Technology Inside Out
Last evening, 1st March 2019, I had the pleasure of attending the UK’s National Mentoring Awards as a finalist in the business startup category.
It was a fantastic evening hosted by comedian and impersonator Rory Bremner; celebrating mentors from all walks of life from all over the UK. Alas, I didn’t win but the winner of my category was a far more deserving colleague.
The whole evening got me thinking more about what I actually do. Most of my mentees are extremely clever, experienced and skilled in various areas of technology or industry. They’re all trying to bring new ideas to market, some of them reinventing their industry sector, some changing lives and some providing an incremental reinvention of the wheel. Whatever they’re doing, they all share a passion for their idea. It’s their baby! As a consequence, they’re invariably focused on the technology and the idea itself. Nothing wrong with that. The idea and the technology behind it needs to work. However, what’s often missed is, is there actually a market for the idea? Who will buy it and on what basis and at what price?
Late last year, I attended an evening lecture at Imperial College London by Alexander Osterwalder, the man credited with the conception of the Business Model Canvas. With an audience of predominantly Imperial students, many of whom are likely to start some form of (technology) business, he emphasised the need for market research before committing to a business idea. Unfortunately, many people don’t. This probably accounts for part of the high levels of business failures.
So what do I do when mentoring my technologist stable? A key aspect is to get them to swivel their thinking. Ideas can often be complicated and being in the centre of their development means having to process lats of very complicated ideas and thoughts in order to develop something that works. However, potential investors and eventually customers will only have a superficial interest in those levels of detail. What they need is a simple explanation as to, respectively, will this make me money or will this enrich my life. It helps me to help my mentees because half the time, I just don’t understand the technology. Yes, I’ll know of it and how it may be able to produce superior results but please don’t expect me to understand how AI or Blockchain work. What I want to know and what your customers want to know is the outcome and the cost.
It’s not easy changing someone’s perceptions. It requires a constant need to play Devil’s Advocate. Constantly challenging and using relevant anecdotal tales of the consequences of making your audience engagement too complicated. My role as a mentor is not to judge but to teach the new dogs old tricks. To throw at them the business skills and experience gained from over half a lifetime and hope that some of it sticks!
