Creativity is a destructive act regardless of necessity being the mother of invention because when “growth hacking” for eyeballs & users begins this can’t be done without competition entering.
What happens when you’ve got the idea, but not the cash or the technology? What happens when you’ve got the technology but not the cash? What happens when you’ve just got the cash? Without the idea and when technology is the equivalent of keeping the lights / processors on, the model becomes the same as spare cycles in a machine shop. Only now the Machines are computers and spare CPU cycles cost no more if 1 CPU is running or 5 are running and in the end, it’s people costs.
In a recent article in the Los Angeles Times on the economics of the digital effects house, Digital Domain, who competed all the imagery for Enders Game, Digital Domain invested $17 million (in employees 3D design & rendering time) in exchange for a 37% equity stake in Enders Game producing $9.8M 1st day, $27M first weekend and $59.9M 1st month sales being released in 3,407 theaters. In comparison to the equivalent 2009 Star Trek movie released in 3849 theaters with a lifetime gross of $257M the possibility for 5yr shared revenue for Digital Domain could be in the realm of 92M gross on 17M invested or a 540% return. However a recent Wired Article on Enders Game and a similar article on Growth Hacking examines the outsourced model and the necessity for WOM (Word of Mouth) models – blogging, PR, banner adds, etc., as the new mechanism for product launches where the economics is in the Google’s and Facebook’s purview – traceable and convertible.
Models for Growth Hacking, work under the assumption that network topologies must be open and shareable: the Google, Facebook, Linked-In API etc., as the standard for NFC (near field communications) are still not completely open. More, examples such as:
1) Standing out
2) Doing Weird things
3) Have a story to tell
2) Doing Weird things
3) Have a story to tell
However again, all of these efforts assume a recognition of a group behavior that has a tangible benefit for the end user like the model employed by Digital Domain in the Enders Game economic model.