App Clips are streamlined versions of iPhone apps that provide on-the-spot solutions. They are activated by scanning codes. — QR (Quick Response) codes have been around for 27 years. In Japan and China, they have been used on packaging and tickets for over ten years, and in recent times they have become ubiquitous for both online and physical mobile payments — mainly due to their use within the WeChat…

Retail Apocalypse Not Now — Despite a ten-year stream of brick-and-mortar “retail apocalypse” stories, and the recent devastating impact of Covid-19, it doesn’t take much investigation to see that, under the shadows of dying retail dinosaurs (both big and small), physical retail is inexorably evolving into a new breed of showroom-type stores that better unite…

Store – ‘Place where goods are kept for sale’. This is a definition of the word store recorded in 1721, and this is still the general idea of what a store is. The old retail success metric of ‘sales per square metre’ is also still prevalent. …

A brief history of Finnish startup communities — [Updated: December 2019] At prep school, we were allowed a small bag of sweets each Sunday, and I would watch in bemusement as one boy enthusiastically gave away most of his sweets. …

Do good enough and perfection will follow; try for perfection and risk failing to be good enough. After graduating I took a teacher position at boarding school. I was put in a flat with another new teacher called Will Gould. …

(related articles: Part 1 and Part 2) Setting up a startup is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle: find the corners (heuristics that keep the team focused on key elements), set the edges (limits of the scope), connect the obvious bits (core features and hygiene elements), and gradually fill out…

In-kind work convertible note agreement The second part of this article outlines an example of an agreement that can be used to fairly engage talent early on in a startup’s life when there is little or no financial resources. The rationale for this agreement innovation is outlined in Part 1 of the article. DISCLAIMER: This…

Nobody can create a startup on their own, but it can be difficult to engage team members when there is no money with which to pay them. This post outlines a new agreement instrument that is designed to help engage unproven people on fair terms despite a lack of funds. Team building without funding …

(Part 1 available here) The Roses of Success Up from the ashes of disaster grow the roses of success! The Roses of Success is a song in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang that I have always found encouraging, but I did not realize how profound it is until I heard Mark Goulston, a renowned management…