There’s nothing quite like throwing caution to the wind. Especially when it comes to entrepreneurs all gathering in one room to listen to the stories of one successful man, only to discover that some how you’ve landed yourself in the midst of an apparent god-like man where both young and old listen with such intent and nod ever so vigorously to the words of wisdom spilling out the man at the front of the room that you feel like you’ve missed the punch line. Wave upon wave of anecdotes rolled across the room, lulling these entrepreneurial admirers into a sort of awe inspired trance. The start up philosophy is no religion, but at that moment, it could well have been.

This was the Digital Hustle event with Jason Calacanis, courtesy of The Phat Startup organisation. An event I had chosen completely at random back in Australia to simply get the ball rolling and the opportunity to hear first hand accounts of life as an entrepreneur.

Calacanis is a self-made man, one who has certainly worked hard and has ridden an impressive roller coaster of success and failures of which he says is all just part of it- if you have the drive, if you have the skills then you’ll make it through every time.

“Entrepreneurs are some percentage of failure and some percentage of success at any given time, in any given place.”

Skills were his catch cry- his success is based upon his constant learning of new technology, new coding, new design and putting himself into a position where he would learn from the experts.

“Passion for keeping your skills sharp, being the person that is constantly inquisitive is what will make you a success.”

If you’re not able to stay on top of development, then the opportunity to innovate will completely disappear.

“Everybody is still learning, a product is never done. The work is in who can stay crisp and sharp.”

The product is never done. Bingo. A key difference between the way in which start ups produce, refine and evolve in comparison to commercial brands is that they are constantly moving. The nimble nature of a start up business model allows a much more organic and interactive development of their company frequently influenced by feedback received not only by consumers, but investors, industry leaders and peers. The moment they stand still is when they are most risk of failing. Simply because this may mean they miss a new development, they miss an opportunity to enter the market, or they miss a shift in the community/consumer behaviour that may dictate a new direction to move in.

Granted it would be impossible for a giant corporation to be as nimble as a three person team, but that’s not the point of this conversation- instead it is about recognising that the world in which business and products are produced has drastically changed, and uncovering why the lean model attributed to start up success is still a success to the point where it is being applied to the way in which we communicate, develop content, and refine brand strategies.

“For now, the world loves beautifully designed, perfectly crafted things.”

No one, start ups or commercial brands, has the luxury of standing still and sticking to what has worked in the past. Today’s audience is selective, tech savvy and incredibly mobile- an audience that simply picks and chooses where it will spend its time, and how it will spend its time. This pressure to gather attention is a significant hurdle, the answer to which Jason Calacanis says is all through designing something that is crafted well. This can be applied to products, communication strategies, brand content, design… the list is endless.

“The audience is so discerning that they can figure out if one product is better than another. Sophisticated customers means that user interaction, design, product building… are incredibly important.”