When to roll in the Trojan Horse
I've been speaking about Trojan Horses a lot this week. And, I mean this in the Greek mythological sense and not the computer virus sense.
I mean it to represent a beachhead strategy when it comes to launching a new product. It would have been hard for Facebook to have taken on mySpace directly, but by building a site for University students first, establishing a strong position, and then branching out, they were able to do just that.
The same with regional services like Thrillist and Daily Candy. It's easier to launch a service one city at a time, building up critical mass in each, before hopping to a new town and starting over.
This is a time-honored style of business development; get your systems down on either a small scale or with a specific focus and then expand. It’s been used in all sort of industries, and has propelled some merchants into areas one would have never suspected. At one point Sears, yes that Sears, was the largest seller of homes in the United States. How? Systems.
By developing the finest system of procurement, delivery, and financing of any merchant, Sears was able to build, sell, and deliver more houses to more people than ever before. Step back from your business and find out what your good at, really good at, and then apply those lessons and systems to a comparable product.
We've used this tactic at Snooth in the past and intend on using it more in the future. We used our position in wine (Snooth) to leverage our hop into Spirits (TheSpir.it) and are about to do it again with a hop into another new vertical. It's a powerful way to get a leveraged start, and one that you should consider.
Take the time to assess your systems. Find out what you’re good at, and at the same time what you could be better at. Leverage your assets and work on your weakness to make expanding your business an extension of your existing business. This sort of natural growth not only creates incredible economies of scale but imbues your new venture with unstoppable momentum.