In The Commoditization Of Everything, Adaptation Will Win

Lots of industries are becoming saturated with competitors, to the point where they’re becoming commoditized. My own industry, cloud storage, is a great example. The consumer or business looking for online storage now versus even one or two years ago can be paralyzed by options. As a startup that operates within this ecosystem, you’d think I’d be up all night.

I’m not.

A funny thing happens when an industry that was once nascent becomes the next big thing: Everyone thinks they can do your job. Goliath competitors get in the game. But it doesn’t signal the end for startups, despite popular belief. It’s a renaissance, a period of both rebirth and adaptation.

A week or so ago, I was listening to a piece on NPR about the democratization of air travel, and airlines’ non-responsiveness to travelers’ woes. Essentially, a few relative newcomer airlines like Virgin America (with its Red in-flight concierge) and Southwest (with fee-free baggage) have seen an opportunity to reinvent the experience of air travel, capitalizing on the frustrated passengers incumbent airlines have left in their wake (or prop-wash, if we’re going there). They took on Goliath airlines and are winning by being responsive, rather than just sticking to “the way it’s always been.” Sure, a lot of processes are still quite flawed, but these are baby steps in the right direction.

Responsiveness to change is the number one advantage startups have over larger incumbents. The inertia required to get momentum started in a large company is often too great. Taking it back to high school physics, a body at rest tends to stay at rest. It sounds so simple, yet so few companies take time to adapt their product to deal head-on with what the public really wants. If every airline took this to heart, a lot more traveler gripes might be resolved, processes would be streamlined, and the whole experience of flying in general could be improved.

I’ve thought about this a lot, as more and more large companies creep into our territ...

[Source: Fast Company]