Hope, Heroes and Startups - Overview
Hope, Heroes and Startups Interviews
Why are recessions good times to start businesses? Are entrepreneurs braver when there is nothing to lose? Like Cortes do recession entrepreneurs burn their boats eliminating retreat? Does recession shake normally staid beliefs, consumer brand loyalty, so completely new options seem plausible and worth investigation? Are we experiencing a changing of the guard so profound and complete there is no precedent, no predetermined lever to pull go get back? If old values, business processes, marketing, sales and market creation tools are gone then what are the new tools? Hope, Heroes and Startups’ objective is to write “portraits” of technology startup entrepreneurs and their businesses discovering how a new generation of evangelical founders is changing the world.
Shock of the New
Industries and brands that once seemed bigger than life and eternal are now scrambling to find a new way forward. Many were already in a free fall when the recession gave them an extra shove into the spiral of doom. Dozens of industries and brands that once seemed indestructible are now struggling to find solid footing in a changing world. - The Mesh by Lisa Gansky pg. 18
Creating unique value may be easier today, Gansky explains, because entrepreneurs can take advantage of billions in Internet and mobile infrastructure and tie into applications program interfaces (API's) from existing platforms such as Amazon, Google, Etsy, Twitter and Facebook. Our emerging "new economy" differs from the old many ways including:
| Old Economy | New Economy |
|---|---|
| Economies of Scale | Diseconomies of Scale |
| Face Time | Results Orientation |
| Cubicles | Digital Nomads |
| Venture Capital | Bootstrapping |
| The Media | Social Media |
| Commuting | Location Independence |
| Corporate Ladder | Passion and Hard Work |
| Specialization | Generalization |
| Patents and Copyright | Sharing and Mashups |
| Trade Secrets | Transparency |
| Gatekeepers | Gatejumpers |
| Corporate Greed | Generosity and Caring |
| Competition | Collaboration |
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