Sublime
An inspiration engine for ideas
Sears executed the first retail public share issuance in 1906, through Goldman, Sachs, one of a new breed of Jewish investment banks (Lehmans was another) that focused on the retail and consumer goods businesses overlooked by the Morgans and Kuhn, Loebs of the world. Rosenwald needed the capital infusion to build continuous-processing, mechanized
... See moreCharles R. Morris • The Tycoons: How Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Jay Gould, and J. P. Morgan Invented the American Supereconomy
So Sears was basically built on the catalog and the postal service back in the day. And it really hit a lot of people who were marginalized. People who couldn't afford to or were shunned from going into these big department stores with wealthy folks. They'd say, "You're not allowed in here." So if you can get a catalog mailed to your house and you... See more
Patrick O'Shaughnessy • The Past, Present, and Future of Consumer Social Companies
About 1% of a company’s value comes from its originating idea.
The figuring it out part is responsible for the other 99%.
For example:
> Slack’s original concept was as an internal communication tool for a gaming company called Tiny Speck. When the gaming... See more
Marc Randolphx.comUnder Armour founder Kevin Plank became a billionaire in his 30s
He was a walk-on football player at Maryland when came up with the idea of "dry and comfortable" athletic tee shirt which became the company's first product
In this clip, Plank shares his company's incredible origin story and... See more
Triple Net Investorx.comNordstrom, for example, is famed for its customer service. In one iconic story, a customer brings a set of tires to the store to return even though Nordstrom sells clothes, not tires. The store accepts the tires anyway and fully refunds the customer. In another tale, a clerk who can’t find the right pair of shoes at any nearby Nordstrom store... See more
Sahil Lavingia • The Minimalist Entrepreneur: How Great Founders Do More with Less
And then you think of Walmart. They sort of did a similar thing where they hit this sort of different demographic that wasn't quite being hit properly sort of by Sears but also optimized a lot of things on the infrastructure side.
Patrick O'Shaughnessy • The Past, Present, and Future of Consumer Social Companies
This is space that multi brand retailers like department stores should own. They should have the credibility of the high taste of their merchant team (see Barney’s circa 2005) combined with the best staff dying to find you that perfect black tote.