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DECOUPLING: Secret to Stealing Customers

with Thales Teixeira

Building Everything from Scratch
is a Startup Death Trap

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Instead, true disruptors choose to

Steal Customers

DECOUPLING

Using Innovative business models to 
steal customers by breaking the links 
of traditional customer value chain

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Based on 8 years of research by
Harvard Business School

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The go-to guide to understanding digital disruption and building hyper-growth startups

Find a Car

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Purchase

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Ride

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Manage

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Resell / Dispose

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uber

Uber, Airbnb, Amazon—grew by breaking away from traditional business models and focusing on a single high-value opportunity in the customer journey.

google
facebook
paypal
amazon
uber
airbnb
skype
twitch
netflix

Airbnb

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Alibaba

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Amazon

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Best Buy

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Birchbox

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Bla Bla Car

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Chef'D

Dollar Shave Club

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Etsy

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Facebook

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Google

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Kiehl’s

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Klarna

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LendingTree

Lyft

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Mint.com

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Netflix

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Pandora

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Paypal

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PillPack

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Rebag

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Salary Finance

Skype

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Steam

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Supercell

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TiVo

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Transferwise

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Trov

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Turo

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TVision

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Twitch

Uber

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Yelp

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Zipcar Zynga

...and many others

Learn how today’s most dangerous disruptors are
stealing customers from established businesses.

Scaling Smart -
The Decoupling Growth Playbook

4 On-Demand Videos
4 On-Demand VideosTotal duration 1 Hour 30 Minutes
Lecture Notes
Lecture NotesFramework Summary & Templates

PART 0

Introducing Decoupling: Unlocking the Customer Value Chain

PART 1

  • Secrets of Early Growth of Hyper-growing Startups
  • 5 Growth Strategies to Acquire First 1,000 Customers
  • How to Build a Platform Business from Scratch

PART 2

  • Growth Strategies to Scale from 1,000 to 1 Million Customers
  • How to Read the Market to Determine Your Business Direction

PART 3

Final Two Cents for Founders

Meet Your Instructor:
Thales Teixeira

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Author of ‘Unlocking the Customer Value Chain’

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Former Associate Professor, Harvard Business School

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Pioneer in digital disruption, customer-centric innovation and digital transformation

Thought Leader On Digital Disruption 
And Startup Scaling

Thales Teixeira was an Associate Professor at Harvard Business School for 10 years before founding digital consultancy Decoupling.co. At Harvard, he taught MBA, doctoral and executive-level courses in Marketing Models, Digital Marketing and Ecommerce. His two primary domains of research constitute Digital Disruption and The Economics of Attention.

He has consulted, advised or educated top executives of over 15 of the Fortune 100 companies, among them Bayer, BMW, Unilever, Microsoft, Nike, Samsung, Siemens, YouTube, among others.

Interview

Interview

18-Minute Lecture on
Decoupling with EO

Publication

Publication

10 Years of Research in
Harvard Business School

Consulting

Consulting

Startup Growth workshops @Decoupling.co

Recommended By
Industry Leaders

Jim Collins

“Thales Teixeira brings a brilliant and incisive intellect - blending fundamental insights with practical guidance - to the urgent question of digital transformation”

Jim Collins

Author of Good to Great, Co-author of Built to Last

Jorge Paulo Lemann

“Necessary reading for all of us being disrupted and hoping to become challengers again”

Jorge Paulo Lemann

Co-founder of 3G Capital

Niraj Shah

“Unlocking the Customer Value Chain, … offers a clear roadmap to understand how digital disruption takes place - and what companies can do to hold onto their valued customers.”

Niraj Shah

Co-founder and CEO, Wayfair

Brigitte King

“Very practical insights into understanding a customer-centric, not a company-centric, view of the experiences and the expectations of consumers who are shopping today[…] - a must read for marketers.”

Brigitte King

Chief Consumer Officer, L’OREAL Americas

This Course is
Designed for...

Aspiring Founders

Entrepreneurs seeking breakthrough business ideas in today’s world

Strategic/Business Development Leaders

Professionals responsible for spearheading new projects and uncovering business opportunities within their organizations.

Consultants & Analysts

Experts eager to analyze markets and discover hidden opportunities with a strategic perspective.

By The End Of The Course,
You’ll Be Able To...

1

Understand how to break down the customer value chain with a critical eye

2

Dive deeper into tackling a specific pain point to capture the most value

3

Discover where to experience Decoupling in practice

4

Hone the tools and expert support to help you implement Decoupling in your own organization

Lecture Detail
Key Topics & Case Studies

PART 0

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This introductory video covers the fundamental concepts on customer value chain, taught on the first day of Harvard Business School. Discover how customer-centric mindset is the core to disrupting traditional customer value chain.

PART 1

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In this lecture, Professor Thales Teixeira examines how startups like Airbnb, Etsy, and Uber successfully acquired their initial customer base through disruptive business models.
Key topics include:
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Early Growth Strategies:
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Analysis of user growth trajectories from inception to significant milestones.
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Challenging Conventional Wisdom:
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Evaluation of traditional startup success formulas versus real-world applications.
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Initial Product Offerings:
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Insights into the early versions of products and services that attracted first customers.
In this lecture, Professor Thales Teixeira outlines five strategic steps that successful online marketplaces employed to acquire their initial thousand customers.
The discussion emphasizes the importance of starting with modest improvements and iteratively enhancing offerings.
In this lecture, we delve into the strategic considerations essential for establishing successful two-sided platforms.
Key topics include:
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Prioritizing Supplier Acquisition
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Manual Matchmaking in Early Stages
•
Incremental Automation
•
Identifying Fragmented Markets
•
Timing Market Entry

PART 2

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This lecture explores advanced strategies for scaling disruptive startups beyond initial customer acquisition.
Key topics include:
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Decoupling and Coupling Strategies:
Understanding how to enter markets by decoupling services and later coupling them to enhance customer value chains.
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Identifying New Monetization Opportunities
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Leveraging Adjacent Markets
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Case Study – Alibaba's Expansion
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Super Apps and Ecosystem Integration:
Exploring the concept of super apps and how integrating multiple services can create a cohesive ecosystem that enhances user engagement and loyalty.
This lecture explores the dynamic forces of integration and specialization that influence business growth strategies. Building upon our previous discussions on decoupling and coupling within the customer value chain, we will delve into the factors that drive companies toward either integrating multiple activities to offer comprehensive solutions or specializing in specific functions to achieve excellence.
Key topics include:
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Understanding Integration Forces:
Examining how businesses aim to become one-stop shops by consolidating various activities, thereby enhancing customer convenience and loyalty.
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Exploring Specialization Forces:
Analyzing the trend where companies focus on specific segments of the value chain, leveraging their core competencies to deliver superior value.
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Industry Case Studies:
Exploring the pendulum swing between integration and specialization in banking and agribusiness industries
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Strategic Decision-Making:
Guidance on how to assess your industry’s current trajectory and determine whether an integration or specialization approach aligns best with your business objectives.

PART 3

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Let’s challenge prevalent myths surrounding the creation and growth of disruptive startups. Emphasizing a customer-centric perspective, Professor Thales Teixeira explores how consumer dissatisfaction and evolving behaviors are the true catalysts for market disruption, rather than the startups themselves.

By dispelling these myths, this lecture aims to equip entrepreneurs and business leaders with a realistic and effective approach to fostering innovation and achieving sustainable growth in the digital age.
This final part of the lecture delves into practical applications of decoupling within various industries, examining real-world case studies to uncover valuable insights.

We will analyze a tech startup focused on simplifying consumer choices for durable goods, exploring the challenges encountered in value creation and capture. Additionally, we'll discuss the importance of balancing theoretical knowledge with execution, emphasizing the need for complementary skill sets among co-founders.

Here’s the Secret -

Today’s most dangerous disruptors are not just stealing customers, but rather stealing customer activities from established businesses.

Creating a high growth startup CAN be engineered. It CAN be designed.

If you follow the tools and approaches of Decoupling, you will be much more successful at creating a disruptive digital startup.

Adopt the
Strategic Thinking Principles of Decoupling
To Find Your
Killer Business Idea Today

$280

4 On-Demand Videos

1 Year Access

Lecture Notes

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Frequently
Asked Questions

The course content will be available for 1 year after your purchase.
Once you make your purchase through the checkout page, you will be directed to a log-in page to set up your password. Your ID is the email you use at the checkout page. You can access all of the courses you've purchased on the EO School Website by logging in with the ID/Password you set at the beginning.

You can reset your ID/Password by (1) clicking on your profile icon at top right (2) clicking 'Settings' (3) scrolling down to the bottom of your 'Account Information' page (4) Entering 'New Password' and verifying it.
Our course offers a unique and efficient learning experience on decoupling principles:

•
Concise Content: We distill key concepts into succinct lessons, ensuring you grasp essential ideas without unnecessary details.
•
Exclusive Materials: Benefit from lecture slides and notes available only through our platform, enhancing your understanding and application of decoupling strategies.
•
Time-Efficient Learning: Designed for busy founders, our bite-sized clips allow you to integrate learning seamlessly into your schedule.

While Thales Teixeira's book, Unlocking the Customer Value Chain, is widely acclaimed, our course provides a focused and practical approach tailored specifically for entrepreneurs.
•
50% refund for requests made within 3 days after course start date (and only if the student has completed less than 50% of the course content)
•
No refund for requests made after 3 days after course start date
•
To request refund, please contact builders@eoeoeo.net with the following information : your full name, email address (used for sign-up), and a screenshot of your Purchase Confirmation (emailed to you upon purchase)

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