Maurice, yesterday I read a book you will like, Next by Michael Lewis. Lewis also wrote Liar's Poker and The New New Thing, and he writes for the New York Times. He did a long piece about Jonathan Lebed, the 15 year old kid who used to pump-and-dump small cap stocks on SI, and it's in the book. But the book isn't about investing, it's about how the internet is upsetting old heirarchies and making things more level.
There's a bit about a 14 year old boy who gives legal advice on askme.com, and a bit about a rock band that sell their records directly to their fans and book tours via email, and a segment on Napster and Gnutella, and so forth.
One of the things that's important to think about when examining the creativity of cultures is that creativity flourishes when the creator is fairly certain of being rewarded in some way for creating, and won't get ripped off.
People who write free software like Linux and Gnutella do it for the glory - no one can steal that.
The culture that is developing around the Internet expects information to be free, but they don't mind paying for creativity. I don't know how that is resolved, exactly. I never expected the Internet to make money at least in the beginning, because I read an interview years ago in Wired by a very wise man whose name I have forgotten, who explained why it wouldn't. Same thing with railroads and airplanes in the beginning - if you total all the companies that made money against all the companies that went bust it zeroes out.
Read the book and it all makes sense.
It helped me understand my own business model. As a lawyer, I give away basic information for free, myself. One half hour free consultation - they usually don't take half an hour. No point charging to answer a simple question. If you need someone who can take a case and work it up properly from start to finish, then I am worth paying for. I am going to set up a website based on that model, give away basic information for free in hope that people with more complex issues will like what they read and hire me. |
