How do they face crises in large technology companies?

Several of the companies that today are the main technological references have gained a place among the competition thanks to their developments and innovations, but their legacy was not built smoothly along the way. For managers of companies such as Netflix, Facebook or Apple, overcoming a crisis that seemed to be the end of everything they had worked on is one of the most difficult challenges they have had to face. How did they do it?

An idea that nobody believed

Netflix, the service of series and movies by streaming, did not always have the reception for which it is known today. The idea originally had its founders Marc Randolph and Reed Hastings seemed preposterous - if not ridiculous - to investors, who condemned the business to failure.

In 1999 executives launched a DVD movie subscription service by mail. His idea was based on subscribers ordering through the internet the titles they wanted to see and they will arrive by address to their homes. But at that time Blockbuster was at its best and they were the ones who took most of the movie rentals.

Netflix continued to perfect its web platform and in 2011 they left the rent and their service was only in the 'streaming'. They lost 800,000 subscribers in a single quarter. The proposal of the company was ahead of time because the remoteness with the technology of many homes was its greatest difficulty, however, it was only a matter of waiting for the idea to adapt more to the consumption habits.

When you were the only one and suddenly no longer

For many, Facebook is the great father of social networks. The platform created by Mark Zuckerberg has a user base of at least 2,200 million (for March 2018) that position it as one of the most used in the world.

When it was launched in 2004, Facebook had such an impact that a year later it expanded worldwide and although it seemed unstoppable, with time other competitors arrived that were also gaining ground in a short time.

Networks like Snapchat, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Twitter became increasingly popular, while Facebook fell, but with the capital already paid the company decided to expand. How? Absorbing your competition. After expanding to mobile applications and presenting several updates on its interface, the company Mark Zuckerberg bought in 2012 one of its main rivals: Instagram. Two years later he did the same with WhatsApp.

The social network, which has been involved in multiple controversies for the treatment of the data of its users, today works to make an integration between the three applications, as Zuckerberg said at its annual F8 developer event. This being one of their main letters so as not to fall before the competition.

Apple made products that were not sold

In the 90s, after Steve Jobs presented one of the company's badges, the Macintosh computer, Apple was at its lowest point. The signature of the apple no longer attracted people's attention. Many of their devices were a complete disaster and the losses were getting bigger.

While Microsoft was enjoying the success of Windows 95 and its computers were echoed in the market, Apple, after losing millions and lay off thousands of employees, reached an agreement with the company of Bill Gates to inject 150 million. Steve Jobs, who had recently been fired and had managed to return as an adviser and majority shareholder, convinced Gates and with that money restructured the operations.

A strong and unexpected rival

If there is something clear in the relationship between Sony and Nintendo is that the PlayStation shook the console market in a way that the Japanese firm never saw coming.

Nintendo, which in the 80s and 90s dominated the market with the Nintendo 64, the Game Boy and attracted with its Mario Bros. classics, in 1995 it began to suffer what is one of the strongest hits it has had with the launch of the Sony PlayStation.

The success of Sony since then has been unstoppable and with the arrival of Xbox, of Microsoft, in 2001 the video game industry has become one of the most competitive areas.

Before the new competitors, the Japanese soon presented the Cube, then the Nintendo DS, the Wii console and in 2017 launched its latest console: the Switch. Each one has been a bet to innovate in a market that Nintendo refuses to leave.

While the Cube and the DS have stopped producing, and Wii is close to that same fate, the firm has also decided to bet on its flagship video games and has made multiple deliveries and remakes of Pokémon, Mario Bros, Zelda and more.