Category: Startups

Strategy, Architecture & Problem-Solving

ecommerce

The Value Affix – Xtech and Why I’m Fed Up with Tech part 2

I wrote in the previous article that we don’t need a separate xtech for any given sector x. Abstracting further, the focus should be on the customer, not the technology. We see healthtech, fintech and insuretech which indicate the use of new technologies to improve existing or introduce new business models. But technology is just…
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Partnership Map 0_02

Partnership Map

I’ve developed a Partnership Map, designed to help us think about which companies we partner with and why. With my clients, I’ve often found workshop attendees confused (at least initially) by the term partnership. If you use other well-known tools such as the Business Model Canvas, maybe you’ve encountered similar issues. We all use the…
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Books

Where Do I Learn? – Part 2 – Books

If I’m driving, I’m listening to podcasts. If I’m travelling by train, then I’m reading. I typically read books that don’t directly relate to my profession, but those that I hope will change my approach to how I work with clients. For every client I go to, I end up mentoring business analysts, business architects,…
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Zombie Hands

Be a Startup, not a Zombie

I’m just catching up on an episode of The Salesman Podcast hosted by Will Barron. The episode is about being the first sales person in a new company. While I agree with everything Vinnie has said, one thing came to mind. If you’re the first salesperson and you’re conducting product-market fit conversations, then you’re working…
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Revised Revenue Vs Confidence 4 box model

4 box model for deciding on the future – part 2

I finished the previous part of this article with a four box model that had two quadrants with the same outcome. With that article, I’d stated that the outcome you may want to choose would probably depend on the lifestyle you want to lead. That still applies, but I want to show what I do…
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RevenueVsConfidence

4 box model for deciding on the future – part 1

I regular make decisions about where I’m going to spend most of my working effort. A few years ago, I was sharing my ideas and potential options with a few friends and ex-colleagues. I used an extension to the typical four-box models. This simplified the thinking and forced me to recognise a few major questions…
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Idea Post-its

Business Architect for Free*

I’ve got some time in between clients where I’d like to contribute back or pay-it-forward. I’d like to donate my time for free and raise a bit for charity while I’m doing it. What’s the offer? You get a Business Architect for free* *What does free mean? You don’t pay for my time. Instead, you pay…
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Considerations for the platform of a new startup

Background I’m seriously considering building my new startup on Microsoft’s Azure platform with the BizSpark programme and that’s a departure for me. I’m going to use the term “startup” loosely but at least 1 of the 3 conformed to Steve Blank’s definition, proving the business model worked. I’ll cover three of the ideas; 2 built…
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Automation of White Collar Jobs and Process Debt

Background Business Insider published an article on how automation may remove the need for people in white-collar roles. While the context of the article seems relevant, I found the choice of example to be very odd. Specifically Deliveroo’s creation of 25 redundancies in their ordering process. In fact, I think it more likely that process debt had…
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Enterprise Architecture in Startups: Is it relevant?

Practitioners of Customer Development, Lean Startup and Enterprise Architecture can all learn from each other. But they shouldn’t enforce their views on each other as there are some incompatibilities. Let’s see how enterprise architecture in startups can exist. Background The Startup culture and methods have largely been defined by Steve Blank who wrote The Startup Owners…
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