Invest Like The Best
Episode 261 Building Gorilla Businesses
Invest Like The Best

Episode 261: Building Gorilla Businesses

Invest Like The Best

Episode 261

Building Gorilla Businesses

Geoffrey Moore is a tech author, consultant, and venture partner at Wildcat Ventures. We define what makes a company a "Gorilla", explore the lifecycle of technology adoption, and discuss how Geoffrey has updated his thinking over a long career.

This episode is brought to you by:

Canalyst. Canalyst is the leading destination for public company data and analysis. If you're a professional equity investor and haven't talked to Canalyst recently, you should give them a shout. Learn more and try Canalyst for yourself at canalyst.com/Patrick

Hall Capital Partners. Hall Capital is always looking for exceptional investment talent at any stage and size, so if you are raising capital or looking for a career change in the San Francisco or New York areas, you should check them out at hallcapital.com or e-mail at invest@hallcapital.com. 

[00:03:08] - [First question] - What he means by a gorilla company

[00:07:10] - An example of how companies self-organize into gorillas, chimps, and monkeys

[00:09:41] - Why architecture is so important and how it applies to company building 

[00:13:11] - How and when businesses should think about open and closed systems

[00:14:50] - Ways in which enabling tech companies are superior to application ones

[00:16:39] - Thoughts on approaching and hiring a singular use case company 

[00:18:23] - Markets underestimate competitive advantage periods for technological gorillas

[00:20:38] - The inertia and duration of being the creator of a space’s architecture

[00:23:28] - Advice for early-stage companies when creating or dominating categories 

[00:25:16] - What he’s learned about identifying trapped value 

[00:26:49] - Questions that can identify trapped value, factoring for time, and horizontal uses

[00:41:49] - Problems with risk exposure in B2B and applying this model for value creation

[00:33:37] - His initial discovery of the life cycles of adoption and its five categories

[00:39:29] - Perspective on venture capital funding and going from idea to the chasm

[00:44:10] - What good pragmatists in pain look like 

[00:47:29] - Successful vertical uses-case sales motions

[00:50:03] - Guarding from becoming over-specialized in a singular focused effort

[00:50:52] - The Diffusion of Innovations; Ways messages work their way through a company to keep up with category evolution 

[00:55:00] - How extensible these ideas are to non-technology businesses

[00:56:04] - The race between innovation and distribution 

[00:56:44] - What about the world today has changed or influenced his thinking

[00:59:17] - Ways big companies can stay competitive in emerging categories

[01:02:23] - The company he’s most enjoyed studying over his career 

[01:05:25] - Shared characteristics of exceptional leaders he’s met and talked to

[01:07:48] - The Gorilla Game, Crossing the Chasm

[01:08:14] - The kindest thing that anyone has ever done for him

Building Gorilla Businesses

Introduction

Patrick
My guest today is a renowned tech, author, consultant and venture partner at Wildcat Venture, Geoffrey Moore. Geoffrey has spent his career focused on the dynamic surrounding disruptive innovations. And his book, Crossing the Chasm, has become a canonical work for young businesses trying to unlock mainstream markets. This discussion is a masterclass on business strategy. We start with Geoffrey's more recent work on category defining businesses, break down his life cycle of adoption framework and close with the ways messaging should change as companies evolve. Please enjoy this great discussion with Geoffrey Moore.

What Makes a Gorilla Company

Patrick
Geoffrey, your books were some of my earliest education in the world of the competitive landscape of technology. I'd actually start at the end in terms of how I think about your work, which is with the concept of a gorilla as a business. Everyone's going to know, Crossing the Chasm. We're going to talk a lot about all the insight from that book and that thinking. But I think the gorilla as a concept is for me a great unifying theme of your work, aspirationally we all are going to want to be gorillas or invest in gorillas, or start gorillas at some point. Maybe just begin there. What do you mean by a gorilla company? Define that for us to begin.

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