SMARTCUTSHank Vieten

Lateral Thinking

Who do you

pick up????

Be someone you’re not

But don’t

take

shortcuts,

take

smartcuts!

!

Hacking the ladder

Invent your own ladder

Bigger and Better

Training with Masters

Thanks to

Rapid Feedback

Upworthy and their struggle against other

popular blogs like Buzzfeed and The

Huffington Post

Turning work into experiments to track

success

Wrote different headlines and used different

variations to multiply their reach by 186%.

DHH

• Full name David Heinemeier

Hansson

• Indirectly responsible for the

development of Twitter

• “Use the least amount of effort

possible”

• Created “rails” to automate

repetitive tasks when

programing.

Platforms

• Similar in concept to “hacking the ladder”

• Involves building layers on top of

processes that already exist to make them

run more smoothly

• Can take many different forms (tools,

technology, etc.)

• Platforms help you avoid reinventing the

wheel.

Waves

Important to make sure you catch the right wave

Many waves come and the first waves come before you

catch the more powerful ride.

Sonny Moore AKA Skirllex caught the EDM wave at the

perfect time. He actively experimented with trends on

the web and social media so he knew which wave to

ride

Momentum

“The Oreo tweet”

One tweet during the super bowl earned Oreo

525 million earned media impressions, most

of those through tech blogs

Keeping things constantly moving to avoid

falling into a depression, personally and in

business

Simplicity Cutting the process and curriculum down to

the core principles.

Keep things black and white.

“Simplification often makes the difference

between good and amazing”

Steve Jobs refereed to simplicity as “the

ultimate sophistication”, Apples products

exemplify this point of view

10x Thinking

Having “huge” visions

Often uses other “smartcuts” such as

simplicity, Falcon 1 and space X were like

generic acetaminophen to Boeing’s

Tylenol

“Often easier to make something 10 times

better thank make it 10% better”

D’Wayne Edwards

Used the principles of smartcuts to work his

way through the sneaker design industry

Was Nike’s youngest design director ever

Helped design Michael Jordan’s signature

shoe shoes, was one of 8 people to work on

the brands design.

Has designed over $1 Billion worth of product

Started PENSOLE, world's most prestigious

shoe design acadamy