Join us for coffee as we …

Learn from one of Mike’s failed businesses

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Meanwhile, here’s what it’s all about:

(These table of content quick links are enabled for people registered in our courses and add-ons.)

• 0:00 – Hey buddy! How are you today?!
• 0:15 – For all you Top Gun lovers out there!
• 0:29 – Learning from one of Mike’s real world failed businesses – one of his “big downs”
• 2:20 – It all started from his passion (hint: he’s a big motor sports junkie …)
• 3:20 – How the team got together and where their idea came from (hint: it was over a beer …)
• 4:26 – “It would be really really cool if we could video ourselves tearing around the track on our bikes!”
• 5:20 – This was before the GoPro days but 5:30 – who wouldn’t love that?!
• 6:07 – We believed we had a business …
• 6:50 – In hindsight, we didn’t have the tools and approaches we needed. And we weren’t unusual in that.
• 8:09 – Reel Rydes and how we thought it would work
• 9:00 – We got stuck on our vision and away we went
• 10:08 – Then we made the biggest mistake (one we now coach people about all the time): We thought everyone was our customer!
• 11:00 – And here’s how we got way too optimistic about our earning potential, and shot ourselves in the foot right there
• 12:07 – That was also when some pretendotyping and pretotyping could have helped us out – imagine us hard-wiring lipstick cameras to a guy’s bike!
• 13:15 – And on top of all that, our own fear of sharing the idea was making sure we were getting no good feedback!
• 14:06 – So we spent ($) our way to that first day on the track and there we were, making a terrible first impression …
• 16:09 – We really could have saved ourselves a lot of the problems using even some of our simplest tools
• 17:00 – So what would you have done differently – generally and using the tools?
• 20:24 – We never worked on the “right it” from the beginning … you’re pivoting because you realize you’ve messed up
• 22:26 – GoPro was opening a door, sort of, but also threatening everything
• 23:33 – “We knew we were in trouble,” 24:02 – so we did a real time pivot …”
• 24:03 – It was a pretty cool direction but it turned out to be a hard pivot for us – all in the name of desperately needing to be different
• 26:12 – But our price point and the new model weren’t holding up …
• 28:34 – In balance, I see now that a lot of it could have been avoided if we’d practiced what you and I preach today
• 29:43 – Another pivot, even though it was a little too little too late …
• 31:03 – It got to the point that we realized: “This is a hobby. Not a scalable business.” And the more we tried, the less we wanted to make it happen.
• 32:26 – So upon reflection, don’t be afraid of the pre-persona, pretendotyping, pretotyping, and ‘help me break it’ mentality – embrace the goal of becoming an expert at your idea
• 34:02 – Trust yourself but don’t fool yourself – do as much learning as you can as early as you can
• 35:38 – Hindsight’s always 20:20, but it’s not so easy when you’re emotionally attached and wanting to will it to be successful
• 36:19 – So how do you avoid getting sucked up in the entrepreneur hype and the dream of being another billion-dollar Dollar Shave Club story? (Hint: It’s all about accelerating your learning and proceeding at a smart, even decelerated, pace)
• 38:06 – Especially if you’ve sucked others in with you, e.g. financially?
• 39:20 – Mike’s key takeaways – What did we find out the hard way that we could have found out during the pretotyping / value proposition / Idea Maker stage:
  • 40:17 – 1. Nobody wanted to pay!
  • 40:55 – 2. The substitutes and alternatives were compelling!
  • 41:18 – 3. The motorcycle season here in Canada is pretty short!
  • 41:26 – 4. It wasn’t (even moderately) scalable
  • 42:15 – 5. We found out the hard way that not everyone is our customer
  • 42:23 – 6. The Value Proposition Wheel alone would have made such a difference to pivoting more quickly and efficiently
  • 43:11 – 7. We should have better tested our technology (camera equipment) – in context – it was like working on a live website!
  • 44:29 – 8. You can easily pivot your way away from passion into the job you were trying to escape: “I remember having that moment, sitting in the corner – it’s like 30 degrees outside, it’s sweltering, I’m sweating, there’s bugs everywhere, mosquitos are biting me and I’m trying to shoot this footage … of these people doing … what I want to do! And I’m here capturing video, hoping that they’re going to buy something … It was an ‘eff that’ moment!”
• 47:02 – A quick visual of one of our first brochures. We weren’t working on “the right it, and I’m still recovering financially and emotionally.”
• 48:19 – You’re going to make mistakes, but try to give yourself the best possible chance. Don’t be afraid!
• 48:55 – Get in touch if Mike can tell you more!