There is no more business as usual. The world’s biggest taxi company owns exactly zero taxis. The largest hotelier owns zero rooms in zero hotels. The hottest name in designer fashion sells no clothing.
Some of today’s fastest growing companies are taking on mature markets by simply changing the way people shop. Uber, Airbnb, Rent the Runway, Birchbox, and the Dollar Shave Club all have one thing in common.
They don’t sell products—they sell experiences.
Experience is fuelling a new age. The strategy of depending solely on your products to gain a competitive advantage is rapidly becoming obsolete. Copycat manufacturing is now so fast and cheap that innovators capture less than 3 percent of the economic surplus they create.
