A potential vulnerability for entrepreneurs is to get so bogged down in running the business that they forget to look around and see what is happening with their market. Yesterday, I heard Burt Hamner, CEO of clean tech startup HydroVolts speak. Burt talked about the importance of "prairie-dogging." He was reminding his entrepreneur audience about not spending all their time underground and failing to pop their heads up out of the hole every once in a while to see what it's like outside.
You undoubtedly get a sense when business isn't flowing in quite the same way it did some months back. Maybe that's good. Maybe not. Either way, it is valuable to understand what is changing. Are there new competitors? Is there a potential new application for what you offer? Are market conditions shifting, and if so, what is causing that change?
Even if you are extremely busy, make some time to do some prairie-dogging! Attend business community and/or industry meetings. Get out and network. Read relevant articles, blogs and tweets. Consider it an investment of your time that can bring healthy returns.
Thanks for the plug for Cleantech Open. You know first-hand how much it can help kick-start a clean tech business.
Posted by: Mary Sullivan | March 02, 2010 at 11:53 AM
There are also many organizations that can help you get a better look around. Any cleantech entrepreneur right now is near-blind if they fail to take advantage of the Cleantech Open.
http://www.cleantechopen.com
Posted by: Chris Leyerle | February 25, 2010 at 07:08 PM