Exponential Attributes to Grow Your Business 10X, Easily!

In the first part of this article, we discovered the main attributes that characterize top renowned world entrepreneurs.  To read Part 1 of this article, click here.  We also revealed the formula to become an exponential entrepreneur:

ExE = M T P  +  P L E A S E D  +  D I S R U P T

The formula explains how to become an Exponential Entrepreneur. (ExE) All you need to do is apply your Massive Transformative Purpose (MTP) then, add the implementation of the attributes that form the acronym P L E A S E D plus the other acronym D I S R U P T.  

The P L E A S E D attributes are mostly internal meaning that the entrepreneur has complete control. However, the acronym D I S R U P T is formed by external attributes because they connect with outside activities such as collecting data, scaling business processes, or leveraging technologies. Even though I called them external attributes, they are still a mindset mentality, which depends totally on the entrepreneur. For example, if the entrepreneur does not have an exponential mindset, it might be complicated to leverage any exponential technology.  

Let us review these external attributes to understand the fundamental part each of these attributes represents on the journey of an exponential entrepreneur.   So what does D I S R U P T stands for?

Data-Driven

Inventor and Innovator

Scale Processes

Rocket Moonshot Goals

Understand Experimentation

Problem-solver

Tech leverage

DATA-DRIVEN

What does Data-driven mean?

One of the differences between exponential versus traditional entrepreneurs is that an ExE makes decisions based on data; nonetheless, traditional entrepreneurs without data have to rely on their intuition, personal experiences, and even their emotions.

An ExE knows that the internet, globalization, and convergent technologies have made data information one of the essential assets of any company. Therefore, if you aspire to become an ExE, collecting, storing, organizing, analyzing, and interpreting information will be an essential asset. Not only for the growth of your company but for the growth of your bank account. In addition, an ExE fully understands the “influence” power that information represents, so an ExE quickly becomes Data-Driven Entrepreneurs.

Data allows the entrepreneur the choice to make more precise decisions due to the reduction of errors. Having accurate data information handy shows the reality of the company. Then, accurate and agile decisions can be taken by reducing risk ever further for time-critical decisions. Due to precise measurements with defined metrics, better KPIs will be set to achieve the best objectives and key results. (OKRs)  In addition, with accurate data, it is possible to have a complete view of every real-time transaction. All this information represents an unfair advantage that an ExE leverages to improve the user experience. The better the user experience, the better the customer satisfaction, which rapidly transforms into juice sales and greater loyalty.

Furthermore, data also allows the ExE to segment the market, thus precisely defining the target to which the company can direct its promotions. Do you remember the famous chain stores called Kmart and Sears? It took them a long time to understand the concept of data value. In the meantime,  another chain retail store called Walmart was transforming itself into a Data-Driven Organization. Walmart even installed their satellite back in 1980, so the reason that you may not remember Sears or Kmart is that they no longer exist. Are you going to keep to the traditional path, like Sears and Kmart, or do you want to become a data-driven exponential entrepreneur?  The decision is in your hands.

INVENTOR AND INNOVATIVE

“If You are going to invent, you have got to be willing to be misunderstood for long periods. Anything new and different is initially going to be misunderstood. Well-meaning critics will misunderstand it. We're worried that it might not work out. It will be misunderstood by self-interest critics, who have a prophet string connected to the old way. Either way, if you can't handle this kind of misunderstanding and criticism, then whatever you do, don't do anything new.”Data-Driven Those are the words of Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com owner, inventor, and innovator.  

However, if you aspire to become an ExE, you need to become comfortable inventing, innovating, and experimenting.  After all, experimentation is at the heart of every mega entrepreneur. There is no way to become an inventor without innovation, and practically impossible to innovate without experimentation.    

Exponential Entrepreneurs are curious, and they do not seem to get enough of the new. They never get tired of innovation, and they love invention.  They love creativity and new challenges so much that even after reaching exponential heights in their respective industries, they leveraged profits from their successful businesses to innovate new boundaries, for new stars, and even reach new planets.  That is the case not just of Jeff Bezos with Blue Origin; or Elon Musk with SpaceX, but also Richard Branson with Virgin Galactic and a few more ExE in the space race to either take tourists to the moon or start colonizing Mars.

What exponential technologies could your idea or your business leverage to reach new heights? For example, you may want to start delivering your products with drones, or maybe you want to be the first entrepreneur to start printing 3D bicycles in your country? What is it going to be for you?

SCALE PROCESSES

Unless you get over the fear of scaling, you may not be able to become an ExE.  Can you imagine where Rapii, Uber, or Duolingo could be without escalation?  Well, we all know the answer.  They will be right where they started.  Yet, as soon as the ExE finds the right market-fit and best business model, the ExE will expand, scale, and eventually exponentiate the enterprise.  

Without a doubt, this is another difference between the traditional linear entrepreneur and ExE.   Let us keep in mind that companies like Amazon.com, Facebook, Airbnb, and others started in the proverbial home garage.   Could you imagine our world today if Mark Zuckerberg could not have overcome the fears of expansion? Likely, you could not have found that long-lost friend from high school, or your college sweetheart, since it could have been a world without Facebook. However, Mark Zuckerberg decided to overcome most of his fears, and today Facebook is a worldwide company known in every corner of the world.  

However, when it comes time to scale, keep in mind that if you can not precisely measure whatever you are providing, you will probably not be able to expand it. However, what you can expand, can be escalated and later exponentiated.      

Additionally, before even trying to scale, ExE makes sure that all basic systems in the company are working efficiently and that most of them are fully automated.  One of the fastest ways to scale a good company into bankruptcy is to expand without having a great supporting team, the right strategy, or not fine-tuning the production systems such as finance, legal, sales, marketing, etc. Are you sure that your business is ready to expand and scale? Is your business set for your exponential mindset?

ROCKET MOONSHOT GOAL

How are you going to reach the stars if you do not even shoot for the moon?  But, what exactly are rocket moonshot goals? Initially, the term became known when Robert F Kennedy, President of the United States, announced in 1961 that the USA was taking a man to the moon. At that time, the US practically had no aerospatial infrastructure.  Nasa still was not NASA. It was a small institution founded just three years before JFK proclaimed his moonshot. So the goal to take a man to the moon before the decade ended was an audacious, hairy goal.  And yet, in 1969, against all odds, astronaut Neil Armstrong walked on the moon.  

Rocket moonshot goals, coupled with a fantastic MTP, are what has catapulted ExE to unbelievable growth and profits beyond their wildest dreams.  But even more importantly, most ExE has become transformers for their industries or have invented brand new markets that impacted millions of lives along the way.  Another moonshot was taken by Larry Paige’s when he expressed his intention to  “organize the world's information. “ Of course, now it seems obvious, but at that time, Larry Page and his partner Sergei Brin were students at Stanford University.  Today, they have impacted the world, and Google is part of our daily life as they continue organizing the world’s information and making it universally accessible and useful for all.

What is your moonshot?  What is your big, hairy, audacious goal? If you can not fail, how will you impact the world?  What is your miracle goal? Will you share it with us and the rest of the world?

UNDERSTAND EXPERIMENTATION

Without breakthroughs, it's close to impossible to become an exponential entrepreneur. A breakthrough is a typical characteristic that distinguishes bold entrepreneurs and marks another big difference between traditional linear entrepreneurs and truly exponential entrepreneurs. The easiest way to create a breakthrough is through experimentation. Breakthroughs have a direct correlation to your commitment to finding a solution to a specific problem. Because finding solutions, initially, is complicated, it may take a series of experiments to arrive at the truth, whether the hypothesis is that humans can survive on planet Mars or find the right market fit for your earthly product.   Therefore, falling in love with experimentation is a must for any aspiring ExE.

Jeff Holden, who has built high-level experimental engines at Groupon, Uber, and Amazon, advises entrepreneurs:  "The philosophy is you have to build your company to be a big experimental engine, and it has to start right at the beginning.

On the other hand, Jeff Bezos likes to say, "Our success at Amazon is a function of how many experiments we do per year, per month, per week, per day…."

To become an ExE, you constantly need to be asking the following question: What is the hypothesis? The next question: What is the value proposition for your company?

Remember that if you already know the answer, you are wasting time and money. The same applies to the ExE testing insignificant details that do not affect the main value proposition of your company.    Entrepreneurs must ask good questions that allow them to run good experiments to get good results.  These results may be insignificant at first but will become the breakthroughs that allow solutions to some of the most pressing problems for humanity. As I mentioned before, this experimentation mindset may also increase your fortune exponentially.

Are you ready to start bold experiments? Are you all set to include a culture of experimentation in your company?

PROBLEM-SOLVER FOR THE MASSES

Any entrepreneur is solving some problem, which is why people are willing to part with their money to receive the solution.  That’s how entrepreneurs provide value to the market.  However, Exponential Entrepreneurs do the same thing, but instead of fixing the problems for a few, they specialize in bringing bold solutions to the masses.    That's why most Exponential Entrepreneurs are driven by an MTP (Massive Transformative Purpose). They want to bring valuable solutions to radical problems to make the world a better place to live.  

That does not mean that you need to discover a new vaccine to save the world.  The invention of the iPhone made our lives easier and more enjoyable. Bill Gates sold hardware and software to run our businesses faster and in an easier way. And there are many exponential entrepreneurs selling products to help people to get in better physical shape.  What is similar among them is that they create solutions for the masses and do not work among the crowd.  

Today, we are all living in a phenomenal time where any entrepreneur, in a matter of a few years, can become a multi-millionaire if they leverage readily available convergent technologies to fix a problem in society.  Let me remind you that the fastest formula to become a millionaire is to help a million people.  If they are satisfied with your solution, I am sure they will be pleased to give at least one dollar in exchange for the value you are providing.  

My invitation is to think bigger, act bolder, start more experiments, and try crazy hypotheses, so you too could begin fixing big problems in society.  Stop thinking small and become an exponential entrepreneur, but that is possible only if you become a problem-solver for the masses.    

TECHNOLOGY-DRIVEN

Most household companies in the USA and worldwide were founded by intrepid entrepreneurs leveraging technology to take their companies to exponential heights. It doesn’t matter if we are talking about Mercedes Benz automobiles, Sony TVs, or Boeing Aircrafts. The similarity among the founders was that they were technology-driven. Whether the developing technology was for harnessing steam power more than 200 years, making automobiles in a Ford assembly line more than 100 years ago, or inventing the latest iPhone, all were inventions created by exponential entrepreneurs driven by technology.  They leverage the latest technology available at the time, and today you can do the same.

As an example, I have a friend that owns an embroidery factory.  His quality and customer service were fantastic, so his business has more work than they could handle. When I asked him why he didn’t automatize his factory, he immediately told me that it was way too expensive. Then, I questioned him, how expensive is too expensive?  Well, he wasn’t even sure. When I did the research, each robotic machine was about USD 25,000.  He immediately said, “ See, I told you they are way too expensive. “  I said, wait a minute.  How much do you pay each worker? The factory was working three daily shifts.  Local labor laws allowed only a seven hours shift for the afternoon shift and six hours for the night shift.  So, the factory needed almost four shifts of workers to effectively cover the three daily shifts, including coverage for vacations, sick days, etc.  

My friend paid off the first machine in less than 15 months to make the story short and not bore you with details.   Since then, he has purchased a few more robots because he is pleased that these machines don’t ask for raises, robots don’t get sick, and the best part is that they are not temperamental, so the output, the quality, and even the profits are much higher. And, because he expanded his production above 4X, he ended up hiring more personnel.

Exponential entrepreneurs are comfortable playing and experimenting with technology, but traditional entrepreneurs love the status quo.  Which type are you?

Remember, it only takes a few people with crazy ideas to make our world better. Are you ready to start growing exponentially? For more tips and tools to help you become an Exponential Entrepreneur (ExE), visit  www.VidaFabulosa.com    

If you have any advice to create exponential success or suggestions to raise the standard of living in needy regions of the world, please leave a comment or say hi on Linkedin!  

ExO Insight is a written word publication for exponential insights from thought leaders including members of our OpenExO community.  We tell stories of transformation while hoping to inspire and drive change in the world for positive impact. If you don't want to miss an article, be sure to subscribe here.