5 Startup Lessons I Learned from a Farmer

Thursday 15 April 2010 - Filed under Uncategorized

Several weeks ago I spend a few days on Nakagomi Orchard (facebook page) WWOOFing. The idea was to get away from city life and spend time away from technology by volunteering on a farm in exchange for food and board. I never expected to see entrepreneurial spirit in full force. Our host, Nakagomi Kazumasa was not your typical farmer. Armed with a masters degree in literature from an American university, he was well-read and passionate about farming. Farming in Japan is a declining industry even as the country is fully dependent on imports (Japan’s self-sufficiency is around 40%) and real income for farmers is around half of what it used to be in the immediate post war era (hence why his parents could afford to send him to the states for college despite the wider economic gap with the United States at the time). When you combine this with Japan’s aging population and the ongoing migration of young people to the city for jobs and other opportunities the picture is quite bleak. In fact, many farmers in the area are going out of business due to financial difficulties, the lack of a heir or a combination of both. The fact that Nakagomi Orchard can weather this storm in a declining industry shows that they are doing something quite right. Here’s a short list of things that I saw at the farm that any startup should take heed.

Be passionate

Within 10 minutes of arriving on the farm I was whisked away to the orchard, dressed in overalls with tools in hand. After a small break and introduction I was weeding around a variety of trees. Kazu told us that weeding is an important part of farming because the weeds suffocate the roots and steal nutrients that should go to the trees. You have to get the root of the weeds otherwise it would grow back stronger but not damage the roots. Lazy farmers with badly tended orchards suffered lower yields and low quality crops.

Kazu was very friendly but laser-focused on farming. He never told anyone to work harder or faster but his passion was contagious and it kept an assortment of volunteers focused on work. While weeding he would go into details about the process of farming and the work involved as the season progressed.

It wasn’t just him either, everyone in the family was passionate about the family business, something I’ll go into more depth.

Everyone is an entrepreneur

Another striking feature of the orchard was how everyone in the family was essentially an entrepreneur. The family spanned several generations from grandmother, sons and wife, and grandchild. Everyone had their own role. Grandmother tended to the house, making lunch or readying snacks for the tea breaks that punctuated farm work. The daughter-in-law cooked dinner for the volunteers. Kazu oversaw work on the farm and the nephew helped out.

However, at a moment’s notice the daughter-in-law would be driving a van to the orchard busing volunteers and giving them directions. You could ask any member of the family what tomorrow’s weather forecast was and they would tell you including the highs and lows. At one point a shipping company visited us during lunch break and it turned into an impromptu business meeting where they compared shipping costs with the competitor and discussed the pros and cons in detail. It was amazing how quickly family members would switch between roles and adjust to the environment. They were very sensitive to the business and political climate in addition to the weather. Grandma read the newspaper daily and the daughter-in-law always watched the news. Everyone had a stake in keeping the orchard running and it showed.

Innovate, innovate, innovate

One thing that came up over and over again during our stay is how the orchard continued to innovate. Nakagomi Orchard pioneered a variety of new farming techniques in the area that significantly increased yield (Kazu’s brother is head of agricultural research at one of the prefecture’s labs). Not only that, the orchard constantly innovated by opening up direct sales channels and experiment with a variety of marketing strategies. They were always searching for newer and better ways to increase their yield or sales (either increasing profit margins or cutting costs). It was crucial to their survival because other orchards in the area would quickly copy any innovative technique they saw as successful. Even nature kept them on their toes, a technique that worked on keeping birds away one season rarely worked after a couple months. This lead Kazu to seek a competitive advantage that other orchards in the area couldn’t easily replicate.

Marketing

One thing Kazu was quick to incorporate was internet technology. Whether it be social media, SEO, blogging or international volunteers (via WWOOF), Kazu put his English skills to good work to take advantage of this. While the Orchard’s website might not win any design awards, it places highly in search engines for a variety of terms that ensure a constant flow of customers and volunteers. Neighboring farms might imitate any old school marketing technique but none of them can match Kazu’s web savy. Through a combination of these skills he was able to sell his orchard’s products directly (better margins than going through the local agricultural association), have a steady flow of volunteers to help with the labor shortage, and ensure that his orchard got a steady flow of attention.

Stay open

How does Kazu keep up with all this? For one he is always open to suggestions. Many volunteers who come and go give him suggestions and information regarding social media. In fact, the facebook page was something I suggested with the other volunteers that were there. He simply said, “thanks for the suggestion, lets do it”.

While, getting away from the city and the internet in general was refreshing, seeing a real entrepreneur in action was probably the best thing about the trip (not to mention a breath-taking view of Mt. Fuji). When you’re knee deep in tech blogs it’s easy to forget that there is a whole wealth of knowledge that startups can learn from by stepping outside and talking with people doing their thing in traditional industry. You never know what you might learn.

2 comments  ::  Share or discuss  ::  2010-04-15  ::  baron

Evidence that Apple’s New Tablet Will Be Called iSlate

Wednesday 20 January 2010 - Filed under Uncategorized

Although it’s not much to go by, if you look at the registrars for the possible names “iTablet” and “iSlate” only iSlate uses the same registrar as the other Apple .  I guess we’ll find out next week.  Markmonitor’s header reads “Brand Protection, Domain Management, Anti Fraud Solutions”.   Sounds like something Apple would be interested in.

Domain Name: APPLE.COM
Registrar: MARKMONITOR INC.
Whois Server: whois.markmonitor.com
Referral URL: http://www.markmonitor.com
Name Server: NSERVER.APPLE.COM
Name Server: NSERVER.ASIA.APPLE.COM
Name Server: NSERVER.EURO.APPLE.COM
Name Server: NSERVER2.APPLE.COM
Name Server: NSERVER3.APPLE.COM
Name Server: NSERVER4.APPLE.COM
Status: clientDeleteProhibited
Status: clientTransferProhibited
Status: clientUpdateProhibited
Updated Date: 21-jan-2009
Creation Date: 19-feb-1987
Expiration Date: 20-feb-2011

Domain Name: ISLATE.COM
Registrar: MARKMONITOR INC.
Whois Server: whois.markmonitor.com
Referral URL: http://www.markmonitor.com
Name Server: NS1.MARKMONITOR.COM
Name Server: NS2.MARKMONITOR.COM
Name Server: NS3.MARKMONITOR.COM
Name Server: NS4.MARKMONITOR.COM
Name Server: NS5.MARKMONITOR.COM
Name Server: NS6.MARKMONITOR.COM
Name Server: NS7.MARKMONITOR.COM
Status: clientDeleteProhibited
Status: clientTransferProhibited
Status: clientUpdateProhibited
Updated Date: 26-oct-2009
Creation Date: 30-oct-2004
Expiration Date: 30-oct-2011

Domain Name: IPHONE.COM
Registrar: MARKMONITOR INC.
Whois Server: whois.markmonitor.com
Referral URL: http://www.markmonitor.com
Name Server: NSERVER.APPLE.COM
Name Server: NSERVER2.APPLE.COM
Name Server: NSERVER3.APPLE.COM
Name Server: NSERVER4.APPLE.COM
Status: clientDeleteProhibited
Status: clientTransferProhibited
Status: clientUpdateProhibited
Updated Date: 21-jan-2009
Creation Date: 24-aug-1995
Expiration Date: 23-aug-2010

Domain Name: ITABLET.COM
Registrar: DOTREGISTRAR, LLC.
Whois Server: whois.dotregistrar.com
Referral URL: http://www.dotregistrar.com
Name Server: DNS.ITABLET.COM
Name Server: WWW.ITABLET.COM
Status: clientDeleteProhibited
Status: clientTransferProhibited
Status: clientUpdateProhibited
Updated Date: 11-apr-2008
Creation Date: 08-oct-2001
Expiration Date: 08-oct-2011

Domain Name: IPAD.COM
Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, LLC.
Whois Server: whois.networksolutions.com
Referral URL: http://www.networksolutions.com
Name Server: A.NS.INTERLAND.NET
Name Server: B.NS.INTERLAND.NET
Name Server: C.NS.INTERLAND.NET
Status: clientTransferProhibited
Updated Date: 22-apr-2009
Creation Date: 21-apr-1997
Expiration Date: 22-apr-2019

1 comment  ::  Share or discuss  ::  2010-01-20  ::  baron

Tablets and Slates

Friday 8 January 2010 - Filed under technology

Seems like this year is going to be the year we find out whether print media is about to taken by a revolution as big as the rise of digital music players was for music. Although print may be an industry in decline, we are confronted with more reading than ever before. The only difference is that we have to swim through a flood of scattered and diluted information yet somehow synthesize it throughout the day. I know so many people who don’t follow the news much less read a newspaper or weekly. I’ve found myself vacillating between print and internet news, although I’m becoming more and more convinced of the solid value offered by print (I read the newspaper and a weekly these days).

I’m a bit puzzled by this recent surge in interest by companies rushing to enter the market with some kind of tablet or slate. Some are dedicated readers like Amazon’s Kindle that are designed exclusively for a reading experience (black and white, easy on the eyes, and low power consumption) while the ones arriving this year will lean towards more of a communication device tailored for reading and other uses (like Apple’s rumored tablet).

It’s an interesting phenomenon that seems to be hitting all the right spots whether it’s the nostalgia for a time when people curled up with a good book along with the realization that a phone screen is just too damn small to do any kind of extended reading or viewing. We don’t want to lug around a laptop and we don’t want to be burdened with a key board when it’s not needed. Until you actually use one in real life, these devices look so full of promise because they seem to fit every conceivable situation where a laptop is overkill and a smart phone is limited.

Although I can see a lot of great uses for a connected tablet-like device with music, movies, games, email and the internet (even better with TV and radio reception), and a variety of text content (whether it’s stuff you fetch from Project Gutenberg, digital subscriptions or downloadable books), I can also see myself getting quickly bored with it. A smart phone is something that I can have on me at all times without feeling a burden but a tablet feels like more trouble than it’s worth.

I have a Dell Mini 9 that’s under 1 kg and it’s no more than having a hardcover John Grisham book in your bag, certainly feels lighter than the average college textbook. While it’s been great for the times that I really need a computer on the go (like travel or getting something done on the road), those occasions are actually rare. Most of the time I can get by with my iPhone and pick up from there when I get home. Also, the bulk of information devices feel useless without a ubiquitous connection. The iPhone was about as helpful as a Palm PDA once I stepped out of Japan with it.

The table device definitely has potential but like the iPhone, we’ll have to see new models of interaction and presentation before it becomes a truly must have item that’s part of our culture. Right now it’s hard for me to visualize it.

1 comment  ::  Share or discuss  ::  2010-01-08  ::  baron

You Say the Android is an iPhone Killer

Thursday 7 January 2010 - Filed under iphone

Yeah, a variety of android phones have already sold millions. I also heard that Google has a new android phone too. Motorola and Sony are betting on android for their flagging cell phone fortunes too. It’s not going to kill the iPhone though. Or maybe I should say it’s not enough to kill the iPhone. Sure, consumers are going to be faced with a staggering array of choices and competition will be fierce. If you want to look at it as a zero sum game, China is the big winner because that’s where all these phones are manufactured. However, that’s not going to be how it plays out.

I’ve had some hands on experience with android phones and I think they are pretty cool. Certainly a much more enticing offering than a Windows Mobile cell phone. I’d rather use a Nokia from the 90s if that was my only choice. The android is open source and cutting edge (have you used the Google Goggles app?). Less restrictions. Even though it’s from google, the domination of the iPhone gives it that underdog appeal. In the end, there are people who are going to prefer the android over the iPhone just as a matter of preference. There are probably lots of iPhone owners using them despite hating Apple just because it’s the most compelling product out there.

Still, the iPhone has many distinct advantages even with Apple trying to exert an inordinate amount of control on what’s allowed on the platform to their own detriment. Let’s look at some of the advantages starting with the weaker ones.

App Selection

This is probably a short-lived advantage. Sure, Apple might have ten times as much apps than any given android phone but half of those apps are Twitter clients and 90% are junk apps created from source code copied from Apple tutorials. The number of apps is something that will change dramatically when a platform takes off. It also doesn’t take into account the freshness of apps. If updates and new apps aren’t coming as quick as they used to, consumers will feel it sooner than the numbers.

App Quality

This to me is the biggest advantage I see right now. Apple developers are keener to design and user interaction as a rule, especially the veterans with experience developing for the mac platform. Phones might rival PCs of a decade ago but the limited resources and interface quirks make it that much more important that developers can turn weaknesses into strength. I think Apple will continue to maintain a competitive advantage in this arena even as android continues to improve.

Economies of Scale

Apple has decades of experience building the whole package from software to hardware. It’s the reason why they almost went out of business. However, it’s hard to beat a company focused on quality with complete control from screws to pixels under the leadership of Jobs and Ive. While android may have an army of open source programmers, Apple has a wider variety of software spread out over diverse areas of expertise. Not only that, they have formidable retailing might with both stores and e-commerce.

Just looking at the OS, the foundation powering the iPhone is the same one powering macs and will be the same one powering the rumored iTablet. It’s such a rich playground for experimenting with interaction that one platform can’t fulfill. However, whether it be macs, tablets or phones, Apple can pick and choose what architecture to deploy on and that makes a world of difference.

All the handset makers may benefit from the common platform of the Android OS but they still make hardware separately.

Android

The strength of android is strength for Apple whether it’s the raw competition or interface inspiration. Even macs borrow good ideas previously spotted in the Microsoft Windows world. Android phones will continue to get better and keep Apple on its toes.

In short, it’s full of win for everyone as long as you pick the right 2 year contract for you!

2 comments  ::  Share or discuss  ::  2010-01-07  ::  baron

Taking an Inventory

Wednesday 6 January 2010 - Filed under thinking

I think I’m at a point where I just want to lay back and sort things out. When you look for answers you only get more questions. The key is to find the right questions. I don’t really care if everything I do is wrong in 2010. I’m just going to set some goals for consistency and nothing more. No final results or performance objectives, just focus on one thing, keep going and try ever so little to make that one little moment better than the last even if it isn’t just as long as I’m doing my best or most.

 ::  Share or discuss  ::  2010-01-06  ::  baron

The Power to Dream

Tuesday 5 January 2010 - Filed under blog + web

Sometimes you underestimate the power of little things. Case in point, the power to dream. As people get more and more experience, imagination starts to take a back seat and you start thinking in terms of what might be possible.

It just struck me at a small gathering. We were planning an event and a group of us were talking about realistic approaches, what kind of strategies would work, what we need to do it. On paper, the obstacles are quite formidable. However, one person had the “vision” or the “dream” and somehow every time he said something there was so much conviction in his vision and hope in his eyes that nothing we could say would diminish it.

So we walked away with a little bit of that hope and started thinking of ways to do it anyway. It’s really amazing how we sometimes hold ourselves back for the stupidest reasons and draw conclusions when we get the greatest reality check for free: reality. Makes you wonder what the point of limiting yourself is when you can just deal with reality and keep adjusting your plans until reality eventually comes around.

3 comments  ::  Share or discuss  ::  2010-01-05  ::  baron

2010

Monday 4 January 2010 - Filed under blog

Like all bloggers, every new year brings on a fresh bout of “I shall blog more” syndrome where we trick ourselves into thinking that with the new year we will some how magically be transformed into diligent bloggers that are eager to share our witty insights and soaring intellect with the world at large. We bow and scrape, write out our apologies for neglecting our loyal readers awaiting the next exciting installment with bated breath.

It all starts magnificently. We rediscover the joys of blogging again and may even get back into a regular schedule of posting. Then the well runs dry. We stray to twitter or facebook and look on as other bloggers crank out content. The rich bloggers hire other fresh bloggers while the rest fade away and before you know it it’s another year, saying “maybe this time it’ll be different”.

 ::  Share or discuss  ::  2010-01-04  ::  baron

Twilight

Monday 28 September 2009 - Filed under entertainment

In any literature class they teach you the importance of establishing conflict. Conflict is what drives a plot and makes it interesting. The problem is that in the 21st century it’s hard to define conflict. Morality is a lot more loose and hard to define. Even in super-hero movies, the line between good and bad is often blurred. Who would watch the Dark Knight if the Joker and Batman worked things out by talking? You’d have to be very good with the dialogue.

That’s why these vampire romances sort of add a nice dimension of conflict. You’re madly in love with someone you really want to eat and literally suck dry. Although I had my doubts about jumping on the band wagon watching Twilight but after the opening scene of the daughter moving away to a new town complete with sad 1960s rock music, I knew it would be good, though not in a conventional way.

In a word, the movie wins massively with casting to prop up a cliched and vacuous plot. You have to suspend your belief significantly when you see the Cullens (a vampire family) introduced in the movie, pale white goth-looking teens who look like vampires from a mile away keeping to themselves in a small town and nowhere to be seen when there’s sunlight. Of course Bella, the new girl, takes no time in figuring out that Edward and his family are vampires (though the entire town is oblivious for years).

What drives the movie is Bella’s romance with Edward because both the actors do such a great job at portraying an uneasy teenage love affair that you’re willing to forget the flimsy plot and sappy vows of eternal love.

Having said that, a lot of these vampire romances just leaves your head scratching. This is somehting that Twilight has in common with Vampire Diaries. Just to name a few:

• Your boyfriend is pale white and brooding with strange colored eyes
• He has zero social skills and is only interested in you
• Said boyfriend may sometimes be hovering over you at night watching you sleep
• Shows up at your house or in front of you at the oddest of moments
• Not to mention he would really like to eat you
• Prone to mood swings and other inexplicable behavior because they need to do or avoid “vampire type stuff”
• Just the general notion that these are men who are a couple hundred years old preying on teenage girls

Any artistic achievement of this genre probably began and ended with the original Dracula, but the themes introduced will always be universal and it seems to combine well with teenage angst.

 ::  Share or discuss  ::  2009-09-28  ::  baron

Where Do Old Goals Go to Die?

Tuesday 18 August 2009 - Filed under Uncategorized

Perhaps the most important thing you can do when you set a goal is to decide what happens after you achieve them or fail in your pursuit. This past three months has been a hectic one in many respects. One of the many things on my agenda was to lose weight. I’m not overweight by any means. In fact, by BMI (Body Mass Index) I need to gain weight but of course these fancy weight scales tell you how much body fat you have and I was something like 15%. Over the course of roughly three months I continued to modify and experiment with my diet. I started with portion control and settled on eating meat for breakfast to jump start my day and make sure my body didn’t think it was starving despite not having as much food as before.

This was all followed by regular and intense exercise. For the final leg of the program I was hitting the gym everyday for 9 days straight and met all my targets. Body fat on last measure is 10% and I look like Kate Moss in her hey day. Whether that’s good or bad is another story but it was intense.

Any serious undertaking is more or less a battle fought within. Get on that machine, you order yourself. Hell no, you want to die? Then there’s a soothing devil there to caress you once manage to trick yourself into self-punishment. Hey, you more than deserve that bag of chips, isn’t the whole purpose of exercise to not have to watch what you eat? Of course, the voice of reason knows that the most strenuous of cardiovascular exercise sessions can’t possibly amount to a bag of chips. Sad but true.

We can all give our best every now and then but the real challenge is to be consistent. The challenge of consistency is the need to micro-manage yourself, to be the drill sergeant from hell there to yell into your ear a tirade of sweet obscenities until you finally decide that getting the bastard of your back is infinitely more comforting than avoiding the task at hand.

The biggest danger of these arbitrary goals is achieving them. What do you do when you achieve a goal? Or even when you are forced to give up? The smart thing is to have another greater goal on the horizon, to keep setting milestones and revising your grand design on a constant basis to align with your progress. However, the more intense the effort the more harder it will be to reign in the “celebration” phase when you let everything go to hell in a hand basket. It’s especially true with physical fitness because the benefits fade away much quicker than they come.

I guess there’s a reason why obsessive-compulsive types with just the right amount of talent go on to achieve great things because they’re never satisfied even when they hit their limits, they persevere and keep pushing. I turned to a variety of people for inspiration but I’m definitely not them. Time to look for new goals and revisit my long-term strategy.

 ::  Share or discuss  ::  2009-08-18  ::  baron

The Pursuit of Fitness

Sunday 26 July 2009 - Filed under Uncategorized

Been exercising more and more, losing motivation and the whole nine. Still managing to keep the weight at a so-so level but not feeling that extra bump to go the whole nine yards. Now I’m about to enter the last 3 weeks of my program far from my way too ambitious goals. I want to drop a couple more kilos and not feel any meet hanging over my waist when I sit straight. Some things I need to stop if I’m going to take this to the next level.

• Alcohol all together
• Binging occasionally
• More exercise during weekdays
• Watch what I eat

There’s an evident pathology in the way I pursue my fitness goals. I’m always on a roller coaster ride either going generally up or generally down. The main problem is that I’m pretty much content with my current stats, feel a lot better and in generally better shape than I’ve been all year. The thing with really getting in shape is that you can never be satisfied with yourself. You need to be constantly pushing yourself until you put on more muscle or lose more fat. What’s more you can’t reward yourself for your efforts with more food. It gives me a whole new level of respect for these muscular pretty boy models. They must have a whole lot of will power to maintain something like that.

I’m going to have to get drastic starting this week and might have to take some extreme measures. I know I can’t starve myself to shed weight (because I just lose muscle and binge later) but I can’t eat the typical fare either. We’ll have to see.

1 comment  ::  Share or discuss  ::  2009-07-26  ::  baron