In history, Innovation comes in clumps. This is because many things must be in place for the innovation to be possible. One way to look at this is that 99% of the foundation for the next innovation may already be in place. When this is true, an innovation team needs to only develop the last 1% to bring the innovation to viability. This is not done in isolation from the work that has already been completed. The last 1% is only possible by having a deep understanding of the existing 99%. This is the concept behind 199, Inc. We focus on the 1% in communion with the 99% to achieve 100% results. But, we wanted to keep the name short, and concise. So, we named the company 199, Inc. (1%+ 99% = 100%).
Even so, the company name “199” is “generically broad” on purpose. First of all, we intend to use numbers “199” as a pre-fix. When used as a prefix, “199” can be simply translated as to “focus on” (for the purpose of bringing the next evolution of innovation to a given field). For instance, 199 Health Care, 199 Education, 199 Social Media, etc.
Second, and more importantly, “199” represents a set of cultural values that will be in common with all 199 projects and companies.
We’re starting with the first project focused on the corporation (199Corporation.com) because corporations are some of the most powerful tools we have readily available to us for coordinating people and assets to get things done. The first step is to install controls to make sure the 199 entities are prevented from doing damage to the environment (as traditional for-profit companies tend to do). Once we have corporate control figured out, we hope to clone the corporate template and make franchises of the mother company. There will then be 199Symphonia, 199Energy, 199Healthcare, etc.
Click here for information on how we might constrain the corporation so that it does less damage.
Here is picture of how the 199 entities/projects might be organized:
Finally, as a side benefit, with “199” as a placeholder in the name, we cut out many hours usually invested trying to find a “cute” name that isn’t already in use.