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How should you tap into Silicon Valley? | McKinsey & Company
The key for most companies in a rapidly digitizing world is to take stock of what Silicon Valley has to offer for their own circumstances and then to chart a course accordingly.
Source: How should you tap into Silicon Valley? | McKinsey & Company
Read MoreIs the Life Expectancy of Companies Really Shrinking? – Only Dead Fish
It’s difficult to navigate through all the myriad factors to identify what might really be behind this picture, but perhaps the real story is less about the impending death of large businesses and more about their need to adapt – to move through business and product life cycles more quickly than before, to be more focused on systematic experimentation and organising swiftly around opportunity.
Source: Is the Life Expectancy of Companies Really Shrinking? – Only Dead Fish
Read MoreSteve Blank – No Business Plan Survives First Contact With Customers. 2 Minutes to See Why
A Look Back At Why Blockbuster Really Failed And Why It Didn’t Have To
The irony is that Blockbuster failed because its leadership had built a well-oiled operational machine. It was a very tight network that could execute with extreme efficiency, but poorly suited to let in new information. Antioco’s fatal flaw wasn’t one of intelligence or capability, but a failure to understand the networks that would determine his fate.
Source: A Look Back At Why Blockbuster Really Failed And Why It Didn’t Have To
Read MoreLow-End Disruption in Consumer Markets | Tech-Thoughts by Sameer Singh
In the 1960s, General Motors held a ~50% share of the US automobile market and 80% of the industry’s profits. General Motors’ integrated value chain allowed it to dominate the industry in an era where products were still not “good enough” (with respect to performance and reliability). But as automobile performance improved, modular, “low-end” disruptors like Toyota attacked it from below and profits evaporated. Toyota did not succeed by immediately attacking the premium segment of the market. It started with the low-end Corona and “then moved up-market by introducing sequentially its Tercel, Corolla, Camry, Avalon and 4-Runner models, and ultimately its Lexus”. Honda and Nissan followed similar approaches to disrupt integrated incumbents like General Motors, Ford and Chrysler. Now, these disruptors are in turn facing low-end disruption from the likes of Kia and Hyundai.
Source: Low-End Disruption in Consumer Markets | Tech-Thoughts by Sameer Singh
Read MoreThe Innovator’s Solution by Clayton Christensen
Utilizing in-depth research of multiple companies and industries, the authors identify what actions and practices are essential for companies to embrace new disruptive innovations and avoid being disrupted themselves.
Source: The Innovator’s Solution by Clayton Christensen
Read MoreEpic Fail: How Blockbuster Could Have Owned Netflix | Variety
Barry McCarthy, Netflix’s former chief financial officer, said in an interview with the Unofficial Stanford blog in 2008, “I remembered getting on a plane, I think sometime in 2000, with Reed [Hastings] and [Netflix co-founder] Marc Randolph and flying down to Dallas, Texas and meeting with John Antioco. Reed had the chutzpah to propose to them that we run their brand online and that they run [our] brand in the stores and they just about laughed us out of their office. At least initially, they thought we were a very small niche business. Gradually over time, as we grew our market, his thinking evolved but initially they ignored us and that was much to our advantage.”
Source: Epic Fail: How Blockbuster Could Have Owned Netflix | Variety
Read MoreSlicing Pie | Slicing Pie: Perfect Equity Splits for Bootstrapped Startups
Slicing Pie is a formula that allows founders to create a PERFECTLY FAIR equity split between founders, investors, partners and employees.
Source: Slicing Pie | Slicing Pie: Perfect Equity Splits for Bootstrapped Startups
Read MorePart I: Validate Your Business Model Start With a Business Model, Not a Business Plan – The Accelerators – WSJ
Read MoreA business model describes how your company creates, delivers and captures value. A business model is designed to change rapidly to reflect what you find outside the building in talking to customers. It’s dynamic and it reflects the iterative reality that startups face. Business models allow agile and opportunistic founders to keep score of the pivots in their search for a repeatable business model.
A Startup Conversation with Steve Blank
A startup is a temporary organization designed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model.
Source: A Startup Conversation with Steve Blank
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