UsableMarkets

An article in the FT (Founders take aim at a bigger target) talks about the new “shotgun” approach of entrepreneurs. Instead of relying on one BIG idea they try lots of little ones.

From the article:

“In consumer internet, it doesn’t make sense to stick a stake in the ground and say, ‘I’m doing this three-year project, here’s the vision,’” says David King, a former Google manager who has launched five internet projects in rapid succession since he left the search engine company last year.

“None of the big internet successes were like that,” he says. “If you want to build a great consumer internet company you have to be willing to try as much as you can, as fast as you can.”

This reminds me of nothing so much as the genetic algorithms that scientists use in problem solving. Inspired by evolutionary biology, they test solutions, mutate them, evolve them, and then eventually stumble their way to the correct answer.

If one thinks of each successful business idea as the “correct answer” to a particular problem (which ideas will draw customers and make money?), then this analogy is not too far off.

One could also use a different analogy: the market. This art is being developed by a whole new host of start-ups, creating what I call idea arenas (including this start-up from yesterday’s TechCrunch).

People who think this constitutes a bubble should be warned. This is a far more stable and successful way of creating value then spending scads of money. In fact, many start ups today are self-funded.

And they can afford to be. The tools to easily create value (or attempt to create value) have been set free from Pandora’s box.

But, this doesn’t mean we won’t see a lot of creative destruction along the way. Just that we’ve finally learned how to manage it better.

Now that’s some creative destruction!

As always, thanks for listening.
~alex

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