In review with a potential business partner, he noted the very narrow description of "Entrepreneurship" on the "Why ICE?" page feeling that "Identifying funding sources needed for commercialization." focuses just on getting funding, only a part of the Entrepreneurship role. I changed the description of entrepreneurship to "Creating a compelling business plan and harnessing the energy necessary for plan execution." He agrees that this more completely describes what entrepreneurship is all about from the ICE perspective.
What are your thoughts on this page?
Thursday, November 19, 2015
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Startup Ecosystem Portals Garnering Interest
In September I introduced the concept of startup ecosystem portals as a helpful way to think and talk about the Cincinnati region startup ecosystem. Since then, I have had the opportunity to review the concept with several people who are active in the ecosystem. I found it easy to explain using the Startup Ecosystem page of the webBook walking through the buildup of the page using the "where am I in the buildup" indicators on the left of the page. So far all reviewers seem to relate. Perhaps we are onto something here.
High Value in Nonliner Navigation for Presentations
webBooks have always featured nonlinear page navigation. This is the ability to go from the current page to several different pages with a single click and is the "native mode" for all webBooks. In linear presentations, the native mode of PowerPoint and PowerPoint-like apps, you step through several to many pages to get where you want to be.
In reviewing this ICE webBook with others I am constantly navigating nonlinearly. At first this is a bit disorienting, but with a bit of practice it comes naturally. It helps to recognize that this is the way the "web" works. You are on a page and can quickly get to other pages. And the reason this feels comfortable (so I claim) is that this is actually one way your brain processes information, quickly jumping from one topic to another.
Don't believe me? Take a shot at presenting a part of this ICE webBook nonlinearly and see how quickly you become comfortable. When you think you are lost, look at the bottom left of the page which shows the return path from where you are.
Really don't like nonlinear? Use the arrows on the left and right edges of the pages for linear navigation.
Become a non-linear presenter and provide high value your audience!
In reviewing this ICE webBook with others I am constantly navigating nonlinearly. At first this is a bit disorienting, but with a bit of practice it comes naturally. It helps to recognize that this is the way the "web" works. You are on a page and can quickly get to other pages. And the reason this feels comfortable (so I claim) is that this is actually one way your brain processes information, quickly jumping from one topic to another.
Don't believe me? Take a shot at presenting a part of this ICE webBook nonlinearly and see how quickly you become comfortable. When you think you are lost, look at the bottom left of the page which shows the return path from where you are.
Really don't like nonlinear? Use the arrows on the left and right edges of the pages for linear navigation.
Become a non-linear presenter and provide high value your audience!
iPad for Presentations
Leveraging iPad capabilities is emerging as a valuable presentation technique. I have been successful in a couple of different ways. One deliberate and one by accident.
When presenting to just one or two people I have been using the iPad Duet App with the iPad attached to my MacBook. The viewers look at the MacBook while I drive from the iPad. This allows me to face the "audience" when presenting enabling me to gauge reactions and tailor where I go in the presentation. I have become quite comfortable with this technique. I use Chrome in the "View, Presentation" mode for a very clean display.
One day when I was going to do this, the room we were to use became unavailable. I dove in just using Chrome on the iPad and was delighted to discover that an apparent browser issue with webBook pages scaling fine horizontally but not vertically has been fixed. This had caused the need for vertical scrolling to view all of the information on a webBook page. This appears to now work fine in both Chrome and Safari on the iPad.
From the outset I have deemed "view with no scroll" a fundamental webBook requirement. It's now there even on the iPad. Very cool indeed.
webBooks rule!
When presenting to just one or two people I have been using the iPad Duet App with the iPad attached to my MacBook. The viewers look at the MacBook while I drive from the iPad. This allows me to face the "audience" when presenting enabling me to gauge reactions and tailor where I go in the presentation. I have become quite comfortable with this technique. I use Chrome in the "View, Presentation" mode for a very clean display.
One day when I was going to do this, the room we were to use became unavailable. I dove in just using Chrome on the iPad and was delighted to discover that an apparent browser issue with webBook pages scaling fine horizontally but not vertically has been fixed. This had caused the need for vertical scrolling to view all of the information on a webBook page. This appears to now work fine in both Chrome and Safari on the iPad.
From the outset I have deemed "view with no scroll" a fundamental webBook requirement. It's now there even on the iPad. Very cool indeed.
webBooks rule!
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
Introduction to LITA - Lean Ideation To Action
While preparing for the (ICE)2 Event at ProductCamp, I developed a process that has emerged as Lean Ideation To Action or LITA. This is now incorporated in the ProductCamp portal to the webBook. It involves clearly stating the goal of the effort and then stepping through a process that is tailored to the amount of time you want to invest. For actions identified there is a clear next step defined and an identified ECAPL - Energetic Champion, Advocate, Passionate Leader.
An identified ECAPL is critical - no ECAPL - nothing can happen and the proposed idea is discarded in favor of others. It is not necessarily a bad idea. It is that there is not currently the energy available to implement it.
Dive into the ProductCamp portal to take a look.
Like what you see? Contact me.
An identified ECAPL is critical - no ECAPL - nothing can happen and the proposed idea is discarded in favor of others. It is not necessarily a bad idea. It is that there is not currently the energy available to implement it.
Dive into the ProductCamp portal to take a look.
Like what you see? Contact me.
ProductCamp Cincinnati 2015 (non)Experience
At ProductCamp Cincinnati 2014 there were more slots available than there were proposed presentations so everyone who submitted a presentation was able to present and I presented Strategic Discovery there. Alas, that was not the case this year. There were 32 proposed presentations for 20 slots. Unfortunately while garnering some votes, the (ICE)2 Event I proposed did not make the cut. Bummer. Next year I will do a better job of "marketing" what I present.
The goal of the proposed (ICE)2 event was to "Identify three things we could do to solidify the Cincinnati region as an ICE epicenter." I remained convinced that this could be a high value and fun activity and hope to find others who would find an (ICE)2 event to their liking.
The goal of the proposed (ICE)2 event was to "Identify three things we could do to solidify the Cincinnati region as an ICE epicenter." I remained convinced that this could be a high value and fun activity and hope to find others who would find an (ICE)2 event to their liking.
1st Ever Multi-Portal webBook
Faced with the problem of wanting to reuse some but all material from the ICE webBook in my September 26 ProductCamp Cincinnati 2015 presentation and also to have some new pages specifically for the ProductCamp presentation, I invented the "Multi-portal webBook." In its current incarnation this involves having multiple title pages and their respective main pages and homepages. From the main page of a the second portal there are links to selected pages in the main portal and also the new pages for the second portal. There is also a "Portals" page that is linked to/from each title page. Since that initial pass I have tweaked a bit with those basic concepts. This looks promising. Additional portals can be easily added.
On hangup is the lack of a convenient way to have a separate eBook for the second portal. For the moment I am simply leaving the eBook link off the homepage for the second portal.
What do you think?
On hangup is the lack of a convenient way to have a separate eBook for the second portal. For the moment I am simply leaving the eBook link off the homepage for the second portal.
What do you think?
Monday, September 21, 2015
Updated webBook and vBooks - enhanced ecosystem description
I created a new rendering of "Startup Ecosystem" including the concepts of partners and portals. I think this helps understand the ecosystem and how to access. Also tweaked the the introduction to ICE now accessed through "Why ICE" where I discuss the motivations of decomposing "startup" into "innovation, commercialization, entrepreneurship" components.
Also created new vBooks for this part of the webBook separating the ecosystem and ICE into two vbooks.
Particularly interested in how accurate/helpful the ecosystem description is.
Also created new vBooks for this part of the webBook separating the ecosystem and ICE into two vbooks.
Particularly interested in how accurate/helpful the ecosystem description is.
Friday, September 18, 2015
New release of webBook/vBooks incorporating "Startup Ecosystem," and adding new explorations
Once again there are major changes to the webBook. For the first time the "Startup Ecosystem" is introduced. In conjunction with that the description of what ICE is all about has been made more robust and clear. There are new exploration areas: An innovation entry to the startup ecosystem experiment and bringing (ICE)2 to ProductCamp Cincinnati 2015.
The primary exploration area remains seeing if there are people at UC interested in collaborating with me in the ICE effort.
Changes are significant enough that is worth giving the revamped webBook/vBooks a look. If what you are getting doesn't look changed, you will want to do page refresh or browser clear cache to make sure you are seeing what's really out there and not cached old pages.
The primary exploration area remains seeing if there are people at UC interested in collaborating with me in the ICE effort.
Changes are significant enough that is worth giving the revamped webBook/vBooks a look. If what you are getting doesn't look changed, you will want to do page refresh or browser clear cache to make sure you are seeing what's really out there and not cached old pages.
Friday, July 10, 2015
webBook and vBooks updated to clarify UC collaboration interests
This new release of the webBook has major changes to the areas of collaboration with UC. The changes were sparked by a review with mentor/brother Gary Vollbracht prior to UC engagement. The discussion with Gary also resulted in a change in webBook purpose to emphasize the desire to discover others interested in this work.
On to review with folks at UC to see if there is interest in collaboration.
On to review with folks at UC to see if there is interest in collaboration.
Saturday, June 13, 2015
Updated webBook and vBooks with Proposed UC Engagement
I have updated the webBook and associated vBooks to include how the University of Cincinnati could lead the ICE in the Cincinnati Region effort. Included are proposals for three specific thrusts.
The next step is to identify the key people at UC who are interested in driving this collaborative effort.
The next step is to identify the key people at UC who are interested in driving this collaborative effort.
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