Future of the Entrepreneur
How should the entrepreneur of the future think?
We are accelerating rapidly to a 4.0 world as the Fourth Industrial Revolution advances. Many industries, professions and companies will see radical changes in the next ten years even more than in the last fifty. Therefore, the mindset of the entrepreneur of the future needs to change.
We will witness the transformation of the old 3.0 concepts based on relatively recent changes in the means of production and the transformation caused by the arrival of the digital to the 4.0 the brand new fourth Industrial Revolution, marked by the convergence between material and digital in business, technology, industry, economy, workforce and even in society and governments. However, our mental models and success formulas are still based on concepts that are rapidly becoming obsolete.
A mindset is a conditioned worldview from learning and experiences. In other words, it is the operating system that predetermines our actions and interpretations, and ultimately our success or failure.
Today, almost all of us are engaged in 3.0 thinking, both to create strategies and to interpret successes and failures. This is not only inappropriate, but risky and futile, as it fails to recognize and respond to the paradigm shift and revolutionary transformation we are undergoing. Instead, we should unlearn old mindsets and adopt a new way of thinking about the world 4.0.
Whether you are an executive, entrepreneur, engineer (or any other profession), adopting the mindset of the future can be a decisive factor in helping you advance over the competition and survive the future, taking advantage of the subtle opportunities that are emerging and leading your organization and yourself through an uncertain future.
Next, we break down the key features that will enable entrepreneurs of the future to succeed despite the endless possibilities of big data, artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles and all the other inevitable truths of the 4.0 world.
If the future is uncertain, we must shape it
As industries undergo transformations, they often go through intermediate stages that rely on incremental technologies, masking the often dramatic outcome that can occur only a few years later.
What we define as "inevitable truths" in the introduction of this article is the process of creating demand, even if the product or service is not yet 100% ready. Thus, it is possible to focus your efforts on obtaining the greatest possible return, positioning yourself strategically in the scenario for when the real disruptor becomes possible and economically advantageous.
Netflix did it. Uber did it. And Airbnb, Vale, Nintendo, Tesla all the biggest companies in the world 4.0 have stuck concepts in the rock that were not yet possible. Until they started being.
Find the right time
Today, even significant improvements in technology price and performance can be predictable enough for you to know when the time is right to launch an innovative product.
Jeff Bezos did not invent the e-book. The success of the Kindle was more a matter of perfect timing. Following a decade or more of the failures of companies large and small, Amazon learned what was still needed in terms of monitors, batteries, processors and mobile networks before a winning combination could be built.
Once the technology advanced enough and everything converged, Amazon attacked. Previous market failures created demand, with consumers waiting for a winner and this would make the Kindle’s success even more dramatic than the failures of its predecessors.
At the same time, publishers misinterpreted previous failures as proof that e-book readers were a rogue in the industry; now publishers are facing a dangerous recovery game as Amazon rewrites industry rules.
This example is similar to several others (Netflix and Blockbuster, Airbnb and hotels), and unequivocally demonstrates the importance of changing the 3.0 mindset to 4.0.
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Experimenting is essential (even if it doesn’t always make sense)
In a world of better and cheaper disruptors, the advantage of proprietary research and development is increasingly evident. While internal experimentation gives you full control over the design and ownership of new products, it also burdens you with all costs and risks.
Today, entrepreneurs (mainly startups and creators) are using crowdfunding services such as Kickstarter, Indiegogo and Rockethub to find their first users and also collaborate with them. From market research to design and customer service, it is possible to know what the consumer needs and wants before producing a single item. That’s how you vote with your wallet.
"The catastrophic success"
Social media and mobile devices are revolutionizing marketing. As actor Gary Oldman stated in a recent interview: consumers actually listen only to other consumers.
As near-perfect market information has become the norm, new products and services tend to create quick results, either as complete successes or as total failures.
When your company builds a prototype, the first appearance on the market may be the last. You no longer have control over the success of a product or service once it is launched. The digital world and the ways we interact with information make customers know the product at once, right after (or even before) the launch of what we call "catastrophic success".
If you believe in your own design, you’d better be prepared with manufacturing, distribution, and customer service capabilities to scale quickly. Customers won’t expect you to meet demand, and neither will competitors.
Sell or not sell?
Market explosions characteristic of the world 4.0 can put entrepreneurs on the razor’s edge when facing a dilemma that is appearing in the life of companies faster and faster: is it better to sell a business early to an established company or to bet on the idea up to an initial public offering?
If you think you’ve created your best idea or need the resources and user base of a larger company to take your product or service to the next level, sell. If, on the other hand, you have a fantastic pipeline and all the support you need to get your product to market, don’t be distracted by what might seem like a heft of an organization that doesn’t have your vision.
The mentality of the entrepreneur of the new economy needs to be instructed with the best insights, with the ideas that will make a difference when the future comes. So, continue your reading journey and access other suggested articles.
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