Renowned American physicist Linus Pauling once observed that “the best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas.” As advances in technology continue to expand traditional networks, companies are looking more and more to crowdsourcing as a means of outsourcing tasks, traditionally performed by an employee, to a large, undefined group of people or community (a “crowd”), through an open call made possible by the wide and instantaneous reach of the Internet and apps.
Jeff Howe, one of the first authors to employ the term, contends that crowdsourcing works because open calls to a large, undefined group of people ultimately attract those who are the most motivated and able to offer relevant and fresh ideas. Online apparel store Threadless takes this concept to a completely different level. Threadless was co-founded in 2000 by Jake Nickell and Jacob DeHart with only $1,000 in seed money. The company has grown to be a multimillion-dollar enterprise and is revolutionizing the process of product design.
Whereas most design shops employ high-priced talent to create their product lines, Threadless uses the crowdsourcing concept to execute an entirely different approach. More specifically, the firm invites anyone interested in being part of the Threadless community to submit T-shirt designs online—afterward, the designs are put to a public vote. A small percentage of submitted designs are selected for printing and then sold through its online store. Creators of the winning designs receive only a small cash prize and some store credit. In the open-source community, a Threadless T-shirt or design is considered to be crowdsourced because the designer and the company retain all rights to the design.
On average, around 1,500 designs compete in any given week. Designers upload their T-shirt designs to the website, where visitors and members of the community score them on a scale of 0 to 5. Each week, the staff selects about 10 designs. Not surprisingly, the printed T-shirts tend to sell well, because they have already been proven popular via the design process. Threadless shirts are run in limited batches and, when shirts are sold out, customers can request a reprint. However, reprinting occurs only when there is enough demand, and the decision to reprint is ultimately up to the company.

Jack Nickell built Threadless using crowdsourcing to help the decision-making process.
Chicago Tribune/Getty Images
The Threadless experience amounts to something of a revolution in product design models and cost efficiency. It is an intriguing example of the power of crowdsourcing and has been the stimulus for numerous similar business models.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Why is Threadless so successful? What competitive advantages does it have over comparable design firms using traditional strategies for product design?
2. What is the logic of crowdsourcing, and why has it caught on in so many areas and for so many applications?
3. What types of decision-making traps might be particularly dangerous for Threadless?
4. How might a stakeholder’s analysis at Threadless be different from that at other, more traditional firms?

Transcribed Image Text:

If alveolar ventilation is 4200 mL/min, respiratory. frequency is 12 breaths per minute, and tidal volume is 500, What is the anatomical-dead space ventilation? A 1800 mL/min B C D 6000ml/min 350 mL/min 1200 mL/min If alveolar ventilation is 4200 mL/min, respiratory. frequency is 12 breaths per minute, and tidal volume is 500, What is the anatomical-dead space ventilation? A 1800 mL/min B C D 6000ml/min 350 mL/min 1200 mL/min

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

a Threadless is successful because it is able to tap into a large pool of creative talent at a fract... View the full answer