Focus
The author argues that pointless mergers and acquisitions in the name of growth often blur a company's "focus"--the category a product or service occupies in the customer's mind.
Stats for nerds
3recommend
4mentions
3people
2010–2024years
75% recommend25% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- Instead of blogs with marketing intent, founders should read the two things that matter most:
Four Steps to Epiphany Crossing the Chasm
Nothing beats those even today.
Maybe include Focus by Al Ries also.
- My recommendation is to reflect on what you read. Here's why:
I'm actually trying to cycle off reading business books. I've read so many that I need to spend time implementing what I read, rather than taking in more information. I'm like a chain reader, putting down one book and then picking up another without spending time reflecting on what I learnt.
I noticed this pattern so I've started trying to identify 3 things I learned and/or could implement to my own business upon finishing a book. For me, the reflection on what I learned is more important, I'm not much of a note taker but have the ability to retain vast amounts of information. If something really hits me, Ill put it in Evernote. Without the reflection piece this is probably relegated to my subconscious. I'm actually thinking of going back and trying to think of 3 things from each book I've read previously that I can now record.
This morning I finished the book Focus by Al Ries. It's good.
Here are the 3 things I learnt (recorded upon finishing in Evernote): 1. Focused companies are more profitable. 2. Brand extension is bad. 3. Focus may cause shrinkage in the short term but is far better in the long term.
Hope that helps.
Recommended books: - How to win friends and influence people (timeless classic) - How to get Rich by Felix Dennis (spammy title, good read) - Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrari (networking tips) - Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh (any business that focuses on customer service is going to do better) - Purple Cow by Seth Godin (classic) - The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E Gerber (a great mindset to have for your business) - The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes (slow start but simply awesome) - All the 37signals books - Lean Startup (obviously)
These are just of the top of my head.
I don't keep books. I figure I can always buy them again if I need.
I gave up tracking what I read, but Goodreads.com was good of that.
- Why was this downvoted to zero? Asking to improve in the future.
My point was that line extension has been shown time and time again to be toxic for businesses and Google's bevy of marginal non-search projects seem only to reinforce that this is accurate.
Al Ries has dedicated an influential book to the subject called "Focus" and I've seen the damage line-extension can cause first hand in businesses I've worked in and invested in.
Considering the variety of points of view this comment spurred, I was suprised to see it = 0 which tells me that HN doesn't want this type of comment in the future?
- This will be interesting to watch. Given the sales page currently is simply a letter by Jason Fried, my assumption (and it is just an assumption) is that companies have gone with this offering because it's 37Signals. That said now momentum is built, that in turn should generate the referrals rather, perhaps more so than the initial buzz of working directly with 37signals people, so I guess this makes sense.
I've always seen 37signals as a very focused company, and this spin off enables them to focus back on their core business. I just finished reading Focus by Al Ries, hence this is top of mind, but 37signals seem the masters of relentless focus in the modern age.
