All business models are tried out
First, all business models are tried out
all business models are tried out, with emphasis on the cost of trial and error is within your acceptable range.
I admire the spirit of fearless exploration, but this kind of fearlessness has a premise, that is, we must first make micro-innovation, and we must not bet on all the nets to “gamble a big one.” This is not fearless, but death.
The ancients said that “a failure to become a thousand years of hatred, and then back to the centennial body” is the truth.
The so-called exploration means step by step exploration and exploration. From the product point of view, it is from the micro-innovation, step by step, even if you take a wrong step, there is room for recovery.
American writer Eric Rice has shared his views in the book “Lean Entrepreneurship”: innovating in the simplest way and innovating in the least costly way.
This view is exactly the same as my view of micro-innovation. I always think that the exploration of business models should be done in a relatively simple way. If you don’t work, you can change it quickly. If it is feasible, you can gradually increase your chips.
1. create a lot of repeat customers small details
at a hotel in Las Vegas in the United States, when the customer knot finishing up to leave, the door Tong Kuaishun hand and gave customers two bottles of frozen mineral water.
For the hotel, the cost of the two bottles of water is really a bit of a hair, but it can give users a great experience – it takes about 40 minutes to drive from the hotel to the nearest airport, there is almost no gas station and rest area in the middle. This means that no replenishment can be made along the way.
You should know that Las Vegas is close to the desert, and there are often high temperatures of more than 35 degrees Celsius in the summer. Customers need to replenish water in the journey to the airport. At this time, the two bottles of water come in handy.
Please note one detail:
the time for the hotel to deliver the two bottles of water is after the customer has settled the bill. In a strict sense, the two bottles of water belong to the hotel. Imagine if the customer would come back to the “gambling city” next time, which hotel would you choose to stay in?
In view of the particularity of the industry, whether it is a service or a product, it is difficult for a hotel to stand out from the competition and the competition in the industry is extremely fierce.
This Las Vegas hotel is only three stars, and the “gambling city” in the hotel does not have a clear competitive advantage. However, the hotel starts with the details of “sending water” to create a warmth for customers. Attentive feelings, thus attracting a large number of repeat customers.
I think this is a kind of micro-innovation. Many people are used to treating “micro-innovation” and “subversive innovation” in the opposite direction. They think that the former is a small fight, while the latter is going to beat the drums. In my opinion, the two are actually one thing. In fact, almost all disruptive innovations are micro-innovations from the very beginning, starting with a tiny point.
2. Canon desktop copier to break
the world’s first Xerox copier American invention, copiers this period is typical of business-oriented products, great size, arranged in a special room maintained by hand.
Later, Canon reduced the size of the copier and developed the world’s first desktop copier.
Compared with large copiers, Canon’s desktop copiers have numerous shortcomings, such as unclear copying, wasted paper, etc., but they do a little bit – simplifying copying, moving from a product oriented to the enterprise to a market for ordinary users, this It is the value of micro-innovation.
Micro-innovation is often difficult for large companies to detect threats, which gives Canon the opportunity to improve its products. Desktop copiers are beginning to sneak into the market for large copiers.
Now, Xerox’s large-scale copiers have evolved into fast printing centers, and small-volume copies have become the exclusive stage for desktop copiers.
We encourage innovation and exploration, but Rome was not built in a day. Especially for many startups and product managers, they have great ideals, but they don’t have the resources to subvert the world overnight.
Therefore, from the perspective of user experience, we can continue to make small improvements, and we may not see obvious effects in a short period of time. However, through the accumulation of bits and pieces, it is possible to change the land in the end.
It should be emphasized that micro-innovation is not a “cottage” or “plagiarism”. In fact, many products that are considered to be highly innovative are transformed into the final appearance through continuous micro-innovation.
3. achieve the ultimate user experience
I’ve no secret of his admiration for Jobs and worship, he single-handedly revolutionized the overall pattern of the mobile phone market, the industry has left an immortal monument.
But whether it was the early iPod (Apple’s portable multi-function digital multimedia player) or the later iPhone, these products are not new inventions of Apple, but the result of micro-innovation again and again.
The iPod is a product of Apple’s micro-innovation based on the old-fashioned MP3. Jobs creatively provides MP3 with memory that can fit 1000 songs, making the iPod more comfortable and sound better than other MP3 products. This is the user. The innovation of experience.
The same is true for the iPhone. Apple is not the first company to install an app on a smartphone, but the system of Apple’s mobile phone is the smoothest and the best looking. These are the result of micro-innovation again and again.
The greatness of Jobs is not in how many new technologies he invented, but in his ability to achieve the ultimate in user experience through the ingenious integration of existing technologies.
Apple can have today’s achievements, and in the final analysis is a micro-innovation victory. In fact, all the great innovative products are embarking on a journey from micro-innovation to provide users with a more convenient and simpler experience. Since the entry point was very small, the giant did not care at first, and eventually was eaten bit by bit. 360 is the way to start.
4. Provide users with a more convenient and simpler experience
In 2005, many anti-virus software vendors did not bother to kill rogue software. Their profit sources were concentrated in the field of virus killing, but this is the first step of 360. Then we started to try to patch and kill Trojans, and the giants did not care.
360 really enters the vision of the giants, after we have accumulated a large number of users, successfully obtained financing, and technology has made breakthrough progress, but at this time they have regretted.
Someone once asked me: subversive innovation is strategy, micro innovation is tactics, how should the two be combined?
I think this kind of formulation is a mistake in itself.
In fact, subversive innovation is only a “post-mortem”, and each subversive innovation comes from micro-innovation.
If 360 is thinking about subverting people at the beginning, it is very likely that it has long since failed. Because the action is too big, we have no ability to do it, and the market will not give us a chance. Be aware that changing consumer habits can be a thankless task, and Amazon is the best example.
5. Why did the Amazon FirePhone fail?
In 2014, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos once led the design of a mobile phone, the FirePhone, but was widely criticized by all walks of life and defeated Waterloo. In my opinion, the main reason for its failure is too advanced!
Jeff Bezos started the FirePhone against the iPhone in the first place, trying to subvert the iPhone’s market position through technological innovation.
In order to let the FirePhone achieve a dynamic perspective design, Bezos even placed four cameras in the corners of the phone, so that the FirePhone can recognize the user’s facial expression in the dark or wearing sunglasses.
Although it sounds cool, consumers don’t buy the technology that Bezos is proud of. They think the design distracts the user’s attention and is useless.
Micro-innovation is actually a methodology, an idea that starts from the user’s needs and enhances the user experience, rather than developing some kind of cross-era technology behind closed doors. If this technology cannot find a use scenario that creates value for the user. In fact, it makes no sense.
I respect innovation and admire Bezos’s courage, but the steps are too big to wrestle.
Micro-innovation is the weakness of big companies. Many companies are getting farther and farther away from users after they become bigger, and they are getting more and more out of the needs of “small white users”.
Users don’t choose a company’s products because a company develops a new technology. They only ask one question: What requirements can your product solve for me?
6. Share Bike: Back to the needs of users
currently shared bicycle market competition, can not be said to have a technology-driven innovation. I think there are many reasons, but it must not be the technology of sharing bicycle manufacturers or no idea.
The reason why they have not done so many technological innovations, I think one of the more important reasons is that if there are too many technological innovations on shared bicycles, the cost per bicycle will increase a lot, and the demand for capital will also be Will rise in the water.
In addition, the destruction rate of shared bicycles is also one of the reasons.
I have heard the saying that if you see a solitary shared bicycle on the side of the road and nobody cares about it for a long time, then the car must be bad.
This statement may be biased, but it also reflects the current situation of the high rate of shared bicycle damage.
In this case, if the shared bicycle manufacturer has made a lot of technological innovations on the bicycle, or added more valuable parts to the shared bicycle, such as adding a solar charging board, I think there is a great possibility that some ulterior motives will be used. The generations have their own, thus further increasing the probability that the shared bicycle will be destroyed.
Back to the user’s needs, the first concern for users sharing bicycles is whether they can find the car quickly when needed.
Timely and convenient to find cars and rides with other value-added services, there is a big difference between the two. The former is just needed, and the latter is an experience upgrade.
Although some of the shared bicycles on the market now seem to have low technical content, they are unable to support the sufficient supply of vehicles and timely scheduling, and can effectively solve the user’s immediate needs.
If I were to advise the shared bicycle manufacturers, I think it would be more practical to honestly make a bike that is very skinny, can’t be broken, tires are not leaking, and will never fall off the chain.
Second, any business model are derived from user needs
a lot of start-ups in the innovation, often rigidly adhere to the concept on paper, but forget the intrinsic value of innovation. I suggest that you do not blindly chase the concept, innovation should be based on the following two foundations.
First of all, it is exciting enough to have enough potential, be profitable, and add value.
This means finding the user’s rigid needs, finding the inconvenient and uncomfortable place in the process of using the product, making targeted changes and enhancing the value of the product.
Second, innovation must change the inherent paradigm. For example, changing user habits makes the user’s experience easier and simpler. I am not optimistic about the unsustainable ideas, nor will I do this kind of opportunistic business.
This kind of business is terrible. Even if you earn tens of millions of dollars, you will never know where the next dollar is. On the other hand, those companies that are more great must have a sustainable business model.
For so many years, the so-called business model has always had a misunderstanding, that is, everyone is too eager to make their business model very clear.
In fact, the business model that can be clearly stated is basically a summary of the “post-mortem”.
Regardless of the business model, its starting point must come from the user’s pain point, which is an undiscovered or satisfied demand. Simply put, any business model derives from the company’s understanding of user needs and pain points.
In the process of exploring and growing a business model, most of the time, it is guided by users to move forward. If you don’t have enough user base, the pattern won’t work.
On the contrary, some giants will lose some business opportunities (seriously even lose their foundation), in large part because they have lost some of their curiosity and understanding of users after experiencing some successful models. Consciously brought the pattern of the frame: Is there a pattern? Can you make money? How much revenue can I have? …
Once you can’t find the answer, you will easily give up the project and miss the opportunity.
Therefore, in the early days of entrepreneurship, if someone asks you what your business model is, you want to get it very well. If you don’t think about it, don’t think about it. It’s easy to think too much.
Some entrepreneurs like to look at the industry level when constructing business models.
For example, how big is the future of China’s education industry, how big is China’s medical industry in the future, and how many users in China… The business plan is written like a government report, and it is big and inappropriate. Such a plan is hard to get the favor of investors.
In fact, the best way is to give the investor a solid conclusion: I found out what problems existed in the market, so what kind of products did I have and what problems were solved.
Third, the underlying foundation is more solid, the easier it is to achieve profitability
. 1. Business model quadruple
The business model I understand includes at least four aspects: product model, user model, promotion model, and revenue model.
Simply put, what kind of product you have developed, what value the product can create for users, how to let users know about the product, and how the product is profitable.
The business model quad is like a pyramid, and the more solid your underlying foundation is, the easier it is to make a profit.
Therefore, you should always ask yourself:
Did I really get through the pain points of the users?
Am I really making users inseparable from me?
Am I really doing a good product experience?
Am I really fast to a lot of users?
2. The business model is constantly trying to adjust and come out
I’ll admit I’m not a strategist, with a lot of “big brother” than, I do not have them stand so high. But personal experience tells me that every step forward, with more resources and users, will see more opportunities.
In fact, the business model is constantly trying and adjusting. Especially in the Internet field, there are still many roads that no one has ever walked. The more this is the case, the more the business model needs to constantly try to correct, accumulate, and constantly adjust.
A business model, even if it succeeds, is not isolated and needs to be continuously developed.
What I admire most is the WeChat red envelope. Some functions of WeChat, if you let me to practice, I think I can think clearly, but I can’t think of the WeChat red envelope.
Later, someone explained it to me for a while, and I suddenly understood it. Southern enterprises have the habit of making red packets for the New Year, and northern enterprises do not have this habit. This really belongs to the cultural differences deep into the bone marrow. I have never experienced it. Naturally, it is hard to understand.
When you make a product, you can’t use your own feelings to guess products, and you can’t use your life experience to experience products. When the earliest 360 did security software and free anti-virus, many people did not understand (including our shareholders).
The following two innovative products have made my Internet veteran look away.
1 The taxi software drip, the fast battle, not only changed the travel industry, but even changed the official position, the power of innovation is staggering.
In fact, there was a well-known taxi software platform that I used to talk about investment. Unfortunately, I didn’t see its development trend at the time.
Because my life at the time was already at the level of petty bourgeoisie, there were cars in and out, and I have not had a taxi experience for many years.
So, I made a very serious mistake – I didn’t judge the taxi software from the perspective of ordinary users, but I used my own habits to consider the problem.
2 game live. In 2016, it was called the outbreak of the live broadcast industry. Before that, there was a game live broadcast platform to find me to cooperate.
The live broadcast at the time was defined as an online show, far less hot than it is now. I never go to the show, and basically don’t play games.
My idea of the game is still in the online game of the early years. I don’t know which game is popular now. This concept is undoubtedly outdated and it is difficult for me to become a game player in a new era.
Therefore, it is difficult for me to understand that someone is willing to watch other people play games for a long time, so I rejected the project.
Sometimes, some innovative products may not be understood at the time, but they may become the power to subvert the tradition. Therefore, regardless of the product manager or the investor, the product must have “empathy” and the “small white user” needs and experience.
3. In the future, the subversive travel may be sharing bicycles in
2017. The shared charging treasure is full of heat. Many people have come to ask me about the shared charging treasure.
I have a regular charger on my car. I may not be a typical user sharing a charging treasure. But you have to know that there are nearly 1 billion mobile phone users in China, and a large number of them are desperately trying to brush WeChat, brush Weibo, play games, watch videos and watch live broadcasts every day.
Therefore, no matter how strong the mobile phone battery, under the common “destruction” of various programs, basically can not adhere to a day, which makes the charging treasure just needed.
The pain of the mobile phone is about to be out of power, I believe many people have experienced it, no doubt this is a big pain point. Use at least one time a day, and the frequency is higher.
Just need, pain points, high frequency, you will find that the shared charging treasure contains the three key factors of the ultimate product, then it has the possibility of success.
I think that products like shared bicycles and shared charging treasures are undoubtedly user-worthy, but they do not necessarily generate revenue at this stage.
Most of the earlier products have their own revenue value – the product solves some of the user’s needs and the user pays for it.
The current market competition is too fierce, especially the once hot O2O concept has set a precedent for subsidies, so many products now adopt free strategies in the promotion stage, and some enterprises not only do not make money from products, but even subsidize the payment of red packets. Users, this has caused the current status of some products without revenue.
Of course, this situation cannot be the norm, and no capital is willing to bear the pressure of never-ending money burning.
The purpose of enterprises to burn money is to quickly start the market and gather users. As the number of users grows larger, the commercial value of the product will naturally emerge.
For many entrepreneurs, the most important thing is to return to the essence of entrepreneurship, to consider how to do the core functions of the product, so that it provides users with better service.
