Exponential Transformation

Shift to Abundance

Abundance is not something we acquire. It is something we tune into.

– Wayne Dyer

Traditional business models are based on scarcity, where value comes from selling a product or service that is limited in supply. Exponential technologies, however, generate an abundance of everything.

Peter Diamandis, the cofounder and executive chairman of Singularity University, refers to what he calls the 6Ds to describe a chain reaction of technological progress that leads to both upheaval and opportunity.

Once something is digitized, more people have access to it. Everyone has access to powerful technologies, giving individuals and entities the opportunity to create the next big breakthrough.

Entire industries are being impacted as problem spaces shift to new models based on an economy of abundance. When products or services become available through digital means and shed their physical restrictions, they can be produced and distributed at scale to become abundant at zero marginal cost.

Kodak's bankruptcy is an oft-cited example of disruption resulting from digitization as photos moved from the physical format to digital. But consider the specific implication this shift had on the actual business model. The industry moved from a scarcity-based model—just 12, 24, or 36 exposures per roll of film with associated costs for both the film and development—to an abundance-based model in which everyone has access to an unlimited number of pictures at virtually no cost. The problem ...