Great framework. Structural advantage is accrued by constantly optimizing the value delivery chain for your product(s). It should remain crystal clear what time, money, and effort is required to deliver an outcome for customers and partners. Over time, and as a company grows, it gets more opaque, and core competencies are diluted. Companies may end up spending a lot on something that doesn't move the needle, but becomes deeply embedded in process, culture, etc.
Comes back to the importance of declaring what you must *stop* doing (or won't do) as something that's just as important as deciding what to take on next.
The company must be structured to execute, and that means refinements and 'shedding' to remain competitive. Thanks, Ibrahim! P.S. I think this framework (with minor tweaks) applies to people development as well.
😰 Well I don't want to overextend your framing, but it made me think of how we might position ourselves to be competitive in a job market, or develop people on our teams. Differentiation can be cultivated by people, too.
1. What's a competency advantage (combination of attributes, skills and experience) that sets a person apart from others (e.g. candidates, or even peers)? (This is not a strictly competitive thing, either, and relates to building diverse teams).
2. Nurture unique points of view about what interests you, develop a thesis about the trajectory of the market you intend to operate in (I do B2B product dev so I constantly think about how companies' needs evolve in certain areas).
3. Be real with ourselves, our shortcomings, and what can be developed further with education, mentoring, experience, etc. Seek feedback constantly to maintain an accurate view of the self. Or, to thine own self be true.
excellent idea! Lets pick a mix of of online to offline and/or pure software companies A. B2C - Jokr (on demand groceries, 2 hour delivery), B. Shein (e-commerce, fast fashion) C. Asana (project management) D. Mixpanel (Data Analytics) E. Yelp (local search, marketplace)
Great framework. Structural advantage is accrued by constantly optimizing the value delivery chain for your product(s). It should remain crystal clear what time, money, and effort is required to deliver an outcome for customers and partners. Over time, and as a company grows, it gets more opaque, and core competencies are diluted. Companies may end up spending a lot on something that doesn't move the needle, but becomes deeply embedded in process, culture, etc.
Comes back to the importance of declaring what you must *stop* doing (or won't do) as something that's just as important as deciding what to take on next.
The company must be structured to execute, and that means refinements and 'shedding' to remain competitive. Thanks, Ibrahim! P.S. I think this framework (with minor tweaks) applies to people development as well.
woah, say more about how it could use for people development as well?
😰 Well I don't want to overextend your framing, but it made me think of how we might position ourselves to be competitive in a job market, or develop people on our teams. Differentiation can be cultivated by people, too.
1. What's a competency advantage (combination of attributes, skills and experience) that sets a person apart from others (e.g. candidates, or even peers)? (This is not a strictly competitive thing, either, and relates to building diverse teams).
2. Nurture unique points of view about what interests you, develop a thesis about the trajectory of the market you intend to operate in (I do B2B product dev so I constantly think about how companies' needs evolve in certain areas).
3. Be real with ourselves, our shortcomings, and what can be developed further with education, mentoring, experience, etc. Seek feedback constantly to maintain an accurate view of the self. Or, to thine own self be true.
I think you might be onto something - let me know if you're down to co-write a future post about this...
It would be an honour! I'll DM you on Twitter. Would like to x-post at https://leadproduct.substack.com/ Thanks.
Thanks Ibrahim. Can you give one or two examples on how you applied the differentiation test to one or two companies? Just to tie abstract to reality?
actually, can you pick 1-3 companies for me? and I will do a teardown of their differentiators and determine if they are good or meh
excellent idea! Lets pick a mix of of online to offline and/or pure software companies A. B2C - Jokr (on demand groceries, 2 hour delivery), B. Shein (e-commerce, fast fashion) C. Asana (project management) D. Mixpanel (Data Analytics) E. Yelp (local search, marketplace)