Better and Faster

I quite enjoyed reading Better and Faster: The Proven Path to Unstoppable Ideas by Jeremy Gutsche. This book, which was published in 2015, provided relevant examples of house hold companies and their unique growth challenges; Dyson, Red Bull, Engagement Rings, Hilton, Crayola, Zara and Ugly Doll. I found myself commenting to friends through out the stores “Did you know how Red Bull started” etc, it was fun to find out and learn along the way, and was never boring

This book will challenge the way you approach ideas, the stories of entrepreneurs who have made unlikely connections through their own experiences to come up with successful businesses was insight I have never been privy too.

Jeremy provides the steps below and the book is presented to discuss each topic in detail

Fiverr.com was introduced to me in this book, which after reading their story and checking out their site, I plan to take full advantage of. They are a freelance online marketplace where people offer a wide range of services starting at $5. The examples referenced were website design, one off or temp projects. If you have not heard of them, check out their site to see if their services can be of any benefit to you.

Below are some of my notes from the book, page numbers are referenced to the left.

• p4 – The only thing more powerful than an idea is the culture that nourishes it – or that prevents it from taking root.
• p23 – Sometimes you have to unlearn what you think is great, then you can open yourself up to what your customer is really thinking.
• p23 – To wing long term you need to be structured to adapt.
• p35 – Success is a lousy teacher, it seduces smart people into thinking they cant loose and its an unreliable guide to the future.
• p43 – To innovate, you need to break free from any past success.
• p127 – In Greek ‘nostalgia’ literally means ‘the pain from an old wound’.
• p134 – ‘Potje Pissen’ – Piss off (Dutch)
• p135 – You can fight an unstoppable force, but you can channel momentum to your advantage.
• p177 – There’s nothing that prevents companies from successfully innovating more than the very rules that they put in place to protect the status quo.
• p223 – The success of the subscriptions model is rooted in our tendency to make financial decisions cautiously. We will say yes to the first month, and we will delay saying no because we have already made our past decision.

If you have the chance, check out his Speakers Bureau summary on YouTube, I hope you find value in this.