of consumers and businesses and reduce the licensing and support burden. Some key points: There will only be Windows, not Windows 9, 10, 11 … which will all require different support cycles This will be possible because…
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Mobile contacts are a key mobile application battleground
This is a very interesting article about the importance of mobile phone contacts. Here is an excerpt but it is worth reading the whole article.
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GPL: Living with cancer
The GPL software licence has been described as, “a cancer that attaches itself in an intellectual property sense to everything it touches” The GPL is deeply antithetical to idea the of software as private property (it is called a FREE Software Licence) and denies the opportunity for developers to create capital by requiring them to…
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Pulling together The Lean Startup and Business Model Canvas
Regular readers will know that my two favourite books on innovation are the The Lean Startup and Business Model Generation. Here is a great article that pulls them together. http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140114154846-95015-do-pivots-matter?trk=eml-ced-b-art-Ch-4&ut=2FQNAYVKvSs641
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Books on innovation
Continuing my theme of useful books. Here a couple of very valuable books about managing innovation. The Lean Start-up Business Model Generation
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Excellent book on management theories
I am presently doing research for a book that I am going to write called “How to be a Middle Manager” and I have found this excellent book that summarises a wide range of management theories in an easily digestible and usable way. Much cheaper than an MBA! The Little Book of Big Management Theories:…
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Domain parking experiment
Last year I purchased some domain names referring to 3D printing and laser cutting services. 3D printers are big news and laser cutters are great tools so I thought there was an opportunity to build community sites that might have some revenue potential. As usual I did not have the time to progress these ideas.…
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Who cleans the toilets at Valve Corporation?
There is recently been some press coverage of Valve Corporation which famously has no bosses. As a management consultant I spent most of my working days putting in hierarchal management systems to support a company’s growth. Therefore I am very interested in Valve’s management model. Valve is a very successful company, therefore the question naturally…
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Office 2013 upgrade – red pill or blue pill?
The red pill and its opposite, the blue pill, are pop culture symbols representing the choice between the blissful ignorance of illusion (blue) and embracing the sometimes painful truth of reality (red). Wikipedia about The Matrix movie I have to decide whether to upgrade to Office 2013. If I want my life to be easy I should just take the blue…
Dr James Bayley 