3 Minutes to reflect

All the best film producers know this rule: the quality of the superhero is a function of the quality of the enemy that the hero is fighting. The best Batman are those who fight the best Joker. Harry Potter owes its success to Lord Voldemort.

The master of this way of understanding business is, by far, Elon Musk. Musk doesn't sell electric cars, he fights global warming. With Twitter, the first step was to explain that he invested to fight for free information.

At the dawn of Salesforce, the enemy was so central to the narrative that it was put in the logo. Salesforce took on the software installed in-house on company servers and prominently had a no-software element.

The characteristics of a great enemy are two:

1. it causes great pain to those affected by and

2. many people are affected by the pain caused by it.

As a general rule:

No pain → nothing to sell → game over

Pain highly spread → big TAM → potential big revenues

High pain intensity → high price → potential fat margins

Think of the investor in Moderna, the biotech company pioneering RNA-based treatment for Covid-19. The technology is great, but, in this case unfortunately, it's the pain that makes the startup skyrocket to a multi-billion-dollar valuation.

2 Resources to advance to pro-level

A great book, the story of how the Salesforce founders created the world's largest B2B. Learn how they used the enemy, event-centric marketing, and the V2MOM model. You will never look at the world in the same way again! BUY NOW

Great quote to ponder: "The pain is the pitch."

» » » If you can accurately articulate the pain a prospect is feeling, they will almost always buy what you are offering «««

1 Reason to be happy

We live in truly exceptional times:

1990s: the MBA is the Rolls Royce of education. Without one from Harvard, Stanford or Wharton, your career is doomed

2023: ChatGPT passes the exam and Kim Kardashian teaches the class

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Have a great weekend,

Simone

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