Rita Mcgrath | Thought Sparks
In high uncertainty situations, one can obviously make decisions that turn out not to be so great. But seriously, do you want to be the CEO featured in a headline “How A Ballerina Outmaneuvered you”?
Mirror was very much of the moment – a virtual, programmable interface that was just a wall-hung mirror when not in use but turned into a programmable magical window when turned on. Mirror itself had a bit of a buzzy past. Brynn Putnam, the charismatic founder of the business had a big, big vision.
As Medium writer Maya Kosoff recounts, “We always said that we believe we’re building the next iPhone,” she had told Fast Company late last year.
Fitness, in other words, was only the gateway drug for the Mirror to become the content delivery system for anything else virtual. “We’re building the third screen in your life,” she said. .
Lululemon Athletica Inc., a popular athletic apparel company, announced its acquisition of Mirror in June 2020. Mirror is a fitness technology company that offers an interactive workout experience through a mirror-like device that streams live and on-demand fitness classes. It costs $39.95 per month for the classes, and an initial setup for the hardware that is $1,495, going up to a family version for $2,045 with a $250 setup cost if you’re not handy with hardware.
BUYING MIRROR COULD BECOME A CASE STUDY IN EVERYTHING YOU SHOULDN’T DO WHEN ACQUIRING ANOTHER BUSINESS.
Tonal are only the most visible of the new competitors.
Don’t get me wrong – Lululemon is a great company, and its strategy seems to be working. The wonder I have is how the short-term pressures of a major shift in uncertainty can warp a whole set of people into making poor-quality, destiny defining decisions. In particular, I wonder what the Board wanted to know before giving this purchase the green light.
I really like that the company (Lululemon) was willing to take a risk with a known downside. But if you did a little harder questioning, would you have let yourself get pulled into a crisis-of-the-moment acquisition?
WANT TO SPARK SOME THINKING IN YOUR OWN ORGANIZATION?
Book Now
https://thoughtsparks.substack.com/
