You highlight something important throughout that I'll reiterate: it is common that one part of a business moves at a different speed than another. In my world (insurance), our revenue-generating teams (underwriters) usually raced into new markets and products before we built the underlying plumbing. So, we very much bolted together "things that don't scale" to fill the gap, keep the business compliant, and prototype what to build for production.
I've worked in start-ups, small companies, large companies. Have seen this behavior in them all. And the most enterprising companies have people that barely even ask: they're watching what's happening and building things that don't scale nearly as fast as they arise.
One of the most interesting and rewarding functional parts of my career.
These are good reminders that efficieniency by itself is not always the best path to growth and repeat business. Witness the "moat" as the writer described it, that Amazon has created. You can't even complain if a product doesn't arrive for two days. I'm sure a financial calculation showed that this policy works but I now actively look for Amazon alternatives when once it was an afterthought.
Good one Torsten.
You highlight something important throughout that I'll reiterate: it is common that one part of a business moves at a different speed than another. In my world (insurance), our revenue-generating teams (underwriters) usually raced into new markets and products before we built the underlying plumbing. So, we very much bolted together "things that don't scale" to fill the gap, keep the business compliant, and prototype what to build for production.
I've worked in start-ups, small companies, large companies. Have seen this behavior in them all. And the most enterprising companies have people that barely even ask: they're watching what's happening and building things that don't scale nearly as fast as they arise.
One of the most interesting and rewarding functional parts of my career.
Very good insight😌, thanks 👍
This is a great piece. Thank you!
These are good reminders that efficieniency by itself is not always the best path to growth and repeat business. Witness the "moat" as the writer described it, that Amazon has created. You can't even complain if a product doesn't arrive for two days. I'm sure a financial calculation showed that this policy works but I now actively look for Amazon alternatives when once it was an afterthought.