The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google

The Four Horsemen (Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google) have not just created new businesses, but changed the nature of the economy and rules for success. To win in the digital age - and to create massive stakeholder value - required an understanding of how these firms became the most successful and influential organisations in history, the first with the potential to be valued at one trillion dollars. The Four Horsemen are winning not just because of their technology and talent. Each taps into an instinctive, evolutionary need and has captured value serving these needs: Amazon, our need to hunt and gather; Apple, our need to procreate; Facebook, our need for love; and Google, our need for a God. There is a core set of eight requirements for winning in the digital age. The analysis presented in this book explains how our new digital economy really works, what separates winners from losers, and what is required to create The Fifth Horseman. Leading candidates include Uber and, as unlikely as it appears, Starbucks.