When authors Ryan Mathews and Watts Wacker call someone a deviant, they intend it as high praise. In their new book, The Deviant's Advantage: How Fringe Ideas Create Mass Markets, the duo explain how "positive" deviance "is the backbeat of commerce, the rhythm of innovation that drives wealth creation and defines attitudes and values." It's often the "oddball" ideas — from sticky Post-it notes to the Blair Witch Project (a film which cost $60,000 to make, and grossed $240 million)--that make fortunes for enterprising companies. The resulting product or service must of course be polished and marketed. But the path that most successful new products take is predictable: "from the Fringe, to the Edge, to the Realm of the Cool, to the Next Big Thing, and finally, to Social Convention." If you have deviants on staff, say the authors, nurture them. If not, seek them out and hire them. "Never forget, your deviants ought to be your first, best line of competitive commercial defense."
— Andrea Sachs
Grubbing For Lunch
Would you like worms with that grasshopper? A former Thai disc jockey and her ex-shrimp-farmer boyfriend have launched Insects Inter, Thailand's first fast-food chain specializing in cooked bugs. Water beetles and scorpions have long been popular foods in the country's impoverished northern provinces, but Pailin Thanomkait, 32, and Satapol Polprapas, 29, are betting that middle-income urbanites and adventurous Western visitors will pay 70 for a box of crispy fried crickets with chili sauce. The company's network of kiosks has doubled to 60 in the past four months, and Insects Inter aims to have 200 outlets in Thailand by the end of next year. The company's bugs come from 5,000 farmers who breed them. Thanomkait and Polprapas are negotiating with investors from Indonesia to open franchises there, and they're also targeting South Korea, where street vendors already peddle bugs.
— Sean Gregory
Where Are They Now?
Ever wonder — maybe when you look at your 401(k)--what has become of those dotcommers who were household names during the tech boom?
**JOSH HARRIS, 41, who founded webcast company Pseudo.com, is now an apple farmer in upstate New York.
**CANDICE CARPENTER OLSON, 50, former CEO of iVillage, is a full-time mom. She's writing a book about the stresses working women face.
**STEPHAN PATERNOT, 28, and TODD KRIZELMAN, 29, made paper millions with theglobe.com, then lost them. Now Paternot is an actor and producer, and Krizelman is studying business at Harvard.
**JARED POLIS, 27, who founded Bluemountain.com with his parents, is a member of the Colorado State Board of Education.
**THE PETS.COM PUPPET, 3, is the mascot for 1-800-Bar-None, which finances auto loans for customers who are credit risks. Its slogan: "Everyone deserves a second chance."
Swedes in Harlem
In the past five years American companies such as Starbucks, Old Navy and Disney have opened busy stores in Harlem — the historic African-American neighborhood in upper Manhattan that is enjoying a rebirth following a decades-long economic slump. Last month H&M (Hennes & Mauritz), the Swedish chain that specializes in reasonably priced but trendy fashions, became the first foreign apparel retailer to join the migration north from midtown. Says Karen Belva, an H&M spokeswoman: "We're new to the U.S., and to be part of something that's up-and-coming is good for us, imagewise. And our prices are a good fit for the area."
Pringles Antennas
Although the number of Wi-Fi "hot spots" has exploded to include about 10,000 public areas in the U.S. where computers can wirelessly connect to the Internet, service rarely extends beyond 300 feet. Users are generally restricted to the hotel or cafe that provides the service. Commercial antennas can be used to extend the range, but hot-spot enthusiasts prefer to make their own waveguide antennas or "cantennas"--so nicknamed because the simplest of them can be made by using a soup or Pringles can — with about $10 worth of wiring. "You could buy a fancy antenna for $99 to $999, but why?" asks Jason Brook, the founder of Cantenna.com. "A cantenna is cheaper and lighter. You can mount it on your laptop, and take it with you." Brook's site, which launches in November, will show how to make a cantenna and where the public hot spots are, while selling custom cantennas with fancy designs.
What Conflict?
In Take On the Street, his new book of advice for investors, Arthur Levitt, former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, reprints letters he received in 2000 protesting a proposed SEC rule to limit the consulting an accounting firm could do for companies whose books it audited. Some excerpts:
"I find this troubling because...Enron has found its 'integrated audit' arrangement to be more efficient and cost-effective than the more traditional roles of separate internal and external auditing functions."
--KENNETH LAY,
former chairman and CEO of Enron
— Desa Philadelphia
"What empirical evidence, studies or economic analysis does the SEC possess that demonstrates accounting firms having consulting relationships with audit clients are less independent than those firms that do not have such relationships?"
--Representatives TOM BLILEY, BILLY TAUZIN and MICHAEL OXLEY, on behalf of the House Commerce Committee
"It appears that the SEC has not demonstrated a substantive basis for imposing these far-reaching limitations this year. The SEC would be limiting auditing firms' expertise just when auditors appear to need it most in order to fully assess today's sophisticated New Economy companies."
--Senators EVAN BAYH, CHARLES SCHUMER and ROBERT BENNETT
By the time a compromise version of the rule was finally instituted in November 2000, it had been watered down to let corporations' audit committees decide whether there was a conflict in hiring the same firm for auditing and consulting services.
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