I don’t believe it will be. All of the signs that I’ve seen point to a *smart* shift in business planning.
They’ve gone squarely from the “lets try anything and see what works” phase of business, with the employees who are in it for that sort of thing, and have now found what works and are streamlining business focus onto those things, and bringing on the staff that can take them to the next level. It makes for interesting news cycles, but pruning is what you do to keep things healthy.
Every company goes through phases of growth, and I wrote a piece explaining that recently.
Seed Stage
The first is the “Seed” Stage, where you are gathering the initial capital and resources for your business. This is where you are researching if it is a good idea, finding mentorship, getting a lot of advice, and generally doing whatever you can to get ready to make things happen. Many businesses never even get past the Seed stage, as they are unable to properly execute on their idea.
Start-Up Stage
Congratulations! You “ve executed on your idea, have incorporated your business legally and have a customer (or users). You might have a partner (or two) to help you get going, and you “ve got some money together to get off the ground. Things are still a bit shaky though. Many businesses in this stage don “t make it past the first 18 months, so you have a rough road ahead!
Growth Stage
Awesome! You “ve got some traction, people really like what you “re doing. You are generating revenue — enough to hire some employees to help you! This is the time to experiment with new and exciting products and services. You have even noticed that there is some competition starting to rear up — how you react (or not) can be the determining factor in whether or not you reach…
Established Company Stage
Take a breath. You “re a company now. You have loyal customers, your growth is not explosive (and it may even slide some). Revenue numbers are manageable. Competitors will take this time to attack you, and try to weaken your position, but you will be able to withstand this, because you are now a household name.
Note: There is little to no innovation happening here. You will find that the people who rise here are Sales and Marketing types, and the Product types who served you in the Startup and Growth Stages will become bored and distant. Companies will often find that this is when they lose their earliest employees, and massive turnover in key positions (especially the C-Suite) to more established corporate hires is a sign that a company is about to head into…
Expansion Stage
You have now made it to a new period of growth, where you will expand into new markets and expanded distribution channels. At this stage, you have established yourself as a serious market contender, and you will make decisions that will bring you a larger market share. You will find new revenue and profit channels, with a carefully considered approach (vs the often frenetic energy of the Growth Stage.)
Mature Company Stage
This is another “plateau” period, where companies tend to get complacent — similar to the “Established Company Stage”, there is little to no innovation, and everything is “Status Quo.”
Each year you remain in this stage, your sales and revenues will be stable — there will be little desire to change anything, as everything is working.
This is where you are at your most vulnerable, however, as that competition that started to pop up when you became established is now even more fierce. Eventually, your sales will start to fall off, your revenues will take a downturn and you will need to make a decision whether to drop back to the Expansion Stage, or to move on to the…
Exit Stage
Eventually, all businesses will exit (although some take much longer than others to reach that phase.) Many of the most successful companies will take a circuitous path, either remaining privately held or “going public” (sometimes both) before either being gobbled up into another, larger company or shuttering for good.
Taken from https://medium.com/@heathriel/th…
Originally Posted: https://www.quora.com/Why-is-Evernote-going-to-be-the-first-dead-unicorn
Originally Posted On: 2015-10-02