I am sure you’ve heard the phrase “wearing multiple hats”. I think with the right business model that can be true, but sometimes I am not so sure.
For example, you have the agencies that wear multiple hats. They’ll do your branding, your marketing, your PR, your web presence, and more if you ask them. I personally don’t see this as an agency (especially as they get into software). Their own marketability seems to get diluted.
The flip side of this are the top-hat wearing specialists. They only do interface design, or social media, or search engine optimization. I think there’s a strength in their focus. Look at other specialties, after all. You have electricians, specialized auto mechanics, foot doctors, and so forth. Not to mention the marketability increase dramatically – especially when starting out. Your “pitch” is quite nearly forced to become your elevator speech.
I bring this up because what kind of hat to wear, or how many hats to wear, has been a constant struggle of mine. The evidence of this should be blatantly obvious based on the content of my blog. Facebook and Business models aren’t exactly related — unless I’ve been talking about Facebook’s business model. Which I haven’t.
A convincing case for the top-hat mentality is that if you look at the companies that frequently get acquired, they tend to be top-hat toters. The irony, of course, is that they’re acquired by companies that wear multiple hats.
- Rotten Tomatoes only focused on movie reviews and was acquired
- YouTube only focused on user generated video content and was acquired by Google
- iLike which only focused on music for social networks initially was acquired by MySpace
Is there an answer to whether a top-hat is better than wearing multiple-hats? I think both can look fairly ridiculous. I am beginning to think that simply adhering to the business model that led to success in the first place should play a larger role. If you’re working to build that initial success, then the laser focus of a specialty may be the simplest way to get there.
What does that mean for me? It means I need to wear the hat that fits the best. Better question – what does that mean for you?
Hat tip to rattyfied for the only useful top-hat photo on flickr. Oh yes, pun totally intended.