What is the link between Start-up & Ice Cream?

In this hot summer time, speaking about ice cream refers more to vacation than business.

This is true, the link is not obvious, until you consider that innovation is based on cross fertilization of ideas & concepts and don’t stop at 6 PM after your work day.

Personally, I believe having a hobby you enjoy brings you joy and enriches our lives which cannot be bad finally for a creative spirit.

I love ice cream. Eating them, cooking them, studying them. Recently I bought a book of ice cream recipes written by two French guys who opened a shop in Paris selling crazy ice cream mixing a lot of strange ingredients.

In this book, the two entrepreneurs dedicated a page describing the thirteen rules they would respect in their ice cream creation and shop. I cannot resist to share with you those rules which could really well fit to any start-up in the world.

Rule # 1
Do the reverse from what you learned at school !

Rule #2
You disturb? It’s blocked? It’s frightening? You are in the good direction

Rule #3
Forget competitors, trends are for followers

Rule #4
Open-up your horizons : get out, discover, taste, digest & ingest

Rule #5
"There is nothing we really need to do that isn't dangerous" - John Cage

Rule # 6
Find a way to use your dark side that can benefit your work

Rule #7
Express yourself : shout your ideas, your thought and your desire

Rule #8
Learn, rob and copy ideas from other rebels

Rule #9
Never limit your gaming time, even if your brain complains, your creativity comes from it

Rule #10
Change the rules

Rule #11
Follow your heart

Rule #12
Put everything back to front

Rule #13
You are crushed? Stay in, show you claws. The result will never be better

Finally, don’t you consider that those rules could really fit to an ambitious start-up project?

Enjoy your vacation and... ice cream !!

(Glaces Glazed, Henri Guittet, Glaces, Paris: Hachette Livre (2014), 143 pages)