Blueprint to a Billion and Tuned In

I have been a fan of Blueprint to a Billion by David G. Thomson since the book was published.  Executives in most of my portfolio companies have read the book and applied many of the principles.  No billion dollar exits yet for Dave, but there's always hope.  There have been a number of knock-off books since, but none that really improved on the original.  Until Tuned In by Craig, Stull, Phil Myers and David Scott, that is.

Many of you probably know the basic premises of BTB, as its known in the entrepreneurial world.  Create a breakthrough value proposition, go after high-growth markets, get marquee customers, leverage alliances, master exponential returns, adopt inside-outside leadership, and find good board members summarizes the lessons nicely. Easy to say and miserably hard to implement.

That's where Tuned In comes in. Creating and sustaining a breakthrough value proposition is the first "essential" in BTB and the one most companies find the most difficult to accomplish.  Tuned In lays out a six step, "Tuned In" process which an entrepreneur can follow to achieve Essential #1 in the BTB world.  Find unresolved problems, understand buyer persona's, quantify the business case, create breakthrough experiences, articulate powerful ideas, and establish authentic connections are the basic messages.  Not a lot of new ideas here, but a nice, detailed path the help the entrepreneur get their arms around task #1 in a start up--pursuing the right idea. More information on how to apply the process in an innovative manner is needed.  Some of the text rehashes old ways of doing business, rather than how to participate in the next revolution.  For example, thoughts on how small business people could take advantage of the emerging mobile web would make the book more useful. But I quibble too much.

Like all good business books, the Tuned In authors use a number of relevant case studies to make their points. These are often the highlight of the chapters as they describe what works and what doesn't in executing the process.  I particularly liked the thoughts around crafting "elevator pitches" in Chapter 8, focusing on articulating powerful ideas in simple terms, the Achilles heal of many entrepreneurs.

Buy both if you have not read them and make that six hour flight to San Francisco a little more productive.

Comments

[Phil Myers]

David,

Thanks for the review of Tuned In. We're flattered by the comparison to BTB. And you hit on the core of the books value proposition. Most business books assume that you've got a foundation of value at the core yet so many entrepreneurs struggle in this first step. Yet when you master it, the rest can really takeoff including your ability to get funded and the venture communities desire for predictable outcomes.

Phil, Craig and David