If penguins could fly

In 1937, British economist Ronald Coase published “The Nature of the Firm” which outlined why companies exist and what limits their growth. Sixty five years later in 2002, Yale economist Yochai Benkler wrote “Coase’s Penguin” which noted that the internet enables a new kind of production, one that can be more efficient than traditional firms or markets at creating great products.

Benkler used the penguin in part because it was Linux’s mascot, but also because the waddling, flightless bird was representative of the mess and chaos he saw in digitally coordinated production.

Now twenty years later, those penguins are learning to fly. The way we build products is increasingly internet-first. That’s what I tend to write about — how builders will leverage the digital world to create the future.