HARVEY BRODY - Long Lost Article On The King Of The VIRTUAL CORPORATION

Originally Posted by GordonJ

From the Cossman obit...

"I've had 20 big winners in my lifetime -- ones I've sold 1 million or more of.


I only created two," he told the San Diego Business Journal in 1989.


The two inventions were the ant farm and a fishing lure that smelled like meat.




For the things he didn't invent, he said, "I contacted the manufacturers and got exclusive rights in writing. Then I'd market it as if it were my own product."

There you go.

Gordon

I think there may be a few, just a few more moving parts in both of their models Gordon.

Although getting exclusive marketing rights to sell in other markets is certainly a core technique both Cossman and Brody uses as a foundation of their overall process, strategies, etc.

Not sure if is just a natural move or something indoctrinated in our business communities through university level taught business models, but it seems most businesses works on vertical growth, bringing more products and or services to sell to increase revenue and market share. When growing horizontally, selling fewer products and or services over a wider territory is many times ignored and actually a better solution to growth.

I recently listened to a lecture on targeting primarily horizontal growth over vertical growth and the benefits of going this route. One benefit is you are not always pulling your hair out always on the hunt for another product that meets you profit model because you are selling more with less by instead expanding your sales reach with fewer products.