A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats

July 28th, 2009 by Andrew Swenson in Biz

I’ve always thought that all businesses, regardless of their size or market position, could benefit from some form of collaboration. People in business, especially small business, stand to gain by learning from and partnering with others. And that’s why I’m in love with ideaAnglers.com

(Full disclosure: I’ve been involved with ideaAnglers for a few weeks as a guide, but I’m not directly compensated by them, nor will I be in the future)

A brief case for collaboration

There’s value in the direct collaboration that an agency and a printer have. There’s value in the pricing model that’s structured so that when a client’s program is more successful, a vendor earns more (I make a more detailed argument here).

I’m not suggesting that direct competitors should be forced to hold hands. But competitors can almost always benefit from a little co-opetition. Co-opetition recognizes that

…business is both co-operation and competition.

Adam Brandenburger (of the Harvard Business School) and Barry Nalebuff (of the Yale School of Management) wrote a book about co-opetition in 1997, but it’s still relevant—for example, in 2009 “many products [still] don’t take off because complementary products or services are either too expensive or don’t exist at all.” And a PSA in 2009 about “living green” will benefit all green companies.

The point of co-opetition: A rising tide lifts all boats.

Why I love ideaAnglers

ideaAnglers (iA) is a project started by two brilliant entrepreneurs, Neal Rohrbach (@nrohrbach) and Bradford Shimp (@bradfordshimp). Their vision is to

bring together a network of experts who will provide resources and work in a collaborative fashion on new ideas and projects.

Basically the site works like this: subject matter experts apply to be “guides” to help subscribers (people with questions) get the answers they need to build significant business projects. Guides provide brain power and collaboration services for free with the option to sell additional services down the road—it’s a “give before you get” model.

The advantage for guides is that iA offers more than a list of referrals. It gives them the chance to (1) help people out, and (2) impress potential clients firsthand—which is always more effective than simply linking to portfolio samples.

For subscribers, iA offers a space where ideas can get the air they need to live and grow. Because iA recognizes that no one person is an expert in every area, the project seeks to bring together many different experts so that everyone can learn from each other.

Need help writing copy for your website? iA has a guide for that.

Need help writing a business plan for your new project? iA has a guide for that.

Have a crazy idea for a business but have no idea where to start? iA has a collaboration station for that.

The iA model is built so that everyone benefits from everyone else’s success. Obviously, if subscribers have tremendous success, it’s more likely that iA will gain more subscribers—which means they’re invested in the success of their clients. In addition, guides will gain more business if they offer solid advice.

So in short, I love ideaAnglers because it meshes the ethical impulse to help others with the capital impulse to make money.

Part of the problem of our failed economy was that people were making money at the expense of others. In a model like this, everyone is upheld. No one benefits from failure.

iA not only makes immediate business sense, it makes long-term economic sense. After all, a rising tide lifts all boats.

So check it out: http://www.ideaanglers.com/ and on Twitter @ideaAnglers