Dec 9, 2015

Quantitative Models in Business War Games

Many things look very cool but turn out to be not that exciting when one try using them. Like voice-recognition technology or Communism or electric cars. Quantitative simulation in business war games proudly goes into this list as well. War games in business is simulation of moves and counter-moves by opponents in a commercial setting according to Wikipedia and is a part of the large family of exercises that aim at leveling up the strategies and management methods in modern companies. In a gist, a war game has two or more teams competing for some resources - usually it is a market share, sales or other tangible outcomes. These exercises could be very beneficial for a company. In the general case there is no measure for the impact of a strategy and some thought introducing a suitable quantitative model to deal with that. And it is a good idea. Except it is not as it usually does not work.

Nov 18, 2015

From Start up to F**k up - What I Have Learned

I wonder when and why startup businesses became such a big thing. Maybe with the easy access to high tech, available funding and more people got convinced they could develop their own product to kill the market and buy the Hollywood life. However, despite all the books and gurus on the matter, starting a company from scratch is bit more difficult than installing an app on your phone. I am not a doctor but you can trust me on that - year and half ago I co-founded a company and went though the almost full specter of problems and emotions that come with it. The company is focused on retail analytical services and providing BI solution that addresses the specific challenges in that industry. I have recently terminated my tenure there and have the time to reflect and share some of the lessons I took. After all, isn't it a crime if you are in a startup and the world does not know about that?