The Art of Profitability

by Adrian J. Slywotzky

An extraordinarily new business slant on how companies can generate greater profits in 23 compact lessons with ongoing tutorials between two fictitious individuals.In the past, companies taught their employees about quality. In today's unstable economy, employers must stress the importance of profitability. Now with scores of examples from the global marketplace, the bestselling coauthor of The Profit Zone and Profit Patterns takes you to a higher level in the art of business. Each of the twenty-three chapters in this concise, challenging book presents a different, powerful business model...and a provocative dialogue between an extraordinary teacher called David Zhao and his young protégé. Revealed are the invisible but significant governing principles that allow businesses to survive and prosper in any economic climate. By participating in each session with the exuberant, challenging master, you too will learn how your company and your competitors generate profit...what approach best applies to your profit-making strategy...what specific actions your organization can take in the next ninety days to improve its bottom line...and more.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Finance, Entrepreneurship, Management, Economics, Self Help

272 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2002

About the author

Adrian J. Slywotzky (born in 1951) is a consultant and author of several books on economic theory and management. Slywotzky graduated from Harvard College and holds a JD from Harvard Law School and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He has worked as a consultant since 1979 and is currently a partner at Oliver Wyman.
Slywotzky wrote several books on profitability and growth, namely the bestselling The Profit Zone'.' He is one of the most renowned consultants of the United States and was elected as one of the 25 best consultants in 2000 and 2008. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Reviews

[Youngju · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good summary of different business models but I personally thought 23 models are way too many and many of them overlapped. It eventually falls down to 4-5 models - reselling profit, scale profit, diversified profit, early mover profit, profit multipler - The way the author structured the story - conversation between old mentor (zhao) and young guy (steve) made it easy to understand but was distracting.

*highlights
- "switchboard profit model" reminds me of power of network effect in the business model. Also the concept is related to new web businesses I have seen lately. tripadvisor, facebook, airbnb, Buzz the bar

- thinking about how much percentage in margin has been added to superior profit model was a useful framework - for example, starbucks would have
- 2ppt advantage from lower purcharsing cost
- 3ppt advantage from better location
- 1ppt advantage from better talents recruiting
- 1ppt advantage from natural advertising
and etc.

- Book was written in 2002 - It was interesting to see how the list of successful firms have changed. Would be interesting to see why they have failed despite strong profit model
- biz model selectedi in the book but no longer viable: Nokia (product pyramids), GM, Sears

[Antonio · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is about different profitability models - 23 of them. This book is written in the form of the novel through asking question by mentor and answering them by mentee. It is short read but it took me a while to chew the concepts of profit making through lot of discussions. Normaly I like to read business books as novels but in this instance it was dificult.

So this is my assessment of the book The Art of Profitabilityr by Adrian Slywotzky according to my 8 criteria:
1. Related to practice - 3 stars
2. It prevails important - 3 stars
3. I agree with the read - 4 stars
4. not difficult to read (as for non English native) - 4 stars
5. Too long (more than 500 pages) - short and concise (150-200 pages) - 4 stars
6. Boring - every sentence is interesting - 3 stars
7. Learning opportunity - 4 stars
8. Dry and uninspired style of writing - Smooth style with humouristic and fun parts - 3 stars

Total 3.5 stars

───────────────
Here are some highlights and excerpts from the book that I find worth remembering (Complete highlights and excerpts from the book you can find at https://antoniozrilic.com/myblog):



1. Customer Solution Profit.

▪ Once Factset identified a company as a potential customer for their information services, they’d send a team of two or three people to work there. They would spend two or three months, sometimes longer, learning everything they could about the customer--how they ran their business, how their systems worked (and didn’t work), and what they really cared about. Based on this genuine knowledge of the customer, Factset then developed customized information products and services tailored to the specific characteristics and economics of the account. Once they landed the account, they spent a ton of time integrating their product into the customer’s systems. During this process, Factset’s revenues were tiny and their costs were huge. If you looked at a monthly P&L for a particular account, you’d see they were losing a ton of money. Costs of $10,000 might be charged against revenues of $3,000.”




▪ But then things would begin to change. After three or four months, Factset’s products would be woven into the daily flow of the customer’s operations. Their software would be debugged 
and working fine. Now Factset didn’t need three people working fulltime on the account. One person could maintain the service, probably part-time. And as the word spread among the client’s employees about how powerful Factset’s data was and how effectively Factset’s service had been customized to their specific needs, they began taking more and more advantage of it. Factset’s monthly costs fell from $10K to $8K, while monthly revenues started to grow, from $3K to $5K to $12K.

▪ To succeed in business, you have to have a genuine, honest-to-goodness interest in profitability

▪ most of the executives were focused on things the division was already doing well, whose impact on profits seemed to be small--incremental quality improvements and modest production efficiencies--rather than the needs of their customers.

2. Pyramid Profit

▪ Here’s how it works at Mattel. You sell a Barbie doll for $20 to $30. But imitators can come in below you. So you build a firewall. You develop a $10 Barbie to seal off that space. It’s barely 
profitable, but it prevents other companies from establishing a connection with your customers. And even girls who start with the $10 Barbie usually move on to buy accessories and other dolls that make them profitable for Mattel. “But in order to achieve a real breakthrough, Mattel had to look in the other direction. Looking hard, they saw the opportunity for a $100 or $200 Barbie.”

▪ Forget about the little girl. Instead, think about her mother. She played with Barbies twenty or thirty years ago. She remembers those dolls with incredible fondness. And now she has money to spend. Maybe Mom will buy a designer Barbie--finely crafted, exquisite. Not a toy but a collector’s item, like the china teapots or African sculptures or rare postage stamps 
that enthusiasts will pay a great deal to own. Providing enormous satisfaction to the customer and enormous margins to Mattel.”

▪ Barbie wasn’t a product any longer, but a system, a carefully crafted, coordinated, and integrated system. A firewall of defensive product at the bottom of the pyramid and powerful profit-generators at the top.



▪ A true pyramid is a system in which the lower-priced products are manufactured and sold with so much efficiency that it’s virtually impossible for a competitor to steal market share by underpricing you. That’s why I call the lowest tier of the pyramid the firewall.

▪ The customers themselves form a hierarchy, with different expectations and different attitudes toward price. There are Mattel customers who absolutely won’t spend more than $10 for a no-frills doll. There are others who’ll pay top dollar for a unique product. The pyramid captures them both.

▪ General Motors, of course, invented the pyramid model back in the 1920s, under Alfred P. Sloan, with Chevrolet at the base and Cadillac at the apex

▪ Many businesses come in pieces. And all the pieces may not be equally profitable. In fact, in most cases, profitability is quite lumpy- sometimes high, sometimes low, sometimes non-existent.

▪ Think about Coca-Cola. One product, right? Yes--but several businesses. Coke has a grocery component, a restaurant component, a vending-machine component. Most of the profits flow from the restaurant and vending-machine sales

▪ Same product, several businesses. Whereas the Barbie pyramid is really based on several very different products targeted at basically distinct customer sets

3. Multi-Component Profit

▪ Now think about a hotel,” Zhao pressed on. It has lots of components. One is called ‘a single room for one night,’ another is called ‘a one-day meeting for twenty people,’ and yet another is called ‘a three-day convention for three thousand people.’ Think about the relative dollars 
compared to the relative costs. Same rooms, lots of ways to sell them

▪ think about a bookstore. It has a foot-traffic-in-the-store component, a book-group-member component, an online-website component, and a corporate purchasing component. Same books, lots of ways to sell them--each with its own profit picture

▪ Burton recognized that the bookstore itself could be a base for building several new high-profit components: the corporate business, the book-group business, the personal-service business. After several months of working with the booksellers association, he developed a 
program to dramatically intensify the bookstores’ outbound selling activities.

▪ He suggested having a couple of account managers call on corporate libraries and HR departments to promote the latest business books. Providing services to local book groups was next. And that was followed by promoting sales to high-purchase individuals. 
It was obvious, in a way. After all, the booksellers already knew that their best customers bought nearly $500 worth of books a year. But they’d never realized that these people represented a separate component of their business that they could consciously, deliberately 
target and grow. A simple but powerful insight.

▪ The large box on the left,” he explained, “is your base business. The smaller boxes on the right are your component businesses

▪ “what’s the idea behind this profit model?” Steve thought a moment. “Different parts of a business can have wildly different profitability.”


▪ “The customer behaves very differently on different purchase occasions.”

▪ Different degrees of price sensitivity



4. Switchboard Profit

▪ So a switchboard is another word for packaging talent?” Steve asked. “No, no, no. The packaging concept was just the first step toward building a true switchboard. Packaging falls far short of creating the concentration of power that a switchboard requires.”

▪ Step two,” Zhao continued, “was to find a source of stories. In both TV and movies, good stories make the system go--they’re the core around which everything is built. Realizing this, Ovitz knew he needed a great source of stories. So he befriended the leading literary agent in 
New York at the time, a fellow named Mort Janklow

▪ So now, with a good flow of stories, Ovitz had leverage with the talent. And by organizing the talent, he had leverage with the studios. Ovitz could bring a great story to a hot actor and a hot director and then bring all three to a studio hungry for movie ideas. It was a brilliant idea--and like many brilliant ideas, obvious in retrospect

▪ There’s a step three?” - Even if you have a source of stories, along with the persuasiveness and skill needed to put together a package of talent, you’re only controlling two of the variables. There’s a third variable--number.” “Meaning what?” “Well, you could work your tail off putting packages together and still represent only three percent of the market.” Zhao smiled. “How interesting.” “I don’t know a lot about Hollywood,” Steve went on, “but I’m guessing there were probably ten or twelve good-sized studios at the time.” Zhao nodded. “Close enough.” “And probably several hundred stars, directors, and screenwriters hat mattered.” “Also close enough.” “So if you’re Michael Ovitz and you represent, say, a couple of dozen


▪ screen artists, the studios have lot of other options. They don’t have to deal with you if they don’t want to.”

▪ But if you represent a couple of hundred artists, the studios’ options start to narrow.” 
“Does that apply only to the studios?” “No, that’s the beauty of it. The more critical mass you build, the higher your probability of putting together a package that works. That, in turn, means that a star, a writer, or a director will be better off being represented by you rather than any other agent, because the odds of being part of a winning combination are so much higher.”  “So now the studios have to deal with you, and the stars want to deal with you.”

▪ “Let’s say a star gets five million dollars for a picture,” Steve began. “And let’s say there are two big stars per picture--Meryl Streep and Robert Redford in the 1980s, or Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman in the ‘90s. Figure the director gets a million and a half, and the writer gets half 
a million. On the original Hollywood model, the agent represents one star and gets a ten percent fee. That’s $500 thousand. Here Ovitz represents a complete package and gets ten percent of $12 million, or $1.2 million. More than twice as much.” “Is that it?” 
“Oh no, far from it.” Zhao sat up straight, staring at Steve. He just might have a great 
student on his hands. “By representing a team rather than an individual, he has far greater 
bargaining power. He could raise that twelve million to fifteen million, or more. After all, the studio has nowhere else to go if it wants to get its hands on the biggest stars.” “And therefore, the agent’s fee would rise to one and a half million dollars, three times greater than in the traditional model.” “And that’s it?” “No, there’s more. The biggest factor is that the probability of striking a deal goes way, way up. As the pool of talent you represent grows to two or three hundred, the chances of putting the ‘right’ talent together goes way up, and so does the probability that the studio has to deal with you. So your volume goes way up. The number of deals you can put together per unit of time will probably double or triple.” “Net result?” 
“Profitability per unit of effort and unit of time is probably seven to ten times greater than in the traditional model.”

5. Time Profit

▪ Why couldn’t some company create a kind of telecom Switchboard by offering equipment, software, services--the whole nine yards--from every supplier, expertly mixed and matched for customized needs?”

▪ The profit would come from selling the equipment itself as well as from having inside knowledge of everybody’s products, not just those of a single supplier. And the company that moved first could really make it work by signing deals to represent all the best manufacturers, 
consultants, and software makers. Of course, you’d need top-flight experts to work with the customers, to make sure that the systems you put together were absolutely the best. And you’d have to invest the time in studying each customer’s business instead of trying to sell cookie-cutter solutions--a little like the Customer Solutions model. But the time invested up front could really pay off on the back end, with contracts to service and expand and upgrade the equipment continually.

▪ even weird numerical problems can usually be solved by using some information that’s generally available and a little common sense.”

▪ The key is to use the numbers to ask and answer critical questions.

▪ Intel invents a new chip and makes money by being the first to market?”

▪ “The main difference was that Intel usually had two to three years to profit from their innovations, while Waterstone’s had only six to nine months. So Terry asserted that they needed instant diffusion--a faster way to squeeze out the juice before everybody else learned the secret. She helped design a neat system to accomplish this.


▪ Two weeks before announcing a new product, Waterstone’s would send out a letter to two hundred clients letting them know it was on the way. A week in advance, they called them on the phone, saying, ‘Our new product will be available next Monday.’ “Thursday evening before the launch, they’d start a training session on the new product for everybody in the company--a crash course covering every detail. The class continued on Friday morning. Any unanswered 
questions raised by the participants had to be researched on Friday afternoon. Saturday morning they’d be at it again. They kept working through the weekend until the entire firm was ready to explain the new product in their sleep. “The client calls started coming in on Monday morning. By the end of the week, they’d have fifty or sixty inquiries. Within two weeks, the number would be up to a hundred.

6. Blockbuster Profit

▪ It’s inevitable that not every R&D project will hit the target. R&D is anti-profit when it has no 
clear target, the wrong target--for example, a market where customers won’t pay for what you’ve developed--or a trivial target, where the total profit return is a fraction of the total investment

[Maciek Wilczyński · Rating 3 out of 5]

Storytelling concept in business books is not something I'm hyped about - it looks more like content filler to something you can present on slides (actually, this is where I've met Slywotzky's concepts for the 1st time).
Some of the 23 models were repetitive and provided limited value as they had some minor differences between each other.
What I really liked, was the "literature list" and case studies of Ovitz (need to read more about the guy), Walton, P&G or Barbie.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

An easy read, but the lessons aren't far-fetched or mind blowing. Decent read since you can finish it in one sitting, but don't expect lightning in a bottle.

[Scott Wozniak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid fable on the ways that companies make profit--what they do better/differently than their competitors. A mentor teaches 23 different systems for making profit, from old school models like economies of scale (the bigger you are the cheaper it is to make your product) to the support system (win the market with a low cost, basic good and then own the only game for selling the high margin peripherals to that main item).

It's a short book, and well written (just enough story to keep it interesting). For those who are business strategists, it's a very valuable read. It's focus on that makes it pretty boring for anyone else, though. So if this is your niche, this is excellent.

[Cumberland BlueDevil · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the essence of the book. As a product manager, I always look for different perspectives on understanding product lifecycle. This one surely rates as a must because of its view on product purely from profitability POV.

I am not sure about this whole fable style. I thought it was silly and took too much space away from real subject. It has things like "his mind tightened".

Lastly, the book nearly needs an update. In the age of "lean startup" and internet, a book talking about "VCRs and Fax machines" lessens the real value this book can bring the reader.

Not into reading novels to get your business insight? Read this summary instead:

https://jamesclear.com/book-summaries...

[Masoud · Rating 2 out of 5]

A quick-read. I'm no businessman, but i am a man that has just recently started a business. This book was a short intro into the business thinking and i think it does just that. The writer has included many interesting references, so as a starter is not a bad book.
That said, i didn't do any of the assignments, i read it in a day -although the writer insisted on week-long intervals between sessions- i didn't think about the issues it raised much, and i don't know much about business.
All-in-all, i did enjoy some bits, it was an easy read, it certainly wasn't a waste of time. Would i recommend it though? no.

[Gustaf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Patterns for business development

One of the best books I've read delivering inspiration for business development and strategy discussions. I am sure I will return to it many times. Plus, it comes with a lot of recommendations on further reading.

[Hots Hartley · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book started off so promising, built on breaking down 23 different profit models into easily digestible chunks, complete with examples from Disney, Nike, Intel, and others from the 1990s and 2000s.

The first few Profit Models explored: clear definitions, real-world examples, and stories behind them, with reference materials for further reading. Visual diagrams drawn in a distinct Chinese calligraphy style that sums up the models well, like Michael Ovitz's profit model. Adrian Slywotzsky termed this model the "Switchboard" and diagrammed it as Ovitz being the centerpiece or hub of several disparate elements like star actors, celebrity movie directors, scriptwriters, and packaging enough critical mass of these key elements that movie publishers would have to go through his agency to access all the talent necessary to make blockbuster films.

The book turns sour around the midway point, devolving into a catechism between fictional Zhao and Steve. Much like Michael Gerber fictionalizes franchise development through a fictional conversation between mentor and student (Sara, a fictional baker), Adrian Slywotzsky chooses Zhao, an unlikable, stoic Asian businessman, and upstart Steve, working at Delmore.

The problems are manifold:

(1) Delmore's business is boring and unimpressionable. Do they sell communication routers and modems? Server racks? Firewall software? It's never clear from the text and seems to change from chapter to chapter. Zhao sometimes calls it DelCom, sometimes Delmore, and the company seems to have so many arms and branches that it becomes impossible to track throughout the book.

(2) Steve is your typical low-level employee of a big Fortune 500 company, always discussing his presentations to upper management and "turning red" seemingly every chapter when he and colleague Frank fail to convince their executive leadership to change a business model. It's woefully depressing to read, and hopelessly inapplicable to scrappy startup founders and indie developers, who need to stay nimble and minimal/small as they hunt product-market-fit (PMF) and scale. The advice in this book seems targeted at low-level middle managers trying to climb the corporate ladder, people who need to fight their own management to get anything implemented. Departments -- sales, marketing, product management -- are spoken of like faceless black boxes. Not applicable to most new businesses in the 21st century and certainly not with AI in the 2020's.

(3) The text is needlessly verbose. Zhao's instruction devolves into catechism: instead of drawing a diagram and giving examples, he instead turns every question back into a counter-question, asking Steve to explain every model instead. But Steve isn't the expert, and makes several mistakes, which are sometimes difficult to discern from the book's real instruction. Zhao continues to press for numbers: "And?" … "Meaning?" … "Example?" … "Any others?" … "Shoot." … "Guess." … "Why?" … "How?" … "How so?" … "What else?" … "Anything else?" … "Cuanto." (whatever that means) ... "Your homework."

Zhao stops giving straight answers, and we're left with a catechism where Steve dumps his false assumptions and estimates, leading either to confirmation or challenges back. I lost count of how many times Zhao points his index finger at Steve with some insulting retort, Steve turning red, and lessons ending with homework and reading assignments instead of straight answers.

Just define the concept and give examples! Instead of fabricating this fictional character just to say, "Why?" and press another fictional character to info-dump, there needs to be a reason for these two people to exist: dialogue needs to involve more back-and-forth storytelling and conflict, rather than one person prompting info dumps with one-word prompts.

You're better off asking ChatGPT to define profit models and give examples, than read this lazily staged charade between Socratic mentor and foolish upstart pupil.

[Duncan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting that I'd never heard of Slywotzky until a fellow professor mentioned this book as a good intro to business models for entrepreneurship students, and then later one of my students mentioned how valuable they'd found it to be.

Now that I've read the book, I'm not sure I'd assign it to students. It has some aspects that I like, but these are outweighed by those I dislike. So here they go:

LIKES
- Easy to read. The story format makes it a breeze to read through, even if the story is pretty lame and forced at times.
- Focus on profits above everything else. This is how real entrepreneurs think, they are always considering margins, pay-back times, etc. It's refreshing to read fro this perspective (not the same as finance types)
-Graphs. For each model, Slywotsky creates a simplified graph meant to illustrate it. This mostly doesn't work for me, but I appreciate the effort and think this could be made useful.
-Reading recommendations. Like how he recommends certain readings.

DISLIKES
- Made-up names. Slywotzky invents names for about 23 different "business models" that he identifies (De facto standard profit, installed base profit, brand profit, etc.) which no one else in the world uses. I've forgotten most of them now, and some (e.g. Pyramid model) mean something quite different to most other people.
-Graphs. As mentioned above, they tend to be too simple to be useful. At least he could get them labeled better.
-Self-promotion. Some of the books his character recommends happen to be Slywotsky's own books! Sly way of trying to equate his work with that of Azimov and Ezra Pound.
- Faulty reasoning - Like most books on business/entrepreneurship/strategy, the premise of Slywotzky's classification exercise (because this is what this is at the end of the day) lacks any true scientific rigor. As he would admit, it is based on pattern-recognition; and as I would say, he's sampling on the dependent variable. This means that while his patterns may serve as a rough heuristic, there is absolutely no way you could teach this as "the way" to ensure profits. We simply cannot conclusively say that the patterns (business models) he observes and abstracts to are what truly created superior profitability for the examples he gives. Looking into his background, I noticed it is all from Harvard, and his style now makes sense to me: this is the traditional HBS model of generalizing from specific cases (you'll see it across many if not most of the books pumped out by HBS professors).
-Outdated material/examples - The books is old, and many of the companies/examples do not resonate with readers today, and actually belie some of his conclusions (many of those companies and people he admires later became unprofitable/unfashionable, exhibit Jack Welch).
-Ambiguity and mixing of concepts - To fully grasp some of the points Slywotsky tries to make (sometimes very slyly and indirectly in the characters' conversations), one has to have a background understanding of the theories driving strategic management in BCG and HBS in the 70s and 80s, such as relative market share, experience curves, etc.). Not all of these theories are as in vogue today (although I still some are very basic to strategy), but most novice readers would not even understand what the point or rationale behind some of the "patterns" actually is, and these are based more on theories developed for established/large entities (i.e. strategy) rather than entrepreneurial or start up ventures.
-

[Sravya · Rating 2 out of 5]

Though I can agree that the profit models outlined in this book were definitely useful and triggered curiosity to continue learning about them elsewhere, I did not enjoy the format of this book for a few reasons. A lot of storytelling between fictitious mentor and mentee, often going into detail about their feelings, their tones, and other things I didn't find useful in learning about profit models. There was also a lot of nuance in the final explanation of each profit model towards the end of each chapter. Often times, the ultimate structure of the profit model was not overtly summarized, and left for the reader to infer. At times, this was incredibly frustrating - I'd look up a profit model I was confused about online, only to find multiple and contradictory interpretations by other readers, indicating that other readers did not have a consistent takeaway from some of the lessons this book was trying to impart. Overall, I'd have liked to learn this content in a more straightforward way, and recognize that this is a personal preference. It did have good references to other books though, so at least I'm walking away with some additional resources.

[Boni Aditya · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story format or the dialogue format is not good. It was actually quite boring. It did not really make the text any interesting.

The dialogue added to the confusion, to tell you the truth.

But I liked the book, not because of the case studies or the 23 business models dubbed as profit models, but the suggestions given at the end of each business model or the profit model i.e. towards the end of each chapter the author recommends a book or two, which is what I really liked about this book.

Also, the book was written in the 1950s and has become quite old; most of the models have gone out of dust and have been replaced by newer models. The world has moved on. The author recommends another book, Profit Patterns, which he says is only one part, i.e. part 1 and recommends that the reader write part 2 of the Profit Patterns book.

The book definitely needs a rewrite.

The case studies are weak too, usually this is the kind of discussion that happens after a case study in the lecture hall, Where the professor asks questions to drill the insights out of the student.

But putting that in a book removes all the interactiveness from it.

[Kevin Eikenberry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most business novels or business fables help someone work on an interpersonal or leadership skill, and the best books in this genre do this very well. This book, while clearly in this genre, has a different goal – to help a business owner or leader think about how they make a profit, and how they could make a greater one by changing their model or approach to business.

The book is a story, and you do get to know the two characters throughout, but the book doesn’t rely as heavily on the characters as many in this genre do, nor is the content as transparent or simplistic as most other business novels are.

Rather this gem of a book effectively outlines over 20 profitability models in enough detail for the reader to both understand and begin to apply them in their own businesses.

Read more...

[Abdelrahman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has to be re-read over and over to learn from it every single time.

Slywotzky highlights the the most-known models of profit that, as he claims, no successful business got out of it. Those are 23 profit models each in a chapter.

The book is more as financial classes disguised as novel. The story keeps you can't get your eyes out of the screen (it's not easy to find the paperback).

The books is less than 200 pages as I assumed I would finish it on my weekend but took a whole month to write notes from it. However, brushing the storytelling, the book could be less than 10 pages long.

Although the book last edition was published on 2002, this has to be read by who works in online businesses

[Lisa Gemert · Rating 5 out of 5]

I own my own business, and I've been spinning in a million directions with tons of ideas of things I *could* do. I've been called an idea factory, but it's not really a compliment because ideas are easy - execution is hard.

This book was recommended by a friend and it helped me focus on choosing a model that would work for me. It's possible to blend them, but in my case, one was the right fit.

The book has kind of a silly story that's not that engaging - it's clearly just a framework for the information. If you can get past that, the information is really good and the book list is terrific. I bought about twenty more books because of this one!

It's one of the few business books that is actually worth being a book (rather than being a fluffed up pamphlet).

[Jack Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This concise and well-written book explores 23 profit-making systems, offering valuable insights for business strategists. Through a mentor-student narrative, it examines strategies ranging from economies of scale to peripheral-focused models, where basic goods pave the way for high-margin accessories. The storytelling adds just enough intrigue to keep readers engaged, but the content is tailored specifically for those in business strategy. While insightful and practical for its target audience, it may not appeal to general readers. If you're interested in understanding competitive advantages and profit models, this book is a must-read. Otherwise, its niche focus might feel less engaging.

[Mustafa Shaqdih · Rating 3 out of 5]

Since i wanted to take the author’s advice by going slowly through the book, it took me almost 4 months to finish it as I was trying to observe all ideas, And read as much as i can from the other readings that were mentioned through the models.
In my opinion 23 models were too much, there were models almost the same with a very small difference between them so i thought it would be better to combine them to avoid the confusion, however, I can say I learned many great and new lessons and ideas.
Ps: don’t take the author’s advice, you’ll find yourself going from the beginning many times.

[Joe Conley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting review of different profit models. The narrative is light enough not to really get in the way. Was kind of hoping for a bigger payoff or grand conclusion at the end, but otherwise pretty quick and interesting read. If you're just looking for general business ideas you can probably quickly skim, however if you have specific challenges or questions probably best to "play along" with the protagonist and go through all of the exercises and homework he does.

Great list of book references too!

[Pato W · Rating 2 out of 5]

Desde el inicio intenta ser pretencioso con ese “lee un capítulo a la semana” como si fuera fuera una revelación o verdad divina.

El contenido chocaba con ideas interesantes pero estas surgían esporádicamente y rara vez iban destinadas a ser el objetivo principal del capítulo. Tiene bastante díalogo lo cual se me hace relleno disque místico. Solo di lo que quieres comunicar sobre negocios y ya.

El verdadero negocio de estos libros es la venta del “secreto” hacia ganar dinero, no el contenido del libro.

[Dave Applegate · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. Although some of the concepts are a bit abstract and might not be accurate, Slywotzky does a stellar job making you think about profitability in a creative way. I'm working through a complicated profitability problem right now and plan on re-reading this book. I feel like it's one of those books that makes more sense and is more impactful the more you let it marinate in your mind.

[Hetal Sonpal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Right from the concept to how the topic was presented, this book was a short and enthralling experience. I have always loved the idea of a conversation between a master and a protege to discuss a topic, and this book does just that for profitability. Dear friend @sushant recommended this one to me long back. But finally came around to reading it.
This should definitely be part of MBA program curriculum.

[Carlos · Rating 5 out of 5]

the summary for this fabulous is that there are many ways to make profit and it is unlikely that your business does all of them. People will pay different prices for the same thing in different situations Good profit models are easy to brainstorm and hard to execute. YESSS I would recommend this book.

[Omar Alshaker · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s not a generalist book by any means. It’s for those who are running a business and facing profitability challenges. If you’re just curious this book isn’t for you. And the back and forth conversational style didn’t go well with me, too much wasted time in making it interesting, if I didn’t find it such, I wouldn’t have bought it.

[Daniel J. Quinchía · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think the novel format just made it a little bit harder to understand because of the amount of concepts exposed and didn't make the book more enjoyable at all. But to the point, it has A LOT of insights and details to learn from. It works like a door to an entire new approach to business and finance. It would be great to have an updated version.

[Jorge Fonseca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not your typical business book, it's written as a tale, a story, very easy read.

The concepts thought in the book are interesting but I feel that some of the business models could be the same.

Non the less, it's a good book.

[Adam Ashton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting ideas in here and some new things I hadn’t really read before, but the format didn’t allow for any depth or thorough explanations. Some nice high-level ideas but perhaps lacking real-world-applicable substance

[Akshay Iyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an incredible book. As if i was in person taking lessons from david Zhao.

Beautiful book, 100% wisdom and a great narration. Would read more books by adrian soon.

Was totally addicted and hooked on this one. Deserves a full 5 star. In 160 pages, the author has done an INCREDIBLE job.

[Marc · Rating 3 out of 5]

Is a nice story, touching a bit of everything, however not enough deepdiving to support the different theories. Good for starters, but you have to read all the references I guess to unlock the full potential.

[Trey Malone · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book as a fast read. Though the set-up felt a bit convoluted (two characters talking with one another), I did appreciate the author's ability to make me think critically as I read. I also appreciated the laundry-list of books for further reading.

[Maxim Nikonov · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn’t finish, stopped at the middle. Lots of unrelated information, trying to present this book as a story( unsuccessfully imo). Very superficial diving in to the actual subject of a profitability.