How to Scale a Business - Netflix CEO Reed Hastings

How does Netflix hire?

Netflix doesn't try to hire perfectly. If instinctively the manager feels like there is potential or would like to give the employee a try, the company will make the hire. You use a lot of data when picking stocks; but when you pick a spouse, you don't use a lot of data. The more emotional gut feeling involved then the less useful data is. And they use Linkedin for references. If within a certain period of time, they discover it isn't a good fit then they move them out. When doing so, it is important to be upfront and honest with the person.

When Netflix hires, they are looking for first principal thinkers. People who question things, are curious, and self-confident. 

During the on-boarding of new employees, management would go over a 100 slide PowerPoint deck. At the end of it, 2 out of 3 employees would understand what it all meant. But because there were some forward remarks in there, the other 33% would not. Some forward remarks included "adequate performance gets you a severance package" or "we are a team not a family". To those who didn't get it, they were slightly taken aback. It was as if they were ambushed. 

The decision was made to make the information available to every candidate. That way they are upfront with the culture. If every candidate got it then it would essentially be public. So that is what Netflix did. Netflix decided to just make it public. In addition, when something is written down it allows for more debate, which could lead to more collaboration and improvement. 

Reed attunes hiring and employment similar to that of running a professional sports team. Every year you compete for your position. For the company/team to be great, you need to have great people in their respective positions. When people were no longer good fits for the company, he would proactively provide them with severance packages. If he didn't do this, then the employee would probably undergo a three month behavior correction program and then when all of that is documented then that person would be let go. Either way there is a cost. There are three benefits to this methodology. First would be that the employee doesn't feel as bad because a minimum of 4 months pay is doled out. It is almost a bribe to the manager letting that person go, so he or she doesn't feel as bad either. Thirdly, there are no employee lawsuits because of the severance. 

What kind of culture should you build?

Strong cultures work regardless of what kind of culture they are. Weak cultures are essentially diverse cultures whereby people don't understand each other. 

Netflix didn't approach culture with "what is the most theoretical efficient culture?". Instead it was about the group of people working there and what they valued most. That was working with talented people. 

When the company was forced to downsize after the dot com crash, Reed thought that they would barely be surviving. Instead they got more productive because there was less "dummy proofing necessary" and everyone could focus on doing it right and fast. 

When Netflix became publicly traded, the employees were worried about less freedom and more control. However, quite the opposite happened. The company's managers focused on setting context to issues. They inspired and led people rather than micromanaged them. This involved explaining what they were trying to do. What constraints there were. Whether or not they needed to do it 100% precise or if there could be room for an approximation and then tidy it up afterwards. If you set it up this way there is less micromanaging. 

What is the role of the CEO?

The role of the CEO varies at different stages of the company. The first couple years you do everything from washing the dishes to coding to marketing and dealing with investors. You have so many disadvantages that you have to make up for it with talent and brute force. At every 5x or 10x you have to adapt to be more strategic, but still be a great leader. On Reed's scale, he is looking at whether or not they should focus globally or original content. But, he doesn't pick which country to be in or what shows. He delegates that down.

What are scale businesses versus network businesses? 

The bigger get scale economic businesses get the lower the marginal customer cost. Examples of this include Amazon and Netflix. You do have to run up losses to some extent before you start to make a profit. When Amazon and Netflix were smaller, they grew at great rates such as 80% and eventually down to 25%. These are good growth rates. A company can start 2-3 years before you do, but with scale you can knock them out.

Linkedin and Facebook are network effect businesses. The prize of being first is much larger than a scale business. For example, it could be worth selling 90% of the business to raise a billion dollars. It is a winner takes all business. In these kinds of businesses, you get these crazy practices where you grow by 300% to maximize opportunity. 

In network effect you get more of the first is forever because of the barriers to entry. Think of a barrier as how much pricing power you have. A ton of pricing power means you can raise prices and it is still hard to come after you.  

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Big Game Hunting - Networking with Billionaires, Executives and Celebrities - Book Review

About Christopher Kai

Christopher Kai is the founder and CEO of KGL, a strategic-consulting firm that helps entrepreneurs build their businesses. He is an international speaker and bestselling author. Christopher is also the founder of Mondays at the Mission, the only homeless youth program of its kind at the largest private shelter in the United States. Their 240 program speakers from 26 states and 28 countries (Elon Musk, Moby, and TED speaker Diana Nyad) have been featured on CNN, People, ABC, Time, the Ellen Degeneres Show and Oprah. Christopher has been featured on ABC, Fast Company, Inc. Magazine, Buzz Feed, and Huffington Post.

Overview and Thoughts about the Book

In Big Game Hunting - Networking with Billionaires, Executives and Celebrities, Christopher Kai shares his in-depth knowledge of how he went from growing up in a middle class home in Woodside, Queens to rubbing elbows with Richard Branson, Elon Musk, Paris Hilton, and many other "Big Gamers".

I first discovered Christopher Kai when he spoke at Google on how to "Catapult Your Career Opportunities". One of the biggest key points he brought up was networking. ABC News Reported in 2012, 80% of people's jobs come from networking.

A friend of mine quit his accountant job in 2012 and started his own e-commerce business. After four years of ups and downs he decided to get back into the accounting industry. How was someone out of the industry for almost half a decade supposed to find a job? Employers questioned his outdated knowledge, qualifications, and feared he would only stay short-term and leave to start another company. Luckily he still maintained his network of people in the industry. Through his relationships, he had a signed job offer letter within a week.

Most people think of networking from a quantity perspective. The more events you attend the more people you meet. The problem with that is, if you attend the same events you are going to meet the same people. Right from the get go of his book, Kai introduces a huge piece of advice on how to meet "Big Gamers" and focus on the quality of relationships. If you want to meet comic book fanatics, you attend to Comic Con. If want to meet people in the electronics and tech space, you attend CES. What if you want to meet "Big Gamers"? Where would you go? How do you approach them? What do you say to them? What do you do after the event?

“The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.” —Michelangelo, Italian painter and sculptor

Finding where to meet who you want to meet is only part of the battle. Kai goes through a simple four step process of preparation, what to do before the event, during the event, and action items for after the event. The biggest thing he brings to the table is the fact that he's been through it before, so he is able to relate to the reader much more easier. It is one thing for someone to talk about how to meet "Big Gamers", but never having done so and another thing to have someone who has been in our shoes before providing insight and steps. 

While most networking books are rather bland or wordy, Kai uses relevant personal stories and experiences to illustrate his points. For example, he describes how he reached out to Elon Musk and was able to get Elon to come and speak at Kai's homeless youth program. He also provides stories from others who have used similar techniques to meet "Big Gamers". 

Final Word

Let's say you don't want to meet "Big Gamers". If you want to start a business or meet an executive in your field, advice from Kai's book, Big Game Hunting - Networking with Billionaires, Executives and Celebrities, can be used to meet just about anyone you want to meet. Kai's life experiences on networking is boiled down to a concise yet comprehensive 100 pages. He is an amazing speaker and motivator. So much so, that he has inspired myself to aim higher than what I believe I could achieve. 

Life is about living it. Living it means aiming higher and realizing your fullest potential. You can't always do this by yourself. But if you find a mentor or someone to help you along the way, you'll give yourself a good chance to reach your fullest potential. Build your network. 

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Carol Dweck: "The Growth Mindset" Concept Review

Carol S. Dweck is the Lewis and Virginia Eaton Professor of Psychology at Stanford University. She graduated from Barnard College in 1967 and earned a Ph.D. from Yale University in 1972. She is known for her research in social and developmental psychology.

Dweck recently published the Mindset: The New Psychology of Success and has since sold over a million copies. In the book she discusses the idea of the mindset being a contributing factor in fulfilling one's potential in parenting, business, school, and relationships.

Why do some people wilt in the face of danger, while others who are no more talented thrive in challenges? How are people motivated to learn? These are some of the many questions that Dweck answers in her book.

In the Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Dweck argues that there are two mindsets of which are the "Fixed" and "Growth" mindsets. Generally speaking, those who believe talents and abilities can be developed are in the growth mindset, versus those who believe talent is natural born are in the fixed.

However, you can have a fixed mindset in one area and a growth mindset in another. For example, suppose you are great with Microsoft excel and are willing to take on any new challenges associated with it. When you see someone else who is better, instead of feeling jealous, you want them to teach you their skills. That is an example of a growth mindset. On the other hand, suppose you are asked to create a flowchart of your business' processes using Microsoft Visio. You are not particular great with it and are not willing to learn to become better using it. That is an example of a fixed mindset in a different area.

Add the word "yet" to your fixed mindset statement. If you say that you are not "yet" at a certain level, that implies that you can develop and get better. For example, "I am still not able to generate enough passive income to support myself, yet".

When you tell someone he or she is smart and what he or she has done seems effortless, you are in fact communicating another subtle message to the recipient. He or she will start to believe that if it takes effort then he or she won't look smart. Thereby, they start to focus only on what they are good at and instead of challenging themselves and developing their intelligence. Having a growth mindset will allow you to take on challenges and more importantly stick with them.

In growth mindset companies, management values creativity, innovation, and teamwork. Employees in such companies believe that they could develop their skills and thereby felt empowered and more committed to the organization. On the contrary, fixed mindset companies looked to hire talent, but did not believe that those talented individuals they hired had potential to rise and join management. Employees in those companies felt that they had one foot out the door and would leave at anytime if another company offered to pay them more.

How do you ensure that you think in a growth mindset versus a fixed mindset? 

Being in a growth mindset is not just being open minded, it is developing oneself through a life long journey taking on challenges and learning from them. Focus on the process, show interest, ask questions, and most importantly stick with it. When faced with something safe versus a challenge, choose the challenge. When you hit a challenge, ask yourself how can you learn from this and what can you do better the next time. A growth mindset is not a destination, it is a process and a journey.

When is a fixed mindset better than a growth mindset? 

Accepting your sexual orientation and aging. These are two things that you can not change and is arguably biological (one more than the other). Thinking and believing you will get younger as time passes, is not realistic and quite frankly not possible at this point.

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Bill Gross: Single Biggest Reason Why Startups Succeed - Ted Talk Summary

Creating a start-ups is a great way to unlock human potential. You get a group of individuals together with the right equity incentive and you can achieve a great deal. But, what is the biggest reason why startups succeed? In other words, what matters most in a start-up?

Bill Gross has founded a lot of startups, and incubated many others — and he got curious about why some succeeded and others failed. So he gathered data from hundreds of companies, his own and other people's, and ranked each company on five key factors. He found one factor that stands out from the others — and surprised even him.

After starting and been a part of over a hundred businesses since the age of 12, Bill Gross sought out the sole reason why startups succeed.

"Everybody has a plan, until they get punched in the face." So much about a team's execution is its ability to adapt to getting punched in the face by the customer. The customer is the true reality.

What five factors did he take into account?

1) Idea - The "ah-ha" moment.
2) Team - Team execution and their ability to adapt to the customer's demands.
3) Business Model - Does the company have a path?
4) Funding - Do they have enough money?
5) Timing - Do you need to educate the world, is it too late, or just the right time to release your product? Are there too many competitors?

Number one thing that contributed to a success or failure of a start up was timing. Team and execution came in second. The idea itself was third. Business models and funding were fourth and fifth as these were things you could add later on in the business.

Airbnb came out during the height of the recession and people needed money, so people were not hesitant to rent out their places. Uber was perfect in getting drivers extra money. Z.com an online entertainment company, signed Hollywood talent, but broadband penetration was not good in the late 90s. In other words, the timing wasn't good. Years later a similar company, YouTube started and by that time the market was ready. It was timed perfectly.

Are customers ready for your product or service?

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Redefining What It Takes For Your Small Business to Succeed

Highlights and Commentary on Rework by Founders of 37signals

As a founder of numerous businesses myself, I can vouch for the lessons spoken about in Rework by Jason Fried & David Hansson (founders of 37signals). 37signals provides web-based collaboration apps for small businesses. Together, David and Jason have created sites such as campfirenow.com which provides real-time chat and file and code sharing for remote teams and writeboard.com a collaborative writing tool. Oh I should also mention the company created Ruby on Rails.

When you first mention start-up or starting a business to someone, most people think of Silicon Valley, overnight successes, or something that has been glorified by the media. I know this because that was what first came to my mind when I thought of starting a business years ago. My idea of starting an business was glorified. If you started your own business you would be your own boss. As your own boss you would get to do what you want, when you want, where you want, and everything you did was your own. What I didn't truly realize were the difficulties involved in starting your own business and the fact that the flip side is that you are also equally responsible for the losses. You have to take the bad with the good in its entirety.

If I had Rework before I decided to launch my previous businesses, I probably would have been better off. Here are some interesting tid-bits that would've been extremely helpful had I known about them when I decided to start a business. Having said that, I still think they are helpful for those who are currently running small businesses. The topic headings below are chapter titles in the book, but the paragraphs below are my own.

1) Learning from mistakes is overrated 

We often think that it is important to learn from our mistakes. My co-founder and I made a lot of mistakes, but those mistakes didn't tell us what we should be doing next. They only told us what we shouldn't do again. What might be equally important is learning from our successes. When we do that we can build upon what we already know to be successful and either do it better or more.

2) Planning is guessing

Who knows what will happen in two months, a year, or five years from now. How often do financial analyst's company earnings projections come spot on? Humans are notoriously terrible at predicting the future. So why bother with projections and business plans then? For they are more or less just educated guesses. While it is good to think about the future, just don't go overboard and set up a bunch of excel financial models or lengthy business plans. Decide on what you will do tomorrow or a week from now. You'll likely be changing your direction anyways.

3) Start at the epicenter

When you are running a small business or starting one, it's easy to get lost in the details. We might obsess with trying to put everything we want into the product/business. Start with what is absolutely crucial. For example, if you sell lemonade. Can you do without sugar? Yes, even though it might not be ideal. But, what is a lemonade business without lemonade?

4) Long lists don't get done

The longer something takes the less motivation we have for completing it. How much more difficult is it to finish something that takes five weeks versus an hours? Making long lists makes us prioritize and when we prioritize, we end up only doing what is most important and more often than not we leave the rest of the to-dos alone. This happened when my co-founder and I tried to launch a website. We ended up just doing 1 and 2 and leaving 3,4,5 on the list.

5) Marketing is not a department

The authors of Rework mentioned that marketing is a part of nearly everything that you do in the business. The way you answer e-mails and the way you present your product is all marketing.

6) The myth of the overnight sensation 

There is no shortcut or get rich scheme in starting a business. Also, don't believe for a second that spending money on a PR firm is the easy solution out of this. Who is going to write about a no-name company with a product nobody has heard about. Jason and David also mention that good PR costs upwards of $10,000. It would be a waste of capital to spend that when you are first starting out. There are plenty of companies who spent minimally on PR and became successful. Take for example Starbucks and Google in their early stages.

7) Reasons to quit

Have you started your business and are not sure if you should keep going with your idea? Are you deciding whether or not you should pivot and go a different direction with the business? Ask yourself these eight questions.

Why are you doing this?
What problem are you solving?
Is this actually useful?
Are you adding value?
Will this change behavior?
Is there an easier way?
What could you be doing instead?
Is it really worth it?

Here are some other chapter topics that I found interesting (in no particular order).

Test-drive employees
Take a deep breath
Send people home at 5
Workaholism
Scratch your own itch
Outside Money is Plan Z

Don't confuse enthusiasm with priority
Build an audience
How to say you're sorry
Hire managers of one
Own your bad news

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Elon Musk's Thoughts on How He Started Tesla and Space-X Summary

Salman Khan of Khan Academy held an engaging and interesting conversation with Elon Musk

How did he end up choosing to start companies in the industries he did?

Per Elon, starting multiple businesses wasn't the childhood dream. It just sort of happened as a result of his thought process. First he looked at what areas would most affect the future of humanity. These three areas included the internet, sustainable energy, and space exploration. Then, he thought in terms of what area or areas he would like to have a career in.

At the time, electric cars was most reasonable and he had already begun to look at energy storage for cars. Then the internet came along and he started focusing on that. At Zip2, he eventually created a yellow pages for the internet, which was later sold. Like with all businesses, he looks at the possible outcomes and if success is one of the possible outcomes he considers it a good "bet". 

Part of the marketing strategy with Paypal was referral based. Customers who referred customers would receive $20 dollars and then as the network grew the referral bonus went down to $10 and then when the the network was large enough, the costs no longer made sense. The company had spent about 60M-70M on this project.

The ideal model would be to have one customer generate two customers or ideally three customers. This is similar to bacteria growing in a petri dish. 

How did Space-X Start? How did Elon decide one day to just start a space company?

Elon thought about where the space industry was going. The world had sent people to the moon and landed robots on Mars. The next logical step would be to send people to Mars. He went to the NASA website and was disappointed to find that NASA did not have plans to send people to Mars or expand beyond Earth. Did they need a bigger budget or was it just not of interest to people?

Then he thought if it was possible to build a spacecraft within a reasonable "budget", which he had set at half of what he made from selling Paypal. A lot of his friends thought he was crazy. The premise for their argument was that they thought he was going to lose the money he invested. He said, " I didn't really mind if I lost the money." If this money would result in a bigger budget and eventually people would be able to go to Mars that would be a good outcome.

Elon started looking at rockets, but they were much too expensive to purchase from the U.S ($60M). He figured he needed at least two missions and buying those from the U.S. would've blown his budget. So he went to the Russians and looked at buying ICBM (Intercontinental ballistic missiles), which were $10M.

After that Elon started to read about space exploration and researched how hard it would be to build a rocket. The total raw material itself, which consisted of aluminum, copper, etc., costs 2% of what the market value of the rocket. Therefore, the majority of the costs came from the labor or how the raw materials would be arranged. After doing more research and finding out that he wasn't being naive about reducing the cost of building a rocket, he decided to purse Space-X.

The first rocket was called Falcon 1 and costs about cost about $6M  to make compared to the market value of $25M dollars. His goal is to make the rockets reusable, which would make them 1/100 of the current price. This meant that the rocket would be able to land back on the launch pad.

Like with many companies, the first step is still to bring in revenues to keep the company running. For Space-X, revenues would come from launching commercial satellites, GPS satellites, space station transport services, and other "earth based" services. All the while, the company would focus on improving the technology to ultimately take people to Mars.

Where does Elon think the car industry and Tesla will be in 5-10 years?

Sustainable transportation. Cost and environmental factors will eventually push other alternative sources of energy into the market's favor. The goal for Tesla is for it to act as a catalyst to accelerate the normal forces that come with using gasoline as a transportation fuel (monetary and environmental).

The goal is not to become a big brand and compete with Honda, Toyota or any of the other big players. It is to keep making more and more electric cars and drive the price point down until industry is largely electric. Elon sees electric vehicles becoming the majority in 10-13 years from now. Whether or not Tesla succeeds, only time will tell.

What is it like starting a company? 

There are definitely periods of fun and periods when it is just awful. As the founder of a company, you have the "distillation of all the worse problems". Basically you spend your time fixing problems that other people can't take care of because there is no point in spending time on things that are right.

You must have a high pain threshold because you are constantly facing extermination of the company. After all, 99% of all start-ups fail. You must work on problems the company needs you to work on and not what you want to work on. Finally, this goes on for a long time. 

You have a vision of where the company will generally go and a path you think it will take. The path will be a zig-zag and you will have to deviate to some degree from your path. 

Profit motive is a good one if the rules are set up correctly. Profit is not inherently bad. It just means people are paying you more than you are spending to create it.

Game-ify the learning the experience. Also explain the why of things to other people. That in itself is a huge motivation, when they understand the purpose.

What about the Hyperloop? How did that idea come into fruition?

When Elon heard about the California high speed rail, he thought that it was a waste of taxpayers' money. Basically, California was planning on building the most expensive and slowest rail system in the world. It would cost $100B and take two hours to go from LA to San Francisco versus an airplane that would take 45 minutes or so.

He thought to himself, "isn't there a better way to do this?" Ideally, what would you want? Something that is twice as fast, cost half as much, immune to weather, can't crash, and self-powered with solar panels. What would do that? What is the fastest way to do that? There is a practical solution and even if it doesn't work out the way it is planned, it could still be something people look forward to as a tourist attraction.

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Seth Godin - Are You Thinking Backwards?

Are You Looking at Everything Backwards?

Seth Godin has written fourteen books that have been translated into more than thirty languages. Every one has been a bestseller including "The Icarus Deception". He writes about the post-industrial revolution, the way ideas spread, marketing, quitting, leadership and most of all, changing everything.

American Way Magazine calls him, "America's Greatest Marketer," and his blog is perhaps the most popular in the world written by a single individual. His latest book, We Are All Weird, calls for end of mass and for the beginning of offering people more choices, more interests and giving them more authority to operate in ways that reflect their own unique values, and Seth once again breaks the traditional publishing model by releasing it through The Domino Project.

Here are some key takeaways from his most recent speech at this month's CreativeMornings.

Myth: Great Designers have Great Clients 

It is the other way around. Having great clients makes you a great designer. Great designers would not be great designers without their clients. Find clients that provide you with the platform for you to become a great designer.

Ask yourself - How much of your day is spent working to get better clients versus pleasing the clients you already got? Is pleasing the clients the best way to get better clients? Is a better client that pays your more? OR as mentioned above, is finding the client that provides you with the platform for you to become a great designer what you should be looking for?

Myth: Success is Overnight

People got to where they are by being impatiently patient. What does that mean? It means that Twitter would not still be around if the founders quit after two weeks. Companies would not be built if founders said that if it doesn't work in two weeks we should go do something else. Basically what he is saying is that it takes perseverance to succeed and just as Rome wasn't built in a day.

Myth: It Would Be Nice to Do That, But My Boss Won't Let Me

If you ask your boss if you could do something new or different, of course she won't let you because basically you are saying I want to do something really cool. If it works, I get all the credit and if it doesn't you get all the blame because you said it was okay. The secret is leading the people to make better decisions. Lead your boss to make better decisions. 

Here are four actionable items right now. 

1) Do it on purpose -  With purpose ask yourself, how am I leading my clients to become better clients thereby finding more clients? How am I leaving tracks that will get my boss to become a better boss? Lead your boss to make better decisions.

2) Tell stories that resonates to those in charge - You can't prove anything to the people you work for to get them to do something, but you can tell them a story that gets under their skin that resonates.

3) Demand responsibility, don't worry about authority - People who take responsibility are often given responsibility. If you are willing to let other people to pretend to have authority it's fine. You don't need a badge. Let your work speak for itself.

4) Reflect credit - If there is something wrong embrace blame. If there is something the boss wants to take credit for, let them take it. They will be more eager to work with you. Do small things that won't get you fired. If you do it 4 times or 6 times and they get credit for the small thing, they will let you do that small thing again. Then they may ask you to do it even bigger. It is the work you are after not the credit.

If  you want to make a change do it for people who deserve it. If Exxon doesn't get it, call on someone else.

Ask yourself:

a) How do you want your customers to change?
b) What change do you want to make in people you work with?

The change Apple wants to make is to make customers with good taste. If customers have good taste they are more likely to buy more products.

Everyone owns a media company. If you want to put on an event and have 500 people come you can. If you want to write a blog post and have a million people read it you can. 

You job isn't to make someone for everyone. Most popular drink is "other". 

Just do work that changes some people.

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Summary of How Great Leaders Inspire Action - Simon Sinek

Great Leaders Inspire Action - Summary

We believe that everyone has a right to this information and therefore would like to share it with you. The greatest leaders of all-time act and communicate differently from the average person.  Simon Sinek discusses the secrets behind a successful business.  

This is a summary of How Great Leaders Inspire Action. 

People don't buy what you do they buy why you do it.

This is the golden circle. If you work from inside out you have the Why? followed by the How? and then the What? 

Most people know what they do. Some people know how to do it. Why is your purpose or cause. It answers why should anyone care or get out of bed. 

Most companies work from outside in. This mean they answer the What, How and Why in that order. Let me give you an example. If Apple were to follow that model this is what their company message would be (in the order presented). 

What? - We make great computers. 

How? - They are beautify designed and user friendly.

Why? - Do you want to buy one? 

Instead their vision is as follows (in the order presented)

Why? - Everything we do we believe in challenging the status quo; we believe in thinking differently.  

How? - The way we challenge status quo is by making our products designed and user friendly.

What? - We just happen to make computers, do you want to buy one?

How Great Leaders Inspire Action is ingrained in our Biology

The What is "governed" by the Neocortex that deals with rational and analytic thought. The Why and How is "controlled" by the limbic system of the brain which focuses on decision making and feelings such as loyalty and trust. It is the system that leads you to say, you are leading with your heart or going with your gut. 

The Problem With A Failed Business is Three Things - Capital, Wrong People, Bad Market Conditions

So you thought that was the problem. But, that isn't the problem. Samuel Langley had all the money, support from people, and market conditions were great. He attempted to build an airplane, but he failed. Contrast this with the Wright Brothers, who did not have capital and few people working for them. However, the few people who did work or supported the Wright Brothers worked for blood sweat and tears. When the Wright Brothers figured out how to build an airplane, the world didn't hear about it until a few days later. The day Langley found out, he quit. Instead of saying let's improve on your idea, he quit. His motivation was for fame and fortune, which ultimately led him to be unsuccessful. He didn't make money so he stopped. 

What is the Law of Diffusion of Innovation?

Innovation of products and services is comprised of the following:

2.5% are Innovators 

13.5% are Early Adopters

34% are Early Majority

34 are Late Majority

16% are Laggards - Theses are the ones who can't buy old technology anymore so are forced to buy what is existing.

If you want to hit the mass market, you'll have to achieve 15-18% market penetration. The way you do this is by having people buy why you do not what you do.

Here is another example of a famous failure.

TiVo was/is the single highest quality product of it's kind on the market. The market accepted the product and they had funding. But, it failed because nobody cared. They marketed it as a product whereby you can skip commercials and record shows. Imagine if they were to communicate first... if you are the kind of person who needs to control different things. Things might have been different.

Dr. Martin Luther King did not have the internet but he had a gift

Somehow he was able to aggregate a huge amount of people the day of his speech. But they came because of what they believed not for Dr. King. 

Dr. King talked about what he believed. People believed. It wasn't about black versus white. It was about a higher authority above what man has made. Notice that he had a "I have a dream speech" and not "I have a plan speech".

People follow leaders and those who inspire not because they have to, but because they want to.

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Compare Business Banking Checking Accounts For Top Banks

Comparison of Basic Business Checking Accounts

Bank of America vs. JP Morgan Chase vs. Wells Fargo vs. HSBC vs. Citibank 

A friend of mine is starting his own international business and was looking at opening up a business account with a top bank. 

Of the five mentioned above, three of them have a focus that is more domestic than international. These include Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, and Wells Fargo. HSBC and Citibank both have branches in China. 

The business has no revenues and is practically a start-up. His criteria is a bank that has banking relations overseas thereby reducing the costs of doing business overseas and the account has to have a low to no maintenance fee. 

When we looked for banks that fit what he needed, we noticed that the terms of banks vary depending on where you open the account. For example, the fees could vary if you opened an account in New York versus California. The below is a summary of what we found if you were to  more or less open an account in California. Banks will change their fees from time to time, therefore it is important that you visit their official website for the most current rates/fees.   

Conclusion: For my friend's purposes, I would say HSBC is the way to go because of its no maintenance fee and no minimum. Furthermore, they have a presence in China. 

Business Economic Checking
Actual Account Fees

Monthly maintenance fee 

Approximately $15 is waived when a specified balance requirement is met.

Specified balance and maintenance fees vary based on state. For example, in Maryland, Tennessee, Virginia and Washington, D.C. if the following criterion are met the fee will be waived.

How to waive maintenance fee 

Maintain at least one of the following balances:

• $3,000 minimum daily balance

• $10,000 average monthly balance

• $10,000 combined minimum daily balance

• $20,000 combined average monthly balance OR Enroll your Business Economy Checking account in Business Fundamentals and make qualified monthly purchases with your Bank of America Visa Business debit card

Account Features 

• No fee for first 150, then 45¢ per item 

• No fee for ACH, debit card, Online Bill Pay debits and ATM withdrawals Deposit tickets

• No fee Cash deposited

• No fee for first $10,000, then 20¢ per $100

BusinessSelect Checking

Monthly Service/Maintenance Fees 

Check Safekeeping - $15

Image Statement - $17

Check Return - $21

How to waive maintenance fee 

Meet any of the following:

•Maintain an average daily balance of $7,500 or more in the account

•A relationship balance of $25,000 (all linked business checking/savings/CDS)

•Maintained a linked Chase qualifying personal checking account (Chase Premier Plus Checking, Chase Premier Platinum Checking and Chase Premier Platinum Asset Management Account)

•Make $1,000 in purchases on your linked Chase Business Credit Card during the monthly checking statement cycle

•Pay $50 or more in qualifying checking account fees (not including the Monthly Service Fee) 

Account Features

•200 transactions per monthly service cycle (includes all customer-initiated debits and credits and deposited items)

•$0.40 for each transaction that exceeds 200 transactions in the month

•No Cash Deposit Processing Fee for the first $7,500 per month

•FREE Chase Business Debit Card Overdraft protection Business online services 

•Package of additional benefits for business savings, CDs and personal checking

Wells Fargo Business Checking

How to waive maintenance fee 

The $12 monthly service fee is waived when you meet any of the following:

•Maintain $3,000 minimum daily balance,

•Maintain $6,000 average ledger balance,

•Have a Wells Fargo Business Payroll Services transaction from this account each month. 

Account Features

The following account transactions are included free of charge:

Up to 150 combined paid and deposited items.

Up to $5,000 cash deposited.

HSBC Business Direct Checking

Actual Account Fees

How to waive maintenance fee

No Maintenance Fee

Transaction Fees (each statement cycle) 

See link above.

Account Features/ Services

Unlimited monthly transactions at HSBC ATMs No HSBC fees when using non-HSBC ATMs Free HSBC Debit MasterCard BusinessCard®

10 free wire transfers per month (5 incoming, 5 outgoing)

Business Internet Banking with free online Bill Pay

No monthly maintenance fees

No minimum balance requirement

CitiBusiness Streamlined Checking Account

Maintenance Fee $10

How to waive maintenance fee

Monthly Fee Currency Deposits $5,000

Minimum Average Monthly Balance to Waive Monthly Fee $5,000 Monthly

Account Features

Monthly Free Transactions 100

NO monthly maintenance fee when you maintain the minimum balance. 

Free U.S. dollar deposits and monthly transaction allowances up to applicable limits.

Fee-free withdrawals at Citibank ATMs.

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