Most startups have to do course corrections and redefine - or 'find' - themselves before they are set on the path to success (sometimes even after, as their business environments may change). In a previous post ('adaptive startup') I'd written that while change is necessary, it is non-trivial and serious attention needs to be paid to the original vision of the venture and how it fits in.
I ran across this story about how a 'little' company called Zappos dealt with having to change their business model right after the dot-com crash. Their CEO Tony Hsieh made the decision to walk away from 25% of their revenue in an unarguably bad economy in favor of a business model that enabled their core mission: exceptional customer service. Zappos is differentiated and hugely successful because of their customer service (I'm a customer and I'll attest to the good-vibes shopping experience) - but it takes guts, dedication and clarity of vision to do what Tony did. Also, it is cool to see a shoe retailer, who came somewhat late to the online market, knocking it out of the park based not on disruptive proprietary technology but on the decidedly low-tech people-dependent customer service. Read the story here - it's a good reminder that business is always about the customer.
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