Your "spiky point of view" is an overlooked secret to success. But do you know how to uncover, express, and develop the courage to share yours? Here's a complete guide to the SPOV.
I’m excited to read the marketing spov! Also I clicked into your LinkedIn profile and was reminded of your Time Magazine honor. That then reminded me of when we put your picture on the cover for the StreamBase office poster. And that reminded me that I had a dream not long ago about you being on the cover. In my dream a friend was on the cover and I told him how I knew someone else that had been on the cover. I wish I could tell you why I had been dreaming about people being on the cover of TIME but I can’t 😂
Ha! Is it possible you recently watched "Dream Scenario" with Nicolas Cage? If not, it's good. I won't spoil it by elaborating on the prompt :) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21942866/
But the Time Magazine / World Economic Forum award we won was an excellent example of leveraging a spiky point of view. StreamBase's went like:
"Stop only processing data at rest. Start processing data in motion."
StreamBase and the other early pioneers of streaming data were built on that SPOV. It was surprising because 98% of companies and competitors were designed for static data. The "evidence" that the view was important were all the customers on Wall Street using it for algorithmic trading and the investment by In-Q-Tel in the company for intelligence applications.
And, it's such a good SPOV that Confluent continues to evangelize it to this day, and, still, every year, I get 5-10 new startups who claim that their SPOV is that they deal with real-time or streaming data.
So, I guess a good SPOV can take a lifetime to pursue :)
Funny enough I did watch Dream Scenario a little over a week ago. I think you’re on to something! And I love that StreamBase’s spov is still going strong!
I also use this when interviewing people for senior jobs, or suppliers for expert roles.
“What have you come to believe about <topic> that other people in your field would disagree with you on?”
Anyone that is thoughtful and has genuine experience will have much to say. People that are new to the game and only know it in theory have nothing to say
Yes, this is the fantastic Peter Thiel "Zero to One:" way of asking this question. I love the way he poses this very difficult question, and it's so true that unless you TRY it and FAIL at it (his book gives some great examples of BAD answers to the question), it's really hard to think of one-on the fly.
The reason I like the Kao / SPOV version of the question better is that it's more personal and practical for everyday beliefs. Thiel's question is best to frame startup ventures; the SPOV can be useful for everything from a startup to a blog post.
I'm fascinated to know: what's YOUR answer to the Thiel question, Chris?
I actually have too many answers! So it would depend on the context.
But my main over arching one is that most startups understand their job is to validate the riskiest parts of their business model first, but the entire startup ecosystem preaches a product- first process, despite the #1 risk actually being traction.
A huge contributor to the problem is the concept of product-market fit, which is broken to the extent of needing to be destroyed.
If the first priority of a startup is traction, then traction should be their first action.
I’m in the middle of writing an article about exactly this, and I hope that writing this in long form is going to help me write it better in short form!
That's a fantastic example of a SPOV re: PMF. I agree that the concept of Product-Market-Fit and startup lifecycles is largely misunderstood, and I look forward to hearing your alternative take on it and how to improve it. I hope you'll share it here once you're done writing the article!
Nice! I also put a lot of emphasis on spiky POV, though I usually refer to them as the less catchy name “contrarian pov” which I think came from Zero to One (Peter Thiel)
I use these as the vital start point for positioning and positioning and category design work. We look to identify the founder’s non-consensus view on a consensus problem. In other words, there is a big problem that lots of other people and companies agree is real, but this company has a unique SPOV on the problem - they see the problem in a different way to everyone else. And this means they must have a different solution to everyone else.
If you achieve nothing else in your messaging, it should be to convey why you are different!
Ha! I replied to your other comment before this one, and I love your line: "If you achieve nothing else in your messaging, it should be to convey why you are different." Yes!
What I like about the "Kao / SPOV" versus the "Thiel / Contrarian POV" is the SPOV's emphasis on *evidence.* That is, Thiel's contrarian POV assumes that you're doing a startup and that the "thing" you think the world needs doesn't exist yet.
On the other hand, Kao's SPOV is good for breaking down any conventional wisdom, myth, or explaining an interesting fact that's newly validated by research. It's a bit more about taking a few on something that's already out there in the world, as opposed to something you want $500M in VC money to create :)
Woo hoo! Love it, and that’s probably the one comeback that I don’t love to right. On the list I cited, Red, indeed, was number two. That said, I cherry picked my list. Red tops many others :)
For me it’s just that I’m obsessed with this latest Antonoff sound, and not just for Swift’s albums, but Lana Del Ray too.
Mark, thanks for sharing the story about your wife. I'm reminded of this from one of my favorite novelists Alice McDermott: "mercilessness is as much a component of the truth as luck and grace." And I really like SPOV. Our version of that is getting clients to answer the question "what are you fighting for?" Which is of expressing deeply held beliefs that confront the status quo.
I love the "What Are You Fighting For" PJA mantra. I almost used it as an example of a way to express the same/similar idea. I also love Peter Theil's idea from his book "Zero to One," which is to answer the question, "What thing do you believe that most people disagree with you about?" His concept is that the answer to that question is the marker of a great startup idea.
Searching and borrowing among multiple disciplines is a great way to find spikes :) There are so many fruitful intersections of the human brain and AI right now that it makes it easy to find and write about them. But then, I'm preaching to the choir!
I think you do pretty well each week with unique points of view, Michael! Keep 'em coming! I do find the rigor of making them explicit to be helpful and challenging. For me, I try to put the idea right at the top of every post. I've been doing this exercise for years but writing about it helped formalize my thoughts about it. Re-reading Wes Kao's original essay is always worthwhile.
I’m excited to read the marketing spov! Also I clicked into your LinkedIn profile and was reminded of your Time Magazine honor. That then reminded me of when we put your picture on the cover for the StreamBase office poster. And that reminded me that I had a dream not long ago about you being on the cover. In my dream a friend was on the cover and I told him how I knew someone else that had been on the cover. I wish I could tell you why I had been dreaming about people being on the cover of TIME but I can’t 😂
Ha! Is it possible you recently watched "Dream Scenario" with Nicolas Cage? If not, it's good. I won't spoil it by elaborating on the prompt :) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21942866/
But the Time Magazine / World Economic Forum award we won was an excellent example of leveraging a spiky point of view. StreamBase's went like:
"Stop only processing data at rest. Start processing data in motion."
StreamBase and the other early pioneers of streaming data were built on that SPOV. It was surprising because 98% of companies and competitors were designed for static data. The "evidence" that the view was important were all the customers on Wall Street using it for algorithmic trading and the investment by In-Q-Tel in the company for intelligence applications.
And, it's such a good SPOV that Confluent continues to evangelize it to this day, and, still, every year, I get 5-10 new startups who claim that their SPOV is that they deal with real-time or streaming data.
So, I guess a good SPOV can take a lifetime to pursue :)
Funny enough I did watch Dream Scenario a little over a week ago. I think you’re on to something! And I love that StreamBase’s spov is still going strong!
And speaking of movies and spovs I just rewatched MoneyBall. Talk about a spov in an industry that was so averse to spovs!
That’s such a good example! I might steal it :)
I also use this when interviewing people for senior jobs, or suppliers for expert roles.
“What have you come to believe about <topic> that other people in your field would disagree with you on?”
Anyone that is thoughtful and has genuine experience will have much to say. People that are new to the game and only know it in theory have nothing to say
Yes, this is the fantastic Peter Thiel "Zero to One:" way of asking this question. I love the way he poses this very difficult question, and it's so true that unless you TRY it and FAIL at it (his book gives some great examples of BAD answers to the question), it's really hard to think of one-on the fly.
The reason I like the Kao / SPOV version of the question better is that it's more personal and practical for everyday beliefs. Thiel's question is best to frame startup ventures; the SPOV can be useful for everything from a startup to a blog post.
I'm fascinated to know: what's YOUR answer to the Thiel question, Chris?
I actually have too many answers! So it would depend on the context.
But my main over arching one is that most startups understand their job is to validate the riskiest parts of their business model first, but the entire startup ecosystem preaches a product- first process, despite the #1 risk actually being traction.
A huge contributor to the problem is the concept of product-market fit, which is broken to the extent of needing to be destroyed.
If the first priority of a startup is traction, then traction should be their first action.
I’m in the middle of writing an article about exactly this, and I hope that writing this in long form is going to help me write it better in short form!
That's a fantastic example of a SPOV re: PMF. I agree that the concept of Product-Market-Fit and startup lifecycles is largely misunderstood, and I look forward to hearing your alternative take on it and how to improve it. I hope you'll share it here once you're done writing the article!
Thanks. Yes I’m writing it for substack and will share it in the notes. Of course I’d love to have you as a subscriber so it can find you! 🙏
Indeed, and done! For others reading, Chris's Substack is terrific. Here it is: https://tractiondesign.substack.com/
Nice! I also put a lot of emphasis on spiky POV, though I usually refer to them as the less catchy name “contrarian pov” which I think came from Zero to One (Peter Thiel)
I use these as the vital start point for positioning and positioning and category design work. We look to identify the founder’s non-consensus view on a consensus problem. In other words, there is a big problem that lots of other people and companies agree is real, but this company has a unique SPOV on the problem - they see the problem in a different way to everyone else. And this means they must have a different solution to everyone else.
If you achieve nothing else in your messaging, it should be to convey why you are different!
Ha! I replied to your other comment before this one, and I love your line: "If you achieve nothing else in your messaging, it should be to convey why you are different." Yes!
What I like about the "Kao / SPOV" versus the "Thiel / Contrarian POV" is the SPOV's emphasis on *evidence.* That is, Thiel's contrarian POV assumes that you're doing a startup and that the "thing" you think the world needs doesn't exist yet.
On the other hand, Kao's SPOV is good for breaking down any conventional wisdom, myth, or explaining an interesting fact that's newly validated by research. It's a bit more about taking a few on something that's already out there in the world, as opposed to something you want $500M in VC money to create :)
So, I love them both for different reasons.
This is fantastic content Mark. Though - I am going to be honest - Red is #1. Fight me.
Woo hoo! Love it, and that’s probably the one comeback that I don’t love to right. On the list I cited, Red, indeed, was number two. That said, I cherry picked my list. Red tops many others :)
For me it’s just that I’m obsessed with this latest Antonoff sound, and not just for Swift’s albums, but Lana Del Ray too.
Mark, thanks for sharing the story about your wife. I'm reminded of this from one of my favorite novelists Alice McDermott: "mercilessness is as much a component of the truth as luck and grace." And I really like SPOV. Our version of that is getting clients to answer the question "what are you fighting for?" Which is of expressing deeply held beliefs that confront the status quo.
I love the "What Are You Fighting For" PJA mantra. I almost used it as an example of a way to express the same/similar idea. I also love Peter Theil's idea from his book "Zero to One," which is to answer the question, "What thing do you believe that most people disagree with you about?" His concept is that the answer to that question is the marker of a great startup idea.
SPOV is the core of Polymathic Being. What fun things exist between domains and disciplines that change perception?
Searching and borrowing among multiple disciplines is a great way to find spikes :) There are so many fruitful intersections of the human brain and AI right now that it makes it easy to find and write about them. But then, I'm preaching to the choir!
Honestly so true. It's the core thrust of my two novels. On substack I'm trying to step away from AI though it makes a wonderful literary foil.
Let me know if you want a review copy of my first novel Paradox!
Thank you I will ponder what my spiky point of view might be.
I think you do pretty well each week with unique points of view, Michael! Keep 'em coming! I do find the rigor of making them explicit to be helpful and challenging. For me, I try to put the idea right at the top of every post. I've been doing this exercise for years but writing about it helped formalize my thoughts about it. Re-reading Wes Kao's original essay is always worthwhile.