Dead Cat Bounce

I recently heard the serial entrepreneur, Bret Taylor, speak with Kara Swisher from Recode: Decode about the redesign they did of FriendFeed before selling it to Facebook.  He called the redesign a “dead cat bounce,” implying that the product had already lost to a competitor and it was a last-ditch effort to bring it to life, but was ultimately unsuccessful.

It got me thinking.  Does bouncing a dead cat back to life ever work?  At what point did he know it was dead?  What would have been saved (in money, time, or “life force”), if he hadn’t bounced the cat one last time?

I don’t know much about FriendFeed, and I am in no place to judge, as I know that I have bounced a dead cat in my own career.  Vigorously.  With passion and authority.  And seen it skid out.  To see the effort amount to nothing other than lost time, money, and credibility.

It requires a lot of self-reflection and brutal honesty to avoid the temptation of playing “Weekend at Bernie’s” with your business, ideas, products, or initiatives.   May we all have the courage to face the truth and focus our attention on the things that matter most.

LinkNYC: an experiment in wealth creation

If access to information makes you smarter.

If being smarter and better informed allows for better or faster decision making and better utilization of resources.

If better decisions, lead to better outcomes or results.

And better outcomes lead to the creation of wealth

Then, LinkNYC, with its broad distribution of broadband internet to the streets of New York, might be the largest wealth creation experiment in recent history.

Doing the Wrong Things Well

I read a great blog post by Dan Pink a few years ago on this topic and thought it was worth remembering. This might be a good one to print out and put by your computer or where decisions are made or priorities are set. Watch against activity that feels good and right, but doesn't clearly lead to results or value that your customers perceive.