Disruption

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Destructive Criticism

Recently the HBR Blog Netowrk posted a piece by Tony Schwartz that discusses a topic that deserves some attention, "constructive criticism".  Schwartz takes a look at the situation from the giver of  the criticism's point of view.  He tackles what he believes are flaws the way that the important feedback necessary for development is given.  He states, "There are three key behaviors, I believe, and they're each grounded in the recognition that what we say is often less important than how we say it."  While some of his points are valid and completely understandable (No one ever likes to be told what they are bad at), I believe the focus is given on to the wrong participant in the feedback loop.

Too much attention is given on how to effectively communicate, handle, and work with employees of all kinds of rank and file that I feel we often look for ways to give others an out or pass on responsibility.  "Eliminating concepts like feedback and constructive criticism", as Schwartz puts it, again takes the responsibility off the individual who it is truly important to.  I believe that it is the responsibility of the individual to search out for this "constructive criticism" or "feedback" in the search of continuously improving THEMSELVES.  If you take your career seriously and aren't just trying to waste 8 hours of everyday before you run home, it should be expected that you truly care about making yourself a better person.  And part of that process is learning your own faults and areas that you can work on so that you can make the team better.

You see this from elite athletes constantly.  Am I supposed to believe that Kobe Bryant, Peyton Manning, Michael Jordan, etc. didn't search out from those who were more experience what they perceived to be their faults, and then working at these items tirelessly until they were no longer conceived as weaknesses?  Why is it that we use sports aphorisms all the time in business, but when thinking about the individual and accomplishments we completely separate the two?  In athletic competition you either continuously work to improve or you end up on the bench or out of the sport entirely.  And the biggest source of motivation, criticism, and help in sports comes from coaches. 

If I don't take my job/career seriously enough to hope that those above me feel comfortable giving me feedback or constructive criticism, then I should be searching for another position or company that I actually care about what others feel are my weaknesses.  Now is it realistic of me to think that every individual cares enough about what they do every day to want to grow and become more valuable to their company? Maybe not.  But I think that it is important to aspire to continuously grow as a society, and  we can take a look at how we as unique individuals are responsible for our own growth as much as anything else.

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AD-Vantage Point?

When selling directly to consumers it is vital that a business change and evolve with the tastes of its customers.  If you don't you could quickly find yourself going from humming along with growing revenues and making a nice profit to slashing personnel and scrambling to keep your core business alive.

I recently found a company and a product that I am very intrigued with.  Vantage Point seems to be an electronics accessories manufacturer based in Sante Fe Springs, California.  They have an impressive variety of television and speaker mounts, along with a new product that I find really cool, the BeanPad.  The BeanPad looks like a great accessory to my iPad 2.  I constantly find myself sitting on the couch and grabbing a pillow to prop my iPad up so I can see it while laying back.  However, nothing I seem to do enables me to get the screen exactly how I want it while also being comfortable.  While not having played with this product myself, I am almost certain my life would get a whole lot easier with the BeanPad.  

While very little information is available on the company (which is a problem in itself...really you can't give me a good story about the company on your website? Weird), I can see the progression of the company somewhat clearly.  They start with TV mounts, speaker mounts, and other accessories, which likely were popular.  Thinking to how much the television viewing experience has changed just in the last 10 years I can assume that the products Vantage Point sold were cutting edge and hip ways to mount your television or speakers.  

But as industries expand, so does competition.  Just searching for tv mounts on Amazon (more on Amazon later) brings up a whole host of competitors for Vantage Point in that space.  With this increase competition, margins on Vantage Point's current products likely have dropped and the days of easily dominating this space over.  For some companies, actually thousands of companies, this increase in competition leads to a slow decline in the business and possibly the closing of the business' doors.  Some companies instead fight back and create a new market to compete and dominate.  I have a feeling that Vantage Point is capable of that with its focus on the iPad products.  But if they want to get there I really think they need to change how they promote and sell their products.

First and foremost the window for them to take advantage of this opportunity will be small.  Right now their product is the only one I can find, but the idea itself isn't hard.  Someone else is likely working on a way to make the iPad experience comfortable and effortless like the BeanPad.  To be a long-lasting success, it needs to get traction and become something that catches storm, almost going "viral".  To accomplish this though you need to get the BeanPad in front of as many eyes as possible.  Right now, the BeanPad is too hard to find, and at too expensive a price. 

If for some reason I am able to find the BeanPad (a friend pointed me to their website) your jaw will drop at the price of it.  Right now it is selling for $60 on their website, $60!!!  It is a BEAN BAG that I can connect to my iPad. Ummm....what is the margin you are trying to get on this product, $50?!?!?!  I really think this could become a hot holiday item, but not at $60.  Now I don't work for the company maybe their manufacturing costs are high and the margin on the BeanPad is low, but I would be really surprised if it were.  If it was priced in the $30-$40 dollar range it would more likely become a product desired and sought after by many of those highly desirable 18-30 year old demographic.  They love their iPads and love to buy apps, accessories, etc for them, but not at $60.  At that price range you are going for older adults and the upper-middle class who like their Apple products, but aren't PASSIONATE about them.  

Secondly, I don't know Vantage Point's distribution lists, but it needs to get in Target, Best Buy, Walmart etc.  Maybe not all of those, but at least Target.  And if Target isn't demanding for 1 million of these things yet then I know somewhere that its presence HAS to be found, AMAZON.  Right now I search for the BeanPad on Amazon, I find one distributor selling ONE BeanPad for $80!!!! What!?!??!  Come on Vantage Point, what century are you living in?  Do you know that 40% of ALL holiday shopping this year will take place online?  Do you know that your search engine optimization to your website is horrible.  How are you planning on making this product take off, word of mouth?

I truly believe that Amazon would take this company to the next level.  I have helped support a clothing store with their Amazon sales before, and it is fairly easy.  Yes, Amazon gets a cut, but don't view their fee as a cut our of your sale, look at it as a MARKETING costs.  That is exactly what it is.  For a fee Amazon's millions of users have your product at their fingertips.  Vantage Point HAS TO start running part of their business through Amazon.  The BeanPad is a perfect fit, it really is.  What is great about Amazon is also the fact that you gain control over a huge part of your market.  If you dropped the price on the Vantage Point website to $40, you could every now and then drop the price on Amazon to $35 or lower, creating the illusion of a great deal (trust me other do this all the time, i.e. OtterBox).  Right now selling the BeanPad primarily through your own website is not cutting it.  It isn't going to drive the traffic, and it isn't going to jump out as "I WANT THAT NOW!!! LET ME BE IMPULSIVE AND PURCHASE IT!!!".  But Amazon could greatly change that.  Someone is surfing Amazon looking for a great gift idea for the holidays, sees this awesome product, and one-click and it's purchased!!!  And if it gets hot on Amazon who knows what kind of demand that could lead to from some of the big box retailers (i.e. Target).  Sell the BeanPad on Amazon and in those stores and I would say the owners and investors in Vantage Point would be having a very good Christmas a great New Year.

Again, I don't know that much about the company.  My friend pointed me to the BeanPad after seeing an article from the LA Times.  I really want one to try for myself, but unfortunately I will not buy one for $60 + tax + shipping.  My pillow will have to work for now.  However, if Vantage Point changed up some of its selling tactics I would be the first person to order it from Amazon with my Prime membership for $37.50. Who knows, maybe the Amazon experiment works so well that it gives a nice little boost to your mounts and other items as well?

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TagMan You Are It?

I will not lie and say that I have any type of background when it comes to web-based marketing.  While lately increasing my overall web presence I do not pretend to have a mastery of how the coding or operations work in any amount of detail.  However, I do have a feel for how a company/product can better SELL itself. TagMan is the self proclaimed leader in tag management.  What are tags you may ask?  That is exactly my freaking question!  But I will delve into that momentarily.  Tags is the name given to codes that are found on advertisers' web pages to help them track the route and information that their guests take to their page.  This my friends probably does not skim the surface of what tags really do, but with my limited knowledge and the lack of information provided by the company, it is the best I can come up with.

Let me start by saying that from my initial review TagMan seems to be primed to be the top player in this field.  They seem to be the one of the first players in the market and have knowledgeable management and investors.  However, there are some gaping holes that I think they could improve upon which may in turn increase their chances for success.

The initial review of the website is very puzzling.  This is an Internet Company, no?  Well it does not seem like it at all.  The website is completely bland and lacks an edge that would be associated with this new way to build upon a company's online marketing strategy.  The company may feel by taking a minimalist approach with their website it presents a professional atmosphere.  Let me tell you, it presents boredom.  TagMan is a new tool, something that needs to be SOLD to companies.  It is not something that is naturally searched for.  And while in the end the product is what the company purchases and not the website, any tool that can create the image you need to push your services should be used.  Your clients may never even look at your website, but in case they do (and most likely they will), you want to create a clean and functional image for your company to represent the cleanliness and functionality of your product.

Maybe most importantly, what the hell are tags again?!?!  All over their website I can find the Solutions to and individual Problems that are caused by tags.  But it is incredibly difficult to get a clean, concise, and simple explanation of what tags ARE.  The best explanations I get of what tags are and how TagMan's product is revolutionary is through is press section.  The articles that are written on the company do a great job of explaining just what tags ARE, and why TagMan is a great service to companies and their online marketing teams.  If I was an executive of a mid- to large-sized company with an online marketing presence, after reading some of these professional articles I would immediately ask myself how our company controls the tags on our webpages and if we are overpaying commissions to others who guide our end users to our site.  TagMan's website however does not provide me with this SIMPLY and EASILY.  The retort may be "well the PERSON we are selling to does not need to be educated on what tags are.  They already know."  That may very likely be true, but what if that individual does not make the final call on purchasing your product?  What if another executive has final decision making power, and with a limited budget is trying to decide if they need to increase their SEO or possibly control their tags?  Well if that executive starts his own research by vising TagMan's website, their eyes may start to GLAZE OVER.  And that is one thing you do not want; someone having to work hard to get at the root of what you are selling to them.

One last item and then I will take my toys and go home.  White papers are great for highlighting the problems that your company/products address.  When done correctly they add to the professionalism of a company and help its reputation.  TagMan fails in this area as well.  Not with the content, but with the form.  Immediately upon opening and seeing the plain excel graphs that have been cut and pasted into their documents I felt like I was looking at a 10th grade science report.  The AUDIENCE of these white papers are people who likely glance over words and like to focus on graphs, statistics, and hard data.  But when your hard data is put together in such a remedial form it brings the attention away from the content and towards the company itself.  Do they not have the resources to get this professionally done? This company is technically in marketing/advertising correct? Were they in a hurry to send this to me?  If they were in that great of a hurry, how accurate or reliable is the CONTENT in the white paper.  I will drop this point now, but I believe my point has been made.

Make no mistake as I said before from the brief research I did on the company I would invest with them if I had the chance.  They obviously are experts in their field, with the experience to really make headway in online marketing analytics.  They already have some big-name clients such as Travelocity and Subaru.  While they have some competition from Tealium, I believe that the company will ultimately be very successful.  I just feel that maybe some tweaks can be made to increase those chances slightly. 

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The Bigger the Apple

Disruption, the title of my blog, is thrown around the technology and venture capital world constantly.  You want your product to achieve "disruption", to create a new way to deliver value to the end customer that previously wasn't available.  But "disruption" is not just confined to technology.  Disruption first happened in America when a small group of talented individuals decided that the world was begging for a new way to govern, and the United State of America was born.  Since then many other areas of lives have been disrupted: transportation (trains, cars, airplanes), food (mass-production farming, enhanced seeds, storage and processing), and every other area of our lives.  But, one of the basics ingredients that has led to these disruptions has been withering from a fresh view for decades....education.

Education has been the backbone for much the great accomplishments that the world has experience, especially in the United States.  It is the development of our youths' minds that has enabled such a drastic rise in our standards of living over the past few decades.  While much is made out of its failures, very little attention is given to the success that it has had and its importance to the way we live our lives.  However, it has been suffering from a lack of disruptive events which, along with massive budget cuts, rising tuition, and the explosion of college debt, actually threatens the ability for us to truly educate the majority of our citizens.

I believe there is a company that is close to changing all of that.  Knewton is company located in NYC that "customizes standardized educational content to meet the unique needs of each student".  I will not waste your time describing HOW they do that, as it would rob you of exploring it yourself.  However, I do want to expand on how I believe this young company could grow and become a daily tool used by tens of millions of students all over this country.

So far they have attempted to introduce this transforming product to those in higher education (colleges and universities).  While I understand this strategy, I would propose teaming this with an ambitious goal of also aiming at those in the primary school systems.  This idea would be laughed at by many.  Primary schools, especially those in the public realm, make horrible partners for introducing new ideas.  They suffer multiple layers of administration, politics that would make our Congress seem to be a well oiled legislative machine, and a group of intermediaries (the teachers) who are often slow at incorporating new ideas, especially those that deal with technology.

However, if there is one thing that public schools, especially here in the state of California suffer from  is ENVY.  School districts, superintendents, and teachers dread being compared to their peers in a negative light.  The expectations placed on them by parents are not lightly forgotten, and no matter how indifferent many may seem, they take pride in delivering what they believe is as good if not better education that what can be found a few dozen miles away.  This would be how Knewton could break into this market and really make some headway.

Charter schools are growing at a rate that previously would not have been possible.  However, with the maelstrom that has hit public schools since the Great Recession, the rise of the charter school has accelerated, especially in California.  The goal of these schools is to disrupt education by taking away some of the shackles that hold back their traditional public school brethren.  Many are willing to look at new ideas and strategies on how children are educated and are  eager at bringing back creativity to the classroom.

Knewton should do whatever it could to form alliances with these schools.  While their enrollments are but a sliver of a percent of the primary student education in this country, introducing this game-changing technology and proving its worth would show parents and communities what it is capable of and how it can make a permanent difference in how our youth is educated.  Other schools and districts would not be able to ignore its capabilities, and it would be there that the company would likely experience exponential growth in revenue while causing a disruption in education that has not been seen in over 100 years.