Strategy in Three Minutes. Episode 17

We can organize our thoughts on strategy in the traditional order:

[1] What goals and ambitions do we have?

[2] Who will be our customers?

[3] What needs do they have?

[4] What value will we create for them?

But this order in thoughts was only applicable to 20th-century markets, where customers had to buy what businesses produced.

Today, businesses have to produce what customers want to buy.

Apple, Google, Uber, Airbnb, Amazon, Tesla and many others didn’t start with big ambitions.

They started with big problems and great products.

So, try this order in thoughts on strategy:

[1] What big problem do we see around us?

[2] What unmet customer needs does it represent?

[3] How could we solve it?

[4] What goals and ambitions do we have in solving this problem?

Being better is a good strategy.

Being different is even better.

Those who want to be better follow a simple playbook:

[1] Identify a well-known problem and existing solutions to it

[2] Spot their flaws

[3] Create a product that doesn’t have these flaws.

But the shelf life of such competitive advantages is shorter than that of Snapchat stories.

Those who want to be different follow another playbook:

[1] Look for a non-obvious problem by diving deeply into customer experience

[2] Develop a radically new solution for the root-cause problem

[3] Create a product with multiple advantages over existing ones.

Time’s ‘The Best Inventions of 2024‘ list shows the tech industry is at an impasse.

What Time sees as the best tech inventions are:

[1] ‘Goggle-free emersion,’ the Ultra Reality display with a virtual screen size of 122” with 110° field of view for $12.000

[2] A transparent TV

[3] A three-fold smartphone

[4] The slimmest foldable phone

[5] A new action camera

And not a single device solving a real problem.

How can a three-fold smartphone or a better action camera change the world for the better?

A new Big Thing is yet to come.

Svyatoslav Biryulin

––

We’ve upgraded the product section. Take a look at what we offer here.

Don’t forget about the Fast-Track Strategy product!

If you’re a Telegram user, join my channel.

Join my free newsletter for groundbreaking articles on strategic thinking. Check out my Strategic Seeing podcast on Apple Podcast or Spotify.