I occasionally listen to Stanford University's Entrepreneurial Thought podcast when I am driving long distances. For some women, their secret shame is buying the latest copy of Vogue or TV Quick (or the Dobies catalogue...actually, that is my other secret shame) and flicking through with a nice cup of tea before anyone else in the household is awake.
Well my secret shame (apart from the Dobies thing) is listening to and reading stuff about business. This is stuff most people find boring but which I find stimulating in ways I can't really describe. Just as one might look through the latest trends in Vogue knowing full well they cannot afford the clothes, I listen to pocasts like Entrepreneurial Thought and read the Case Studies in Harvard Business Review knowing full well they are not really relevant to me with my little business.
However, I always pick up a few gems and this morning was no different. The speaker was the founder of LinkedIn, Reid Hoffman. He is not a great speaker in that he doesn't have much stage presence and seems to find speaking to an audience rather challenging. However, every word he spoke made perfect sense. Listen yourself to hear everything he had to say.
But the part that has stayed with me today is his challenge that a good business is more than a good idea. Simple and obvious perhaps. But he argues that the best businesses set out to solve a simple problem where there is a clear need. They do not set out to solve difficult problems. When we set out to solve difficult problems it is usually because we want to test ourselves and our mental capacities and demonstrate that we can do something clever. In fact, this is a poor motivation for starting a business.
Instead, solve a simple problem, in a simple way if possible. Clearly the solution may not actually be simple and a great deal of technical knowledge and skill may go in to solving the problem but it appears simple to the user.
Hoffman provided me with a lot of food for thought today, questions I need to ask about my own businesses and the solutions we provide. However, that one seemed so neat, so simple if you like, that it may change the way I present what we do for companies. It isn't necessary to show off how clever you are if the solution meets a simple need, simply.