TECHdotMN: News about Minnesota Startups

By Marti Nyman, Think. Act. Grow

“For the 5th deadly company killer we now turn to that old devil that haunts companies of all sizes, industries and age. The slow death. The uninvited guest. The scourge of all organizations, bane of product development teams and the pool from which unmeasurable customer dissatisfaction flows.

I’m talking about complexity.

Like a corporate cancer, it doesn’t discriminate. It feasts upon the 100 year old industrial giant with the same zeal that it applies to a 2 year old startup. It arises from both good intention as well as pure negligence. And like a runaway fusion reactor, once it gains inertia, it becomes very, very difficult to stop, never mind trying to undo.”

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By Marti Nyman, Think.Act.Grow

“So far we’ve covered the first three deadly sins that kill companies – communication, ego and lack of agility. Today I introduce our fourth installment in the series by introducing an elusive and completely misunderstood killer called “dogma”.

The definition of dogma that I’ll use for this context is this – dogma is any belief that is stubbornly held onto despite facts and data to the contrary.

But how does this really kill companies?”

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By Marti Nyman, Think.Act.Grow

“We continue our series on the 7 deadly sins that kill companies (existing and startups alike) and today’s installment brings us to the oft-misunderstood notion of adaptability. In this context, I describe adaptability as the attribute of companies, big and small, to be able to quickly and effectively adapt to the circumstances surrounding their business.

This attribute is almost universal in its applicability – knowing that change is inevitable and ongoing, it would logically follow that great companies are the ones who know how to deal with this on a regular, productive and ongoing basis.”

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By Marti Nyman, Think.Act.Grow

“So we last left off with the first deadly sin that kills companies – Communications. Now we’re moving onto the next of these deadly dynamics – ego.

To start off, here’s a wicked paradox – in many cases the very thing behind a successful startup venture is the presence of a driven, passionate, dedicated, focused individual. In other words, someone who’s very confident with who they are and what they’re there to do. Put another way, an egomaniac.”

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By Marti Nyman, Think.Act.Grow

“There have always been plenty of new and interesting ways to kill companies – sometimes external forces do it, while other times companies prove very adept at doing it themselves. I was reflecting on this a while ago and being ever watchful of common themes, I came up with my 7 deadly sins that kill companies. “

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Marti Nyman is the Managing Partner and founder of Altavail Partners, LLC, a strategy, growth and innovation consulting practice based in Minneapolis, MN.  Mr. Nyman’s background as a senior business development executive includes over 20 years of successfully creating new growth opportunities for Fortune 500 companies across multiple industries (Energy, Telecommunications, Consumer Retail).  Marti has extensive expertise in strategy development, growth opportunity identification, new venture creation (M&A, Joint Ventures, Strategic Alliances) sales and territory management, operations, relationship development and business execution.

In addition to his work in helping companies develop leading innovation initiatives, he was recently named as an Entrepreneur in Residence at the Gary S. Holmes School of Entrepreneurship at the University of Minnesota.  He has held leadership positions at GE, Ericsson, ADC Telecommunications and Best Buy.  Most recently, he responsible for the formation, launch and growth of Best Buy’s Venture Capital practice.

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We have confirmed with Marti Nyman that 40 Ventures fund is not going to begin this Fall/Spring of ’10 as anticipated and is on hold for the foreseeable future due to funding constraints.