I'm still focused on the Jan-Feb issue of Foreign Affairs that discussed 'entrepreneurs'. It just missed so much about reality
When using examples of global innovations in technology, that changed lives, their examples seem to focus on Apple products, Google, and Facebook. That is just blindness
I focus on three innovations that don't support the normative values of academia and the notions of popular culture. ( I started to use the term 'mundane' which is a terrible perversion of the word. See tomorrow's blog. )
My three are: Craigslist, Task Rabbit and Google (again for different reasons)
Craigslist is the biggest innovation of our time. It created a gigantic garage sale. Allowing people to buy and sell a spectacular variety of goods, never before possible. I would guess that its reduction in personal expenses and increase in personal product satisfaction has reached 10% of GDP by now. It wiped out newspapers by replacing their 'classifieds'. Print on paper now has half its earlier circulation as the press founders on their death beds.
Most of all, worst of all, Craigslist is and was a hippie operation. Driven by love and joy, determined to do the best job possible. That never makes it into academic or popular writings
Next is Task Rabbit. Just getting started but truly radical. I go to Task Rabbit for small jobs around the house, or for parties or business projects that are short term. People bid on my jobs and list their skills
That is from my perspective. From the workers perspective, they are self employed, no invoices to collect on, infinite variety of work and a chance to work in countless environments and find out what you love doing.
It, like Craigslist is changing the way people run their lives
Lastly, Google. Google started with no advertising. That wiped out all competitors, because the public really prefers life without ads. It became a corporation worth $billions by selling 'listings'. To understand the 'no advertising/business runs on listings' idea you must go to my 1984 book Marketing Without Advertising. Google's innovation was wiping out the world of advertising, about $150 billion worldwide. Like Craigslist it helped ruin the world of print on paper and gave us a direct way to find what we are looking for: Listing
See the world through my eyes; and you see how commerce changes the way people lead their lives. That is where innovation occurs
Lastly I forgot to mention that Apple would be 2% of anything to this day, except that they became open source when they introduced iTunes and let a million people design and sell programs to the public. It fits everything I've said so far about innovation. But doesn't fit the academic/popular models so widely discussed.