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Corey Shader Discusses Embracing Innovations: How To Adapt In A Growing Industry

As technology advances, it is incumbent on all businesses to innovate. If they don’t, they will quickly fall behind and — eventually — fail.

In all industries, competition can be cutthroat. As entrepreneur Corey Shader explains, not staying on top of advancing technology can be the ultimate end of the business.

Unfortunately, many examples of significant business failures are when companies fail to embrace technological and cultural innovation. Here are some of the more prominent examples.

Polaroid

Polaroid is perhaps one of the most prominent examples of business failures. The company invented cameras that produced instant film yet couldn’t keep up with technological advances that furthered that aim.

When digital cameras hit the market, Polaroid didn’t embrace them, and they quickly fell behind.

The original company, Polaroid Corporation, ended up declaring bankruptcy back in 2001, with all of its assets and brand sold off.

Blockbuster

Blockbuster Video pioneered video games and movie rentals. Venturing to Blockbuster to pick up weekend flicks became something many families in America did every week.

At one point in the early 2000s, the company had more than 9,000 stores across the world. By 2010, though, the company filed for bankruptcy.

This example isn’t just one of failing to keep up with technology; it’s one of missed opportunity. Netflix offered to buy Blockbuster for $50 million in 2000, but they turned it down.

Borders

Borders were to books what Blockbuster once was to movies. The company had locations all over the world, selling books and music to consumers.

When digital formats for their two main products came about, though, Borders didn’t make the transition smoothly. They fell behind their competition and couldn’t stay afloat.

The company eventually closed all its locations and sold its entire customer loyalty list to Barnes & Noble, its one-time main competitor.

Blackberry

Blackberry was at one point the leading smartphone company in the world. It seemed as if everyone had a Blackberry, as the company had 80 million users worldwide at one time.

While the company was ahead of the game at first, it failed to keep up with innovation. That led to them losing out quite significantly — and quickly — when the iPhone hit the market.

Blackberry’s failure to continue innovating is what ultimately did the company in.

Yahoo

It’s hard to imagine that only five years ago, Yahoo was the most-read media and news website in the world, garnering more than 7 billion views per month. At that point, it was the sixth most frequently visited site on the web.

As Corey Shader points out, Yahoo had the opportunity to dominate the search and digital advertising market, but they failed to innovate in the space. They made a poor decision to outsource their search engine to Bing, Microsoft’s product.

They even had well-publicized deals to buy both Facebook in 2006 (for only $1 billion) and Google in 2002 (for only $5 billion) fall through. It’s a tale of what could have been for Yahoo.

About Corey Shader

Corey Shader is a self-made entrepreneur, consultant, investor, real estate developer, and founder of several companies, notably Insurance Pipeline.

Operating primarily out of Ft. Lauderdale, Corey’s endeavors span the nation, consulting for start-ups and sitting on the board of digital media and senior healthcare agencies. As a consultant, Corey helps young businesses develop sales funnels and maximize profitability. Shader takes pride in challenging others to push themselves to be their very best — he believes in constant self-improvement, inspiring others through sharing his own life experiences.

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