An Applied R&D Lab Serving Solo and Family-based Entrepreneurs in Rural and Distressed Urban Communities

The Nanocorp Primer #1

The Road Less Traveled and Where It Leads...

'Ruthlessly small' in a nanocorp world

[ Preface ] [ Presentation Conventions and Navigation ] [ Table of Contents ] [ Slide text ]

2015 Update: Many years have passed since Timlynn and I actively pursued Sohodojo. Those years were "life interrupted" as we both faced stage 4 cancer battles and have, so far at least, won a few Bonus Rounds. To this end of #PayingItForward for the Gift of Life, we're essentially re-entering the world by living our lives as much as we can by the ideas we tried so hard to help gain traction at the start of the New Millennium. We'll be mining this site for "oldies but goodies" as we engage in our "Influence Without Authority" Portfolio Lives in the Citizen Science and Citizen History domains. For more about what we do now, please visit FactMiners.org and The Softalk Apple Project, and follow us on Twitter at @Jim_Salmons and @TimlynnBabitsky.
Happy-Healthy Vibes,
-: Jim & Timlynn :-

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Preface

In this first installment of The Nanocorp Primer, we explore the paradoxical and perpetual dynamic opposition of 'Small is Good' and 'Big is Good', the fundamental organizing principles of Business. We'll examine how, properly appreciated and 'ruthlessly' applied, 'Small is Good' dynamics can be just as powerful and, therefore, as competitive as are the all-too-typically applied 'Big is Good' dynamics.

We welcome your comments and questions. Contact us..

Thanks for reading,
--Jim Salmons and Timlynn Babitsky--
13 December 2000
Raleigh, NC USA

Presentation Conventions and Navigation

The graphical 'slides' in this presentation can be read in sequence without reference to the content, here, 'below the bar'. These annotations under the slides provide additional and related commentary. You will know if a page has annotation comments by the 'within-page navigation bar' at the top of each page. On this page, the 'within-page' navigation aide looks like this:

[ Preface ] [ Presentation Conventions and Navigation ] [ Table of Contents ] [ Slide text ]

If you don't see any links like the one above on a page (other than the on-page link to the textual version of the slide), there are no additional comments 'below the bar'.

Table of Contents

This presentation consists of the following slides:

1. The Road Less Traveled and Where It Leads -- How 'ruthlessly small' is derived from First Principles in a nanocorp world
2. Dan Pink, the 'Studs Terkel' of the Free Agent movement, has been tuned into the dojo since our early days. One meme -- our 'ruthlessly small' nanocorp -- has captured his attention.
3. 'Ruthlessly small' is not hyperbolae nor simply glib marketspeak. It is derived from First Principles, the BIG IDEAS about small business that permeate Sohodojo.
4. Hegel, with his Dialectic, gets most of the Western Civilization credit for popularizing what this icon says even better. we are perpetually in a dance of balancing dynamics.
5. Let's 'unwind' the Yin-yang icon to apply some basic mathematical reasoning to the picture.
6. In calculus class we learned how to think of curves as closely-packed sticks, each computed according to some formula that described the function.
7. For us humans, there are no absolutes. The extremes of our dynamic model are never 100%.
8. The World of Business is largely a game of relative advantage played out on one 'side' of this dynamic model.
9. This shared agreement of how The Great Game of Business is played and to what ends becomes a kind of psychic prison.
10. Looking at this World of Business as a Food Chain, small business is an unhappy place... grow bigger and faster or be eaten.
11. Accretive growth, getting bigger and more complex, encourages certain kinds of organization, product and service strategies.
12. A Porsche in every driveway, Gucci shoes on everyone's feet, high-pay/low-stress... Yeah right! That'll happen...
13. In our rush to be part of the New Economy, we risk harvesting only low-hanging fruit. We're teaching old dogs new tricks instead of developing new breeds.
14. Many young entrepreneurs have so little experience that when they partner with BIG money and old ideas, they don't see just how conventional and inside the box they are.
15. My time and how I use it are more important than how much I make.
16. 'Ruthlessly small' is your commitment to play in this other half of the box...
17. The Box is Capitalism, a value-less expanse of exchange-space. Where you stand and the direction you move within the Box gives meaning to your Life.
18. Industrialization, with the rise of its large corporations, has created a blindspot that skews Our Future...
19. This is the Road Less Traveled, its destination a Vision of a Future not yet realized.
20. What will it take to homestead the New Economy's Frontier?
21. This is the Vision that empowes Sohodojo... to imagine, then make real the business models and associated technologies that will unleash the 'other side' of Capitalism.
22. We don't want to 'level the playing field', we want to start a New League. And we challenge the Dark Side to a continuous World Cup of interplay and exchange.
23. There is no better time than now to think for yourself. Are you ready to commit to 'ruthlessly small'? To walk the Road Less Traveled?

Slide text

The Road Less Traveled and Where It Leads -- How 'ruthlessly small' is derived from First Principles in a nanocorp world

No.1 in 'The Nanocorp Primer' A self-education offering of Sohodojo,The Entrepreneurial Free Agent and Dejobbed Small Business R&D Lab
By: Jim Salmons and Timlynn Babitsky

22 March 2000

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