The Reluctant Entrepreneur: Business Secrets

Driving through Mumbai, I overheard my Sister in law talk shop. She is the Editor of SAVVY. She was referring to a lady who did not want to publicize her Christmas sweet recipes because they were her trade secrets. She felt that if her recipes were published she would lose her business as all those who read the same would attempt to make the sweets at home and not buy from her.

A gentleman working for a rival manufacturer, told me that he had visited our factory along with a dealer without our knowledge. That forced a retort out of me, “So you must have seen that your Brand has no chance against ours.”

COKE and PEPSI are widely known to be extremely secretive about their individual recipes. As are IBM or APPLE. Today, when you enter a large organisation you will have to leave your camera phone at the gate and CD's and pen drives are a NO NO.

So is the Lady who did not want to share information about her recipes right or was our security lax?

Should we all not follow the rigorous security drills of the large companies?

A Professor at the Asian Institute of Management, told us a story to explain the importance of getting the right information when opting for technology transfer. His question, “Is a song part of the recipe? Most if not all answered that the song is irrelevant with regard to a recipe. He had a different and enlightening view. He said that by buying just the recipe one would never get the dish right. The song signified or addressed the issue of timing. The different verses were clues to when an ingredient had to be added, the tempo allowed one to stir the pot at the desired speed. Therefore if someone bought only the recipe he would be a loser.

Using this analogy for start ups or smaller companies, I would believe that unless the person is able to steal the song along with the recipe he would not get far. The downside is much greater if the start-up does not get the necessary exposure.

So in the first example I would believe that the lady lost a big opportunity to show case her products and promote her brand by refusing to publish her recipes in SAVVY. I am sure had she published her recipes, far from losing business she would have gained business.

We are open to allowing industry visits at our factory and explaining the products to anyone. The belief is that the process is commonly available and definitely not rocket science. By blocking access we would deny our potential customers the brand experience. They can see our systems, processes and can be assured we are capable of producing a quality product. I doubt many have gone back and considered starting a similar unit. The reason being, what is not on display is the “SONG”. In our case, it is the highly motivated team of people, the level of commitment and the overall atmosphere which allows the individual to flourish. Hen used the technology to create the product

If you think about it carefully and follow a couple of companies performance, you will notice that in the same category category of products or process there will always be one who is far ahead of the pack. Try and pick his song. In the case of Jobs/Apple, they were able to guess the need of a customer even before the customer was aware of such a need. They then used the technology to create the product. The MERU taxi service, the song is the customer centric approach which enabled them to reach customers, no rocket science in driving a cab.

In summary rather than blindly follow a large company's thinking, each individual start up should decide what constitutes the recipe and what constitutes the song. They should not only guard the song but also improve it. The company will surely benefit in terms of the right exposure.

I believe the lady should publish her recipes, what do you think?