Resting Tech Companies Will Be A Memory

Last I night I spoke at a small group that showed up for the Social Media Club - Denver, monthly meetup hosted by the great people at Me.Dium. Following the meeting, we had an intimate dinner with some of the attendees and we were speaking about some of the news of the day and of the week involving Techmeme, and Technorati and about the changes we were seeing in the realm of those companies and others.  One thing that became apparent to me as we discussed the topics, tech companies that rest on their laurels or decide that they have made it to the top are destined for disaster.

When Technorati first broke on to the scene, they had a vision for what they wanted to accomplish and had determination and drive to do this in their mission and goals.  It was apparent that their leader David Sifry was driving them to this success.  Technorati soon became the only game in town and the standard by which everyone found their news and information.  Sure there was other players that tried to run with them and compete, but for some reason they rose above the challenges and made Technorati the blog search tool of choice.  Then  something happened.  They became complacent and began to take a breather and rest.  They let their tool become inaccurate and not reliable.  They stopped coming up with innovative ideas, and the ideas they did have began to seem lackluster and without reason, i.e. WTF.  Then the real signs of problems began when David Sifry stepped down and took his leadership and vision for Technorati with him.  I do believe the company is at a crossroad and with the proper talent and vision can right the ship and become the powerhouse it once was.  I predict that unless they act quickly they will become that also ran that everyone thinks back on and wonders where are they now.

We also discussed companies like LinkedIn and and how they were the ultimate professional social network, and as I discussed in the  presentation of the evening they have turned into that old gray mare.  They have been eclipsed with the likes of Facebook as they represent only 14 million users while Facebook is now over 40 million users in just three short years and gaining steam.  Actually I read recently that Facebook has overcome Myspace as the most read website of the social networks.  This again is a situation where LinkedIn perhaps sat back and basked in the glory of being on top only to be completely blown away by their competition.  I do believe LinkedIn is a valuable service and they they too can rise to their glory of before, but in a recent move the writing may be on the wall of their demise as well.  Allowing photos to be added is not the type of thing that screams “we want to compete”.  That is surely not the bold move you want to show as innovation.

Companies such as the two I discuss above are not lonely in this pattern.  Many companies reach their goal only to then have spiraled downward and begin dying on the vine that is caused by not making new goals and not continuing to innovate.  We may very well be seeing the same pattern with Skype as their CEO now has stepped down and they too have fallen short once being the leader at the turn.  Will they be eclipsed by their competition?  Will they decide to innovate and be the best in their field again and be seen as the take charge leader?  Only time will tell and if they think they can take a rest and sit back and bask in the glow of their accomplishments they too will be a memory of the old days and soon forgotten as a leader.  There is no resting for you, and its time to think about an offensive.  There is always someone out there that wants to steal your thunder, and unless you take them on, you won’t remain atop the hill for long.