The greatest entrepreneurs in the world do not focus on the needs and expectations of customers, but on their perceptions which most times, focus groups and surveys cannot capture. Elon Musk is his generation’s finest innovator. When he included the Bioweapon Defense Mode* in Tesla, many mocked him. But as air quality drops in some areas in America due to bushfires, many Tesla users are thanking the founder who built something most people did not ask for, but when the need arose, they realized that was what they needed!
Out-think your customers, people. Indeed, Tesla does not just help the world to go green, it can also clean the air pollutants of the world. Yes, Tesla has opened a new basis of competition which can move many customers to consider it because it can indeed clean the air. That is what it takes to become a sustained category-king; as they’re trying to catch you, you keep shifting the goalpost.
Sure – the “software company” which sells cars will make that possible if you upgrade to have that Mode to work in your car! Tesla has pricing plans, making its business model to track a software company, the very reason why its valuation multiples mirror software companies than car firms. In other words, most Tesla cars on the road will keep bringing in revenue to Tesla until the day they move to landfills. Not sure they’re other companies which can boast of that business model innovation at scale.
Tekedia Mini-MBA edition 16 (Feb 10 – May 3, 2025) opens registrations; register today for early bird discounts.
Tekedia AI in Business Masterclass opens registrations here.
Join Tekedia Capital Syndicate and invest in Africa’s finest startups here.
“Bioweapon Defense Mode is a state-of-the-art air filtration system designed to protect vehicle occupants from various air pollutants, including exhaust fumes, smoke, allergens, airborne pathogens, and other potentially hazardous particles.”
https://twitter.com/QuantumGrl/status/996520291055513600
Comment on Feed
Comment 1: What is that magic wand that would empower one to do this (perfect their game in anticipating a customer’s future need) at scale, Prof Ndubuisi Ekekwe?
My Response: Observation and Awareness. We try to teach that in Tekedia Mini-MBA but teaching is different from practice.
---
Register for Tekedia Mini-MBA (Feb 10 - May 3, 2025), and join Prof Ndubuisi Ekekwe and our global faculty; click here.
Elon Musk lives future in the present, what most of us will still think about and consider is what he brings to the present, he remains peerless in the domain of innovation. He is a force, and a mover too. If you wait for the customers to tell you what they need or want, it means that you cannot create new markets, new markets come at the level of perception, with new initiation and believers.
Musk brings something superbly different in whatever he does, I am sure many people have forgotten what Twitter used to be like before November, yes, the social media that relinquished innovation and embraced ‘content moderation’ as a heavenly gospel. What was it like back then? You tweet 280 characters and sign out with iPhone or Android, with blue tick reserved for the wannabe elites. All of those things are now history.
The bigger one? Twitter is poised to become the ultimate media space, the man they call Tucker Carlson (the most influential and smartest media personality in the world) dropped his 10 minutes monolog there, and got how many views? That is where things are headed, for those who know how to see far, without prejudices.
You cannot like innovation and dislike Elon Musk, it will be counterproductive to do so.