August 2008

This is part three of a series entitled “Everything an Inventor Needs to Know Can Be Learned Through a Urinal.” To go back to part one, click here. Otherwise, continue ahead and enjoy!

Notice the organization chart of Falcon Waterfree Technologies. Below is an excerpt for you:

What do you notice? Ditmar Gorges is not at the top. He’s not number two either. This is the sign of a savvy innovator. All too often, innovators fall in love with their innovation to such an extent that they cannot share the power and authority of leadership. They can resist investors to the point of losing opportunities just because they are trying to protect a position of power. Typically, this is just a symptom of other problems that will also surface down the line, and it is no surprise that some people estimate that more than half of all inventors are out of the company by the time it moves from the seed round of funding to the “D” round. Many don’t make it more than a year after the “A” round.

So how do you balance your driving desire to lead the new company, your need for capital, and your need for help from others? Here are three tips to help you navigate that delicate subject:

1. Don’t Empower Your Emotions With Supernatural Ability To Control The Clock

The first step is to truly internalize that the execution required to turn your vision into a reality requires skills, perspectives and ways of thinking that are outside of your own. My experience is that 99% of innovators/entrepreneurs will agree intellectually with this statement and say, “Of course that’s true, and I am more than willing to take that step at the right time.” But their emotions define the phrase ‘right time’, so when they are confronted with the need to adjust the organizational structure, they interpret the internal knot in their stomach to mean this is not the right time. I have watched companies fail or languish because they placed too much priority on preserving a power structure that no longer matches their needs, potential team members and opportunities.

The reality is that those emotions will almost always be there, and they are not there to inhibit growth. Just as parents feel a flood of emotions when their child gets married, and some of those emotions long for an earlier more simple time, you will always have that knot in your stomach. It is natural. Let it be what it is, but do not let it become what it is not - a clock. The emotions cannot determine time - right time or wrong time. They are emotions that stand the test of time.

2. Take Ditmar’s Advice on Selecting Investors

In the podcast, Ditmar applauds Marc Nathanson and when I ask what advice he would give to other innovators, he quickly emphasizes the importance of choosing investors who will not just write a check, but who will invest their heart and soul in the company too. This is really a tricky standard. My experience is that most entrepreneurs who need money are practically hormonally driven at a primal level that rivals adolescence when it comes to getting money. If an investor will flash their checkbook and whisper sweet nothings in your ear, the deal is going to get closed one way or the other. However, Ditmar took time to be more selective and reach for the brass ring, a world-class investor who was willing to commit to a vision, not just a return on investment. Even if you don’t get someone from Marc Nathanson’s league to invest in your business, pick people with whom you can trade your power in exchange for a role that brings out the best in you and the company. Rarely is that at the top of the company. Michael Dell, Mark Cuban and Sir Richard Branson are the exceptions, not the rule.

3. Don’t Confuse Mother Theresa With A Mother Bear

When an innovator/entrepreneur is confronted with the need for an organizational structure change that involves them stepping into a new role, it is not uncommon for them to use comparisons that invoke images of parenthood. “Its my baby,” or “I started this with only a (fill in the blank) and I’m not going to let….” It sounds so noble and so parental, so nurturing and only serving the best interests of the company and its people. But it’s not Mother Theresa altruism at the helm of the company. It is mother bear territorial tear-your-head-off self-preservation roaring because it feels threatened. Granted, there are internal take-overs, hostilities that seem opportunistic and back room gamesmanship that comes straight out of the “Art of War”, and those circumstances may be best served by more war-like tactics. I am talking about reacting when there is no real threat, just a perceived threat due to growth and new vistas, new resources. This is a sign that you are not really in the parent role any longer, but more the grandparent role. You know what grandparents say, right? “I love it. I can have all the fun I want and give them back to their parents to do the hard stuff.” Be a grandparent, not a mother bear. (Notice bear to the right has a baby under her. That sort of protection only works for a while.)

Ditmar navigated the transition from inventor to inventor/leader in such a way that eight years after the fact he is still having a great time and very pleased with his investor selection. That speaks volumes for both Marc and Ditmar, and the team they assembled. Ditmar, in my opinion, had to demonstrate a form of leadership in this area that had nothing to do with technical aspects of his invention. Hats off to Ditmar and Marc for setting a great example.

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I suppose it only makes sense that if you are going to write a book on how to be a genius in five minutes or less, you should also write the book in a manner that fits the title. So when I picked up my copy at the bookstore, the impact began before I even had the cover opened, and then magnified when I started to read it.

Gary’s book, “How To Be A Creative Genius (in five minutes or less)” is a great catch-you-off-guard book. If you are a literal thinker ready to take step-by-step procedures from the book and execute your genius, forget it. It isn’t there. If you measure the value of a book by dividing the price you paid by the number of pages, prepare to be frustrated. The book isn’t expensive (I paid $14.95 at Barnes & Noble) but its is small and short. However, if you expect someone who claims they can teach you to be a genius to do something that signifies their own qualification to be the teacher, the book ‘experience’ will teach you as much as the words on the page.

The book is loaded with sarcasm. If you miss that early on, you’ll go way off into the weeds regarding what he is saying. If you get that part right, it is easy to follow. Gary distills some profound truths into short cogent stories or examples that really stick in the mind and confront the heart in a gentle yet direct way. The premise of Gary’s approach is that the genius is already inside you - he doesn’t put it there, he helps you awaken it yourself and connect to it. To do this, he must confront the assumptions, beliefs and habits and that suppress the genius within you. Like the best pediatrician who can perform a procedure without the child even knowing it, Gary’s approach causes you to confront those inhibitors through his whimsical fashion. By the time you realize what he is doing, he has already done it. It is truly a fun approach.

I read the book last week and it has been on my desk ever since. I find myself referring to certain vignettes and then remembering them when I’m far away from my desk doing things that have nothing to do with work.

One of my favorite qualities of the book is how Gary uses true stories of great geniuses to make the point his point, and how these points make the geniuses more human and real. I also really liked how it made me look in the mirror in a real way, not just once but pretty much every day since I read the book.

This is not just a book, it is an experience. If you are in a rut or a literal thinker, prepare to cock your head to the side like a confused puppy before the wisdom of what he has done hits you. That is part of the value of the book, not a sign that it’s the wrong book for you. The more you cock your head to the side, the more you need this book.

It’s a great read for entrepreneurs so I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to stoke up the creativity in a fun way.

Check out Gary Unger on LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/in/garyunger or http://www.garyunger.com

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This is Part Three of a series entitled “Everything an Inventor Needs to Know Can Be Learned Through a Urinal.” To go back to Part One, click here. Otherwise, continue ahead and enjoy!

I find some innovators like to throw the phrase ‘disruptive innovation’ around like it is a badge or trophy. Maybe they perceive it as a league in which only innovations of a certain significance can be accepted. If you are trying to decide whether to pursue a disruptive innovation or whether to claim yours is disruptive, take a few notes from Ditmar Gorges first.

Disruptive innovations turn an industry upside down, rewrite the rule book and can create instant obsolescence of existing competitors. This means you have more enemies than friends on any given day. Think of it as being born into a family where the parents can eat their young and most everyone has been around longer and are stronger than you. You are vulnerable. The more visible you are, the bigger the target you have on your chest.

Here are three tactics you can use to help you navigate those delicate times. Ditmar Gorges seems to have followed the playbook quite well.

1. Assess your threat and what sustains them. When you listen to the podcast (available in part one of this series), you hear Ditmar discuss how he realized that the resistance he experienced from certain groups was due to their perception that his invention threatened their job or their territory. While this can be a formidable threat, Ditmar recognized that when people became passionate about water and the environment, the egos of those protecting the status quo would not prevail. So he decided he could outlast them. And he did.

2. Keep retooling costs down. This is a corner stone strategy to winning the battle. If the solution you present requires extensive retooling, it will be difficult to separate the ego-driven naysayers from the pragmatists, because self-serving agendas can be easily disguised as prudence. If you have the economic argument in your favor, play that card over and over again. Ditmar’s solution negated the need for a water supply hookup to the urinal. The building codes mandated such a connection. He had the economic argument won. His invention saves 100% of the water cost associated with a urinal. How do you beat 100%? Even in the presence of other competitive alternatives that purport to save money, 100% is the best you can get. Each benefit added on top of that only compounds the value proposition and competitive strength.

If Ditmar’s solution required the installation of an alternative system that merely redirected the cost of water, I really doubt we would be profiling his success today. Too many people could have protected their turf by focusing on the needless expenditure of retooling a system that works perfectly fine just to accommodate his system. Ditmar was disruptive enough that he did not need the existing system, nor did he need to add a new costly system where water is concerned. Now there are government agencies literally paying building owners to disconnect from the water-dependent old system and install a Falcon urinal. If you are going to be disruptive, make sure you are disruptive enough to take the retooling cost issue off the table. Ditmar’s ability to say, “I don’t need your water supply and I can save you 100% of your water costs,” became a weapon against the protectors of the status quo.

3. Get others to carry your message. Entrepreneurs battle isolation and a sense of not being heard. Ditmar was the instigator, inventor and initial leader, but he did not get where he is today alone. Others had to carry the message where he could not go or where he would not be heard. In order for others to carry your message it needs to be simple, easy to remember and difficult to refute. Just look at the Falcon Waterfree Technologies Advisory Board and executive leadership and you will see that Ditmar focused initially on the simplicity of the solution, then getting others involved who would spread the word. He readily acknowledges in the podcast that many of the advisers were the result of Marc Nathanson’s efforts. Marc ‘got it’ and persuaded others to get involved. That is much more likely to happen when you have a simple message that has an economic punchline and no retooling costs to stand in the way.

If you would like to add more tips for handling disruptive innovations, please do so! Comment section is below for text comments, and if you have a Viddler account (it’s free) you can post a video comment.

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