What You Need to Know Today: September 28
Good afternoon, Early Risers!
Here’s what you need to know
TECH
Selling fear: B2B vs B2C. On Friday, BlackBerry officially joined team Android when it announced Priv — its privacy-focused Android device. Another privacy-focused phone that made its debut is the Blackphone 2 (no relation to BlackBerry). Who do you think these privacy-focused phone companies are targeting? Here’s who they’re NOT targeting: privacy-conscious consumers. Selling business-to-business (B2B), in this case, is way more profitable. Of course privacy-conscious consumers will probably get excited and buy one of these devices. But BlackBerry and Blackphone aren’t wasting any ad dollars trying to convert the masses. So then how is selling fear different B2B vs B2C? The main difference is understanding what your prospect cares most about. For privacy-conscious consumers, they fear government agencies spying on them. For businesses, they care most about their bottom line, so the fear of technology that could compromise the bottom line is what drives action.
YouTube is preparing to launch its subscription service. “YouTube intends to bundle two different services into one offering: An update of its music service, which it launched in beta as YouTube Music Key last fall, and another service, yet to launch, that will give users the ability to watch anything on YouTube without seeing ads” (Re/Code).
Tech startups are changing sports for players and fans. “Project 1 uses GPS technology to track players’ movement, acceleration, deceleration, change of direction and jumps with the aim of improving their game. The company initially focused on soccer, but aims to expand its player-tracking technology into sports like hockey. A second company, SoccerFit, develops soccer training programs, and the third, the sports analytics branch of Nanolytix Inc., based in Waterloo, Ontario, designs simple tests that can be used on-field to test a player’s potential for dehydration or cramping, allowing coaches to individualize training,” says Camilla Cornell. Read more here.
CAREER
How to get private tennis lessons from Serena Williams. “Mr. Rogier’s idea was this: a series of online courses taught by people who are the best in the world at what they do. How about an acting class taught by Mr. Hoffman or Kevin Spacey? Want to finally write that novel? Perhaps you would like to study with James Patterson, who has sold upward of 300 million books. If tennis is your thing, here’s Serena Williams, who will share with you the secret of her cunning forehand.” The New York Times just wrote a piece on David Rogier and Aaron Rasmussen, founder’s of MasterClass. This story is chock full of lessons in entrepreneurship and persuasion. You can read the full story here.
The surprising value of negative thinking. “A CEO calls her staff into the conference room on the eve of the launch of a major new initiative. They file in and take their seats around the table. She calls the meeting to attention and begins, “I have bad news. The project has failed spectacularly. What went wrong?” The team is perplexed: What?! But we haven’t even launched yet…! I know it seems strange and maybe even counterproductive to demand that employees think negatively instead of optimistically, but in business circles today, everyone from startups to Fortune 500 companies and the Harvard Business Review are doing this exact exercise,” says Ryan Holiday.
+ Is Rihanna a poor-woman’s Jeff Bezos?
LIFESTYLE
How the author of the Jack Reacher novels spends his Sundays. “The secret disadvantage that writers have is that writing takes away from reading time. So it’s very appealing to me to say I’ll take the evening off and read a book. I’ll read absolutely anything. I read my peers and contemporaries because at a certain level a book is almost a diary of how that person felt during that year. So I read all my friends to catch up on their news.” Read more.
The grass is always greener. “The desire to have not is a desire of the haves,” says T Magazine. Cabin Homes are the new American dream. And if you want to become rich you need to put yourself “in the path of money,” says Dan Kennedy. In this case, we’re seeing “the haves” wanting something “the have-nots” take for granted. As an entrepreneur you should be thinking of ways to sell this minimalistic-dream to the haves. Start by reading this article.
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