What Every Entrepreneur Should Learn From Factory Floors

"What would you need to do to double your revenue (or profit)?" That’s usually my opening question when we have strategic reviews with our businesses. The answer highlights the biggest constraints to the growth of the business. I start with this specific question because many leaders have one problem in common: they come up with … Continue reading What Every Entrepreneur Should Learn From Factory Floors

The Missing Link in Startup Execution

In the past few quarters, our companies have seen tremendous improvements in the operational execution - focus and intensity have increased drastically, which has improved the output per hour. Add to that that we have recruited some very promising talents! It should be a recipe for success. Similarly, we seem to be alright on the … Continue reading The Missing Link in Startup Execution

The Meta-Machine: A Guide to Building a Company

Being an entrepreneur is about building a company. Fast-growing companies may seem chaotic and frequently focus more on firefighting problems rather than on actually building up the company.  “The real enemy of execution is your day job!” McChesney et al. argue1. “We call it the whirlwind. It’s the massive amount of energy that’s necessary just … Continue reading The Meta-Machine: A Guide to Building a Company

Building and Using Funnels

One of the most crucial things to understand in sales and marketing is funnels. Funnels are used to describe everything from how users behave on your e-commerce platform to how a sales team is working through their leads. Funnels are different than a simple data dump in that they always describe a flow of data … Continue reading Building and Using Funnels

The Non-Marketer’s Guide To SEO

Excelling at search engine optimization (SEO) is a key component of a successful strategy for most online businesses. However, for many founders and marketers without a strong online background, SEO can often come across as a black box. As for all other marketing channels, my favoured approach is highly analytical. I prefer to start with … Continue reading The Non-Marketer’s Guide To SEO

Planning For Personal Development

6 Tips For Planning Your Personal Development: The Challenges of a Steep Learning Curve

For business, as for sports, even the most talented people in the world need years of practice to be the best they can be. It should be a surprise to no one that you can't go from the street and straight to the top of any sport. The top athletes have been matched with challenges … Continue reading 6 Tips For Planning Your Personal Development: The Challenges of a Steep Learning Curve

Nandu Nandkishore

Former Nestlé Executive VP, Nandu Nandkishore, on Understanding Consumer Psychology

Nandu Nandkishore is an Executive Fellow at London Business School and the former Executive Vice President and board member of Nestle Asia, Oceania and Africa, where he built his reputation as a great leader and brand builder (As Martin Lindstrom previously has highlighted in his interview on this blog). Today, Nandu holds a number of … Continue reading Former Nestlé Executive VP, Nandu Nandkishore, on Understanding Consumer Psychology

Marketing Lab - Dynamic Keyword Insertion

Marketing lab: Does Dynamic Keyword Insertion Work In Search Ads For Fashion?

TL;DR version: Based on this study: Click-through rates were significantly higher without DKIs (10-65% higher) Conversion rates were significantly higher without DKIs (300%+) This study did not manage to give a definitive conclusion on the impact on the cost per click when using the DKI Background The online marketing community seems to have a love/hate relationship … Continue reading Marketing lab: Does Dynamic Keyword Insertion Work In Search Ads For Fashion?