Business today versus busienss then- a discusion about the past, present, and future!

[nastyboy]

Originally Posted by TheEnforcer

Ok.. the business has changed since the heydays of the mid to late 90's so what would some of you old timers say is BETTER about the business now and what would you say is worse?

Is innovation not nearly as prevalnet in todays climate as it was back then? It seems to me we see less "industy changing" type of innovations now than we did back then but that is expected in a market as it matures. That said, where are we in temrs of market maturity. Granted people are always gonna want porn but when, or do you at all, see online (specifically web browsing) becoming a mature segment like magazines are today?

Would you agree tnat one of the things that is a big problem is the lack of reliable billing alternatives to CC's?

Great questions. I think the changes we have and are seeing in this industry are no different than the changes seen in every sustainable industry.

Regarding your thoughts on innovation and maturity..i think there are two different issues at work there...

1) Acording to the research they havent been able to find a link between industry maturity and innovation Harvard Study
(boring I know but for the business types...good stuff)

2) I think what we are seeing is more related to Product Life Cycle....

Any Business or Industry is constantly seeking ways to grow future cash flows by maximizing revenue from the sale of products and services. Cash Flow allows a company to maintain viability, invest in new product development and improve its workforce; all in an effort to acquire additional market share and become a leader in its respective industry.

A consistent and sustainable cash flow (revenue) stream from product sales is key to any long-term investment, and the best way to attain a stable revenue stream is a cash cow product, leading products that command a large market share in mature markets...thus all the aquisition we see lately. The big sponsors merging / buying big/medium programs...gives them additional member base, affiliates, content and traffic Also, product life cycles are becoming shorter and shorter (this is very true in our industry..just look at the lifecycle of a mega site or one of the cookie cutter solo model sites of today vs years past) and many products in mature industries are revitalized by product differentiation and market segmentation. Organizations increasingly reassess product life cycle costs and revenues as the time available to sell a product and recover the investment in it shrinks.

Even as product life cycles shrink, the operating life of many products is lengthening. For example, the operating life of some durable goods, such as automobiles and appliances, has increased substantially. ( in our industry a website has an unlimitied operating life) Increasingly, companies are attempting to optimize life cycle revenue and profits through the consideration of plug in feeds / bonus content, buy one site get 40, and pricing incentives when a member tries to cancel.

The concept of life cycle stages has a significant impact upon business strategy and performance. And although there have been some recent innovations I think we have seen a lot of companies making their cash cows better while snatching up market share (NATS comes to mind)...when the dust settles.. and we have matured even further...I think you'll see another explosion in innovation....Cameras have been around a long time...but look how digital photography has innovated in just the last couple years.


OK that was way overboard LOL!


Great thread though TheEnforcer!

[Hell Puppy]

Cost of entry is much lower now than it was then.

I'm not just talking money, but also knowledge. We all but give away hosting and content, and there are tools that let you easily throw up a lot of pages without really knowing much of anything.

What this has created is a HUGE tier of part timers, mostly college kids. Most have no real clue about traffic and are quite content to give away a shitload of content and use a assload of bandwidth to make a handful of sales a week. Few will ever learn to advance past that, they just know it's an easier way to make beer money than working delivering pizza or something.

This was really obvious when people were posting "way back when" pics recently from the shows. In the late 90's, i'd say the average age of the people attending shows was 30+, maybe closer to mid 30's. It was business people. Look at pics now and you see a lot of guys under 25 who spent more than they'll make in a month just to be at the show.

Bottom feeders are rarely good for any industry, they tend to kill margins.