BlackBook Digest: December
#Basics
BlackBook Basics are best practices and insights that will give those who are building startups a better perspective, to orbit shift and elevate their startup game. This content is open, barring a few which are accessible via free registration.
Good is the title that society gives you based on its collective values. It is in a way, a system of adherence to the norm. As an entrepreneur, you’ll need a far more reliable anchor to ground yourself.
- When building the fundamentals to your business, in B2B it comes down to two core ideas, and in B2C it is seven. Dave Mclure famously used to say, build what gets you paid, made, and laid. Here is what I call the 2+7 formula.
- There are very well-intentioned efforts within communities to try to make mentorship a crucial aspect. Truth is, in the reality of power law, mentorship will never quite scale. For every 1 person that has succeeded, 999 have failed and there are 10,000 others who want to be mentored. The math doesn’t add up. I talk about what could be a better solution.
- This barely requires an argument, but here are some reasons as to why as an entrepreneur you should be creating content — because it is you expressing and communicating, two very crucial skills that you’ll need to hone as you direct a team.
- The inflection point of my career came in a meeting with a mentor where he asked me the question, do you want to be right or do you want to be effective? What does it mean? and which one is the right answer? Caveat: You can often only pick one.
- Failure is the default state in a startup. I get into trouble for saying this, but true — and it is a fact as much as steel doesn’t float on water. It is science. But then you can make steel float on water, just as you can make a startup succeed. But what floats, isn’t always a startup. Read more.
- Stress is the killer. But it isn’t always because of the amount of work that we end up with on our plates. There are entrepreneurs who do a lot more, with noticeably less stress. How does that black magic work then? Understanding how stress builds up helps.
- There are moments in a startup when things get very tense and the last thing you want to do is commit one of these snafus. I talk about the straw that usually breaks the camel’s back when it comes to a startup.
#Ideas
If you are an aspiring entrepreneur who is looking for a starting point to identifying the cracks in an ecosystem to get started on a venture, you might find the #Ideas series interesting. Here are the topics we covered in december.
This content is for paid members only. A new post goes up every Saturday and those who subscribe under the annual plan, also get a complimentary 1:1 Consultation session with Vijay Anand. Members can access all old content with no restrictions and will get to be part of the BlackBook Tribe channel.
- IDEA : Reviving Deadpool Startups: Over the past 14 years, I’ve come across several startups that were great ideas but just got the timing wrong. One way to come up with ideas is to dig through Deadpool lists and see if there is anything worth retrying.
- IDEA : The Overflowing Granary: The Green revolution of the 1960s has led to a new problem — overproduction of grains, which has the country’s treasury running dry and food granary overflowing.
- IDEA : The Killer voice app: Every platform, in order to succeed, needs a killer app in its portfolio. Launched in 2014, Amazon Echo has more than 100mn devices, and the killer app is YET to emerge. But this isn’t just about Amazon Echo. Here are 3 ideas.
- IDEA : The Business of Living Art: Anything that takes time to be made more aesthetically pleasing is considered art. As we move from bare necessities to aesthetics and luxury, here is a venture idea that is bound to become lucrative — and it is alive.
You can see the full list of 27 ideas here that cover sectors from Geriatric care, to the future of healthcare and work.
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