A modern Pirate.
The English term Pirate is derived from the latin word Pirata and from the greek word πειρατής” (peiratēs), “brigand”,in turn from “πειράομαι” (peiráomai), “attempt”, which as well comes from “πεῖρα” (peîra), “attempt, experience”. Nor the word attempt or experience can be found in the modern image that we have of pirates. Nor attempt or experience contains a negative connotation, instead when we think about piracy, we always have a negative image, or maybe we are just simply influenced by the stereotypes derived from Stevenson’s Treasure Island. Nevertheless most of the times piracy is something presented as stealing, as being in constant conflicts with the status quo and the existing laws.
While this concept of the pirate as almost a romantic hero always in contrast with the society can still be considered true in some cases, nowadays piracy is more a mind-set, an idea that survival – let alone victory – depends on one entrepreneurial spirit and capacity to constantly reinvent and enhance, and to finally keep or capture an advantage on your competitors.
Pirates carry the spirit of innovation that is at the hearth of the information economy and our modern society, where opportunities and threats occur unpredictably, where companies (like pirates) need to reinvent themselves to be able to dominate their markets and find those favourable circumstances overlooked by their competitors.
The history of Silicon Valley itself is full of drama and pirates that have revolutionized the market several times, and as well full of companies started as small-time operators, in the garages and the backyards (sometimes even dorm rooms), like someone that would sell art and craft on the side of the road.
But one time innovator becomes often quickly a giant that would try to cut out the small and individual initiatives. Once a firm becomes established, it will try to restrict innovation on the market in order to maintain its profit. Innovation in this scenario is a shift of power, something that is bad for the established players but extremely good for the small player trying to enter the market.
Innovation is hence a self-destructive force, which needs to be acted upon quickly. It shakes the foundations of the market rules by fundamentally changing it, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. The small player will try to evolve their business and find new ideas, the bigger firms will try to lock down access to the market itself as with only a few players in the market the power shifts away from the consumers and towards the suppliers.
Pirates are innovators who sail uncharted waters by thinking out of the box, create their own vehicle (or platform in technological terms), establish new models and definitions, harness their audience and ultimately change the world.
