Coming Up Right Here: Fresh Experiments In Business
At Clever Zebra we have a policy of experimentation. While we stick to tried and true systems for clients, we make sure to experiment with something new when running events like the vBusiness Expo. When you’re working with bleeding-edge technology, it only makes sense to test the limits at every opportunity.
Still, my work with CZ is focused on the enterprise case for virtual worlds. As a company it only makes sense to keep that focus, but as a technologist I sometimes find myself wondering about the other side of things. What about small business? Of all the things that we tend to recommend to businesses in general, which work for companies that consist of one or two people? Does a company size of a dozen or so change things?
Traditionally pundits take a quick survey based on news stories they remember off the top of their heads, write a few strongly opinionated blog posts about it, and call it a day. I don’t want to be a pundit though. I just want to know.
So after looking around, working on a few ebooks about business in Second Life (soon to be released) and interviewing dozens of small business owners, I’ve realized that it’s time to begin running experiments of my own. No more guessing. It’s time to try a few things out and really see how they work.
I’ve decided to start two big experiments:
- Can I design new tools that enable new ways for small business to work?
- How many ways can I experiment directly with selling a real-world product in Second Life?
Watch this space – I’ll be reporting back in the next few days.