Day-10 of the 30-day mental challenge. A Kodak moment or is it?

Hey Team,

Welcome to Day 10 of our exciting journey!

Yesterday, we explored how our brains have evolved to think in linear ways, which can put us at a disadvantage in a world that operates exponentially. Today, I want to delve into why this is particularly crucial for you as an entrepreneur and how shifting your perspective from linear to exponential thinking can be the difference between encountering disaster or seizing incredible opportunities.

Picture this: In 1996, Kodak was at the pinnacle of its success, boasting a market cap of over $28 billion and a global workforce of 140,000 employees. What's fascinating is that way back in 1975, Steven Sasson at Kodak labs had invented the digital camera. Kodak held the patents and enjoyed a significant first-mover advantage. However, this initial digital camera could only take 0.01-megapixel photos, took 23 seconds to store those images on a tape drive, and could only capture images in black and white!

When Sasson demonstrated this revolutionary technology to Kodak's executives, they failed to grasp its potential and disregarded its implications. Fast forward to 2012, and Kodak filed for bankruptcy, disrupted by the very technology they had pioneered but dismissed – a classic "New Kodak Moment."

Around the same time, in 2012, another company that focused on "preserving people's memories," Instagram, was acquired by Facebook for a billion dollars with just 13 employees. Many considered the acquisition grossly overvalued, but today, no one is laughing. Instagram now holds a value of $100 billion on Facebook's balance sheet.

The examples of disruption go beyond Kodak. Netflix took on Blockbuster, Uber revolutionized the rental car industry, Airbnb transformed the hotel business, Zoom changed air travel dynamics, and Amazon disrupted just about everything! It's a clear message that regardless of a company's size, failure to embrace exponential technological changes can lead to being left in the dust.

So, team, let's consider the HVAC&R industrie how might be disrupted next. The landscape is ever-changing, and those who can anticipate and adapt to exponential advancements will thrive, ITS ONLY NATURAL.

Now, as an entrepreneur, you must equip yourself with mental tools to view the world through an exponential lens. Here are four specific hacks to elevate your thinking:

1. Skating to where "the Puck-Is-GOING-To-Be": When building your startup around exponential technologies, anticipate where that technology will be in three or four years, not just where it stands today. This way, you won't find your innovation already outdated when you enter the market.
2. Thinking about 10X Growth: Don't settle for incremental improvements. Instead, ask yourself, "How can I achieve a 10X (1000%) improvement?" This shift in mindset pushes you to explore new paradigms and exponential possibilities.
3. Embrace Data-Driven Experimentation: As an exponential entrepreneur, adopt rapid iteration and data-driven experimentation to uncover creative solutions to previously unsolvable problems. More insights on this will be shared in future lessons.
4. Digitize Everything You Can: By digitizing products and services, you set them on a path of exponential growth – dematerializing, demonetizing, and democratizing access. The Exponential Mindset involves exploring how to digitize anything and everything.

To get you further immersed in the world of exponential thinking, I recommend reading Naval Ravikant's Twitter thread on how to get rich without getting lucky. Pay special attention to the concept of "permissionless leverage" (e.g., code, media).

This is just a glimpse of the tools I'll be sharing throughout this course to help you develop an Exponential Mindset.

Looking forward to our next adventure together!

Best wishes

Uncle George