PODCAST: The Entrepreneur Within Podcast with Mark Roberts. Ep7: Hazel Savage
In this episode, we’re speaking to Hazel Savage. She shares her incredible story about how she went from failed punk rocker, into the world of music tech, before setting up her business – Musiio – and selling it to SoundCloud after four years.
PODCAST: The Entrepreneur Within Podcast with Mark Roberts. Ep6: Dom Dwight
This episode's guest is Dom Dwight, Strategy & Innovation Director at Taylors of Harrogate, makers of Yorkshire Tea. He talks candidly about the benefits, and challenges, of running that department within a major organisation. But most importantly, he talks about how innovation has led Yorkshire Tea to become the country’s biggest brand from third place in just a few years.
PODCAST: The Entrepreneur Within Podcast with Mark Roberts. Ep4: Dan Nord
In this episode, we had a conversation with Dan Nord. Dan has had a remarkable career working at Maxar in space technologies – yes, his pitches involved satellites – as GM at Electronic Arts and as Head of Product and GM at Amazon. Today, Dan is a board member at nDreams, a global leader in VR and AR game development and publishing.
AUDIO: What is an ‘ecosystem’ anyway? (7 mins)
An ecosystem is perhaps the most useful element of scaling a business, but what exactly is it? From this excerpt from The Entrepreneur Within audiobook, Mark Robert explains the types of ecosystems you need to tap into.
Free download: How to compile an ideas backlog - with template
Are all the ideas across the organisation captured consistently and placed into an ideas backlog?
Myth busting: Innovation requires no magic stardust
A dinner with physician and commentator Edward de Bono, who coined the term ‘lateral thinking’, was an inspirational moment for Mark. Here’s why.
How to calculate the size of the problem
It’s simple really: Is there going to be a big enough market?
Download: Define Your Quest Toolkit
Choose your innovation quest wisely, and be sure to apply your focus to the problem, and not to the solution.
The best purpose & problem statements
Defining the purpose of the business is the essential first step in the innovation journey. Here are some of my favourite purpose statements and problem statements.
Download: Ecosystem Maturity Matrix
Understanding how mature the key components are is incredibly helpful when determining where to connect or what additional resources might need to be invited in.
Download: How to map your Ecosystem
An Ecosystem should be considered from the beginning of any new venture. Use this template to map yours and identify the gaps.
Download: ROCKET growth board agenda
To help make it easier to ensure we cover everything, I developed a model for these meetings that conveniently spells ROCKET to drive the agenda of a growth board. This covers our Reason, Organisation and Culture, as well as KPIs, Expenses and Testing.
Download: DVF testing template
Results as less about the end game, and more about a phase of discovery and optimisation.
AUDIO: Make failure your friend (6mins)
Listen to an excerpt from The Entrepreneur Within audiobook, read by its author, Mark Roberts. In this snippet, Mark discusses why celebrating failure is a must.
Don’t fall into these innovation traps
Many businesses fall into these traps when innovating. Do you recognise these rabbit holes?
