Category: disruptor

“I’m certain that the guys who made telegraphs didn’t think the telephone was all that good an idea, but it ended their livelihood” – Guy Kawasaki

With technology it’s hard to pick winners. The touch screen changed everything. The stylus…not so much. And we’ll see about Bitcoin. (Perhaps one sign of a successful technology is if it’s accepted by spellcheck.)

In any case, innovators are the ones who find new ways of doing things and the first to adopt them. But they also have to be hyper aware of what’s coming because a new innovation could change things overnight. The iPod owned 92% market share within 2 years of it’s introduction. As a result nobody remembers the Sony Walkman, another great brand in the desert of broken opportunity.

There’s no profound wisdom here except to get your product into the market as quickly as possible and grab your share of the market. Then sell, sell, sell. You may become the next platform standard or you may only have a few months.

Blogging Gazelle is published daily by Shawn Carson

“The economy isn’t broken. It’s different.” – Seth Godin

Times of changing cultures, societies and economies are opportunities. A whole new set of problems and needs that no one has thought of. Problems that scream for solutions.

The music business has changed forever leaving musicians scrambling to figure out how to make a living. New apps and services to assist them in this change are popping up. Musicians now have to be entrepreneurs; learning how to be marketers and promoters and … well, business people. The barriers to the audience are now obliterated. There are now numerous channels to distribute your music to your fans and the good thing is you can keep more of the money you make. The challenge is how to build the audience without the marketing and distribution channels of the record companies. The cool thing is, you have the tools.

The same is true for a host of other businesses. New challenges, new customers, new markets, new tools…

Those that try to hold on the the past will be left behind. That’s why we need to embrace the change and relearn everything.

People still have problems and will pay for solutions. Look around.

Blogging Gazelle is published daily by Shawn Carson

“What is very dangerous is not to evolve” – Jeff Bezos

Pivoting is another word for “rapid evolution”. You have to be in touch with your market constantly because technology changes. Our culture changes. Public opinion changes. The government changes.

These changes create opportunities for the disrupters.

But it’s also a threat for the startup. The window for your great idea may only stay open for a few months. You need to get there quickly.

Once you get traction, you need to be vigilant for what’s next.

A friend started a great little company based on a BtoB cell phone texting platform. Within 2 years, Smart phones arrived rendering them obsolete overnight.

It can happen in a flash.