I spent this week looking at hundreds of companies and found that there are seven common ways to differentiate:1. Be the cheapest2. Be the highest quality3. Be the most convenient4. Be the safest5. Sell a proprietary product6. Sell something that makes people feel great buying 7. Focus on a niche underserved market

Michael Porter...found that there are only tow paths to winning a market.

1. Operational effectiveness : Performing activities better than rivals 2. Differentiating: Performing activities differently, or performing different activities, thanrivals

Jim Collins...shares a different approach for identifying your wheel...for larger corporations:

1. Create a list of significant replicable successes your company has achieved 2. Compile a list of failures and disappointments 3. Compare the successes to the disappointments and ask, “What do these successes and disappointments tell us about the possib... See more

[To determine a companies flywheel,] i'd start a list:1. What are the core assets of your business? e.g. cars, content, hardware devices2. What are the core actions users take? e.g. signing up, inviting friends, purchasing3. What are the core needs of your users? e.g. something to watch, a ride, discounts4. What are the natural outputs of your busi... See more

1) Over-communicate 2) Set realistic expectations3) Be proactive4) Prioritize + communicate5) Do great work

To pick a wedge, find a large market and then:1. Pick a very narrow (and very painful) problem2. Pick a very specific segment of people to solve that problem for

a good wedge:

1. Is narrow and focused—solves a very specic problem, for a specic group, extremely well2. Builds momentum—can be sold quickly and keeps customers coming back3. Naturally extends into a much bigger opportunity—more product, more revenue,more users4. Avoids competition—the whole point is to give you an easier path5. Is hard to replicat... See more

A wedge gives a startup a number of advantages over its competition—primarily driven by having a narrower, more precise focus: 1) With a more focused value prop, your pitch and sales process become quicker and easier, which drives more revenue that you can reinvest in growth and the product 2) With more customers, you can more quickly build social ... See more