With six months to go to Business of Software 2011 we are delighted that well over 50% of the places are now filled. You can still save $800 on the full ticket price if you act fast – due to the absurd number of public holidays in April in the UK (we even had a public holiday for the Royal wedding), we have extended the April Early Bird deadline by a couple of days and this will now close midnight PST on 4th May.
Book your Early Bird tickets by midnight PST on 4th May, and the April Early Bird price with $800 discount will stand.
- You can see the latest line up of Business of Software speakers here but we particularly want to congratulate Professor Clayton Christensen, who will open Business of Software 2011, on being awarded the Harvard Business Review McKinsey Prize for an unprecedented 4th time. Professor Clayton Christensen, is the author of, ‘The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail’. The Innovator’s Dilemma considers how successful companies with established products can stay ahead of those with newer, better, cheaper products. Needless to say this is a tough proposition. It is a seminal work that starts out by comparing the hard disk industry to fruit flies…
“When I began my search for an answer to the puzzle of why the best firms can fail, a friend offered some sage advice. “Those who study genetics avoid studying humans,” he noted. “Because new generations come along only every thirty years or so, it takes a long time to understand the cause and effect of any changes. Instead, they study fruit flies, because they are conceived, born, mature, and die all within a single day. If you want to understand why something happens in business, study the disk drive industry. Those companies are the closest things to fruit flies that the business world will ever see.” The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail
- When I started talking to Professor Christensen’s office about speaking, I came across an article he wrote last year that had as much resonance for me as the Innovator’s Dilemma. It turns out that a lot of other people felt the same about How will you measure your life? (10 minute read, lifetime impact). The article, a summary of Professor Christensen’s graduation address to 2010 HBS students, has become one of the most downloaded articles in the history of the Harvard Business Review. This month it won the Harvard Business Review McKinsey Prize making the author an unprecedented four times winner of the award.
- Business of Software is about growing long term sustainable software businesses. Long term sustainable software businesses are built by extraordinary people who lead far from ordinary lives. I think this article will be of great interest to you and I am very excited about hearing Professor Christensen’s talk in October.
Some speaker videos from 2010
- You can see a couple more of last year’s talks up on the site now.
- Jason Cohen shares some smart thoughts on advice, well meant and otherwise, that entrepreneurs must learn to filter – understand all advice comes with associated prejudice.
- Patrick McKenzie (@patio11) spends 7 minutes 30 seconds precisely explaining his views on marketing software to such under-served minority markets as non-techies, non-Americans and even, shock horror, women. I challenge you to watch Patrick’s talk without laughing and learning something.
- We will be posting some more of last year’s talks up on the site over the next month so now would be a great time to subscribe to the BoS blog so you stay up to date on what we are up to. You can also follow BoS on Twitter and follow the hashtag #BoS2011 for BoS updates and news.
Thanks for reading. Don’t forget, to book your Early Bird tickets by midnight PST on 4th May for an $800 discount.
Mark Littlewood