Once upon a time, a Businessman saw people struggling with a daily task. It doesn’t matter what task, but maybe it was “making a to-do list.” The Businessman thought to himself, “I can make the best to-do lists in the world! I should just make my system available to everyone for a price. They will get better to-do lists, and I can buy the Fanciest Keurig Machine In the World, everybody wins!”
And so he did that, and it was a very good way to make to-do-lists, and everyone liked it and the Businessman got rich.
But then one day an Entrepreneur came along and said “I know how to make better to-do lists, but the Businessman won’t make these changes because he is making enough money. But I can make my own version, and I can lower the price. Then I will get at least some of the money the Businessman was making.
And the Entrepreneur did, and he took some of the Businessman’s customers and got new ones also, who liked that the Entrepreneur’s to-do lists used cursive while the Businessman’s was boring old Helvetica.
“Oh no,” thought the Businessman, “even though I already have The Fanciest Keurig Machine In the World, there may some day be a fancier one. I will want that, too. I better keep making money.” So he added a way to change fonts, then he got some of the Entrepreneur’s customers and some new ones besides.
And so, through competition, the Businessman and the Entrepreneur kept making their products better and better. They both made money, and bought fancier and fancier Keurigs. Meanwhile, everyone else’s to-do lists had never been better, and they all lived happily ever after.
