Sharing To Build Something

If you haven't read Wikinomics, I suggest that you do. It is quite thought provoking and especially interesting to those that want to build something. It might be building a product, a service, a new channel to market, a new market segment, or a new process. I especially like the idea of building a new process...a new way to bring something to market. How can you do this in a way that will change the game.

Sharing may be the answer. If you were to take a look at companies or industries where there is a reluctance to share. A fear of losing assets. A fear of losing market control. A desire to hold onto and control an entire development process. An industry that has a set way of bring products to market, regardless of the inefficencies and stifling of creativity. If you can find these, you will find an opportunity to build something completely unique. You can, and will, challenge the status quo.

Napster was the pioneer that brought the sharing of music to the market. There were others, but Napster was the brand that really started the avalanche. The established music industry had a process. They owned the intellectual property. They fought vigorously to maintain control and won in the courts. The reality, though, is that they lost. Their consumers had a better way to distribute music...they had a better way of sharing. The music industry is forever changed. The status quo has been altered.

How many bloggers have tried to write a book and submitted it into the publishing process only to find it inefficient and controlled by a select few? How many frustrated authors are there that write quality material, but just can't reach their audience because the process is inhibiting? What if this changed? What if a company like lulu.com created a marketplace for these frustrated writers and gave them the ability to write, publish, and distribute their work? The process would be affected and probably for the better.

What if a company, recognizing the need for businesses to open up to their consumers, built an infrastructure for these companies to create their own communities. These communities could be used for product development, channel enablement, and the foundation for viral marketing. Xeequa is one such company.

There are countless other industries that will eventually be forever altered because of the ability of consumers, developers and innovators to share their respective expertise to create something new and better. The key is to find one that you can affect and have the guts to make it happen.