Making Startups Powerful

When advising startups, asking "what would make this company more powerful?" yields more significant breakthroughs than asking how to make more money incrementally. Key strategies for increasing startup power include owning customer relationships, creating network effects, building platforms where others can build upon your product, and transforming services into marketplaces. These transformations often require reimagining the core business model—such as enabling users to transact with each other or generalizing the idea—which can dramatically increase a company's value and competitive advantage.