Two stages of technology disruption

While researching an industry experiencing new competition enabled by advancing technology, I looked at other industries that experienced the same and I noticed a pattern. There are generally two stages of technology disruption. In the first stage, advancement enables a new competition that is in the same ballpark as products made by the mature businesses.

New swallows old

Recent headline from The Wall Street Journal: Precor makes exercise equipment. Peloton makes exercise experiences. The equipment they make enables that. If you are running a mature business and are happy with marginal tweaks to keep the business chugging along with plus or minus mid single digit growth, you may be ripe to be swallowed,

Less McKinsey, More Elon Musk

I agree with Elon Musk in this interview with the Wall Street Journal, where he advises America’s CEOs to “…spend less time on Powerpoint and more time trying to make your product as amazing as possible.” Later in the video, Musk touches on a good concept — what is profit? He said profit is about

Bad news for marketing

Two recent Freakonomics podcasts make the case that marketing does not work. Part 1 is on TV advertising Part 2 is on digital advertising In Part 1, a guest makes the case that for 100% increase in ad spending sales rise 1%, which is about 15x less than marketers believe. In part 2, a guest

“Take a look around the room. That is how we got here.”

I was once involved in Hail Mary JALJA* session at a company, a bunch of us gathered in a room to brainstorm ways to ‘save the business’ after a dismal performance. It was phrenetic. A colleague sitting next to me, asked in frustration, “How did we get here?” I responded, “Take a look around the

“Profit taking is lazy” -Seth Godin

Great post from Seth Godin: Once an organization reaches scale, particularly if it feels like a monopoly, it’s tempting to “take profits.” This means less investment, fewer staff and a lot less care. Those things are expensive. Easier to simply keep the money. And those things involve emotional effort. Easier to simply point to the

“If I need a statistician to tell me if something worked, it didn’t work”

The founder of Chipotle or the Subway franchisee who invented the $5 Footlong promotion didn’t need a statistician to tell them they were on to something. The line out the door told them all they needed to know. I call that ‘clear advantage,’ which is a visible and strong signal that it’s working. Too often,

The one thing that sets innovative companies apart

It’s a simple belief: the odds that something new will succeed are 1-in-10. This belief produces a culture different from companies that do not believe it. Companies that believe it try tons of new things, expect most to fail and keep trying. They ask, ‘how can we try it to get some idea if customers

“Shark Tank” and Business Rule #1

One important lesson from the TV show, Shark Tank, is that the Sharks, who are experienced entrepreneurs, usually prioritize sales when evaluating an investment over their own intuition of the product’s potential. Good sales indicates a product might satisfy business rule #1: have what customers want. This might be a surprise to a lot of

Lub dub: The heartbeat of business

It was a treat to learn this classic early in my career. A colleague pointed out that so much activity in business is lub-dub. “Lub what?” “Lub-dub. It’s the heartbeat of business. My old boss told me about it. What once was a good idea, isn’t anymore, but will be again. It’s the to-ing and