Why is it that some companies are able to scale to International and financial acclaim, while others get mired in competition and struggle to stay alive? There are many obvious explanations of course such as finding good Product/Market fit (creating something people will pay for), and being competitive in terms of cost and value. But [...] →
Metcalfe’s Law states that the power of a network is proportional to the square of the number of users connected to that network. It was originally calculated in the 1980s by George Glider regarding telecommunications networks and later attributed to Robert Metcalfe. It has been referenced extensively for social networking sites during the web 2.0 [...] →
In a recent post, I did an in-depth discussion of 3 primary business models online. I think that probably needs a little more fleshing out. Anyone astute in this topic would surely object that there are only three models, so let me explain a bit more what I mean. I spent a bit of time [...] →
Recently I spent some time contemplating business models that might make sense for someone with online skills, but starting out on their own. I believe there are 3 main models worth discussing though probably a myriad of variants and hybrids one can derive from them. In this post, I discuss the structure and dynamics of [...] →
Small business has entirely different needs and expectations from technology than larger enterprise. Okay, that is an obvious statement, right? So then why are small businesses always so surprised to learn about the cost associated with custom projects? First, a Little Background There was a time 10 years ago, when the company I [...] →
There is a common expression in tech entrepreneurship – do things that weren’t possible 3 years ago. The reason for this is the accelerated innovation and thus the accelerated commodization of technology. A product might go from ground-breaking and unique to absolutely commodity in 10 years or less. If you accept that, then you must [...] →
Paul Graham of Y Combinator fame once gave the advice to “do things that don’t scale”. That advice was given to the Airbnb.com founders in the first YC cohort. I heard this while I was watching the interview with the founders on Mixergy.com. I thought this was pretty interesting advice. I think the logic here [...] →
One of the biggest criticisms I hear about services businesses is that they are not scalable. Profit margins are low, clients are demanding, and you are highly dependent upon high-cost employees with specialized skills, who could leave at any time. In fact, this is the way most small consulting companies run. But it doesn’t have [...] →