It is not exactly a profound statement to say business is moving faster than ever before.  In the past revolutions took decades.  Even in the 90’s revolutions like the internet or the mobile phone took 6+ years to hit the mainstream.  Today it is a completely different matter.

Businesses that were just ideas 2 years ago are now outgrowing competitors many years their senior.  Longevity no longer matters.  Just take a look at the Presidential debates and the fact that the main medium the public is using to connect with politicians (namely YouTube) didn’t even exist at the last election.

No longer is business about finding a need and filling it.  Today it is more like anticipate a future need, develop your product, wait a couple years for the market to realize this need and then fill it. 

The interesting thing is that so many of us fail to understand this.  I see businesses everyday throwing literally millions down the drain because all they do is follow the leader.  A new market opportunity opens up, an innovator recognises this, they’re in first and so when the shift towards their product takes place they are ready to seize the moment.  The innovator makes a bundle of money and so everybody else decides they want the same.  Sorry folks but the horse has bolted.

The thing these businesses fail to relize is, the need no longer exists (well not in the same form anyway).  So the sheep lose their money and wait for the next big thing.

Herein lies the problem.  By the time the next big thing is the next big thing it is too late!

Here in Australia there has been a lot of competition entering the market trying to catch the big job boards.  From my point of view this is simply a waste of time.  These leading job boards are backed by huge media empires and are too well entrenched to ever be knocked off their perch.  They have too much money, too many media outlets to feed off and already have the customers.  Monster and Careerbuilder are in similar situations in the US.  No job boards will ever catch them.  For these companies to lose their market share there has to be a change in the game.

The good news is change is automatic.

The good news is change is automatic.  As a competitor we have to remember this and take a step back, see the reality of the situation and understand what is and isn’t happening in the market currently.  Then take this view and compare it with what we think will be in the future.  Somewhere in between is a good starting point.  The market will shift and whoever gets there first will have a big headstart.

So how do we tell whether we are on the right track to being an innovator?  Well I have to be honest and say this I do not know for sure.  I can tell you one thing though and that is “If everybody likes your idea, then it’s not the right idea.”

Thanks for reading
Adam