In horse racing, the term for picking four winners in a row is pick 4. In Vegas, it’s called a parley. In business, it’s how you get something started. There’s a difference between running a company and getting one off the ground. And that difference lies in people. It takes unique people to generate and implement ideas.
The book, A Kick in the Seat of the Pants, says there are four parts to an entrepreneur—the artist, the explorer, the judge, and the warrior. The artist develops ideas, the explorer researches them, the judge decides whether they’re good or not, and the warrior takes them to market. To relate this to everyday life, the artist is the part of you that’s creative—the one who fantasizes, dreams, and generates thoughts. Your explorer seeks knowledge. It asks questions, reads books, and surfs the net. The judge is your decision-maker and your warrior does all the work (e.g., cleans the house, goes to the office, and drags your ass to the gym).
To start a business, you need to sparkle at every corner. In other words, you need a dynamite artist, a compulsive explorer, a strong judge, and a great warrior.
Operating companies
Today’s companies are all operating companies. They have three divisions with three types of people: sales, product, and admin. Any idea company has four: creators (artists), researchers, judges, and warriors.
Idea companies develop new concepts for existing industries. Sell these concepts to operating companies within applicable industries. Who then, with assistance from us, implement and carry them forward. Make sense?
The world doesn’t need more operating companies. We already have lots. What we need are great ideas brought into existing corporations. Why? Because big business is weak at being visionary (and lots can’t see the forest for the trees). They really are designed to simply operate and their workers are operators too. That’s why they need us.
With only 10-12 staff, idea companies earn most of their revenue from customer success and only deal at the top. Consulting firms and advertising agencies do some of the above, but they’re still just operating companies waiting to be hired. An idea company sells to an industry according to an order. When one company says no, they move to the next. Implementing with the first taker.
The next level
Over recent years business has figured out it needs to be in the community. That’s why they support public charities and things like the Olympics. Society feels better about spending its dough when they know some is being put to good use. But another level is on the horizon and that level is love. Business will soon learn they must also love the consumer.
Imagine a grocery store that thought of you in terms of what they provide (food). Imagine them offering a free cookbook (online), developed by them, supported by easy to learn videos (produced by staff—also part of the program), fortified by their prepared foods section (which includes these items), and a taster bar to assist in deciding what you’d like to make. Then add in in-store cooking demonstrations, a commitment to always stocking the base ingredients (one-stop shopping), and a great line of cookware available at reasonable prices.
They can even offer food service to supply items like meatballs, chili, and soup to restaurants, institutions, and people wishing to cater their own affairs. It all goes together. Eventually one of them will get it. Food stores are in the ingredients business and customers really need help putting these things together. Then as a society, we go up a level.
That’s what idea companies do—they take us to the next level. They develop ways to make an industry better and then shop them down a list. If company A doesn’t bite, they go to company B. When someone finally says yes, and things work out, the idea company’s reputation builds. So the next time they call, everything is easy.
Summary
It’s a different approach that fits in many ways. For example, we have great musicians who need great songs, we have comics who need powerful material, and just think what we could do for the education industry.
Operating companies have three main VPs (sales, product, and admin) and a president who reports to a board. By definition, the president is an administrator because of the job description. Startups do it differently. They make VP of product, supreme.
These visionaries then bring new concepts to market (e.g., Chipotle). But artists are never good at the workings of biz (e.g., admin, production, logistics, safety, H/R). It’s not their skill set. So why make new companies when we already have lots—Chipotle should be a division of Wendy’s.
It’s a different way of looking at things that will turn commerce on its head. There’s tremendous talent out there being wasted. We simply need to do the linking. Idea companies do this and more. They find the ideas, research them, judge them, and only bring to you what’s good.
I can’t wait for my son to graduate. Can you imagine? “Hi. It’s Alex from What’s Next—the idea company. I’d like to speak with your president.” “Good morning, Alex.”