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What do Square and Credit Karma Teach Entrepreneurs About Innovation?
How a tiny change of pace and infinite determination can cause an existential threat to the tech giants of the past
People equate company size and valuation with market control and dominance. And, while that is true, smaller technology companies not only survive, but also end up reshaping the market’s ecosystem.
Why is this the case?
Because of mismanagement and poor guidance.
Think about PayPal for a second.
When Elon Musk ultimately left PayPal, he had a vision that included PayPal becoming a quick way to transact, making mobile payments and merchant services seamless.
Sometime after 2003, PayPal dropped the ball.
Today, services like Square exist. Square is exactly what Elon thought PayPal should have been. PayPal is doing much of the same they were doing back in 2003–2004.
Elon even invested in Square himself.
Square has a 26 billion dollar market capitalization.
PayPal has a 125 billion dollar market capitalization.