

If You Were the Next Steve Jobs - smalter
http://blogs.hbr.org/haque/2012/09/if_you_were_the_next_steve_job.html

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snorkel
Customer: This small coffee is too big. I just can't slug that much head fuel
right now, man. Do something for me!

Barista: OK, let me fix that for you.

(Barista pours out half of the coffee and hands the cup back)

Customer: Dude, you have blown my mind. This event will change the ways in
businesses will operate in the 21st century. Steve Jobs gets it and you
fucking get it, man! You get it!

Barista: Yes, Steve Jobs, that's me, thanks. You need anything else?

Customer: I'm going to be right over there watching you and blogging the shit
out of this monemental moment.

Barista: Yeah, yeah, I know you're here like 8 hours every day doing that. OK,
anything else I can get you?

Customer: What is your SECRET?!!! Jobs. Steve Barista Jobs. That's you ... I
am learning from you.

Barista: I'm thinking of calling the cops actually.

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Sambdala
"Profit is a solved problem: we know, to a pretty good approximation, how to
make companies profitable."

This whole article was somewhat laughable, but this phrase in particular stood
out to me.

~~~
k-mcgrady
I think, until recently, that statement proved correct. You created a product
or service, sold it for more than it cost to make/run, and voilá - profit.
Companies didn't have millions of free 'customers' while they worked out a way
to make money.

And even when I look at the big web companies that spent years 'figuring out a
business plan' it always ends the same way. They put advertising on the
product (although it's a new type of advertising never seen before) and the
battle is over. Most of the time, if you have an idea and can't figure out how
it will make money, it's not worth pursuing as a business (unless you love the
idea and you can afford the huge risk).

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hammock
_> Consider: Starbucks will make your coffee to their specifications (extra-
hot triple venti soy latte with caramel!). That's just the same car, with a
different color scheme. What James made for me at Kaffeine was a coffee
deftly, expertly created to make a tiny, slight, yet very real difference to
my life, on the spot. Now that's singularity. _

Both are customized (personalized) products. In that regard they are the same.
The difference is in the social layer and the transaction details. Instead of
James giving the barista the exact specifications of his coffee ("I want a
smaller one"), he told the barista what his problem was ("This coffee is too
big"), and the barista customized the product for him.

Could James have figured out on his own that he needed a smaller coffee and
just told the barista that's what he wanted? Sure. But it's more fulfilling
for both parties to share a problem and get back a solution rather than just
delivering on a spec sheet.

Most of us can relate in our work. Rather than a project like: "Here are the
specs, when will it be done?" we tend to prefer: "Here is an idea, do you
think it can be done?"

~~~
kareemm
> Rather than a project like: "Here are the specs, when will it be done?" we
> tend to prefer: "Here is an idea, do you think it can be done?"

Or even, "here is a problem, how can we solve this?"

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lmg643
I think the short answer to this question is "...almost anything, just do it
significantly better than anyone has ever done it before."

the "almost anything" can be something no one has ever done before, or perhaps
easier, something that is being done by others, but not well. "Significantly
better" is where the magic comes.

N.B. starbucks has something called a "short" coffee which is not on the menu
(smaller than a tall). I also thought a "half shot" cappuccino was not that
uncommon.

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eevilspock
Steve Jobs wouldn't have needed a 1873 word essay to make this point (which
doesn't make sense).

(Hey, if you're gonna scam for page hits with a title like that, you're asking
for it.)

~~~
hooo
Yeah. And it was about the barista giving him a slightly smaller coffee.

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gunshor
When he started off with the coffee analogy, I lost interest in the article.
Quickly.

