In today’s competitive business landscape, identifying the right customers can make all the difference between sustainable growth and wasted resources. This is where an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) comes into play. An ICP allows businesses to target organizations that are the perfect fit for their products or services, improving sales efficiency and overall customer satisfaction.
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This article explores the parallels between the extravagant plumage of peacocks and the luxury of Ferraris, questioning the purpose and value of waste and excess. While a peacock’s feathers serve a biological function by signaling genetic fitness, a Ferrari in central London is a symbol of conspicuous consumption, displaying wealth rather than evolutionary advantage. The article delves into the complexities of waste in human society, examining how luxury can signal success but also reflect social inequality and environmental degradation. Ultimately, it argues that waste must be balanced with meaningful values to avoid becoming destructive.
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In sales and marketing, two concepts often come up when discussing customer targeting: the Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) and the Buyer Persona. While these terms are sometimes used interchangeably, they serve distinct purposes and focus on different aspects of your target audience. Understanding the difference between the two is crucial for aligning your marketing and sales efforts effectively.
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In the world of sales, focusing on the right prospects is key to success. One of the most important tools that sales teams use to achieve this is the Ideal Customer Profile, or ICP. But what exactly is an ICP, and why does it matter so much in today’s competitive marketplace?
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The Ogdoad, an ancient group of eight primordial deities, played a foundational role in Egyptian cosmogony, symbolizing chaos and pre-creation forces. Worshipped in Hermopolis, they represent key elements like water, infinity, darkness, and hiddenness. These forces later influenced the emergence of more defined gods, such as Ra and Amun, who organized chaos into divine order. The Ogdoad’s themes of chaos, rebirth, and transformation shaped Egyptian religious thought, influencing creation myths and the balance between order and chaos, light and dark, and life and death.
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Brion Gysin, an artist, writer, and key figure in the 20th-century avant-garde, straddled multiple artistic movements, leaving a profound influence on literature, art, and music. This article explores Gysin’s early fallout with the Surrealists, his pivotal collaboration with the Beat Generation, and his role in introducing the Master Musicians of Joujouka to the West. It highlights his invention of the Dreamachine, his development of the cut-up technique with William S. Burroughs, and his influence on musicians like Brian Jones and David Bowie. Gysin’s legacy of experimentation, mysticism, and boundary-pushing creativity endures, despite his battles with cancer in his later years.
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While browsing YouTube Shorts, mainly for Tacticus Tips and Warhammer 40K fan fiction, I stumbled upon a video featuring Rory Sutherland discussing the absurdity of Ferraris in central London. His thoughts on waste reminded me of a book I encountered in the school library at KEGS Aston around 1983: Vernon Lee’s Satan the Waster. This article discusses the nature of waste, drawing a comparison with Siegfried Sassoon’s At the Cenotaph. Through this lens, it explores how both Sassoon and Violet Paget (writing as Vernon Lee) critique the senselessness of war, using waste as a symbol for the destruction of human life, resources, and potential, much like how ridiculous luxury goods are symbols of impractical extravagance.
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In this insightful blog article, we dive into Sebastian Mallaby’s The Power Law, which explains how venture capitalists operate in a world of high risks, where a small number of winning startups provide massive returns that outweigh the majority of failures. Through a blend of storytelling, research, and critical analysis, this review highlights the triumphs and pitfalls of the venture capital industry, offering suggestions for a more ethical and inclusive future. If you’re intrigued by the intersection of finance, tech innovation, and global economics, this article is a must-read.
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About 15 years ago, I won a large Jade bonsai at a raffle during a visit to the Birmingham Botanical Gardens with my sons. Over time, caring for the bonsai became more of a duty than a passion, but recently, I joined the Midlands Bonsai Society (MBS) for guidance on how to properly look after it. With help from members, I learned about techniques such as back budding and successfully repotted the bonsai. My initial journey with bonsai care has been rewarding, and I look forward to continuing this process with the support of the MBS.
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This article provides a retrospective on the 20th anniversary of Jeffrey Dean and Sanjay Ghemawat’s seminal paper, “MapReduce: Simplified Data Processing on Large Clusters”. It explores the paper’s lasting impact on data processing, its influence on the development of big data technologies like Hadoop, and its broader implications for industries ranging from digital advertising to healthcare. The article also looks ahead to future trends in data processing, including stream processing and AI, emphasising how MapReduce’s principles will continue to shape the future of distributed computing.
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I’m pleased to share that Horkan.com has been recognised as the 12th most widely read tech blog from the UK by Feedspot, based on RSS feed aggregation in their recent article “Top 70 UK Tech RSS Feeds“. This acknowledgement is a significant moment for me, reflecting a journey that began over 17 years ago.
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In 2009, I spearheaded an initiative to establish a cloud security working group aimed at addressing the sovereignty and security of UK data within the cloud. The goal was to create a cross-sector collaboration involving both public and private entities, with the aim of ensuring that the UK maintained control over its critical data as cloud computing emerged as a pivotal part of the national infrastructure.
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