28th
Killing and Winning
Brad Feld posted today, adding to/agreeing with a sentiment expressed in an email by Jason Calacanis: basically wondering why, in the tech industry (and many other industries) competition gets framed as trying to “kill” other companies. Brad writes, “We as a industry are obsessed with death. And its a trap that clouds your thinking. Facebook did not kill MySpace, YouTube did not kill Hulu, Google did not kill eBay, Pownce did not kill Twitter, and I could go on and on and on.”
I’ve had similar sentiments for a few years now about “winning”. I hear from colleagues, entrepreneurs, VCs, and many others: “What does it take to win?” … “Can we win?” … “Win or go home!” … and so on.
Look, when I’m playing sports or games, I’m competitive: I want to win. That’s how those activities are structured, and it’s fun to compete. Why the need for businesses to co-opt that mindset, though? If I can make a gazillion dollars, should I care that much if another company makes 1.2 gazillion? There are lots of thoroughly profitable companies that have created a lot of value for their owners (and their customers) that may not lead their industry with regard to revenue or profit or buzz or whatever other metric you might choose. Have those businesses “lost”? Should they give up and go home? Should they make some sort of desperate, bet-the-company move in an attempt to “win”?
