Category: Startups

Strategy, Architecture & Problem-Solving

ERRC as an 8 box model

Blue Ocean Strategy includes a concept of an ERRC diagram to cover the following strategic decisions: Eliminate Reduce Raise Create Graph? It’s usually depicted as a linear graph where the authors of each ERRC decide which of the features of their product (or indeed which products) should fall into which section of the graph. The…
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Goal Wrangler logo

Goal Wrangler – an update

Like many companies across the world, Goal Wrangler slowed down to a pause. It has sat out the lockdown and we are now looking to engage with clients and potential customers. Here is the current offering: Goal Wrangler is open for consultancy: to medium-to-large organisations. to start-ups and scale-ups Goal Wrangler is looking to engage:…
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Goal Wrangler logo

Goal Wrangler

The idea for Goal Wrangler has been gestating for a while. It’s formed from our observations with a number of large national organisations. All of which experienced the same problems and all of which were able to work more effectively once we’d facilitated an improved focus. We’re new, we’re still defining our values (and we’re…
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dart in dartboard

Be Prepared To Squirm

I’m back in the startup world. We’re building a software solution and an associated consultancy. It’s early days for both, however we’ve been consulting for years (well, decades) before this so that’s not new to us, but the alignment and focus is new. We’re helping organisations of any size or sector achieve better alignment. There…
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Startup whiteboard

A New Phase

I’ve been thinking about what a new consultancy could look like for a few years; whether to start with values, start with contracts, start with composition, etc. Earlier this year, I started on a new hybrid SaaS/Consultancy model.  The trigger for me was the blending of the startup world, in terms of building the SaaS…
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Stealth Plane

Stealth Mode is a Novice’s Game

Yet again, I’ve come across another post by a would-be/current founder who’s asking for advice. They’ve framed the question in an abstract way, dancing around the subject, trying to get the advice that they want but without providing sufficient information about their idea for the community to be able to add any significant value.  It’s…
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headphones

False Features

Are the features you provide in your products the features that your customers want or those you think they want? Variants on that question are common. But all too often, a feature slips through and you have to wonder how it got there, how was it approved, why did the company spend time and effort…
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Innovation

Outsourcing your future

There’s a growing trend in organisations to outsource their future through innovation labs and innovation competitions. I like to question the rationale behind these decisions and look at the host company more closely. After all, what is behind its decision to handle innovation from outside-in, rather than inside-out? Reasons So let’s explore. Why would an…
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rain

Rain versus Innovation

The following tweet made me consider, initially thinking about the place of Manchester in innovation, but also the wider concept of personal transport versus climate. It rains in Manchester. From personal experience, Manchester doesn’t feel the rainiest place in the United Kingdom, but it does have a reputation for significant rainfall. That doesn’t dampen the…
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Capability Components

Pardon, which sector? – Xtech and Why I’m Fed Up with Tech part 3

I’ve written previously about the issues with xtech that arise from applying -tech to the end of a sector such as healthtech, fintech, etc. And I introduced (and revoked) the idea of a -value suffix. Earlier this week, a conversation earlier made me think more about this and I want to explore the concepts of…
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