So What? Who Cares? Why You?

Celebrating Entrepreneurial Success!

Since I live outside the town of Almonte, I couldn't resist sharing this local entrepreneurial success story.  Leonard Lee, well known entrepreneur and founder of Lee Valley Tools (gardening and woodworking tools) is doing it again with his company, Canica Designs.  His woodworking competency and knack for listening to customers has landed him smack dab into a market that's about to ignite.  Woodworking tools transformed into medical scalpels.  And US legislation requiring the use of better scalpels is just the ticket to ignition. 

Some might say this is luck, and yes, I'd say some luck helps, but don't underestimate listening to customers and matching this to trends.  Being ready to capitalize on a market opportunity (in this case, the market is being born out of regulatory requirements) means you've got to be product ready when the event hits.  That also means you've got to be proactive in piecing together the landscape trends before they occur.  If you wait until the trends are obvious, someone else will beat you or worse, you'll miss the market.

So hats off to Leonard - another Canadian success story in the making!

Leonard's company was also featured on the national news last night.  Click here to read the article and view the video.

Are Markets Born or Created?

There's a great article on VentureBlog about the reality of markets and the success factors for startups (check out Martin Tobias, June 23, 2004 posting).  Even though it's from last summer, it's worth a read by all startups and entrepreneurs.  Here's a quote I particularly like:

           ...."there is not much a VC or a startup can do about market risk.  Startups don't make markets.  They (hopefully) participate. 

The key word here being "participate".  This is an important fact to keep in mind. We don't control the markets we play in; they are shaped by business dynamics (which we can sometimes influence).  Often we project to investors, board members, the press, and others the story of a market that we are "creating" and that no one else is playing in yet. How true is this?  And how credible?  Is it not better to present how the market forces are converging towards an opportunity that you plan to capitalize on? 

Maybe I like this article because it's so focused on reality - like the value of customer driven market sizing vs. large 3rd party bulky forecasts.  Have a read and see for yourself. I'd love to have you post your comments.  VentureBlog