Being a smaller fish in a pond full of big fish can be a daunting position. Fortunately, there are a few advantages to being the underdog. First of all, your competitor probably doesn’t know you as well as you know them (see below). You can pivot on a dime where it takes the big company […]
Let’s face it – there is only one leader in every business category: Apple in smartphones, Wal-Mart in retail, Cargill in food processing, Microsoft in computer software and Wells Fargo in banking. This is equally true in smaller market segments. More often than not, you are not going to be the biggest company in your […]
When my sons were in high school, I used to tell them that everything they did during their high school career counted. Not just their grades, but also their participation in sports and extracurricular activities would be seen and evaluated by future employers and especially college admissions people. Their performance in every class could mean […]
Earlier in my career, I was VP of marketing for a mid-size software company in the content management space. There were a couple of very large competitors, who we termed “gorillas” in the marketplace. The VP of sales used to say something to the effect of: “When we get invited to the dance, we can […]