10x Client Productivity Start-Up
I've got an idea for a software startup and wanted to get some feedback. I'm talking to a potential partner -- bouncing ideas back and forth.

We know what the problem is. Startups and even more established companies don't have the tools they need to create systems that work so that they can maximize productivity. Think "Franchising the startup and small business world."

In other words, there's no software that is designed to increase productivity -- to put powerful systems in place that stop negative inertia and establish a "creative and chaotic order," if you will.

Sure, there's google app's and there's Basecamp and Attask. But are these programs really about productivity? Think about it. What is productivity? How is it defined? How is it measured? Do these programs increase it?

As far as I can tell, no company in America is focusing on the heart of the productivity problem. And the software tools that are supposedly about "productivity" are really about "collaboration and goal-setting."

Collaboration and goal setting may be a part of productivity, but only a small part.

What we have so far for our overarching company purpose is that we want to 10x client productivity. We see productivity as a product of at least three things.

1. Happiness. You've got to love what you're doing to be productive. In other words you've got to be working within your values, within a frame of reference that inspires the heck out of you. We call this the iBeam effect. (If you haven't heard the iBeam story, it's awesome! I can't take up the space to write it here, but believe me -- it's really cool)

2. Theory of Constraints. A book was written all about this theory. The book's called The Goal by Eli Goldratte. My friend had the perfect explanation for the book, "Raw energy." I agree. It is written by a physicist that comes at business productivity from a scientist's perspective. It's written as a novel about a plant manger that is forced to either increase productivity or lose his job. It's very informative. Every founder should read it.

3. Finally, the software. Once we know exactly how to solve the problem, we will map out exactly what our software will do. It may have some of the features that project management software currently has, it may not. But the key aim of the whole endeavor -- 10x client productivity.

Measuring productivity. Although productivity encompasses the three points mentioned above, we are going to need something more concrete to measure it. So we decided to measure it in terms of either money or products delivered.

In other words, if a client puts into practice the education and tools we give them, they should 10x either A. The money they make in terms of net income or B. The number of products they're able to ship / produce. We haven't decided which would be the better of the two to go with.

The two revenue streams we'll have are:
A. Recurring revenue from software subscriptions and
B. Sales of the educational tools we'll offer (interactive educational video presentations covering key concepts).

We want to give away some (or all) of it away for free to startups and have our paying customers be the more established small businesses.

Books that are inspiring us:
Art of the Start - Guy Kowasaki
The e-Myth Revisited - Michael Gerber
The Goal - Eli Goldratte
The Innovator's Dilemma - ?

We're still working out all the details, and this post isn't even the half of what we have discussed.

What do you think? Any comments? Suggestions?