Every industry requires pioneers, companies that really break the mould and push their competitors to be braver and bolder in everything they do. Without pioneers the world would be considerably blander.
Let’s not beat around the bush, it isn’t easy to create something so groundbreaking that it causes others to change the way they operate in order to keep up, it’s much easier to follow the crowd, be uniform and pocket the easy money. It takes a certain type of individual to take the risks required to truly disrupt and revolutionise an industry.
You won’t see these companies come around too often, but when they do you’ll know about them. They’re at the forefront of innovation, surrounded by media hype and everyone else is trying to emulate them in an attempt to be the next big thing themselves.
We’ve listed 6 hugely successful companies that have either completely changed the way we live or have encouraged other companies within their field of expertise to up their game and change how they operate in order to succeed.
Tesla
Alongside engineers Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning eccentric billionaire Elon Musk co-founded what can be considered one of the most disruptive companies of the last decade, electric car manufacturer Tesla. Whilst electric cars may well have been around for years before Tesla came onto the scene, it’s the trendy Palo Alto company that made them desirable to your average driver.
Tesla are unique in that they haven’t followed the rulebook whatsoever, first and foremost by taking an unpopular product and making it a must-have luxury commodity, secondly by opting not to have any physical dealerships with forecourts.
If you want to purchase a Tesla you would either have to visit one of their luxury shopping centre locations or buy one online. It’s brave and bold ideas like this that have propelled the public perception of Tesla to the moon… Owning a Tesla is practically a status symbol for many.
It’s hugely evident that other manufacturers are nowhere near Tesla in terms of producing an attractive electric car that can get anywhere close to the efficiency or performance of one of their high-end luxury vehicles.
A number of excellent strategic acquisitions and bold innovations in battery technology has truly set the company on course for what we expect to be years of dominance, anyone that wishes to even hold a candle to Tesla will need to be just as brave as they have been in order to emulate their success… Whether or not anyone actually comes along remains to be seen.
Pixar
It goes without saying, Pixar well and truly raised the bar and changed the game when it comes to animation, all starting with the iconic release of Toy Story back in 1995.
Until Woody, Buzz and Mr Potato Head found their way onto the silver screen, movie-goers were accustomed to the classic animation style that had dazzled audiences for 89 years prior.
It’s not to say that the art-style employed by animators back then wasn’t (And still isn’t) utterly charming and beautifully done, however when compared to the incredible detail that goes into a Pixar film today, there’s absolutely no way the two can be compared.
The craftsmanship required to successfully create a Pixar movie is so complex that in 2016 when working on Finding Dory, it supposedly took two years to create a single scene featuring Hank the octopus, a complex creature for animators to tackle. Amazingly 6 months of those two years were spent on perfecting the curve of just one of Hank’s tentacles.
In the last 25 years Pixar have released 22 feature-length films as well as a number of shorts. It’s fair to suggest that had Pixar not taken the first bold steps in changing the way animated movies are created we wouldn’t have seen studios such as Dreamworks and 21st Century Fox step up and create classic movie franchises such as Shrek, Ice Age and Kung Fu Panda.
Uber
It’s truly mind blowing to think we’d quite literally be nowhere without Uber today… It almost makes us question how we ever got from A to B before? Of course there were buses, trains and taxis if you couldn’t rely on having your own car, but how inconvenient and expensive are all those in comparison to simply hopping in an Uber?
Not only is ordering an Uber as simple as opening a mobile app and pressing a single button, but it’s also ridiculously cheap as well. Uber is a huge step in the right direction in opening up easy, affordable travel to everyone, especially considering traditional taxis are known for being the absolute opposite of cost effective.
Aside from making travel a doddle for millions in over 80 countries worldwide, the company has also played a major role in opening people’s eyes to the gig economy, proving that when given the right tools, people can work exactly as and when they please with no limitations.
If quick, easy travel wasn’t quite enough for you, Uber have also played a part in revolutionising food delivery by rolling out UberEats in 2014. UberEats means that people are able to order quality restaurant food (rather than standard takeaway) from the comfort of their own home courtesy of an Uber driver that will swiftly collect the meal and deliver it.
Whilst Uber might well have suffered from their fair share of controversies over the last few years it has to be said that they truly have revolutionised travel and we fully expect them to continue doing so for years to come. However with companies such as Lyft, Kapten and Bolt hot on their heels they’ll certainly have to continue innovating.
Amazon
Soon to be the world’s first trillionaire, Jeff Bezos has completely transformed the way we shop, having grown Amazon from a modest online bookstore into a marketplace that sells more than 12 million products worldwide, Amazon is an incredible example of a company that has revolutionised not only an industry, but entire lives.
In the United States alone Amazon purchases account for almost half of every single online sale, a truly staggering figure that shows just how much of a foothold the company has… So much so that its GDP sits higher than more than 200 countries.
The ability to purchase almost anything your heart desires at 5pm on a Monday evening and have it delivered to your door the very next day is revolutionary. Whilst not great for our bank balances, the fast and convenient nature of Amazon has greatly increased the quality of life for people and businesses that would otherwise have had to make a special trip to a physical retailer in order to get what they need.
However, as well as greatly increasing our quality of life, Amazon has also increased our expectations of online retailers. Knowing that it’s possible to get whatever we want within 24 hours means that other retailers have been forced to up their game in order to compete.
On top of revolutionising shopping, Amazon is also responsible for having a big impact in the fields of voice search, video streaming, cloud storage, publishing and now grocery stores. Shockingly, their influence doesn’t end there… Whether or not you agree with Amazon’s dominance on our day-to-day lives they’re here to stay and are only going to get bigger.
Volt Casino
There’s no industry more competitive and cut-throat than the online casino industry, it’s impossible to truly know the value of every single player that chooses to sign up and bet, however the reality is that they could be worth tens of thousands each, if not more.
Such is the battle for custom, operators have to think outside the box in order to stand out from the competition. There are only a finite number of games available on each site, with many sharing a similar catalog of titles… Casino enthusiasts certainly aren’t stupid, they know when they’re being short changed by a shoddy copy and paste site.
One operator that really decided to break the mould and step outside their comfort zone was Volt Casino. This relatively modest casino decided to go big at the start of 2020 by launching Volt City, their very own virtual world, akin to a video game.
The developers have smartly taken inspiration from some of the most popular city building games of the last 20 years and have implemented their best features and mechanics into an immersive one-of-a-kind game that compliments the casino perfectly.
In a recent interview Head of Casino at Volt Daphne Xerri said that her team had to throw out the rulebook when developing Volt City in order for it to be a success. Whilst the use of gamification is nothing new when it comes to getting the most out of customers and keeping them engaged, Volt Casino really did take it up a notch in order to make a statement.
It was inevitable that the King of search would sit somewhere within this list. Many people assume Larry Page and Sergey Brin were the pioneers of online search when they launched Google back in 1998, however this couldn’t be further from the truth. A long line of established companies including MSN, AskJeeves, AltaVista and Yahoo all had a piece of the pie first.
If you’ve learnt anything from this article it’s that It takes a lot to stand out in a crowded market, something spectacular in fact. In Google’s case it was their Page Rank algorithm that truly helped make them who they are today.
PageRank, named after Google’s founder, is the algorithm that decides how important each website is and where it appears within the search results. Google determines this by counting the number of high-quality websites that link back to their original page.
The accuracy of Google’s search results, coupled with the sheer speed that a query was answered put the famous Californian company miles ahead of everyone else in the race for search engine dominance. One by one Google’s competitors tumbled as they continued to tweak and grow their empire.
Another unique Google quirk that has made them so revolutionary is the company’s 20% free working policy. Every single employee at Google is actively encouraged to spend 20% of their working time developing new ideas that may be of use to Google one day. No matter how big, small or outlandish the idea.
As a result of this innovative working practice Google have developed Gmail, Adsense and Google News. Three standout standout projects that have more than stood the test of time. Such has been the success of the 20% policy, there’s no doubt others will have adopted it.
