How things win
· 6 minute read
Why do people flock to something? What creates an edge, a moat, an advantage? How do things win, or at least survive, in a highly competitive landscape?
Organisms, people, products, organizations, networks — all are able to overcome competitors and accumulate energy by developing strengths along certain vectors. There are many ways to win.
Successful things tend to optimize competency on a narrow set of strategies, often a unique and unusual combination of strategies. This list collects more than seventy such strategies, grouped in broad categories. You can contribute strategies and examples to this article.
Accumulation
| Strategy | Description | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Usership | A critical mass of users, network effect | Phone system, the internet, scaled social networks |
| Completeness | All-in-one tool, one-stop shop | Swiss army knife, Walmart |
| Aggregation | An environment or marketplace designed for broad participation | Cities, malls, Amazon, Craigslist |
| Diversification | Low-dependency on any one stream of resources | Conglomerates, omnivores |
Price
| Strategy | Description | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Affordability | Comparatively low-cost | Mass production, fast food, fast fashion |
| Luxury | Intentionally high-cost, often labor-intensive, or status symbol | Veblen goods, supercars, luxury watches |
| Skimming | Ingests a large volume of very small transactions or resources | Credit cards, baleen whales, planktivores |
Time
| Strategy | Description | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Heritage | Multi-generational legacy | Religions, old companies |
| Craftsmanship | Uses more time, precision, and attention to detail than competitors | Handmade watches, bespoke tailoring, Leica |
| Organic | Natural growth process that cannot be accelerated | Trees, ecosystems, aged cheeses |
| Endurance | Ability to operate continuously over along period of time | Marathon runners, nuclear submarines |
Uniqueness
| Strategy | Description | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Specialization | Strong competence in a narrow niche | Trade schools, pandas |
| Versatility | General competence adapted to many tasks | CPUs, opposable thumbs |
| Hybrid | Competence in two distinct areas, or blending of two strengths not usually found together | Frogs, cronuts, amphibious vehicles, hybrid cars |
| Divergence | Creativity, unusualness, differentiation from the norm | Van Gogh, Picasso, Frank Gehry |
| Authenticity | Traceable to its source, especially where counterfeiting is prevalent | Money, olive oil, art |
| Rarity | Naturally limited in quantity, at the edge of the distribution curve | Beachfront property, Victor Wembanyama |
| Scarcity | Artificially limited in quantity | Collectibles, NFTs |
| Secrecy | Made difficult to copy by protecting private knowledge, or combining components in a way that cannot be disentangled | Magicians, Coca-Cola, trade secrets |
| Irreverence | Contrarian, counter-cultural, disregard for tradition | Richard Branson, South Park |
Offense
| Strategy | Description | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Violence | Destroys or consumes the opponent through physical force | Military attacks, predators |
| Litigation | Weakens opponents through legal burden | Patent trolls, lawsuits, Mickey Mouse |
| Nettlesomeness | Causes the opponent to make mistakes | Magnus Carlsen |
| Sabotage | Creates weaknesses in the opponent’s structure or defenses | Terrorism |
| Parasitism | Extracts or hijacks resources from a host | Mosquitos, cordyceps |
| Scavenging | Opportunistically ingests dying or weakened prey | Private equity, vultures |
| Espionage | Acquires enemy secrets through infiltration | Spies |
| Swarming | Concentrated attack from a mass of individually weak agents | Bees, DDOS attacks, Zerg rush |
| Lure | Preys on other organisms by setting attractive traps | Anglerfish, honeypot |
| Highest bidder | Overpays or outbids competitors to secure exclusivity | Real Madrid, Softbank, art collectors |
Defense
| Strategy | Description | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Deterrence | Mutually assured destruction, projecting fear of violence or litigation | Nuclear weapons, trademarks, patents |
| Reliability | Reduces maintenance costs, minimizes downtime | Zippo lighters, Toyota cars |
| Predictability | Repeatable process with little deviation to create a consistent product or experience | Disneyland, Starbucks |
| Unpredictability | Creating an element of surprise, confusion, or variability | Squid ink, smoke screen, Banksy, Lady Gaga |
| Decentralization | Redundancy and distributed competency to reduce single points of failure | Solar power, grassroots movements |
| Security | Resistance to theft, confiscation, unwanted access | Banks, vaults, locks |
| Privacy | Protection against unwanted information disclosure | Encrypted messaging apps, VPNs |
| Durability | Physical robustness, resistance to damage, or injury | LeBron James, cast iron skillets |
| Neutrality | Displays long-term non-belligerence, a safe haven | Switzerland, Red Cross |
| Obscurity | Survival by remaining unknown or undetected | Deep-sea creatures, closed-source software |
| Decoy | Distracts or misleads adversaries | Chaff, fake security cameras |
| Antifragility | Becomes stronger when exposed to usage | BitTorrent, muscles |
Timing
| Strategy | Description | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| First-mover | Acts first to gain an advantage | Netflix, Tesla |
| Second-mover | Fast-follower, moves quickly to copy the first-mover | Facebook-Snapchat |
| Last-mover | Waits until all opponents have expended energy on failed approaches | Apple |
Accreditation
| Strategy | Description | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Monopoly | Artificial control of a resource or market approved by the governing body | Patents, regulatory capture |
| Prestige | Endorsed by authoritative sources via awards, degrees, or other recognition | Michelin-starred restaurants, Ivy League graduates |
| Curation | Selectiveness, particular ability in choosing and grouping | Art galleries, HBO, venture capital |
Collaboration
| Strategy | Description | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Union | Reduce friction between potential competitors by adopting a common set of rules | Mergers and acquisitions, United States, European Union |
| Alliance | Partnership that enables some benefits of a union while maintaining independence | Partnerships |
| Emergence | Hive mind, wisdom of the crowd | Ant colonies, beehives, democracy |
| Centralization | Single decision-making entity | Dictatorships |
| Standardization | Emergent alignment that reduces friction | Language, railway gauge, metric system |
| Symbiosis | Mutually beneficial dependency between two organisms | Two-party political system, fig wasp |
| Herding | Grouping of many individuals to protect against larger or dangerous competitors | Trade associations, school of fish |
| Distributed ownership | Owned by the community | REI Co-op, Green Bay Packers |
| Transparency | Open and visible process or inner workings that encourages trust | Open-source software |
Speed and scale
| Strategy | Description | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Iteration | Ability to iterate and change quickly, shortening the cycle time between improvements | SpaceX |
| Efficiency | Uses a low amount of energy or resources to perform similar capabilities to competitors | LED bulbs |
| Agility | Nimbleness, easily adapts to a changing environment | Gymnasts, squirrels, go-karts |
| Precision | High level of accuracy and exactness in performance or output | Swiss watches, CNC machining, |
| Blitzing | Sudden attack, expending intense resources in a concentrated manner | Hostile takeovers, blitz marketing campaigns |
| Composability | Ability to assemble components and systems in different configurations | APIs, Stripe |
| Modularity | Composed of independent units that can be used in different combinations | LEGO, prefab buildings |
Ease
| Strategy | Description | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Intuitiveness | Ease of use and understanding, without explicit instruction | Dieter Rams designs |
| Fun | Provides enjoyment and amusement | Video games, amusement parks, Duolingo |
| Simplicity | Limited points of failure, minimalistic design | Hammer, MUJI |
| Low-friction | Minimal resistance or hassle in use or interaction | One-click ordering |
| Charm | Charisma, ability to create loyalty and warmth through delightful personality or aesthetics | Oprah Winfrey, Paris |
Transformation
| Strategy | Description | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Malleability | Ability to change appearance or form, can be modified or customized easily | Clay, software code, method actors |
| Metamorphosis | Transforms between states optimized for different functions or environments | Caterpillars → butterflies, tadpole → frogs |
| Copycat | Replicates another’s method or style | Fast fashion, generic brands |
| Camouflage | Ability to blend into the surrounding environment | Chameleons, stealth aircraft |
| Mimicry | Superficially adopts characteristics of another species to trick opponents | Harmless snakes mimicking venomous ones |