Winner Takes Most
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Winner Takes Most
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Re: Winner Takes Most
#2Is there a business in creating/investing in only market follower companies? They won't ever be the biggest, but they might take 10% of a market, and the winner has done all the hard work of proving that the market exists and creating a viable product.
Re: Winner Takes Most
#3Is there a business in creating/investing in only market follower companies? They won't ever be the biggest, but they might take 10% of a market, and the winner has done all the hard work of proving that the market exists and creating a viable product.
Yes, certainly.
I would say that for a long time Apple was an excellent example of that, maybe even still today if your metrics are market share (instead of profit/revenue). Most of Apple's products are follower products - as in, they enter a maturing space where much of the market research and hard technological work has already been done. Once they enter the market with a better product that is released after the early entrants, and it turns out to be a better product, they eat up all the revenue in the space.
Re: Winner Takes Most
#4Is there a business in creating/investing in only market follower companies? They won't ever be the biggest, but they might take 10% of a market, and the winner has done all the hard work of proving that the market exists and creating a viable product.
Being a fast follower is a very valid business strategy (see e.g. https://hbr.org/2012/06/first-mover-or-fast-follower).
Some fast followers actually do end up being the biggest. (In evidence is the trope of the innovator's gripe that someone stole 'his' market.) See: Microsoft (OS, office software), Apple (iPod, smartphones), Google, Facebook. None were first to market. Google entered its market after search was considered a solved problem.
Re: Winner Takes Most
#5[deleted]
Re: Winner Takes Most
#6Is there a business in creating/investing in only market follower companies? They won't ever be the biggest, but they might take 10% of a market, and the winner has done all the hard work of proving that the market exists and creating a viable product.
See: Rocket Internet.
They have a habit of seeing what works in the US, making it in Europe as fast as they can and either:
1) Selling it to the original US company
or 2) Developing it into a big independent company (see HelloFresh)
Some people are mad at them for that. I think it's pretty brilliant.
Re: Winner Takes Most
#7Is there a business in creating/investing in only market follower companies? They won't ever be the biggest, but they might take 10% of a market, and the winner has done all the hard work of proving that the market exists and creating a viable product.
Yes, certainly. I would say that for a long time Apple was an excellent example of that, maybe even still today if your metrics are market share (instead of profit/revenue). Most of Apple's products are follower products - as in, they enter a maturing space where much of the market research and hard technological work has already been done. Once they enter the market with a better product that is released after the e…
I was watching the the iPhone launch video last night and what you're saying is very apropos. Apple was able to piggyback on the failures of existing smartphones to tell a powerful product story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hUIxyE2Ns8
Re: Winner Takes Most
#8Is there a business in creating/investing in only market follower companies? They won't ever be the biggest, but they might take 10% of a market, and the winner has done all the hard work of proving that the market exists and creating a viable product.
Rocket Internet are the biggest ones, but there's a lot following this strategy.
Fabrice Grinda, a prolific entrepreneur/angel coined the term "International Idea Arbitrage" years ago.
See: http://www.fabricegrinda.com/entrepreneurship/international-...
Re: Winner Takes Most
#9Is there a business in creating/investing in only market follower companies? They won't ever be the biggest, but they might take 10% of a market, and the winner has done all the hard work of proving that the market exists and creating a viable product.
Being a fast follower is a very valid business strategy (see e.g. https://hbr.org/2012/06/first-mover-or-fast-follower ). Some fast followers actually do end up being the biggest. (In evidence is the trope of the innovator's gripe that someone stole 'his' market.) See: Microsoft (OS, office software), Apple (iPod, smartphones), Google, Facebook. None were first to market. Google entered its market after search was co…
[deleted]
Re: Winner Takes Most
#10Is there a business in creating/investing in only market follower companies? They won't ever be the biggest, but they might take 10% of a market, and the winner has done all the hard work of proving that the market exists and creating a viable product.
Rocket Internet are the biggest ones, but there's a lot following this strategy. Fabrice Grinda, a prolific entrepreneur/angel coined the term "International Idea Arbitrage" years ago. See: http://www.fabricegrinda.com/entrepreneurship/international-...
As he mentions in the first paragraph, he didn't coin that term as we used it widely at McKinsey's office in the 90s, where he was a junior consultant. BTW, the practice of "International Idea Arbitrage" is applied since the early 1800s in all fields and segments.