ProjectX Blog

“Talk is cheap, because supply exceeds demand.” – Anonymous

Seth Godin, has just posted an answer to a question he ask was asked on “Why do you give away your ideas so freely ?”.

Here’s what he said….

I responded that ideas are easy, doing stuff is hard.

My feeling is that the more often you create and share ideas, the better you get at it. The process of manipulating and ultimately spreading ideas improves both the quality and the quantity of what you create, at least it does for me.

And the clincher for me …

History is littered with inventors who had “great” ideas but kept them quiet and then poorly executed them. And history is lit up with do-ers who took ideas that were floating around in the ether and actually made something happen. In fact, just about every successful venture is based on an unoriginal idea, beautifully executed.

There are a lot of really smart people with great ideas and a lot of talk. It takes a lot of balls to ante up and do the hard yards to make things happen. Trade Me is clear example of an unoriginal idea, superbly executed!

I’ve been invited to speak at the launch of Terralinks new data product – NZ Mastermap.

I’ll be speaking in Wellington (Tuesday morning) and Auckland (Wednesday morning). My talk is on “Online Maps – Past, Present and Future”. I’ll be providing a brief look at online mapping; what’s happened over the last 2 years and provide a hint of what to expect in the future.

If you’re coming to the breakfast presentation, either tomorrow or Wednesday, make sure you come and say Hi.

On Prime TV, last night there was a programme from the BBC looking at the people’s personality types. It was a really thought provoking show and essential viewing for any manager or anyone else that wants to get the best out of their people. Understanding people’s differences is the key to creating a better workplace. I would recommend that everyone should take the test, as the more you know yourself –  the more you can achieve.

It was really interesting to see just how different the personality types are, especially when they mix together to complete some tasks.

There are 16 personality types that they highlighted: Big Thinker,Counsellor, Go-getter, Idealist, Innovator, Leader, Mastermind, Mentor, Nurturer, Peacemaker, Performer, Provider, Realist, Resolver, Strategist and Supervisor.

You can take the test online at the BBC website – What am I like to find out for yourself. (The site also has some other interesting surveys on Memory, Can you spot a fake smile ? and art and personality.)

According to the the test, I’m a mastermind.

Summary of Masterminds

• Visionaries who put energy into achieving their goals
• Prefer to work independently and dislike inefficiency
• Think of themselves as logical, thorough, and bright
• Values practicality and common sense above ideas and theories

I’m not sure that I totally agree with the Introvert / Extrovert rating. But it seems to be pretty bang on.

What type of personality are you ?

Tomorrow, the Codeblacks battle for glory against the Australian team (webabies???) in the full code press. (This challenge should be called the “Blediscode Cup”)

Zef is over covering the action. Hopefully, he’ll be using the traditional commentary, “Full credit to…” and “It was a website of two halves…”

The big question is will they be doing the haka before kick-off ? And what will be the Australian reply???

There’s a lot of coverage on the web, Youtube , flickr , the official blog, codeblacks blog and the WIPA blog.

Go the Codeblacks, do us proud.

This week, both Nokia and Mattel have had to issue product recalls.. Nokia have had to recall 36 million BL-5C batteries and Mattel are recalling 19 million toys because of the lead paint. Some of the toys have been sold in NZ and date back to 2003. Here is the pdf with information on the affected toys from NZ.

Respect to both companies for fronting up and recalling the products. It takes a lot of guts to admit you’ve made a mistake. Unfortunately, the markets will not like the news.

All these recalls remind be me of Tyler Durden’s speech about recalls …..

JACK (V.O.)
I’m a recall coordinator. My job is
to apply the formula. It’s a story
problem.

TECHNICIAN #1
Here’s where the infant went through
the windshield. Three points.

JACK (V.O.)
A new car built by my company leaves
somewhere traveling at 60 miles per
hour. The rear differential locks up.

TECHNICIAN #2
The teenager’s braces around the
backseat ashtray would make a good
“anti-smoking” ad.

JACK (V.O.)
The car crashes and burns with
everyone trapped inside. Now: do we
initiate a recall?

TECHNICIAN #1
The father must’ve been huge. See
how the fat burnt into the driver’s
seat with his polyester shirt? Very
“modern art.”

JACK (V.O.)
Take the number of vehicles in the
field, (A), and multiply it by the
probable rate of failure, (B), then
multiply the result by the average
out-of-court settlement, (C). A
times B times C equals X…

Why think up new plans for your next product, when you can generate ideas !?! Enjoy

We’ve started to use video to help promote our company and advertise our initiatives were involved in. (PlanHQ have also been doing a great job of promoting the use of video to show how your business works.)

With modern editing tools like iMovie etc. its a breeze to create your own video and promotions. With Youtube, distribution is really easy. Some companies are starting to create documentaries to help raise their profile and promote their products. ie. Mojopages

If you don’t have time to make them yourself, then there are a huge pool of talented film students, who are waiting for the chance to show their skills. We were referrred budding film maker Pattara Jaikasemwong by PlanHQ, who have employed Pattara’s skills on Tim’s presentations at the Wellington Chamber of Commerce. Pattara did a fantastic job on our video for Summer of Code and we’ll be using him for more of our promotions. He’s looking for work, so if you’re looking for some help to make some video, let me know and I’ll send him your way.

Forget blog posts, roll on with more videos!

Alex Iskold at the ReadWriteWeb has cast another look at Geoffrey Moore’s “Crossing the Chasm”. The concept has been at the cornerstone of a lot of technology thinking. Even John O’Hara’s book “Commercialising Innovation” is heavily based on it. Alex has hit the nail on the head by highlighting the following problem …

The problem is that compared to a few years ago, the speed with which new technologies are coming to the market has increased dramatically. All these technologies are aimed at the early adopters. And they love it and they try it. But the question is what happens when your early adopters run off to play with a new great thing before you have a chance to take your technology mainstream?

Yesterday’s Friendster is today’s MySpace and tomorrow’s Facebook.



This is actually nothing new, Clayton Christensen’s “Innovator’s Dilemma” has a case study of the disk drive industry and shows how the disruptive innovations in the disk technology often left the current market leaders in the dust.

What is an entrepreneur to do ????

Mauricio had just posted about the ads for Nokia N95 , now compare those ads for the iPhone. Which one is going to be more effective ???

Apparently, there are only 12 types of commercials.(iPhone is a “Demo” and the N95 is a “parody”.) Who knew ?!?

Just discovered the Venture Hacks blog on venture capital, from a response to Paul Graham’s essay on “The Equity Equation”.

It has some great advice on

• Vesting
• Terms Sheets
• Options