Ozan Irturk

Ozan Irturk · 2024-08-29T15:09:51.541Z

Marty Neumeier uses the game Rock-Paper-Scissors as a metaphor to explain a key business cycle: - 𝐒𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐬: Every young/small company must focus — like a sharp pair of scissors. This helps them get market share from big but unfocused papers. - 𝐑𝐨𝐜𝐤: As scissors do well, they become medium-sized companies. They add new products, sub-brands, and make acquisitions. They don’t fully lose their focus yet — so they can crush scissors with their momentum. - 𝐏𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫: Rocks’ momentum helps them get even bigger. They create more product lines/brands, and internal bureaucracy. So now, they become 𝐮𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐠𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬. They can cover rocks with their resources and by creating competing product lines. But they lose to hyper-focused scissors. And every paper eventually becomes irrelevant, so they have to reinvent themselves with a new focus. So companies 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 but 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐲 as in the image. And understanding this cycle is important. Because it helps you turn your size from a weakness into an advantage. I often refer to this quote from Jack Trout: “𝐷𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑏𝑖𝑔𝑔𝑒𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑠 𝑖𝑠 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑡𝑜 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑠.” The scissors-rock-paper cycle proves this. Many young companies look at how big companies do things and try to copy them. They make similar products. They try to solve different problems for different customers at once. And they worry too much about taking risks. You know what happens? They fail to become 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐩 𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐬. So they struggle. Each stage in the cycle brings its strengths and weaknesses. And a young/small brand’s main strength is 𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬. Persistent focus on solving one problem better than everybody else. So if your business is at this stage, ignore what bigger competitors do. You probably don’t need new products or services. You have to find the “𝐨𝐧𝐞” that will bring you success. So the recipe for success for a young brand is clear: One problem. One customer segment. One value proposition. Becoming 𝐚 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐩 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐬 is the only way to beat papers with unlimited resources.