The Last Mile: Category entrepreneurship

Flexibility is Key to Success

Rob — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 13:21:00 -0400

While on vacation this summer I listened to my wife and started each day with more stretching. On the floor each morning I reminded my muscles that they have been spending too muchtime in an office chair. Stretching hamstrings and hip flexors before I windsurfed and kayaked and swam and jumped off the rocks with my kids made me feel younger and stronger. It also brought tightness I hadn’t had in my legs since high school sports. But I am slowly feeling stronger and more agile. And the hurt is the good kind.

Flexibility is the key to success in business today. The Internet gave consumers flexibility of when and where they find information. IT infrastructure gives companies, of all sizes, the flexibility to transact business from any location. Software services have given us the flexibility to scale that technology backend without the cost exorbidence of previous business models. Companies can no longer just “throw bodies” at projects. Large companies have realized that the game has changed and flexibility is key to their success.

Customer-focused works

Rob — Tue, 09 May 2006 13:15:00 -0400

Customer-focused design and development works. It works for web development as we have learned that if people understand your graphical interface, your application is far superior to many competitors.

Customer-focused also works for products. One of our favorites books on the topic is The Design of Everyday Things. Mercedes-Benz created seat adjustment controls shaped in the L of a seat to allow intuitive adjustment without taking your eyes off of the road.

Simple is the new More...

Rob — Fri, 28 Apr 2006 13:12:00 -0400

Have you seen the new IBM marketing campaign? Simple Drive-through Whole page spreads in national newsprint. Outstanding creative behind a classic American brand. And the message? SIMPLE – from a company with more complex solutions than most of us can imagine.

Common Sense at the turn of the century

Rob — Wed, 29 Dec 1999 13:49:00 -0500

It’s not the New Economy. It’s not the Old Economy. It’s the economy: simple supply and demand. Success in business has always been about solving customers’ needs with services or products for which they willingly pay. But during the past five years, the markets forgot that simple principle. Demand was so inflated by fear, uncertainty and lack of knowledge that supply couldn’t keep up.

True i

Rob — Sat, 09 Jan 1999 13:50:00 -0500

True Internet Intelligence – circa 1999

true i \`trü-`i\ n 1: a thorough understanding of and genuine belief in the Internet as an industry and communications medium 2: a belief in the fundamental principles of service, quality, knowledge, relationships, commitment, innovation, individual respect and integrity. 3: a clear understanding that the Internet has fundamentally changed customer relationships forever.