Monopoly Rules

[droqen]

regarding Milind M. Lele's
"Monopoly Rules"
(subtitle: How to find, capture, and control the most lucrative markets in any business)

I picked this book up at the library on a whim. It was just sitting there on display. I picked it up, then put it down, thinking I should find another not-on-display copy. Of course it was the only copy at the library; what do I think this is, a bookstore? So I went back and checked out the only copy at the library.

I happened to have played Monopoly the other day (Sunday, Thanksgiving), so it caught my eye. Monopoly Rules.

Also the book was very shiny.

[droqen]

A monopoly is an ownable space
for a useful period of time.

monopoly is at the heart of every successful business---always has been, always will be---and pursuing it is not only moral but essential for anyone interested in creating a company with lasting value.

What I'm interested in, what catches my eye about this book, is how my value for 'artistic innovation' dovetails with the author's concept of 'monopoly'; the whole value of a new idea is that it creates and owns a new space that is... valuable, useful. Perhaps not for long. I don't make long-lived monopolies, but I like to think the pursuit of novelty and innovation in art is possible to make profitable.

I'm reading this book to develop new strategies along those lines -- not how to build a better [tower defense game], but how to really create something new, to have a space all my own.

For a time.

[droqen]

If you have something people want, and no one else is meeting that need, people will buy from you. The product doesn't have to be cheap, unique, or widely advertised.

It seems so simple and perfect when put like this. Of course it's not so simple in real life but I love to have a clean idea(l) to aspire to.

[droqen]

Successful entrepreneurs and successful companies are always thinking about their next monopolies[..] What you should be looking for is a pattern, a situation where customers want something[..] that existing players can't or won't provide, and that you can now provide better, cheaper, or more effectively. Specifically, you are looking for situations where the following three conditions coexist:

1. An emerging need. First, you want to find a significant group of customer wants or needs—something that isn't being provided adequately or at all today.

2. Incumbent inertia. Companies currently serving this group of customers are unable or unwilling to provide that "something" efficiently or cost-effectively.

3. New capability. You can envision new ways of meeting those needs profitably, yet at a price that customers will be willing to pay.

[droqen]

Every industry and every successful monopoly rests on a core belief. [.. for example,] "People rent cars when they travel."

[..] when you're trying to find a new monopoly opportunity in a particular industry, analyzing the industry's core belief is a good place to start. This exercise can bring insights that reveal the industry's blind spots, and the forces or trends that might make its core belief—and the existing monopoly based on it—obsolete.

I'm concerned that this book is a little bit 'preaching to the choir' — I want to believe, of course, that my instinct to do all this shit to the game industry and the art form can also be good business.

[droqen]

[..] never be satisfied with finding just one monopoly space. Examine every corner of your industry. You will often find multiple potential monopoly spaces characterized by the same pattern of customer needs, existing suppliers unable or unwilling to meet those needs, and possible new ways of meeting them.

VALIDATE YOUR INSIGHTS

Now analysis takes over. You have to buttress your intuition with facts and figures as well as a carefully calculated blend of imagination and caution.[..

-How big is the potential monopoly space?

-What is keeping other companies from claiming this space? (Anticipated costs? The danger of cannibalism their existing business, of damaging their brand image? Do they believe it's not worth entering?)

-Can your company overcome the barriers that other competitors perceive? (How? Can you develop a plausible business plan?)]

~ backlink, 'regarding droqen's "fear"'

[droqen]

work backwards!
figure out where [you] can create a monopoly, how long it might last, and how profitable it can be.
search for the strategy that will get [you] there
Monopoly is the goal; strategy is simply the road to that goal.
"begin with the end in mind."