Today I attended the
Innovator Summit day of RootsTech 2015.
There were many sessions today; as the after lunch sessions were 30
minute classes. Here are some of my thoughts about each session that I
attended.
Innovator Summit General
Session
Bruce Brand of FamilySearch announced that
sometime in 2015 there would be a Family History Start Up Weekend. I am excited about this. I have always wanted to participate in one of
these events and now there will be one on a subject with which I am deeply
familiar. To see more about what a Start
Up Weekend entails, see:
http://startupweekend.org/ "Start Up Weekends are 54-hour events
where developers, designers, marketers, product managers and startup
enthusiasts come together to share ideas, form teams, build products, and
launch startups!" This all happens
over 3 days … with basically NO SLEEP.
Not too excited about that part.
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| Photo from rootstech.org |
Scott Sorensen of Ancestry commented that large
organizations tend to struggle with innovation.
They are so big that they hinder the process of rapid response that
innovation requires or they have to deliberately concentrate on innovation.
Nathan Furr, author and professor of innovation
and entrepreneurship asked "How Do We Manage the Uncertainty of
Innovation?" He shared with us the
Innovator's Method: Insight, Problem, Solution, Business Model, Scale It. And that we often get caught in common traps
of missing the surprises, leaping to solutions, building end stage products,
and maintaining old business models. His
research is interesting to me. Check out
his website:
I met a nice lady in
this session, her name is Nancy Daniels and she is from Tennessee. We attended
many of today's sessions together.
Becoming Investment Ready
This was a panel
discussion of angel investors with interactive audience participation. The questions were:
- Do investors want audacious
ideas of specific market?
- What is the importance of
unique technology to investors?
- What factors most influence
investors?
- What do investors most what
their money spent on?
I have the audience
statistical responses and if anyone is really interested in this topic I will
email it to you. I found the discussion very intriguing and thought it would
apply to an idea that I have in another of my interests.
Innovator Challenge
Semi-Final Round
While the audience
ate box lunches, the 8 finalists presented short 5 minute overviews of their products. They
were asked questions by a panel of judges.
Here is a list of the semi-finalist companies:
http://rootstech.org/showdown. The
group is now down to 4 and on Friday the winner of the challenge will be
selected. I am really intrigued by this company:
http://www.genmarketplace.com/. I
think they have a great concept and I am very interested in watching their
company grow. Check them out when you
get a moment.
Kickstarter: Create the
Future
This session was
presented by
Jimmy Zimmerman of
FamilySearch and
Mike Davis of
StoryPress. I have recently backed a project on Kickstarter and am intrigued by
the concept of crowd funding. Here is
the project I backed, if you are interested:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/scottwiser/vanishing-ink-a-novel-with-illustrations.
The session today discussed making sure you plan a great PR and SMM campaign to
go with the Kickstarter campaign and that sometimes Kickstarter is just a great
place to test an idea before putting it into future development. Success is related to the product and the
persona of the presentation of the product.
From 20 to 1.5 Million
Downloads - Audience Building Lessons for All Businesses
This session was
presented by
Lisa Louise Cooke of
Genealogy Gems. You can check out her
website here:
http://lisalouisecooke.com/. She said that to build an audience, you have
to have a voice about something that matters to your audience. She discussed 3 key areas to building an
audience:
- Email: Newsletter
- Online: Podcasting, Blogging,
YouTube
- Social Media: Facebook,
Twitter, Pinterest
From Innovation to Strategy
to Execution
Tyler Norton of Hero Partners presented this
session. You can check out his company
at:
http://www.heropartners.com/. He discussed the 5 steps in turning a good
idea into a thriving business. Here are
the 5 steps:
- Focus on Core Competencies
(Innovation)
- Leverage Cores Into Products
(Innovation)
- One Page 3 Year Strategic
Plan (Strategy)
- Annual Operating Priorities
(Execution)
- Quarterly Operating
Priorities/Drivers (Execution)
I love strategy and
execution. I really like the concept
that "you are not your product".
Market Your Business While
You Sleep
Darin Adams from Infusionsoft discussed
lifecycle and automated marketing. He
discussed 3 main key points:
- Attract: Who is your
audience? What attracts their interest? Collecting Leads.
- Sell: Education is KEY -
people buy when they are ready, not when you are ready. Make sure the
offer is clear and concise and close the deal.
- Wow: Deliver and WOW the
customer. Offer more. Get Referrals.
Mega Trends In Tech
Greg Collier of FamilySearch shared some of the
trends technology is experiencing: Crowd Sourcing, Big Data, Machine Learning,
Transparent Computing, Mobile and Social.
In the next 5 years the entire world will be connected. What does this mean for family history? The pace of innovation is growing at an
unprecedented rate.
#RootsTech #InnovatorSummit
