A firewall of defensive product at the bottom of the pyramid and powerful profit - generators at the top (28)

1. A true pyramid is a system in which the lower priced products are manufactured and sold with so much efficiency that it’s virtually impossible for a competitor to steal market share by underpricing you (30)

2. Switchboard by connecting service suppliers - actors, writers, directors - with the movie production companies that needed their services (58)

3. you take a character or a story, or a skill, or any other asset, and iterate it, reuse it, and give it a different form….lower R&D or development cost (93)

4. super frugality, clear communication, speed, experimentation and fun “Smells like what people call entrepreneurship” (102)

5. The never say “no” to the customer, but they do tell the customer how much it will cost (113)

6. Common elements: (115)

• lower cost through better knowledge

• better price through reputation or through the unique design of their offering

• shorter selling cycle

• more rapid and universal penetration because of the wired effect

• windfall profits because of the replication of high vale, high-margin answers throughout the marketplace

1. Levels to learning: (116)
   

• awarness

• awkwardness

• application

• assimilation

• art

1. dig into it before you make any decisions. Remember, let the customers guide you. They’re the ones who’ll decide what they’re willing to pay for, and how much (122)

2. we can learn the most about how profits are created by studying profitable companies - by figuring out their business models and then thinking about how they might apply elsewhere. If you want to know a business, you’ve got to look at it firsthand like a biologist studying a specimen. You’ve got to visit their stores or their factories or their offices, try their products, test their services, cruise their websites. Most important, you’ve got to talk with their customers, or better yet live with them. Get to know their needs and wants and problems by spending time with them, seeing what they do, what works for them and what doesn’t, what annoys them and what makes their lives easy or productive or fun (135)