| Here's Internet Evangelist Seth Godin's most | | | | by tiny ipod shuffles. (Yeah, I know bigscreen tvs |
| popular blog post ever. Thought you might enjoy | | | | are the big thing. Can't be right all the time). I'm |
| it as much as I when I first read it and | | | | writing this on a laptop at a skateboard park… |
| consciously tried to rejig whatever we were doing | | | | that added wifi for parents. Because they wanted |
| in our lives and see if it resonates with the spirit | | | | to. It took them a few minutes and $50. No big |
| of this article. | | | | meetings, corporate policies or feasibility studies. |
| Big used to matter. Big meant economies of scale. | | | | They just did it. Today, little companies often |
| (You never hear about "economies of tiny" do | | | | make more money than big companies. Little |
| you?) People, usually guys, often ex-Marines, | | | | churches grow faster than worldwide ones. Little |
| wanted to be CEO of a big company. The | | | | jets are way faster (door to door) than big ones. |
| Fortune 500 is where people went to make… a | | | | Today, Craigslist (18 employees) is the fourth |
| fortune. There was a good reason for this. Value | | | | most visited site according to some measures. |
| was added in ways that big organizations were | | | | They are partly owned by eBay (more than |
| good at. Value was added with efficient | | | | 4,000 employees) which hopes to stay in the |
| manufacturing, widespread distribution and very | | | | same league, traffic-wise. They're certainly not |
| large R&D staffs. Value came from hundreds | | | | growing nearly as fast. Small means the founder |
| of operators standing by and from nine-figure TV | | | | makes a far greater percentage of the customer |
| ad budgets. Value came from a huge sales force. | | | | interactions. Small means the founder is close to |
| Of course, it's not just big organizations that | | | | the decisions that matter and can make them, |
| added value. Big planes were better than small | | | | quickly. |
| ones, because they were faster and more | | | | Small is the new big because small gives you the |
| efficient. Big buildings were better than small ones | | | | flexibility to change the business model when your |
| because they facilitated communications and used | | | | competition changes theirs. |
| downtown land quite efficiently. Bigger computers | | | | Small means you can tell the truth on your blog. |
| could handle more simultaneous users, as well. Get | | | | Small means that you can answer email from |
| Big Fast was the motto for startups, because big | | | | your customers. Small means that you will |
| companies can go public and get more access to | | | | outsource the boring, low-impact stuff like |
| capital and use that capital to get even bigger. Big | | | | manufacturing and shipping and billing and packing |
| accounting firms were the place to go to get | | | | to others, while you keep the power because you |
| audited if you were a big company, because a big | | | | invent the remarkable and tell stories to people |
| accounting firm could be trusted. Big law firms | | | | who want to hear them. A small law firm or |
| were the place to find the right lawyer, because | | | | accounting firm or ad agency is succeeding |
| big law firms were a one-stop shop. | | | | because they're good, not because they're big. So |
| And then small happened. | | | | smart small companies are happy to hire them. A |
| Enron (big) got audited by Andersen (big) and | | | | small restaurant has an owner who greets you by |
| failed (big.) The World Trade Center was a target. | | | | name. A small venture fund doesn't have to fund |
| TV advertising is collapsing so fast you can hear | | | | big bad ideas in order to get capital doing work. |
| it. American Airlines (big) is getting creamed by | | | | They can make small investments in tiny |
| Jet Blue (think small). BoingBoing (four people) has | | | | companies with good (big) ideas. |
| a readership growing a hundred times faster than | | | | A small church has a minister with the time to |
| the New Yorker (hundreds of people). Big | | | | visit you in the hospital when you're sick. Is it |
| computers are silly. They use lots of power and | | | | better to be the head of Craigslist or the head of |
| are not nearly as efficient as properly networked | | | | UPS? Small is the new big only when the person |
| Dell boxes (at least that's the way it works at | | | | running the small thinks big. |
| Yahoo and Google). Big boom boxes are replaced | | | | Don't wait. Get small. Think big. |