Fear Vs. Greed

Something has been bothering me about a number of the companies that I've seen recently, and this article at the NY Times, about gadgets that seem to be selling well made me realize what it is. In an era where people are buying portable air-purifiers, potassium iodide tablets, and skyscraper parachutes, is it any surprise that IT spending is dominated by fear rather than by greed?

What's hot in the world of data storage? Disaster recovery. What's important with 802.11 Networks? Rogue access point detection. Why the focus on better packet-processing architectures? Intrusion detection. Don't even get me started on the whole new field of "compliance management." In a nutshell, enterprise spending and the startups that cater to them are now entirely driven by fear. Ask some startups why customers will buy their product, and they answer with "HIPAA" or "Sarbanes-Oxley."

This is all fine and well -- regulatory changes and people's desire to protect themselves and their data can be powerful demand drivers. However, they're rarely the factors that lead to large companies with explosive margins, and fear-related spending has a way of peaking once the fear has subsided, or "good-enough" is achieved.

The biggest tech spending revolutions have always been driven by greed at the opportunities available and the new applications possible. The personal computer revolution, the internet explosion, cellular phone proliferation and the huge companies created by them were made possible by end-users who suddenly had new applications available to them. If you're starting a company or building a product, it's certainly ok to rely on a bit of fear to get early sales. But ask yourself -- when the customer looks at the product, what's going to make them greedy? What will they do with your application that will make them money and their lives easier? What companies and products will be built that rely on your products' success before they can succeed? You can get your foot in the door with fear, but to really win, you have to inspire greed.