RECIPE:
SUMMARY
EP. 02 | THE INNOVATION COOKBOOK
Erick Hachenburg is a serial entrepreneur who's been at the helm of several big acquisitions, most recently that of Tenor by Google. We sit down to talk about startup innovation, acquisitions, and his journey through Silicon Valley.
TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION PODCAST
SHOW NOTES
- Erick's startup launched a service called a “professional gaming league” which I think might be, literally, the first professional gaming league.
- The partnerships were crucial to the success of the business, and navigating the negotiation process was something entirely new.
- Erick's experience is specific to consumer businesses, with a predominant issue being: how to get in front of customers. He’s found that the answer to that question is always through distribution.
- We discuss the launch of (and thinking behind) Erick's company Tenor.
- Companies miss the innovation, they miss the change in the marketplace.
- Erick agrees that when a company is fine-tuned and organized, a lot of its decisions are made based on careful measurement of the past—a practice that counteracts creative visualization of what’s to come.
“The funny thing about the story about ‘you don’t who’s gonna do what’, right, is that because of the uncertainty, you should come in with a plan. You should lay the anchor for what you want to happen because that will be the negotiation starting position. The point about the first deal is: you have a clear anchor. We have done this with this other company; this is how it’s working. People take that for granted. Setting your anchor is hugely important in terms of where the conversation starts, or where it will end up.”
ERICK HACHENBURGSerial Entrepreneur