BITW - Best In The World

My partner at PSL, Greg Gottesman, often asks entrepreneurs, “What will you be best in the world at?” I think this is a great prompt and forces the entrepreneur to consider not only the direct answer to the question but also what's unique about themselves, what's unique about the business idea, about their insights into the market or product, or even an approach to building the company and where they are going to take these advantages and insights to become “BITW” or at least attempt to be. 

The most logical and common answers are often that they will be “best in the world” at providing a particular service to a specific customer. While not mutually exclusive, they could be BITW at strategies to acquire customers (GTM), how they might service customers (customer success, retention, upsell, referrals), how they might build a team (recruiting/retention), how they might build products (engineering, design, and product management), all forms of innovation or leadership at the “process” parts of the business in addition to the “product” parts of the business. 

Here might be a few examples for other leading companies;

• Zappos: Best in the world at customer success centered around the idea of "WOW" (Wow Over Words).  Also documented in Delivering Happiness. RIP Tony Hsieh.
• Amazon: Best in the world at online retail; low prices, broad selection. In addition to the product, Amazon was also BITW in some of its business processes, famously its “six-page memos”, leadership principles, and written culture, to name a few.  I recommend Invent and Wander to learn more.
• Ring: Who would have thought a video doorbell should be a must-have? Ring positioned itself as the best in the world by a simple step-by-step demonstration. So much so that Shaq invested in it and then Amazon bought it.
• Netflix: BITW at culture and hiring, most famously outlined in their “culture deck.” Obviously, they also strived to deliver video content more efficiently via DVD and then streaming and succeeded at that, too. More from the founder, Reed Hastings, culture deck in No Rules Rules and this shorter summary.

Clearly, there are countless others, many chronicled on podcasts like Acquired and Founders (I love both of these), but you get the point.  So, as you're thinking about your own company, ask yourself the question or wait for my partner, Greg, to ask you the question, "What will you be best in the world at"?