The Transformation Issue | Idealog.co.nz
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CROSS: Understanding the enormous difference
between relatively small and simple markets like New
Zealand, where everything is very easy to understand and
there aren’t lots of layers, and the large, sophisticated and
highly differentiated markets in the US, Europe and Asia.
The US is not a market. Northern California and Southern
California are completely different, the market ecosystems
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how we
expanded
our
and distribution channels are highly complex and
variable, and it takes time to figure this out. The key
is focus, focus and focus.
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The more tightly defined you are in terms of target
customers and markets, the more successful you will be.
Trying to be all things to all people on the international
stage leads to failure. The other key message is you actually
have to be there, which means moving or spending a lot of
your life at 35,000 feet – and I mean a lot.
"oķb|Ľvfv|-1-v;o=];মm]om-rѴ-m;-m70;bm]
|_;u;bmr;uvomĵ
It really comes down to doing the hard yards, being
prepared to re-learn everything you know, failing fast,
and staying focused, setting your milestones and the
assumptions they are based on, and then proving them
right or wrong as quickly as possible. Adapting on the fly
and in real-time is critical, as time is money and ultimately,
it’s the scarcity of both that beats us if we are not smart.
It’s pretty simple really: you just need to be there. That’s the
price of admission. Then it comes down to your ability to
network, learn and adapt.
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I don’t think New Zealand as a country has a particular
approach per se. I don’t buy into the number eight wire
mentality. At the end of the day, it comes down to your
ability to create a vision, build a team and a strategy and
then execute really, really well within a timeframe that is
relevant to the market opportunity.
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Learn to get over my mistakes faster. Accept that they are
part-and-parcel of the entrepreneur’s journey, and in fact,
they are critical to being really good at what you do.
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ouv11;vvķ_-|oѴ7b|0;ĵ
Don’t be afraid to dream big, but understand it takes
a huge amount of hard work and a lot longer than you
might expect to turn that into reality. Nothing of any
real significance is achieved in less than a decade. ■