Entrepreneur Press, Publisher
Cover Design: Andrew Welyczko
Production and Composition: Ponderosa Pine Design
First published in Great Britain in 2016 by Piatkus, an imprint of the Little, Brown Book Group.
Richard Koch and Greg Lockwood have asserted their right to be identified as authors of this Work.
© 2016 Richard Koch and Greg Lockwood
U.S. edition cover design © 2016 by Entrepreneur Media, Inc.
Reproduction or translation of any part of this work beyond that permitted by Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act without permission of the copyright owner is unlawful. Requests for permission or further information should be addressed to the Business Products Division, Entrepreneur Media Inc.
This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting or other professional services. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Koch, Richard, 1950- author. | Lockwood, Greg, author.
Title: Simplify: how the best businesses in the world succeed / Richard Koch, Greg Lockwood; foreword by Perry Marshall.
Description: First American Edition. | Irvine: Entrepreneur Press, 2016. | Originally published: London: Piatkus, 2016.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016029110 | ISBN 9781613083543 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: Success in business. | Leadership. | BISAC: BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Small Business. | BUSINESS & ECONOMICS /
Development / Business Development. | BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Leadership. |
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Advertising & Promotion.
Classification: LCC HF5386 .K7634 2016b | DDC 658.4/012--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016029110
20 19 18 17 16 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Christina and Zoe
– Greg
For Matthew, Jamie, Justin, and Peter
– Richard
Contents
Foreword by Perry Marshall
Preface by Richard Koch
Preface by Greg Lockwood
The Secret Red Thread
PART ONE: GREAT SIMPLIFIERS
1 The Man Who Democratized Travel
2 The Billionaire Who Travels by Bus
How Can IKEA Be So Much Cheaper?
How IKEA Seduces Its Customers
3 The Assembly Line of Food
4 Victory Over Big Brother: The Real Story of 1984
Which Type of Simplifying is Better?
5 The Strategy Simplifiers
Results
Key Points
6 Taxi! The Brave New World of Apps
Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp: Uber
The Samwer Brothers: Easy Taxi
Daniel Ek: Spotify
Joe Gebbia: Airbnb
Back to Uber: Results
Key Points
7 The Two Strategies and Their Trade-offs
Three Precepts for the Price-Simplifier
Two Precepts for the Proposition-Simplifier
Making Clever Trade-Offs
Virtuous Trade-Offs
A Visit to London Zoo
Key Points from Part One
Conclusion
PART TWO: HOW TO SIMPLIFY
8 Which Type of Simplifier Will You Be?
The Attitude Test
Scoring
The Gap Test
The Key Tests
Keys in Price-Simplifying
Keys in Proposition-Simplifying
The Better Skills Test
Key Points
9 How to Proposition-Simplify
Step One: Easier to Use
Step Two: More Useful
