We got to meet
with both a fledgling start-up and a well-established company who have garnered
a high-market share in their field despite competition from several big names.
The first
company that we met with (and the larger of the two) was called VMWare whose
main business is a software that creates virtual machines, which basically
means you can have multiple computers running on one physical computer. When we arrived at the VMWare’s building for
our meeting, the gentleman who was supposed to meet us was out of the office
and seemingly not coming back.
Thankfully however, his co-worker who worked in about the same position
was able to give us a tour and talk to us about his company. One interesting thing that he talked about
that was pertinent to the book I am reading (called “Crossing the Chasm:
Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers”) for this
course was the reason that VMWare was able to beat out its competitors. Our contact told us that the reason that
VMWare continues to be so successful is their emphasis on the “whole product”
rather than just selling software. For
example, the company’s software comes in a whole ecosystem of other VMWare
programs and when a company buys enough of those products, VMWare will actually
send one of their own employees to be stationed at the buying company’s
building to assist with any problems or questions concerning the VMWare
product. This commitment to selling not
just a core product but rather a whole product allows VMWare (among many other
companies) to gain and hold a majority of their market share.
The
second company we visited was called PerCognate which was a small start-up of
four guys who met us in the Seattle Public Library because they didn’t have an
office yet. It was interesting to talk
to these guys (Bill, John, and Sean) because although a majority of the people
we have talked to thus far have worked at a start-up at some point in their career,
they were all working at large well established companies. Talking with the member of PerCognate really
hammered home the concept of risk involved in start-ups as one of the original
members had run out of money and was forced to leave the company and get, as
they called it, a “real job”. One of the
other members of the company talked about how although it was fun to live on
Mac n Cheese in college, it wasn’t as fun when you are forty and are running
out of money because of the start-up.
Another topic that they talked about was the Innovators Dilemma, or the
problem that eventually all technology becomes obsolete. So in the words of
PerCognate, the best technology company is the one that can create a product
and then is smart enough to be looking for what the new technology will be that
will replace their product, and even attempt to be the ones creating the new
product to replace their own.
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