InnerVentures

  • Techno optimist with positive impact – new generational sensemaking

    Two things/events lead me here, to this thinking and sense making. One is Marc Andreesen’s latest thinking, published on the 16th of October in his Techno-Optimist Manifesto. The other is the crisis unfolding in the middle East. Here are my thoughts, not so much on the thinking or the events themselves but our reaction to…

    Stephen Danelutti

  • Hackathon as growth lab and how to lead a hack

    I mean growth in terms of mindset and learning and a lab in terms of environments that foster innovation activities and a culture of innovation. It’s no secret that is why they are endorsed by the CEO of Microsoft himself, where I work (disclosure). I’m leading one at the moment (again) and sharing what I…

    Stephen Danelutti

  • Old IT versus new IT as enablers of business

    I am referring to Information Technology departments, in case you were wondering. And it’s not IT per se that is the blocker but their mindsets. IT has traditionally played a disproportionate role in the diffusion of technology in a company, since they were seen as technology adoption leaders and so determined how the rest of…

    Stephen Danelutti

  • Dinosaurs can dance – the Microsoft story

    As I approach 10 years at Microsoft (disclosure), I can honestly say that when I started here, I didn’t think I would be here that long. Granted it was not an uninterrupted 10 years. I left in 2016 for two years. But the fact I returned is a testament to Microsoft’s transformation. And that is…

    Stephen Danelutti

  • Digital Transformation and the human wall of resistance

    This DanelDoodle is a play on an original Tom Gauld cartoon and I create it with the utmost respect for a master doodler and sense maker. His cartoon, which I cannot find on his site that I linked to, was around (social) revolution – part in brackets mine. Mine focuses on an area of work…

    Stephen Danelutti

  • The Employee Experience Journey Matrix

    As I am trying to conclude my work on the Employee Customer Experience Connection trend report, I felt an important yet lagging part of not just my work, but generally, was a comprehensive view of the employee journey. Not just the journey but what contributes to making it successful. The result of that is this…

    Stephen Danelutti

  • Suite or best of breed strategies for customer success when enterprise software budgets are squeezed

    It is in economic hardship that many offerings are put to the test and not least, the enterprise software offering. I’m reminded of this every day since I work supporting one of the most well-known suites out there, Microsoft 365 (disclosure). It was brought back to my attention by this post in The Information: Zoom…

    Stephen Danelutti

  • SenseMaking from the Web

    Growth hacking is really just growth testing Posted on October 10. Who knew that “growth hacking,” a term coined in 2010 by Sean Ellis, the first marketer at Dropbox, would become so commonplace in 2022? Considering the fact that growth marketing wasn’t even a formal function at startups 12 years ago, I think it’s okay…

    Stephen Danelutti

  • Launching a business in a recession – 4 of 4 – Selling

    This is a post in a series of four detailing how you can start a business during a recession (find them all eventually under the startup innovation tag). I think it is a commonly held view that we are about to enter into or are already in a recession. For whatever reason you are thinking…

    Stephen Danelutti

  • Launching a business in a recession – 3 of 4 – Pre-Launch

    This is a post in a series of four detailing how you can start a business during a recession (find them all eventually under the startup innovation tag). I think it is a commonly held view that we are about to enter into or are already in a recession. For whatever reason you are thinking…

    Stephen Danelutti

  • Why globalisation is still important despite headwinds and here is how to leverage it

    I’ve just returned from a week in Japan with colleagues from all over the world – the featured image has yours truly pictured in one of sessions we held 😎 I look after Microsoft Japan’s global accounts in EMEA (disclosure) from a customer success point of view – these are global companies with regional operations…

    Stephen Danelutti

  • Launching a business in a recession – 2 of 4 – Branding

    This is a post in a series of four detailing how you can start a business during a recession (find them all eventually under the startup innovation tag). I think it is a commonly held view that we are about to enter into or are already in a recession. For whatever reason you are thinking…

    Stephen Danelutti

  • Launching a business in a recession – 1 of 4 – Business Planning

    This is a post in a series of four detailing how you can start a business during a recession (find them all eventually under the startup innovation tag). I think it is a commonly held view that we are about to enter into or are already in a recession. For whatever reason you are thinking…

    Stephen Danelutti

  • A jobs to be done primer to transform your innovation thinking

    Tony Ulwick, Founder of Strategyn and leading proponent of Jobs to be Done (JTBD) theory and innovation thinker extraordinaire, ran a webinar the other day. I could not attend due to the time it was being held but I did watch the recording that was sent out to registrants. Fascinating stuff and here are my…

    Stephen Danelutti