Startupfest 2014 - In business, the grass is always greener elsewhere. It’s tempting to pivot, rather than leveraging your strengths and carefully tweaking the business model. In this talk, Laura Baldwin draws on her experience at Chronicle Books, O’Reilly Media, and elsewhere to show how even the tiniest shift in how a company operates can have far-reaching impacts and reveal entirely new products and markets.

2. Pivots are Overrated
How Small Changes Can Unlock
Markets

3. I Confess

4. if this doesn’t work…
we can always “pivot”
And your time is taken looking
toward failure

5. If William Gibbons is right…
“The future is here it’s just not evenly
distributed yet”
then this is your time to
Pay Attention

6. It’s 1994…
and I am the CFO/EVP at Chronicle Books
7/15/2014 • 6

7. Amazon was just coming on the scene – July ‘94
Print was starting to decline a bit in stores
Authors were demanding more options
Legal/copyright issues were requiring more legal
work within publishing companies
Publishing was starting to feel the effects
of the upcoming digital revolution
7/15/2014 • 7

8. One of the first publishers to focus on communities
Food communities within SF
We were developing a children’s line
And expanding our Art/Coffee Table books by hiring
talent
Caroline Herter of S&S came on board
For Chronicle Books
we still were growing…
7/15/2014 • 8

9. Investing significantly in legal talent to mange all of
our copyright and permission issues
Cost of publishing higher end Art and
Photography books was escalating
as technologies advanced
Profits were eroding slightly and digital was in its
infancy but our titles were not digital friendly at the
time…and there was no iPad 
But things were changing…
7/15/2014 • 9

10. The publishing model was in transition
Market conditions made us question our future
Digital (the future) was not a competency
In today’s language….
TIME TO PIVOT
So what to do….
7/15/2014 • 10

11. Or Not
7/15/2014 • 11

12. What was our core competency?
What are our greatest owned assets?
How were our human and material assets
deployed?
How could we capitalize on them?
Time to Pay Attention
7/15/2014 • 12

13. Some of our bestselling titles were from highly
talented and well respected folks in the Art and
Design communities
Richard Deibenkorn Debra Schenck
Let’s Capitalize on Assets
7/15/2014 • 13

14. And went back to our talent pool with the idea of
using their pre-secured permissions to develop new
products
We used our core competency of editorial
creativity to develop a series of notecards, giftcards
and other products that capitalized on the
permissions we already owned
So we got creative….
7/15/2014 • 14

15. And Launched a New Division
7/15/2014 • 15
..all based on derivative works

16. Independent bookstores felt we were “bastardizing”
publishing
Large chain stores had no shelving mechanisms for
products without BISAC * codes
* Book Industry Standards and Communications
But we didn’t give up….
But the markets were not so accepting
7/15/2014 • 16

17. We hired a specialty rep group that sold
products into gift stores like Hallmark
Which led to the first Chronicle Books books carried
in gourmet stores like Williams Sonoma…who then
went on to produce their own book line
Once we had some sales we went back to our own
markets (namely Borders) who finally agreed to
take a chance
If we couldn’t get traction in our markets
we’d go to other markets
7/15/2014 • 17

18. And the new division started working
7/15/2014 • 18

19. So we paid attention…and now a large
portion (debated between 30-50%) of
what’s sold in traditional bookstores is
non-book ancillary product…
7/15/2014 • 19

20. 7/15/2014 • 20
So that was then…this is now
Don’t be a futurist: be a now-
ist.
Joi Ito – MIT Media
Lab

22. 7/15/2014 • 22
Mission, Vision and Values
Mission: Changing the World by Spreading the Knowledge
of Innovators
Vision:
We…Work on Stuff that Matters
We…Create more value than we capture
We…Create a context in which other people can think
We achieve our mission by espousing and acting upon our
core values
Openness
Honesty
Integrity
Neutrality
And ultimately…Doing The Right Thing – for our
customers, the market and our employees

23. 7/15/2014 • 23
Long Term Objective
To build a thriving, next generation media company
that survives its founders through a diversified
international business strategy that goes beyond
books and conferences and accelerates the rate of
positive global change.

24. Old Growth Model – Structured as a
Product Organization
Books
Conferences

25. 7/15/2014 • 25
But How…by Paying Attention
The same lessons from Chronicle would apply here
as well…
What were our core competencies?
Editorial insights, event production, research
What were our greatest owned assets?
Brand, employee talent, community based on-
line platform (oreilly.com)
How could we capitalize on them?
Restructure to focus on audience not products

26. 7/15/2014 • 26

27. 7/15/2014 • 27
Practice Area Framework
MAKE:
DIY
CODE:
Developers
Practice Area
Audience
Segments
Product Line
Velocity:
Web Ops
TOC:
Publishing
Health 2.0:
Health IT
Missing
Manuals:
Consumer
Strata:
Data

28.  Respond more effectively to key trends shaping the global
landscape
 Deliver integrated year round content and services to
audience
 Ability to offer higher value sponsorship packages that are
year round, rather than single point in time
 Increase transaction sizes through bundling: customer
purchases book, training, conference, membership
package, etc.
 Exponentially grow the business by adopting new areas as
opportunities arise
Practice Areas

29. So We Flipped the Structure
Editorial / Content Production
as a Capability
Event
Production as a
Capability

30. And we created a platform for growth we
call
…The Extensibility Model

31. Programming
OPEN SOURCE CONVENTION
open source convention

32. Data

33. Web Ops
& Performance

35. So what was marketing became product

36. And engagement became year-long

37. 7/15/2014 • 37

38. Stay true to your core values
Pay attention to your human and material assets
today
Remember small changes can grow new markets
and new opportunities
Stop thinking about the Pivot…think about
capitalizing now
Be a Now-ist…Lessons Learned
7/15/2014 • 38

39. And next time you’re in a bookstore…
7/15/2014 • 39