失败新解

    Better Place申请破产之后，有人问我有关Better Place商业模式的观点是否错误。许多人认为，电池更换注定要失败。但我不敢苟同。Better Place失败了，并不意味着他们率先发起的商业模式创新也失败了。Better Place试图跳过行业转型的中间阶段，从大处着眼，从小处做起，迅速扩大规模。他们其实需要一个更小的地方，先证明整个系统的可行性，然后再进行迅速扩张。即使以色列（8,000平方英里）和丹麦（17,000平方英里）对这家公司而言也太过庞大，难以迅速证明他们设想的电池更换模式的网络效应。Better Place成立之初，我曾与夏嘉曦进行过邮件交流，当时我曾建议他们在罗德岛证明这个模式的可行性。罗德岛的面积仅有一千平方英里，人口仅有一百万人。夏嘉曦的回复是，罗德岛在他们最初考虑的名单当中，但私人投资者豪掷8亿美元之后，Better Place选择了更大的市场。结果，他们花光所有的钱和时间，最终未能成功证明这个模式的可行性。

    但我依然认为，未来的试验肯定能证明Better Place 的商业模式是可行的。相信我的话。埃隆•穆斯克刚刚宣布，特斯拉（Tesla）将启动电池更换模式。特斯拉将测试充电站，S车型的车主可以在90秒内更换电池，价格仅为50至60美元，不论是时间还是成本均远远低于加满一箱油的价格。大胆的商业模式不会死去；他们会得到重生。如果我们想知道最佳做法之后的下一种做法，就得尝试更多东西。其实，那些未能成功的努力带给我们的启发，要远远多于成功的尝试。所以，对于那些勇于尝试、但未能一蹴而就的人，不要落井下石，更不要因为他们公开分享范式转移的观点而对他们大加批评。我们应该感谢他们推动我们不断进步，感谢他们为我们提供了再次尝试所需要的宝贵经验。下一次一定会更好。让我们重新定义失败，把它看作一种有意识的重复。（财富中文网）

    本文改编自《商业模式创新梦工厂》，该书的作者是索尔•卡普兰。卡普兰为罗德岛州普罗维登斯市商业模式创新工厂的创始人兼首席催化师，并定期在It's Saul Connected上发布博客。

    译者：刘进龙/汪皓

    After the Better Place bankruptcy announcement I've been asked if I was wrong about Better Place's business model. Many suggest that battery swapping is doomed to failure. I don't think so. Just because Better Place didn't work doesn't mean that the business model innovation they pioneered won't. Better Place tried to skip the middle phase of the transformation mantra, think big, start small, and scale fast. They needed a smaller place to prove out the entire system before scaling fast. Even Israel (8,000 square miles) and Denmark (17,000 square miles) were too big to quickly demonstrate the network effect of their proposed battery-swapping model. I exchanged emails with Agassi when Better Place was getting started suggesting that they prove out the model in Rhode Island, only a thousand square miles with a population of a million people! Agassi responded that Rhode Island had been on their early consideration list, but with private investors throwing $800 million at them, Better Place chose larger markets. They ran out of money and time to prove out the model.

    I still think the Better Place business model is possible with further experimentation. Don't take my word for it. Elon Musk just announced that Tesla (TSLA) is launching a battery-swapping model. Tesla is going to test stations where Model-S owners can swap batteries in 90 seconds for $50-60, less time and money than filling up a tank of gas. Bold business models don't die; they just get reinvented. If we want to go from best practice to next practice we have to try more stuff. We learn more from efforts that don't work than from those that do. So instead of piling on those that try to do bold things without initial success or criticizing those that share their paradigm shifting ideas publicly, we should thank them for pushing us forward and providing the knowledge to try again, only better the next time. Let's reframe failure as intentional iteration.

    This piece is adapted from The Business Model Innovation Factory. Saul Kaplan is the author of The Business Model Innovation Factory. He is the founder and chief catalyst of the Business Innovation Factory (BIF) in Providence, R.I., and blogs regularly at It's Saul Connected.