The Problem with Every Company Being a ‘Tech’ Company
Great companies know their own identities inside and out. They focus on their core competencies and don’t pretend to be something they’re not.
It seems like every day, a new “tech” company is invented. Or re-invented. I can hardly tell the difference anymore. The amount of spin, marketing, and branding that goes into forcing a “tech” identity is dizzying at best. And at worst, it’s misleading, unproductive, and destructive.
Understanding Corporate Identity through the Relationship between Production and Consumption
The easiest way to understand whether a company is a “tech” company is to examine the relationship between its products or services and its customers. The distilled litmus test is to answer this question: What did your customer hire your firm to do?
So let’s put a few companies who claim to be “tech” companies to the test:
Peloton manufactures and sells exercise equipment.
Compass buys and sells real estate.
Wayfair is a marketplace for goods.
WeWork is simply an office leasing company.
HelloFresh delivers pre-packed ingredients for cooking meals.
SmileDirectClub is a dental adjustment…
