F2 :: Form & Function

While Jason Hiner’s article, “Sanity check: Will startups or big companies have a bigger impact on tech in 2008?,” focuses on tech companies, I think his predictions are applicable to pretty much any sector. Taking some license with his list you can distill the following:

Start-ups…

1. Use their nimbleness and focus to take advantage of specific opportunities that big companies have not figured out how to crack.
2. Struggle with resources as a result of credit crunches or a slowing world economy.
3. Witness major consolidation, with some going under as they run out of money and/or don’t have a product that has differentiated itself in the market and others being acquired by competitors or big companies.
4. Create new markets and new opportunities with ideas that fly in the face of conventional wisdom.

Big companies…

1. Use their experience and deep pockets to patiently wait for markets to mature, become profitable, and eventually revolutionize certain aspects of work and play.
2. Take ideas that had big potential as a startup and do the hard work of building an infrastructure to systematize and channel that potential into a sustainable success.
3. Repeatedly fail to execute on ideas that they should be able to get right because of a lack of focus and/or having too many cooks in the kitchen.
4. Use their resources and scale to successfully bring great ideas to the masses and thereby make a major impact on culture and daily life.

So, it would seem that the form an organization takes (i.e. start-up or big company) should be largely dependent on its function. If you want to be cutting-edge and innovative, stay small and keep your demographic focus limited. If you want to develop infrastructures and scale-up, have sufficient staff and broaden your sights to include a wider demographic base.