Get Strategic

Henry David Thoreau said:

“It is something to be able to paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue, or so to make a few objects beautiful; but it is far more glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere through which we look – to affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of the arts.”

Thinking of the big picture is an essential mindset while creating a start-up or implementing a new business plan. If the core idea is clean and simple, you are giving someone a tool that is meaningful and lasting, not a short term solution. Groupon’s decline proves the point that you can “only fish so long”.

“Give someone a fish and they will eat for a day, teach them to fish and they will eat for life”

The winner is the one who enables users to fish without being taught. If Groupon is currently giving fish, then in the simplest form allowing users to reuse the Groupon purchased would be  a good example of providing an ongoing utility, rather than a one time use.  That of course would not work in Groupon’s financial model, so they would need to add in a per use charge, but that is neither here nor there. The idea is to create ideas that are self sustainable.