Entrepreneurship: a minimalist approach.
History of entrepreneurship is full of great success stories about visionaries who were able to change the history of the world with their products. It is not possible to imagine our lives without mobile devices, computers, cars, and other great inventions. “They did not have a competition that we have today” — it is one of the sentences frequently used by entrepreneurs today when considering success stories of companies like Apple, Google, Ford, Tesla. But is it only about that?
We are living in the age of consumerism when people are flooded with a myriad of choices. Do you want to buy a computer? Go ahead and choose HP, Mac, Lenovo, or something else. What about an automobile? Tesla, Ford, Honda, Toyota are ready to provide one for you. The same principle is true for every other industry — it is hard to run away from competition at this age.
“What can you do to differentiate yourself?” is the logical question to ask. Asking this question, you can unravel many secrets used by great visionaries: these secrets are so obvious that entrepreneurs do not see them. Let’s start by asking a banal question: “What does a consumer want from my product?” The answer is so clear that it is unclear for many people: we buy cars to travel, we buy mobile phones to communicate, we buy a computer to work.
Henry Ford, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk and many more visionaries were able to understand this simple reality: you are not selling your product, you are selling a solution to consumer needs. In a world full of choices, why don’t you make the consumption process easier for your customers? All you need to do is to focus on the purpose of your product.
Minimalist entrepreneurs understand the essential needs of consumers. Entrepreneurs start by imagining the final products: it is essential to understand what should be in the product and whatnot. Phone keys were not required to communicate, so they disappeared. Sam Walton did not need middlemen to buy products, so Walmart got rid of them. Henry Ford considered many parts of the cars to be redundant, so he created one of the lightest automobiles of his time. The minimalist approach to product design combined with advances in engineering made smartphones, cheaper cars, affordable computers possible. Minimalism does not mean scarcity — minimalism is about not overwhelming with more than you need. As ex-Chief Design Officer of Apple — John Ive, puts it:
‘It’s not just minimalism or the absence of clutter. It involves digging through the depth of the complexity. To be truly simple, you have to go really deep. For example, to have no screws on something, you can end up having a product that is so convoluted and so complex. The better way is to go deeper with the simplicity, to understand everything about it and how it’s manufactured. You have to deeply understand the essence of a product to be able to get rid of the parts that are not essential’
Minimalism in entrepreneurship is not only about having small offices, working online, or getting rid of everything that you do not need. It is about having a minimalist mentality — understanding the use of every part of the product or process. Minimalist entrepreneurs search for real value in every part of their final product: they want to maximize ‘value per element’.
Products of Tesla, Apple, and Google exemplify the usage of minimalism to increase user experience.
Tesla: no to traditional advertising!
Elon Musk, an epitome of modern minimalism, does not use traditional institutionalized advertising department in Tesla, as such department would not add a lot of value to the product. He understands the secret of marketing that is unclear to many entrepreneurs: marketing is not done to a product; marketing is the product. Differently from companies that spend millions of dollars on advertising, Tesla is creating a remarkably simple product and is letting people decide whether they want it or not.
Apple: simplicity at the heart of design!
Steve Jobs, whose minimalist approach was inspired by Zen philosophy, laid the grounds for the aesthetic and ‘simple’ products of Apple. Apple is still using rules of simplicity to provide best user experience with the least number of elements. Understanding that exponential growth of data can lead to exhaustion of consumer energy, Apple simplifies its design — making it easier to intuitively use Apple products. Have you ever wondered why elderly people prefer Apple devices to Samsung, Huawei, or Sony? Because Apple makes its devices easier to use for utmost customer satisfaction!
Google: minimalist web design!
It has been ages since I used Internet Explorer, Opera, or Mozilla. These search engines provide consumers with complex and time-consuming search experience. However, there is one minimalist search engine that provides consumers with easy and comfortable user experience — Google Chrome. After designing Material Design and decreasing excess ingredients on the result and home pages, Google is making search process intuitive. Google focuses on creating user satisfaction by minimising the information required for searching.
In its essence minimalism is about simplification of the product: simplification that improves user experience!
What can entrepreneurs learn from minimalism:
1. Change your mindset:
Unless you learn to value important things in life, you are not be living your life. You attach yourself to everything around you and do not want to take risks. Fear of failure is always around since failure means to lose some attachments. Learning not to attach and live with things you need will transform your mindset. Know that everyone can become an entrepreneur, but only the selected few who can detach themselves from every physical attachment can become the greatest entrepreneurs. And only the selected few can live their lives to the full!
2. Focus on value:
Minimalism can save young innovators some time, energy, and most importantly funds. You need to focus on what is important for your consumers and cut out anything that does not add value to the product. If your company already produces complex products, try to understand how you can simplify your products. Understand that minimalism can help you gain a loyal user base, improve your business, and become next unicorn.
3. Understand your product:
Great visionaries have always known that it is important to understand every part of the product. Only this way you can simplify and improve your product. John Ive and Steve Jobs understood that knowing your product can help you make it better — thus, the grand Apple brand was born. Sam Zemurray — magnate who made his fortune on banana business, once told ‘You are there, I am here’. He became one of the most influential people in the history of the world and played an essential role in the politics of the Americas. Elon Musk spends most of his time working on Tesla — he created a large fan base for himself and his brand. All these examples highlight the importance of knowing your business. Once you understand your business, you can turn it into the next Apple, Tesla, or Amazon.
