Rebellion Ventures’ Post

Are you focusing too much on a product feature battle while missing the bigger strategic picture? I see too many entrepreneurs fighting a tactical battle over features, while losing sight of developing a more fundamental competitive advantage. Entrepreneurs often view their competitive advantage through a matrix of their product features vs. those of their competitors. This approach is typically too tactical and narrow. This isn’t a new problem. Abernathy and Clark highlighted this back in 1985 in their classic paper on innovation:  “𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘳, 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘴, 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦.”   Many successful entrepreneurs take a more fundamental, strategic approach to developing their competitive advantage. They: 1. Develop deep insights into customer needs and gaps in the market to serve the market differently than existing players. 2. Pioneer new strategic dimensions of value, creating new ways to compete (new “axes of competition”). 3. Target underserved segments or expand into new types of customers. 4. Bring in unique competencies others lack or overlook. 5. Exploit the limitations of existing players, such as legacy business models and architectures. How are you thinking about developing a competitive advantage beyond feature-level battles?  Know someone for whom this post would be helpful? Share it or comment and tag. Reference: Abernathy, W. J., & Clark, K. B. (1985). Innovation: Mapping the winds of creative destruction. Research Policy, 14(1), 3-22.