I have been looking for an example of a successful company that started “wide” by being many things to many people and then grew from there without focusing.
I have been looking for 20 years. I still haven’t found one.
It’s totally possible. I just haven’t seen it.
Here’s what I see when I have looked at thousands of examples of success stories:
When they started growing fast, they always had a narrow focus.
- The focus of just the thing they made. Not everything they could make.
- Or the focus of who specifically they served. Not everyone.
- Or why their thing was so special to somebody. It was really amazing to somebody, but never everybody.
Some ended up becoming big companies that are everything to everybody now, but I always find they were the opposite of “wide” when they grew fast in the early years.
Amazon is a huge business that does many things for everybody now, but it started and grew as just books and just online. Back in the mid-1990s, that was almost nobody in a corner of a niche business.
I’m still looking for a company that started out wide and stayed wide to grow big.
Do you know of any?
Let me know.
