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Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of Google, shares his insights on building scalable strategies for success in the ever-evolving tech landscape.
Photo by Axel Schmidt
Schmidt advises entrepreneurs to plan for growth over the next five years and to develop scalable strategies that maximize user engagement. Instead of charging upfront for apps, he suggests offering them for free and upselling users on additional features—a strategy familiar to many in the industry.
"Five years ago, I said publicly that the future will be apps that are on smartphones that use Google Maps, GPS, and do something useful. Now, what I should have said was Uber."
Drawing from his experience predicting the rise of smartphone apps like Uber, Schmidt outlines his vision for the future: systems that leverage Android and iOS, fast networks, and powerful machine learning capabilities. However, he emphasizes that successful companies will go beyond these technological advancements to utilize crowd-based learning.
Schmidt illustrates this concept with a hypothetical scenario involving dermatology. By crowdsourcing skin sample categorization from dermatologists, feeding the data into a machine learning system, and then offering the service back to dermatologists, Schmidt envisions the creation of highly accurate diagnostic tools.
"So that model, which is you crowdsource information in, you learn it, and then you sell it, is, in my view, a highly likely candidate for the next $100 billion corporations. If I were starting a company, I'd start with that premise today."
In essence, Schmidt's advice is clear: leverage emerging technologies, plan for scalability, and harness the collective wisdom of the crowd to create innovative solutions that address real-world problems. For entrepreneurs looking to build the next big thing, adopting this premise today may pave the way for future success. Listen from the man himself: