You didn’t realize you were at war, did you?
Oh, but you are.
It’s kind of scary, if you think about it. Just because you have a great product doesn’t mean anyone is going to know about it, and even if they know about it, there’s no guarantee that they’ll start using it, and even if they start using it, there’s a pretty good chance they’ll never pay for it. Not because it isn’t good and useful and worthy to be used, but because it isn’t interesting enough to win the war for paying customers.
My advice: play to win.
I recently revisited Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, an old text written originally to teach men how to slaughter enemies efficiently; however, the same principles can be applied to business management today. Borrowing some of its tactics, I’ve devised a battle plan for getting people to start paying for your products:
… Read Full Post >>
I’m a real sucker for natural user interface. Since co-founding a mobile apps company, I’ve become obsessed with seeing how users interact with technology. I want to know everything about everything, so that I can provide a superior user experience and crush my competitors.
I devour UI articles on design blogs. I drain my wallet on new gadgets. I carpal my tunnels into various contortions in pursuit of this knowledge.
In case you’re curious, I believe that Apple still provides one of the best how-to manuals for good user design. But over the past few weeks I’ve been contemplating: does good user design really do anything?
Besides making my app look pretty, does it make customers fitter / happier / more productive / smarter?
For me – not really, at least not yet. I’m going to go out on a limb here and argue that a “natural user interface” is the wrong goal to have in mind while building a mobile user experience, because it says nothing about the efficiency of the operation or the ultimate result. What we want is a Dyson sphere.
… Read Full Post >>
Since moving to Chicago and starting business school, I’ve been meeting tons of entrepreneurial spirited folks. I’ve been having a great time talking shop and swapping new ideas. These people are smart and accomplished. A lot of them even come from fancy Ivy League backgrounds.
But what struck me as weird is that a lot of them are really cautious. Really. Overly. Cautious. To the point where several of them have asked me to sign a nondisclosure before telling me the simplest idea.
After having dozens of ideas and working on several projects that haven’t exactly taken off, one thing I’ve learned is that ideas are worthless unless they are properly implemented.
… Read Full Post >>
