The web and innovation culture have given us access to countless ‘thought leaders’ and inspired us with bold new ways of thinking about what’s possible. Now, organizations and individuals are looking to one another for "thought partnership"—conversations that help them turn inspiration into strategy.
As a small company working with large technology firms, we've learned some difficult lessons about how to navigate the corporate world. As the white, male founder of a firm, but with 'hidden' diversity (all of our current employees qualify as at least one protected class, such as women, members of the LGBT community and/or disabled) I have seen a lot of conversations where people assumed I was one of the old boys' club, and had at least as many where I was definitely not in the 'club.' What I've learned is that mentorship is the second prize: sponsorship is what really matters. I first heard the term 'sponsorship' at the BlogHer Business, Entertainment and Technology conference a few years ago. In contrast to the (useful) mentorship and coaching models, which are mostly about advice in a private setting, sponsorship is the concept of lending or giving tangible and intangible resources to others to help them get a leg up—like reputation, connections, leads, money or access
Recently, we've been getting asked about the differences between many different IoT standards. One of the biggest players is Google—and they've been approaching the world of IoT on many, many fronts. Their early investment in Nest placed them firmly at the front of the pack for the current wave of home automation. But Google has also been working on IoT backbones for many developers to use, in three key ways:
With Apple's recent announcement of their direct sales of not just smartphones, but phone & plan bundles, mainstream customers are about to experience a big, visible change in mobile business models. While lots of articles do a great job comparing Apple's new iPhone Upgrade Plan to similar carrier-specific offerings, there's another issue at hand behind the scenes as Apple closes the loop of the iPhone experience.
