
Hidden Champions: Successful but little-known businesses - solvent
https://www.forbes.com/sites/rainerzitelmann/2019/07/15/the-leadership-secrets-of-the-hidden-champions/
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dzink
The natural state of a business is to become known to its target market, but
keep its secrets and success hidden to avoid competition. Growing up in an
entrepreneurial family for the first 15 years of my life I learned to never
brag about my successes, but to show vulnerability and connect/help the
vulnerability shown by fellow founders, because your network is a lot more
likely to help you that way. In silicon valley that impetus is reversed.
Desire for investors flips the publicity of most SV companies in an unnatural
way. You see a market, you lift it like a big juicy steak in the air and you
announce to everyone how much money you have to go after it. That instantly
gets everyone else interested in the game and everyone has a big public race
to burn as much money as possible until the last one or two standing get to
public offering. Consumer startups are the exception as they inherently need
the exposure. Hidden Champions pick niche, perfect a product that wins it, and
own it quietly.

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didericis
I think this also applies to nice, affordable towns. I’ve googled “best places
to live” a couple times, but every time I do I can’t help but think all the
places that show up are either trying to engineer a revitalization/aren’t as
nice as advertised or must be at least somewhat swamped and overpriced. Any
true gems with affordable prices and great atmosphere/people are only that way
while they’re still hidden. If people widely advertise the quality of their
neighborhood, they’ll get more money when they sell, but they’ll ruin the
atmosphere and affordable entry prices. So any neighborhoods out there that
still actually care about the quality and affordability of the town will
advertise themselves very quietly and remain mostly hidden.

Maybe that’s just wishful thinking on my part, idk. I’d like to think there
are really nice, affordable small towns with a real sense of community out
there somewhere.

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linguistbreaker
Totally agree! Being listed as a top town is a death sentence for the town's
charm and community but a boon to real estate developers.

I think there are plenty of "really nice, affordable small towns with a real
sense of community" but it's constantly in flux and fragile.

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TaylorGood
Definitely an A-Ha in my life was visiting a friends family business many
years ago in a nondescript industrial park on the way out to the desert.
They're in the Pet supplement space. Family owned for over twenty years old.
Legacy customers. Millions a year in revenue with a healthy margin. Barely any
signage amongst two dozen units yet luxury cars lined the parking lot. The
A-Ha was the idea of "unglamorous businesses" having all the benefits of
success without having to maintain the shine. At the time, I only saw the
opposite; chase buzz, etc. so this was a paradigm shift on the nature of how
businesses operate.

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ivanech
There's not a single example of one of these businesses in the article

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w1ntermute
See the wiki page for a list:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hidden_champions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hidden_champions)

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saagarjha
Interestingly, the only two companies I know from that list are in the field
of aviation: Embraer and NetJets.

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cannam
Jamba certainly takes me back.

I'd heard of Bobcat, De La Rue, Embraer, McIlhenny, Petzl, Tandberg (famous
for reel-to-reel tape-recorders). I do think it's wonderful that the list
includes a company known for "wristwatch hands".

Molex is a pretty well-known name because of the eponymous connector, but I'd
never considered whether it might be a company.

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40acres
I think Germany success with hidden champions is correlated with their banking
system, there are a lot of smaller regional banks in Germany that are focused
on smaller businesses and allow for a market where there is a 'middle class'
of companies.

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macinjosh
That sounds like a great system. I am very pro-markets and capitalism but I
have no problem saying there are very unhealthy examples in capitalism where
huge corporations grow too much at the expense of humanity. A 'middle class'
of companies seems much more sustainable, healthy, and fair. It could make
buying local the norm again.

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happyrock
What are some examples of this phenomenon in the tech space? I'd guess this
category would include lots of niche shareware products or legacy tools with
no modern successors. Would any of them be considered "champions" rather than
just profitable small businesses?

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Ididntdothis
I think Jetbrains may qualify. They just produce excellent tools without much
fanfare or PR. Developer express comes to mind too. 37 signals maybe.

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josefrichter
Indie Hackers website was similarly eye-opening experience for me: it
basically lists various hidden champions of internet. Companies you won't find
on Techcrunch or in YCombinator, yet they generate nice seven-figure profits
per year to their owners.

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dsalzman
Coined by Hermann Simon.
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hidden_champions](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hidden_champions)

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neonate
[https://archive.md/e0Ojt](https://archive.md/e0Ojt)

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phasetransition
See also:
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mittelstand](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mittelstand)

I'd be curious if my new gig counts as one of the companies for Italy

