If You Were the Next Steve Jobs(blogs.hbr.org)
blogs.hbr.org
If You Were the Next Steve Jobs
http://blogs.hbr.org/haque/2012/09/if_you_were_the_next_steve_job.html
6 comments
"Profit is a solved problem: we know, to a pretty good approximation, how to make companies profitable."
This whole article was somewhat laughable, but this phrase in particular stood out to me.
This whole article was somewhat laughable, but this phrase in particular stood out to me.
I think, until recently, that statement proved correct. You created a product or service, sold it for more than it cost to make/run, and voilá - profit. Companies didn't have millions of free 'customers' while they worked out a way to make money.
And even when I look at the big web companies that spent years 'figuring out a business plan' it always ends the same way. They put advertising on the product (although it's a new type of advertising never seen before) and the battle is over. Most of the time, if you have an idea and can't figure out how it will make money, it's not worth pursuing as a business (unless you love the idea and you can afford the huge risk).
And even when I look at the big web companies that spent years 'figuring out a business plan' it always ends the same way. They put advertising on the product (although it's a new type of advertising never seen before) and the battle is over. Most of the time, if you have an idea and can't figure out how it will make money, it's not worth pursuing as a business (unless you love the idea and you can afford the huge risk).
Yeah. Whenever I hear anyone who isn't talking specifically about math or engineering say "X is a solved problem," it tends to seem more like they actually mean "X is an understood problem," which has quite the opposite meaning. If you say "The solution to the problem of profitability is for the company in question to sell goods/services for more than the cost of obtaining them," you're begging the question. All you've done is stated the problem again in different terms and called it the solution.
True solutions let us cause the rectification of the problem. If I could literally guarantee that I'd be able to turn a profit before I even knew the nature of the company I was going to start, then I could claim the problem was solved.
True solutions let us cause the rectification of the problem. If I could literally guarantee that I'd be able to turn a profit before I even knew the nature of the company I was going to start, then I could claim the problem was solved.
For those wondering about the approximation, it is: "charge more for the widgets than it costs to make them." You can see why this is clearly a solved problem.
>Consider: Starbucks will make your coffee to their specifications (extra-hot triple venti soy latte with caramel!). That's just the same car, with a different color scheme. What James made for me at Kaffeine was a coffee deftly, expertly created to make a tiny, slight, yet very real difference to my life, on the spot. Now that's singularity.
Both are customized (personalized) products. In that regard they are the same. The difference is in the social layer and the transaction details. Instead of James giving the barista the exact specifications of his coffee ("I want a smaller one"), he told the barista what his problem was ("This coffee is too big"), and the barista customized the product for him.
Could James have figured out on his own that he needed a smaller coffee and just told the barista that's what he wanted? Sure. But it's more fulfilling for both parties to share a problem and get back a solution rather than just delivering on a spec sheet.
Most of us can relate in our work. Rather than a project like: "Here are the specs, when will it be done?" we tend to prefer: "Here is an idea, do you think it can be done?"
Both are customized (personalized) products. In that regard they are the same. The difference is in the social layer and the transaction details. Instead of James giving the barista the exact specifications of his coffee ("I want a smaller one"), he told the barista what his problem was ("This coffee is too big"), and the barista customized the product for him.
Could James have figured out on his own that he needed a smaller coffee and just told the barista that's what he wanted? Sure. But it's more fulfilling for both parties to share a problem and get back a solution rather than just delivering on a spec sheet.
Most of us can relate in our work. Rather than a project like: "Here are the specs, when will it be done?" we tend to prefer: "Here is an idea, do you think it can be done?"
> Rather than a project like: "Here are the specs, when will it be done?" we tend to prefer: "Here is an idea, do you think it can be done?"
Or even, "here is a problem, how can we solve this?"
Or even, "here is a problem, how can we solve this?"
I think the short answer to this question is "...almost anything, just do it significantly better than anyone has ever done it before."
the "almost anything" can be something no one has ever done before, or perhaps easier, something that is being done by others, but not well. "Significantly better" is where the magic comes.
N.B. starbucks has something called a "short" coffee which is not on the menu (smaller than a tall). I also thought a "half shot" cappuccino was not that uncommon.
the "almost anything" can be something no one has ever done before, or perhaps easier, something that is being done by others, but not well. "Significantly better" is where the magic comes.
N.B. starbucks has something called a "short" coffee which is not on the menu (smaller than a tall). I also thought a "half shot" cappuccino was not that uncommon.
Steve Jobs wouldn't have needed a 1873 word essay to make this point (which doesn't make sense).
(Hey, if you're gonna scam for page hits with a title like that, you're asking for it.)
(Hey, if you're gonna scam for page hits with a title like that, you're asking for it.)
Yeah. And it was about the barista giving him a slightly smaller coffee.
When he started off with the coffee analogy, I lost interest in the article. Quickly.
Barista: OK, let me fix that for you.
(Barista pours out half of the coffee and hands the cup back)
Customer: Dude, you have blown my mind. This event will change the ways in businesses will operate in the 21st century. Steve Jobs gets it and you fucking get it, man! You get it!
Barista: Yes, Steve Jobs, that's me, thanks. You need anything else?
Customer: I'm going to be right over there watching you and blogging the shit out of this monemental moment.
Barista: Yeah, yeah, I know you're here like 8 hours every day doing that. OK, anything else I can get you?
Customer: What is your SECRET?!!! Jobs. Steve Barista Jobs. That's you ... I am learning from you.
Barista: I'm thinking of calling the cops actually.