Originally posted on LinkedIn
Building, growing, and executing — through collaboration, without trampling everyone else. Maybe that’s naive?
In my entrepreneurial life, I’ve seen two company archetypes.
One: growing steadily, friendly with its industry and competitors — focused on making the pie bigger for everyone rather than eating the whole thing.
The other: growing frantically, using every advantage possible, with destroying the competition as its life mission. If there’s no competition left, more for me, right?
I think the second vision comes from seeing the world as a zero-sum game — if you win, I lose. The first comes from believing the pie can grow.
Both still exist (and every company sits somewhere on the spectrum). Both can achieve financial success.
But the first is gaining ground. The open-source movement (and the companies supporting it) is one example. Initiatives like Colombia Fintech, Colombia Proptech, and Colombia Edtech are another.
I believe in a more collaborative business world — how do we all survive and grow at the same time? That’s how you build countries and whole industries, not just individual companies.
Do you think it’s better to build through collaboration? Only in some cases? Or not at all?