Company 2.0

Hi

I am the Business Geek. What does this mean?

For me this means looking at the world of business through the eyes of someone who is deeply technical. It's kinda like looking at the world of business with the Matrix style digital display.

Applying technology correctly to business problems can make any business go vertical. We have seen companies like EBay, Skype, Yahoo, Google and even Amazon go vertical in the past 5 years but no traditional businesses have achieved this yet. Why is this?

My belief is that any business can go vertical but traditional businesses have too much baggage to make the transition which is why these newer companies without the baggage have achieved this dream status.

At the same time we have seen traditional businesses who went vertical previously like Microsoft get bogged down by their baggage and have their position challenged by the likes of Netscape and now Google. This really is the innovators dilemma in all its glory.

So, what does the Business Geek propose...

The Business Geek's proposal is Company 2.0. If you are the CEO of a major business and you want to go vertical create a version 2.0 organisation, find yourself a business geek, hand them a pot of cash (say 1% of your profits) and tell them to eat your lunch. Challenge 2.0 to become more successful than 1.0 within 2-3 years.

Sounds scary doesn't it? But at least this way you'll end up owning the business that is eating your lunch powered by technology rather than someone else!

Even if 2.0 fails to eat your lunch you'll have collected a whole bunch of technology, people and experiences that you can incorporate into your 1.0 business and probably more importantly these people are not working for your competition!

The caveat; choose your business geek well. Giving the wrong person 1% of your profits may all go horribly wrong!

Decide carefully.

J.