Our story begins during my senior year of university, some 10 years or so ago.
But it will swiftly move into August 2017 to possibly impact your future.
One early September morning some 10 years or so ago, I was slowly moving forward in line at my fave coffee shop. Just as I was deciding whether or not to add a pastry to my order, I felt a tap on my right shoulder.
So I turned around. To my great surprise, standing in front of me was one of my kind-of-forgotten high school friends, smiling and gesturing that we go beyond the handshake and hug.
And so we did.
We also decided to reconnect and proceeded to exchange phone numbers. Fast-forward a week or two, and I slowly found out that, right after high school, my friend became a plumbing/heating apprentice, then managed to open their own shop employing a crew of 4 plumbers.
And me? I was about to graduate. Should have been feeling stoked, no?
I should have been, but I wasn’t. The week I reconnected with my high school friend, I felt less than happy, but not because they had a successful business and I did not.
I was less than happy because I felt that my friend, the plumber, was already doing something I wanted to but hadn’t yet figured out how to do: help other people.
Regardless of your product and/or service, what you’re really giving to other folks is only one thing. And its name is help.
Let’s now fast-forward to August 2017.
Today, launching a startup and growing it into a business like Facebook is the dream.
Sadly, achieving that dream is less realistic today than ever before.
That’s not me talking. That’s the folks at MIT’s Technology Review talking (Jul/Aug 2017 issue).
// A friendly reminder: MIT is the abbreviation for one of the best universities in the world: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology. //
“Why are fewer startups succeeding now than in the past?” you might be wondering.
The folks at MIT’s Technology Review (specifically, Scott Stern and Jorge Guzman) said that one plausible reason is the scale and scope of the so-called Big Five: Apple, Google (technically, Alphabet), Microsoft, Amazon, and Facebook.
The bad news: These five are meeting competitive challenges by copying the innovations of others (hence making them unnecessary), or by buying potential competitors at an early stage.
The good news: These five (and, if I may add, similar but smaller players) are in effect the new public utilities. And, as such, they create a lot of opportunities.
The catch: Many of those opportunities are dressed in overalls. They are not flashy; they usually have to do with mundane things that help folks run their lives and businesses in the digital economy.
I like to call these ‘digital plumbing’ opportunities.
A few months ago, our agency’s partners were invited to a ‘how we did it’ presentation organized by a successful, venture fund-backed startup.
During said presentation, which was meant to give a boost to the local startup scene, it became obvious that the startup in question truly turned the corner only after finding a way to do some ‘plumbing’ work for a decent-sized ‘new public utility’ kind of company in the restaurant industry.
“Appreciate that, but could you share some examples I can look up/relate to?” you might be thinking right now.
You bet.
Once you change the way you look at things, the things you look at will change, and you’ll start seeing examples of successful digital plumbing businesses everywhere.
So, let’s begin.
Exhibit #1: Cirrusinsight.com started as an extension for Gmail that helped folks create and nurture sales relationships via email. Said differently, this startup levelled up the ‘plumbing’ of inboxes.
Exhibit #2: SkiptheDishes.com. It did not invent food, restaurants, or folks wanting take-out food delivered to them. Instead, Skip the Dishes levelled up the ‘plumbing’ of getting take-out food delivered, no?
I could go on. But it’s Sunday, so let’s wrap this up.
Why not start a digital plumbing kind of startup?
Why not be a digital plumber of some kind?
There’s very little competition.
Because while everything’s changed, nothing’s changed: Everybody wants to build, and few want to do maintenance.
Do the maintenance.
You may even quietly resent your dependence on opportunities that are dressed in overalls.
But your business and personal growth may depend on them.
So start thinking about all of the mundane things that help folks run their lives and businesses in the digital economy.
If not you, who? If not now, when?
Because what you can give to other folks is only one thing.
And its name is help.