The value of “strategic intuition”

• Logical
• Sequential
• Rational
• Analytical
• Objective
• Looks at parts

Right brain:

• Random
• Intuitive
• Holistic
• Synthesizing
• Subjective
• Looks at wholes

In exceptional cases, the world comes to know of Steve Jobs, Larry Page, Sergey Brin and others who certainly seem left-brained in that they are uncommonly analytical but also seem to possess a strong intuition that allows them to channel huge amounts of corporate resources towards large problems and “be right” more often than not. And, making high quality decisions more often than not is really what separates the players from the rest. I’d like to argue, in fact, that strategic insight is more important than being a world class technologist as it relates to web start-ups. It has been said that Seattle could compete with the Silicon Valley more effectively if only we could increase the scope and sophistication of our technology education paradigm. Having a richer technology education environment seems as important to a budding tech scene as cocoa does to chocolate cake. It’s important! Technologists (e.g. developers/computer scientists) may well be the perfect “catalysts” for the next great online businesses.

Having said that, I’m still apt to argue that past the seed stage, a broader ability to think reigns supreme. In order to be more “whole-brained” in their orientation, budding tech entrepreneurs should try to take from their schooling equal appreciation for the arts, creativity, and the skills of imagination and synthesis. It would seem that businesses become great when all cylinders are firing in uncanny sequence and with above average efficiency. This includes development, marketing, sales and support.

I think intuition is sometimes confused by observers as “luck.” Two interesting, albeit relatively small, examples come to mind. First, was the widely publicized story of the 21 year old who started a site after a few hours of brainstorming called http://www.milliondollarhomepage.com The idea was simple and caught on like wildfire. Basically, he set up a site and intended to sell “pixel ads” until he had made a million dollars. The goal was achieved in months. The second company that came to mind as I wrote this was the now famous “AmIHotOrNot” site. These two sites, along with so many other similar examples (like Twitter, Pownce, digg and others) were conceived as either sudden flashes of inspiration or as a subconscious analysis of past experience. For example, it is highly unlikely that the first time Kevin Rose of Digg pulled up his favorite news site that he immediately noticed obvious problems. In fact, he probably noticed nothing at all. More likely, he spent years consuming information from existing websites and grew accustomed to clicking around to get to the information HE was most interested in. We do it with the giant Sunday edition newspaper each week. I grab the business section and my wife quickly goes for the editorial or entertainment portions.

In the case of the milliondollarhome page, Alex had already amassed enough knowledge about the internet, online advertising and traffic building subconsciously that he had already begun to lay the foundation for a totally original online ad platform even before he realized the idea for the site. He just didn’t know that this consumption and storage of information would yield opportunity or he did not know how the opportunity would manifest itself.

Intuition is like that. When good ideas bubble up, you’ll often be sitting in traffic or you’ll dream about it in your sleep. It may seem like an epiphany but it is really the outward manifestation of your brains ability to manage thousands of seemingly unrelated data points and reinterpret them according to what it thinks you really want. I really believe that embracing and extending the power of strategic intuition is perhaps the most important leverage you could exercise.

There are a lot of reasons why investors often like to see technologists paired with a right brained marketing type. It isn’t that a developer can’t read marketing books and learn how to build a SWOT analysis or an MRD. Many developers who start companies do it because they are interested in learning more about business on the front lines. “Why do people buy products and how did they come to make the decision?” But from my observation, there is something else that a right brained marketer brings to the table beyond his mastery of the marketing basics. It is intuition. It is “presence of mind,” where you free your brain of all preconceptions about what problem you’re solving and what solution might work. Some people have certainly learned it on their own, without even knowing what exactly they’re doing. But like all other complex human actions, you are born without it and over time your brain learns it.

Leveraging a highly cultivated strategic intuition ability is perhaps an entrepreneur’s best marketing strategy. When you embrace presence of mind you accept the incredible power of the mind and its ability to reach into its file cabinet to deliver the information you need to make good decisions in the face of ambiguity. Left brained people often struggle when challenged to find clarity in ambiguous situations just as right brained people often struggle to articulate a product spec with the right amount coherent detail which satisfactorily captures the importance, goals and non-goals of the envisioned feature.

When I worked for RealNetworks in the 90’s, I had the opportunity to go to work in Europe during a time when there was no infrastructure yet in place. With all of Europe before us and little tactical direction to draw on, we had to make some critical decisions. “Where shall we focus on resources? On what verticals? In what countries?” I recall spending some preliminary time in the Nordic regions, hopping from Sweden to Finland to Denmark. Along the way, I wasn’t particularly trying to address the more strategic questions that related to an overall direction. I sensed opportunity based on a few brief emails and phone calls. Each subsequent meeting in the region confirmed the sense I had. I wasn’t rigid in my development of a sales plan. I didn’t believe I knew enough about Europe to be rigid. Over time, I began to develop some observations. The first was, “I like this area. It’s like Seattle in many ways with the water, climate and smaller urban topographies.” Further sub conscientious notations were made. “The people here seem particularly aggressive about digital media and its potential relative to some of the other regions I’ve visited.” “The people here seem to admire the possibility of an American business cooperation more so than in other regions.” “The people here seem to embrace the idea of risk in a manner that is more American and more along lines that I understand.” “The people here want their English to sound more American.”

All of these things went into the mental file cabinet. What came out was a bit of a business plan to spend time and money marketing to nordic telecoms. What also came out was a good deal of revenue. Working with former executives from Microsoft, I can tell you that making decisions based on “gut instinct” isn’t always a popular explanation. If there aren’t bar charts and analyst reports to support your theories you’ll often find yourself chastised in this technology industry. Yet, at the end of the day what’s truly admirable is your ability to analyze a much wider range and depth of information than would be considered “normal” and infuse that with a “sixth sense” that cannot possibility be constrained to an excel spreadsheet. When things can’t be quantified in a spreadsheet, many people get nervous. That would be a mistake. This goes to the heart of the value of a right brained individual in an organization.

Presence of mind means accepting that even the most minute details are used to craft valuable epiphanies. Accepting the epiphanies that often come as a “flash” of insight feels like an overwhelming discovery of opportunity. Your resolution to act on flashes of insight is obviously necessary. I can only speak for myself. I tend to develop packaging, presentation, marketing and PR strategies with intuition being an important pillar in the framing of the plan. “I just know” what will work best is an extremely important sense to be able to cultivate and very few people will want to state “I just know” with the right level of confidence. In the end though, “I’ll just do it” is the only manifestation of intuition that really matters.