The Sunflower Podcast

Learn how to get customers (the dogs) to flock to your product (the dog food). Follow us! Rob Ryan LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/robryanascend Andrew Olsen LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/andrewolsen2

You have a product idea. But will that product sell in the marketplace and attract customers? The phrase "do the dogs like the dog food?" is all all about learning the demand for your product, if customers are willing to pay for it and how successful that product will be in the marketplace.  Connect with us! Rob Ryan LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/robryanascend Andrew Olsen LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/andrewolsen2

Do you have a solid idea on how to leverage your company's products? Is your company balanced with engineers and sales people? When should you consider quitting as an entrepreneur? All these questions and more are answered in the final installment of the Wannabe Entrepreneur series! Connect with us! Rob Ryan LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/robryanascend Andrew Olsen LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/andrewolsen2 Sunflower Academy LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sunfloweracademy/

Improve and hone in on your entrepreneurial skills by learning how to avoid being categorized as a wannabe entrepreneur.  Connect with us! Rob Ryan LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/robryanascend Andrew Olsen LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/andrewolsen2 Sunflower Academy LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sunfloweracademy/ Website: https://www.sunfloweracademy.com/

Avoid being categorized as a wannabe entrepreneur by asking yourself if you have symptoms of Rob's "Wannabe Madness."  Connect with us! Rob Ryan LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/robryanascend Andrew Olsen LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/andrewolsen2 Sunflower Academy LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sunfloweracademy/

What separates a wannabe entrepreneur from one that'll strike big? Doing regular inventories on yourself and knowing what to watch out for in wannabe entrepreneurs can propel you towards success.  Connect with us! Rob Ryan LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/robryanascend Andrew Olsen LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/andrewolsen2 Sunflower Academy LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sunfloweracademy/

In the King Of Stratagems phase of the Sunflower Model you'll learn how to create and implement your Sunflower strategies.  Connect with us! Rob Ryan LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/robryanascend Andrew Olsen LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/andrewolsen2 Sunflower Academy LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sunfloweracademy/

It's every company's dream to corner and dominate a market space. The King Of phase of Sunflower Model helps companies realize what market they should become "King Of," and strategize how to make it happen. In this episode of The Sunflower Podcast, Rob Ryan introduces the concept of a King Of exercise while in the next episode he dives deeper into building stratagems. 

Practicing the Walkabout phase of the Sunflower Model is one of the most valuable business exercises you can perform. Speaking with your customers, or potential customers helps you gather data on their company and offerings which better helps you weather or not your own products are a good fit for the market.   Follow the Sunflower Podcast! LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/80437004/ Follow Rob Ryan and Andrew Olsen Rob Ryan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-ryan-b2a22714/ Andrew Olsen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-olsen-b9828192/

Knowing how to leverage your core competencies is key to offering products and services that you can deliver upon. In this episode of the Sunflower Podcast, Rob Ryan explores ways to ideate products that play upon your core.  Connect with us! Rob Ryan LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-ryan-b2a22714/ Andrew Olsen LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-olsen-b9828192/ Sunflower Academy LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sunfloweracademy/ sunfloweracademy.com 

Every entrepreneur wants to have a billion-dollar business idea but the fact is that those ideas are far and few between. In the ideation phase of the Sunflower Model, entrepreneurs explore choices, products, and opportunities that fit within the scope of their core competencies. Connect with us! Rob Ryan LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-ryan-b2a22714/ Andrew Olsen LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-olsen-b9828192/ Sunflower Academy LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sunfloweracademy/ sunfloweracademy.com 

The foundational elements of the Sunflower Model are built upon Core Competencies. All else that comes after in Sunflower must reflect what you, or your company are competent in. Rob Ryan explains how he discovered his company's Core Competency, and how that shifted priorities within his organization.  Connect with us! Rob Ryan LinkedIn Andrew Olsen LinkedIn Sunflower Academy LinkedIn sunfloweracademy.com

Having been ideating by Rob Ryan in the early 1990's the Sunflower Model was used to scale Ascend Communications from $16M in to over $2B and eventually merge for a record breaking $24B. Since its first use, Rob has been mentoring companies for over twenty years in the Sunflower Model methodology. Listen as he explains his process to building billion-dollar companies.  Follow the Sunflower Podcast! LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/80437004/admin/ Web: https://www.sunfloweracademy.com/ Follow Rob Ryan and Andrew Olsen  Rob Ryan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-ryan-b2a22714/ Andrew Olsen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-olsen-b9828192/

Rob Ryan founded video communications company, Ascend Communications in 1988. He grew the company to $16M in revenue by the early 1990s before his board began contemplating selling Ascend. In effort to save Ascend from being sold, Rob developed a business process called, the Sunflower Model. Utilizing the Sunflower Model, Rob was able pivot Ascend and within a few years reached billion of dollars in revenue. Ascend continued to grow until 1999 when it merged with Lucent Technologies for $24B.