The S&P 500 is one of the main indices for assessing the overall health of the US stock market. It relies on data from the 500 largest-cap stocks. Does America seem to you so far away? The Chinese bat was also far away. But not for very long.
In combination with other indicators, the index shows that the world economy is changing. If you understand how exactly it is changing, there is a chance to make a lot of money. If you do not understand, you can remain slow and poor.
The main thing is not to confuse form and content.
Don't chase pseudo-innovations
Crisis times make you look for a magic pill. Now everyone talks about using technology in business and calls it innovation. Once I buy a huge iPad or switch to a Tesla, things will get better. Once the official will change the old-school rotary dial telephone with a video conference device, he will work faster with citizens' appeals.
No. This is a misuse of terms.
There are companies that create technological innovations, which we then use as technical tools. Do you see Apple as an innovator? I don’t. Maybe for the consumer market, but not for business. I have a device in my pocket, that I use to receive emails, look at photos of my children, read messages on Telegram, WhatsApp, Viber, and make calls. This thing will not replace my brain. It can only unload it, and that is not always the case.
Or, let’s take Tesla. You call Musk a revolutionary of the automotive industry, but still, his car has the usual 4 wheels, a steering wheel, and seats, it needs recharging (even if not with gasoline, but with an outlet, the main point is still the same). Of course, it contains innovative solutions, but the car itself represents an evolution. But the revolution will happen when the consumer car can fly around the traffic jam on the South Bridge and take it to the country.
From the entrepreneur's point of view, all of these technological things are tools. Nice and helpful, yes, but just tools.
The main task of the technology is to help entrepreneurs be innovative in their thinking. So they could enter new areas with new ideas, do something that nobody has done yet. And this is the essence of business.
What business would I call innovative? For example, one that knows how to make money in Ukraine for a long period and not give bribes. If at the same time it can expand, while others collapse, finds areas where you can supply goods that others have not thought of, this is a very innovative business.
I am sometimes reproached with: “it's easy to speak about innovations when you work in IT”. But wait, the sphere itself does not mean innovation. Competitor monitoring is not a revolutionary new idea, nor is changing the financial model. Since Adam Smith wrote “commodity-money-commodity*”, nothing has fundamentally changed.
Take our WePlay as an example. The company holds tournaments. This is the same event as a concert, competition, party, exhibition. Yes, there are some nuances. But still, you work with sponsors, participants, technical and other specialists, logistics.
Or Enestech, another company of ours, sells software to gaming centers of all sizes. The product manages huge networks of computers. Is this an innovation? No, the idea is not new. There are programs for controlling machine tools in factories, there are systems for controlling the movement of trains and aircraft.
We entrepreneurs, like other entrepreneurs a hundred and a thousand years ago, are looking for opportunities. We bring together thousands of conditions and try. Somewhere we win, somewhere we fail and draw conclusions in order to try next time and succeed. The question is not in particular actions but in philosophy. Because the conditions are never repeated.
Photo: Managing Partner Yura Lazebnikov
Search for YOUR specific here-and-now solution
There is no point in listening and reading about the path of others. It makes no sense to focus on the factors that once helped someone to become rich. These factors will never go again like this.
You will not be returning in November 2019 to repurchase all antiseptics and masks. You will not be transported to 2010 to buy bitcoin for a penny. You will never have the conditions of 1993, which were used by Kolomoisky, Zhevago, Akhmetov, and others.
Likewise, advice from representatives of the new economy will not work. Even the best decisions of others are based on past experience. And the world has already moved forward. And tomorrow or even tonight, the words of a smart person in a beautiful suit or sneakers will have absolutely zero value if taken as instructions.
The entrepreneur's job is to think, not act on instructions.
Entrepreneurship is all about finding opportunities and constantly testing ideas. Even if something didn’t work, you
- know that you did your best
- get hands-on experience that will push you in the right direction
You will understand what really needs to be done right now. When I say “need to do,” I am setting one and only goal that is making a profit. Because the purpose of entrepreneurial activity is fixed in the Commercial Code. This isn't shoemaking, croissant baking, software exporting, construction building, no. Achieving economic and social results and making a profit.
One is successful who understands that entrepreneurship is his/her profession. Every day, every hour, put the pieces of the puzzle into a single picture, find opportunities, and try. This is the path, and not the result, even a supercosmic result.
Lift up your eyes
The minimum objective is to stop thinking in terms of the scale of your neighborhood.
The people often guided by the scale of their city when trying to think of what to create. By the scale of the whole Ukraine at best. But that immediately puts your inner Tesla on the handbrake.
If you are starting to bake croissants in your own kitchen, I think it’s worth thinking about at least the scale of Starbucks. Do not put a small-apartment ceiling above your head, even if you live in one. Even at the beginning. Even if your croissants only have five fans. Only then will you have the opportunity to become a successful entrepreneur. Otherwise, you will be just a baker. And that’s a completely different story.
Every night when you come home, you turn on your TV or Netflix, open Google or Nutella, use your phone or delivery service. There is a crazy amount of things around you that were created all over the world, and we use them at the same time. How many of them can be made in Ukraine or by Ukrainians?
Our people make wonderful things and products, and I'm not just talking about IT. But something gets in the way. Some kind of intimidation. The inner feeling that you cannot go outside your boundaries. The gopniks beat everyone around, the tax authorities take away the goods that you resell through Instagram. This fear narrows the mind even more.
At the same time, with all the covid, crises, catastrophes, 8 billion people continue to live on the planet, and they experience basic needs every day. These needs are expanding greatly. The content got in the same line of needs as toilets, food, reproduction, clothing, travel, and all these things must continue to be provided. If one can not provide convenient service on the points listed above, there will be another one who can. This second one will make a lot of money, you know?
Explore, make tests on your inner circle, but look far beyond. Forget about your neighborhood. Lift up your eyes.
The whole world is your market!
