Unless you live in a cave, you know UBER.
Maybe you’ve never actually travelled with UBER, but you’ve surely heard about this American company and its innovative concept that seems to be taking over the world.
Maybe you already made up your mind about it – you are either “pro-UBER” or “anti-UBER” – as if there was a side to pick. Truth is, the UBER phenomenom and similar start up / business models like Airbnb or Blablacar, are not only rocking the transport or tourism businesses, but they seem to be attacking traditional markets and economies in general. New markets seem to have opened, thanks to new approaches.
As no market segment appears as spared from what it seems to be an inevitable uberization of the economy, the question that seems to have hit the bull’s eye is: “Are we all ‘UBERizable’?” What is happening? Why is it happening? How could we embrace it?
On the 8th of October, Silicon Luxembourg and PwC invited 3 startups that each innovated and disrupted their own market, to try to answer the questions that are shaking traditional economy: Weezevent, Textmaster, and Creads.
Here are 5 takeaways:
1. The idea is not everything
Everybody agrees: a unique, original and innovative idea brings you halfway to a profitable and successful business. Yet, the other half of the way is its execution, and whether you arrive at the finish line or not, will depend on the way you carried out the idea, and especially how quickly you did it.
2. Conquering the market is about providing a better service
UBER-like business models have certainly inspired a new way of business thinking, but objectively they did not re-invent the industry: everything they did, concerned the improvement of the customer service, thus developing a highly customer-centric market. And it works! Independent of the excellence of your product, or your team’s talent, what the customer will most likely remember is the first contact he had with your company.
3. Keep innovating
The competition has always existed, but it probably became even tougher through the UBER-like economy model, that pushes everyone to be better and constantly innovate.
Certainly, nothing revolutionary here, but what is important to emphasize, is that business innovation should concern all areas, starting with the product development and management methods, to the day-to-day internal organization of the company.
4. Invest in technologies
Being a startup is not about technology, nor about crowdfunding. It is about a state of mind, and a desire to always remain flexible, open-minded and dynamic.
UBER, as other similar startup companies, have created new opportunities thanks to a combination between technology and highly personalized customer experience. These companies re-empower the customer and give a crucial role to new technologies and innovation.
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