Gradually, Then Suddenly

Using one of my recent favorite mental models,¹ Tim O’Reilly writes about some technology-related changes happening in the world where incremental advances in recent years are set to soon become pervasive.

2) The rest of the world is leapfrogging the US. The volume of mobile payments in China is $13 trillion versus the US’s $50 billion, while credit cards never took hold. Already Zipline’s on-demand drones are delivering 20% of all blood supplies in Rwanda and will be coming soon to other countries (including the US). In each case, the lack of existing infrastructure turned out to be an advantage in adopting a radically new model. Expect to see this pattern recur, as incumbents and old thinking hold back the adoption of new models.

1. I’ve referenced “gradually, then suddenly” in recent posts about what living in a dictatorship feels like and climate change.↩

• lists
• Tim O’Reilly

Tim O’Reilly profile

Inc. Magazine has a nice profile of Tim O’Reilly. Tim’s business philosophy is refreshing.

O’Reilly says he sometimes wonders what would have happened if he had raised venture capital and given his company a chance to get really big. But he sounds more amused by this question than truly troubled by it. “Money is like gasoline during a road trip,” he says. “You don’t want to run out of gas on your trip, but you’re not doing a tour of gas stations. You have to pay attention to money, but it shouldn’t be about the money.”

• business
• Tim O’Reilly