To want a need
“Find a need and exploit it,” is what is generally considered the first rule to starting a business. Had this always been true, we would never have had some of the most popular inventions we have today - “Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?” according to H.M. Warner of Warner Brothers in 1927; or Thomas Watson (head IBM) predicting a world market for 5 computers in 1946. One line of thought could be that our basic needs remain the same - faster communication, faster transportation, balanced lifestyle, longer lives, better entertainment, etc.
I doubt if Ford answered the need for a horseless carriage, barely anyone could have imagined such a scenario, and hence the question of such a need could not have arisen - The motor car answered the want for faster transportation, which still continues. Similarly, the email answered the want for a faster communication medium, which still remains. Want, however is different from need.
Disruptive development or innovation is not necessarily the result of catering to needs, but more the result of someone refusing to accept the status quo, and hence would have more to do with want as opposed to need. Take Cirque de Soleil for example - was there a need to create a new form of circus. I don’t think so, and yet, it is immensely popular.
While companies exploiting needs would no doubt continue to be formed, todays decadent society would require companies that create needs, and hence cater to wants.
Filed under: Business, Entrepreneurship