13/ There is a CS metaphor here: run every product inside its own VM. Only bare-metal functions are corp. governance ones (legal, cap table)
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14/ People don't realize how powerful VM ideas have gotten since VMWare. Check out Bromium for MicroVMs for instance.
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15/ VMs as a management metaphor means your *2nd* product is the one that determines whether your company has disruption resistant DNA
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16/ If you get tempted to "platformize" too much capability, you're screwed.
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17/ Why are VMs the right metaphor? You can run each product on a different tempo based on life-stage.
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18/ This can only work if you adopt Amazon model of focusing on free cash flow rather than margins. Why?
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19/ Margins are a relative measure. Will get pwned by biggest contributor to revenue pie. You manage what you measure.
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20/ You make GM promises *across* product line, you *have* to optimize org around top-earning product.
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21/ Move cash around via a platform that's primarily *financial*, and you can run 1-VM-per-product.
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22/ This means you do *not* break out RD&E at top-level. Do that and you're screwed. Absorb RD&E into COGS, compute margins after.
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23/ Oh, a final thought: to do this, your baseline clockspeed has to be at least 2x industry average. This is not a "free" management model
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24/ FInal final thought: model does NOT solve go-to-market conflicts. Managing customer multi-touch hard. I have no answer. Yet.
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Been pondering this too, will share notes if I have a breakthrough although I suspect you will, before I do.
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