Engineering intrapreneur: marketing isn’t all 'fluffy stuff'

Engineering intrapreneur concedes marketing isn’t all ‘fluffy-stuff’.

Opening a commentary released through leadership series, Leaders Review, Flux Federation CEO and Powershop Founder, Ari Sargent, conceded that his journey in business had taught him to become less focused on producing endless engineering features, and more attuned to better customer engagement. “There comes a time when you have to silence the engineer in you,” said Sargent.

Given the latter career observations, the CEO’s central tenant, however, was that innovation is where disruption was most likely to succeed, as distinct from pure entrepreneurship: “Innovate what you know,” argued Sargent.

“An entrepreneur creates a new market opporutnity, whereas an innovator finds a better way of doing something within an industry that already exists...Blind entrepreneurship is a risky business.”

“Innovation is not necessarily more or less disruptive than entrepreneurship (but) an entrepreneur will often go into a market they don’t quite understand. I think an innovator is the more informed and safer way to do it.”

“Leverage your own (industry) experience,” he added. “...then surround yourself with other people from different industries’ experience, or from different parts of the value chain.”

“You can’t really disrupt a market without understanding that market, so leverage the experience you’ve got.”

Advancing the point online in an extended edition, Sargent said, “Its not whimsical – you (will have) been in the industry long enough to know how they (customers) behave, what their pain points are, and what you need to do to take those pain points away and make life better for them.”

On the marketing side, he said, like many engineers, it was a learning curve to quell that passion for coming up with the next feature, once the main event was on its way. “It becomes more about communicating your benefits, not endless features”.

What: Leaders Review Focus Points (2018 series). Short-form video series of public service videos for business, by invited New Zealand business leaders (televised and online).

Where/When: On-demand at LeadersReview.co.nz as well as series signature TVC spots broadcast this week on TV Three, and at various weeks throughout the year, just before the the AM Show’s 7AM National News bulletins.
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