This line from Scott Stevenson’s blog lodges in your brain because it’s undoubtedly true, but not obvious to most. The best companies compete on worldview. They argue for a particular vision of what should exist, then build the infrastructure to make it real.
There was a conversation this week about “ragebait marketing.” Jordi from TBPN and writer Jasmine Sun both published scathing reviews of the trend. People are rightfully against it. What many critics don’t realize is that talking about it isn’t enough. If you’re not actively creating an alternative for the network to believe in and latch onto, don’t be surprised when the market defaults to slop.
Alain de Botton observed that we’re the first society living without shared worship beyond ourselves. That vacuum doesn’t stay empty. It gets filled by whoever has the most legible and compelling vision of what matters. Companies that understand this don’t sell products, they export philosophies.
The mechanism is straightforward: Develop a philosophy. Build products that embody it. Export both relentlessly.
Henrik Karlsson wrote that a blog post is “a very long and complex search query to find fascinating people.” The same logic applies to companies. A product is a search query for customers who share your belief system. Build something prescriptive – something that says “this is how things should be” – and the right people find you.
Falcon proves this. One of the first things Ahmed said to me about the business is that they “want to export a philosophy.” They believe in design engineering and the lack of boundaries between design and code. Their launch prescribed what should emerge from Toronto: “We need a new guard of people, new designers, completely new products, and new brands that reflect this integrated vision.” They positioned design as “what should be,” not “what exists or what could be.” That’s philosophy, and as a result, there are Falcon die-hards already, in the earliest days of the product’s alpha.
The alternative is exactly what we’re seeing. Companies that merely describe the world contribute to ragebait. Companies that prescribe a different world cut through it.
This is why belief-driven companies win long-term. They attract employees, customers, and capital that align with their worldview. The philosophy attracts people who already halfway believe it. The products give them tools to live it.
Business is competitive philosophy.