Netflix figured out how to provide easier access to movies and contributed to Blockbuster’s demise . Uber imagined a world where a car was available at the touch of a button, Silvercar car rental decided that the car rental experience was sorely lacking in convenience, service and standards and set about changing the face of that industry to much fanfare and thrilled customers.
Take a second to consider each of these examples. Each company was not just the underdog, but few might have bet on them when they first appeared. How were they able to challenge and even unseat the incumbent? What they all recognized was a way to make life easier for the customer. They saw an existing service and saw how they could improve upon it.
When they began, they didn’t have the customer base of their competitors or deep pockets to buy their way to success. Instead, they methodically focused on the end user first and revenue second, figuring that if they could improve the lives of their customers, or at least make regular tasks easier, then revenue would follow. They weren’t wrong. What I also find interesting about these companies is that they were all outsiders in the industry they disrupted. They saw the world differently, unencumbered by quarterly earnings reports or how it’s always been done.
What would happen to your business if a more creative mind, a fatter checkbook or a customer-first approach arrived to challenge your industry? Would you survive?
Are you reimagining your business from the inside out and from the customer’s perspective before someone else recognizes the opportunity to do it despite you?
It doesn’t take a Goliath to beat a Goliath, it takes a resourceful David.
You may be the Goliath today but there have never been more opportunities for enthusiastic and relentless Davids to leverage network effects, customer demand and your gaps to create the Goliath of tomorrow.
Worth considering?