The Star Principle Quotes

“4. MIGRATE YOUR TARGET CUSTOMER BASE Every star venture wants to end up with a unique set of customers, ideally suited to its products and DNA. To migrate towards your ideal target customers, identify: ★ suitable customers you know already or could easily access; ★ customers who are disgruntled with their existing suppliers; ★ customers who need a product you can envision, not currently being provided; ★ customers who give you pleasure; ★ customers who aren’t price-sensitive; ★ customers you know you can help most; ★ fast-growth companies; ★ big and profitable companies; ★ loyal customers, who hate to switch suppliers; ★ customers with whom you can build a ‘thick’ relationship; ★ customers who’ll recommend you to big customers; ★ people within organisations at the most senior level you can possibly reach.”
― Richard Koch, The Star Principle: How it can make you rich

“3. MIGRATE YOUR DNA New products require new capabilities. Equally, new products can result from the unique character and living expansion of your firm. No two species are identical. Neither are two ventures. The mix of founders and early employees is unique. Nobody will ever do things quite the way you do. The more different you can make your firm, the better. Intelligently, of course, ★ hire and promote people who have similar attitudes to the target market; ★ hire people who get on well with each other and go the extra mile for customers and colleagues; ★ hire people who have a high ratio of smarts to cost - younger or from neglected talent pools; ★ hire risk-takers, experimenters, explorers, oddballs, and those with a restless spirit; ★ train on the job; team novices with senior role models; concentrate on the few things customers like most, that can be done with least effort and cost; ★ make your venture bright, quirky, colourful, distinctive, fun and highly commercial - thrilling customers at a high profit for the firm. Encourage smart experiments at every level, in every way, at every time. Make it a way of life in your firm. Then, sooner or later, your star will emerge. LEK did not start by migrating its product. First we migrated its DNA, then we created products we were uniquely able to sell. This goes against the grain, but it works!”
― Richard Koch, The Star Principle: How it can make you rich

“2. MIGRATE YOUR PRODUCT LEK had to move away from ‘standard’ strategy towards analysis of competitors. This led to ‘relative cost position’ and ‘acquisition analysis’. Your task is to find a unique product or service, one not offered in that form by anyone else. Your raw material is, of course, what you and the rest of your industry do already. Tweak it in ways that could generate an attractive new product. The ideal product is: ★ close to something you already do very well, or could do very well; ★ something customers are already groping towards or you know they will like; ★ capable of being ‘automated’ or otherwise done at low cost, by using a new process (cutting out costly steps, such as self-service), a new channel (the phone or Internet), new lower-cost employees (LEK’s ‘kids’, highly educated people in India), new raw materials (cheap resins, free data from the Internet), excess capacity from a related industry (especially manufacturing capacity), new technology or simply new ideas; ★ able to be ‘orchestrated’ by your firm while you yourself are doing as little as possible; ★ really valuable or appealing to a clearly defined customer group - therefore commanding fatter margins; ★ difficult for any rival to provide as well or as cheaply - ideally something they cannot or would not want to do. Because you are already in business, you can experiment with new products in a way that someone thinking of starting a venture cannot do. Sometimes the answer is breathtakingly simple. The Filofax system didn’t start to take off until David Collischon provided ‘filled organisers’ - a wallet with a standard set of papers installed. What could you do that is simple, costs you little or nothing and yet is hugely attractive to customers? Ask customers if they would like something different. Mock up a prototype; show it around. Brainstorm new ideas. Evolution needs false starts. If an idea isn’t working, don’t push it uphill. If a possible new product resonates at all, keep tweaking it until you have a winner. At the same time . . .”
― Richard Koch, The Star Principle: How it can make you rich

“Could you evolve into a star? Are you Number Two in a high-growth market - BCG’s ‘question mark’ position? The issue here is simple. Can you overtake the leader? Your chances are greater if: ★ your market share is not far below the leader’s; ★ you are gaining on the leader; ★ the leader makes an unexpected blunder; ★ the niche is young; ★ market positions are volatile and one or two large customers can swing it; ★ the market is growing very fast; ★ you understand the customers in the niche better; ★ even though you are in the same market, your approach is different and customers like it better; ★ your people have better empathy with the customers; ★ your approach has fatter margins than the leader, or would do so if you had the same volume of business; ★ you are better financed than the leader; ★ objective observers say your product is better; ★ the leader’s advantage rests on distribution advantages that you can gradually overcome; ★ key employees from the leader are defecting to you; ★ the leader is only dimly aware of the threat you pose.”
― Richard Koch, The Star Principle: How it can make you rich

“Analysis of valuable stars reveals three golden rules of innovation. 1. Innovation is best based on whatyoualready do best and most distinctively. Innovation is powerful when it suits the new category you have invented rather than the main market, because it makes the new category even more attractive to its target customers. 2. Effective innovation makes it impossible for competitors to catch up. This type of innovation never stops. Rivals can’t get closer because the stars are always widening the gap in value delivered to customers. 3. The best innovation reinforces and extends profitable variation. Innovation is not charity. Real, sustainable innovation kills two birds with one stone - it makes customers happier, and it make your venture more profitable. Innovation is hard. It takes deviant thinking and persistent non-routine action. There is no point, therefore, in wasting precious energy on innovation that does not satisfy all three golden rules. The decision to pursue a major innovation is fateful. Bad innovation drives out good.”
― Richard Koch, The Star Principle: How it can make you rich

“The delivery formula has been cracked when all the following events always happen. ★ Products are delivered to the same high standard, on time, every time. ★ This year’s product is measurably better than last year’s. ★ This year’s product costs at least 5 per cent less to make than last year’s. ★ Volumes can be doubled within a year without panic or loss of quality. ★ Work is delegated to the lowest-level person who is fully competent to do it. ★ Everyone increases his or her skill level significantly each year and works better and faster. ★ The workplace exudes calm, order and discipline. ★ Standards and procedures are written down, clear, unambiguous - and observed! ★ Logos, colours and designs are attractive and consistent. ★ Budgets are always met or exceeded. ★ Cash is always higher than planned. ★ The firm is a machine - smooth-running, reliable, relentless, self-maintaining and self-improving. ★ Nobody is indispensable. If the best people leave, the firm rolls on regardless. New leaders come to the fore.”
― Richard Koch, The Star Principle: How it can make you rich

“And very profitable for LEK. The ‘kids’ were cheap. They worked long hours with no payment for overtime. We charged a lot for their work. Competitors didn’t have our bottom-heavy staff structure, so couldn’t imitate us economically.”
― Richard Koch, The Star Principle: How it can make you rich

“In every star venture I have known, there were in retrospect four formulas that had to be discovered and turned into routine, unique and consistently repeatable business practices: 1. the customer-attraction formula: the way to get an ever-increasing number of profitable customers who buy more and more from you; 2. the commercial formula: the way to lock in fat margins; 3. the delivery formula: the way to forge a machine delivering ever-increasing quantities of consistent and high-quality product; and 4. the innovation formula: the way to make innovation and improvement routine, to keep clear of rivals. The formulas have to fit together and have ‘integrity’ - wholeness, sincerity, consistency, coherence and authenticity - so that each formula is not only consistent with the other three, but also reinforces them. For your venture to be a star, the formulas must be unique and better - better than any formula in the main market, and better than any competing formula in the new category you have created. To remain a star, the formulas must be capable of infinite extension and deepening, so that rivals cannot fully understand them, imitate them or replace them with better formulas. Ultimately, ‘better’ is not a matter of opinion. It is a matter of votes, customers’ votes in the marketplace. A ‘better’ formula is one that is more profitable and achieves higher market share and faster growth than any rival formula.”
― Richard Koch, The Star Principle: How it can make you rich

“Mark Allin and Richard Burton started Capstone, their book-publishing venture, with high hopes. False modesty aside, they knew they were excellent editors, with a great track record at two publishing giants. I could vouch for Mark Allin’s profit-making abilities, since he gave me the idea for writing The 80/20 Principle, my bestselling book. Richard and Mark envisaged Capstone as a star venture, the leader in a new category of ‘funky business books’. They convinced me that this idea was plausible and I became their financial backer. I reckoned that I had an ‘each-way bet’ - either their star business would materialise, or, at worst, they would pick a few great winners, making Capstone highly profitable. The business appeared to start well. They commissioned a stream of trendy books from interesting authors. The product looked great, with distinctive trendy designs. Mark and Richard were full of ideas and enthusiasm, confidently projecting sales that would give us good profits. The only thing was, the forecasts never materialised. Whenever we looked at the numbers we were constantly disappointed. I kept injecting cash, and it kept vanishing. To this day I don’t know why their books didn’t sell in quantities we could reasonably expect.The favoured explanation was the weakness of the sales force - inevitably, it was difficult to acquire distribution muscle from scratch. Maybe they just had bad luck in not commissioning any smash hits. Whatever the reason, Capstone was a financial black hole. I remember a rather difficult meeting at my home in Richmond some three years after the start. Richard and Mark asked for a further loan to commission new books. I had to say no. We had to face facts. Capstone was not a star; the category of ‘funky business books’ had not established itself. Capstone was a rather weak follower in the business-books arena. Capstone had none of the financial attributes of a star. If it looked like a dog, behaved like a dog and barked like a dog, it probably was a dog.”
― Richard Koch, The Star Principle: How it can make you rich

“Run from disaster rather than be caught by it. Homer (The Iliad)”
― Richard Koch, The Star Principle: How it can make you rich

“What to do next What do you do when you’ve found a baby business you think may be a star? ★ Talk to them. Find a reason to talk to everyone in and around the company, to express your interest and learn more. ★ Do them a favour. If you can, buy something from them. Point them towards other customers. Advise them on how to expand. ★ Discreetly verify that it is a star. Ask questions suggested in the section above, ‘What are you looking for?’ ★ Work out a job you could do for them. Don’t wait for them to post a vacancy. Tell them what you can do, why they should hire you. Stress the benefits you bring. ★ Make your mark. When you join the firm, work out one thing you can do within your first month that will visibly benefit your colleagues and the venture. ★ Check again from the inside that it really is a star. If the business isn’t really growing very fast, or doesn’t fit the bill in any other way, don’t hang around. If it really is a star, work out how far the star could rise. ★ Raise ambition within the firm. Sometimes the founders of a star don’t see its potential. Open their eyes.Tell them how valuable the firm could become, if expanded to its maximum potential. Consider whether the idea can be exported to other countries, and/or franchised. Would other channels of distribution (such as the phone with Betfair) enlarge the market? ★ Consider making an offer for the firm. If the founders really don’t ‘get it’, put together a group to buy the firm. Remember the astronomical return Ray Kroc achieved from buying McDonald’s from the founders, when it was already highly successful.”
― Richard Koch, The Star Principle: How it can make you rich

“How to find your star ★ Make it front of mind every day. When you get up, say to yourself, ‘Today I’m going to look for my star.’ If you make to-do lists, put it at the top. ★ Keep your eyes and ears open. Every moment of the day, be looking for your star. Once you consciously search for stars, it’s amazing how they turn up. ★ Put up a sign. At work, at home, put up a sign that says FIND MY STAR. Place the sign where other people will see it and ask you what it means. Get them looking on your behalf. (If your boss asks, tell him or her that you’re looking for a great new idea or friend. This is true and it won’t get you into trouble.) ★ Look at websites. The Web takes us on magical mystery tours. As you navigate sites of small firms, think, ‘Does this have the hallmarks of a star venture?’ ★ Ask your friends. Every time you see or call a friend you haven’t met for a while, ask them if they know of a new business ‘like this . . .’ ★ Form a Star Alliance with two or three friends, dedicated to finding a star. Choose people you really trust, who also want to find a star. Meet often to track progress.”
― Richard Koch, The Star Principle: How it can make you rich

“What are you looking for?A baby business. Something young and small - under 20 employees if you are looking for a job; and something too small or unproven to attract professional investment if you are an investor. ★ A baby business growing very fast. Any small business growing very fast is likely to be a star. Every star business will be growing fast. So growth is a good first screen of any baby business you find. ★ An original idea. A baby business that has found a gap in the market - the creator of a new way of doing business. A star venture will be doing things differently. ★ Baby is a leader. In its gap, in its own business arena, it is the largest. It may have one or two even younger imitators, but most likely it is still unique. ★ Baby’s customers are different. You can see why the baby business appeals to particular customers, who can’t get anything as attractive to them elsewhere. ★ A baby business that you can imagine being extremely profitable when it grows up. There must be hard economic reasons why the business, when it reaches the size it can, will have fat margins. Its costs must be much lower than the conventional way of doing business, or its prices must be higher, or both.”
― Richard Koch, The Star Principle: How it can make you rich

“There are disadvantages.You shouldn’t join a star venture if you are lazy, a loner, in poor health, don’t want to be committed, tired of life or in a relationship that is already shaky - it would not survive the competition! Otherwise, it’s a ‘no-brainer’.”
― Richard Koch, The Star Principle: How it can make you rich

“Ideally, pursue all three ways of varying the market, with the target customers in mind: ★ increasing the benefits that really matter to the target market; ★ creating new benefits that will appeal strongly to the target market; and ★ subtracting benefits that are unimportant to the target market. Betfair ★ dramatically increased value for money in the betting market; ★ provided the new benefits of being able to bet against outcomes, being able to trade bets and guaranteeing that winning accounts would not be closed; and ★ subtracted the ability to bet in retail premises or at the track, or to bet and collect winnings in cash. Betfair’s target market is big gamblers: professionals and serious enthusiasts. The change in profile between what betting exchanges offered and what the main market offered was ideally suited to the target market. ★ Getting great value is essential if a gambler is to win. It is very difficult to win if the bookmaker takes out 20 per cent on each event. If a betting exchange takes out only 1 per cent, a serious gambler has to be only slightly more than 1 per cent more accurate than the market and he will win. ★ It is much easier to bet against an outcome and win than it is to specify the winner. (If there are eight horses in a race and the gambler has a strong view against the favourite, he can back against that horse without knowing which of the other seven will win.) Big gamblers are much more likely to bet against events than small gamblers. Big gamblers are also skilful in trading bets, which can be a risk-free way of making money. Finally, big gamblers are the only people whose accounts are regularly closed down by bookmakers. ★ Big gamblers do not frequent off-track betting shops and are more than happy to bet online and by phone, and to receive payment by bank transfer.”
― Richard Koch, The Star Principle: How it can make you rich

“TRIGGER 1. YOUR IDEAL PRODUCT DOESN’T EXIST The first trigger is the simplest. Is there a product or service you really want that is not available?”
― Richard Koch, The Star Principle: How it can make you rich

“Coca-Cola’s other profitable variation arose serendipitously. For two years, Candler was pestered by an entrepreneur from Chattanooga, Benjamin Franklin Thomas, who wanted to bottle Coca-Cola. In 1889, Candler reluctantly agreed to Thomas’s plan. The bottling of Coke was an instant success, leading to high profits for the company and bottlers. For Coca-Cola, bottlers created a huge new market without any capital need. By 1904 there were more than 120 bottling plants throughout the US. Coca-Cola may be the first example in history of a company concentrating on its ‘core competencies’ (in this case, product formulation, branding and marketing) and outsourcing all capital-intensive functions. As a result, the company grew enormously without having to raise much external capital. And it all happened by chance. When competing colas emerged, Coke was able to command a substantial price premium. To this day, Coca-Cola has remained highly profitable. It currently has an operating margin of 26 per cent, instead of the 5 to 10 per cent typical in the food and beverage industry.”
― Richard Koch, The Star Principle: How it can make you rich

“Step 6: When Filofax grew enormously in the 1980s as an expensive, aspirational product, the absence of a generic niche description became a problem for the leader. People began to use ‘filofax’ to describe the category, which meant that every competitor could describe their product as a filofax (note the lower case f ). In 1986 David Collischon wisely coined the term ‘personal organiser’ to describe the category and encouraged everyone to use the term. Marketing experts are adamant that it is easier for us to think first about a category generally, and then about the brand. ‘I need a personal organiser to keep all my bits of paper.What brand should I ask for in the shop? Well, Filofax is the best known.’ This is an easier and more natural way of thinking than, ‘I need a Filofax.’ The clear benefit of a personal organiser was that it helped people be better organised . If the term ‘personal organiser’ had not gained widespread currency the benefit of the new category would have been much less clear, and Filofax’s brand name would have become devalued. Contrast the confusion caused in the electronic-organiser niche. When this developed in the 1990s, the leading brand was PalmPilot. But what was the category name? As Al and Laura Ries comment, ‘Some people call the Palm an electronic organiser. Others call the Palm a handheld computer. And still others, a PDA (personal digital assistant). All of these names are too long and complicated. They lack the clarity and simplicity a good category name should possess. If . . . a personal computer that fits on your lap is called a laptop computer, then the logical name for a computer that fits in the palm of your hand is a palm computer . . . Of course, Palm Computer pre-empted Palm as a brand name, leaving a nascent industry struggling to find an appropriate generic name . . . Palm Computer should have been just as concerned with choosing an appropriate generic name as it was in choosing an appropriate brand name.’9”
― Richard Koch, The Star Principle: How it can make you rich

“To attain knowledge, add things every day. To attain wisdom, remove things every day. Lao-Tzu”
― Richard Koch, The Star Principle: How it can make you rich

“Again, I violated venture-capital rules, bringing in as new CEO a friend and former LEK consultant, Robin Field, who had no experience in Filofax’s industry (we look at LEK Consulting below). His mission, I said, was to make Filofax a star again and slash costs. Apart from that, I told him, I had no idea what to do. Robin found that the product line had expanded beyond all control. ‘The same basic binder,’ he said, ‘was available in a bewildering variety of sizes and huge assortment of - mainly exotic - skins. I don’t know what a karung is, but I inherited an awful lot of its skin in 1990. Similarly, name a subject - bridge, chess, photography, bird watching, windsurfing, whatever. Filofax had commissioned specialist inserts, had tens of thousands printed, and put them into the warehouse. The result, of course, was not only a huge overhang of worthless stock, not only an administrative burden of vast complexity, but also total confusion among our retailers.”
― Richard Koch, The Star Principle: How it can make you rich

“Only learn to seize good fortune, for it is always there. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe”
― Richard Koch, The Star Principle: How it can make you rich

“All right, as a gambler I liked the idea of Betfair, because it offered better odds than the bookmakers and, if it was successful, it would be a thorn in their side. Every punter loves to hate the bookies. But, then again, I am not a follower of Victor Kiam, who famously bought Remington because he liked shaving with its razor. I never buy into a company because I like its product. For the first couple of years that I was a part-owner and director of Betfair, I didn’t register as a user. To be honest, I’m not very good with technology and I didn’t know how to go online and bet. I remember being ridiculed by some of my fellow Betfair directors when I remarked, nearly three years after making my investment, that I had just started using the site and found it impressive. How could anyone invest in their baby without giving it an extensive road-test first, without understanding how to use it? Wilful ignorance is one of my best investment tools. I don’t want to know too much before making an investment. I don’t want to cloud my judgement, or make the decision difficult. I don’t want to know about all the risks or understand them. I just want to be reasonably sure that it’s a star business. That makes life simple and fun. And profitable.”
― Richard Koch, The Star Principle: How it can make you rich

“When they buy businesses, all venture capitalists look hard at the technology, the management, the market. They get into all sorts of complex investigation. They hire consultants to assess the technology and the market, accountants to crawl over the books, and lawyers to tie the managers in knots and do whatever lawyers do. I did none of those things. I knew Betfair was a star business. That was enough for me.”
― Richard Koch, The Star Principle: How it can make you rich

“Though it goes against everything we like to believe, everything we read in papers and books, the curious truth is that executives have much less influence than they and we like to believe, once a firm’s positioning is set. One executive versus another is almost completely irrelevant, unless he or she makes a brave and dangerous decision to try to transform a firm’s positioning. This is rare. Even when the attempt is made, it fails more often than it succeeds. The one time when individuals can dependably make a difference and put themselves in a great position is: ★ when they select the positioning for a new or young venture; ★ when they realise that success comes from creating a star firm (this is the only general and reliable reason for business success, since nearly all stars are very successful, so long as they stay stars - and, crucially, the other way round: nearly all very successful firms are stars); and ★ when they determine to start a star venture.”
― Richard Koch, The Star Principle: How it can make you rich

“Let me tell you a secret. Most ‘brilliant’ managers and ‘superstar’ entrepreneurs perform miracles not because of their brilliance, but because they are in the right place at the right time. Almost anyone reasonably competent, sitting where they sat, could have done pretty much the same. And, when successful firms start to fail, the same is nearly always true in reverse. Even the world’s best executive stands a poor chance of reversing the capricious momentum of markets and rivals when they have it in for a firm.”
― Richard Koch, The Star Principle: How it can make you rich

“You have to state why and how your business is going to be the leader. If the niche already exists, so too does a leader. Displacing an incumbent leader is always possible, but it is difficult. It’s not something to bet on, unless you have a source of competitive advantage that is totally compelling. Typically, star-venture start-ups create their own niche. If the niche proves viable, the venture starts in the wonderful position of ‘born leader’. To create a viable new niche is tough. The large majority of attempts to create a niche fail. Why? Two conditions must be met: ★ There must be a gap in the market. All existing players must have overlooked the gap, or judged it too small, too unprofitable or too implausible. For sure, this is possible. But it is not very likely. ★ There must be a market in the gap. The gap must be large enough to support at least one new venture (yours) profitably. This, too, is not probable.”
― Richard Koch, The Star Principle: How it can make you rich

“Star businesses needn’t be anything to do with technology. Only one of my five stars is a technology venture. The longest-running star business is surely the Coca-Cola Company, incorporated in 1888 and a consistent star business until the 1990s. For over a century, despite two world wars, the stock market crash of 1929 and the ensuing Great Depression, Coca-Cola remained a star. The global market for cola increased on trend by more than 10 per cent every year and Coke remained the dominant player in that market. The value of the company increased with remarkable consistency, even bucking the trend and rising from 1929 to 1945.The company used World War Two to its immense advantage. After Pearl Harbor, Coke boss Robert Woodruff pledged to ‘see that every man in uniform gets a bottle of Coca-Cola for five cents, wherever he is and whatever it costs our company’. The US administration exempted Coca-Cola that was sold to the military from all sugar rationing. The US Army gave Coke employees installing plants behind the front lines the pseudo-military status of ‘technical observers’. These ‘Coca-Cola Colonels’ were exempt from the draft but actually wore Army uniforms and carried military rank according to their company salaries. General Eisenhower, a self-confessed Coke addict, cabled urgently from North Africa on 29 June, 1943: ‘On early convoy request shipment three million bottled Coca-Cola (filled) and complete equipment for bottling, washing, capping same quantity twice monthly . . .’2 Coke became familiar throughout Europe during the war and continued its remarkably cosy arrangement with the US military in Germany and Japan during the postwar occupation. From the 1950s, Coke rode the wave of internationalisation. Roberto Goizueta, the CEO from 1980 to 1997, created more wealth for shareholders than any other CEO in history. He became the first CEO who was not a founder to become a billionaire. The business now rates a value of $104 billion.”
― Richard Koch, The Star Principle: How it can make you rich

“A business with sales of $10 million that grows at 3 per cent a year - roughly the rate the economy grows - will increase by 34 per cent over a decade, to just over $13 million. What will a business that grows at 30 per cent a year - ten times 3 per cent - grow by in the same time? You might assume is it ten times 34 per cent, which is 340 per cent, and add a bit for the effect of compounding, to take the growth to perhaps 500 per cent. If this were true the sales after ten years would have grown to $50 million. But the correct answer is nearly $138 million. Such is the magic of compound interest, which Albert Einstein called ‘the most powerful force in the universe’.”
― Richard Koch, The Star Principle: How it can make you rich

“The market niche must be growing fast A venture is not a star unless the niche where it operates is growing by at least 10 per cent a year. More precisely, the niche must grow at least 10 per cent a year, on average, over the next five years, and preferably for decades. Why is growth important? Because the power of compound arithmetic is such that, in a high-growth venture, sales - and profits, when they appear - will multiply quickly. It is quite different from the great majority of firms, which grow only slowly, and where profit growth is difficult and far from automatic.”
― Richard Koch, The Star Principle: How it can make you rich

“Red Bull is another case. In America and Europe, Red Bull invented the ‘energy drink’ category. All attempts by the Coca-Cola Corporation and other soft-drink makers to compete with Red Bull have failed. Energy drinks are a separate niche and Red Bull is a valuable star. There is another clue as to whether or not a niche market is viable, and it is simply this: is the niche highly profitable? Does it generate a lot of cash? Leadership in a niche is not valuable unless, sooner or later, the niche is very profitable and gushes out cash. For sure, if your product is very good and you give it away, you can attain leadership in a niche. Free newspapers, for example. But unless you have some other way of taking in cash - through advertising in this case - your niche business will be unprofitable and gobble up cash. It follows that you can tell whether or not niche leadership really exists by seeing whether the niche leader is very profitable and cash-positive. If not, there is a kind of theoretical niche leadership, but the niche has little or no practical value. It will never qualify as a star business. Is Dr Pepper’s niche leadership valuable? Is Red Bull’s? You bet!”
― Richard Koch, The Star Principle: How it can make you rich