I get to work with a lot of new companies and corporate ventures and, you know what, they frequently have no clue about what a real customer wants. Cambridge (the UK one) is a great place for technology innovation but even the smartest people don't always understand about having a real market. They have the “Field of Dreams” view about customers - 'if I build it, they will come." However, this mistake isn't limited to startups - I worked with a European electronics multinational and I couldn’t believe their approach to innovation.

The division I worked with produced equipment for automating factories - essentially like computers with input and output connections to make machines work. Here were two classic conversations with them.

"Good news Richard - we have done a deal with M****** (identity masked to protect the innocent) and will be distributing their single board computer series. Our arrangement means we will have the same market price as them."

"Okay. What do you mean by market price?"

"Our list price is identical to their’s."

"Hang on," say I, "our normal customer gets a discount of 10% whereas M****** give a discount of 30% as standard. Our real market price to users or distributors is going to be significantly higher than their’s. In what way do you think that is market pricing?"

....silence....   more »

The most tired management story on the planet is how 3M came to make the Post-It pad. Remember - man uses not very sticky glue to put bits of paper in his hymm book and eventually has to ..... oh I can't even bear to repeat it.

For every great idea that someone 'games' through the barbed wire and trenches of internal barriers, there are thousands that die a slow death in cupboards and desks.   more »

I was reading about the McLaren F1 (developed by Gordon Murray). This car can reach nearly 240 mph (with some minor modifications) and cost around £8.5 million to get the first car out of the door - including building the factory it was made in.

In comparison, the Bugatti Veyron can travel 10 mph faster. The other difference is that the Veyron cost around £250 million to develop - which is expensive if you only sell 300 cars. The problem with the Veyron is that the boss Ferdinand Piech set up a BFHG (big fat hairy goal) of 250 mph (okay it was 400 km/h) and 1000 brake horsepower. Unfortunately this goal came with a big fat hairy pricetag.   more »

Ten years ago, I had a discussion with a friend who was a serious rower. He's not Sir Steve Redgrave but understands what it takes to win. His assertion was that teams don't have to like each other to perform. In fact they can downright hate each other and still do the job. It was alleged that Eric Cantona would never pass to striker Andy Cole at Manchester United for example.

At the time I wasn't convinced that the sporting metaphor could translate to business. I'm certain now - he was wrong.

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