Suits and Sheets

Your first reaction to the title? Suits is self explanatory and sheets are spreadsheets!

Here is a story. A brilliant innovative idea starts taking shape in real world. Products are created , offered ,fine tuned and they find traction. First customers, word of mouth and a business is born. As market grows, copy cats emerge and price realization drops. Bottom line pressures kick in. The sales teams are now pushing. More features get added to get incremental dollars from the same customers. Costs get added to cover the surplus.SUITS and SHEETS push for more revenue and margins.

The genius of the original ideas is replaced by factories and numbers. Customers are now bombarded with a fat product that they don’t need , mostly.

An upstart reads the scenario well. Radically better alternative in a new business model has taken shape and has changed the rules of the game.The original firm first ignores and then wants to either buy or copy the upstart. But it’s no longer the lean/ mean creature it used to be.

The cycle repeats.