Business in the Open

Can a business be successfully developing, growing and competing in the open?

Today there are countless examples of companies that shield their plans and strategically release information. From the most closed and secretive like Apple, to Microsoft where developers are informed of plans well in advance (almost to a fault at times). It seems that most businesses choose to hide their plans in an effort to create a buzz and rumors that only serve to increase excitement leading up to new product announcements.

What I am struggling with is the idea of what can I or should I be talking about when it comes to my product plans. Could start talking about all my half-baked ideas and just throw them out there but it just seems a little extreme. On the other hand I could protect everything and try and create a mystique about my future products. It’s likely the optimal solution lies somewhere in between but finding that point is a source of uncertainty for me.

I am definitely leaning toward being more open about where the business is going and about the different products I am working on but I wonder at what point I would be showing my hand. I don’t think there is much harm in being completely open and vocal about the high-level business and personal goals. Where I will probably be a little more selective is at the product level.

Whether or not I share finances beyond some of the basic models I am looking at is definitely a whole other question. If the business is successful and I share the financials, do I run the risk of a user backlash? I would guess that I wouldn’t as long as users felt they were getting the value the expected out of my products and services. However, it does open another can of worms.

The final “openness” question is on the coding and development side. Do I make part or all of the source available to people? Here I will probably be more careful. Some of the security and backend source I will definitely keep tight to the vest. However, it would not bother me at all if someone wants to build apps that plug into my services if it means more subscribers. Maybe I would require some sort of “credit” so the user is aware of what they are using. But overall, there needs to be an element of openness to encourage others to play well with my products.