Since you’re reading this on-line, odds are very high you’re reading it via Internet Explorer from Microsoft – your web browser. Do you remember who invented the first web browser and took it to market? Spyglass – a Chicago company. They were rapidly followed by Netscape and only months later by Microsoft. Netscape was bought by AOL and disappeared from view. What happened to Spyglass? You probably think it went belly-up.
Wrong. When Microsoft launched IE they simultaneously brought everyone into the world of the web. They made surfing common. And they crushed their competition. But the leadership of Spyglass didn’t simply die. While most high-tech entrepreneurs get so wedded to their Success Formula that they let such market changes doom their enterprise, Spyglass didn’t (See article in Chicago Tribune).
Spyglass used the lost market share and financial losses to spur a Disruption, and then they redirected their energies into new markets. They moved from PCs to specializing in internet access for TVs, cell phones and other devices. The company was sold to OpenTV in 2000 for $2.4billion – right, billion. After their market position was destroyed by Microsoft.
All businesses have to be ready to disrupt and adapt. Not just big, mature companies. Even small companies have to watch their markets and remain flexible to develop new success formulas. And smart leaders that can sustain success across years are like the leaders at Spyglass – flexible, adaptable and ready to use White Space.