Back in 1981 Robert W. Pittman created a cable-television service aimed squarely at a hip generation that had grown up with TV: MTV Networks. Now, he says, he'd target the generation -- his 11-year-old son, for example -- that has grown up with interactivity. "He's grown up with a computer at school and at home. He's grown up with video games," notes Pittman, now president and chief executive of Time Warner Enterprises. "For a while I said, 'Wow, we TV babies are really in the know. We've got it over our parents. They are slow.' Now I realize that we are the outmoded ones."
Pittman, 41, says he would launch a business that incorporated interactivity into video games, theme parks, and video programming. "It's as right a place to be right now as MTV was in 1981."
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Earn More, Work Less!
John Tishman, bigwig developer: Vacation and leisure services
"The workweek will continue to get shorter, and there will be more time for leisure. I think people will probably be paid the same amount for a four-day workweek as they are now for a five-day workweek."
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The Next Big Thing? Basic Businesses
Ken Hendricks, roofing-materials entrepreneur: Consolidating fragmented industries
Pat Lancaster, packaging-machinery maker: Better packaging material
Ken Hendricks, founder of ABC Supply, at one time the #1 company on the Inc. 500 list, says that both wholesale plumbing parts and wholesale auto parts are ready for the same kind of consolidating that he brought to roofing supplies. There are no national companies in those industries yet, he says.
Hardly as grimy but equally unglamorous is Pat Lancaster's notion: a company that would devise "a better way to pack small things in big boxes." Lancaster, founder of Lantech Inc., a maker of packaging machinery, believes that too many products that are being shipped -- especially mail-order computers -- are being damaged during shipping. "There is an opportunity there if you can come up with a packaging process that not only reduces damage but also cuts down on solid waste," he says. "All of that damaged product ends up in solid waste."
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From the Pioneers of Retail
Stanley Marcus, Neiman Marcus chairman emeritus: Narrowly targeted direct marketing
Thomas Stemberg, founder of Staples office-supply superstore: Children's shoes
Why is it you can never find a rich person when you need one?
Stanley Marcus suggests that there's a healthy business to be had in manipulating databases to unearth small -- but rewarding -- groups of customers.
"Wherever it looks as if your requirements are to find 300 or 3,000 or 30,000 customers with specific tastes and needs, and their spending habits have indicated that they have discretionary income, and interest, this can be used," explains the 89-year-old.
Traditional mass-marketing tools -- newspapers, radio, TV -- are simply inefficient for businesses "with a specialized product that needs a high-income customer," which could include a jeweler or a landscaper or a retail store, Marcus says.
Thomas Stemberg would go after a much, much smaller group -- children.
He says children's shoes might be ready for the "category killer" approach. "My business would be a store where you could buy children's shoes in the style you wanted, in the size you wanted, orthopedically well-designed, and at a price less than 50 times manufacturing costs," says Stemberg, the father of two. "It's just a chronic problem that hasn't been solved, and it's about time somebody solved it."
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So It's Unanimous, Then? (A Virtual Roundtable)
Donald Burr, People Express Airlines founder: Regional airline
Donald Trump, former airline owner: Anything but an airline
Bruce Williams, syndicated radio adviser: No-frills regional airline
Wanna start an airline? You're not alone -- but to judge by this pieced-together give-and-take, your ranks may be shrinking.
Bruce Williams: "I'd like to own an airline. There's one place where you can still make a buck. People Express had a hell of a good idea."
Donald Burr: "There have been roughly 500 airlines created since deregulation, most of which have not been durable. But that will change as people learn to take care of the customer better."
Donald Trump: "A lot of businesses aren't worth the effort. No up-side potential. The airline business is like that."
Williams: "There are still niches out there. You just can't invade a major market. If you start going to St. Paul, you think Northwest Airlines is going to allow that?"
Burr: "One thing that has become more important is the modern use of information technology to build a competitive advantage -- I'm talking about reservations and fleet maintenance and customer care."
Williams: "Do a no-frills approach. Why in heaven's name do you have to provide a meal on an airplane? I am a rugged type. I can go for two whole hours without eating. And you've got to make everybody an owner."
Trump: "If you look at the airline business, it has always been a lousy business -- from day one."
Burr: "I did People Express to see if people could have harmony in the workplace. I would again attempt to improve upon that work."
Williams: "I'd charge you for carry-on luggage so that turnaround time would be diminished. I'd sell you a drink. And I'd go places where no one else is going."
Burr: "I'd do it again because I enjoy it. It has nothing to do with where the hot opportunities are."
