Blue Ocean Strategy is Outdated

[noodlelover]

"Blue ocean strategy" is common business advice. To find a new niche, so you have less competition.

It's outdated imho (and from my experience).

The world is now oversaturated with companies, and hyper competitive. If there isn't already several successful companies within a niche, chances are it's because there's not a big enough market for that niche idea.

You could get lucky with your idea, and maybe it will be a hit, but chances are you'll be creating a product that no one wants. A better base, would be to do market research and look at what's already succeeding.

So the exact opposite of blue ocean strategy. Blue ocean strategy is like playing the slot machines. You may win, but it is objectively a bad strategy.


MVP (Minimum Viable Product), is another common piece of business advice that's shit. Except in very rare cases, people won't pay for some brand new product idea, that doesn't exist. You are wasting time, when you could have gotten a product idea that succeeds, much faster doing market research.


But this kind of business advice doesn't sell books, and doesn't make the "guru" spouting it off sound as brilliant as blue ocean strategy, and minimum viable product.

And this doesn't only apply to small businesses, and solo-businesses (although it absolutely does apply to solo-businesses), it also applies to massive corporations. The biggest companies in the world that make the most money were not knew ideas. They are slight improvements on existing ideas. Though they market themselves as their products being innovated and ground breaking, there was always some one who came before that was making money with the idea first.

My favorite example of this is Mr. Beast (Highest grossing youtuber), that noticed a certain kind of video was doing very well on youtube, then just made that specific kind of video and tweaked variables doing A/B testing to scale up his income. His thumbnails and titles were made that way too.

 

[_MVP_]

Minimum viable product makes no sense to me? Do i dont Understand something? Anyway its Not gonna Work, as No strategy works



Bos is bs

 

[_MVP_]

In Other words, im too dumb to Understand what Minimum viable product means. Cannot Understand the Wikipedia Definition

 

[noodlelover]

In Other words, im too dumb to Understand what Minimum viable product means. Cannot Understand the Wikipedia Definition

Minimum viable product is when you make the simplest possible version of the product you want to sell, and try to sell that.

So, say you want to sell weight loss pills. You'd create a website that says "Weight Loss Pills" and has a "Buy" button, and then you'd drive traffic to the website with Ads, and see if people click the buy button. In this case, even before creating a product.

The strategy of MVP is you can quickly try out product ideas to find out what people will pay for.

But the world is too competitive for that to work anymore. No one is going to click on adds. They won't buy your product if you don't have good reviews and a popular brand.

You can't start with an MVP anymore, you need to start with a good product, and a good marketing campaign. It's essentially outdated advice, that maybe worked when the internet was a less competitive place.

 

[chadintraining]

The biggest companies in the world that make the most money were not knew ideas. They are slight improvements on existing ideas

Yes, the best business ideas come from improving on something that already exists

This is what most should try to achieve, as it proves there is already demand with potential for improvement

 

[Deleted member 60080]

"Blue ocean strategy" is common business advice. To find a new niche, so you have less competition.

It's outdated imho (and from my experience).

The world is now oversaturated with companies, and hyper competitive. If there isn't already several successful companies within a niche, chances are it's because there's not a big enough market for that niche idea.

You could get lucky with your idea, and maybe it will be a hit, but chances are you'll be creating a product that no one wants. A better base, would be to do market research and look at what's already succeeding.

So the exact opposite of blue ocean strategy. Blue ocean strategy is like playing the slot machines. You may win, but it is objectively a bad strategy.


MVP (Minimum Viable Product), is another common piece of business advice that's shit. Except in very rare cases, people won't pay for some brand new product idea, that doesn't exist. You are wasting time, when you could have gotten a product idea that succeeds, much faster doing market research.


But this kind of business advice doesn't sell books, and doesn't make the "guru" spouting it off sound as brilliant as blue ocean strategy, and minimum viable product.

And this doesn't only apply to small businesses, and solo-businesses (although it absolutely does apply to solo-businesses), it also applies to massive corporations. The biggest companies in the world that make the most money were not knew ideas. They are slight improvements on existing ideas. Though they market themselves as their products being innovated and ground breaking, there was always some one who came before that was making money with the idea first.

My favorite example of this is Mr. Beast (Highest grossing youtuber), that noticed a certain kind of video was doing very well on youtube, then just made that specific kind of video and tweaked variables doing A/B testing to scale up his income. His thumbnails and titles were made that way too.

I agree with you that most fields are oversaturated.
I however think that the blue ocean strategy still applies but to a lesser extent.
Nowadays you can’t really invent something that is completely new but you can for definitely bring unique value when your skills are rare for a specific location and a given time.

For example, I’d rather launch a construction company right now than a cinema.
Blue ocean strategy is not about finding something groundbreaking now but rather just making sure you position yourself in fields where the rivalry with others is reduced

 

[_MVP_]

Minimum viable product is when you make the simplest possible version of the product you want to sell, and try to sell that.

So, say you want to sell weight loss pills. You'd create a website that says "Weight Loss Pills" and has a "Buy" button, and then you'd drive traffic to the website with Ads, and see if people click the buy button. In this case, even before creating a product.

The strategy of MVP is you can quickly try out product ideas to find out what people will pay for.

But the world is too competitive for that to work anymore. No one is going to click on adds. They won't buy your product if you don't have good reviews and a popular brand.

You can't start with an MVP anymore, you need to start with a good product, and a good marketing campaign. It's essentially outdated advice, that maybe worked when the internet was a less competitive place.

Actually an interesting concept, thx

 

[noodlelover]

I agree with you that most fields are oversaturated.
I however think that the blue ocean strategy still applies but to a lesser extent.
Nowadays you can’t really invent something that is completely new but you can for definitely bring unique value when your skills are rare for a specific location and a given time.

For example, I’d rather launch a construction company right now than a cinema.
Blue ocean strategy is not about finding something groundbreaking now but rather just making sure you position yourself in fields where the rivalry with others is reduced

blue ocean strategy may apply to businesses who's services are geographically limited, like a construction company.

But if a niche doesn't have several successful competing companies online (that's not geographically limited), it's because there were dozens if not hundreds of people from all over the world that tried to create it but failed because of lack of demand, content algorithms, or some other cause. Basically, not seeing multiple successful people in an area, is a warning that, that area is a deadzone online.

If you only see one successful person in a niche on the web, that still doesn't mean there's enough room for multiple people.

But in the physical world it might be different. I don't have experience to talk about starting a physical business (construction, Cinema, restaurant, etc.)

 

[Deleted member 60080]

blue ocean strategy may apply to businesses who's services are geographically limited, like a construction company.

But if a niche doesn't have several successful competing companies online (that's not geographically limited), it's because there were dozens if not hundreds of people from all over the world that tried to create it but failed because of lack of demand, content algorithms, or some other cause. Basically, not seeing multiple successful people in an area, is a warning that, that area is a deadzone online.

If you only see one successful person in a niche on the web, that still doesn't mean there's enough room for multiple people.

But in the physical world it might be different. I don't have experience to talk about starting a physical business (construction, Cinema, restaurant, etc.)

Yeah my point stands mostly for the physical world.
Finding a niche is for sure harder when competing worldwide. That’s why all those dropshipping, e commerce business ideas are pure garbage rn imo

 

[noodlelover]

Yeah my point stands mostly for the physical world.
Finding a niche is for sure harder when competing worldwide. That’s why all those dropshipping, e commerce business ideas are pure garbage rn imo

Yah. One business piece of advice that's timeless is too have a big moat.

If your business idea is too easy to do, and replicate, then you will have so much competition that you likely won't make any money.

Drop Shipping, Ai generated content, and the other hyped up business ideas are going to be oversaturated because it's too easy for any one to do them. Online you want something that has a few competitors successfully making money, but also requires like ten thousand hours just to get started. Otherwise you don't have a moat, and you'll fail to make money most likely.

 

[Fiivion]

Yah. One business piece of advice that's timeless is too have a big moat.

If your business idea is too easy to do, and replicate, then you will have so much competition that you likely won't make any money.

Drop Shipping, Ai generated content, and the other hyped up business ideas are going to be oversaturated because it's too easy for any one to do them. Online you want something that has a few competitors successfully making money, but also requires like ten thousand hours just to get started. Otherwise you don't have a moat, and you'll fail to make money most likely.

 

[ducksoover]

"Blue ocean strategy" is common business advice. To find a new niche, so you have less competition.

It's outdated imho (and from my experience).

The world is now oversaturated with companies, and hyper competitive. If there isn't already several successful companies within a niche, chances are it's because there's not a big enough market for that niche idea.

You could get lucky with your idea, and maybe it will be a hit, but chances are you'll be creating a product that no one wants. A better base, would be to do market research and look at what's already succeeding.

So the exact opposite of blue ocean strategy. Blue ocean strategy is like playing the slot machines. You may win, but it is objectively a bad strategy.


MVP (Minimum Viable Product), is another common piece of business advice that's shit. Except in very rare cases, people won't pay for some brand new product idea, that doesn't exist. You are wasting time, when you could have gotten a product idea that succeeds, much faster doing market research.


But this kind of business advice doesn't sell books, and doesn't make the "guru" spouting it off sound as brilliant as blue ocean strategy, and minimum viable product.

And this doesn't only apply to small businesses, and solo-businesses (although it absolutely does apply to solo-businesses), it also applies to massive corporations. The biggest companies in the world that make the most money were not knew ideas. They are slight improvements on existing ideas. Though they market themselves as their products being innovated and ground breaking, there was always some one who came before that was making money with the idea first.

My favorite example of this is Mr. Beast (Highest grossing youtuber), that noticed a certain kind of video was doing very well on youtube, then just made that specific kind of video and tweaked variables doing A/B testing to scale up his income. His thumbnails and titles were made that way too.

it can't be outdated because it isn't inherently flawed. Just because you have hypercompetition that doesn't make blue ocean strategy any less wrong, it's just harder, that's all.

 

[Fiivion]

it can't be outdated because it isn't inherently flawed. Just because you have hypercompetition that doesn't make blue ocean strategy any less wrong, it's just harder, that's all.

 

[noodlelover]

it can't be outdated because it isn't inherently flawed. Just because you have hypercompetition that doesn't make blue ocean strategy any less wrong, it's just harder, that's all.

It's wrong in the sense of it being an optimal strategy.

Just like buying lotto tickets is a sub-optimal strategy. There are big winners that tell you about how the universe helped them choose their lotto numbers or whatever, but that's survivorship bias.

The same goes for those few successes with blue ocean strategy. They'll say, "I saw a market need" and "a way to deliver it", and that's them "buying the lotto ticket", after which they got lucky that all of their untested assumptions about the world, the markets, culture, and the capabilities of the supporting technology, happen to all be right with the exact perfect timing.

And that's the thing, your assumptions about where things are going, are just that assumptions. You can have all the trendlines in the world, but they're just guesses about the future. Take, trends towards VR adoption for example, and the billions that have been wasted without a positive ROI on the metaverse, because the timing was off. (Something no one could have known btw, if they tell you they knew, they got lucky).

Or All of the self driving car companies that have been started every decade since the 40s. That's 80 decades of companies, almost all of which failed.

You do not understand a problem fully until you've spent millions to develop it, into a solution. You can not know the unkown unknowns. It could look completely solvable until you try to solve it, and then you run into an insurmountable road block, because the timing of required technologies was off, or the culture wasn't at a place where people wanted to spend money on the product.

This is where the phrase, the second mouse gets the cheese comes from. The first mouse sets off the trap and dies. I don't want to be the first mouse.

Be facebook, not myspace or friendster.
Be google, not Webcrawler, AltaVista, HotBot, Info Seek, or others that existed before.
Be Microsoft for Desktop computers, Not Apple. - Even though Apple had some success, the 2nd mouse strategy yielded greater results, while the first mouse strategy had greater risk of failure.

If you want to change the world then build something new, take the risk. But if you just want a happy life with an income to pursue copes, you take an existing product and marketing schema, then you reverse engineer the technology, sales, and marketing and how they support and integrate with each other, then you iterate and improve.

This is about not being too egotistical and assuming you know everything about reality. Ideally you should be smart and know your idea, and supporting technology and markets, but there are unknown unknowns in your models.

Hollywood and video game producers don't churn out the same stuff for years on end because they don't want to be innovative, it's because they want to maximize the chance of a positive return. They don't want to rely on luck. When they are innovative, the vast majority of the time it creates flops and they loose money.