Developing Innovation from Within

by Angela

April 13, 2009

Lately I’ve had the time to really catch-up and follow some great tech blogs not to mention have some great conversations with many of you. One thing I noticed which will come as no surprise is we often talk about what we don’t like about a web app and not really about what we’d like or even what we’d like to see changed. This kind of feedback came be important to someone who is launching a new product or initiative..many times this feedback takes the place of focus groups for those of us w/ limited funds for that type of testing and research.

I’ve also been in tune with the type of feedback that start-ups is received. Not long ago I read an interesting post on TechCrunch about Israeli entrepreneurs and the nurturing environment start-ups receive over there… it intrigued me. Essentially very few get negative feedback, in fact positive feedback is encouraged while the converse is often looked down upon because it can hinder a start-up’s growth and potential. A very interesting perspective and not far from the approach many take with parenting. As a result there has been a lot of “buzz” about how many innovate apps are coming out of Israel. Considering those perspectives I can’t help but think of two things:

If we were open to giving more constructive feedback (versus bashing or focusing on what we hate) would there be more innovation coming out of the African-American start-up space?

and…

Do we really want baby start-up’s in this way or is it more valuable to help them develop thick skin?

What do you think? Could we possibly be hindering our own growth or are we just giving a little tough love?

Category: News, Startups, web 2.0 | Tags: crabs in a barrel, entreprenuership, innovation, Start Ups

Villager

Hi Angela - what is that 'retweet widget' that has the Digg look/feel in your post?

re: your blog post. I was president of a small business incubator for five years. We focused on small businesses owned by women and people of color. My observation is that Black businesses get enough negative feedback. I like the Israeli model of giving TRUTHFUL feedback in a positive manner rather than the way I've seen it done for our community's entrepreneurs and business owners.

Thanx for sharing this article and oppt'y to dialogue!

peace, Villager

markusrobinson

It's called Tweet Meme (http://tweetmeme.com/)

Gee

I agree. It's not just with web applications either.

Lets talk about the web/graphic design perspective as a small example. When I started designing websites back around '96, I would hang around in webmaster communities. I was always the only black girl, so these weren't black-targeted communities. We would review each other's websites, and like you said, we would analyze them inside and out, and point out both the good and the bad. However, for the negative for the feedback, we would still give tips on how one could better them because we wanted everybody to succeed. We were confident enough in our own craft enough to not feel threatened by someone else getting better. Whenever I would ask for a review, I would get nothing but love from them, and it made me want to design even more.

As more and more blacks started designing websites/graphics, I got excited about it, and I started hanging out in black-targeted design groups too. The majority of the time, it was either a lot of views, but no response, or nothing but negative feedback (with no explanation as to why), and it could be influenced by how they felt about you personally. For example: If someone thinks you're stuck up, or see you as a potential threat, they will give nothing but negative feedback, no matter what you produce. But the thing about it is, it still made me better, even after the fact that I was never given tips on what could make my style better.

That's how it tends to be in our community. We don't want to help each other; everybody is too busy wanting to compete, or wanting to be better than the next. We're too busy rolling our eyes, sucking our teeth, and hoping that potentially great start-ups would just die. That is the last thing that we need to be doing.

It seems like the only time we get good compliments from people in our community is when it's from people who aren't even in our field. Although that's nice, it would also be nice to get tips from people who ARE in our field, and maybe exchange tips on how we can strengthen our craft.

However, I don't mind 100% negative feedback at all. Although it could possibly hurt, it makes me better at what I do. That's why when I ask for feedback, I want it raw, and non candy-coated.

Gee

I agree. It's not just with web applications either.

Lets talk about the web/graphic design perspective as a small example. When I started designing websites back around '96, I would hang around in webmaster communities. I was always the only black girl, so these weren't black-targeted communities. We would review each other's websites, and like you said, we would analyze them inside and out, and point out both the good and the bad. However, for the negative for the feedback, we would still give tips on how one could better them because we wanted everybody to succeed. We were confident enough in our own craft to not feel threatened by someone else getting better. Whenever I would ask for a review, I would get nothing but love from them, and it made me want to design even more.

As more and more blacks started designing websites/graphics, I got excited about it, and I started hanging out in black-targeted design groups too. The majority of the time, it was either a lot of views, but no response, or nothing but negative feedback (with no explanation as to why), and it could be influenced by how they felt about you personally. For example: If someone thinks you're stuck up, or see you as a potential threat, they will give nothing but negative feedback, no matter what you produce. But the thing about it is, it still made me better, even after the fact that I was never given tips on what could make my style better.

That's how it tends to be in our community. We don't want to help each other; everybody is too busy wanting to compete, or wanting to be better than the next. We're too busy rolling our eyes, sucking our teeth, and hoping that potentially great start-ups would just die. That is the last thing that we need to be doing.

It seems like the only time we get good compliments from people in our community is when it's from people who aren't even in our field. Although that's nice, it would also be nice to get tips from people who ARE in our field, and maybe exchange tips on how we can strengthen our craft.

However, I don't mind 100% negative feedback at all. Although it could possibly hurt, it makes me better at what I do. That's why when I ask for feedback, I want it raw, and non candy-coated.

Gee

To clear things up, the second post is me as well. I was trying to make it come from a claimed account.

MartinRuiz

I liked the TechCrunch article too. The main lesson I came away with was the value of having a powerful voice and supporter. In the Israeli Startup space it's "Yossi Vardi"(per the techcrunch article). Not only does he help balance out negative feedback and press, he's also generating genuine interest in Israeli companies.

Every startup community would benefit from having a "Yossi Vardi".

As for your specific question, my vote is on all "honest" feedback... good or bad.

Joey Digital

[If we were open to giving more constructive feedback (versus bashing or focusing on what we hate) would there be more innovation coming out of the African-American start-up space?]

Combined with other methods of stimulating innovation, quite simply, yes. Talent is (and has always been) there. The "know how" is missing in most cases.

[Do we really want baby start-up’s in this way or is it more valuable to help them develop thick skin?]

AA start-up teams should be pledged - completely broken down and then built back up with extreme amounts of love.

Villager

Markus - Your tweetmeme gives information on the specific post. When I tried to install it the tweetmeme RT only showed my blog title ... not the title of the post.

What am I doing wrong?