Hello, world changers!

It’s very difficult for people to adopt new ideas. Whether it’s Henry Ford’s Model T, Intuit’s idea of an automated accountant, or the teddy bear — people are skeptical of new inventions.

So how do you “bridge” the gap between people’s current thinking and new ideas?

On today’s episode of Mission Daily, Mission CEO Stephanie Postles shares her take on what she calls “bridging” — a concept you may know as “crossing the chasm”.

What is Crossing the Chasm?

Geoffrey Moore first described the “Crossing the Chasm” theory in his 1991 book of the same name. The gist is that there’s a gap between those who are eager to take risks and try new technology (the early adopters) and those who need more convincing before they adopt (the early majority).

So, how do you overcome this chasm and bring your tech (or new idea) to the masses?

In the most basic sense: you need to understand the difference between these early adopters and the early majority. The latter wants practical benefits, reliability, and a proven track record. They are more cautious and need more proof that a technology is useful before they adopt it.

How do you Cross the Chasm?

Let’s use Henry Ford’s Model T as an example. When Ford first introduced the Model T, many people were hesitant to adopt it as a mode of transportation. They were used to horse-drawn carriages and didn’t see the practical benefits of an automobile.

So how did Ford cross the chasm? Through innovative production techniques and marketing campaigns that highlighted the practical benefits of the Model T, he was able to attract the early majority and revolutionize the automotive industry.

(Shameless plug: Tune in to today’s Mission Daily episode to hear exactly how Ford did this.)

In other words, to cross the chasm, you need to change your approach to marketing and product development to meet the people where they are at. It doesn’t have to be dramatic changes, but it is a crucial step in taking your tech to the masses.

That’s it for today. Keep changing the world!

-Lacey

Worth Checking Out

The Bessemer Venture Partners Anti-Portfolio — A fun list of investments Bessemer Ventures should have made — and a list Albert likes to reflect on regularly. Includes great examples of companies that figured out how to cross the chasm.

Cathie Wood, Ark Invest — Stephanie LOVES Cathie and is a long-time follower of Ark Invest. Ark Invest is a publicly traded investment management firm that specializes in disruptive innovation and focuses on investments in robotics, AI, energy storage, and biotechnology. Follow along for insights into disruptive technologies that may cross the chasm in the next several decades.

Want more business tips?

This post was originally published in the Mission Daily newsletter. Get that newsletter directly to your inbox every single day by subscribing below.

Mission Daily

And don’t forget to listen to the Mission Daily podcast on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts! Just 20 minutes a day and you’ll learn at least one lesson that you can apply to your life and business.

How to Introduce People to New Ideas was originally published in Mission.org on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

When should you hold on to a failing project and when should you cut your losses?

The “Dead Horse Theory” helps you answer exactly that.

I’ve seen many posts about this lately on LinkedIn. Oscar Berg even took a stab at illustrating it. So I thought I’d share my learnings with you.

What is the “Dead Horse Theory”?

The “Dead Horse Theory” states that:

“When you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount.”

In the context of business, a dead horse refers to a project or venture that is no longer viable, no matter how much effort you put into it. This could be due to changes in the market, increased competition, or simply poor execution. Whatever the cause, the result is the same: you’re putting time and resources into something that is very unlikely to succeed.

Companies that Have Tried to Ride a Dead Horse

One company that fell prey to the Dead Horse Theory is Kodak. Kodak was once the dominant player in the film photography market, but as digital photography took over, the company failed to pivot and adapt to the changing landscape. Kodak continued to pour resources into its film business, even as it became clear that the market was moving away from film. By the time Kodak finally acknowledged the shift and tried to pivot, it was too late, and the company filed for bankruptcy in 2012.

Another well-known example is Blockbuster, the former video rental giant. Blockbuster was slow to adapt to the rise of streaming services and online rentals, and it continued to invest in its brick-and-mortar stores even as its customers moved away from physical media. Blockbuster’s inability to recognize the shift in the market and pivot to a new business model ultimately led to its downfall.

But not every dead horse results in a completely bankrupt business. A single business unit, department, product line, or investment that is hemorrhaging money and resources can also be a dead horse.

Take Amazon Echo as an example. Business Insider reported in late 2022 that:

During the first quarter of [2022], Amazon’s “Worldwide Digital” unit, which includes everything from the Echo smart speakers and Alexa voice technology to the Prime Video streaming service, had an operating loss of over $3 billion, according to internal data obtained by Insider.

For a decade, Amazon has been trying to turn Alexa and Echo into the next big thing in voice purchasing. They priced the hardware at cost (mostly) and then planned to make the real profit from people using the devices to make additional purchases on Amazon.

There is only one problem — not enough people are using these devices that way.

In November 2022, Amazon laid off a significant portion of employees working on Alexa and Echo. While Amazon’s hardware chief, Dave Limp, is still all-in on the device, one has to wonder if they are beating a dead horse and this round of layoffs is the first step toward accepting that.

How to Avoid a Dead Horse

These examples show that even the most successful companies can fall victim to the Dead Horse Theory — in fact, it’s a common problem businesses face.

So, what can small business owners and executives do to avoid falling into the trap?

We touched on it yesterday — you need to “always be experimenting”. Mini-experiments will help you fine-tune your compass and identify which trends are actually worth investing in, which are worth ignoring, and which projects you need to cut off now before they eat up the rest of your business.

By granting your team autonomy to experiment (and some guidelines to follow) you end up having a company that is running tens or even hundreds of mini-experiments every year.

What if Blockbuster invested in a culture of thoughtful experimentation? If they had dedicated some resources to testing out mini-experiments all the time, perhaps they would have ended up ahead of a trend rather than behind one.

In Summary

The Dead Horse Theory is a powerful reminder that it’s important to be proactive about recognizing when a project or venture is no longer viable. By staying aware of changes in the market, monitoring your metrics, cutting your losses when necessary, and being open to changing your vision, small business owners and executives can avoid falling into the same trap that many other companies have fallen into before them.

And before I sign off, here are some more of Oscar’s photos for a good laugh:

Want more business tips?

This post was originally published as the Mission Daily newsletter. Get that newsletter directly to your inbox every single day by subscribing below.

Mission Daily

And don’t forget to listen to the Mission Daily podcast on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts! Just 20 minutes a day and you’ll learn at least one lesson that you can apply to your life and business.

The Dead Horse Theory: A Cautionary Tale for Entrepreneurs was originally published in Mission.org on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

When should you hold on to a failing project and when should you cut your losses?

The “Dead Horse Theory” helps you answer exactly that.

I’ve seen many posts about this lately on LinkedIn. Oscar Berg even took a stab at illustrating it. So I thought I’d share my learnings with you.

What is the “Dead Horse Theory”?

The “Dead Horse Theory” states that:

“When you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount.”

In the context of business, a dead horse refers to a project or venture that is no longer viable, no matter how much effort you put into it. This could be due to changes in the market, increased competition, or simply poor execution. Whatever the cause, the result is the same: you’re putting time and resources into something that is very unlikely to succeed.

Companies that Have Tried to Ride a Dead Horse

One company that fell prey to the Dead Horse Theory is Kodak. Kodak was once the dominant player in the film photography market, but as digital photography took over, the company failed to pivot and adapt to the changing landscape. Kodak continued to pour resources into its film business, even as it became clear that the market was moving away from film. By the time Kodak finally acknowledged the shift and tried to pivot, it was too late, and the company filed for bankruptcy in 2012.

Another well-known example is Blockbuster, the former video rental giant. Blockbuster was slow to adapt to the rise of streaming services and online rentals, and it continued to invest in its brick-and-mortar stores even as its customers moved away from physical media. Blockbuster’s inability to recognize the shift in the market and pivot to a new business model ultimately led to its downfall.

But not every dead horse results in a completely bankrupt business. A single business unit, department, product line, or investment that is hemorrhaging money and resources can also be a dead horse.

Take Amazon Echo as an example. Business Insider reported in late 2022 that:

During the first quarter of [2022], Amazon’s “Worldwide Digital” unit, which includes everything from the Echo smart speakers and Alexa voice technology to the Prime Video streaming service, had an operating loss of over $3 billion, according to internal data obtained by Insider.

For a decade, Amazon has been trying to turn Alexa and Echo into the next big thing in voice purchasing. They priced the hardware at cost (mostly) and then planned to make the real profit from people using the devices to make additional purchases on Amazon.

There is only one problem — not enough people are using these devices that way.

In November 2022, Amazon laid off a significant portion of employees working on Alexa and Echo. While Amazon’s hardware chief, Dave Limp, is still all-in on the device, one has to wonder if they are beating a dead horse and this round of layoffs is the first step toward accepting that.

How to Avoid a Dead Horse

These examples show that even the most successful companies can fall victim to the Dead Horse Theory — in fact, it’s a common problem businesses face.

So, what can small business owners and executives do to avoid falling into the trap?

We touched on it yesterday — you need to “always be experimenting”. Mini-experiments will help you fine-tune your compass and identify which trends are actually worth investing in, which are worth ignoring, and which projects you need to cut off now before they eat up the rest of your business.

By granting your team autonomy to experiment (and some guidelines to follow) you end up having a company that is running tens or even hundreds of mini-experiments every year.

What if Blockbuster invested in a culture of thoughtful experimentation? If they had dedicated some resources to testing out mini-experiments all the time, perhaps they would have ended up ahead of a trend rather than behind one.

In Summary

The Dead Horse Theory is a powerful reminder that it’s important to be proactive about recognizing when a project or venture is no longer viable. By staying aware of changes in the market, monitoring your metrics, cutting your losses when necessary, and being open to changing your vision, small business owners and executives can avoid falling into the same trap that many other companies have fallen into before them.

And before I sign off, here are some more of Oscar’s photos for a good laugh:

Want more business tips?

Listen to the Mission Daily podcast on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts! Just 20 minutes a day and you’ll learn at least one lesson that you can apply to your life and business.

The Dead Horse Theory: A Cautionary Tale for Entrepreneurs was originally published in Mission.org on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Balancing risk with reward is a dance every entrepreneur and business executive is familiar with.

Our unpopular opinion?

Betting big doesn’t pay off.

…Except when it does, because sometimes it will.

FedEx founder Fred Smith once bet the company’s last $5,000 in blackjack after a bad sales meeting. He walked away from the table with $27,000 — enough money to turn around the company.

Cool story? Hell yes! Likely to happen to you? Hell no!

Exceptions aren’t the rule. And the brutal truth is that your business probably isn’t the exception. A not-so-official Google search shows that 20% of businesses fail in the first year and 70% fail before their 10th year.

Putting your company in a vulnerable position by making huge bets that could leave you bleeding money isn’t a choice we recommend. (Trust us, we’ve done it.)

Nurturing a business, diversifying your revenue, scaling your team, and investing in new technology — these are all things that require you to make bets.

So how can you spend your time, money, and resources strategically without putting yourself in a position you can’t recover from?

2 Tips and 2 Rules

Here are our two tips and two rules that we follow when deciding whether or not an experiment is worth pursuing:

Tip #1: Don’t confuse opportunity with execution

Opportunity is everywhere, and capitalizing on opportunity is essential for businesses. BUT you must bet on the right opportunities.

An opportunity is simply a chance to try something. In order to turn that “chance” into a tangible outcome, you have to execute. You have to be willing to dedicate resources to see it succeed. If you don’t have the manpower, money, time, or interest to see it through, move on.

Tip #2: Start small

Experiments fail all the time. If you can’t shrug it off if it fails, then it’s too big.

Challenge yourself and your team to develop smaller versions of the same experiment, or wait until your business is bigger and that time/monetary commitment is something you can absorb if it fails.

Our Two Rules for Running Experiments

At Mission, all of our experiments must meet the following rules:

Rule #1: Don’t pull me down

Your experiment should never inhibit the company’s normal business operations. It cannot pull significant time or resources from any employee or from your normal day-to-day.

Rule #2: The impact should be BIG

Marginal cost improvements are great for a company churning out hundreds of thousands of products a day, but for a small business, small changes don’t actually do much for your bottom line.

Saving a hundred dollars a month or getting 10 more views on a video isn’t a worthwhile bet. Instead, invest in experiments with big, measurable upside.

(Pro tip: It helps if you have an “experiment gatekeeper” who acts as a filter for your team. This person reviews all experiments being run and ensures that they meet the above criteria.).

Want more business tips?

Listen to the Mission Daily podcast on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts! Just 20 minutes a day and you’ll learn at least one lesson that you can apply to your life and business.

Thanks for reading!

How to Innovate at Your Company (without going bankrupt) was originally published in Mission.org on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

For fans of the company’s meat snack products, it may seem like Chomps has been an overnight success. But, behind the scenes there has been a lot of hard work, risky bets, and beneficial partnerships that have helped elevate the brand. On Up Next in Commerce, Pete Maldonado, the Co-founder and CEO of Chomps and Stacy Hartnett, the Vice President, E-Commerce & Marketing at Chomps, discuss how the company was bootstrapped, and how it has scaled through both retail and online platforms.

Tune in to learn:

• The beginnings of Chomps (1:45)
• The timeline of success (3:30)
• Lessons learned after getting into Trader Joe’s (12:00)
• How and why Stacey came on board (15:00)
• Creating an appetite for risky bets (19:00)
• Identifying the right platforms (22:00)
• Understanding your target segments and how to reach them (30:00)
• Contrarian ideas or data to track (33:00)

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Up Next in Commerce is brought to you by Salesforce Commerce Cloud. Learn more at http://www.salesforce.com/commerce

Mission.org is a media studio producing content for world-class clients. Learn more at http://www.mission.org.

How Chomps Takes A Bite Out of Retail and Ecommerce was originally published in Mission.org on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Before she became the VP of Ecommerce and Marketing at Pharmaca, Elizabeth Garry cut her teeth in the digital and marketing world at brands such as Wayfair, Walmart, and Camping World. On Up Next in Commerce, Liz shares with us the lessons she’s learned along the way, including how to vet a potential manager to see whether they have your best interests at heart, and what it looks like to create success as a team.

Tune in to learn:

• Liz’s background and her pivot to ecommerce (1:30)
• Learning directly from the Wayfair founders (5:00)
• How to vet a potential manager (12:00)
• Creating success with your team (22:00)
• What is Pharmica? (30:00)
• Why is the pharmacy industry exciting? (33:00)
• Creating a digital journey that helps customers (36:00)
• Predictions for 2023 (39:00)

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Up Next in Commerce is brought to you by Salesforce Commerce Cloud. Learn more at http://www.salesforce.com/commerce

Mission.org is a media studio producing content for world-class clients. Learn more at http://www.mission.org.

Ecommerce and Marketing Lessons Learned from Wayfair, Walmart, and More was originally published in Mission.org on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

When a company is as large as AT&T and has a legacy that dates back nearly 150 years, one might think it’s difficult for the brand to adapt and innovate. Maryanne Cheung, the VP of E-commerce at AT&T, believes otherwise. On Up Next in Commerce, she details all the ways AT&T has been able to evolve and adapt to serve today’s more digitally focused customers.

Tune in to learn:

• How AT&T evaluates change (3:00)
• Small bets that have made a big impact (5:00)
• The omnichannel mix at AT&T (9:50)
• Some predictions for the next five years (14:45)
• Outside of customer service, how does AT&T separate itself from competitors? (19:45)
• What is the future of call centers? (28:45)
• What keeps work exciting? (38:45)

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Up Next in Commerce is brought to you by Salesforce Commerce Cloud. Learn more at http://www.salesforce.com/commerce

Mission.org is a media studio producing content for world-class clients. Learn more at http://www.mission.org.

How AT&T Embraces Change to Meet Shifting Customer Expectations was originally published in Mission.org on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The DTC world is forever shifting and evolving. Staying on top of changing trends and best practices takes work. We try to make that easier for you by sharing insights from experts throughout the industry. Today, we’re doubling our efforts by speaking with fellow podcast host Eric Dyck, who is the founder and CEO of DTC Newsletter and host of DTC Podcast. On Up Next in Commerce, Eric shares his latest findings and gives some tips on how to win with newsletters and content marketing.

Tune in to learn:

• How Eric got into the DTC space (2:00)
• Winning with your newsletters (6:20)
• How to stand out when everyone is moving in the same direction (9:50)
• The role AI will play for brands moving forward (15:20)
• The challenges companies face in 2023 (26:00)

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Up Next in Commerce is brought to you by Salesforce Commerce Cloud. Learn more at http://www.salesforce.com/commerce

Mission.org is a media studio producing content for world-class clients. Learn more at http://www.mission.org.

Proven DTC Guidance To Make Your Brand Soar In 2023 was originally published in Mission.org on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Shinola is a lifestyle brand that partners with family businesses and iconic brands to showcase a wide range of American-designed products. Which means the company has to know how (and where) to continually reach all segments of an ever-growing audience. On Up Next in Commerce, Joel Layton, the VP, Head of Ecommerce, Digital & Marketing for Shinola discusses what that looks like.

Tune in to learn:

• Are we in a DTC vs retail world? (6:30)
• Enacting a test and learn strategy (9:35)
• Going all-in on TikTok (12:55)
• Thinking ahead for the coming year (19:00)

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Up Next in Commerce is brought to you by Salesforce Commerce Cloud. Learn more at http://www.salesforce.com/commerce

Mission.org is a media studio producing content for world-class clients. Learn more at http://www.mission.org.

Building An Omnichannel Brand and Strategy was originally published in Mission.org on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

In an innovative move, Scott Lynn, CEO and Founder of Masterworks, democratized art investing by registering art pieces with the SEC and selling shares to investors. The first company of its kind, Masterworks is now a major art dealer with more than 600,000 investors on its platform. On Up Next in Commerce, Scott dives into the future of art investing, the historical data the company analyzes, and how to determine which art pieces will perform.

Tune in to learn:

• Historical data in the art industry (8:34)
• Art investing over the next couple of years (11:25)
• The role of alternative asset classes in coming decades (22:36)
• How do you determine which art will perform financially? (27:49)
• Evolutions and trends in art valuation (29:42)

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Up Next in Commerce is brought to you by Salesforce Commerce Cloud. Learn more at http://www.salesforce.com/commerce

Mission.org is a media studio producing content for world-class clients. Learn more at http://www.mission.org.

Selling Shares in Iconic Artworks was originally published in Mission.org on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.