IEF2011: The necessity of valued uniqueness, by Hossein Yassaie

Useless technologies get created all too often, while valued uniqueness is all too rare, the CEO of Imagination Technologies, Hossein Yassaie, told the IEF2011 meeting in Seville this morning.

“Too many companies think they can win by just being smaller/faster/cheaper’” said Yassaie, “it’s no longer enough. Too many companies analyse existing markets to extrapolate future ROI – it rarely works. Too many companies apply backward-looking thinking to forward-looking strategies – you won’t ever be a leader that way. Too many companies say what they think everyone wants to hear – then fail because everyone else does the same thing.”

“You need a unique strategy you really believe in – and stick to it,” said Yassaie.

Yassaie set out five reasons why you need a crystal ball: “Useless technologies get created all too often; today’s markets rarely reflect tomorrow’s; great technology takes time to develop – ten years from inspiration to revenues; markets increasingly interact – being able to bring technology from one industry to another is increasingly a useful route to market; and maturing technology markets will always rationalize down to a few players – you need to figure out how to be one of them.”

As a CEO you must ensure that everyone from the board to the bench must feel they “have your full attention and priority at all times”, said Yassaie.

To create demand and become pervasive, technology must have “valued uniqueness”, said Yassaie, and if you have that an ecosystem will grow around that uniqueness and itself become a “key valued uniqueness”.

Finally, he reminded delegates that “investors are not patient”- they like to see increasing revenues not the promise of a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, that everyone in your company must be results-focused and that you need to work with governments.