⚒️Co-opetition is the way - Sunday Orange Flow

Today I write about co-opetition and why it works. This has been apart of my journey since my baptismal earlier this year. This yearning to be in the light during the darkest of times.

Through out my first year working in bitcoin I have learned that co-opetition actually works. It's a business word for collaboration with a catchy spin to it. Most companies choose to operate in competition mode to completely focus on itself, and control the "narrative." It's myopic 20th century thinking. At the turn of the century companies have become connected through social media and internet culture. Now with the bitcoin revolution, finance and technology are merging and becoming fully integrated into the stack of every company. I can see a world where each company will have their very own lightning administrator on staff to offer support. Luckily were bitcoiners so will have the leg up.

I credit this concept to my days working for a managed service provider. We went from a 18 person company generating a million dollars in a year, to a 65 person company making upwards to 20 million a year by the time I left. What is a managed service provider? A managed service provider is a third-party company that remotely manages a customer's information technology infrastructure and end-user systems. Around the central Texas area we onboarded small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), nonprofits and law firms to perform a defined set of day-to-day management services. These services included network and infrastructure management, security and monitoring. We got there fast because of co-opetition. Quite frankly, a leader’s mindset can take a company with nothing and turn it into a multimillion-dollar brand.

Barkley later said, "I don't think there's anything better to representing your country. I don't think anything in my life can come close to that." Bird called the medal ceremony and the playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner" "the ultimate experience." Johnson said, "The 92 Dream Team was the greatest moment of my life in terms of basketball, bar none." Jordan said that the biggest benefit for him from the Olympics was that he learned more about his teammates' weaknesses. He later defeated Barkley, Malone, and Stockton in three NBA finals.

During that time is was clearly outlined to me the importance of working within a coherent guide around co-opetition and avoiding a piecemeal approach to IT. We were able to compare client offerings with other MSPs. I have covered this previously when discussing how certain books helped me. It also helped to design a strategy around our strengths and incorporate the wide variety of MSPs we were co-operating with. We then strategically were able to directly offer more together. We learned from each other and both developed similar IT libraries which indicated how these can be integrated within the organization for both internal use and service provision. It was apart of the overall strategic management of the organization I worked for.

Case Studies

Amazon gives rival sellers on Amazon Marketplace access to its customers and warehouses. Why? For starters, while it loses some direct business and the associated markup, it makes a commission on Marketplace sales. The net effect on profit depends on how the commission compares with the markup, and whether Amazon Marketplace (which accounts for $50 billion of the company’s revenue) leads to an increase in the company’s total volume. But why do other merchants cooperate with Amazon? Each partner, acting individually, finds it more profitable, even necessary, to be part of the Amazon ecosystem. One party shares its secret sauce to reach another’s customer base, even though doing so carries risks for both parties.

We saw this dynamic when Samsung shared its high-end screen with Apple. The underlying economic reason that working together was advantageous to both sides was that Samsung had the best screen and Apple had a loyal customer base. Without cooperating, neither company could get the extra value from putting the superior screen on the new iPhone.

The circumstances here are exceptional, but it’s already not unusual for bitcoin companies to team up to set standards and create interoperability protocols. Unchained Capital did this back in 2019 when releasing Caravan and thereby contributing to the discussion around multi-signature wallet standards that we are blessed to have today.

One party has a strong competitive advantage, and sharing only heightens it; even so, less-powerful parties are willing to cooperate.

it's been a week to say the least
reconciliation is in works
in my personal life
know i am not the same
never meant to take that away from you