The evolution of a startup (and an entrepreneur)

The evolution of a startup (and an entrepreneur)

Rahsaan King is an amazing strategic thinker. He started his first company in high school and has been growing and refining the business model ever since; all while finishing high school and going on to Harvard to pursue degrees in Philosophy and Computer Science. I...

The one thing you can do to survive an economic downturn.

The one thing you can do to survive an economic downturn.

"Look for the bare necessities The simple bare necessities Forget about your worries and your strife I mean the bare necessities Are Mother Nature's recipes That bring the bare necessities of life" Lyrics from The Jungle Book song, The Bare Necessities. Composed by...

Maximizing Your Ability to Create Value (and Land a Job)

Maximizing Your Ability to Create Value (and Land a Job)

Cyndie Meersman is the founder of a unique student organization at Texas A&M University called The Business of the Arts (BA), an organization that she hopes one day will become known for developing artists' entrepreneurial skills. Cyndie confesses she didn't...

Turning An Eroding Factor into a Distinctive Competency

Turning An Eroding Factor into a Distinctive Competency

I met Class2Class Co-Founder Matthew Hightower when he came into to my office at Texas A&M a few years back seeking input on his first startup idea. He was a student at the time and I was gearing up to take a group of Aggies to Africa. Matthew joined the group and...

What does it mean to be a company?

What does it mean to be a company?

I'm guessing most people never really take much time to think about what "company" means, but it's been on my mind recently as I've been talking to people more and more about the V-REEL™ Framework. As you may have noticed by reading my articles, I often take...

When Value and Rareness are Not Enough

When Value and Rareness are Not Enough

One of the things I focus on with the V-REEL™ Framework is Rareness. That R in V-REEL™ is essential if one hopes to gain any level of competitive advantage in the marketplace. But even when you have a product or service that is both valuable and rare, you still have...

Finding Focus and Clarity with V-REEL™

Finding Focus and Clarity with V-REEL™

I've had a lot of opportunity in the last two years to talk to people about how they are applying the V-REEL™ Framework for strategy development. Few have taken it as far as the men of Fidelis, a full-service creative agency that specializes in message and strategy. I...

That Magic Moment

That Magic Moment

The moment finally arrived. Two years? Five years? Eighteen years? Twenty-eight years? I'm not sure how to count the time between when Think Beyond Value: Building Strategy to Win began to form and the moment last night, Friday March 30, 2018 at about 9:15 PM when I...