Framework
The orthogonal attack: beat an incumbent from a different angle
Shaan introduces 'orthogonal' as the way to beat LinkedIn — not by building a better LinkedIn, but by attacking from a different angle, like AngelList pulling startup jobs off LinkedIn or Dribbble/Behance/GitHub owning designers and developers.
“here's a company I invested in that I think has a cool chance of beating LinkedIn. I want to describe their strategy, but I don't want to use the Silicon Valley jargon. You know this word orthogonal? No. Have you heard people say this? It's like, yeah, you have to take an orthogonal angle, or it's an orthogonal—”
Steal thisDon't out-feature an incumbent; attack the job-to-be-done from an orthogonal angle they can't copy.
Idea
A 'Lambda School for content creators' that only earns on placement
Shaan pitches applying the Dribbble portfolio model and the Lambda School outcome-based bootcamp to content/media creation — a program that trains social-media operators and only makes money when graduates get hired. He notes Lambda is set to be a billion-dollar-plus company.
“And so Lambda School was like, yo, college is not doing it. We need to make a 9-month bootcamp where we'll make you like from zero to ready to be hired. And we only make money if you get hired. So like we're fully aligned with you. If we can't get you a high-paying job as an engineer, then we failed. We don't make any money. It's on us. And Lambda School is gonna be like a billion-dollar-plus company. Now you could make potentially a Lambda School for whatever, content creation or media creation.”
Steal thisRun an ISA-style bootcamp for social-media managers that only earns when graduates are placed.
Framework
The 'New Zealand business': self-sufficient, no platform risk
Wilkinson's favorite holding, Dribbble, exemplifies his ideal: a 'New Zealand business' that is self-sufficient with no intermediary or gateway. Designers type Dribbble directly into the URL bar, so there's no Google or Facebook risk, and the captive community can be monetized many ways.
“I always say you want a business to be like New Zealand, right? So New Zealand is in the middle of fucking nowhere. Nobody's paying any attention to it. It's quietly successful. It's totally food and energy independent. It could get cut off from the rest of the world and people would eat and be fine. And it's away from nuclear war. Right. And so when I think about a business, I want a business that there's no intermediary, there's no gateway, and you have a fully self-sufficient society.”
Steal thisFavor businesses where customers come directly to you, so no platform (Google, Facebook) sits between you and your audience.