Founder

Institute

Vision and Ideas

Presented - By Jeff Stewart
New York City – December 3, 2009
Agenda

 Context / Introduction
 Idea and Vision Generation
 The Urgent Process™
 Evaluating and Prioritizing Ideas
Intro: Some Context
Who is Jeff Stewart:
 Former Management Consultant
 Serial Entrepreneur (Square Earth, Mimeo,
Monitor110, Urgent Career, Belgrave Trust, etc.)
 Inventor (Web-tech, HR-Tech, Green-tech)
 Board Member
 Angel Investor
 Blogger (www.UrgentSpeed.com)
 Nice Guy*
*Source: Mother Stewart
Ideas > Vision > Action

“ I have never seen an Idea that in isolation mattered ”

Ideas need to be….

Ideas
 Bundled with other Ideas

 Paired with Vision

 Surrounded with Action $

Vision Action

A lone Idea seldom matters!

Ideas – More is Better
“Let your ideas battle so only the strong survive”
Not all ideas are equal

“The fittest win out at the

expense of their rivals” “Let some ideas die”
Jeff Stewart
Charles Darwin
“Experts” won’t like your best Ideas

AT&T – “Why would you want to hear a voice?”

Ford – “But we want faster horses”
Microsoft, Apple – “But PCs are toys”
ATMs – “Why would anyone need that?”
Sony Walkman – “People want bigger not smaller”

Google – “Search is over, Yahoo won”

Experts did not like my ideas either
Square Earth – “But no one uses the Internet”
Result: Proxicom Merger, Inc500, Incorporation to IPO in 51 months, 2B Market
Cap.
Mimeo – “Who Prints over the Internet?”
Result: Inc500, 8,600 corporate customers, over 300+ of the Fortune 500 as
customers, loyal customers
Urgent Career – “Computational Linguistics, That's not how assessment has
worked for 50 years”
Result: Sales candidates that ramp faster and generate more revenue; venture
backing; loyal customers
Belgrave Trust – “Why would the affluent want to offset their footprint?”
Result: Recent Acclaim by CNBC, Treehugger, Inc. Magazine and American
Express
Chart your own course
Explore your passions
What are your passions?
• Startups
• Technology Transfer
• Software Development
• Financial Services Industry
• Energy
• Semiconductors
• Alternate Energy
• Zero-G Farming
• CleanTech
• GreenTech
• Carbon Trading
• Online Media
• Media
• Digital Printing
• Thin Film Solar
• Online Advertising
• Web 2.0
• Sustainability
• APIs and Development tools
• Technology Commercialization
• Innovative Financial Products
• Angel Investing
• Entrepreneurship
• AdTech
• Publishing
• International Business
• Luxury Marketing
• Sales Technology
• Attracting Talent
• Human Resources
• Talent Acquisition Strategies
• Project Management
• SalesTech
• Computational Linguistics
• Business Process Outsourcing
• Offshoring
• Learning Management
Systems
• Online Education
• Corporate Training
• Carbon Offsets
• Governance
Temper you Ideas against your
capabilities
 Analysis, Research & Due Diligence
 Prototyping, Mockups & Pre-selling
 Planning & Budgeting
 Funding
 Recruiting
 Information Technology
 International Sourcing
 Marketing & Promotion
The Urgent Process™
“A more predictable process should result in
a more predictable outcome”
Evaluating Your Ideas

1. Are you passionate about it?

2. Will it change the world?
3. Are there huge margins?
4. Is it a billion dollar idea?
5. What’s the market …or potential market?
6. Can you field the right team?
7. What is your competitive advantage?
Curating Your Ideas

 Talk to lots of people, especially customers

 Read everything
 Use multiple mediums (conferences, video, etc.)
 Explore!
 Constantly iterate
 Investors can be helpful, or not
 Look for negative and positive feedback
Serial vs. Parallel Entrepreneurship

 Sometime an idea requires 110% focus

 Sometimes the best ideas are in the space
between ideas
 Is serial possible? Depends on the team
Case Studies: Ideas & Vision
 Zip Car
 Modem based copy shop
 Yahoo hardcopy
 Catalogue e-commerce
 Short your own home equity
 Satellites for hedge funds
 A better way to screen sales people
 Using the social graph for prediction
Contact & Suggested Reading
Jeff Stewart
CEO – Urgent Career
Phone: 646-237-3401
Blog: UrgentSpeed.com

> Innovation Tournaments – by Karl Ulrich

> The Triumph of the Nerds: The Rise of Accidental Empires – 1996
video
> Intellectual Capital: The New Wealth of Organizations – By Thomas
A. Stewart