Blog: Jef Lippiatt

Become an Informant

We are quickly approaching our two year anniversary. We have you, our community, to thank. We have learned much from you and look forward to doubling down on our efforts to keep learning from you and providing value back in return.

We believe that learning is a journey and that one must stay curious and open-minded at all times. In the spirit of continued learning we launching Informant. Informant is the place for you to share your knowledge or get feedback from our entire community.

We encourage all of you to participate and look forward to what you share. As always your feedback is welcome and appreciated.


Local College Launches Startup Program

This past semester, the College of Charleston has launched a new program centered on helping students create technology focused startup ventures. The program is called the International Cross-curricular Accelerator for Technology (ICAT). The college is aiming to help fuel the growth of local startups here in the 'Silicon Harbor'.

Through funding from the Business and Computer Science schools at the college, the Entrepreneurship program has put together a select group of 24 for students for its inaugural launch. The students are made up of Liberal Arts majors, Business majors and Computer Science majors. The students formed teams of 3 with the goal of forming and launching a Lean Startup company or service which incorporates a technological product.

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Scale Isn't the Holy Grail

Perhaps you've read some articles that position "scale" to be the ultimate metric of a startup's success. It is especially prevalent along blogs and people that cover technology focused startup ventures. I'm not saying scale is bad. I'm saying that scaling to a billion users shouldn't be your primary business goal.

Your first business goal should be adding value to a specific market. Your second goal should being able to make a reasonable profit while adding value to that specific market. Once you master those to business goals then think about scaling. You may think that scaling before making any profit is advantageous in the long run, however, you aren't considering all the risks.

Scaling Too Quickly Risks

  • trusting a business model that may be unprofitable and unsustainable
  • spending too much time building something not enough people need or want
  • undermining the quality of your product / service
  • derailing the quality of your customer service
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Taking Measured Steps

How to make progress on multiple concurrent projects.

It may seem daunting to attempt multiple projects and/or ventures simultaneously. However, there are some simple things that you can do to make that a reality.

  • Set small actionable goals - Be realistic. When setting goals, make sure you've broken them down into things that can be accomplished in no more than 2 to 3 days. If you feel that is too long, break them down even further. The point is, by chunking larger tasks into manageable sizes you can set yourself to consistently achieve small goals. Each small goal reached with bolster your positive energy and outlook.

    If you miss accomplishing a goal, don't get down on yourself. Take time and see if you could have broken the goal into smaller tasks than you did. Learn from that by adjusting your future goals.
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How Would You React?

It is always better to be proactive than reactive, but let's assume the reverse. When you are put into the middle of a situation your reaction says a lot about you (or your company). I'm going to job your memory back to your early self. Chances are if you weren't the one reacting, you were trying to get a reaction out of others.

I want to use an example that many of us will remember all too well, the rest of you can live vicariously through this example. I'm speaking about having your shoes tied together by their laces. Perhaps this is a painful memory to recall (we won't judge you for slip-on or Velcro shoes).

Let's assume you've just had your shoes tied together without your knowledge. You are about to quickly become much more aware of your feet than you just were. Why is this important? It changes your focus and calls you to problem solve the situation. I'm going to cover 5 possible responses (sorry, vengeance isn't one of them).

Your Shoes Are Tied Together, Now What? Read more…