With so many people in tech working remote, companies closing down offices because people are more efficient working from a distance and using modern productivity tools sync up and execute the vision, is it EVER a good idea to find a co-founder who’s not in the same location as you?

Choosing a co-founder is hard and if you didn’t know each other from work, school or social events it’s hard to trust one another but even harder for investors to trust the bond you have is strong enough.

“Legends” are lazy

A “legend” is a former 20-year exec at whatever Evil Corp. who wants to use their experience to build a startup. More often than not, they spend their career implementing a process and strategy and not thinking about making one.

A high profile doesn’t mean high efficiency

Social media profiles are built over time and take much effort. Unless your previous company required you to create a robust online persona to sell more, then why would you invest money and time in doing so? Vanity or time. How did you have so much free time?

ZIP-code envy people

Just because you live in Silicon Valley doesn’t mean you are an “insider.” Just because some microchip was invented 20min from your house doesn’t say you had anything to do with it. Just because a friend of a friend peed at the same bathroom stall as Marc Andreessen doesn’t mean they “have connections.”

People who’ve been out the game for too long

I’ve met many successful people who have been focusing on their personal life for a while but are looking to get back to startups. Technology moves very fast, so being idle for 4–5 years makes a lot of your experience irrelevant.

Corporate virgins

Coming out of corporate can be tricky. Corporations spend an impressive amount of money to keep people from being creative and, in time, the effect can be permanent. If you are young and you spend a few years, then it’s okay. However, if you spent over ten years, chances are you can’t adapt to the fast pace discovery and iteration that a startup needs.

Small-talk experts

Extroverts make the best salespeople, that’s a lie. 82% of companies want to buy from an expert, not from a salesperson.

VCs and Big 4 long-time consultants

My friend, just because you watch Bruce Lee movies doesn’t mean you can do karate.

Rules to remember

1. choose people on their way up not on their way out
2. a co-founder is NOT an excuse for you to do less
3. look to complete the skillset the startup needs
4. make sure they are exceptional at one thing
5. make sure you are exceptional at one thing
6. make sure that one thing is what the startup needs
7. be honest with yourself

If you are a highly technical person, who’s found one of the many problems in a big enterprise, join the club! There are so many things to fix that seem easy from a coding perspective but so hard from an organizational perspective.

Any tool you build for big enterprise makes your startup a sales play. Yes, even if the tool is highly sophisticated and brings huge ROI you still have to grow your sales team, think of the product from a sales perspective, prepare for really long sales cycles, but most importantly: prepare for companies to take advantage of you.

If your target is big enterprise FT1000s companies, you are most likely building what I call an enabler. An enabler is a system/platform that doesn’t bring value on its own but instead helps employees build something (a process or an app) faster than before and has a ripple effect across the organization or department, saving time and money. Let’s talk about how you build one of these fancy systems and eventually sell them.

1. Validate the concept

Calculate the time/money savings using spreadsheets and make sure you can justify a 5–10x ROI on OPERATIONAL use. Talking to big corp isn’t hard. There are employees there who are paid to speak to startups. Just reach out.

Don’t be intimidated. Seasoned execs will make you feel like you are an outsider. Remember one thing: they had the job for 20 years because some time ago, a guy/lady just like, had the balls to do things differently. Find out how much they are willing to pay.

2. It’s a good idea, now build it

If you are lucky enough to have a seasoned sales manager of former VP on your team, good on you, but that doesn’t mean you will do well. If you don’t, try not to worry too much. Experienced salespeople will join a company with an awesome product if it’s an easy sell.

3. Focus on the “enabler” first

“Customer first” and all that, don’t apply in enterprise sales-driven organizations. The tolerance for shitty products is very low, and because your sales cycle is expensive, you might burn more capital if trying to sell your MVP.

4. Search for corporate partners

Lots of big corporations have corporate innovations programs where they sponsor your startup to do a pilot project, provide resources for R&D and give you valuable insight. Find them. Find what works for you, but be careful. Some are sneaky, they make you share your Intellectual Property. Not naming any names here, but beware of IoT corporate innovation programs.

5. Make dashboards early

Creating dashboards is a great way to make management understand what you are building and why. Helping them make better decisions is a good idea, but if generating those dashboard means 1000+ people must be re-trained, it won’t happen.

6. Big Corp loves long lists

When you present the features you are building, have a lot of small features helps you sell the big ones. Sell the big ones, but at the proposal stage, show the long list.

7. Create sales materials before coding

Sales materials, operational sales deck, executive sales deck are a great way to understand how your value proposition sounds to everyone around you. It should be enticing, bring value, easy to understand and well designed.

8. See if salespeople get excited about your product

A great way to validate your product is to make a recruitment campaign for your inexistent sales department and see how seasoned salespeople react to your value proposition. They only get excited if they see an easy sell.

9. Customers get upset at the sum of frustrations

You are planning 1,2 killer features which make all the difference, but you also need to build 10–15 smaller features (everything from user management, invites, emails etc) that are a MUST. Make sure you get those right.

10. Founders make the best sales reps

Introverts create less social connections but create more meaningful connections than extroverts, you just need to learn to channel that skill. Here’s a great book on that.

11. Sell business functions, not technical features

It’s a natural tendency to revert back to what you know best, coding that is, and not try to understand how the world really works. Let’s pretend you are selling a product that makes account payables and vendor management easier.

Tech person selling:
register your invoices, sales dashboard, easy to use, fast interface.

Salesperson selling:
get paid 30% faster, vendors can see the status of the invoice, automated emails for late payments, auto-approve transactions

12. Operational value vs Executive value

When you are selling/pitching your idea to executive it’s all about long-term support, oversight, reporting, 0 errors, machine learning, the future. Same product for operational roles it’s all about less time spent on X, faster Y, automated Z.

Also read:

• Common Problems of B2B eCommerce Apps and How to Solve Them
• Why do ERP implementations fail?
• ERP implementation problems: Could it be “dirty” data killing your ERP ROI?

Excel. Love or hate it — you are probably using it. Today, for work.

Yes, you are probably using a suite of other software, even multiple expensive software suites. 💰💻😱

So why Excel?

A quick list of things that you are probably doing with those Excel files:

1. Manually working with the data. Even if you extracted it “automatically” from another software, you are probably manual editing, selecting or otherwise, cleaning and manipulating the data. For whatever reason, the software that you are using does not have the ability to comb through the data the way you need it to. 🤔
2. Updating old or “current” spreadsheets with new numbers that come from the aforementioned software. Your manager or team is probably waiting for this “updated” spreadsheet to update their staffing or purchasing plans, forecasts etc. Of course, once you send it to them and talk about it, it’s time to guess what — do it all over again. ⏰ 👩🏽‍💻
3. Manually compiling data from multiple sources/ software suites. This is extremely common. Modern business is complex, multiple departments, multiple sources of data that are all interrelated and need to inform each other. 🤹🏻‍ Unfortunately, with your data locked in separate silos, you can’t fully understand it the way you need to. It’s true — Excel does let you compile and manipulate those data points in ways that extremely useful and flexible. It just takes a while.
4. The issue is that you are probably also fearing that you are going to lose your work — mess up a formula or otherwise “muck things up.” Heaven help us if the intern starts messing with around with the rows. 😱 The truth is that the beauty and ease with which excel files can be manipulated is also the ease in which they can be broken. We won’t even get into multiple versions and the difficulties of distributing the “current truth.” 🔮

So with all these issues, again why Excel? In short, it's flexible, it's fast it the sense that you don't need six months, a consultant 💸 and dev team 💸 to add ONE custom field. You can make it excel do what you need it to do— or at least enough…… for now.

Businesses are unique, your business is unique.

After all, it’s called a unique selling proposition, not a common selling proposition.

Another likelihood is that you and your team have developed over the life of your business multiple spreadsheets that you use to run your business. Timesheets, monthly reports, inventory sheets, customer feedback analysis reports, sales reports, etc. 📆🗂📈📉📊🗄

This is also part of the problem. TOO MANY SPREADSHEETS. You might even feel like you need a spreadsheet to list all of those spreadsheets.😩

Imagine for one second you LOST ALL OF THEM. 👻

Scary, we know. Just trying to emphasize that we really understand how important they are. They are not “just spreadsheets” — in a sense, they are your business.

Now, imagine instead of spreadsheets you had your own software that was built from those spreadsheets.

All the tools you need in one place.

Plus we give you the ability to manipulate, change these tools when you need to.

No more having to worry about manual exports that seem to create odd duplicates you have to clean later, or making "innovative" use of fields that you otherwise wouldn't use and awkwardly have to untangle when reporting time comes.

Software as unique as Your Business 🦄

NaoLogic's unique AI framework allows us to rapidly prototype, test and implement custom enterprise solutions to help you manage and efficiently operate your business. By implementing your own custom enterprise solution, you’ll reduce and even eliminate the loss of countless valuable time spent manually entering, reviewing and manipulating the data you use to run your business.

Need it to integrate into your website? Of course you do.

First ask your self: What are you ultimately trying to do with the website or software? Maybe you want your customers to have more options when ordering or booking online. Maybe you want your resellers to be able to access their account information through your website.

If you are considering a website redesign, it is really important to evaluate if the software your are using in your office with is able to work with modern website design — it’s highly possible its not. We can help.

By implementing a custom NaoLogic built solution we ensure that all your systems are aligned 🔧🔩🔨⚙️, and to are set up for both automatization and ultimately increased profitability. 📊📈 ✨🚀 💫

Benefits you can capitalize on using a NaoLogic built solution:

📈📉📊 Your Reports, Your Way. NaoLogic is fully customizable and built to adjust to your business. No more having to wade through the help trying to figure out that report runner. We start with YOUR spreadsheets.

🔑 👩‍🚀 Easy access. Cloud Based means, you and your team members can access valuable data from anywhere, ultimately ensuring that any changes made by authorized staff are immediately implemented and updated.

🚀 Reactive Data — Not sure what that means? Check out our other article (here) Reactive is beyond “real-time”. The bottom line is that you and your whole team can work together one source of truth — now. 🔮

No downtime, no getting locked out while Bob is working on the Jones file.

Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Simplify your tech. ⚙️

At NaoLogic we believe in simplicity. Call it tech-elegance. 📱💻 🥂🍾

The data you need where you need it. All the tools you need where you need them.

Cut the noise, clean the slate.

You may find that the majority of those add-on-plug-in solutions you no longer need.

Lower your subscription cost and ease your day to day operations.

Drop us a line — we would love to set up a call or just send you a quick quote.

Thanks for reading!

We are social! are you? 🤠 🚀 come say hi!

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ps. and here is our Website in case that wasn't obvious yet. 😆

Show us your spreadsheets… 📈📉📊 was originally published in Unleash Your ERP on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

You realize as you are making a cup of coffee that you are actually out of milk, and that milk was not on the shopping list you wrote for your partner before they left for work. You send a text message “real-time”. The text is SENT, and you can see it was received on their phone. However, they do not look at their phone, and for this reason, come home without milk. Sad.

As you can see, and perhaps have also experienced, this issue with this system is that although the text was SENT “real-time”, in order for the message to be RECEIVED and SEEN the recipient has to initiate an action, in this case actually look at their phone. Because you have no direct control of the grocery list that your partner is holding and using, will have to drink your coffee tomorrow black.

What if there was a way to instantly and magically make “milk” appear on that grocery list by writing “milk” on the grocery list you were holding? That is the beauty of reactive systems. NaoLogic is reactive.

Classic real time software is subject to something that is called “hysteresis”. Hysteresis is the dependence of the state of a system on its history. The term “hysteresis” is derived from ὑστέρησις, an Ancient Greek word meaning “deficiency” or “lagging behind”. It was coined around 1890 by Sir James Alfred Ewing to describe the behavior of magnetic materials.

In software, particularly SaaS delivered through the web, because of loosely coupled services and replication delay, some complex objects may not appear to all users and services at the same instant. What this means to you is when Mary updates the notes on the Jones file, because of system lag (hysteresis) you don’t see them in time to not ask about his wife, only to hear that they got a divorce last week. This also causes one of the other most common horrors of business software — double entries. Even more frustrating, this phenomenon can cause the whole system to act “erratically” or even freeze when there are too many users trying to access the same record. Perhaps you have experienced this as well, and learned that if you call tech support they tell you to relax go make a coffee and “let the system settle.” Frustrating.

NaoLogic is different, NaoLogic is reactive. Every time data changes one side, it is automatically updated for everybody, without needing to refresh.

Single master data means one truth, no double entry error. No having to hit refresh, no getting locked out. That’s the beauty of reactive programming. What is most important is you get your milk, and you know not to ask Mr. Jones about his wife before you ask him if he got a chance to look at that last proposal you sent for the contract renewal.

Thanks for reading!

If you enjoyed this article say hello on: Website | Instagram | Linkedin | Facebook

Post-Modern ERP: Work Faster Using Reactive Data NaoLogic.com was originally published in Unleash Your ERP on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Regardless of what ERP system you are using and especially if you have not migrated over to your own ERP system, data consistency is critical.

The simple fact is that the system or systems that you are using can only work with the data you have or generate. With every system you add the process becomes more complicated, the data structure becomes more intricate and getting the reports you need exponentially harder. Having the most expensive and sophisticated system will not help you if your data is poorly formatted.

It is best to have an architectural review board set system policies, procedures, standards and training requirements for everyone who touches the system, both administrators and end users. Again, this is critical when implementing a new ERP, but also extremely important going forward to ensure that your investment maintains integrity.

Revenue Loss

In addition, bad data can contribute to revenue loss and added expense, making your reporting inaccurate and poorly informing your decision making.

Think about it. Let’s say your sales department has to generate reports for your marketing department once a week so they can decide which strategy to implement. But because for each report your head of sales has to spend 8 hours preparing it, you decide to do it only once every 2 months. How much have you lost because you can’t make a timely decision? Hard to say… Did you lose money? For sure!

Good decisions and bad timing or bad decisions and good timing… is still bad

Here is a list of frequent causes of data quality harm, often caused when your business has used several vendors over time or has had a change in personnel, both of which are very common.

• Missing validation rules
• Poor naming standards or no naming standards
• Incomplete or incorrectly implemented external logic or integration
• Similar to sloppy imports, massive misallocation (ownership) of records
• Huge unnecessary even duplicate attachments, possibly even attached to the wrong objects, causing inaccurate reporting and wasting server space
• Integration of external data sources without properly filtering for duplicates first.
• Careless or untrained administrators -actually do you have someone auditing you list of admins?
• Too many administrators, even if they are properly trained
• “Trigger happy” and messy data imports, the more external systems you are using the bigger the danger here
• Lack of control or rules for new record creation causing multiple duplicate records (possibly caused by lack of end user training)
• Custom fields attached (mapped) to the wrong field
• Field access rules that are too open, creating too many opportunities for human entry error when there is no benefit or need for access

Do you have the same problems? Give us a call

Every NaoLogic implementation includes a thorough data integrity diagnosis before migrating to your new system. We also adapt your data to the new standards and formats, respecting best practices in programming and databases. Our trained data architects help you assess what can be eliminated and streamlined to ensure that you get the maximum benefit and efficiency of your new custom ERP.

We also help you create the policies and procedures you need for your team to ensure that the system data stays clean and you have the tools needed to keep all team members trained and empowered.

All training and documentation is based on your processes, no more digging through ridiculously fat manuals filled with irrelevant information.

New system, clean data, all the docs you need.

🥂🍾 Cheers to cleaner data! 🏄🏾‍🏝

If you enjoyed this article say hello on: Website | Instagram | Linkedin | Facebook

Maximizing Your ERP Return On Investment Through Good Data NaoLogic.com was originally published in Unleash Your ERP on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

If you are running a successful business, chances are that over years, you have developed robust processes along the way to manage the myriad of your business processes. You probably haven’t had the time or bandwidth to perfect them, but they work well enough to keep you up and running. These usually consist of multiple applications that have been procured along the way, with a bunch of manual processes filling in the gaps.

It is apparent when tracking the history of a company, problems that have arisen are often tackled one by one by implementing new processes or looking to the applications marketplace for an individual solution.

The result, for the most part, is a bunch of disparate applications that are not at all integrated or loosely integrated, with some manual processes on top of them doing some data replication.

The problem with manual processing is that it’s usually done intermittently in batches. This means that systems are rarely real-time, and, even with the most careful consideration, errors accumulate through typos, naming conventions and duplicates.

For example, reporting. Manual reconciliation requires time-consuming data manipulation in excel just to get the data to a state in which it can be analyzed. As a result, decision makers look at this crucial information less frequently.

The business becomes less dynamic. It spends its time and resources keeping pace, instead of using the reporting data to make predictive decisions or build more competitive advantage.

A vicious cycle is easily then created

As a result, the quality and frequency of data going into all these systems becomes less important, as fewer decisions are being made because of doubt regarding their accuracy and timeliness. Low adoption then ensues throughout the organization as it becomes apparent that management is not doing anything with the information they have in these systems.

One compelling alternative to this stagnant state of affairs is to select one of the handful of enterprise resource and planning (ERP) systems available for small to medium businesses. These highly configurable platforms integrate most functions of a business, including quoting, planning, managing customers, manufacturing, service, sales and marketing. They can also cover activities like stock control, order tracking, customer service, finance and staff.

The objective of enterprise resource planning is to drive the flow of information between all internal business functions, while managing connections.

How many business owners would choose an ERP platform as their first or best choice to streamline their business?

Small to mid-sized business owners and decision-makers with a corporate past may have been exposed to ERP and understand the benefits of these platforms. What they may not know is that these benefits are now within reach, and no longer just for large enterprises. The value proposition for ERP to the business is huge.

The Cost of ERP systems

Without question, the main obstacle for any business assessing whether it should move to a ERP system is price. Even with a large multitude of licensing costs across many internal systems, an ERP platform will be at least five times the annual subscription cost of the business’s entire application landscape.

This initial cost may be difficult for every business to wrap their head around, but how much the platform costs is not the only question to ask. For example, the trigger point for decision-makers to go to market for a new platform is usually the result of a series of either inefficiencies, stock losses, missed billing, lack of transparency, after-the-fact discoveries and integration failures. Any of these have an attached commercial impact to the business. Decision makers need to understand what the real cost of this is having on their business.

Of course, the initial cost question still has to be asked as to whether an investment in an ERP system is the best allocation of capital, given the commercial constraints every business has.

Every business should still take a moment to assess the value an ERP platform would offer to their business.

Like any business investment, investing in an ERP system should not be looked at as simply “buying software”. Implementing an ERP system is a business transformation project that engages all levels of the organization. The value is derived from both tangible and intangible results. Business owners should have a good idea as to where these will come from. They need to understand that ‘Systems’ within any business is one of the key areas of competitive advantage — therefore, a business that develops superior systems will nudge out those competitors with less efficient ones.

Thanks for reading!

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The Value Proposition for ERP to the Business is Huge was originally published in Unleash Your ERP on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Process mapping is a powerful tool and practice that allows you and your team to gain new perspective on your business and identify and target any areas that could be made more efficient or improved. Process maps can also be an extremely valuable tool in new hire training and change management when adopting new technology.

First, what is a business process?

Processes are how people within an organization collaborate in order to accomplish a goal. Essentially everything we do in an organization involves or contributes to some type of process.

At NaoLogic every custom ERP system we build begins with a map of the business processes that are going to be affected. If these processes are not mapped already, we work together until we have a clear and complete process map.

When done properly process mapping has many benefits, not limited to:

• enabling the entire team to “see” the process in the same way
• enable more consistent training and even help reduce procedural errors
• help stakeholders focus on the process itself during the adoption of new technology, such as ERP implementation
• builds understanding between and across departments
• documents the “current state” of the business, which serves as a basis to discuss and innovate for the future
• help identify and document where there are workarounds, loops and even information gaps in the existing process.
• illustrates opportunities for improvement, streamlining, cost reductions, even opportunities for automation

Business Process Mapping gets everyone “on the same page”

Good ideas are not adopted automatically. They must be driven into practice with courageous patience

— Admiral Rickover

Business Process Mapping can be a very high level and complex activity. Six Sigma is a school of Business Process Architecture that very precisely defines cross-functional flowcharts according to the level of detail (0–4) they contain regarding the the tasks implied in the process. ISO 9001 is a more technical methodology that is designed to control quality standards. Based on the industry you are working in and your role, these terms maybe familiar, if for example you work in quality assurance in manufacturing. However, every business, regardless of the industry, has processes that can benefit from being properly mapped, even at a more basic level.

For more general purposes, a simplified process flowchart can be very effective and executable. A flowchart is a type of diagram that represents an algorithm, workflow or process, showing the steps as boxes of various kinds, and their order by connecting them with arrows.

Here is how you can map your business processes with your team:

1. Determine the process you want to map and it’s boundaries
   Once you begin to map your processes you will most likely realize that many overlap and intersect with each other. For example, your order fulfillment process and your returns process. There is no need to be overwhelmed. Just define where the specific process, such as the sales order process, begins and ends. Then you can move on to other processes and see about connecting them.
2. List the steps in the process
   The level of detail you want to document is up to you, depending on your goals. Use action verbs to describe each step or task of the process. There are many digital tools for creating flowcharts. Even something as simple as google drawings works as long as you are consistent in the symbols that you use. You can create a very accurate flowchart using as little as 4 symbols.
3. Order tasks in the process
   After you have checked that you have listed all related tasks, put them in order. If you are using sticky notes on a white board or google drawing, the idea is the same, to put everything in order. Generally processes flow left to right and top to bottom.
4. Connect the tasks to document process direction flow
   Use arrows and the other symbols listed above to clearly connect the different tasks in the process so that everything is documented and easily understood by all those involved.

Some important things to keep in mind:

• Be sure to directly involve or interview those who are actually doing the work described in the process.
  This will ensure that you are documenting the actual current state, not how it was last documented 3 years ago. It is not uncommon and nothing to be ashamed of if you find that your training manuals need to be updated. Growth means change! Change is constant. This is actually a benefit of going through this practice, to identify what needs attention.
• It is important that team members involved understand that this process is not to find fault in their work and that they will not be “penalized” so that they feel comfortable sharing valuable information and insight.
• Decisions points are key when those involved in the process have to follow different paths in the process based on the outcome of the decision. Ensure that decision symbols are properly used and the the flow is logical and clear for everyone expected to follow the process.
• It is possible to capture too much detail. This depends on the purpose of the process map. For example a process map specifically for new hire training would include more granular detail than one created for management for higher level process analysis to determine and eliminate delays or opportunities for cost reduction.

Business Process Analysis

As mentioned earlier, it is very common for processes to change over time. This is one very important reason why revisiting process maps can be a powerful tool in ensuring continued efficiency and quality as businesses adapt to the market, and often as a consequence become more complex. Also, this is truly critical when considering investing in a new ERP or CRM system, to ensure that your current needs and objectives are met and the system fits your current processes, not your processes the last time they were documented.

Things to consider when reviewing your process map:

• Is each step necessary?
  Look for redundant steps and steps that can be combined, for example multiple and unnecessary approvals.
• What is causing the delay?
  Look for delays in the process. Can these be eliminated with automation or a change in responsibility/ delegation?
• What can be changed to improve the over all result?
  Look for “danger points” — parts of the process where you encounter the most issues either in customer satisfaction or product/ service quality.
• Examine decision points: who is making the decisions?
  Do they have the information they need to make informed and empowered decisions? Do they need access to more or different information in your ERP system?
• Take a big picture look: Is the process logical?
  Are there places where the process is not complete, gets dropped or is not closed out? For example cancels ordered that are not sent follow up surveys, or defective products that are not disposed of properly and are taking up warehouse space.

Conclusion:

Maps of any kind are incredible tools. They empower you with a clear perspective of where you are relative to where you want to go. Business process maps, particularly with the scope of digital transformation or implementation of new ERP systems can be exponentially more powerful in ensuring that you maximize your investment and continue to grow and improve your business.

Thanks for reading!

If you enjoyed this article say hello on: Website| Instagram | Linkedin | Facebook

ERP system planning: Mapping your business process was originally published in Unleash Your ERP on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

There are many advantages to implementing an Enterprise Resource Planning, or ERP system in your company. From rapid access to vital information like supplier and customer data, to having a management dashboard that shows only the information you need to make quick decisions based on realtime data. Every company needs an ERP. Period. A correct implementation can lead to competitive advantages hard to see without one.

But 99% done isn’t done, so until the implementation is 100% complete, all processes are integrated, and all departments connected, you can’t really expect get the true value and competitive edge from the system.

Here are some of the top pitfalls to avoid when implementing:

1. Not getting full Executive Buy-In

Bringing all the functional managers together is critical for the implementation process. Achieving a better understanding of the key business functions in a company requires every decision-maker to participate and not be hindered by technological barriers.

2. Making it a Single Department Project

You can’t drive a car with only one wheel and you can’t get value by creating a tool for a single department without connecting the other departments. A Single point of truth for your business means all the data has to be analyzed in order gain intelligence, not just the data from one department.

3. No Project Manager and Other Key Stakeholders

While your ERP supplier will most likely assign a full time project manager, or at least they should, there has to be a company employee responsible and ready to answer timely and unexpected questions about the project to smooth out this very complex process. Additionally, it is important to identify and involve other key contributors and stakeholders in your team, such was your Head of IT or Marketing, that can offer valuable insight and guidance during the planning and implementation. If you do not consider their input and insight, you might be making a very expensive mistake, either because of missed opportunities or problems that arise due to lack of relevant information.

4. Not Anticipating Change

The competitive landscape is ever-changing so while some out-of-the-box solutions provide tools that appear to make your life easier, they are actually very limiting and force you to adapt your business to the software instead of the software adapting to your business. Be sure to anticipate that the needs of the business will change and ensure that the system can be modified and adapted when they do, otherwise you will face the same issues you are trying to resolve now, again and again.

5. Lack of Training

A ERP, just as any tool, is only as good as the people who use it. If you don’t train your staff to use it properly you can’t expect a better competitive edge. One of the ways to lower the learning curve for your team, and consequently increase the return on investment, is to integrate the existing business process and social dynamic that your employees are used to, thereby lowering their resistance to change and shortening the time it takes to see results and returns.

6. Lack of Documentation

Training is more about teaching the staff where to look, then what to do. To do that, proper documentation has to be in writing, guides, tutorials and, most importantly, application tutorials directly in the software, at the point of use, where it is most needed. Make sure you plan and ask how your system will be documented for your processes and what training options are available to maximize the investment in your new ERP.

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Pitfalls of ERP implementation and how to avoid them was originally published in Unleash Your ERP on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

If you build it, they will come! If they don’t, at least you built something.
- Gabriel Paunescu

Are you solving a problem or removing the cause?

Before you make a plan you need to have an idea. Everybody says if the product solves a problem customers will buy it. But there’s a bit more to it than that. Every problem has a cause, every cause has an effect, every effect can cause a problem.

Would a customer be more eager to remove the cause of the problem or buy the solution to the problem?

Root cause analysis is a method for identifying root causes of problems so you can focus on eliminating the cause.

Not all projects should focus on this, sometimes the root cause is way out of our control, but going as deep as possible into the problem-fault-sequence can result a higher product impact. Keep in mind that impact is a hard sell, so pick your industry very carefully, not everybody wants to innovate.

Plan To Build: Know The Problem!

Know the problem and the plan is easy. Find the solution and the plan will write itself.

1. Have you personally faced this problem? Intimacy equals accuracy.
2. Is it your problem or everybody’s problem? This is product-market fit.
3. How many people have this problem? This is your market size.
4. How many people know that other people have this problem? This is your competition.
5. Do you understand the root cause? direct competition
6. How deep in the root cause analysis tree is your solution? This determines your niche.

Now that you have the answers, or think you do, it’s time to see if others will understand it as well. Explore the cause-and-effect using the 5 whys method and see how will other people perceive what you are trying to explain.

Let’s image we are building a on-line translation platform.

• why? because translating documents is expensive
• why? because translating companies have a lot of expenses themselves
• why? because the translators cannot handle everything themselves
• why? because it would take too much time, the company would never get anything done in time
• why? because they don’t have a company that does that for them
• …

Problem — Solution vs Solution — Problem Fit

Tailoring your solution to a specific problem can be a lengthy process and if you get it right it’s worth it, however that does not automatically mean everybody has this problem, or wants your solution.

At the early stage it is common to excited about new opportunities. So excited that sometimes you’ll think of tailoring your product to satisfy a particular customer. That’s a good idea ONLY if it fits the segment you are going after. If not, you’re a service company and not a product, and you are going to have to keep tailoring, over and over and over again.

A “solutions” is not something you find, it’s something that finds you while you search.
- Gabriel Paunescu

The creative process needs a lot of iterations to scope out exactly what is needed for now, not too much and not too little. There are a lot of good canvases to start with, especially the ones from Strategyzer, but I’d recommend that for a later stage.

Using this Product Canvas from Next will help you better structure the way you think about your company, in sequences, and not as a whole and realize the iterative process.

To complete the canvas and collect good data start doing Experiment Cards. That will help you scope out points of interest and fill your canvas. In the growth stage there are more complex and very useful tools, but that’s if you don’t fail.

Road-map

There’s a lot of tools for building your road-map but what’s important is how you think about the road-map.

Try this:

Writing a plan is easy if you ask the right questions and keep your focus.

A startup is all about achieving product-market fit (a must view by Paul Reinhardt).

“Judge a man by his questions, not by his answers.”

— Voltaire

Another very valuable resource is the Y Combinator Startup School which hosts a lot of great interviews and tool recommendations.

When planning keep one thing in mind: It’s all about achieving product-market fit

After figuring out what and why, it’s time for the how.

Getting people on board can be a tricky job, especially when you are resource constrained, so that’s more up to you than anybody else.

Let’s assume you have a tech team ready and willing to bring the product to life, there are a few pitfalls that can make or break your new company.

Competition

Similar perspectives on how a problem should be solved. As long as other people are seeing the same problem, means that the problem is there. No competition can alos mean there is no market, however you need to be able to differentiate yourself from the other solutions out there.

Feature Costs

Before implementing all your bright ideas, do the math.

How much money/feature and what’s the customer value? You’ll see a pattern: most aren’t worth it. It’s just another way of focusing on what truly matters and that’s fixing a problem.

1 problem.

You can see about the other problems later.

Scaling

Don’t scale early! Don’t scale at all! Do things that don’t scale! (as Paul Graham puts it). I know you want to automatic deployment to AWS, reusable code, 100% unit test coverage, sales funnels and lots of tables, but that doesn’t bring any value to your customer. None. It just make you seem faster because you haven’t calculated the time it takes to create all those configurations.

Media

We live in an era where everything is connected, everything moves fast, news travels faster than ever and yet the media is more disconnected from reality than ever before. It’s widely used as social proof and nothing more. If you are still not sure how it works read Edward Bernays — Propaganda

Don’t Follow Dinosaurs

Experts, Influences, World Renown Humans, 10 exits, 200 years of experience… Forget all that. If you are looking for content, look at the people who speak from heart, who tell you the details of the problem, not the outcome, who talk about the journey, not their destination, who talk about micro not macro, who give examples and curse a lot, who failed and can still smile about it, who have figured out how to figure things out. A excellent set of short and very inspiring stories is Tools of the Titans — Tim Ferris

Sell Sell Sell

Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, you are selling. You are selling yourself, your opinions, your facts, your product. A MUST read is The Science of Selling.

Rewrite

When planning a rewrite of a major component or the entire platform make sure you’ll get a performance gain of minimum 50% before doing it. Also plan end-to-end cycles, don’t stop in the middle of a build to rewrite. Collect the problems and solve the root cause.

Recruiting a Tech Team

It’s a game of chance basically, but you can reduce the luck aspect by focusing on what you need. If you have a tech-intensive product, make sure you have to proper skills. But there is more to it than being good at algebra or having 20 websites done. Separate the best from the rest using abstract reasoning tests and remote associative tests. Psychometric tests are a standard and scientific method used to measure individuals’ mental capabilities and behavioral style. Psychometric tests are designed to measure candidates’ suitability for a role based on the required personality characteristics, aptitude or cognitive abilities.

This will show how creative they can be in a short time-span with limited resources but having always more than 1 option. Sound familiar? Yes, it’s called “software development”.

All the content is part of the Founder Institute talk I’m giving on June 21, 2017

You can connect with me via Twitter, Linkedin

Product Development: If You Build It, They Will Come was originally published in Startups and Downs on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Walk of Shame

One sunny day I was walking around the hallways of Plug and Play Sunnyvale, enjoying my cheap and tasteless coffee. While waiting for my meeting, I went for a tour of this Startup Mecca. A lesser entrepreneur will say it’s “spying”, I call it “market research”. Slowly navigating between cubicles, trying to soak in as much info as possible by watching every logo and motto, engaging in meaningless conversation and trying to avoid being pitched, I was busy confirming point by point, in my head, the PR born image of the mythical realm of Silicon, where rivers of money flow, and only brilliant people have access, people who know where the technology is heading without even looking, who strive to advance mankind beyond code and credit cards, into the vastness of simplified complexity.

The cheap carpet and crammed space dominated by foreigners who wore typing away the tools of tomorrow, the PR image began to fade and reality set in. The bulk of the companies wore about client engagement solutions and sales cycles, mostly automation tools. There was also a IoT space who had just a few companies (a lot more now), that’s where I was heading.

Heart in hand and invisibly disappointed (post-soviet education keeps your feet on the ground and eyes on the prize, no matter what you feel), me and my parter walked into a small room where our meeting was about to begin. Much to my surprise the gentleman we met, a veteran of the accelerator, was not a reflection of weak business ideas that I saw earlier. He was smart, on point, very persuasive, clear and focused. He gave us simple and effective ideas, methods of presentation, he spoke honestly, open to suggestions and tech-savvy.
hmm….

Sunday morning: to bake or not to bake cookies -- that is not even a question. Definitely bake.

Eat your own sh*t if you want others to join

A few weeks went by and I was still at odds with the reality of Silicon Valley. Having attended a number of events private and public, where I was pitched without asking for it many times, meeting entrepreneurs, I have heard impossibly stupid ideas from people with no skills and of average intelligence, but quite good at tricking immigrants to work for them, using this magic corporate-like veil of the magic Valley land.
Walking around San Jose, Sunnyvale, Palo Alto and Menlo Park, I was trying figure out why the majority here is chasing capital but in the rest of the world they are chasing customers?

Theoretical monetary value

There is a certain sense of satisfaction working for your goals. It’s tough at times, unpredictable, but it develops your senses in ways that can’t be thought, no matter how much experience you “borrow” from speeches and inspirational bullsh*t.

After going through the trials and tribulations of proving that your product is useful, the valuation moment arrives. Your company receives the stamp of approval from the higher powers of our times, investors, that is based on a mutually agreed upon lie in the form of a magic number and a set of documents, “all for your protection” of course.

The theoretical monetary value of the company, or valuation, is set by multiplying the EBITA, which can vary wildly based on a number of financial factors like industry, market size, revenue etc and more human factors like your money guy spent way to much on the new mistress, or the divorce broke the bank, so he will advise “prudence” on your part when asking money. The truth is there are always valid arguments to push it down or up, but mostly down, so don’t despair, this isn’t the last time you are getting fu*ked.

Marc Andreessen on Twitter

To many marketers, companies are "brands". To many finance types, companies are "assets". To great CEOs, companies are teams.

Value target or target value?

Chasing the “f**k you” moment when you made it in Series A and, your friends didn’t, is as childish as it sounds. The illusion of the great escape, where money buys you the right to be lazy again and dwell in your mediocrity as others work to build your dream and have the stripes needed to yell and fuss when the product, YOUR product, is not done.

As a coder and founder of 8 business so far, 7 of them finishing in failure and number 8 is going strong, I see the real motivation of the mushroom founders, as they follow the path of PowerPoint-ing their marvelous idea, for which they only need someone to build, sell, fund and maintain it, as they provide much-needed guidance in the form of facts without data=(opinions)

mushrooms pop-up everywhere after the rain, much like founders with “better than” ideas at pitch events trying to get foreigners to work for them, proposing equity-only deals so they can build 90% of company value and get 3% parts.

If you build it, they will come. If they don’t, you still built something…

Chasing imaginary numbers in a real-world setting is an artificial growth system that does what it’s meant to: separate the mushrooms from the coders so they can power the powerful. Discard the weak and gather the strength, put them in close-knit social circles, inspire a cult-like following, sell them to the highest corporate bidder and voilà: you just experienced Silicon Valley

Gabriel on Twitter

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Silicon Valley Startups: The Chase of Theoretical Monetary Value was originally published in Startups and Downs on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.