Startup Blog

Turning Lemons into Lemonade... or Not.

Posted by Mike Volpe on 3/16/09 10:53 AM

I was in an airport recently and noticed that they had taken down the pay phones.  I guess that makes sense, pretty much everyone has a cell phone now.  What surprised me was that the old structure that used to hold a bunch of pay phones had become a de facto trash receptacle, since it was not being used for anything else.

phone booth with no phone

Rather than just taking their ball and going home, the phone company (or airport or whoever controls the space) could have done something cool.  There must be power running there, they could have made a cell phone charging station, and sold advertising to cell phone companies (hardware makers or service providers).

Is there any way you can take advantage of changes in your market?  Rather than canceling or stopping something, can you change it to be new and different?

Mike Volpe

Written by Mike Volpe

Mike Volpe is a startup advisor and angel investor based in Boston.

Topics: disruptive, atrategy

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