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Companies Mutate or Die

Written by: Paul Kedrosky

Article Overview: One of my favorite points with young growth companies, whether private or public, is that I focus on the people because the company almost certainly won't end up building what it says it will, so I better like you guys. That point -- i.e., companies mutate or die -- is less understood than it should be.

Companies Mutate or Die

One of my favorite points with young growth companies, whether private or public, is that I focus on the people because the company almost certainly won't end up building what it says it will, so I better like you guys. That point -- i.e., companies mutate or die -- is less understood than it should be.

Here is one example:

In the 1890s Wrigley's Scouring Soap started bundling baking powder with its products. Eventually the baking powder proved more popular than the soap, so the company decided to focus on that instead. Soon afterward they started bundling two sticks of chewing gum with every can of baking powder, and eventually the gum became more popular than the powder. Naturally Wrigley's decided to start focusing on selling chewing gum, which worked out pretty well.

And another:

Lamborghini started as a tractor manufacturer.

More here.

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Article Tags: 1890s, baking powder, chewing gum, lamborghini, soap, tractor manufacturer, two sticks, wrigley



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