To be or not to be: On the Cutting Edge An entrepreneurs insight

I’m labeled in the industry as a visionary. However, that contradicts what I do everyday: execute. To my co-workers and peers, I’m all about results and making ideas happen. To my partners, founders and c-levels, I’m about vision and the “edge.”

What is this “edge?” The edge for me is where the marketplace is shifting too tomorrow, but trickling in revenue today. However, if you are positioned on that edge, you are known in the industry as a forward thinker and you’ll see some decent revenues (if you are good at running a business) at a point in time down the road.

Do you want to position your company on the cutting edge? Let me challenge you: you have 3 choices: the follower/current/existing marketplace, the cutting edge, and “far out.” To me, being “far out” is extremely valuable, since you are forecasting marketplaces that do not exist, or are so premature, no one is taking the seriously. When starting up entrepreneurial endeavors, a strategy of mine is to take us “far out,” and then bring us back in steps to the edge, but subsequently following steps to a ladder that will bring us “far out.” Does that make sense?

If you’ve got a cutting edge idea, it’s great for tomorrow, but the day after tomorrow, where will it be? Think far out – challenge yourself. Think of that Purple Cow as Seth Godin says (although I do not like his latest book, Free Prize Inside!)…your ideas should be remarkable. If you’re on that cutting edge, the marketplace is too close and you’ll have more fast followers than you know what to do with.

The point of this was to show that if you’re “far out,” you’ve positioned your company/idea for the long run. You can then setup product lines, extensions, etc, that bring you back to the current market place that will allow people to adopt your product in small doses.

Get out there and strategerize (yes, it’s my word)….stop thinking and execute, pas the cutting edge.