This Entrepreneurial Tool Will Make Your Business More Successful

Albert Einstein once said, “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.” Whiteboard collaboration seems simple, but studies show it is also a sophisticated and effective tool, with learners retaining 90% of what they say and do.

Jack Sutherland, an employee at Packback explains his company started with an idea and a whiteboard.

“Sometimes all it takes is just the act of writing down thoughts to generate new ideas,” Sutherland said. “I would venture to guess that most of the start up world has gone through the creative process with a whiteboard on their side.”

Many successful business breakthroughs have started out with people such as Bob Langer, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates brainstorming ideas on a whiteboard.

Bob Langer, who is considered by some to be America’s greatest modern day inventors is knownfor brainstorming ideas that lead to his patents and eventually other founders companies. Momenta, Living Proof, Polaris Partners, Cerulean and Selecta were all created off the basis of a whiteboard with Langer’s assistance.

Co-Founder & Managing General Partner of Polaris Partners said, “The true enjoyment in my career and those of my partners comes from working with entrepreneurs like Bob at the whiteboard.”

In addition to Langer using whiteboards to create successful companies, a simple whiteboard session helped reinvent Apple. When Apple was on the verge of bankruptcy in 1996, Steve Jobs crossed out all of the current products and drew a simple diagram on a whiteboard that led Apple to being valued at over $98.3 billion.

      Bill Gates, CEO of Microsoft uses digital tools for almost all of his work, except “the one low-tech piece of equipment still in my office is my whiteboard,” Gates said. “I always have nice color pens and it’s great for brainstorming when I’m with other people, and even sometimes by myself.”

These entrepreneurs started out with ideas. Mapping out the ideas visually for others to see helped them achieve their goals and ultimately led to their successes.