Small is more beautiful than ever
March 2, 2002 Explaining the collapse of yet another super-funded Internet giant whose smaller peers are thriving, tech research dean Andrew M. Odlyzko notes that "new technologies are generally being developed faster than before, but they generally do not spread through society any faster."
When Internet time plods, small companies have an advantage, Odlyzko believes. "Being small allows for adjusting to the speed with which new products and services can diffuse, as opposed to having to depend on every conceivable consumer jumping on your bandwagon the moment you open for business."
Open Source evangelist Bill O'Reilly, who highlighted Odlyzko's ideas in this December posting, elaborates:
Small companies should look for markets where time is an ally rather than an enemy. Fast growing markets aren't necessarily good for small players. ... Slower technology adoption curves... often allow small companies to grow organically 'under the radar' before the large, entrenched players notice the new market.
Most large incumbent businesses have neither the patience or passion to do the R&D -- inventing a new buyer as well as a new product -- needed to power the Internet revolution. See last graf of this article by Ben Sullivan for a particularly highfalutin expression of this thought.
Speaking of the conflict between people in a hurry to get rich and people with passion for building a lasting business, don't miss the screed written in mid 2001 by the ArsDigita founder Philip Greenspun shortly after the venture capital investors booted him. The hyper-articulate Greenspun said watching the VCs try to run ArsDigita was "like watching a group of nursery school children who've stolen a Boeing 747 and are now flipping all the switches trying to get it to take off."
Henry Copeland in Budapest, Hungary.
