People Power
I recently listened to an interview where Howard Shultz, founder of Starbucks, outlined the trials and tribulations of creating a coffee empire.
Shultz began brewing in a small corner within an existing coffee manufacturing house. His overnight success sparked the independent move to his first store in 1986 christened ‘Il Giornale’. A loyal, consistent customer base fueled his desire to seek investors for further growth and expansion. During this key phase of investment, Shultz personally met and pitched the ‘Il Giornale Masterplan’ to 242 potential investors with the hope of raising 1,700,000 million.
In parallel, he was offered the opportunity to purchase all six ‘Starbucks’ stores. In his quest for investors, which had proven difficult in the past, Shultz’s lawyer Scott Greenburg urged him to meet a Senior Partner at his firm. This happened to be Bill Gates senior who after meeting, offered him the funds to purchase Starbucks. Shultz later fused and rebranded the companies under the Starbucks label. The rest, as they say, is history.
I use this story not to highlight the varying degrees of separation, but rather to show the many barriers entrepreneurs face faced.
It’s not what you know it’s who you know.
Right?
Wrong.
Today, with an idea and an internet connection everyone is accessible and that changes everything. The internet has created an entirely new level environment in which platforms like change.org and kickstarter.com can allow for an idea to be forged, fostered and grow.
These virtual shark tanks cultivate inventors and game changers alike, allowing them to seek market feedback, specialist input and financial investments.
Additionally, it expands audience participation to (as much or little as desired) which determines the eventual success or demise of a product. Previously, this gatekeeping role was limited to those in senior positions of power or angel investors. Today, everyday citizens can partake in the innovative process which is only logical. Who knows what you want or need better than you, the buyer?
An informed consumer is a wise consumer hence this global understanding of products, their creation and distribution allows for a new notion of market supply and demand.
The public element also ensures any erroneous information or misinterpretation is corrected. The internet, much like your year 12 English teacher, will pick you up on every last detail.
The internet has essentially demolished traditional business barriers and today there are no rules.
You can be as creatively flamboyant and inspired as you wish and potentially have a community to back your exploding kittens or backpack bed concept. “Nobody is as smart as everybody” and that is the magic of people power.
References
CNBC, 2018, CNBC Tech Check Evening Edition: May 08, 2018, [online] Available at: https://www.cnbc.com/video/2018/05/08/cnbc-tech-check-evening-edition-may-08-2018.html [Accessed 9 May 2018]
Elkington, J and Hartigan, P. 2008, The power of unreasonable people, 1st ed, Boston, Harvard Business Press, pp.105-148.
Gillespie, T 2014, The politics of platforms, Center for Advanced Study, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hxcofU_o7Y [Accessed 8 May 2018]
Howard, J 2006, ‘The Rise of Crowdsourcing’, Wired, 14 June, http://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/14.06/crowds.html [Accessed 8 May 2018]
NPR, 2017, Starbucks: Howard Schultz, [podcast] How I Built This with Guy Raz, Available at: https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=551874532 [Accessed 8 May 2018]
Image References
Board Game Geek, 2018, A selection of the cards in the World Wide Web pack. [image] Available at: https://boardgamegeek.com/image/2811461/cards-against-humanity-world-wide-web-pack [Accessed 9 May 2018]
Vinish, D 2018, 20 Years Old Starbucks Coffee Philippines - Where it All Began, [online] Steemit.com, Available at: https://steemit.com/busy/@davinsh/20-years-old-starbucks-coffee-philippines-where-it-all-began [Accessed 9 May 2018]