On Tuesday night, Michael will be taking part in The Walrus Talks: Tomorrow as part of the High Performance Radio. With notable speakers such as Les Stroud, and Shad, it’s going to be a very cool, and very thought provoking night! There are still a few tickets remaining, so if you’re looking to get in, we’d love to see you there!
As part of this, we’ve gotten to talk to some cool people for the Calgary Herald and CBC – see the articles and listen to the interview below!
We recently stumbled upon a blog post highlighting the value of saying “no” in business. Being able to reject things that deviate from a core focus is invaluable to growing and building a business. And one has to look no further than everyone’s favorite technology company named after a fruit to see this practice in play – Apple.
Apple is famously controlling – from the way their stores look, to the incredible standards it holds its employees to. And part of this level of control is an unwavering view to the future of their business.
Apple’s success stems from being able to anticipate market opportunities in a way no one else could at the time – from the iPod to iPad. These devices were decried as useless, and consigned to the scrap heap of history before they even launched. Tens of millions of units later, Apple has had the last laugh. But to get to this point, they did it by saying no – a lot. They controlled their product vision with a level of authoritarianism not seen since the fall of the USSR. While not quite of a complete FIFO mentality, once Apple finds a vision, the whole company devotes its energies to it.
You can look no further than to the creator of the Nest thermostat, Tony Fadell (recently acquired by Google). Fadell was also the father of the iPod during his tenure with Apple. His exit was something of a shock, with rumours circling that he started butting heads with the untouchable Jony Ive, and that led to his ouster. Whatever the reason, it shows that in Apple’s world, very few people are free to disagree with the company’s philosophy, once the key people have decided. Fadell didn’t agree with the future vision, and as a result, he moved on.
Does this lead to a culture of double-speak, where everyone just goes along and doesn’t challenge? Not particularly – Apple is also famous for the confrontation amongst its employees (although less so with the passing of Steve Jobs). Apple is always about delivering the best products it can, and making them products people can’t live without. So long as the challenges people brought to Jobs were thought out, and towards that ultimate goal, they were always considered.
The most famous case of how focus can lead to success is probably General Electric. In the 1980’s, Jack Welch took over as CEO of GE, and proceeded to turn it from an also-ran into the most valuable company in the world. He did this by focusing – any underperforming employees and businesses were cycled out, as soon as it became known they were an issue. By focusing, GE was able to generate huge revenues in its core businesses, rather than being spread thin across things that it just wasn’t suited to run.
Steve Jobs has a quote that, in one form or another, is in the manifesto of many successful companies and entrepreneurs – and its one that we at Robots and Pencils believe in whole-heartedly.
- Do not try to do everything. Do one thing well.
The long and short of this is that at Robots and Pencils, we don’t try to do everything. But what we do, we focus on doing exceptionally well – it is non-negotiable to us.
Robots and Pencils was recently feature in an article in Casual Connect, a aimed at social, and casual games (like apps!). The article is a really cool look into how we think here, and the philosophies we follow when designing for mobile. We’ve uploaded the whole issue here, as well as this link right to our article!
This year, saving a tree isn’t just about deciding to buy a recyclable fake tree to put up in the corner of the living room. It’s also about finding fun new ways to say “Happy Holidays” to your favourite clients, colleagues, friends, and family. To help with this, Robots and Pencils has decided to build an app to go along with this year’s Christmas cards, and attach its proceeds to a great cause.
The Children’s Cottage Society is a Calgary-based organization that works to prevent harm and neglect to all children, along with building strong families by offering support services, programs, and crisis nurseries. They strive to make sure children are safe and in healthy families. Robots and Pencils feels very strongly about this cause, especially after extensive flood damage to some of their facilities this past year.
Those participating have the opportunity to play the Robots and Pencils-branded game as much as they’d like before December 23rd, 2013. Each round, the player must try and get the ornament into the stocking with the star on it to increase the donation by the maximum amount. However, just by playing, donations will always increase. Don’t forget to play often – we left some cheats in there for the enthusiasts!
After the 23rd, Robots and Pencils will be taking the final donation amount and purchasing much-needed items from the Children’s Cottage Society Wish List. The team will then be packing the Fiat and FJ Cruiser to the brim and driving the items over.
Thanks to everyone’s support, participation, and encouragement this year. Happy holidays! Stay tuned for updates on RoboPlinko!
~ The Robots and Pencils’ team
Last week Michael went to Toronto for the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year finals for Canada! While that in itself was an awesome experience, he managed to do one better. He was invited to sit on a panel discussing the results of E&Y’s G20 Entrepreneurship Barometer. He was sitting with the Honourable Maxime Bernier, Minister of State for Small Business and Tourism, and Agriculture; Rebecca MacDonald, Founder and Executive Chair of Just Energy Inc., and our own MJ! MJ was invited to give perspective from the SMB-SME area, as Robots and Pencils actively works in this area, and with numerous large enterprises in our business app division.
Debate was lively, and they touched on many points – how can we better educated aspiring entrepreneurs, how can we make funding more available, and how can we work to make this a systemic part of Canadian culture as opposed to being such a difficult nut to crack, so to speak.
Michael sitting on a panel for Ernst and Young