Starbucks took a risky and creatively destructive step in introducing Via instant coffee packs last week.
You may have taking the taste test and picked the traditional brew from the instant, but it’s pretty hard unless you have the most sophisticated of palettes.  I love coffee, and I like Starbucks, but could barely tell.

There’s a lot of lip service paid in tech to self-cannibalization (undermining your own product with an innovative one), but few companies take these risks to stave off competition.  I can firmly say that Starbucks has.  A pack of Via sells for $1 vs. a $3 fresh brewed cup of coffee at the Searbucks store.  Some people will stay at their desks and drink a cup of Via versus walking out to Starbucks.  No doubt most will still want the experiential break of walking to a Starbucks store but some will not.  Some will keep a box of Vias at their desk.  I know that in the past week, I’ve had a few Vias at my apartment in lieu of buying coffees at the Starbucks stores.  Especially since Via makes for a great ice coffee when mixed cold.

I’ve worked at and with companies that have been unwilling to be the ones to compete against themselves.  They held onto an old model and hoped that they wouldn’t be competed against.  They preferred to milk the annuity of a declining businesses lines or products rather than “hasten” their destruction.

Competition however is brutal and relentless.  It’s only a matter of time before someone launches a Via against your fresh brew, and you might as well be the one to do it.  At the very least, when you are your own competitor, it’s an evil you can keep close and monitor.

Via is an anti-case study of the Innovator’s Dilemma. A company entering its own market downstream to compete.  I give the company credit.  It bulls me up on SBUX more than ever.