The neverending business idea
Leafing through FastCompany, I was once again struck by the similarities between business ideas and zombies. As one is. I’m supposed to give a talk on zombies and organizing the living dead at Manchester Business School in December – I’ll be giving a keynote on luxury and project management a few days earlier at the same school, so my reputation for ..ahem, idiosyncratic interests should be reinforced – so zombies are on my mind. But my observation today was less esoteric. Quite simply, it seems to be a fact of life that certain business ideas simply cannot die, regardless of how many failures litter the field.
An example: Offices away from the office, i.e. “office love hotels”. The kind of place where the weary business traveler can set up a makeshift office, where there are phonelines, good internet connections, coffee and a comfortable table-chair combo, maybe even a conference room. Preferably set up in the teeming business district, such “hour-lease” offices are thought of as havens for the salary-man away from the home office, who’ll gladly for over some money to use a decent work environment for a short while. There are a number of these setups going, even in Stockholm. Still, I do not believe in this idea.
I’ve seen this suggested for the last fifteen years, yet no-one seems able to turn this into a successful business. Why? And why do people keep trying? The former question is easier to answer. With mobile technologies, setting up an office takes, well, nothing. Supplying phone lines, faxes and internet connections is basically like bragging you can supply electricity and water – so can a bar, or a hotel room, or the office you’re having a meeting at. The business of supplying infrastructure has changed radically, and I’m sure there is a business to be made in it, but this is not one. Offering a nice table and a good chair is a little more attractive, but then pricing comes in. How much will I pay to sit comfortably for an hour? If we’re talking flying to the US, I will pay for business class, yes (or not go, my back can’t survive 12 hours in coach), but not when I fly to Copenhagen. A desk simply isn’t that big a deal. Leaves coffee (duh) and the conference-room. Now, I’m not saying that access to a nice set-up for a meeting isn’t worth paying for, for it is. But then we have to take costs into account. For this to be worth something, it has to be very, very conveniently placed. It can’t be more than two blocks away, as it is then easier just to do stuff at the coffee-shop, and these hour-lease offices are through the law of averages always too far away. Ergo, I do not think they can ever really work.
But why do people keep trying? Why does this zombie always return? Well, as most business ideas that wont die, it just sounds too good. It is simple, communicable, seems to fill a “need”, and can be easily visualized. It seems like it should work, and no amount of empirical evidence will dissuade an entrepreneur that has bought into an idea. Ergo, the return of the living dead business idea. I’m beginning to think that this zombie-idea might have some milage in it.
Listening to Sweet and Lovely (Take 2) from the album “Monk Alone (Disc 1)” by Thelonious Monk
