I've embarked on a bold new experiment
It's called Wealthy Tiger
In reality it is ExCapite 3.0
Instead of typing it's all about capturing the zietgeist on video
It explores familiar themes: How talent, money and ideas come together to change the way markets behave
You could say it's all about looking forward. Searching for what is new... but you would be wrong
It's all about trying to discover what has been lost
What has been forgotten
You see...
Innovation is a tightly coupled dance between talent, markets and money
Each of the players in this three way tango seeks a different outcome
Talent seeks change.
It likes to play what if with the future
Money, or more accurately capital, seeks rent.
It wants to eat while others do the work
Markets want more for less.
This is what drives adoption
Most of the time these three are in conflict
The challenge is to get all three dancing to the same tune
Now…
The paradox of money is the weaker the idea the more money it will take to make it work
It requires magic thinking to believe otherwise
and yes, this rule is compounded when money is cheap…
Which probably explains why we live in a world of Unicorns
The paradox of the markets is best summed up by that old quote from Henry Ford
If I’d asked my customers what they wanted it would have been a faster horse and cart
Customers don’t know what they want but they do know what they like when they see it
Or, more accurately, when they see somebody else has it
Finally we have those CRAZY ONES celebrated by Steve Jobs
The paradox of talent is it’s not WHAT know, but WHO you know
Bright ideas are nice but in reality
It all comes down to your ability to sell the FUTURE to investors, customers, suppliers and employees
In this podcast series I will be talking to an new generation of startup founders and investors
Each one attempting to change how the innovation game is played
I’m keen to find out how they are solving the challenge of aligning money, markets and talent to change the world
What am I looking for?
Scarcity in Abundance
You see the trick to the innovation game is this...
It is all about creating the illusion of scarcity in a world of abundance
We live in a world awash with money, talent and ideas
The game the Venture Capitalist plays is to create the illusion that great startups are rare and the ability to pick a winner is even rarer
and anybody familar with the 'big data' would agree
The ability to consistently deliver Alpha in the VC market is extremely rare
But that does not stop the game being played
and the spells of the unicorn whispers enchanting investors and founders alike
and it comes down to a question
In a world of overflowing with money, talent and ideas what is scarce?
The answer? Apart from VCs who can consistently pick winners...Very Simply?... Networks of Trust
VCs are in the business of selling networks of trust to their investors
Understand this and you'll understand why VC's don't invest in big new ideas or extraordinary talent
They invest in their Trusted Networks
and, it is - somewhat ironically - this syndication of risk, that is the fundamental reason why so few VC portfolios managed to deliver Alpha
They are too busy investing in yesterday to imagine what the future may look like today
But that isn't the lesson here. The takeaway
The lesson is simply this... The role of the VC is to manufacture the illusion of scarcity in abundance
Because once that spell is cast the industry performance metrics are redundant
This is the lesson Advertising and Marketing has forgotten
It isn't about generating sales. It is all about the casting of spells
Specifically the spell of creating scarcity in abundance
Do this and the sales follow
If you have any doubts take a look at the NFT craze
The spell that has been cast is the opportunity to buy digital scarcity in a world of digital abundance
They have cast a spell of fear - FOMO
and this insight teaches us just how much we have forgotten about the art of communication
and yes, these thoughts lead us back to the marketplace models and the agency of the future
At least until next time :)