They taught us in economics that companies have to specialize and build core competencies. They need to do a few things really well and be the best possible in the specific domains. But today, we think that does not make a lot of sense, especially at companies’ scaling phases. Yes, for technology companies, everyone is doing everything, even at a top-level.
Alphabet, Google parent company, is a car company, a search company, a medical company, an advertising juggernaut, etc. Amazon is an e-commerce firm, a publisher, a movie producer, a drone maker, and soon a car maker.
And today, there is a new player. Yes, FEDEX is going ecommerce: ‘FedEx, has announced plans to launch a new e-commerce platform called “fdx”, as it looks to rival Amazon.’ It is what it is.
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You may ask: what is going on here? What is happening here is the power to do anything because once you have the foundational technology stack, you can easily combine and recombine things on the top stacks. Apple can add lending. Netflix can go into gaming because it has all the core pieces already. Twitter can add payment because the core is already there.
Good People, the purity of visions via starting with a focus remains catalytic, but the scaling of visions, after the foundation has been built, is now unbounded and unconstrained. Shine your eyes as you look at your competition because they now come in really amorphous forms. Yes, FEDEX is now an entry in Amazon as an ecommerce “competitor”.
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