Insurmountable Opportunity
So much possibility that possibility itself becomes a problem.
The simplified, two-step formula for success in software is to create a great experience then scale it. “Great experience” means a product that exceeds the expectations of the user. “Scale” means to create the infrastructure needed to serve an entire market. ServiceNow had disrupted a market by giving business users a consumer-like experience never before seen in enterprise software. The scaling of that experience – bringing it to the world – was the wild ride where every day brought a new, seemingly unsolvable challenge.
In 2011, ServiceNow was located in an office building in Solana Beach, California, about thirty minutes up the coast from downtown San Diego. Affectionately known as The Wooden Spaceship, the building was a large post-war quonset hut that had been turned into office space using the novel approach of installing a wood-framed nautilus shape in the middle with offices flowing in circular fashion from the center. Ah, the seventies in California.
One day that summer, an employee (me) was washing his hands in the men’s restroom when Fred Luddy walked up to the other sink and began to wash his hands. While it was common to see Luddy in the office, the occasion of interaction with the founder still had an impact. Awkwardly, the employee asked, “Hey, Fred, how’s it going?” Luddy looked at himself in the mirror and said, “I am faced with insurmountable opportunity.” The founder left the employee standing there with dripping hands, trying to process the meaning of what he just heard.
The scope of the opportunity at ServiceNow was recognized early on. The company, by nature of its ever-expanding market opportunity, found itself faced with so much possibility that possibility itself became a problem. We were faced with insurmountable opportunity.
In this context, an "insurmountable opportunity" means a chance or situation that's packed with great possibilities or advantages, but it seems almost impossible to make the most of it because of a myriad of tough challenges. Imagine there's this incredible potential for success or growth, but it's held back by hurdles that feel insurmountable. These roadblocks could be things like not having enough resources, facing fierce competition, dealing with strict regulations, hitting technological roadblocks, or other major challenges that make it incredibly tough to seize the opportunity. So, when we talk about an "insurmountable opportunity," we're not talking about something with a set definition; it's more like a phrase that underscores the massive potential of an opportunity alongside the daunting difficulty of fully realizing its benefits.
Insurmountable Opportunity is the story of ServiceNow. Coming in 2024.
