Despite press, start-ups aren't just for 20-somethings

No surprise that founder confidence has a huge effect on a start-up's success. As in most press, the focus is digital natives. Diversity, when measured at all, is measured by industry, gender, nationality and race rather than age.

The failure rate in young start-up companies that is higher in the younger population than in the older.   It's not clear exactly why, although there has been much attributed to the determined energy that carries the inexperienced into new ventures with less back-up and know-how than older colleagues who understand more of what it takes to build a business.  Knowing a little - in the exuberance of youth - can be dangerous.

Time for the over-50s to jump in with both feet. There are certainly perceived barriers to entry, most of which are age-related in a digital economy inhabited in greatest numbers by people who are the same age as their kids.

This perception won't last forever. As technology continues to move from rarefied to ubiquitous, the business experience that these people bring, and the desire to work for themselves (equal to that of their younger counterparts) will transform the economy.

Michelle Sellinger, The Internet of Everything, and Learning More Effectively - For Life.

Rereading Michelle Selinger's piece on the Internet of Everything and Learning worth a go.  And it's not just for kids.

Children's educations tend to suffer most obviously sitting in a classroom with chalk and talk.  But adults - from surgeons to financial managers - could benefit enormously from getting the right information at exactly the right time.  Motivation soars as people get what they need to know when they need to know it.

Storytelling works, but only in the right context.  And because we all learn differently, the most certain way for us to all get what we need from stories (which, in themselves, are abstract) is not in advance or after the fact: it's at the point of application.  In other words, the right context is as important as the right information told in the right way.

Michelle doesn't talk about this as storytelling - but it is.

In addition to co-founding with me a traveling business communications academy called Shmooze, Michelle is helping me design an online course on pitching for investment.  Her experience is invaluable, and her work is inspiring.  Dr. Michelle Sellinger is definitely worth knowing about.

Rushing to Discover: The Only Way to Innovation

Deborah Mills-Scofield has framed beautifully the challenge of our cultural habit of rushing to results before enough thinking has gone into the data around the problem. 

Deb calls it Rushing to Discover.  It's exactly right.

In my 8 years at PwC, years before and after with clients at universities, schools, entrepreneurs, and larger businesses, my goal is always to help them (more) comfortably spend time in unfamiliar territory, on observation before rushing to judgement. Without time in unfamiliar territory, you end up rearranging the same data points in different patterns.  

This is worse than trying to innovate and failing: this will prevent innovation from happening.  Ever.

Thanks, Deb - What a great way to sum up my favorite part of work.

Amazon's Smart Phone: Not so smart?

When I started as an early adopter in the agency world in the early mid-90s, Silicon Alley in New York corporates rushed to create websites once they realised the web was here to stay.

The good news was that they understood that a web presence was a competitive necessity - they knew everyone else had one, and the Internet was here to stay. The bad news is that they didn't understand what an effective presence actually entailed. So brochure-wear won over smarter ways of engaging clients and sustaining conversations.

Smart Phones seem to be going the same way - IHS has come out with a rather damning report about Amazon and their attempt to get into the market. Take a look.

Small world lessons: Reach out and hit someone important

I tell my clients, when on a plane, train, or automobile: just reach out, and you'll hit someone important.  Just try not to hit them too hard.

While you're apologising for dislodging a hat, why not start a conversation?   If you're persistent, you'll find a fan.

Something along these lines worked for Broad City,   It's a great example of how Abbi and Ilana use storytelling on the Web to get around establishment industry obstacles.  It's not just the web itself that is making the world a smaller place: it's also the pop culture we share on it that creates a bond that TV could never do at the same scale.  Their show gave everyone a big tap on the shoulder.

Take advantage of how small the world is. If you just reach out, you will hit someone important who will make it happen, if you keep pitching. Excellent business case: Broad City US TV phenomenon from web serial.