The Un-Corporate Choice
Part of an Email I Wrote to the Schedulefly Team
Hey y’all,
I’m still thinking about the timing of that phone call from the owner who just switched back to us from *****. It couldn’t have been more perfect. The ultimate “real world” proof of everything Youngme Moon wrote about in “Different: Escaping the Competitive Herd.”
The Lesson from Different Moon’s core argument is that in most industries, companies get stuck in a “feature war.” They look at their rivals, see a new feature, and copy it. This creates a “competitive herd” where every brand becomes a cluttered, indistinguishable blur.
Moon identifies a specific type of winner called the Reverse Positioned Brand. These are companies that have the guts to do less. They deliberately strip away the complexity that everyone else is adding. By refusing to follow the herd, they become the only clear choice for a specific type of customer.
Our Advantage: Simplicity + Service + Trust
This confirms that our philosophy isn’t just a “nice to have,” it is our primary competitive advantage. Here is how we stay “Different” as we move forward:
The Power of “No”: Let’s ignore our competitors. If we do what they do, we will eventually feel like they feel: starchy and corporate. I know it’s sometimes hard to tell a customer “no” to a feature request, but that discipline is exactly what protects our soul. I’ve been very guilty of this the last six months. No more.
Humanity at Scale: There are six of us. Our “legendary service” isn’t a marketing slogan. It’s the fact that our customers can talk to us directly. Our competitors cannot scale the relationship we have with our users.
Low Price, High Value: By keeping our price point low and our overhead lean, we don’t have to pressure our customers with “upsells.” We can just be helpful.
Beyond the customers we win back from the “herd,” there are still over 200,000 restaurants out there running on paper and Excel. These owners aren’t looking for an Enterprise platform or an AI forecasting engine. They are looking for a digital version of the simplicity they already have. To them, the competitors’ software looks like a cockpit they aren’t trained to fly. Schedulefly looks like a better version of the tool they already understand. We are the natural home for the “un-corporate” owner.
Looking Forward The “herd” is running toward AI, complex metrics, and total control. We are going to continue running toward simplicity, trust, and human connection.
Our goal for 2026 is to remain the “un-corporate” choice. We aren’t building a platform to patrol workers. We are building a tool to empower “work families” to communicate. Let’s keep our focus on the owners who value their culture more than their metrics.
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I asked Gemini for an image from this email. I dig it 😁
