🔥 insight from Tom Webster:

years ago, in the late 20th century, where I am from, there was a thing called videotape, and there were two different standards of videotape and they fought constantly. There was Betamax, which was a platform put out by Sony that was not an open platform. It was a closed platform. Then there was VHS. VHS was developed, I’m pretty sure, by JVC, but they brought in lots of other partners, brands that we all know and love, like Quasar, right? Does anybody remember who won that battle?

VHS? No. Nobody won that battle because we don’t watch tape anymore. We watch movies.

Why do I like this story?

It highlights a few things I think are important to remember:

• you’re not just competing with your industry competitors (especially with inflation and housing where it’s at right now)
• consumers are shopping for solutions and categories, not your specific offering (until they become fans, then they’re shopping for you)
• & you can go further with friends