Disruption Through Iteration with Scott ...

People argue that art can be many different things. Art is beauty, for its own sake. Art is commercial... or not. At its core, art is disruptive. 

From Monet to Banksy, art challenges the status quo; it provokes people to feel and think. It involves activating the imagination. Andre Breton, one of the founders of surrealism wrote in his 1924 “Manifesto of Surrealism: “The imagination is perhaps on the point of reasserting itself, of reclaiming its rights.”

Imagination corresponds to change. To change the world, artists first have to see it differently and then manifest that into their mediums. The same thing is true for entrepreneurs, and for  companies. The key is training the mind to be comfortable with change. 

For Scott Lynn, the CEO and Founder of Masterworks, being comfortable with change and constant iteration is much more important than execution in building a new business. And Lynn used this philosophy to take on an antiquated market geared for the ultra-wealthy — the art world. 

Masterworks acquires pieces of art, turns them into securities through public filings with the SEC, and then presents them as products to investors through its platform. To find out how this lover of art provided access for many art investors who never had that opportunity before and how he digitized the art market, tune into Business X factors.

Main takeaways: 

• Create Luck Through Iteration: Innovation and iteration go hand-in-hand. In fact, many inventors have a cupboard full of failed projects or prototypes. Failure is not the end of the story, it’s just another step forward. Initiatives that don’t work create a building block for future success. Entrepreneurs should iterate like crazy because the probability of success increases with every attempt. 
• Find A Gap: There are erroneous assumptions in many industries. An example of this is how the American automobile market assumed in the 70s that it could not face competition from Japanese automakers. Some markets may appear to be impenetrable as they have been operating in exactly the same way for decades or sometimes even centuries. But new entrepreneurs can find gaps in old industries if they know how to look. Keep up with changes in regulation and legislation, look for redundant middlemen, search for those industries with disgruntled customers or copy a gap that somebody else found in the market and do it better.  
• Make It Easy To Understand: Sometimes, if what you’re doing seems complicated at first blush, people will instinctively shy away. You have to ease people into new ideas by making them easy to understand. Try comparing what you’re doing to a market or idea that already exists, or relate your idea back to something commonplace so that you don’t lose people’s interest before even starting your pitch.

---

Business X factors is produced by Mission.org and brought to you by Hyland. 

For over a decade, Hyland has been named a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Content Services Platforms, leading the way to help people get the information they need when and where they need it. More than half of 2019 Fortune 100 companies rely on Hyland to help them create more meaningful connections with the people they serve. When your focus is on the people you serve, Hyland stands behind you. Hyland is your X factor for better performance. Go to Hyland.com/insights to learn more.