ANVIL "GEARS UP."

What makes some business ideas flourish while others wither and die? What components should you focus on when defining a new idea or sharpening an existing one? What is the single, most important element that absolutely must work for a business to succeed? The Association of Young Filipino-Chinese Entrepreneurs (Anvil Business Club) is incredibly honored to have two extraordinary pillars in the world of business education share their thoughts on what makes successful businesses – well, successful. Collectively drawing from 30-plus years of academic research and insights from wildly successful entrepreneurs, Prof. Tom Kosnik and Mr. Kae Fong Tay seemed to have broken down the age-old question, “How do I make a business successful” with such relative clarity, with their "Gear Up" methodology: a revolutionary nine-component framework aimed to assess the needs of a business idea and helps business owners create a plan of action to promote business success, whether one is looking to pursue a fresh business opportunity or grow an existing one.
This exclusive, members-only forum which attracted a jam-packed room of eighty – far in excess of the maximum allotted slots of just thirty – began with a very interesting "front act" by Dr. Melissa Morala-Caranto (and ably assisted by Anthony Frank Tan) who introduced a revolutionary anti-aging breakthrough system called the "ageLOC Y-Span:" the most advanced and powerful, supplement that is designed to revitalize every person's Ageing Defense Mechanisms that targets one's cellular core. Employing the most advanced technology ever developed in the field of epigenetics, its unique formulation will represent the next wave of opportunity to respond to the overwhelming need for anti-ageing products and the ability to live younger. Because of its limited allocation worldwide, "ageLOC Y-Span" will only be available in the Philippines from September 16 to 26. Pre-orders may be made by contacting Eloisa Soriano at 726-7029.
The two main speakers indubitably possess incredibly impressive credentials.
The first speaker, Prof. Thomas "Tom" Kosnik is a well-known Stanford University Lecturer since 1990, and a former Harvard Business School professor where he taught Marketing from 1985 to 1989. It was at Harvard where he laid the foundation for "Gear Up" by initiating the work with the DDART framework – "Diagnose, Decision, Analysis and Reality Test," which was developed after many years of research with the goal to support students, entrepreneurs and business owners to decipher new and exciting business opportunities. Together with Stanford University Professor Dr. Lena Ramfelt and Skype co-founder Jonas Kjellberg, Prof. Kosnik co-authored "Gear Up: Test Your Business Model Potential" and "Plan your Path to Success," both based on this core methodology, which became international best-sellers.
The second speaker, Singapore-based Tangible’s legendary Director of Consulting, Kae Fong Tay, complements Prof. Kosnik’s concepts with his own ideas of making brands come to life. While having earned a highly-technical degree in Chemical Engineering from the National University of Singapore, he has devoted a good part of his career in the more exciting arena of business analysis and consulting, particularly in brand building. Fueled by his cyclonic energy, he seems to have mastered the art of sifting through the grizzly garbage of ideas and separating the wheat from the chaff. He remains to be one of Singapore's superstars in brand management who has since enjoyed a sterling reputation of harnessing and delivering powerful brands in order to create a meaningful statement to a client's target market.
Essentially, “Gear Up” pitches an extraordinarily simple-to-use framework that gives people the tools to take one's ideas and evolve it into a viable business model. In what they termed as the “nine gears” which represent the most critical components for launching a high-potential company, "Gear Up" seems to offer THE “Holy Grail” in helping bring business opportunities come to life – simply by pursuing a passion of curing customers' "pains."
The "nine gears" are as follows:
1. Customers. To create a new market or disrupt an existing one, you need customers;
2. Delight. Why are you special? Think beyond to find your delight;
3. Customer acquisition. The most important part of your business;
4. Business model. Cash is generated by great ideas and innovation;
5. Partners. No company is an island;
6. Competitors. Don't be intimidated by their existence. But be aware;
7. Go Global. Scaling your business beyond borders;
8. Team. Fill your bus with the right people, or there's no point in going anywhere; and,
9. Reality Check. Face the brutal facts, then act on them.
At the end of the session, this extraordinarily information-filled forum inspired a lot of Anvil members to create a winning strategy based on recommendations tried and tested by executives around the world.