Creative Commons License - An Example of a Simple Idea

A few days ago I came across the Creative Commons License and I was amazed at the simplicity of the representation of the license.

Following the post on Simple Ideas I wanted to share this example of how to take a very long and dry idea, in this case the legal agreement, into something very simple, memorable, and easy to understand.

Hopefully we are able to present our business ideas with such simplicity, they will go a much longer way when reduced to the core concept.

Simple Ideas

An entrepreneur needs to be effective when pitching a business idea. With a 'sticky' idea, you can utilize your network to help you find potential business partners, investors, suppliers, clients, and key contacts. After all, they will remember and be able to tell your idea to others.

In their book Made to Stick the Heath brothers present six elements that will make your idea understandable,
memorable, and easy to propagate or in their terms, 'sticky'. The elements are: Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional, and with Stories.

A Simple idea has or can be achieved by:

• The "Commander's Intent":Comes from the military in which a commander tells his soldiers what to accomplish, if nothing else, during the mission. It defines the single most important thing that you want to accomplish.
  
  What is the single most important thing that you want to convey with your pitch?
  
  
• "Unburying the Lead": Is a journalism term indicating that a news story needs to start with the lead, or the most important element of the story. Sometimes the lead is buried in the middle of the story and people don't even get to read it.
  
  Identify the single thing you want people to remember and start your pitch with it.
  
  
• Core and Compact:Your message should be very compact in a single phrase and contain the core of your idea.  
  
  Define a single phrase that represents the core element of your idea.
  
  
• Use known concepts to present new ones:You are more effective if you present your idea as a comparison with other but highlighting the difference: Our software product is a scaled down Microsoft Office Suite but online.
  
  Describe your idea in terms of a well known concept and highlight the key difference.
  

When planning a pitch of your idea make it simple so it is memorable and can be spread easily through your network. What a better advertisement to your idea than someone else promoting it on your behalf.

On Networking

Effective networking is an essential tool for any professional, in particular entrepreneurs. The 7515 Entrepreneurs Lounge is a lot about finding other people with the same aspirations, about sharing resources, and about developing our entrepreneurial spirit.  In other words, the Lounge is a lot about effective networking. 


An excellent resource on this topic is the podcast by the startuplounge.com cofounder Michael Blake. Next I summarize some of the ideas Michael discusses in his website.

• Networking is a critical business skill regardless of what you do.
  
• It is about building human resources that don't belong to your company
• You build Social Capital for yourself and your company.
  
• You can make resources available to you at little or no cost.
• It allows you to find capital, customers, managers, help or advice.   These resources can be bought, but through networking they can be available at the expense of time rather than cash.
• Make a commitment to networking.
  
• Don't be a 'social panhandler' where you expect to get things and benefits from others; think instead how you can offer something to others and make it your initial investment.
• Take a genuine interest in other people. 
  
• What if you are shy? - You need to grow beyond your perceived limitations.  
  
• Get into the habit of small talking with other people for practice.
  
• Prepare your elevator pitch.
• Network with other entrepreneurs.  They share the same interests, needs, and challenges.
  

Some recommended resources mentioned in the podcast:

Book: Professional Networking for Dummies

Book: The Heart of Networking by Ricky Steele

Share your thoughts and other resources about Networking that you find valuable.

- AG

Notes on the December Meeting

Another great meeting of the Entrepreneurs Lounge.  13 people attended this time with a wide range of experience in entrepreneurship and with varied backgrounds.  

Who we are:

We started the meeting by introducing ourselves and stating our interest in entrepreneurship.

• B. is a first year MBA and entrepreneurship is why he joined the program.
  
• J. finished his MBA in 07, is a Medical Director, runs his own company, and has a few ideas in the pipeline in the healthcare area.
  
• R. is in graduating in May 09, comes from a family of entrepreneurs but worked for the last 20 years in corporate.  Now looking to work with a startup of 9 people.
  
• T. is in the health management arena as a consultant, and entrepreneurship is why he started his MBA.
  
• L. is in his first year and his background is in engineering and works in the design of power plants.  He has a few ideas that is trying to develop.
  
• R. has an IT background and works with CRM systems.  Has an idea that wants to develop further and wants the input from this group.  Graduating in May 09.
  
• M. is very motivated and has driven the creation of this group.  She is working on an online store and a virtual call center.  
  
• S. is also working very hard in making this group a success.  He is already working in a Gang of 5 developing some ideas.  Interested in the health care arena and with a background in IT.
  
• M. is an Electrical Engineer with experience in the Wireless area.  From Sierra Leon, wants to develop some ventures there as he sees great opportunities to develop the communications backbone in his country and in Africa.
  
• M. was part of a startup in college which survived for 2 years and got bought out.  He is a part time consultant and is interested in PDAs and Mobile Devices.
  
• A. helped his boss create a company in 2004; a few months ago he became the president of a spin-off of the original venture. Graduating in May 09 has a lot of experience in entrepreneurship.
• K. is graduating in May 09 as well.  He has an IT background and is very motivated to develop himself as an entrepreneur.  
• A. is in his last year and graduating in May 09.  With an IT background wants to explore the Entrepreneurship world and is very excited and motivated about this group.
  

Structuring our Meetings:

We proposed a few components that should be part of the monthly meetings:

• Motivational:  this segment includes sharing ideas that some in the group are developing, how to develop new ideas, and how to keep the motivation high.
• Tactical: we will discuss things that are important to an entrepreneur from a practical point of view, from talking about office space, to how to network better with online tools.
• Subject Matter Experts:  Have subject matter experts give a short talk about topics in Entrepreneurship; this includes guest speakers or people from the group that can share their expertise in certain areas.
• Networking:  We identified the need to have certain time allocated to allow us to network with the people in the group.

Our Reach:

We expressed interest in reaching over in the Atlanta area to other groups or organizations that might have common interests.  We will discuss this idea at a later meeting when the group is more formally established.

We will continue to pursue the creation of this group as an UGA group, and we will extend the invitation to the Executive MBA and to the UGA MBA Alumni.

You can 'sponsor' your friends to come to this meeting if they are not UGA.  This meeting is to be open to non-UGA students and alumni.

Individual Goals:

Each one of us committed to individual goals, whether short term (for the next meeting) to mid or long term (6-months to 1 year).  We will support each other in the accomplishment of these.

We are all invited to post to this blog.

Next Meeting:

• For our next meeting on the second Saturday of January, we will have a few speakers from the group that will share some ideas they are currently working on.
  
• We will check on the progress of some of our goals.
  
• And we will have time for networking.
  

Please add your comments to this post in case there is something missing.

To see the notes from our previous meeting go here.

December Meeting

Time and Date: December 13th, 10:00am - 12:00n
Location: UGA Gwinnett Campus - Room 119


We will discuss the objectives of the Entrepreneurs Lounge, talk about your expectations and interests regarding Entrepreneurship, and will have the chance to meet other [aspiring] entrepreneurs.

If you cannot make it to this meeting, please check back on this blog for updates; we will publish all the information from the meeting here.