Think Big, or Pie in the Sky?

On February 1 this year, I wrote down a thought about one question: what kind of company is the greatest company in the world?

Author: Koutian Wu; GitHub: ktwu01

At the time, I thought two companies had already proved the answer, plainly. The first is Microsoft. The second is OpenAI.

Why? Start with how to define the greatest company in the world. It is not built for one kind of person. In the end, everyone has to use it. At the very beginning it is niche, with a sharp entry point, and it reaches product-market fit (a group of people who would really miss the product if it vanished). But where it can end up is something that benefits all of humanity. Everyone can use it, everyone gains from it, and it empowers everyone’s life.

So when you think about a company like that, first ask what entry point it could have for you, and only then ask how it should be built. That is how you get clear. Think big, think long. You have to think bigger. A lot of the time you need to think bigger, not necessarily more specifically. The most advanced thing is not necessarily the technology. It is the most advanced mind, the most advanced idea.

Good.

That was me in February.

Today, October 9, I look at that note again.

Honestly, it’s all just drawing pies in the sky.

Elon Musk is the undisputed, ultimate pie-in-the-sky king.

Yesterday SpaceX announced a deal for a nationwide portfolio of low-band spectrum licenses to pave the way for Starlink to become a major US mobile carrier. Think of spectrum as the lanes wireless signals travel in. SpaceX says the low-band lane gets through obstacles like walls more easily. Musk quoted it with three words: “Very big deal.”

Then he posted again:

This will sound super crazy, but I see a path to SpaceX being worth orders of magnitude more than the current Earth economy

The undisputed king of pie in the sky is out drawing pies again.