Monetization Playbook #78 — There is nothing new—except what has been forgotten
‘Qu'ils mangent de la brioche’
There is nothing new—except what has been forgotten.
—Marie Antoinette [ 1755-1793 ]
Rumour has it that Marie Antoinette–queen to Louis XVI–did not say, "let them eat cake."
That phrase believed to originate some hundred years earlier from another storied princess, most probably Marie-Thérèse, wife of Louis XIV.
The fact remains, it stuck.
Partly as a causal reference to make sense of the revolution and perhaps, because the difference between one King Louis and another is, well–just details!
2020 marked the year where software really and truly ate the world.
Spiralling tech valuations.
–Bitcoin memes.
–FinTech.
–DeFi.
The list is endless.
The perpetual race between emergence and knowledge synthesis marks the battle lines between breakout success and 'meh' failure.
In delivering and defining higher design levels, we need to ask ourselves what experiential metaphors can we apply to the emerging lower-order components kits?
Which combination of these components can produce non-linear exponential value?
A 2x2 derived by Shaan Puri provides a simple means of using knowledge synthesis in conjunction with emergence to ideate MVPs.
The matrix is as follows–
Old Problems, New Solutions
New Problems, Old Solutions
New Problems, New Solutions
Old Problems, Old Solutions
In generic terms, 3. relates to creating a new market, and 4. executing a service or product better than the incumbents.
However, let’s explore 1. and 2. from the knowledge synthesis and emergence perspectives.
In terms of new problem, old solution–the last decade of social media noise has driven many of us off-platform.
People still crave information and connection–but don't want gate-crashers at their attention party.
Solution. Invite-only emails and communities.
Enter Substack, Revue, ConvertKit, and many others solving the noise problem with good old-fashioned newsletters–sexy emails to you and me!
And what's more. People will pay for them. Handsomely!
Old problems, new solutions are aplenty, particularly with traditionally capital intensive industries.
One example is Rolls Royce's solution around renting engine time [by air miles] instead of outright sales. Kinda like "engine SaaS."
Another is the democratization of excess plan phone minutes by Dent by unbundling the standard mobile phone lock-in ties.
Now back to Marie. To pour salt on her memory, the literal English translation of what was said is more akin to–let them eat brioche–as opposed to cake!
To me, that's a cause for celebration, not revolution!
Synthesizing our existing knowledge with the emergence of software lego kits–SDKs, APIs, Code, and No-Code provide the tools to create non-linear future outcomes.
The revolution has started. Let's all dine on software and brioche!