tofi feb. 2, 2015 naming & positioning: de monte

8/9/2019 TOFI Feb. 2, 2015 Naming & Positioning: De Monte

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Vision and Ideas

Michael De Monte

Co - Founder, ScribbleLive

@demonte 

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“To organize the world‘s information and

make it universally accessible and

useful.”

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“To be the pulse of the planet”

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“To build a place where people can come to find

and discover anything they might want to buy

online.”

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Low Level

Day To Day

Long Term Plans

High Level

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Why Startups Need a Strong

Vision•

The vision for a company must be robust for years at a time.

• 

 A vision lets you set goals that define your path and progress.

• 

Setting a vision lets everyone know what direction they’regoing, even in small teams.

• 

When you see all activities as being useful, no activities areuseful.

• 

When you don’t know where you’re going, any road looksgood.

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There are no bad ideas.

Well, they often lead to good ones.

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Post-It Notes: It took over a decade

to transform this bad idea into a

brilliant one. The concept behind the

adhesive reminder notes was a flop

when it was first dreamt up in the late

60s by a 3M employee because, atthat time, there was no way to

actually manufacture them. 3M finally

committed to the idea in the mid 70sbut it took them 5 years to make the

product.

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There are no bad ideas.

Well, they often lead to good ones.

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Touch Screens: Workable touch

screen were actually invented in1971 by Hewlett Packard for their

personal computers. By 1977 they

came up with what was to becomethe most popular technology for

touch screens today. So why was it a

bad idea? Because it took some 30

years and another company to work

out what to do with them.

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The Good Thing About Bad Ideas

•  Bring a challenge, question, or problem to mind.

•  Conjure up a really bad idea in response to it.

•  Tell another person about your bad idea.

• 

The other person thinks of something redeemable

about your bad idea — and tells you what it is.

•  Using this redeemable essence as a catalyst, thetwo of you brainstorm new possibilities.

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IDEAS ARE A JOURNEY. THEY START AT

ONE POINT, TRAVEL THIS WAY AND THAT

AND USUALLY ARRIVE AT A DESTINATION

THAT LOOKS NOTHING LIKE WHERE

THEY BEGAN.

THE TRICK IS TOO KEEP TRAVELLING

ALONG THE ROAD WITH THE BAD IDEA,

TO KEEP REFINING AND MOULDING AND

RESHAPING UNTIL, PRETTY OFTEN, THEBAD IDEA HAS BLOSSOMED INTO A

GOOD ONE. 

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Thank You

Michael De Monte

Co - Founder, ScribbleLive

@demonte