So once again, I find myself in start-up mode after making the decision that I did not want to take a high-paying job at a company that seemed dedicated to bringing back the good old days of Gestapo HR practices and "interviews" with neighbors to determine promotions, or continue creating Can I learn from past mistakes and not expect 100 hour work weeks from kids who are too cool to care; or kids who have nothing to win or lose by being judged as "slackers"; or kids who risk getting themselves fired for their decision to have a life, instead of having a job? Does all the reader support and interest in Lean Advertising as defined on these pages, really warrant the sacrifices required to turn a few blog posts and white papers into a viable value proposition that can attract millions in VC funding and global industry support? These are the only two questions that matter. If I can't give them an unqualified "Yes," then I need to save myself and a lot of other folks a mountain of aggravation and heartache. Obviously, I have already recruited and shanghaied several of the co-conspirators from my last start-up to float the trial balloon for the next one. The amazing Angela Glenn has already put in her share of midnight oil on making us look like a million before we actually raise our first million. The wise and wonderful Mary Baum from St. Louis has taken on the role of "Cheerleader" and actually made the trip to L.A. to buy us dinner and pledge her strategic insight and confidence in our ability to pull this thing off. For the new Lean Advertising Network White Paper |
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Former friends, clients and business partners are opening their Linked-In networks to help us determine the scope of our Lean Advertising Network platform and how to get there from here. Prospective technology partners who have been following our progress in evolving LAN on these pages have advised us to close our raincoat and stop giving away the "secret sauce" and offered to open the doors to their own VC resources, once the business plan is ready for prime-time. In other words, the time to poop or get off the pot is now at hand. The CEO of a technology start-up on the other side of the pond had some very sage advice to share with us. Build and bullet-proof a workable proof-of-concept application before exposing it to potential customers. If not we will risk being bogged down with conversation and debate rather than the support we need to move the business forward. That means we have to make the firm commitment to build a technology company, rather than a "creative" entity. This means building a team of "doers" rather than "talkers" that can add value to the value prop by bringing the "solution" to life. This also means that once again it's time to call in all the favors and cash-in all the chips to create something from the floorboards up that will revolutionize this industry, that looks at change as something to be avoided at all cost. So far, everybody has the same thing to say. Technologists are a dime a dozen. Do the heavy lifting off shore and focus on building in functionality and interoperability that leads to sustainability and scalability. I learned that lesson ten years ago by working for clients like Sun Microsystems and Digital Equipment Corp. What I have also learned is that there is a great difference between having a vision and running a company. Without question, the "vision thing" comes first. If you don't know where you are going, you won't know where you are when you get there. But knowing what to do when you get there takes a whole 'nother boat load of skill sets. The skill sets of marshalling resources and getting things done. The decisions that go into getting things done, depend greatly upon what the things are that need to be done and who the people are that are going to be doing the doing. In other words, the "management thing." My experience has proven to me that I am great at building a "cult" of worker bees that can walk on water without getting their feet wet and walk through fire without breaking a sweat. But making sure we are running 2.02 instead of 2.0, not so much. Being a company that makes stuff instead of selling stuff for companies that make stuff requires both kinds of skills to be successful. Add to the mix the latest cultural developments like the Open Source Thinking and User-Generated Everything and you have a recipe for as much complexity or as much simplicity as it takes to get the job done. So consider this an extended want ad. I have a need to build a team of the smartest people within the sound of my voice. Our mission will be to change the world (of advertising and marketing) in ways never heard of before this moment. All you need to join this team is one great idea that can add value to the concept of Lean Advertising as thus far delineated. If your idea works, we will incorporate it into the LAN solution set. If it doesn't, we will give you a problem and ask for your suggestions to solve it. When we fund this puppy, we will bring the most productive volunteers into the company as employees and shareholders. We are going to build a work group on Linked-in to get the ball rolling. Where it goes from there is anybody's guess. But, as they say, "The plot thickens."
Stay tuned,
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In response to Yup. Design for design's sake won't cut it -- everything's got to go back to effectiveness, and ROI has to go through the roof. The creative has to move up the value chain and replace the entire agency, including and especially the account-service team. Of course, that means designers have to learn something besides Photoshop filters. And then, if you've got the goods, there's takeaway selling to justify the fees.
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