Strangling Innovation: Tesla versus “Rent Seekers”

[sgblank]

Recently, the New York and North Carolina legislatures considered a new law written by Auto Dealer lobbyists that would make it illegal for Tesla to sell cars directly to consumers. This got me thinking about the legal obstacles that face innovators with new business models.


Examples of startups challenging the status quo include: Lyft, Square, Uber, Airbnb, SpaceX, Zillow, Bitcoin, LegalZoom, food trucks, charter schools, and massively open online courses. Past examples of startups that succeeded in redefining current industries include Craigslist, Netflix, Amazon, Ebay and Paypal.


While Tesla, Lyft, Uber, Airbnb, et al are in very different industries, they have two things in common: 1) they’re disruptive business models creating new markets and upsetting the status quo and 2) the legal obstacles confronting them weren’t from direct competitors, but from groups commonly referred to as “rent seekers.”

The rest of why this happens and how new companies like Tesla can fight back is here: Strangling Innovation: Tesla versus | Steve Blank

 

[GlennAlanBerry]

That is a pretty good post, Steve. I also enjoyed reading your posts about your pranks in the Air Force! Thanks!

 

[stevezzzz]

A friend sent me a link to your piece, Steve; it deserves a wide audience. I'm surprised more folks on TMC haven't commented.

Calling all mods: Steve's article deserves to be made sticky.

 

[sgblank]

thanks. I thought so too.
But it's more than likely the wrong forum for anything more complicated than complaints about 5mile/day vampire losses and Tesla grins.

Here's hoping there are people dealing with these issues strategically inside Tesla.

 

[MikeC]

Great article, Steve. It's already been brought up several times over in the investors' forum before this thread was started. Very cool that the author is on TMC.

 

[DaveT]

Hi Steve, thanks for the article. I've learned a lot from your talks and books (4 steps to Epiphany, Startup Owner's Manual). Great to see you here!