My Reading Highlights 11/11 - 11/17

I haven't had much time to catch up on many interesting articles this week.   Here are a few that I found interesting.

Is Trend Following Dead

This was a pretty lengthy read which probably suck all the available time I had to find other interesting topics but I thought it was an interesting discussion on Managed Futures.  In other terms predictive analytics.  This article comes from an commodity investment point of view and provides some valuable thoughts in following the trend line and when trends are not the best indicator due to volatility   

Now THIS is the 'Right Way' to Start a Company

Having started my own business and knowing all too well the pains that go along with it I found this Business Insider post pretty spot on.  I agree with the characteristics they pointed out as the right approach when talking about a new start up called Percolate:

There are a few things Gross and Brier did in their startup's earliest days that set them up for success.

• They each worked for marketing companies before founding Percolate.
• When they had enough knowledge and industry connections, they quit.
• They bootstrapped until they proved their model.
• The used outside capital to step on the gas.

My Reading Highlights 10/21 - 10/27

This week was full of new technology releases, Apple and Microsoft, and numerous financial quarterly reports.  These reports flooded the net but there were some other things to note in my web reading.  Here they are:

Jeff Bezos:  People Who Are Right Are People That Change Their Mind A Lot

I saw this from Business Insider and really like the perspective that Bezos has about thought leaders.  It is an interesting view about how changing your mind a lot shows you are iterating on the problem at hand and producing a better outcome.

6 Keys To Delivering A Powerful Elevator Pitch

This was a good run down on delivering a short pitch that is more effective.  The key here is to really know what you are all about, what you offer and why you want it.  This is something we discuss and refine at work all the time.  It is a good exercise to revisit regularly.  

Lessons for Data Driven Businesses

This is a great read and highlights an opportunity for start-ups and established businesses.  This is an area that I have been working for almost a decade.  The combination of analytics and large data mining is a game changer for intelligence driven operations (Military usage) or decision management systems design (for corporations and government).

Yammer’s Cindy Alvarez: Five Types of People I Should Have Fired Sooner

Anyone that has started a new business has been in this situation.  You need to plan for putting your start-up in the next gear for either growth or to pivot in a new direction.  Alex Williams lays out comments from Cindy Alvarez on the workplace behaviors of people that need to be addressed when considering shifting to the next gear.  Sometime is is better to release them and more forward with better talent - that said it is a hard call to make.

My Reading Highlights 10/14 - 10/20

This week was filled with readings of future Apple, Google, and Microsoft announcements starting at the end of Oct.  I'll defer discussing those until they happen.  Below are some of my highlights from this weeks on-line reading.

How Amazon Controls Ecommerce (Slides)

I just recently came across this TechCrunch article from a year ago through a post from Scott Stone.  It's  a rundown on Amazon's business strategy.  Worth a look through the 71 slides from faberNovel.  What was interesting to me was this new term on slide 36:  CRAP Product = Can't Realize Any Profit.

Interesting how they use this metric in their online store in the determination of where to go next in the market. Digital. This is where your cost can be low, inventory high and margins are high. Thus the move into steaming services, ebooks, digital magazines, etc.

If you can't explain what you do in one paragraph, you've got a problem

I can't explain how much time I've spent over the years working on this one topic.  We still call it an elevator pitch.  Basically making your point during a short ride in an elevator. In this post Brad Feld lays out the three basic sentences that need to be addressed in your pitch:

1. What we do
2. Who we do it to
3. Why you should care

The No. 1 Enemy of Creativity:  Fear of Failure

Interesting post from the Harvard Business Review on innovation, leadership and one of the big reasons why it never happens in today's corporate structure:  Fear of Failure.

Tech That Protects The President:  Image Analysis

Last week RWW started a series on technology used to protect the President of the United States.  Last week it was all about Data Mining.  This week it is Image Analysis.  Basic SW that integrates in the so called "pole cameras" that are all over urban areas into a software tool from BRS Labs called AISight.  AISight is basically creating a normalcy model of the area and then alerts when something is out of normal.  A common techniques with these systems.  AISight's claim to fame is they use a proprietary algorithm for behavior analysis in their process.

How To Create An Iconic Logo For Your Brand

Recently we are looking to update a Logo for one of our lines of business and create a new logo for a new line of business we are adding.  Here is an interesting post on creating a logo for a business.  We are struggling with some of these same issues.  One thing we are doing now is using a crowd source model called 99designs to get new ideas.  It's working out great so far.  I recommend it for getting ideas on you new logo.

Why becoming a data scientist might be easier than you think

There has been much talk about novices in the data scientist arena doing amazing things and getting recognized for it.  I recently posted one of the successes from Kaggle a week or so ago.  Derrick Harris in this post postulates that novices are able to get up to speed fairly quickly with some limited training and become very productive.  I agree with this assertion and have seen it with in my business.  It just takes willingness and focus by the individual and it can happen without years of specialized training.

When Is It Time To Pivot?

We seem to have a yearly discussion at work about this topic.  We ask ourselves, should we pivot?  I came across this post from ReadWriteWeb this week which was timely since we were having our yearly discussion of this topic.  We've decided no need to pivot.

Futurist's Cheat Sheet:  Artificial Intelligence

I came across and interesting read on Artificial Intelligence.  Just the basics, which sometimes it good to just review. It's a short read but worth some time.