One of the most amazing things about being in a Startup is that everything seems to change all of the time. When I think of Startups I envision a water balloon. "Huh!?" Wait, hear me out. You write your business plan and you think you have everything in control. Like a water balloon. Then, the thing pops. Just at that very moment is Startup mode. It is that moment before gravity takes over. That once nice and orderly balloon becomes a beautifully chaotic globule. If you ask me, it is how that moment is perceived and reacted on that will determine whether or not the Startup will be last. This requires a great deal of improvisation. Fortunately (perhaps unfortunately for some) the period of time that a Startup exists in this state is far longer than that of a water balloon.

Innovation and knowledge are intimately tied to the concepts of perception and reaction through improvisation. How something is perceived is dependent upon what is known about that thing. Whether the knowledge is a priori or a posteriori does not really matter. What does matter is what is done with that knowledge (at least as it pertains to the Startup globule). More knowledge leads to more options. Though that means more wrong options it also means more correct ones and opportunities to acquire additional knowledge through the lessons learned via the wrong ones. When creating a new industry, which is what Quiksu believes it is doing, knowledge is the oxygen which keeps the Company's lifeblood flowing. That lifeblood is innovation.

Innovation is the end result of systems and processes that interact with brilliant minds focused on a common goal. Anyone can build technology for the sake of technology, but the long-term societal impact that true innovation ushers in will be limited. Quiksu has to create a pandemically contagious culture of innovation in order to reach its destiny as an organization. In that environment, new ideas germinate and innovation flourishes.

Knowledge and Innovation. These are required tools when paving the road of a new industry, which is really just convergence of a few other industries. I'll get into that a bit more later though. In the meantime though, stay tuned for the final two: Security & Ubiquity

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Ethan Jordan
Founder & CEO
Quiksu Systems

Labels: balloon, destiny, improvisation, innovation, knowledge, water

This entry was posted by QUIKSU, on Tuesday, June 3, 2008. You can leave your response.