Our Product is Explanation
All posts for “business”
Marketing genius and author Seth Godin recently wrote about the use of analogy in educating others and frames an idea that's near and dear to my heart:
Marketing, like all forms of art, requires us to learn to see. To see what's working and to transplant it, change it and amplify it.
We don't teach this, but we should. We don't push people to practice the act of learning by analogy, because it's way easier to just give them a manual and help them avoid thinking for themselves.
The... Continue Reading
Andrew Warner at Mixergy is one of the best interviewers I know. He's thoughtful and has a knack for asking that extra question that really challenges you to think deeply. In this interview, we discuss Common Craft and how the business has evolved as we've built a membership service. The interview went places that I didn't expect and I came out out it seeing my own perspectives in a different light.
I've embedded the interview below (transcript)
I spoke with Andrew back in 2009 as well.
John Lee Dumas and I had a really fun (and hopefully interesting) conversation for his podcast Entrepreneur on Fire. If you're interested in how I think about the business side of what we do, I think you'll enjoy it.
Explaining vs. Storytelling for Startups
Posted by: leelefever on September 18, 2012- 9:31am
Categories: Art of Explanation, business, Explanation, startups, storytelling
Seattle investor and “startup guy” Chris Devore recently wrote about four categories of effort that will help founders show that their startup is growing and healthy.
There are four important categories of effort that every startup team needs to keep in mind. Too much -- or too little -- weight in any one of these areas can lead to disaster when it comes time to raise the next round:
The first three categories are:
Product
Sales / Distribution
Recruiting
All important points, but it’s the... Continue Reading
More Than Videos - How Common Craft is Evolving
Posted by: leelefever on September 6, 2012- 10:34am
Categories: business, Common Craft, Explanation, mission, strategy
Lately you may have noticed a change in the direction of my posts here at the Common Craft Blog, and you probably know we’ve written a book about explanation. I'd like to take a minute to explain how we’re thinking about our future and why this change in direction makes sense.
For a few years now, we’ve been focused on our video explanations and the idea that video is a powerful form of communication. I assure you, this is still an important focus for us and we’re currently working on more.... Continue Reading
New Video: Crowdsourcing Explained by Common Craft
Posted by: leelefever on July 18, 2012- 11:22am
Categories: business, crowdsourcing, New Video, technology, video, workplace
Today we’re announcing a new video: Crowdsourcing - Explained by Common Craft
These days crowdsourcing is changing how we think about getting things done. This video follows the story of a person who discovers how a “crowd” of strangers can help him accomplish a goal. It teaches:
• Why crowdsourcing is needed
• How goals are accomplished using crowdsourcing
• How crowdsourcing helps with speed, quality and cost
• What motivates crowd members to contribute
• How crowdfunding helps turn... Continue Reading
Today the nice folks at Sprouter.com published an article that was based on an interview I did with them recently. Sprouter is a resource for start-ups and the interview is focused more on the business of Common Craft than the explanations. A sample:
LeFever believes the biggest lesson he’s learned from the process of building Common Craft is to invest in the future. “Every business needs cash flow and services (consulting, etc.) are a way to generate cash today. But you also have to be... Continue Reading
When we opened the Common Craft membership service, we made every video in our library available for embedding on other websites. Our vision was to give organizations of all types a new resource for educating and informing their visitors.
Just recently we saw a great example of this idea at work. A small religious organization in Pennsylvania created a page that serves as their very own library of educational Common Craft videos. With this simple page, they can offer their fans and visitors an... Continue Reading
Late last year I was invited to present at an event called Big Ideas Fest, which focuses on change and inspiration related to K-20 education. My presentation, entitled "Viral to Valuable" was about 15 minutes long and appeared during a track of the conference called "Scale and Spread", which related to scaling and spreading an idea. If you're interested in the Common Craft story and how we came to focus our business on video as a digital product, etc., I tell the story in this video:
To find... Continue Reading
Today we’re announcing a new video: Twitter for Business - Explained by Common Craft.
Twitter has been a big part of the Common Craft story. In 2008 we made a video called Twitter in Plain English that was present on the Twitter home page for over a year, introducing millions to both Twitter and Common Craft. Since that time Twitter has evolved in many ways. As it became a powerful way to track news and discover information, we made a video on Twitter Search. Now that it’s become a... Continue Reading