Theme.
In this week's #founderhacks we look at being resourceful when you are lacking resources. We do this with the help of experience shares from our special guest Jim James - PR champion of the UnNoticed; entrepreneur, serial business founder, podcaster & author.
Seen.
Why have armour when you can have silk?
During a visit to Karakorum, the capital city of Mongol leader Genghis Khan's 12th Century empire, Jim was struck by its inauspicious resources.
It was, and remains, a very small place so quite how Mr. Khan built his empire from here just goes to show what a resilient chap he must have been - leaving moral issues aside of course.
One of the many reasons his armies were able to conquer larger forces was their use of silk - which they wore instead of armour. This meant they could move faster than their opponents during battle.
This gave us pause to think about how leaders can combine technology with a bold vision to move with speed to out-compete a lumbering establishment to turn an inauspicious beginning in to their own empire.
Read.
Know your domain
How can a book written by a Chinese General over 2,500 years ago about fighting wars possibly help a founder run their business better? Well, quite a lot apparently.
The Art of War by Sun Tzu has been a source of inspiration to Jim.
It has taught him that a major factor of being successful in business depends on knowing your terrain - by the way Sun Tzu lists 9 different types of them.
How do you chose the domain in which you are going to compete? Who is there already and if you can capture this space how will you hold on to it? What markets can you serve?
A thoughtful founder, by thinking carefully, really can find the sweet spot within the domain their business occupies.
Learned.
The ability to scale doesn't need to cost money
Jim recently published his first book, The UnNoticed Entrepreneur - which your humble correspondent recently downloaded to his Kindle and is looking forward to reading.
He completed this task by being resourceful; using technology and by working with the right people and didn’t spend much in the process.
An example that shows how coming up with ideas to scale your business doesn't always need to involve lots of money.
If you are looking to scale what are the right tools and who are the right people for you? Even if you don't have much to start with sometimes you really can amplify the little you do have to create something of real value!
And finally.
This week we're giving away copies of The UnNoticed Entrepreneur to three people who send us an email with their all-time favourite seen, read or learned from any of our 44 podcasts or newsletters. All you have to do is write to hello@atomex.co.uk
Don’t forget to check out the accompanying podcast version of #founderhacks for a tantalising live experience of team atomex!
