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Hidden Champions: Successful but little-known businesses

forbes.com

21–26 of 26 posts

Re: Hidden Champions: Successful but little-known businesses

#21

What are some examples of this phenomenon in the tech space? I'd guess this category would include lots of niche shareware products or legacy tools with no modern successors. Would any of them be considered "champions" rather than just profitable small businesses?

I think Jetbrains may qualify. They just produce excellent tools without much fanfare or PR. Developer express comes to mind too. 37 signals maybe.

Re: Hidden Champions: Successful but little-known businesses

#22
post #20

I think Germany success with hidden champions is correlated with their banking system, there are a lot of smaller regional banks in Germany that are focused on smaller businesses and allow for a market where there is a 'middle class' of companies.

That sounds like a great system. I am very pro-markets and capitalism but I have no problem saying there are very unhealthy examples in capitalism where huge corporations grow too much at the expense of humanity. A 'middle class' of companies seems much more sustainable, healthy, and fair. It could make buying local the norm again.

Re: Hidden Champions: Successful but little-known businesses

#23
post #3

There's not a single example of one of these businesses in the article

See the wiki page for a list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hidden_champions

I'm not sure I would consider Embraer a hidden champion. It's a fairly large aerospace conglomerate in Brazil with very high level of public awareness (especially among the global flying crowd).

It has a revenue of R$20m, which falls within the arbirary hidden-champion revenue cut-off of US$5b only due to the poor BRL-USD exchange rate right now.

Re: Hidden Champions: Successful but little-known businesses

#24
post #8

The natural state of a business is to become known to its target market, but keep its secrets and success hidden to avoid competition. Growing up in an entrepreneurial family for the first 15 years of my life I learned to never brag about my successes, but to show vulnerability and connect/help the vulnerability shown by fellow founders, because your network is a lot more likely to help you that way. In silicon valle…

I think this also applies to nice, affordable towns. I’ve googled “best places to live” a couple times, but every time I do I can’t help but think all the places that show up are either trying to engineer a revitalization/aren’t as nice as advertised or must be at least somewhat swamped and overpriced. Any true gems with affordable prices and great atmosphere/people are only that way while they’re still hidden. If pe…

Totally agree! Being listed as a top town is a death sentence for the town's charm and community but a boon to real estate developers.

I think there are plenty of "really nice, affordable small towns with a real sense of community" but it's constantly in flux and fragile.

Re: Hidden Champions: Successful but little-known businesses

#25
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

See the wiki page for a list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hidden_champions

This scene from Cocktail includes some other ideas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHdUl8hHwKY (None of those examples are on that list.)

I was lucky enough to tour the Flugelbinder estate just last year. The gardens were breathtaking.

Re: Hidden Champions: Successful but little-known businesses

#26
post #8

The natural state of a business is to become known to its target market, but keep its secrets and success hidden to avoid competition. Growing up in an entrepreneurial family for the first 15 years of my life I learned to never brag about my successes, but to show vulnerability and connect/help the vulnerability shown by fellow founders, because your network is a lot more likely to help you that way. In silicon valle…

This is a fantastic insight. I have included it in my "quotes for entrepreneurs collected in Feb 2020." https://www.skmurphy.com/blog/2020/02/29/quotes-for-entrepre...
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