Process efficiency is great. But a winning business model is more important. You can be efficient doing the wrong thing. It comes down to operating where you can capture value. Because of the unconstrained and unbounded nature of the web, businesses must change their operational protocols.
In 2000, assembling the top global movie producers to make short videos for a digital platform would have been a great idea (Quibi like). But in 2021, where discovery and owning the demand, not the supply, is more strategic, that model will struggle. So, today, it is a better idea to have a platform where millions of people can post videos and your algorithms sort, and pick the best, and within seconds distribute them on your platform (TikTok like).
The most catalytic thing a leader can do today is to have a responsive business model. If you miss it, everything falls because the dynamic of the internet has changed everything.
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A man picked a company, and changed the business model, and within five years, quadrupled the market cap, with largely the same products. Yes, the difference between Steve Ballmer (former CEO of Microsoft) and Nadella Satya (current CEO) is this: Satya runs a model for the web era while Ballmer was old school. Ballmer focused on controlling supply of Microsoft products in a world where winning demand has become more strategic.
In 2021, I challenge you to look deeper into the business model you are running. How has the web changed the fundamental constructs?
Always remember that modern empires are going to be those who control demand, not supply. That is the grand playbook of the web economy. Upgrade as I have noted in my courseware of the same title in Tekedia Institute.
In the digital age, what matters is not who controls supply, but who controls demand. Supply is largely infinite as there are many ways to get to the web, and because it is infinite, users congregate to platforms to help them navigate and make sense of the web.
In 1980, before the digital age as we have it today, the most powerful people in media were newspaper publishers. They were the people you needed to reach to get your message to the world. They decided what everyone read on the dailies and they were powerful. They controlled supply and by controlling supply, they shaped everything including advertising.
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Talking about playbook and business model, another industry is about to be redefined. Rather than packing few boys and girls in a room for talent competition or ‘reality show’, with the power of web and technology, you now have them do same from multiple locations, in their hundreds. Here comes Mhagic (mhagic.com), it’s poised to democratize and redefine the showbiz space.
The most interesting part? It comes out of Africa!
This will go down as one of the most profound and consequential innovation of this decade, beginning this month…