Ron J. Williams and the power of perspective

Understand how others are changing your business

Ron J. Williams (Ron J. Williams)’s career began by digging into the minds of clients. For 11 years, this energetic entrepreneur Create, establish, invest in peer-to-peer, sharing economy, market, social data and social commerce companies and provide advice for them.

Named one of them by Fast Company 100 most creative business people, Williams is keen to apply technology to “common people’s problems.” His current career, Proof laboratory, Is a strategy, product and innovation consulting company that helps teams create perfect products for their customers faster.

In spare time, Williams Advise the organization, such as Build new york, Inspire guidance and Code interaction Change the way young people People of color see themselves and their opportunities in technology.

Understanding the opinions of others is essential to the proofLabs process, and Williams believes it is essential to the success of any startup.Tim Donovan Hprior to A generationInternal Ccommunication exist Fundbox, recently spoke with Williams to understand how the power of perspective can help you grow your business. This is an excerpt from their conversation.

Ron J. Williams, managing partner of proofLabs.

Fundbox: Tell us how you started your business.

Ron J. Williams: My first job [out of college] As an investment banker, he will serve me even after 20 years. I learned to ask questions: How do you come up with a model that drives your business? How do you find out where value is created?

[After working on Wall Street], I founded a company that is an early entrant to the sharing economy. In the end, the business failed because I did not pay attention to the needs of customers as keenly as I should. This recognition is where proofLabs started.

Jeff Bezos once said: “At Amazon, we have always focused on our customers, [not on] Our competitors. “

RJW: Bezos is a great [example] Not only focus on the customer, but also focus on the specific way you add value to the customer. He said very clearly, “We serve our customers. They are the only group we care about. The specific way we add value to them is the best choice for us to provide them with the cheapest products.”

In the simplest terms, this means that everyone on the team, from Jeff Bezos to the warehouse, knows that the final criterion for judging them is, “Did we create value for our customers?”

Many startups [entrepreneurs] Think of them as visionaries. If they are really good, they will make investors excited to buy their vision.But investors don’t [your] Getting customers excited and getting them excited is not the same as knowing the real pain points of customers in their daily lives.

We interview customers [to get their perspectives for our clients]. When we have a recurring feeling [pain points], We found that someone expressed pain most acutely. Then we will pull out their photos and write down their resumes. This appears on everyone’s desk in the entire office, so the entire team can say, “This is the person we are building for”-rather than some fictitious character or fusion of people.

[You] You can have very smart people and very good ideas, but if you don’t start with a very real person and solve their problems, you will still miss the point. Whether I am helping to redesign a product or make a launch plan, I must first return to the customer and crawl into that person’s mind. [standing] Live with them and understand their views of the world.

I call this skill “perspective.”

Can empathy create a more effective workplace?

RJW: When clashing with the team, I saw people biting each other. If you go a little deeper, you will realize that what they are really arguing about is not “my idea is good, your idea is bad”. It is, “You are thinking about a 6-month timetable, and I am thinking about an 18-month timetable.”

Being able to accept the other person’s point of view can help you reflect [their] Understanding and perspectives.

It sounds like point picking also helps to create more inclusiveness in the business.

RJW: If the product comes from the problem we solve, if the problem worth solving comes from understanding people’s experience and pain, then if we look back on the Internet over the past 25 years, we basically only solved problematic men for white people in Silicon Valley. This is only a small part of the population.

We should invest in solving trillion-dollar problems that we don’t even understand. There are economic reasons because they are unique and very niche problems for others. [that doesn’t fit into that mold]We must learn how to connect and provide resources for black and brown founders, female founders, LGBTQ founders, and then get out of trouble.

People give a lot of verbal promises [to diversity in business]. But it’s not enough to just hope that we meet more women or more LGBT people at the party and invite them to attend [work with us]. We must actively seek out people. This has nothing to do with quotas. It is active participation in gradually changing values.

What is your best suggestion for entrepreneurs to develop growth plans?

RJW: First, figure out what you really want. When designing your business, what you are really doing is designing your life.

A business has a natural upper limit, which is a function of many things: how long do you want to operate? How much pressure do you want to bear?its about [part-time income], Or should this be “Big Kahuna”?

I am tinkering with a product-a simple product to prepare people for meetings. If this starts at $50,000 per year, it will be a great little pet project.

If I decide to put all the eggs in that basket, I need this thing to become a real business. I have to ask, “Can we develop it into a $20 million business?”

If I want to raise venture capital, I have to ask, “Can we make it into a $100 million business?”

The goalposts will vary based on your ambitions, ambitions, restrictions and restrictions.

You are passionate about the power of the Internet. Why do you think this is so important for entrepreneurs?

RJW: It is not enough to provide people with advice and tools. It is really important for us to build a network. Let us help the entrepreneur community, aspiring entrepreneurs, find people to work with, because this is the source of true consumer innovation and the source of forward momentum.

One of my favorite things to do is to connect great people to build great things. There is nothing better than letting a group of people walk around with your best interests, because you are also here to help create value for them. Even if you don’t have a job, people will work to help you-this is a very powerful thing.

About Ron J. Williams

Ron J. Williams is a mission-oriented entrepreneur, keynote speaker, proud father and managing partner of proofLabs. Prior to this, he founded Snapgoods/Knodes and advised the company on product market matching, system design, customer acquisition, and social commerce. He was named one of the 100 most creative business people by Fast Company. Find him on Twitter and Linkedin.