More quotable quotes from this year’s Morgo

Mike Hutchinson – ICE Interactive (Quoting a Tongan cleaner):

Everyone needs:

• Something to do
• Someone to love
• Something to look forward to

Leigh Jasper and Rob Phillpot – Aconex

• Get the right people, and move the wrong ones on quickly
• Defend the culture
• Be born global
• Know your industry
• You can’t skimp on service
• Maintain your independence and level the playing field
• Strategise the network
• Align participants’ incentives through the business model

Mark Stuart (WaikatoLink) and Brad Duft (CoDa Theraputics)

• Fundraising reality: No IP, no money
• Deal-making reality: No IP, no deal
• Innovation = invention + commercialisation;

Andy Lark (Dell)

• A CEO dedicates on average 9 minutes to each decision
• The quality of your [social] network is a predictor of your success. You are your network.
• It’s not how many awards you get, it’s how many recommenders you have.
• Authenticity matters

Ten tips:

• Communicate abnormally to be noticed
• Timing is everything
• Turn up – there’s no substitute for being there in person
• Plan the pass on – if you’re asking for a reference, write that reference
• Avoid communication constipation
• Cold calling rarely works
• Nurture your network; don’t be needy
• Respect rejection
• Work your story

Jenny Morel’s MORGO conference for 2008 is underway, and it’s some of the best professional development and networking time I’ve spent in a great while. The talks have hit the sweet spot between academic theory on the one hand, and moving personal stories on the other, with lessons from the coal face of applied sweat and sagacity bang in the middle. Most people you meet here have either hatched an audacious idea, or have funded one; in many cases both.

Here are some quotable quotes:

Bill Day, Seaworks [on going after a small slice of a large market, or focussing on the local market]:

What would you like for dinner, just some of the leg of a cow, or an entire ant?

Didier Elzinga, Rising Sun Pictures:

Growth doesn’t hurt when you’re growing, it hurts when you stop.

Andy Lark, Dell:

It actually isn’t about scale – it’s about commitment and execution. Little things done well yield big results.

Individualism (ie failure to operate as a team) is the biggest threat to success in a startup.

Location matters. We need to get our companies offshore, closer to pools of leadership, talent and resources.

Never get cute when asking for money.

Ben Anderson, CT Partners:

Hire great people – “good enough” won’t cut it. A players hire A players; B players hire C players.

Paul Dyson, Ultramotor

Almost every relationship you establish at the start [of your company] is critical to the future of the company. Make sure they are well considered.