The New Disruptors

I'm a big fan of Business 2.0 magazine. I've just started read a blog entitled "The Next Net" by B 2.0's editor-at-large, Erik Schonfeld. One of the features recently introduced in the blog is entitled, "The New Disruptors" Their most recent video features outakes from a round table discussion. Listen closely to what Lulu (and Red Hat) founder Bob Young has to say. Now give some thought to that in the context of the real estate industry.

I think it's as clear as mud as to what the prevailing business model of the future will be in real estate. What do you think the next "Aha!' moment will be? Do you think it will be a current "disruptor" (Redfin, Zip Realty, etc.) or do you think there's room for more diner napkins to morph into start-ups?

Update, the link to "The Next Net" blog has been fixed. Thanks for the heads up Drew. ~MP

I don't feel so bad....

Regular readers of this blog already know this. My blog proofing skills leave a bit to be desired. Every now and then a spelling error will get through. As for grammar and structure, forget it. My creative writing teacher always told me not to worry about it, if I had something compelling enough to say, people would get it. That's good. If I need to send out a mission critical piece of business correspondence, I get someone to proof it, gut it, re-write it if necessary. What if I were the president of a country and not an Internet start-up? You can bet I would make sure someone stayed awake at the switch. Case in point, number 5 in Business 2.0's 101 dumbest moments in business for 2006.

Grey Matter, The New Open Source Movement

This month's issue of Business 2.0 has an interesting article regarding an creative new trend in business strategy. It's been dubbed "crowdcasting" and it seems to be catching on. It's basically a contest in which corporations present strategic problems to teams of MBA's. Companies invest a fee with the operators of the program and from the looks of the client rosters, (IBM, Hilton etc.), it must be an effective tool.

This isn't the kind of crap you see on the Apprentice year after year. It's not just a bunch of good looking kids in Armani suits running junior achievement lemonade stands. These teams are given real world problems and challenged to create ideas that can be implemented in meaningful ways.

I think it's a interesting alternative or at least an adjunct to consultants. The teams have different incentives to succeed and by approaching specific challenges from outside of the corporate culture or niche consultants with cookie cutter solutions it creates unique perspectives. I think the ideas generated will be out of the box and much more creative.

Sponsors in the program gain ownership of the intellectual property generated by the competitions. I'm guessing if you compare the sponsorship investment to a consulting agreement, it's a bargain. If I were operating a large brokerage or perhaps even a regional MLS, I would consider this as a means to approaching some of the challenges taking place in the real estate industry today. I'm sure they would salivate at the opportunity to create ideas for overcoming the issues of new real estate business models, government intervention in business practices and more. One of the best reasons to do it can be gleaned from this quote by Stephen Liguori of GE Money, a sponsor of crowdcasting.

"This is a chance to tap into not just the best and brightest business minds in America but also the thought leaders and early adopters that are going to be our best customers down the road."

This is a great concept, let's face it, the group of braniacs building these new strategies would the very demographic the solutions need to be developed for in the first place.

There are two companies identified in the article that facilitate the competitions, Idea Crossing and Innocentive. Innocentive is an Eli Lilly spin off that focuses more on challenges facing bio-chemistry and pharma related issues but I think as the concept moves more into a mainstream vertical service you'll probably see them take on other business issues. Idea crossing has a web platform that looks impressive. The "challenge accelerator" concept is a great way to get the collaborating participants, judges, teams etc. to facilitate the timeline of the program. Title insurance execs may want to take notice of this, why not have these guys take on the challenge of the ultimate transaction management platform?

It will be interesting to see what these competitions generate and how effective they will be in plotting the course of the sponsors that invest in them.