Trend Spotting

Entrepreneurs, Executing, Investors, Management, Strategy, Trend Spotting

2020 looks pretty much a done deal

Who needs another set of forecasts when 2020 looks like it’s largely a done deal? Like most decision makers, I’m sure, I’ve already got a plan for much of 2020, so we’re now into executing plans and forecasts are a bit late.  I don’t find many of them are that helpful, either, what with one…
Digitalisation, Entrepreneurs, Investors, Strategy, Trend Spotting

Data seems to matter to everyone but people

So Norway is joining the space community and launching two satellites to deliver broadband to its northern regions up near the Arctic. The ground stations will be government run, they say it’s so that they remain in control, and the satellites are going to be carrying the latest defensive technologies like anti-jamming and protection against…
Digitalisation, Executing, Investors, Strategy, Trend Spotting

Scarlett O’Hara and what’s around the corner for tech infrastructure

The direction of travel: The thing about trends is that it’s never certain where they’re going to end up. If it was they would be journeys, not trends. Trends suggest a direction, like the road ahead on a murky day. Even then trends don’t necessarily tell the whole story about what might be just around…
Digitalisation, Investors, Strategy, Trend Spotting

Why the world is battling over 5G

Handsets, Speed and Money I never thought I’d feel nostalgic for 3G, but those were the heady days when handsets were starting to be about more than making calls and talking to people, and the UK Government raised a whopping £22.5bn from five mobile operators in a world beating spectrum auction. That was early 2000,…
Digitalisation, Trend Spotting

The future began a while ago

My phone connects up to the car’s Bluetooth system just fine, as you’d expect it to. Not that long ago it began to give me helpful information as soon as it connected: “15mins to get home, take Potter Row. Traffic is light.” Ok, it’s figured out where “home” is and that when I start the…
Entrepreneurs, Investors, Strategy, Trend Spotting

Human engagement is a big opportunity

Martha has created a wonderful business in Sheffield (YouTube), and she has shared her adventurous journey with her friends and customers on social media. Forge Bakehouse is now a thriving business with a growing following (Facebook). Her enthusiasm is infectious! What’s not to like as you buy your three Pastéis de Nata? ForgeBakehouse is one…
Digitalisation, Entrepreneurs, Investors, Trend Spotting

The Good, the Bad, and the Surreptitious

What is it about humans? Protest against the introduction of new technology is hardly new. How far back do you want to go? Agricultural workers were protesting in the 1830s about the new threshing machines that were undermining their livelihood. (Wikipedia) If the subject intrigues you, then try the excellent Shield of Achilles, which examines…
Entrepreneurs, Executing, Investors, Management, Trend Spotting

We need to talk about losses

Slack published its first results since going public, forecasting higher than expected losses. Why are they higher than expected? Is it because they know what they’re doing or because they don’t? The shares fell 15%, which suggests that some decided that it’s the latter. (CityAM) Elsewhere, we now know that WeWork Is the Most Ridiculous…
Digitalisation, Entrepreneurs, Management, Strategy, Trend Spotting

WhatsApp scuppers the B2B market

Diversity today is a key topic – how to achieve the right mix of talents, backgrounds and human characteristics in the teams we build and, in many ways, how to avoid missing out because we failed to include some. My project to test WhapsApp as a business channel has delivered some startling results already, and…
Entrepreneurs, Investors, Management, Trend Spotting

These waves are exciting!

This is a really exciting time to be in the thick of early stage business, and possibly the most exciting time yet in the five decades I’ve been doing this. I stumbled on an interview with the great mathematician, the late Dr. Jacob Bronowski. (BBC) He was obviously really excited about the two epochs of…
Entrepreneurs, Investors, Management, Strategy, Trend Spotting

Are humans the ultimate differentiator?

Josiah Wedgewood had a lot to do with it. Within four years of starting in 1759, he’d begun to get orders from royalty and the aristocracy, and was one of the first to use celebrity endorsements to power sales to the growing middle classes. He was able to industrialise the production of pottery through his…
Entrepreneurs, Investors, Management, Strategy, Trend Spotting

Elephants’ feet need not be threatening

Autocomplete has its uses, it does save a bit of time, but it can be illuminating in that it gives an insight into what the most popular searches might be. Type in Should Apple – the first entry that autocomplete suggests is: Should Apples be kept in the fridge. So what, you might ask?  That’s…